#this was just supposed to be a small doodle and then colour suddenly appeared on the canvas whoops

[loktauri]

Happy anniversary to poetry

[ushiluv]

Late Night Drive 

skate rat!suna x reader 

When you accepted Suna’s confession, you did not know that it also meant accepting to go on a late night car ride with him to the other side of town to vandalize some old skate park that “belonged” to a bunch of guys he didn’t like. (wc: 2330)

warnings 

anal, squirting, overuse of pet names, reader has female anatomy, use of daddy, sex in public but there’s no one around, overstimulation, this is kinda really fluffy, cervix fucking, use of the word cunny, let me know if i missed anything! not proofread yet 

note from the author 

 i really enjoyed writing this so i hope you guys will like it! let me know what i can improve. 

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” you asked as you sat yourself down on the passenger side of your boyfriend’s car.

“Of course, princess, when have I ever not been sure of something?” he responded with a sly grin on his face.

“ ‘m just saying we could be in a lot of trouble if we get caught.”

“We won’t.” he made sure you put your seatbelt on and started the car “And if we do, you could just show them your tits and-” the punch you landed on his arm stopped him from finishing his sentence.

“You’re horrible.” you mumbled under your breath.

He didn’t respond, opted to offer you a chuckle and a squeeze to your thigh instead.

Suna was quite the phenomenon and you’d be lying if you said that you didn’t have a crush on him prior to his confession. Truth be told, you had no idea he was into you; that’s why his confession came in as such a shock. You thought he was joking, so you lightly laughed when he spilled his heart out to you on a friday afternoon in a park near Inarizaki High. But the frown on his face and broken look in his eyes showed in every way possible that he was, in fact not lying. That’s why you quickly apologized and accepted his confession before admitting your own feelings towards him. You knew what kind of student he was and what he did in his free time, but you had no idea that he would ever drag you down with him in his rebellious tendencies.

After a few minutes of small talk backed up by Suna’s late night music playlist, you two arrived at the infamous abandoned skatepark. He got a bag full of spray paint cans from the backseat and handed you a pretty pink one.

“Thought of you when I bought it” he said after putting a black hoodie on.

A smile appeared on your face. “Oh how romantic of you my dear Rinnie.”

“Shut up.” he grumbled before getting out of the car.

After putting on one of his hoodies that he left purposely in the car for you, you got out and followed his footsteps. The place lived up to its name, it was abandoned. The rails were rusty, the bowls were full of dirt and weeds and the ramps seemed impossible to skate on. But, for some reasons that were unknown to you, not a single graffiti could be found on any surface. Your lovely boyfriend seemed to be the first one who had the idea of giving the palace new colours.  

“Why do people even come here? Seems gross to me.” you said as you took a closer look to the middle of one of the bowls. You swore you could smell death from it.

Suna shook the spray can he was holding. “Dunno.” He took your arm with his free hand and dragged you away from the bowl. “Just know they care a lot about this place for some reason. Come on now, I don’t wanna spend the night here.”

You followed him (not like you had a choice) and got ready to do your own share of damage. Suna giggled as he spray painted dicks and curse words all around the oh-so-important place and you could do nothing else than roll your eyes at his childish actions while you painted neon pink doodles. As you watched him paint a curse word that you were sure could not be found in any dictionary, you realize how deep in love you were with that man. Thoughts about your future together started fogging your brain and you could feel your cheeks heat up at the idea of spending the rest of your days with him.

“Babe look at- What’s wrong?” your arms suddenly flew around his waist and your face found place on his chest.

“Just thinking about how much I love you.”

You felt Suna relax as he placed a kiss on the top of your head.

“I love you too, baby, but look at what I just painted!” he turned you around, excited to show you his new artwork (if you could call it that).

It took about another twenty minutes for him to be completely satisfied with his new art piece. The place was definitely more colourful now, you had to admit that. Suna threw his cans and yours in his backpack and walked back to his car, hand in hand with yours.

He unlocked his door only and threw his backpack in the back as you waited for him to unlock your door so you could get it, but it seemed like he had other plans on how to end the night.

He walked around the car and reached to you, caging you between him and the car, arms on each side of your head.

“What are you doing?” you huffed.

He leaned down and licked the shell of your ear. “Just rewarding my princess for helping me tonight.” he whispered before leaving a trail of kisses down your neck.

Taking a hold of your shoulders, he moved you onto the hood of his car, bending you down against it. His hand moved from your shoulders to down your spine before finally squeezing your ass through your thin leggings.

“Been so good to me tonight, think you deserve a reward” he gave your ass a light squeeze.

“Y-yeah Rin, please.” it was crazy how that man managed to always make you forget how to talk.

As he knelt down on the concrete, he didn’t care about how you didn’t address him properly, he didn’t care about the little rocks that were digging in his knees through his sweatpants, all he cared about was making you feel good. He pulled down your leggings and panties, down enough for him to have a proper look at your already drenched pussy. He hummed to himself and thanked God, the Universe or whatever divine entity that was the reason for you to be in his life.

He didn’t waste any time and brought a finger to your already gaping hole, playing with it as he watched in awe at how much wetter you were getting from his ministrations.

“My little slut is getting turned on because she’s gonna get fucked in public?” he spoke “You’re so messy, princess, wish you could see this yourself.”

“Ah-” you jolted as you felt a finger penetrate you, “don’t tease me, daddy.”

“ ‘m not teasing, doll, you’re just eager.”

He removed the finger that was just in you and brought it to his mouth, sucking and licking at your juices that stuck to it.

“You always taste so good. Gonna let me have another taste, baby? Gonna let me eat your pretty cunny out in public?”

You whimpered. “Yes, yes yes, daddy please, wanna feel your mouth on me.” the cold metal of the hood started feeling really hot under your burning cheek.

“Whatever princess wants, princess gets.”

Suna gave a lick with a flat tongue to your labia, gathering your wetness in his mouth before wrapping his lips around your clit. His tongue switched from playing with your little bundle of nerve to licking your hole. The stimulation drove you crazy, you could feel yourself become closer at every flick of his tongue on your clit. He suddenly removed his mouth from your pussy and switched his tongue for his fingers. The sensation made you squeal from surprise. Three of his fingers were now filling your hole while his thumb took care of stimulating your hardened clit.

“Gonna try something, doll, alright?”

Too busy chasing your high, you nodded eagerly. You had no idea what he was saying, the only information you picked on from his voice was that he asked you a question and you trusted Suna with all your heart. That’s why your whole body jolted when you felt a finger press against the ring of your asshole.

“Rin!”

“Shh, focus on how good I’m making you feel. Can feel you clenching around my fingers, puppy, this is gonna make you feel even better.”

He spat against your hole and allowed the tip of his finger to go past the rim. The sensation was nothing like anything you’ve ever felt before but you couldn’t say you didn’t like it. You only were closer to your climax when you felt his finger try to go deeper.

“Fuck! Daddy!” you screamed as you gushed around his three digits.

“That’s a good girl, fuck.” Suna praised. “Fuck, you never came so hard. I knew that you were a slut but I didn’t know you were such a dirty one.” he teased as he let you ride out your orgasm. “Just need a finger in your other hole to make you squirt, uh?” his dirty words made you whine in protestation, you didn’t even know you could cum like that.

You pushed his hand away when the rubbing against your clit made you feel too overstimulated.

“Stop it daddy… ‘s too much.”

He got up and manhandled you onto your back.

“I know baby, just need to feel you cum around my cock now. Can you do that for me? Gonna be a good doll and squirt on my cock? Promise this will be all for tonight.”

You nodded weakly, still trying to get over the aftershock of the powerful orgasm you just had. He grinned at you and leaned down to kiss your mouth, leaving a small taste of yourself on your lips. His hands reached down for the hoodie you were wearing and the shirt underneath it, he pulled both up enough to have a view on your pretty tits.

“Knew you were not wearing a bra.” he gave a playful pinch to your nipples.

You whined and pushed his hands away before reaching down to the band of his sweatpants to remind him of what he was supposed to do with you.

“You’re so impatient, princess, you’re lucky I love you” he mumbled.

Your heart warmed up at his words, they were like a little reminder that you were his and he was yours. “I love you too, daddy.”

He completely took your legging off and pulled his sweatpants and boxers down to his thighs. His cock was hard and red, the mere sight of it was enough to make you drool. Bringing a hand around its base, Suna started to run his tip over your puffy clit, allowing his cock to be coated of your wetness.

“You’re so shamelessly messy, puppy.” he moaned as he put the tip in, “and so fucking tight. God, no matter how many times I fuck you- you were made to take my cock, right doll? No one else’s.”

“Hmm- Only yours daddy! ‘Was made to only take you”

He groaned as he bottomed out, the wetness of your previous orgasm making it so much easier. Remembering how hard you came earlier, he started fucking you harder with the only goal in mind to make you gush as hard as he just did. The tip of his cock was kissing your cervix and reaching that one spongy spot only him could reach. You were seeing stars- figuratively and literally.

“Daddy you’re so deep” you moaned.

“I know baby, but you love it right? You love having me this deep. Say it.”

“I love it daddy! No one- no one else can fuck me like you do.”

Satisfied with your answer, Suna didn’t take mercy on you and started pounding harder into your gummy walls. Feeling you clench around him, he spat on your hardened clit and started toying with it with his thumb, just like you liked. The added stimulation only heightened your senses. You could feel everything, from the way his thumb was rubbing circles around your clit to the hard vein on his cock that felt painfully good every time he thrusted into you. Before you knew it, your orgasm started building up in you much more powerful than the one you previously had.

“Da- Daddy ‘m gonna make a mess again.”

“Yeah? Gonna gush around me? Come on pretty I know you can do it, gonna make your pretty little cunny cum.”

His other hand started toying with your hard nipple and that pushed you over the edge, cunt spasming around him and juices squirting on his old black hoodie, you came on the hood of your boyfriend’s old car. You moans were nothing compared to the grunts and groan that left Suna’s mouth, he seemed to be enjoying this more than you did.

“Fuck, you’re so perfect.” a few more thrust inside your walls were enough for him to spill his load into you.

He leaned down on you and hugged you, chest pressed against yours. You two stayed like that for a second, in a comfortable silence just enjoying each other’s presence. After a while, he pulled out of you with a wince as he saw his cum spill out of your hole. He was quick to pick up your leggings and panties and helped you put them back on.

“Don’t waste precious cum.” he said as you pulled your leggings up.

“Maybe if you stopped fucking me raw-”

“Shh, you love it.”

He pressed a kiss to your temple and opened the car door for you.

“Get in, we’re getting food.”

You excitedly clapped your hands, ready to spend some more time with him.

“And then we’re going back to my house, really gotta make you squirt again.”

“You’re a fucking perv, Suna Rintarou.”

“You’re in love with this perv.”

You smiled, because that was the complete truth.

na: sorry for the rushed ending im exhausted </3 

[takuyakistall]

Don't get caught! | Riddle Rosehearts

Synopsis: While visiting Heartslabyul, you couldn't help but want to be a hedgehog after seeing the way Riddle is so fond of them and spoils them. But be careful for what you wish for! It might just come true.

Note: This was a request but the ask was too long so I just posted this on its own. I had fun writing this! It was a very cute idea and got carried away so this turned out longer than expected, I hope you enjoy it!

You weren’t sure if this was a good idea or not. You weren’t even sure if this plan would work but Trey and the other Heartslabyul first years insisted that it was going to work—or at least, they’ll try to make it a success. You had absentmindedly let out a random thought a few days about your hair, saying how curious you are about how you would look like in different hair colours and hairstyles. Trey’s unique magic immediately came into your mind, Doodle Suit, and you couldn’t help but comment on how convenient it would be if it could temporarily overwrite your appearance.

You felt bad for asking Trey a favour so suddenly but much to your surprise, he indulged you and said that it isn’t any problem. Of course, you knew nothing about the way his magic works and if it really isn’t a problem to him. Though you decided to trust his words and agreed to meet up with him in the Heartslabyul Dorm during the weekends. Grim, Ace and Deuce tagged along behind you as you entered the mirror to the dorm. Ace and Deuce wanted to be a little bit extra (or so you thought) and picked you up from your dorm.

The smell of freshly painted roses was in the air as your eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight. You relished in the sight of the rose hedges lined up and the half-painted roses hanging from them, a few drops of red paint dripping to the green grass. The empty cans of red paint here and there as you walked through the stone path to the main building. You caught a few glimpses of a few students scrambling to their feet as they picked up a brush and started painting the roses.

Behind them, you could barely make out a familiar shade of red and a heart-shaped ahoge. You quickly turned to Ace, trying to calm your racing heart.

“Wait, where are we headed?” You asked them as Grim climbed up your shoulder.

“To the lounge, or Trey’s room. Whatever works.” Ace answered half-heartedly as he pushed the door open and scanned the room full of students for the green-haired vice dorm leader.

“Nevermind, we’re going to his room.”

Saying the hallways of Heartslabyul was confusing is a big understatement. The twists and turns of the halls more or less made you dizzy just from looking at it. The fact that you don’t know the actual way to Trey’s room made it harder for you to navigate where you were headed to. Deuce grabbed the hem of your sleeve when you were about to make a turn, whispering to you about how his room was still up ahead. Grim had long gotten off your shoulder once he realized that he might get lost with you.

“Good grief… I don’t even have any idea about what colour I should go with first.” You sighed as you spotted a window that gave you a view of the rose maze. The countless green hedges adorned with white roses. Have they not painted this part of the maze yet? You paid it little mind as your eyes wandered to the small cage placed outside and the tiny creatures inside.

Hedgehogs?

Green, pink, and blue ones were all scattered and rolling around in the cage. You couldn’t get a good view but it seemed like someone was giving them food right now. You stopped in your tracks when you realized it was none other than the dorm leader who was doing it. He dusted his hands and stared at the small blobs of colour inside the cage. You couldn’t see it clearly but you saw him open his mouth as a small smile appeared on his face. You found it a bit cute—cute how caring he seems to get when it comes to them.

It must be nice to be a spoiled hedgehog under Riddle’s care huh…

You shook your head, the tips of your ears growing hotter as you told yourself off about having such weird thoughts. Your head snapped back to where Ace and Deuce originally were but only to find them out of sight.

You felt panic rise in your throat as you looked left and right, your eyes searching for the familiar figures. You scolded yourself, regretting getting distracted by that redhead you seem to be so enchanted by. You wandered around the hallway, the knot in your throat growing tighter as you prayed that you won’t get lost.

“Geez! Just how big is this place?” You leaned against the window’s ledge as you let out a small pant. You’ve been walking around the dorm for what felt like hours now but you found yourself in the same place as before—by the window where you watched Riddle tend to the hedgehogs as you sighed.

“Um, excuse me…” The sudden voice behind your back made you jump in place a little. You quickly turned around and was met with a male student with brown hair. Your tense muscles visibly relaxed.

Finally! There was someone you could ask. You opened your mouth slightly to ask but before a single word could be formed—he asked you an unexpected question. He caught sight of the scene you were staring at before his involvement.

“Oh! Were you watching the Dorm Head?” Dense as a rock. The student didn’t think twice before asking this question, his eyes not registering the way your eyes widened slightly and your stance stiffened. You kept silent.

“Hehe, it seems like he’s taking care of the hedgehogs personally.” He mentioned, his voice laced with the faintest bit of admiration when he stared at the scene beside you. You tried to shrug it off but the curiosity inside you couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“...Is it anything special? Riddle taking care of them personally, I mean.”

“Eh? Well… no, not really. It’s just that he really likes them, so he tends to spoil them whenever he’s on duty.”

“Oh, is that so?” You tried looking the other way, trying to keep the nonchalant tone. But the moment you looked away—you could feel a small smile creeping up your face.

Cute.

You shook your head before you got carried away by any other thoughts and turned to the student. You need to do what you came here for!

“Oh, by the way, do you know how to get to Trey’s room?”

“Eh?”

“What the hell took you so long!?” Ace was the first one to greet you with his fist meeting your head without any warning. You winced a bit, clutching your head and fought back with your words.

“It was your fault for walking too fast!”

“Hah? Didn’t we warn you to keep close to us?”

“You said nothing about that!”

“Oh.” Ace fell silent. The corner of his lips suddenly curling up, as if a realization struck him.

“Haha! Don’t mind, everyone makes mistakes right?” There was nothing stronger than the feeling of wanting to slap the grin off his face right now. Had it not been for Deuce trying to keep the peace between you, you weren’t sure if you could've held yourself back.

“Moving on,” Deuce placed a hand over your shoulder. “Trey-senpai’s room is just up ahead. Don’t lose sight of us again, alright?”

It was hard to navigate yourself around the dorm. If there was one crucial thing they hadn’t told you about the dorm, it was the fact that if you weren’t a Heartslabyul student or school faculty, you were bound to get lost amidst the twists and turns. But in their defense, they didn’t expect you to get distracted so easily. You nodded as you followed behind the duo once again.

After a minute or two, you found yourself face-to-face with Trey in front of his dorm room. That’s when you realized you haven’t thought about what colour you’d like after getting lost but your thoughts were cut off when Trey suddenly spoke up.

“Oh, you guys are here. You were a bit late, did you run into some trouble?” He asked as he urged you three (four if you’re counting Grim) into his room.

“(Y/N) got lost~!” Ace chirped in a singsong voice as he threw his arms back behind his head.

“Eh, really? Be more careful next time, you’re lucky you were found quickly—otherwise, who knows how long you’d be stuck there.” The closed-eyed smile on his face made his terrifying words seem normal. You wondered if there were previous cases that went way worse than what you went through. You let out a relieved sigh inside your head, thanking the student that found you.

“Then, let’s make this quick.” Trey guided you to a chair, dragging you gently by the wrist and made you sit there as Ace, Deuce, and Grim stood beside you. Their growing curiosity couldn’t be masked.

His instructions were clear enough. He said that you should try to paint an image inside your head. Envision what you would like to look like while closing your eyes and then he’ll activate his unique magic. He also mentioned that it would only last 24 hours or shorter if interfered with stronger magic and that he can revert the spell after a certain period if time just in case you wanted to remove it quicker.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to paint an image of yourself you’d like to see.

“Ready? I’ll start now.”

You thought of your favourite colour, envisioning yourself with that certain hair colour. Wondering if Riddle would like it if he saw it. Oh, maybe if you were a (F/C) coloured hedgehog, he might find you cute!

“Doodle Suit!”

A small puff of smoke appeared just right after Trey finished his incantation. You felt a bit groggy and weird, was it supposed to feel like this? You opened your eyes, your vision adjusting to the sudden light until you realized the situation you were in. Everything seemed a hundred times bigger than they usually were and everyone inside the room seemed to have grown bigger. Everyone except you.

You felt so small.

“Eh!? Trey-senpai, where did they go?” The panic in Ace’s voice was unlike him. But Deuce was even more panicked than him, he thought that maybe they messed up and you disappeared for good. Grim was looking frantically everywhere.

You wanted to shout out. Tell them that you were still here but oddly enough, instead of a voice, a very weird sound came out of your mouth. The room froze when they heard it. Trey was the first one to spot you, a nervous chuckle slipping from his mouth as he held your small body up.

“It seems like your friend… turned into a hedgehog.”

Eh?

Eh!?

You messed up. Countless thoughts swirled rapidly at dangerous speeds as you thought about what could’ve gone wrong. You swore you did his instructions properly, you thought of what you wanted to look like and—

At the last minute, you thought about hedgehogs. That’s what went wrong. You wanted to bury your face into your hands but your new incredibly short four legs couldn’t even reach your face. This was a new level of embarrassment, you just wished that this was all a bad dream. You lied down flat on Trey’s palm, hiding your face from everyone as you heard Ace barely being able to contain his laughter.

“Pfft—” He clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to tell himself not to laugh but the situation made it hard for him to follow his instructions. Deuce, on the other hand, was crouching down while clutching his stomach—trying to keep his laughter as silent as possible. Grim had an indifferent expression before he approached you. He scaled your size compared to him and that’s when he lost it.

If you could speak, you would’ve told them to cut it out but much to your misfortune, you were left to make weird noises hedgehogs made. And if you were to make sounds like that, you were pretty much sure that they would laugh harder at you.

“Oh man, this is gold! I can’t believe you turned into a hedgehog.” Ace let out, that stupid grin on his face wider than ever.

“Though that does make me wonder how you managed to think about hedgehogs.” Deuce crossed his arms and pondered, finally calming down. Before he could dive deeper into his thoughts, Trey interjected.

“That isn’t important right now. We better think of what to do with your friend.”

“Trey-senpai, can’t you just overwrite it with your unique magic?” Deuce asked him.

“Unfortunately, it’s going to take a while before I can use my magic on them again. We need to put them somewhere safe for a while, can one of you keep them with you or do you know a place we can leave them?”

“Well, how about…”

“Hup! Off you go!” You hopped off Ace’s hand into the small cage he pushed you into. You felt yourself tense up when you were surrounded by your fellow small creatures, wondering if it was alright for you to sneak in like this. Ace assured Deuce that no one would notice an extra hedgehog inside the cage and decided that it was alright for you to stay there.

You had your doubts and troubles about this course of action but what can you do except comply? Your fate was temporarily in their hands—you were completely helpless. You just stayed behind as you watched Ace, Deuce, and Grim fade into the distance as they walked further and further away.

You looked around, trying to find something you can entertain yourself with but only to be met with immeasurable disappointment when you found out there was absolutely nothing you could do except eat, drink, or sleep. What’s worse is that you don’t know how long you were going to be here. You lied down on your stomach as you stared into space, a sudden wave of tiredness came over you as you felt your eyelids close.

Perhaps a short nap wouldn’t hurt.

You woke up to the heavy weight that rested over your body, you felt like you were being squeezed as a surge of panic took over you. You looked up to see that a green hedgehog was sleeping over you, it looked so comfortable that you felt bad for suddenly moving from your place. You couldn’t stay like this—you wanted to get out! You wished that Ace and Deuce just brought you with them even if it meant that they would probably get told off by Riddle for bringing out a hedgehog outside croquet matches.

“Hm? How strange… did I count correctly?” The sudden voice made you jump in your place, eyes darting everywhere to find out where it came from.

Wine red hair and slate grey eyes. There was no mistaking it—the voice belonged to none other than Riddle Rosehearts, the Dorm Leader of Heartslabyul. Confused, you wondered why he was still here. Didn’t his duty end a while ago? There was no reason for him to check up on the hedgehogs again!

“There’s an extra one?” His eyes shifted to you and you felt your blood run cold. How in the world did he know it was you out of everyone in the cage? You needed to think of something, quick. Who knows what he might do to you? Throw you out? Certainly, he wouldn’t do that… right?

“Don’t be scared. I won’t harm you, I promise.” Riddle’s gentle voice as he reassured you made you feel safe. You stared at his outstretched arm as a small smile appeared on his face and you couldn’t help but willingly hop into his palm. He brought you closer until you were on eye level with him. His grey eyes staring at you so intensely, you almost let out a squeak.

“Now then, we just have to find out who put you here.” He placed you on his shoulder and you felt the sudden panic sink in. You were in for a lot of trouble! You hadn’t expected Riddle to notice the extra hedgehog and you didn’t even expect him to come over in the first place. You cursed Ace and Deuce inside your head for leaving you there and expecting everything to sail smoothly.

If Riddle found out what happened, you were screwed. The best course of action you chose was to do your best to act like a normal hedgehog. That should be easy enough, right? Wrong! You didn’t know anything about how they acted and that fact alone made you declare this operation a failure.

Riddle walked away from the gardens and into the dorm building, your grip on his clothes tight because you were afraid of falling. Riddle felt the sudden shift on his shoulder and barely felt your claws ghosting over his clothes. He thought it was a bit strange, were you afraid of heights? But he paid it little to no mind as he continued walking and pushed open the door.

The students sitting in the common room suddenly stiffened up—they were first years and it was only natural that they were afraid of the strict Riddle Rosehearts. They stood up and greeted Riddle almost immediately, like soldiers.

"D-Dorm Leader!"

“Calm down, I’m not here to reprimand you or anything.” Riddle was irked at the way they visibly relaxed after saying that but he didn’t bother bringing it up. He scooted closer to them as he showed them the hedgehog on his shoulder.

“Do you know where this came from?”

Of course, the students could barely understand his question. They didn’t know the hedgehog was an extra head inside the cage and assumed that it was a normal hedgehog, so they answered:

“That’s a hedgehog, Riddle-senpai. It came from the cage they’re being kept in.”

“Of course I know that, I meant for this one specifically! It wasn’t here before.”

“M-Maybe it came from the forest and got lost?”

“It’s likely but how would it get inside the cage? That means a human probably put it in there.”

“Well… we don’t know.”

Riddle let out a sigh, trying to keep it together. It was going to be hard for him to find the culprit so he thought, just for a second, that maybe he should just let it stay inside the dorm. It wasn’t as if the world would end if he did, after all. But something deep inside his guts told him that he shouldn’t let go of this so easily. He dismissed the students and went to his room as he picked you up from his shoulder and into his palms.

“Where in the world did you come from…?” He brought you closer to his face and you felt like your heart was about to stop. His eyes widened as he made a sudden discovery. Magic? He felt the faintest bit of magic coming from you and that was enough to tell him that he should get to the bottom of this. But first—he needed an afternoon snack inside his room. After all, a queen should never make do without tea and snacks.

There was nothing more relaxing than having his favourite blend of tea in the afternoon accompanied by little snacks and biscuits that were served in little platters and teacups adorned with rose designs. It was to be expected as he was stuck in a dorm that was founded by the Queen of Hearts, it wasn't as if Riddle minded though—in fact, he grew fond of it. Daintily, he picked up his fork and took a small piece of his strawberry tart before putting it inside his mouth. Relishing in the burst of flavours that bloomed inside his mouth before turning his gaze to the small creature crawling on the table.

If you were already nervous back then, you didn't know how much more nervous you are now. You felt bad for feeling like you're deceiving him but at the same time, it wasn't as if you had a choice at all! Pushed into this seemingly hopeless situation, you wondered what would happen if somehow you transformed back into your original body right now. You shook your head and made yourself stray away from those thoughts—they never tend to end well once you think about them.

You tried distracting yourself by looking around the table and a certain snack caught your eye. You slowly made your way to it, your little feet pitter-pattering against the wooden material. Strawberry shortcake. Surely you were a tiny bit hungry after everything that occurred and not once did you get the chance to sit down and eat since you refused to eat the same food the other hedgehogs in the cage ate. You couldn’t help but look longingly at the small platter.

Riddle stopped halfway when he was about to take another bite out of his tart as he caught sight of you. Now, he wasn’t well-versed in the language of hedgehogs but it didn’t take an idiot to realize that you were hungry. He was a sucker for the rules of the Queen of Hearts but he wasn’t heartless. There was no harm in feeding you a little bit of that cake, right?

“Hm,” he contemplated for a split second, “just one small piece, okay?”

He took a small piece with his fork and nudged it towards you, expecting you to eat it. It took you a few seconds to understand what’s going on. Riddle, of all people, was feeding you. You didn’t know if you should be happy or not since you were in your hedgehog form but once you thought about it—didn’t you say earlier that it must be nice being a hedgehog spoiled by Riddle? Did the Great Seven up above hear you and decided to grant your wish?

Nonetheless, you took this as an opportunity. Who knows when you’ll get this close to Riddle ever again. You tasted the cake, eyes lighting up as you felt the sweetness of the frosting spread inside your mouth. You quickly took another bite until you finished everything with a content look. Riddle propped his elbow against the table and rested his chin on the center of his palm, looking at you with gentle eyes.

"...Somehow you remind me of a certain person." Riddle suddenly spoke up, his tone wary as he squinted at your figure. Your actions suddenly became more languid as you realized that perhaps the root of his suspicion was because of your erratic movements.

Surely he doesn't know it's me, right…!?

"(Y/N)," you froze up. "You remind me of them for some reason."

You went through the possible list of reasons how he came to that conclusion inside your head as you felt your heartbeat beat faster. For some reason, this whole scenario felt like it came straight out of a horror film. Out of all the names he could’ve said, he chose to say yours. The panic subsided as you suddenly grew curious about what exactly reminded him of you.

There was the slightest, smallest, unlikely chance that it was because he liked you but that was too far-fetched, right? Your imagination was going wild and unknowingly, you let out a small squeak. Riddle chuckled at the sudden sound, the corners of his lips tugging up into a smile. He stopped to think for a moment, he was alone, right? There was no one else in the room but the hedgehog and him, right? He took a deep breath.

“Speaking of them, something has been on my mind right lately… and it’s bothering me to no end.” He started, a downcast expression was on his face and you couldn’t help but worry. Did you perhaps do something to upset him? The thought itself made you panic inside. You couldn’t help but scoot away from him a little.

“I think I like them.”

What.

WHAT!?

You wondered if turning into a hedgehog made your hearing worsen or Riddle just made a mistake. There was no way what you heard was right, right? But, even then, Riddle had a slightest tint of pink spreading on his face as he looked down in slight embarrassment. It was hard to believe that he didn’t mean it or that he made a mistake in what he said. You felt your heart explode at the sudden realization and discovery.

“But the problem is that I think they’re avoiding me. I’m a bit afraid that they don’t like me,” Riddle sighed, “not a lot of people like me after all.”

“That’s not true!” is what you wanted to say had it not been for the fact that you can’t. But as they always say—actions speak louder than words. You scooted closer to his hand on the table and placed one of your front paws over his hand, hoping that he would take it as a form of reassurance. His eyes widened slightly at the sudden gesture, surprised that maybe the hedgehog understood his feelings and tried comforting him.

“Eh, you’re full of surprises aren’t you? Did you actually understand what I said?”

Without thinking it through, you nodded.

“Ah-! You really do… that’s strange. But anyway, thank you for your reassurance. Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to confess b-but that’s not important right now, I need to find out where you came from.” Riddle urged you to go to the palm of his hand and you complied with no complaints. He lifted you until you were at eye-level with him.

“Let’s continue looking, shall we?” Before he let you go, he placed a kiss on your head as a sign of endearment. You swore you were about to let out another squeak until a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared from nowhere and you felt your body get bigger as you closed your eyes shut.

You wrapped your arms around Riddle’s neck so as not to fall and you felt his arms go under your shoulders and knees as he let out a surprised noise—realizing he was carrying you when the smoke thinned out. His eyes widened in surprise and his face was as red as his face when he looked at the person he was carrying. There was no way. No absolute way this was happening to him.

You stared at him nervously, face red as you violently wondered why the spell suddenly went undone. Trey never mentioned anything about a kiss being able to undo it so why…!? Countless questions took over your mind but there was only one thing you could focus on right now.

What do I do now?

“Ahaha… Hi Riddle…” Nervously, you started.

“Y-Y-You…”

“It’s me, (Y/N)...!” You had the feeling this wasn’t going to end well.

“M-My confession…”

“Oh yeah, about that I—”

“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!”

Extra:

"E-Eh!? That came from Riddle-senpai's room right now. Do you think he's okay?" A random student asked the person beside them, crossing their arms as a pensive expression took over their face.

"Hmm, do you think we should check? Or tell Trey-senpai?" The other suggested. But as soon as Trey's name was uttered, he emerged from the hall with a satisfied grin on his face—as if he accomplished something great.

"Don't worry about Riddle, he's just having a little bit of fun with someone right now." He chuckled, not doing well to ease the students' worries.

"Trey-senpai...? Oh, he's gone. What do you think he meant by that?"

[paper-n-ashes]

The Late Shift

Characters: Paul Sevier x Female Reader

Words: 2k

Warnings/Tags: There’s actually none (I hope). I know. I’m surprised too.

Authors Note: This is so dumb. I’m aware. Look, I’ve been dealing with a horrendous writers block and shattered confidence and I made Paul Sevier gifs to ease my pain. It turned into this. I just wanted to try something a little cute and fluffy to get back into the swing of things. So... here it is.

*

It was going to be a long night.

Stuck on the Wednesday evening shift for the third time this month, you mindlessly fiddled with the pen in your hand. Twirling it between your fingers, your mind drifted away from the present moment, wondering why your boss seemed to dislike you so much to keep you here past 6pm in the middle of the week. He’d always been adamant this was prime selling time for this boutique suit store, with corporate clients needing to do their shopping outside of normal business hours.

You, however, knew keeping this place open was senseless, barely seeing more than a few unenthusiastic customers in these agonizingly slow stretches. Working on commission also made you all the more bitter about being paid minimum wage to stand behind a counter and doodle sketches of imaginary clients dressed in the outfits you personally tailored. This isn’t where you thought a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design would take you, that’s for sure.

“H-hello,” you heard a deep voice quietly greet you, startling you into focus. “Are you busy? I… think I need a little help.”

Eyes flickering up from the notepad, you were sure your pupils blew wide at the sight of the man in front of you. Standing at an imposingly large height, his hair a severely murky shade of black, with honeyed irises shining brightly behind delicate spectacles.

A human personification of tall, dark and handsome. Well, except for the clothes.

The stranger wore the layered combination of a grey tweed jacket and argyle patterned sweater, arranged over a particularly heinous, mustard-coloured button up. While the ensemble made you internally cringe, it gave him an air of intelligence, like the kind that hangs around stuffy, old college professors who have more academic accolades than you have fingers and toes.

“Me?” you coughed out, knowing full well you were the only other person in this tiny little shop. “Uh, yeah. I mean- No, no I’m not busy. What is it you need help with?” Even when you stood, the man towered above you, making you silently begin to calculate the high-numbered measurements you’d need to fit him in something.

“I have an important meeting scheduled for Friday. You know, the type you need to wear a suit to?” Evidently the thought of it made him nervous, as you noticed his cheek twitch slightly, his eyes scanning momentarily at the garments filling the space. “I’m… uh… not so great with clothes.”

Clearly, you chuckled inside your head, holding the word from your tongue. “You want me to pick out something for you?”

He took a defeated breath, his mouth twisting into an awkward yet wonderfully endearing smile. “Would you mind? Only if it’s not too much trouble.”

“No trouble!” you burst, maybe a little too excitedly. “It’s my job!” Bounding out from behind the counter you’d been imprisoned by, you moved directly to the section of classic navy business suits. Slim line. Something to accentuate his well-built frame, rather than hide it away. You had to pause, swivelling back around to the dumbfounded man. “Is price an issue… uh…?”

“Paul,” he answered for you, slowly moving to where you stood. “And… I suppose not. Probably should spend the money on something that will last. If you think it’s a good idea.”

Oh thank god, you mused without showing the relief on your face. He’s not some rich asshole trying to flash his cash. “A good suit can last you five years, if you treat it right.” Your hand reached over to graze one of the deepened blue sleeves of a jacket at your left. “And a classic colour will never go out of style.”

Paul let out an embarrassed chuckle. “I think you’ve already noticed how lacking in style I am…” He glanced to your nametag, murmuring your name with a goofy smirk curling his lips. You’d never seen a grown man, especially not one of this stature, appear so adorable. It was horribly distracting.

“I’m sure you have expertise in other areas,” you stumbled, realizing only when the words came out how offensive they might seem. Yet Paul conceded to your comment, his rumbling laugh making your chest feel tight.

“Debatable,” he shrugged. “I’m just glad I found some qualified personnel to help me in this instance.”

Oh boy. Humble and charming? You were in so much trouble. Surely someone as sweet as this had another waiting for them at home. “I’m sure your partner could help you pick out something nice too.”

“Not an option in my case.”

Shit. Single too. You were truly fucked.

You turned, trying to calm your erratic heartbeat by focusing on finding an outfit that would contain his longer limbs. Plucking out a matching jacket and trouser set, with an ivory, collared button-up, you offered them to Paul, his features having melted into a sweetened look of intrigue. “Go and try these on. There’s a changeroom just behind the counter. See how they feel, and we can go from there.”

He nodded, taking the pieces with both of his large hands and shuffling away to where you’d pointed to. No sooner than the latch had locked were you dashing to where your phone was sitting at the register, flitting out a rushed text message to your favourite co-worker.

There was rustling you heard emanating from the changeroom stall, doing your best to ignore the urge of picturing Paul, a man you’d met only minutes ago, gradually slipping off his clothes to reveal the toned muscles underneath. You grimaced at yourself, shaking your head to banish the imaginations. God this was unprofessional.

Finally, a response lit up on your phone screen.

You laughed softly through your nose, about to type a reply when you heard the lock click open again. The breath in your lungs was stuck as Paul made his way out, the expensive textiles draping over his burly frame in a way that made your whole body tense.

He rustled a hand through his hair, looking up to you while fidgeting with the starchy material stretched over his chest. “Does it look okay?”

After all these years working this job, the enticing novelty of attractive men in well-fitted suits had slowly worn off, especially when most of them treated you with about as much respect as the used gum they spit out onto the sidewalk. Suddenly, all those preconceived notions were gone. On Paul, this ensemble instantly became the most captivating thing in the entire universe.

The inside of your mouth flooded with saliva, having to swallow hard before speaking again. “Great… it looks… great.” You did your best to conceal a settling exhale. “What do you think? How does it feel?”

Paul shifted to look at his reflection in the mirror, pupils trailing up and down, flexing his limbs in an attempt to get a proper impression of the new apparel. “It feels really good. Makes me look… sophisticated.” He turned to you, his expression unsure. “Right?”

Your smile was sparkling, nodding to his question. There was a small amount of work to do, noting how in your effort to make sure everything complemented his physique, you’d oversized him. The waistline of the jacket needed to be taken in, the shoulder lines sitting slightly off, and the trouser length needing to be taken up slightly. “A couple of adjustments and it’ll be perfect.”

“You mean taking it to be tailored?”

“No need.” You pulled out the wheel of berry pins from your pocket, kneeling down on the floor next to Paul’s feet. “All our tailoring is included in the price. Done completely in house.” You began to fold the bottom edge of his pants, pinning it to an adequate length. “I can have it ready for you tomorrow, all ready for your Friday meeting.”

“You do all the tailoring yourself?” Paul asked as you slinked another pin through the fabric.

“Sure do,” you chirped, moving onto the other leg. “3 years at a design school taught me a few things about cutting and sewing.” With the hemlines in place, you straightened in front of him, plucking out a roll of measuring tape from your other pocket. “I just… need to take a few measurements to properly alter the jacket.”

His cheek twitched, the line of his jaw seeming somewhat strained. “Sure. F-fine. Do what you gotta do."

You went with determining his arm length first, feeling out the boney point of his shoulder and striping the lined tape all the way down to his wrist. Then, after taking a deep inhale, you curled your arms around his hips, focusing hard on the little black numbers to ignore the fact Paul’s breath had started to skate over your skin with this close proximity. It was when you were lining up the thickened stripes indicating his chest circumference that you made the mistake of peering up, finding his alluring stare fully concentrated on you.

There was a moment. A spark to waiting kindling. Where impulse could have led you to do a dangerous thing. You’d never been the hasty type, never acted without considerable thought. Usually so shy and composed, never making the first move. Although right now, you could scarcely hold yourself back, desperate to know the sensation of Paul’s lips, how they’d move over yours, what they tasted like.

No. This was so inappropriate.

The compulsion was about to wither away when you felt a hand skim up your waist, the lightened touch shooting a thrill over your skin.

“Excuse me,” a gruff voice called from your side. “How much are these dress socks?”

You immediately stepped back, smacked into reality again. “$12.99. Exactly what it says on the box.”

The older gentlemen scrutinized the packaging, lids narrowed until he finally saw the numbers plastered at the border. “Oh, right. Eh, a little expensive for my taste. Thanks anyway.”

Flustered, you began to coil the measuring tape into its resting spiral, forcefully glaring at the floor. “I’m all done. You can get dressed into your own clothes now.”

In your periphery you saw Paul regarding you with a gentle nod, walking back into the changeroom without another word. Every part of you wanted to sink beneath the wooden floorboards, so horrendously embarrassed you could feel a smoldering heat prickle at your cheeks. Only to relieve some of the nervous energy, you ran to your phone.

Again, Paul was exiting out of the stall just as you were going to submit your reply, placing the neatly arranged garments over the counter. It was difficult to look directly at him, having to summon all remaining shards of your courage to drift your eyes up to his face. “Was there anything else you needed?”

His mouth parted, only to quickly snap shut, scratching at his hairline in the seconds it took for him to give you a response. “No. Nothing else. Unless there’s something more you think I need.”

You shook your head, wishing you could give another answer just to keep him here. “You’re all set.” The full price of his items flashed on the monitor in front of you, spouting it to him as your fingers flicked across the keyboard to finalize the purchase, with a personal discount that wouldn’t show on the receipt.

“When should I come by to pick it up?” he queried, passing you his credit card. “Oh, but there’s no pressure. Whenever you have the time is just fine.”

An idea flared. “If you give me your number, I can text you when it’s ready.”

“That works for me.”

Erasing all evidence of the conversation you’d been having, you brought up the number pad, handing your phone over. Paul swiftly typed in his details before placing it back in your palm. ‘Paul the Suit Guy’ the contact read, unable to stifle your laugh.  

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” His eager expression made your heart quiver through a beat.

“Y-yeah,” you stammered. “I’ll see you then.”

Paul waved his hand in an awkward flourish to signal his goodbye, eventually moving far enough from your vision for you to finally take a full, relaxed breath. In a dazed hurry, you keyed in your returning message to your co-worker.

It was the precise moment your thumb had pressed into the ‘Send’ button that you realised your recipient wasn’t the one you’d intended.

You’d sent this message straight to Paul.

Fuck. Oh fuck. This was bad.

While you were scrambling to formulate a believable excuse, a new message popped up onto the screen.

Tags for my lovelies who might tolerate this nonsense: @tlcwrites @roanniom @princessxkenobi @hopeamarsu @blowthatpieceofjunk @mariesackler @leatherboundriot @foxilayde @modernpaw @cornmousequeen @direnightshade @safarigirlsp @blackberries45 @mylifeisactuallyamess @caillea @jynzandtonic @beskarbabs​

[rsgguk]

true love, almost always — jjk

↳ aka — 'cause baby you're perfect for me

summary: y/n didn't know much about her soulmate. She knows that he's artistic from the little doodles that appears on her arm. She knows he's athletic from the scrapes that appears on her knees. She also knows that he has pain in the ass friends from the random dick drawings that appears on her forehead

genre: romance, angst, comedy, fluff

word count: 5.8 k

pairings:

Jungkook + reader | soulmates

warnings: so let me tell you, this is probably gonna be a bit inconsistent, I had written most of this during the middle of the night when I had a severe case of the feels. Now this isn't my usual style of writing, most things are in passive form because I'm trying to focus more on how they feel. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back to this writing style but I had fun generally not worrying on the dialogue.

Y/n didn't know much about her soulmate. In a system where everything marked on your soulmates skin crosses on yours, she knows from the seemingly many doodles that appears on the plan of her hand that he is an artistic person. She knows from the way her knees would appear scraped at times meant that he was either athletic or desperately clumsy. She knows that by the scar that daunted on her cheek that he got in a ’fight’ with his brother. She also knows from the random dick drawings that appear on her forehead that he has the most chaotic of friends.

Jungkook would like to say he knew a lot about his soulmate. He knows by the way tiny little hearts would appear near his doodles that she wasn't the most artsy person in the world, but she could draw a damn to near perfect heart. He knows by the way that small little freckles would gloss over his skin that she was an outgoing person. He knows by the way that shallow cuts would appear on his arms and fingers that she had an asshole cat. He also knows that by the way tiny reminders would appear on his palm that she had a knack for forgetting things (he also knows that her handwriting might be the cutest thing he'd ever seen, but he may be a little biased).

They're sober to the fact that the other exist by the time they're 11. Jungkook was bored in class and started drawing little clouds, trees, the sun with shades on, the whole package on his arm. And then on the expanse of his palm would appear in large curvy letters, 'can you draw a cat?'.

He thinks back to the day and guesses that he didn't really understand the extremity of the situation back then. Everyone had a soulmate, but it was the first time he'd actually 'talked' to his.

He didn't gasp or scream or shed a tear, only complying with her request and drawing a cute little cat next the tree trunk. He'd think he was hallucinating about the request until he watched as a ribbon was drawn and coloured in the middle of the cat's head.

The next week, he would have a fight with his brother that had ended in him getting a cut on his cheek. He doesn’t worry about it, only locking himself in his room and sulking in his sheets. It’s when a few words appeared on his palm that he finally sat up with a smile on his lips. She would write down if he was okay because a cut had appeared on her cheek.

‘I’m sorry’ he’d write.

‘it’s okay my daddy said I look cool’ she would reply, and his cheeks would flush because his mom had always said that a woman’s face was her pride. Jungkook had never understood it back then, because if he could be covered in dirt after a fun game of soccer, and still be called adorable, why should it matter what a girl’s face looked like?

She’d ask what happened and Jungkook would bite down an embarrassed whine. ’My brother said I played with the computer too much so I threw a pen at him’.

‘did you win?’ She’d ask a second later.

’No it hit the floor and bounced to my face’.

‘and then he laughed at me’

‘your brother sounds stupid’

‘he is stupid’

They didn't talk more than that, they were still young and the whole soulmates thing hadn't made sense yet. Jungkook still drew his doodles on his arm and she'd add little details (mostly hearts) around them, a tiny reminder that she was there.

It was barely considered a means of communication but it had morphed into a sense of comfort for Jungkook. He draws the little doodles, sometimes it was of a cat (He would never admit it but he'd learn how to draw a cat because he knew she liked cats). And each time without fail, she'd draw a tiny ribbon on its head.

And then Jungkook entered high-school and he met his friends. His stupid, chaotic, love them to death friends and his soul mate was still there, drawing little heart across his skin. The boys say its cheesy (as cheesy as it is to the fact that she's literally his soul mate) but he really hadn't given a shit.

He'd considered himself a romantic throughout the years, although he's gotten not a single bit of experience, he cries at the ending of titanic every single time and his ideal way of proposal is during the sunset walking across the shoreline of the beach, nightlights littered in the scenery and him on one knee, asking to marry his one and only soulmate.

He tries his best to keep up a mature kind of facade for his soul mate. Afterall, that was what they were into right? Older and more mature men. Sure, they'd like bad boys too, but honestly Jungkook bruises like a peach. His act of maturity consists of drawing thing with 'deeper meaning'. And yes, maybe a cat surfing on the beach tides has a deeper meaning, you never know.

His act is ruined when one day, he falls asleep during lunch after a long night of overwatch (in which he dominated by the way) and wakes up to Taehyung snickering beside him, looking at him with the largest shit eating grin he’d ever seen. Jungkook would shake his head and roll his eyes, dismissing whatever it was that he did.

Later during class, everyone kept giving him weird looks, and his teacher even laughed at the sight of him. It wasn’t until multiple frowney faces appeared on his arm that he really realized that something was wrong. His heart skipped a beat when he answered back with question marks written along her doodles.

‘there’s a dick drawing on my forehead :(’ she’d rely with the same curvy letters he’d gotten used to. And then there was a sound that had left his mouth. A mix between an angry scream and a surprised gasp with a little bit of an embarrassed groan. He’d then realize he was still in the middle of class and that every one of his classmates were staring at him.

His teacher would give him some sort of look between annoyed and amused, and finally asks ’so you finally realized huh?’. Jungkook would splutter on his words and immediately turn towards Jimin and Taehyung. It was barely a second before Jimin had shook his head and pointed at Taehyung. He would finally lift his hand off his mouth and bursts out laughing for a minute or two before outright choking, tears in his eyes.

That day, Jungkook along with Taehyung and (for some reason) Jimin would be sent to the discipline teacher. Jungkook wouldn’t give a shit about being sent to devil���s incarnate, only silently punching Taehyung’s shoulder and cussing it out at him for making him look like a fool to his soulmate.

When he’s home (after a lecture from his mom, a pat on the back from his dad and a high five from his brother), he locks himself in his bedroom and takes a pen from his bag, writing apologies all over his arm. She’d reply a minute later, saying it was okay.

His fingers would then drum along his arm, his leg jumping up and down, trying to figure out what else to say to her. He’d get up the courage and ask her what was her name. She’d respond with y/n and he’d have a smile riding up his lips, saying her name again and again, realizing that he loved how it felt to say her name.

Then the two of them would keep talking to each other, Jungkook constantly rolling up his sleeve to make some room for more words. They would spend the whole night getting to know each other and filling up a whole decade of silence. When they had run out of room to write, she would go on and ask for his number so they could text instead, and Jungkook would get up to his feet, jumping up and down on his heels. He wouldn’t waste a second to write down his number on the little space he had left.

The next day, he had woken up with an especially good mood. An extra jump on each of his step, a large grin on his face as if he hadn’t gotten into trouble for having a dick drawn on his forehead just the day before. Taehyung would expect a more than pissed of Jungkook, maybe a little bit of pettiness in the mix, but Jungkook shows nothing but adoration for him, even going as far as to buy him the apple juice he knows he loves from the convenience store nearby.

Texting her falls so easily in his routine. One second, he’s hesitant to text her, afraid to show her just how much of a dumbass he could be, another second, he’s called her the fifth time in a day because he swears a baby just gave him a nasty look. They connect quickly. She finds out the reason she suddenly gets eye bags after a full night’s sleep with because her idiot soulmate had spent the whole night screaming at wario for cheating at Mario kart.

Taehyung says it’s sickening to see just how lovey dovey Jungkook was (Jimin says it’s nice to see him so in love, but they both knew he secretly hated it too). The way his eyes light up at the sight of her name appearing on his screen.

He gets in trouble more nowadays though, teachers having caught him talking to his soulmate on his arm, and the most embarrassing time they read out his not-so-failed attempts of flirting off his arm to the whole class. Let’s just say he’d gotten teased for the life of him when it reached his brother’s ears (though he supposes his brother isn’t any better when he would literally be a make shift carpet if his soulmate asked for it). The Jeon boys treat their women like proper queens and won’t settle for anything less.

The first time they video call, Jungkook has fixed his hair for the hundredths time, a comfortable (and new that he bought just for this occasion) sweatshirt hung loosely on his shoulders. She’d asked if it was okay if they could do a video call the day before and Jungkook being as whipped as he was, of course agreed with her, only regretting not to be the one who asked first.

He’s so tense that when his phone starts ringing, he nearly chucks it off to the wall. He forces himself to calm down before setting it up on the table and pressing the green button after taking a deep breath. He looks at the screen and watches as her face appears. His heart almost bursts, because he’s thought of this moment a million times. He’d expect her to be something like a glowing figure, that she’d resemble a star and that her voice would sound like a serenading angel.

She’s nothing like he’d expect. She’s not glowing like an angel. Her camera has bad lighting and he could see a few strands of her hair sticking out. When she says hello, it isn’t like an angel, her voice isn’t smooth, a little raspy. But she still manages to surpass all his expectations, and he realizes she’s so much better than he’d ever imagined. His heart beats faster and faster because she’s only said one word, and Jungkook is already falling for her. She’s not perfect, but she’s perfect for him.

It’s going well, very well. There’s a way that she makes him feel, a way that just brightens up his day, and when they have their video calls and she laughs at one of those lame jokes that he’d gotten from one of his friends, her voice just soothes him, lets him relax into his seat and just watch as her eyes crinkle in joy.

 It starts to become a routine, the video calls are weekly but the texting is daily. Whenever he’s nervous about an upcoming exam, he calls her and just listens to her talk about her day, lets her voice fill his ear and calm his nerves. And then she would get off track and asks why is it that he had called her and he’d brush it off, he called to hear her voice, but he won’t say that because it’s too cheesy and he has a reputation to keep.

It’s during one of his classes that he feels it, a gut wrenching feeling deep in his stomach that has him groaning. It’s a different type of pain, nothing like nausea or a muscle cramp, because he’d always considered himself as a person with a great pain tolerance, but at that moment, he had just felt like curling in a ball and crying. Jimin and Taehyung would take him to the clinic immediately, and he’d just have tears rolling down his cheeks, and he’s sniffling and making these weird choking sounds when he tries to smother down his sobs.

He stays there for a while, the curtains draped closed with Jimin and Taehyung just rubbing his back soothingly. He tries to calm down, but every so and then, a sob bubbles up to his chest and a new wave of tear roll down his cheeks. It stays like that for an hour and the pain in his stomach travels up to his chest. His right arm starts to ache and dizziness starts to seep in his head. He falls asleep in the clinic bed, his whimpers slowing down and his eyes drooping heavily.

When he’s back at home, he doesn’t try to talk to his parents. They’d come visit now and then, giving a few hugs and pats on the back. His brother would come by when Jungkook had calmed down a bit, ruffling his hair and saying ‘it’s going to be okay’. But that’s the thing, there isn’t an ‘it’ to be okay. For all he knew, ‘it’ was all okay, everything was going okay in class, but then there was this rush of emotion that came over him and he’d just double over in pain. There was this burning sensation in his gut, something that hadn’t been building but more of an eruption. And then it would slowly cascade to his chest, and then he’d start crying and crying, choking on his sobs.

He’s in his sheets, listening to the sounds of pans clanging from the downstairs kitchen. His mom was cooking dinner, but he doubted that he’d go down to have some himself. The sound of the washing machine clashing against itself. That old thing was always just waiting to give out. The sound of the TV running from the living room. There was always some sort of game his dad would be watching, cheering on for teams he’d never even heard of. These are all sounds he’d never realized he’d taken comfort into. Such meaningless things that were just always there, a consistency that had always reassured him in some way.

He’d just lays there, listening to his own heartbeat. For the first time in hours, he feels relaxed and his breath relax into a steady pace. His eyes almost drift to sleep, because It's been a long day and Jungkook feels exhausted, but then there’s this loud blaring noise that breaks the silence. He knows what it is, someone had gone up and called him again. It would be the sixth call he’d get from his friends.

Only it turns out that it wasn’t his friends, it wasn’t Jimin, nor Taehyung or even Yoongi. It was her, and it terrified him because he’d always smile at the sight of her name, but there was this raw and intense feeling that had him wanting to decline the call. It terrified him because she’s his soulmate and supposedly the ’love of his life’ but he had wanted nothing more than to hang up the call. And it just stays like that, him wallowing in the fact as his phone had stopped ringing, and then a few seconds pass and her name appears again. His arm would suddenly feel heavy at the weight of the phone in his hand. Slowly, he would finally tap on the green button.

Her voice hits him like a wave. Jungkook doesn’t even have the chance to say anything when her voice starts filling his ears. Her voice is raspy and broken, there’s sniffling and whimpering as she rushes through her words. ’I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ she whispers in uneven breathes, and he would have stopped her, to comfort her and ask her why she was crying and that ’it’ was going to be okay. But then there is this sudden realization that hits him that ’it’ wasn’t going to be okay, and he probably wasn’t going to be okay. So, he just sits there as new tears roll down his cheeks.

When she finally speaks, everything just dawns on him. He felt like he was dying because his soulmate had kissed someone, he felt like dying because his soulmate had kissed someone that wasn’t him, he felt like dying because his soulmate’s first kiss wasn’t him, and will never be him. And then all of her other words just go straight through his other ear. He doesn’t hear it when she says that she didn’t want it, or when she says that she didn’t know it was going to happen until it happened, or when she says that she also felt the pain, the suffocating and unrelenting pain, that she also felt like she was dying.

He hears it when she says she loves him.

Jungkook has always one for cheesy romances and tear-jerking speeches. He imagines their first exchanges of ‘I love you’ to be at night, with a sea of stars sunken in the night sky because that was where they would have their first kiss. She would have his jacket that was a little too big for her on her shoulders because the night was breezy and his mom raised him to be a gentle man. Her hands would be in his because she always has cold hands and he always has warm hands.

He would talk about the ‘old times’ like when he had drawn those little cats for her or when he’d waken up to many frowney faces along his arm because his friends yet again drew dicks on his forehead (he should really get some proper sleep). And then he’d try to coax a few tears out of her and end it off with ’I love you’, and because this was Jungkook’s imagination of how things would go, she would also say I love you, and they’d kiss in the night sky.

Jungkook then realizes that nothing he’d imagined will ever go as planned, that they will never have a first kiss, because she’d already had hers with some random asshole, and that they’d never have their first ‘I love you’, because she had already said it through the phone while they were both out of breath and sobbing every drop of tear from their bodies.

He doesn’t realize it, but when he’d finally gotten out of his phase, the call had already ended and his cheeks had become tear stained and his sobs had calmed down to weak whimpers. He realizes that he’d just hung up on her after she’d said she loved him, and he just panics, because she’s going to think he doesn't love her and he should immediately call her and tell her that he loves her, because he does, he loves her like he’d never loved anyone before.

He’d started talking to her in his sophomore years and he was now a senior, and she'd been there in every step of the way. But he just doesn't, he doesn’t tell her he loves her, he doesn’t call her, because he doesn’t trust himself if he does. And she doesn’t call back either.

There are a few times when Jungkook forgets that y/n is his soulmate. He doesn’t know what he’d expect when he doesn’t talk to her in a week. It starts off small. He catches himself dozing off, looking into the distance and zoning out. His friends would ask him if he was okay and he’d reply with ’I’m fine’, even though he knew he wasn't, and that he knew they wouldn’t believe him anyway, because who the hell would be fine yet walk into the classroom with puffy and bloodshot eyes.

And then when class goes on like normal, he’s moving his leg up and down, fingers drumming along the desk, because he swears class had never been this long before. He realizes later that class had always gone on so fast because y/n was always there for him to talk to. He looks back at it as if it had happened years ago, as if he hadn’t talked to her in decades.

The truth is that they haven’t talked in no less than three days, yet he’s been missing her as if he’d gone days without a limb. A piece of him feels missing, torn apart from him and left out to dry. It’s a weird feeling, a suffocating feeling that has him yearning for her, that has him filling his mind with nothing but her. He supposes that was the thing with soulmates, when they were together, it had felt like he was he was over the moon, as if nothing could ever go wrong in his life, but when they were apart, it felt like he was missing a part of himself.

She would nag at him whenever he was bombarding her with doodles on his arm, waiting for her attention so she could drag him from his boredom of class. She’d say ‘you have class’ and he’d say ’I also have a soulmate, and I’d rather pay attention to her’. His friends would tease for it, for flirting and dancing around with her as if it was a game of push and pull, as if she wasn’t his soulmate.

That’s the thing that terrifies him, because as far as he had ever known, having a soulmate was the best feeling in the world. It’s all rainbows and roses, because it had meant that there will always be that one person that just gets you, that just loves you unconditionally for all your flaws and perfections, all your quirks and mishaps. That one person that will always be there for every step of the way. He yearns that, the comfort of knowing there was someone the universe had picked just for him, the missing piece to his puzzle.

And then he meets her, and he realizes just how perfect she is for him.

And then the whole fiasco happens and he realizes just how much it would hurt if he didn’t get his happy ending, because he knows it wasn’t uncommon for soulmates not to work out, usually from the intensity of their emotions for each other.

Having a soulmate had also meant other things. It meant that when you were together, you’d feel the happiest you’d ever be, but if you weren’t, you’d dread every second of your life. You’d feel pain, you’d feel nauseous, you’d feel your body start to crumble. Having a soulmate was almost like a drug, something so addicting that your body starts to dysfunction when you go a day without.

Jungkook still feels it sometimes, when he’s managed to get her out of his mind. There was this sudden jolt of pain that shoot up his chest, causing him to lose focus. And then all he can think about is her, her, her. He wonders if she feels it too, if she misses him too, if she thinks of him too. He realizes how stupid he is, because his phone is right there in front him, and he could end all of this with just one button.

Truth is he’d stopped mulling over the whole kiss thing a while ago, and that he should’ve called her a long time ago, but he was scared, scared of his own emotions, scared of how much he loved her, scared that this whole thing is going to destroy to him.

He wants to talk about this with someone, to anyone, but then it dawns on him that the only person he really wants to talk to about this was his soulmate, and that she was the only person he should be talking to about this. So, he picks up his phone and presses on the name he’d been missing for what felt like decades now.

She answers after no less than a few seconds. She speaks after a second’s hesitation, and her voice is filled with the sort of hope, as if she has done something wrong. Jungkook cuts her off when she starts on her little ramble (a habit he’d learn she had over the years) and apologizes, two words that hits her as hard as a brick. ‘I’m sorry’ he’d say again, and again and again. He says it until he can hear her start crying on the other end of the call. He knows she’s crying in a way that she’s trying to hide it from him, but he’d still hear her weak sniffles and whimpers.

It breaks his heart because he knows he never should’ve hung up on her that day, that he should’ve said that it was never her fault that ‘it’ happened, that he never thought of ‘it’ as her fault, that he was sorry ‘it’ had to happened in the first place

There’s a lot of things he realizes that he should have told her, so he doesn’t give her the time to say anything before he gets everything off his chest. He tells her everything. He tells her that he had never been upset with her, that he was upset with what happened to her. He tells her that he’s scared, no— terrified of how strong his feeling are for her, that the pain he felt that day was never what he’d ever experienced before. He tells her how much he had missed her during his period of stupidity when he decided not to talk to her, that he’d thought of her every second of the day.

And she just swallows in everything he tells her, listening to every word he says without a single interruption. And then they talk, talk, and talk until they shed more tears, because they’d never realized it, but they had always needed this. It’s a bit like clearing the air, speaking up about every and any hesitations they’d have.

They talk until their voices go dry and their eyes droop heavily. It isn’t until then that Jungkook realizes he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in days. Sleeping had always come easy to him, but during the past few days, he would lay down in his bed and just had this queasy and tense feeling.

When they’re nearing the end of the conversation, he knows there’s this one thing he hadn’t said yet, and he knows she’d been waiting for it too, those three simple words that had meant everything to them. He wants to say it, but there’s this one nerve in his stomach that causes his throat to close up when he tries to.

She finally ends the call after hours and hours of talking about their feeling and what they’d miss. Jungkook would again take out his pen, and write the words he’d meant to say in the palm of his hand. I love you.

Jimin shares a look with Taehyung when Jungkook comes to class the next day (he’s always late and it’s definitely not because of his poor excuse of a sleeping schedule), and the next thing he knows, they’re just screaming and hollering before running towards him. Jungkook swears he’s never felt more scared than he was at that moment, with the sight of his two best friends sprinting as if they were about to run them over like the untimely death of Mufasa.

And then they just hug him, stuff him with pats on the back and intense noogies. Jungkook just stands there, accepting it with the most confused expression ever. They go on about how glad they are that he got over whatever it was that had set him in such a sour and glum mood the past week and it puzzles him because he doesn’t remember being that much of a debbie downer.

They prove him otherwise by listing all the reasons he was such a pain to hang out with, because he’d somehow turned into a dictionary of depressing jokes and emo quotes. They end up finishing each other’s sentences, locking eyes when they say the same words and giving each other a bunch of high fives (Jungkook sometimes feels sorry for whoever their soulmates are, because the two of them are so in sync that they were already each other’s soulmate).

They’re interrupted when the teacher finally enters the class and tells everyone (specifically the two of them) to take a seat. They turn to Jungkook one final time and give him a pat in the back because they’re genuinely happy that the kid had no longer seemed so miserable.

Jungkook hadn’t thought hearing ‘I love you’ would change much for him. He’d heard it a dozen times from his parents (never from his brother, but let’s be honest, that’s to be expected) an amount more than you’d expect from Jimin and Taehyung (although Taehyung would say it more to annoy him and it works every single time), three times from Namjoon (which makes him grin more than it should) and once from Yoongi (now that one he wears like a golden medal).

Hearing it from his soulmate hits him in a totally different way. The conversation they had led them to get more comfortable in their relationships, this time acknowledging each other in a more romantic way. The way she says ‘I love you’ during insignificant moments like during a goodnight text or his after his daily ramble on how his friends are a pain in the ass sends him in a sort of high. It makes him giggle and flush and swoon all in the same time. It makes him feel things in a way he never knew he could.

Jungkook would learn that he shouldn’t plan things out as much as he used to, lets himself enjoy the moment for a while. Takes one step at a time, and this time he’s not as terrified to his wits anymore. It turns out when he's not worrying about all of his 'plans', time happens to move so fast.

When he finally sees her, she's got her back turned towards him, she hasn't noticed yet.

Jungkook takes a moment to take it all in. Sparks don’t fly, his hands don’t sweat and his breathing doesn’t pace. There is no nausea or nervousness that bubbles up in his stomach. When he sees her, his heart starts beating faster, but it beats in a way that you see something familiar after a long time, there is this sort of comfortable feeling. There’s a moment of complete peacefulness and serenity when he sees her. He’d never felt more at home.

When she sees him, her knees almost buckle, because he’s there. The boy, the dumbass, her soulmate that she’d been talking to for years now is finally there, and he’s waiting for her, looking for her. Her eyes almost well up in tears and she hates it because she swore to herself, she’d done cried enough times in their relationship, she doesn’t need to add another one to it.

She cries anyways, and she guesses she doesn’t hate it that much after all. Jungkook had managed to overturn all her expectations of their relationship that she’s not surprised that he pulls this either. She’s always known that her forgetfulness would bite her in the ass one day and she guesses she can’t be mad when this happens.

‘4:30 java time café pick up’ and right below on her palm is his handwriting, the handwriting she’s grown to adore and look forward to all these years, is written ’I found you’.

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

Bloom Peters in: The Haunted Mansion of Mirrors.

A test of courage goes wrong and Bloom finds herself in over her head when the house turns out to actually be haunted after all.

Genre: horror, mystery, AU (but in a canon divergence way) Characters: Bloom, Kiko, OC Witch, OC Wizard, Mitzi, Andy Warnings: mentions of blood, general horror elements, dangerous bike riding etiquette Word Count: 2,679

This story is in summary format.

Bloom Peters in: The Haunted Mansion of Mirrors.

-

In an Alternate Universe where the Trix didn't manage to waylay Stella on her way to Alfea, Bloom spends part of her summer miserable until she winds up running into her ex and his friends at a local juice bar at the same time as Mitzi.

Mizti is in the middle of telling her friends about a story she'd heard from someone who'd been working for her parents, who've decided to try their hand at house flipping. (Mitzi presents it as a 'hobby' like buying, renovating and selling houses is normal and just for funsies when you're 'as rich as her parents'.)

The story she relays is about an old manor on the edge of Gardenia which has been vacant for decades after the whole family was mysteriously murdered.

“Which is why the house is, like, super haunted.”

Bloom doesn't care for ghost stories and scoffs at the idea, but not quietly enough. Mitzi jumps at the chance to call Bloom a coward and say she wouldn't last a minute in the house before she'd run screaming for her parents.

Bloom denies the accusation and says if anyone were to run away scared, it would be Mitzi.

Before anyone else can think better of it, the group is caught up in the idea, and suddenly making plans to stay the night in the 'haunted' manor.

Bloom guiltily tells her parent she's going to a sleep over (with Selina, who's not actually back from her vacation yet, but her parents don't know that) and prepares supplies.

Not trusting Mitzi to not try something, Bloom prepares to stay awake all night long.

She packs her good flashlight, the heavy duty one she got for camping, some jerky type snacks and two bottles of water, a note book and pens for doodling (including several colours because boredom), and she makes sure her cell phone is fully charged.

Of course she takes a blanket and sleeping bag and pillow and sleep over snacks, because they're supposed to be staying all night, but she makes Kiko stay home, because taking him is sure to end badly.

(He stows away in her bag and doesn't reveal himself until she arrives at the house.)

Bloom rides her new bike, leaving super early to make it on time. Luckily she manages to cross paths with some of the other group members as they're leaving the city limits, and Bloom illegally and unsafely by hanging onto the care (with permission) and they drive the last stretch to the manor. Mitzi is already waiting for them at the gates with the rest of the group and lets Bloom and the others in.

Straight away Bloom gets some seriously bad vibes, the kind that make her skin prickle with icy needles and make her want to puke and run. When the pull up in front of the house in the spacious driveway area, Bloom almost refuses to get off her bike.

But Mitzi calls Bloom a coward who couldn't even make it into the house, and Bloom's pride gets the better of her. Andy tries to comfort Bloom, but she just can't shake the feeling of wrongness in the house.

As the group enters (Mitzi opening the house with a set of keys she didn't actually ask her parents permission to borrow,) Bloom notices some strange carvings in the wood of the houses porch, etchings that seem to buzz in Bloom's perception of the world, but Andy says he can't feel anything, so Bloom tells herself that she's just psyching herself out and tries to shrug it off, ignore the voice inside her screaming warning after warning as it waves red flags.

The group has enough time to set themselves up in the 'living room' of the manor's ground floor before the sun goes down. They're just about to start playing cards when Kiko reveals himself, in clear distress.

Bloom says she'll take Kiko outside to use the bathroom, angrily snapping at Mitzi when the later sneers that Bloom is “running away already,” since Bloom isn't running away, she's being a responsible pet owner.

Only the door at the front of the house won't open, even when Mitzi tries the keys.

Andy and friends offer to try and find an open window for Bloom to get out through so she can deal with Kiko's 'over excitement', but Bloom feels a sudden panic at the idea of splitting up.

She can't explain it, but she feels like the pressure inside the house is increasing even though no one else can sense anything, and Kiko keeps getting more stressed.

Right before the pressure peaks, Bloom sees a blood covered woman who isn't in the room in the mirror over the living room's fireplace mantle, she looks to be screaming “GET OUT” and Bloom spins to shield Kiko as the mirror explodes outwards. She ducks down to make herself as small a target as possible for the shards and tries not to hurl as the entire world feels like it's dividing itself apart.

Bloom hears the others scream, but then everything goes quiet as the pressure and dividing sensation stops.

Bloom looks up surprised, and sees a glowing sphere of energy dissipate around her, the rest of the room empty and the mirror intact.

The group's supplies are where they'd been seconds before, but there's no sign of the group itself.

In the mirror Bloom can see herself reflected, Kiko in her arms and the strange woman behind her.

Bloom freezes, scared, she realises the woman is saying something, but she can only make out two of the words:

“ ? ? Get ? Out”

Slowly Bloom turns, but the room behind her is empty, and when she turns back, so is the mirror. Scared and feeling so out of her depth Bloom gathers her things, and wishes she'd brought her baseball bat.

Kiko seems scared but far less distressed than before, so Bloom makes a choice: she needs to figure out what happened to her schoolmates (and ex boyfriend), and if some freaky blood covered lady in a mirror thinks Bloom is going to run away and leave them to whatever horrible fate she's got in store for them, then that lady is about to find out just how wrong she is!

Bloom and Kiko move further into the house, slowly going through the rooms looking for any kind of clue.

They don't find anything, except the former owners maybe had a mirror fetish, but Bloom manages to sketch out a rough map in her notebook and noticed some strange wall thicknesses.

Then through the house comes the sound of a mirror breaking, and Bloom and Kiko go to investigate.

A mirror in one of the old bedrooms had a crack that is slowly repairing itself, and on the floor, where there hadn't been earlier, lies a note.

The words are written in reverse but Bloom can figure them out easily:

In the white fire place, to the blue seashells

The house is large enough for three fireplaces, one made of white marble, one made of black, and one made of red brick, so figuring out which one the note is about is easy enough.

The duo go to investigate. It takes a little while, but Kiko hops into the fireplace itself and finds a loose plate of thick ceramic at the back, coloured to look like the marble around it.

The move the fake stone and reveal a small compartment with a little chest inside.

There's no key hole but it seems to be locked, until Bloom gets frustrated enough to say “open damn you” out loud to it, and the lid pops open.

Inside she finds a small compact mirror, an enamelled seashell, and a note written in a language she feels like she should be able to read.

Not sure what do with their discovery, the pair head upstairs to the room with the mirror that has a frame of blue seashells, certain that's what the note's second half was about. Once there Bloom quickly realises the enamelled seashell from the chest fits into an indent at the top of the mirror's frame.

Not sure how it will help, but out of ideas on how to find her friends, Bloom presses the enamelled shell into place, a spark of energy dances around her fingers and the compact mirror seems to hum. When she grabs the compact the sparkle of energy surged into it and a small blue shell appears on the compact's casing. As Bloom holds it close to the mirror, the surface distorts and Bloom realises there is now a room beyond the mirror.

Stealing themselves, Bloom and Kiko step through the mirror.

Across the next several hours, Bloom and Kiko traverse various warped versions of the manor (all accessed through different mirrors in the (different) house(s) like the blue seashell framed mirror) to find 'dolls' of Bloom's missing schoolmates. The house(s are)is riddled with various traps, almost like puzzles, but is leaving notes and clues and snippets of a story.

Bloom finds herself glad that Kiko stowed away as he's able to get into spaces she can't and retrieve objects she needs. She feels like she's in a puzzle based horror game, or a haunted escape room, but it feels almost as if there are two separate builders.

She finally gets the idea to try holding the note from the fireplace box up to a mirror, and even though the language isn't English, Bloom can read the note just fine.

And Bloom slowly begins to realise the blood covered woman isn't trying to stop Bloom, she's trying to help her. (she didn't say “get out!” she said “can you get them out?!”)

The note from the box tells her what she's walked into the middle of:

A witch with a strange power over mirrors, a wizard who found immortality and was corrupted by evil, a request by the legendary wizard Merlin to guard the corrupted wizard's prison until a way to kill him could be found.

The box note was a warning she didn't read until too late, warning against entering the mirror worlds, but it is centuries old, something has h since it was written.

Luckily, notes from the mirrors, from the witch, Bloom realises, fill in the rest:

A crack in the prison when an occult ritual decades prior had almost wrenched the witch out of the mirror, a crack that widened as she found herself bound to answer an inane summoning ritual, pulled to the mirrors of so many houses the prisoner was able to slip some of his power past the wards and infect the inhabitants of the house.

As Bloom gets closer to her goal, she is plagued by the ghostly and corrupted remnants of the wizard's previous victims, and realises the wizards influence is over taking the witch's, and it might be Bloom's fault. The wizard's puzzles and traps had been holding her friends hostage while the witch's blocked the way between the worlds within the mirror. In order to rescue her friends who'd been pulled into the mirror world prison, Bloom had slowly been undoing the outer layers of protection which kept the wizard trapped.

So Bloom sets out to make things right and finds herself deep inside the world of the mirrors where she come face to face with the witch at last.

The woman introduces herself as Mary, Witch of Mirrors and Liminal Spaces, the keeper of the mirror worlds.

Now that they can talk face to face, Mary is able to explain that Bloom protected herself against the wizard's powers with her own magic. (Which is why her friends had any hope of rescue, the compact mirror Bloom's been using to pass between worlds is the only way to unlock the door out of the mirror worlds.)

Over Bloom's protests, Mary tells Bloom that she holds an immense magic within herself that has lain dormant for most of her life, but it might be able to trap the wizard once more.

But they'll have to start from ground zero, all the way in.

As they travel, (bypassing traps designed to kill Mary and tear the prison apart without it's maker to repair it,) Mary explains the history of the wizard, Cocytus, one of a Circle of 5 incredibly powerful magical users who'd gained a form of immortality by perverting the power of the One Who Created the Universe, The Great Dragon.

Ironically, Phlegethon, the Fairy who'd been responsible for the perversion of power and the last member of the Circle left standing, had been the only member of the Circle that had been killed, somehow struck down by her own sister. The other four members had been sealed away before that, hidden in various Artefacts meant to trap them for eternity, but there was no perfect prison.

The small group of three manages to make it to the inner most part of the prison, and there they face off against Cocytus, who for a few moments inexplicably seems to think Bloom is the deceased Phlegethon who's tricked her way to the depths of the prison to free him.

Then he realises she's not when Bloom begins to help Mary layer in new prison wards, and in his rage (at being 'tricked', and since the prison is at its weakest) manages to break free for revenge.

Mary and Bloom do their best, even Kiko lending what aid he can in the form of ankle biting and splinter throwing, but they almost loose until Bloom experiences an almost out-of-body moment.

She hears an ancient and powerful roar, feels gentle arms around her even as an inferno of strength rages through her.

She finds herself transformed.

A presence at the back of her mind helps her, teaches her what to do and Bloom unleashes the Wrath of The Dragon upon Cocytus, stripping him of his unearned Spark of immortality and allowing Mary to finish him off once and for all.

In the aftermath, Bloom makes sure her missing schoolmates are unharmed, and Mary walks her out of the mirror world.

At the final doorway, Bloom realises Mary isn't coming with her, even though her task is over. Mary explains that she's covered in blood for a reason, she'd sustained mortal injuries in the normal world, and if she leaves the mirror she'll likely die without immediate magi-medical attention which Bloom doesn't have the knowledge or skills to provide.

But she tells Bloom to keep the compact, because Mary can go wherever it goes, since it's actually an ancient Artefact of her power.

Bloom hugs the woman goodbye, and she and Kiko leave the mirror world at last, heading downstairs to fix the formerly missing group before the sun rises.

The group wakes with the sense that something horrific had happened, but none of them remember what beyond vague nightmare like impressions, and they can't explain why Bloom looks so tired yet satisfied, but they all just want to get out of the house and are relieved to find the door is no longer (magically) locked.

Back at home Bloom comes clean to her parents about her adventure, and Mike and Vanessa come clean about the circumstances around Bloom's adoption.

Mary is able to fill in some gaps for them where the Magical Dimension is concerned, speaking through the compact mirror after being summoned by Bloom.

(Three calls of “Bloody Mary” and an aggravated witch appeared in the glass with a huff and a “really?”)

Bloom is grounded for a few weeks, but she takes that time to learn some things from Mary, though Mary is a witch, not a fairy and thus can't teach Bloom everything she needs to know about magic.

In the wake of her adventure, since she has no way to contact let alone explore the Magical Dimension, Bloom wonders about other haunted houses and 'cursed' places around the world, and once her grounding is up, she convinces her parents to let her go tour a few haunted places.

She runs into a few more cases of actual magic, but with Mary's help and her own growing skills, Bloom manages to become her generations top paranormal investigator and exorcist.

[biasedwriting]

Skin Talk [VIXX, Leo] ||1||

Characters: VIXX’s Leo || OC

Soulmates au inspired by @animeotakupooh / @vixxscifiwritings ‘s soulmate au “Your Words on My Skin” as well as the discussions we had while she was writing it.

General concept :  In a world where the marks on your skin also show up on your soulmate’s.

Warnings : trash writing after a long time

Length : Two-shot

It started off bizarre when at the age of six or so, coloured streaks resembling marker marks appeared on his skin. He found it fascinating to be honest, the nonsensical green and red patterns that criss crossed over his arm, belly, and even his legs.

"My, your soulmate is a messy baby, Taekwoonie!" His mother claimed when he displayed this sudden phenomenon to her.  She had suspected his soulmate to have been born somewhere a year and a half ago when she spotted random birthmarks appearing on her son's skin all of a sudden, only to fade over the day. There would be new doodles every day, colours streaking across his skin and Taekwoon would gaze at them with fascination. The marks would fade over the day and new ones would appear the next. Sometimes he would doodle on his skin and wonder if the person on the other end could understand what was going on. Not that his doodles had any shape or form. Over the years, the meaningless scribbles on his arms took form and shape. Often circles, spiralling over his forearm. Sometimes, splatters of paint or ink, sometimes it was  thin scrawls written with a pen.

 Minah would wait, blinking at the empty spaces of her skin, waiting for some formless patch to appear like magic. Sometimes she felt like she was the only one talking; scribbling endlessly onto her skin, waiting with bated breath to get nothing. Oh, but the days the marks did turn up, she squealed, happy to see some oddly shaped monster (or rather, Taekwoon’s attempt at drawing a puppy) painted on her skin. Sometimes it would be to-do lists, odd observations, some days it would just be a pen squiggle appearing on her arm. It was random, strange, and infrequent.

 At fifteen, Taekwoon found the doodles on eyes on his forearms a little odd. He felt like he was constantly being watched. The random anime character names made him chuckle, but the little star on the edge of his wrist, that, he found very sweet as it stared back at him, dark in contrast to his pale palm.

 She smiled when she saw another small star appear right next to it. It reminded her of the fact that even if she felt alone and insignificant, at the tender age of eleven, there was always another star to help her shine. She pressed her lips to the star, smiling, knowing that she wasn’t alone.

 Taekwoon groaned in pain. This time the injury seemed to run deep and he was worried that his dreams of becoming a soccer player had been crushed. He sighed unhappily as he looked at the bruises on his body. The doctors had insisted that he stay in bed till he recovered, but boredom was killing him and all he could do was listen to the few tapes he had and stare at the ceiling.

 Then they appeared.

 The little bandage doodles appeared on every bruise. He blinked, following the lines that showed up taking the shape of a bandaid. His soulmate was watching. His soulmate knew. His soulmate was trying to help in their own strange way.

 Taekwoon  let out a laugh as tears pricked at his eyes and a small heart was scribbled right next to the biggest, most painful bruise. And all of the sudden, Taekwoon felt like everything would be okay.

 Taekwoon panicked when the skin around his eye purpled all of the sudden. There was no pain for certain so he knew that somewhere in the universe, something had caused his soulmate to injure themselves. Moments of panic were put to rest when he saw a scrawl appear on his forearm, written hurriedly. His first message from the person who was his soulmate.

“Sorry! I dropped the showerhead on my face by accident! I promise I’m not a punk! :3”

He let out a laugh, reaching for the marker on his desk to write out a “take care of yourself, silly.” right under the squiggly writing on his arm. He grinned when he saw “Thank you! I will! <3” appear right next to it.

They did write to each other frequently. They didn't know how to work this system out. But some days, Taekwoon would wake up to a “have a nice day”written across his palm. Some days he would wake up to lovely poetry written across his thigh.

 One day he woke up to  bruising on the back of his hands, the injection marks, and the single word “ill” written on his wrist which sent him into a worried frenzy. It was followed by silence for months as he wrote prayers onto his skin, feeling the anxiety and sickness that his soulmate was feeling. It reminded him of how close they were wound together and all he wanted to reach across to hold onto the warmth he could feel fading into the distance. He didn’t realize he that his heart had tightened, wound up, till the day the words appeared on his skin. The strings of his heart loosening, filling his lungs with air that he didn’t know he had been missing.

 “Thank you for the prayers, I am better now.”

 The familiar handwriting caused a wave of relief to spread across his chest.

 “Do you think soulmates can be friends?”

They had finally started talking, scribbling little notes to each other on their arms. Sharing enough and yet not knowing who the other person was. Somehow the anonymity gave them comfort.

 So when this message suddenly turned up in the middle of the night. She frowned, realizing she had never thought about that. But how much would a fourteen year old think when her major concerns was to get through school while her soulmate’s was to navigate through the beginnings of adult life?

 “I suppose. I haven’t really thought about it.” marker ink blotches on her skin.

 “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

 “Of course we are.”

 It wasn’t till months later that she woke up to a single bruise on the side of her neck. She gazed at it, baffled, poking it to see if it hurt. Sure, she had seen her share of bruises as well as her soulmate’s share of them, but this one was odd. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and shifted the sleeve away from her arm.

 “You have a bruise on your neck?”

 There was no response for hours. She sat there, staring at her arm, waiting for some sign only to be interrupted by a hiss from her sister.

 “Kim Minah! You’re fourteen and too young to be getting involved with someone!”

 She turned around to gape at her sister who was pointing at the said bruise on her neck and ranting furiously.

 “Involved?” she blinked “this isn’t mine though.”

 Her sister paused, blinking “clearly your soulmate is an ass.”

 Taekwoon stared at the scribbles on his wrist as they appeared in rapid succession.

 “Since we are friends, when were you going to tell me that you were seeing someone?”

“Because I have to go around explaining the hickey on my throat.”

“My sister thinks you’re an ass.”

“I don’t even know what to think.”

 “I didn’t think you’d understand...yet.” he began slowly, feeling his heart sink. Sure the girl he had met was beautiful and sweet. They had courted for months and yet...it just didn't feel right when she kissed him. It was deeply unsettling the way his heart simply rejected her acts even though his body tried to reciprocate it.  His soulmates was too young. He wanted to protect his soulmate.

 “I understand you think I'm young and probably don't understand relationships.” the words stung as they appeared “I don't mind you liking someone else...but please don't break my trust by not telling me.”

Taekwoon stared hard at the words as they faded off his arm knowing that his soulmate had wiped them off.

 It was hard not to talk to each other even then. Their souls were far too intertwined with one another to truly hate. Taekwoon had been apologetic. Sufficiently so, he hoped. He knew that his relationship with his classmate wouldn't work out because every time they spoke, he felt awful. She was wonderful for certain, but beyond the pleasantries, something just didn't click.

 “I broke up with her.” the cool metal of the pen nib scraped against his heated skin. The ink spread over in small blotches, following the pattern of his skin.

 “Is she alright? Are you alright?” came the response, clearly written with a thin marker.

 “Yeah, something just didn't feel right.”

 “Well, you always have me.”

 “How Exciting.” he chuckled, knowing that on the other end his soulmate was furious.

 “You're a real pig for someone who is going through a break up and is supposed to be my soulmate.”

 “But you're stuck with me.”

 “I wouldn't want it any other way :)”

 “Who the hell is Han Sanghyuk and why is my soulmate constantly talking about him?” Taekwoon grumbled. His sister looked at his arm, covered in scribbles, chuckling at how excited his soulmate was to be hanging out with someone with so many similar interests.

 “Awww our little baby brother is jealous!”

 “Everyone thinks we're dating, It's hilarious how we're the talk of the town though!” Taekwoon gritted his teeth as he read “how has your singing been going? I hope you're going to audition for a nice company who doesn't try to kill you. I'll  come for your fansign when you make it big. I promise.” And immediately he was smiling.

 “What if I fail and become a vocal coach?”

 “I'm  signing up for your classes.”

 Taekwoon grinned, picking up his marker to respond.

 “Although I promised I'd sign up for Sanghyukkie’s dance classes too.”

 Taekwoon was grumpy again.

 Even after the many assurances to Taekwoon that she was not dating ‘that giant lump of human!’ Taekwoon was still being a pouty and annoying child. After all, his soulmate was seventeen and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop her from liking anyone, considering his own past. But she was his soulmate damn it!

 The worst hit though came months later when Sanghyuk had the audacity to write “Property of Han Sanghyuk.” Right below her shoulder. Minah had sufficiently slapped his hands away considering the two were not on romantic terms. She was also in the middle of her “I am not property, I am my own person!” rampage. He chuckled, holding the Sharpie away from her as she tried to snatch it from him, calling him several expletives. But all of the sudden he paused, gaping at her arm as a big red cross appeared across his name and three letters appeared beneath it.

 Minah's arm now read  “Property of JTW”

Next

[imagine-darksiders]

Thinking about it, being a human in the Darksiders universe seems like it would be a bit of a bummer. You're always younger, smaller, and weaker in just about every other skill area than all of the amazingly powerful ancient beings around you. Realising that, how would the four console their human companion, who's started feeling like more of a hindrance than a helper to their horseman?

KAYSUS. That wasn’t supposed to be as long as it is :S Can you tell which horseman I put the most thought into? lol x

Death: He found you curled up under a tree behind the crystal spire with your hands pressed firmly over your eyes in a futile attempt to hide the tears that glistened within.

When the horseman had stopped in Lostlight to talk to Nathaniel, you’d taken the opportunity to wander away from your guardian and steal a moment to yourself. Truthfully, you were utterly desperate to unload some emotions, privately.

For the past few days, it started to become more and more apparent that you were little more than an inconvenience to Death. Realistically, you know you can’t help it. There’s a reason humanity perished so easily in the End-war. They simply weren’t prepared to survive that kind of onslaught. Another millennia or two and maybe they’d be ready. But at the time….

With a defeated sob, you bury your face in your arms and shake violently. How could Death possibly hope to save his brother if he’s having to spend all his time keeping you out of trouble?

You jolt from your thoughts with a shocked gasp when a heavy hand rests itself on top of your head. 

Jerking your face out of your arms, you look up to see the horseman looming over you with his thumb now gently stroking your hair, almost imperceptibly with how delicate he’s being. “I wondered when this would happen,” he chuckles softly, “You’ve had that far off look in your eyes for a while now.” This draws out a wince when you realise you haven’t been quite as subtle as you would have liked. Just another thing to add to the growing list of stuff you can’t do right. You allow your chin to thump onto your raised knees and sigh tiredly.

“Why am I here, Death?” you hum. 

The horseman snorts softly, removing his hand from your hair and placing it on his hip. 

“Is now really the best time to discuss existentialism?” he jokes half-heartedly in an attempt to lift your spirits. Humour usually works, he recalls. Unfortunately, he hasn’t quite mastered the art of timing…. Your sad eyes flick up to him before they drop back to the ground below your feet, staring languidly at nothing in particular. There’s the sound of rustling leather above you, then Death’s masked face appears when he kneels to the ground, trying to catch your gaze. 

“Now then,” he drops his voice to a barely perceptible whisper, “If I’m to be an effective frie-….” he coughs, “associate, I need to know what’s rattling around in that brain of yours.” Death raps his knuckles against your skull delicately and rests his arms back over his knee afterwards. A small noise worms its way up your throat and escapes as a whine. You’re reluctant to open up about this insecurity because what if your admission gives Death an excuse to leave you behind? What if he was just biding his time, waiting for you to admit that you’re useless? 

Deep in your heart, you know that you really ought to give Death more credit than that. Why waste his time taking care of you up until this point if he’s just going to abandon you the moment you admit defeat? 

Meanwhile, the Horseman patently watches you try to wrestle with the concept of telling him what’s been on your mind. Unblinking, he remains crouched before you until, in the end, you feel compelled to answer. 

Teary eyed and hyper-aware of your mortality, you painstakingly raise your head once again, to meet the horseman’s scrutinising gaze. 

“I’m tired, Death,” you sigh, “I’m tired of always being a burden to you. I’m exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally and I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that-” your breath catches in your throat, forcing you to clear it before you can continue, “-that I just can’t keep up with you. I can’t! And I hate that! I hate the idea that I’m useless and weak, and-and human!” Your hand flies to your face and brushes away the tears that have finally broken loose of their confines, “…Just a frightened little human, a long way from home….” 

Death’s brow knits together as he listens to you spilling your guts beneath the old tree and not for the first time, the horseman curses the effect your tears have on him. 

“Perhaps you aren’t strong enough to face down demons and live…” he mumbles, “But that doesn’t mean you don’t face them down.” When you throw up a quizzical eyebrow, Death smiles behind his mask and waves his hand around, almost as though he’s trying to summon the right words from thin-air. “What I mean to say is,” he pauses to make sure you’re paying attention, “your strength lies outside of your physical capabilities. You have spirit, the likes of which I haven’t seen in even the most seasoned of warriors. The fight I’ve seen in your eyes is still there, despite everything you’ve lost, don’t let it go out now…” 

Your breathing suddenly becomes very difficult the longer you look at Death, so you avert your gaze with a wet cough. “But, it’s so hard, Death!” you sniff, “It’s so hard not to feel like I’m just dead weight!” The horseman throws his head back and laughs loudly.

“Well, of course it’s hard!” he shakes his head amusedly, “You’re selfless. All you’ve ever thought about is someone else, from the moment I met you.” Death grasps your knee and jostles it playfully. “For pity’s sake, you’re allowed to question the purpose you serve in this existence,” his grip moves from your knee to your cheek in one swift motion, “but you mustn’t ever think that you don’t have a use simply because you can’t do what I do. You are human, first and foremost, and you shouldn’t wish to be anything else.” The horseman’s cold fingers linger on your face for a few more seconds before he slowly withdraws his hand and sighs. “I am certainly glad of you,” he whispers, eyes never leaving your tear-streaked face.  

Strife: “This is hopeless!” You throw the scrapped shotgun to the ground with a shout. “I’m never going to be able to keep up with you!”

Strife looks mildly disturbed as he bends to rescue the weapon from the dirt where you’d tossed it. He listens to you continue your tirade, “That’s the third time this stupid thing has backfired on me today! I can’t keep my gun maintenanced properly, I can’t hit the broad side of a barn! All I do is wait for you to rescue me and just stand there being useless!” you finish with a scream of outrage before slumping your head down in defeat.

Staring at the dusty ground, you shrug your shoulders and lick your lips, tasting the salt that’s gathered there from your sweat and tears, “Why the Hell do you put up with me Strife?” you mutter, rhetorically. The horseman’s face sets like stone behind his mask as he approaches you. 

“Shit, I dunno, kid. Maybe s’got something to do with the fact that you’re the only person in this mess of a universe who ever thought I was worth a damn… “

Forgetting your own self-worth, You shake your head again, “I don’t just think you’re worth a damn, Strife. You are worth a damn.”

Triumphantly, the horseman snaps his fingers together and points them at you, “See?! You think I’ve ever heard that sentimental crap in my life?” He laughs whilst you roll your eyes and kick uselessly at a tin can, bouncing it down the street a few metres. 

Strife’s grin slowly falls as he looks down at you, noticing that he’s done little to alleviate your sour mood. 

“Hmm…” Suddenly, Strife stops and squats down, low to the ground. Startled at the horseman’s shift, you spin around and quirk an eyebrow down at him. 

“Strife?” you ask, warily. 

He ignores you, instead taking the tip of his finger and drawing a lazy, rough spiral in the dirt below. Once he’s done, Strife’s head snaps up at you and he gestures to the odd doodle. “Okay, so….Me and you? Let’s say we’re like a cyclone.” Your eyebrow only raises higher in response, so he groans, “Look, just hear me out. This right here?-” he circles his finger around and around the spiral, “-This is me, alright? All chaos and destruction and all that bad stuff…” He pauses to move his hand into the centre of the spiral, “And in the middle of it all-” Strife draws a tiny circle in the dirt, “is you.”

“The eye of the storm?” you whisper, vague realisation dawning on you. Strife’s eyes find yours and in a quiet, rare moment of vulnerability, he removes his mask. 

“You’re about the only damn friend I’ve got, Bright eyes…” he murmurs, lips pulling into a bittersweet smirk, “So don’t you go saying you’re no good.” The horseman suddenly drags his eyes away from yours and stares at a point far off in the distance. “You sure as Hell been good to me.”

It’s with a lighter step and a far happier heart that you trot after Strife when he beckons for you to follow. When you’re close enough, the horseman slings his heavy arm over your shoulder and chuckles when you nearly collapse under the sudden weight. 

War: He shouts after you when you retreat further into the cathedral’s garden. Slumping down below a statue of someone who no longer seems relevant, you press yourself into the stone and cover your mouth with a hand, refusing to let War hear you cry. 

You’ve cried so much in front of him, you’re sure he’s sick of it by now. 

The horseman’s gruff but urgent calls draw closer until he strides past the statue you’ve taken shelter under. War’s steps falter when he catches sight of a splash of colour against the cold, grey stone. He sighs, angling himself towards you and stamping over the dead grass, closer and closer until he’s towering over you like a huge, ominous, red cloud. 

“Do not run,” he grinds out, “ever.” 

Meekly, but sadly, you scuttle your body around so that it’s facing away from him and grumble, “I was just trying to do you a favour…” War’s hot, blue glare is extinguished instantly and replaced instead with utter bewilderment. His fists clench tightly at his side and he tilts his head down at you. At the horseman’s silence, you heave out a ragged breathe and scoff. “Oh come on, War,” you bite, “We both know I’m just slowing you down. Hell, if you didn’t have to keep looking out for me, you might have cleared your name by now.” 

War’s head flinches backwards slightly and he scowls, both at your statement and at the bitterness with which it was said. 

“I will not leave you out here for the demons,” he claims stubbornly as he folds his arms across his broad chest and fixes you with his steely gaze, “I need you.” 

Your laugh is dark and humourless, “You don’t need me.” A hand suddenly finds your jaw and you bristle as your head is turned to meet his by force. War’s face is the embodiment of thunder, eyes flash brightly like lightning, indignant and sharp. He growls down at you, baring his teeth dangerously as he speaks. 

“I do,” he snaps. Then, more softly, “More than you know…” The horseman releases his grip on your jaw and stands back up to his full height, watching you stare up at him with a mixture of awe and confusion. Briefly, War’s lips twitch downwards, almost miserably and his eyes lose much of their heat. “I would ask,” he takes a deep breath and allows his eyes to rove up from your face to the statue’s in feigned disinterest, “that you remain by my side. You may not think you can do this,” he pauses and suddenly locks eyes with you again. After a moment’s hesitation, War crouches onto one knee again and sets his jaw, studying your face closely, “But, I believe you can.” 

War has never been the best at encouragement, so what little he offers in way of it means more than he could ever know. It’s enough. ‘For now’, you think. 

The horseman doesn’t move whilst you take a few deep, calming breaths before heaving yourself to your feet and slowly, uncertainly loop your arms around the back of his head and burying your face into the soft, crimson hood. Dimly, you can feel War’s steady heart beat beneath your ribcage, faster as you tighten your hold of him and your shoulders shake with muffled cries. Something large comes to pat your back, awkwardly, but consolingly. It doesn’t stop your crying, but physical comfort of any kind after so long alone is welcomed. 

Fury: You follow Fury across the wide expanse of land that stretches between rows upon rows of towering high-rises. The land, you realise, must have been a park not too long ago, but now the grass is dead, the trees are burnt to ashes, the pond has long since dried up…But the night sky overhead has never been clearer. You snort quietly, just loud enough to earn a prick from Fury’s ears as she turns her head to the side, gazing down at you pensively. 

Your eyes are turned upwards towards the stars, but your heart lays down in the dirt somewhere far below. Noticing the horseman has stopped, you only then come to realise that may be because you’ve drawn to a halt, still looking up with fresh tears. You might have accredited the shine in your eyes to the starlight, had you not been sure that Fury would never fall for such a blatant lie. 

She covers the distance back to you and easily meets your gaze from her height advantage. “Do you require rest?” she asks and damn it, she sounds so sincere when she says it. Like you hadn’t already had ample rest. Like you hadn’t been holding her back this entire time!

You shake your head and try to smile at her, light-heartedly. “M’fine,” you lie. Fury’s eyes narrow and she frowns disappointedly. How she can tell when you’re being dishonest is still a mystery you’re dying to solve. 

“Y/n,” she warns scoldingly, “Now is not the time to be lying to me…” She sighs in exasperation and looks at you sympathetically. It makes your stomach lurch. The horseman’s head snaps up and she looks around quickly. “We must move,” she hushes, “We’re too in the open, I don’t like it.” 

She motions for you to follow her again but stops short at the sound of your small voice. “What’s the point…” Fury swivels her head so hard to look back at you, you’re surprised it doesn’t fall from her shoulders. Quick as a flash, she’s back in from of you, sterner than you’ve ever seen her. You’d wither under her look, but her eyes were too full of shock and hurt, so instead you settle for looking slightly guilty. 

“The point,” she stresses, “Is that we’re vulnerable out here! I must get you to somewhere more sheltered.” 

You cast your eyes downwards and sniff, “That’s not what I meant, Fury,” you whisper. A soft, rustling sigh disturbs the otherwise still air and you find it in yourself to look up at the horseman above you. 

“…I know,” she breathes. Fury fiddles with the straps on her wrists, a nervous habit you recognised from travelling with her for this long. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” she almost pleads. Not wasting a beat, you raise your voice and stamp your foot on the dry ground in frustration. 

“It’s me!” you bark, “I’m what’s wrong!” Not moments later, you’ve dissolved into wracking sobs that tear mercilessly at your throat. Fury’s stern demeanour melts away at the sight of you and she stands there patiently, waiting for you to get this off your chest. “I can’t do anything you can do! I can’t fight. I can’t do magic. I can’t even look after myself. Look at me!” you throw your hands wildly up and down, gesturing to your entire body, “I am not meant to survive in this world!” you choke, “The only reason I have is because you’re looking out for me, but you shouldn’t have to be!” Growling agitatedly, you rub your eyes furiously with the heels of your palms and sink in on yourself dejectedly. “All I do is interfere and impede your progress. Please,” you remove your hands from your eyelids and look at the horseman imploringly, “For your own sake, you’d be better off without me.” 

In an instant, Fury’s face contorts with anger. She looks defiant and challenging when she takes your shoulders in both of her hands and shakes you gently, but firmly, forcing you to meet her blazing eyes. “Of all the things I’ve heard come out of your mouth,” she huffs, “that has to be one of the daftest things you’ve ever said.” Without warning, Fury uses her grip on your shoulders to yank you into her, where she curls around you possessively and growls into the night. “I choose to keep you with me, because your company is one of the greatest gifts I have ever happened upon. I would guard you for a thousand years, longer even, if it meant I could spend it with you…” Fury pulls away and looks down at you fondly, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, “….You help me more than you realise, Y/n.”

[liquid-savage]

Spelling Error (MLP/WG)

Starlight Glimmer needs a quicker way to get through her books...but sometimes the quickest way isn't always the best way. ---- Finally, something new! I know it's been too long, but I had this silly idea in my head for a while and I just had to get it out. Just something silly I wrote for myself and for anyone who enjoys a bit of Cellulite Glimmer. Enjoy!

---- Starlight Glimmer sighed as she slumped onto the library table, her chin against the varnished wood top. She stared at the open book in front of her, and her tired eyes crept to the direction of the mountainous stacks of scrolls and tomes by her side that she had to get through after. She had been reading nonstop for what had to be hours by that point in time, and her eyes and flanks were sore. And she had only completed half a dozen so far.

She made another attempt to get back to the page she had stalled on, but all she could see were words. Collections of squiggles that no longer made any sense to her overtaxed mind. The diagrams made no sense to her anymore, and they may as well have been doodles in a foal's schoolbook. "I don't believe this," she groaned, rubbing her eyes, "how many editions of 'Teleportation Theory' does one pony need?!" The door to the library opened with a soft creak, and Starlight looked over to see a small, purple baby dragon walk in with a plate in one claw and a bowl in the other. The plate held a fresh hay sandwich, the bowl a colourful assortment of small gems. "Twilight thought you could use this," he said, setting the plate on the table next to the mare. "Thanks Spike," she sighed, the sight of the sandwich making her realise how hungry she was. She grabbed it in her magic and took a hearty bite, finding the soft white bread and fresh hay more delicious than usual, the delectable aroma piercing the scent of old paper. "I really do need it." Spike nodded and hopped onto a chair beside her. "How're you holding up?" "Barely," she sighed, shaking her head. "How does Starlight do this all the time? Just sitting here and...well, reading?" "Beats me," the dragon shrugged and stuffed a clawful of gems into his mouth, crunching them loudly in his little fangs. "She's just always had a thing for books. Easier answer to remember than the one she gave me when I asked." "What did she say?" "She just sorta went off on a tangent about how important learning is and stuff. I didn't really listen, just smiled and nodded. She doesn't pay much attention when she rambles." "So true," the purple mare snorted, then her eyes widened as something came to her. An idea. A way to make getting through all these books and scrolls much easier. "Say Spike," she went on, "don't suppose you know if Twilight has any books on...'book magic'?" She asked, forcing out the words like they were foreign to her. Spike narrowed his eyes warily. "Book magic? Starlight, I dunno if you should-" "I know, I know," the unicorn interjected, waving her hoof dismissively. "But this'll be a harmless one. And I'll be using it on myself, so it's not like I'll be messing with anypony, right?" "I guess, but still," the baby dragon muttered, "just considering the last few times you've used magic to make your jobs easier. I mean, making the girls literally do what you say, swapping the Princess's cutie marks..." Starlight sighed and shook her head. She was starting to get really tired of Spike bringing up her past mistakes so often. "Look, I'll know what I'm doing this time, okay?" "Hmmm..." Spike murmured, tapping his claws on his chin. Starlight took this as the baby dragon's indication of needing motivation. A cheeky smirk crossed her muzzle. "There's a huge bowl of gems in it for you when I'm done." And in a blur of purple and green, the baby dragon was zipping around the library, scanning the spines of every book at breakneck speed. Starlight could barely keep an eye on him at the speed he was going. And as quick as he left, he returned holding an old, leather-bound book in his little claws. "Here ya go!" Starlight, a little startled at how little time it took Spike to find what she was looking for, took the book in her magical grip. The cover was embedded with the title, 'By the Book: A Basic Guide to Bibliomancy'. "Thanks Spike," she finally said, levitating the book toward her desk. "I'll get you those gems when I'm done, alright?" "I'm holding you to that," Spike warned her, smirking as he grabbed his bowl and walked toward the library door. "I'm gonna see if Twilight needs anything. Or maybe Rarity." He added with a not-so-subtle affection in his voice. Starlight wondered if Rarity's collection of gems was how she had the baby dragon in her figurative pocket so easily. "Right, see you later," Starlight said, and the two waved to each other as Spike exited the library, the door closing with heavy wooden clunk. Wasting no more time, she rushed to the desk and opened the book to the index with her magic. She traced her hoof along the different sections and page numbers. "Enchanting Quills...Paper Messenger Pigeons..." she murmured the chapter titles out loud, and then stopped at 'Bring the Words to Life'. "Aha! Maybe you're what I'm after." She used her magic to flip to the appropriate page, and got the proper title, along with instructions and diagrams on how to literally lift the words from a book's page and into the target. According to what she could decipher, she could literally take the words off the pages and ingest the knowledge from them. A smirk slowly crossed her muzzle as she read on, finding the process to be rather simple to her. However, the end of the section ominously warned that the spell, if cast carelessly, could have dire consequences. It even carried the warning that continuous use would put the caster at risk of a 'Yearn to Learn' curse, whatever that was. "Pffft," she scoffed, "what harm could a book do? Besides, this spell looks so easy!" With that, she began going through the instructions on how to cast the spell on another book, as this one had protection against magic. She didn't take much care in reading the warnings - she was such a natural in magic that she was sure she'd get it right. And if not, practice makes perfect as they say. The spell itself had to be harmless anyway, even with a silly-sounding curse like 'Yearn to Learn'. Besides, she was sure there was a reversal spell for it. Twilight was bound to know it in case things somehow got out of hoof. She pulled over one of the magic textbooks she was yet to read, and with a deep breath, she began to attempt the spell. Small grammatical symbols appeared and swirled around her horn as it glowed its usual mint colour. After charging, she fired a blast at the book, capturing it in an aura matching her magic, and it rose up into the air. The book opened and its pages flapped front to back, then back to front, over and over, each time getting faster and faster. And just as Twilight was beginning to have second thoughts, a pulsing noise sounded amongst the rattling of paper, and the book suddenly stopped at a page near the middle. She took a step forward to get a closer look, and her jaw dropped as she saw the title of the page, 'Advanced Teleportation Theory', began to remove itself from the page. The magic was literally peeling the words themselves off of the paper! Starlight stared in a mix of shock and triumph as letter after letter tore itself from the page, making the sound of a bandage being peeled off. The symbols then started to swirl around the book itself in single file, before floating toward Starlight. They began circling her head, no longer forming words and instead being a mishmash of scrambled lettering, and she could only watch, blinking in confusion. "Don't you just enter my head or something?" she muttered, mostly to herself. Then the letters swirled back around to where she could see them, and some of them began to form position in front of her. Open wide Starlight stared dumbly at the words floating in front of her, and shook her head as she pieced it together. Not only did these letters seem to understand her, they were outright telling her she had to take the symbols in orally. At least, that's what she assumed. Deciding it was a better idea than no idea at all, she opened her mouth wide open. The words then split back up into letters and shot right inside, and she closed her jaw and started chewing on instinct. Strangely, they tasted mildly of peppermint. She never thought words could have flavour. Once she swallowed them, she allowed herself a little giggle. "Talk about eating your words." She carried on eating mouthful after mouthful of letters, finding the experience rather enjoyable in itself. Soon she had finished a whole page, and then had begun on another. And another, and another. Diagrams unfurled themselves and flowed into her mouth like string, causing her to suck them up like spaghetti strands. Some letters even formed the words of foods, such as 'chocolate', 'cake' and 'hay', which made them taste exactly like the real thing! Soon she had emptied the book of all it had to provide. She'd even taken the index and annex contents for herself. The book lowered down onto the desk, devoid of words and images as if it were fresh and ready to be filled in. And Starlight had the right mind to fill it in herself. The spell had done its job, and she felt like a master teleporter with that entire book absorbed into her mind. She just had to try it out! Her horn glowed normally, and with a magical pop, she found herself inside Carousel Boutique. Then another pop, and she was in the dusty town of Appleloosa, then the cooled throne room of the Royal Sisters, then she was outside a café in a town in Saddle Arabia! She swiftly returned to the library with a final pop, giggling and feeling rather proud of herself. "Wow, that book spell really works!" Though, it wasn't just her mind absorbing the book's contents. The mare's middle had rounded out, slightly bloated from how much 'knowledge' she had ingested. A small burp escaped her before she put a hoof to her gut, which felt a little funny. "Ooof, maybe I'll give the teleporting a break," she murmured, not seeming to realise said gut had distended. Her eyes locked onto the stacks of books she was yet to read. She wasn't dreading the job anymore, not with this spell. If anything, she was looking forward to it. In fact, she felt a small desire welling up in her. An urge, really. Suddenly, she felt like she had to do this. She needed to absorb all this knowledge, and she needed to do it now. She used her magic to toss the blank book to the side and grabbed the next one nearest to her. 'Super Shapeshifting Made Simple: Advanced Transfiguration Techniques'. Starlight giggled, licking her lips as she flipped the cover open, and the word peeling spell started charging up once more. And like that, Starlight was having quite the enjoyable afternoon. She wasted no time emptying every single word, symbol and diagram from every single page, happily chewing and slurping them up like she were one of Applejack's pigs enjoying a trough of slop. When she finished, she tossed the blank tome aside and rested her hooves on her belly, which had grown bigger and rounder from her binging. Her haunches had also grown a bit as well, filling out her seat and ever so slightly daring to droop over the sides. Her cheeks were the slightest bit chubbier, and her legs were the tiniest bit thicker. All changes that went unnoticed to the mare. During her little break, an idea came to her. Being quite the imaginative magic aficionado, one technique she had picked up while studying under Princess Twilight was the process of combining spells together. She once used it to clone herself so she could go through multiple friendship problems at once. Or attempt to, at least. But this time would be different, she knew what she was doing now. "Hmmm," she murmured, tapping her chin with her hoof, "what would happen if I combined this word spell with a cloning spell...?" Deciding there'd be no harm in trying, her horn began to glow once more. The grammatical symbols appeared around it, looking much more lively and colourful than before as they swirled around. She fired the spell, but instead of a single beam, it projected as a stream of minty-green tendrils toward multiple books in the stack. The targeted tomes floated up and, like the book before them, flapped their pages rapidly as letters and symbols flowed out from between them and toward her mouth. And Starlight continued to enjoy her 'study session', chewing and slurping up the knowledge that still tasted oddly of peppermint. Adding the cloning spell seemed to be a good idea so far, since it meant she could empty multiple books at once. She could learn much more from one blast, and cut down her time all in one foul swoop. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the loss of her figure would count, if she had even noticed it. With every book she emptied, Starlight's belly grew rounder and larger, bloating with the symbols being packed into it. By the time she had gotten down to the last book on her stack, she was looking like she'd just come back from a Hearth's Warming feast at Sweet Apple Acres. She stifled a burp with her hoof and rested the other on her gut, which gurgled and groaned softly with how stuffed it was. But despite how full she was, she had a strong urge. A desire to have even more books. Even more magical knowledge to absorb into her limitless memory bank. She wanted to be the smartest and most talented magic user in Equestria. She felt stronger than Twilight Sparkle by now, but she still wanted even more! But oh, so full... "Oof," she grunted, and lazily charged up the spell once more, "Maybe one more before a little break..." She carelessly fired at the last book on the table, but this one didn't move. For a moment, Starlight considered firing it again, before the tome began vibrating ominously. It span in place for a few full turns, before quickly shifting position to the centre of the table. The bloated mare leaned forward, grunting from the pressure put on her overfilled middle, as she eyed the cover of the book. 'Jovial Jinxes: A Fun Guide to Magical Mischief' A sudden wave of realisation hit Starlight like a tsunami; she'd just used book-related magic on a book designed for magical pranks. Harmless ones, but still nonetheless. Before she had a chance to think of the counter-spell, the enchanted joke book flipped to the centre. She yelped and covered her head with her hooves as blasts of minty-green magic fired in every direction around the library. She scrunched her eyes shut, hoping one of those blasts wouldn't hit her. She couldn't even think of what the effect would be if she were struck. Would she be turned into a book? Would she be fed to a book? Would her knowledge be drained out of her and she'd be left with about as much magical knowledge as a cave troll? But the sounds of magical blasts soon dyed out, followed with the slam of a shutting book. She felt no different, so she dared to open her eyes and lower her hooves. Though what she saw made her wish she were struck and turned into a book so she could hide from how angry Twilight would be if she saw this. Every single book in the library had been lifted off its place on every shelf, and were floating around the room, their covers always facing Starlight. She could almost swear they were upset with how she had abused magic so carelessly once again, and almost expected a Twilight-level lecture to come from them. But no such angry words came. Instead, the books began to flap their pages back and forth, and like the books before them, letters and diagrams spilled out and shot through the air toward her. The anticipation of what she knew was coming made Starlight's belly ache even more. In a moment of desperation, she raised her hooves defensively and tried to reason with the floating grammatical symbols. "W-wait, hold o-MMPH!!" But it was all for nought as the word 'EAT' forced itself into her open maw. And Starlight had no choice but to chew and swallow, equally dreading any extra effects the 'Jovial Jinxes' might have as well as the inevitable stomach ache. Though strangely, the ache didn't get worse. If anything, the more letters that were shoved down her throat, the duller the pain in her stomach became. She wanted to try and decipher what could possibly be happening to her, but she was too busy flailing her hooves in a vain attempt to ward the words away. Letters formed the words of food before jumping into her maw, diagrams unfurled into string which she had to suck up like spaghetti strands, and little paper ponies jerkily moved their pointy limbs as they snickered mischievously and held the poor mare's mouth open. Though if anypony were watching what was happening, they would see right away what effect the prank book was having on her. Her stomach was growing bigger indeed, but not from fullness. It was beginning to lose its round shape and was starting to pool out as cellulite began to form. Her flanks began to expand in her chair, already threatening to spill over the sides. Her cutie marks began to stretch out to fill the extra space being made by the flab accumulating on her rump. Her face began to round out, her cheeks becoming puffier even without symbols being stuffed into them. Her legs grew softer and thicker, her poor hooves slowing as her muscles weakened and became weighed down by the new layers of flab growing around them. Starlight breathed a sigh of relief when the books stopped their onslaught, allowing her a chance to collect her thoughts. She looked down, seeing the large round ball of pink pushing her legs apart, and a red flush crossed her chubby cheeks. "S-sweet Celestia!" She gasped, and tried to search her brain for a counter-spell. "Come on, come on...!" However, she was having trouble remembering the spell she needed, or even if she knew what it was. The combined spells had stuffed so much knowledge into her head so fast that it was all jumbled up and unorganised in her memory, like a huge file that had been completely unsorted. She allowed herself a brief snort of amusement at the thought of Twilight losing her mind at such an unorganised file, before realisation hit her hard. She looked up at the floating books, which seemed to be toying with her, making her wait, and dread filled her heart. "Twilight's going to kill me..." Her dread only grew when floating letters formed words right in front of her. Not done yet! ---- The sun was beginning to set on the horizon by the time Princess Twilight had returned to the castle. She let out a yawn, covering her mouth with her wing, and smiled down at Spike, who was dutifully walking down the hall next to her. "Wow, that was a long day," she said. "Equestria's communal leaders certainly had much to talk about." "I bet you loved it though," The baby dragon murmured sarcastically. "Of course I did!" The alicorn beamed, puffing out her chest. "Who knew Vanhoover was so passionate about ice hockey? Maybe I should get Rainbow Dash to visit and help them build their sports centre. She'd love it!" Spike rolled his eyes with a smile, before getting caught off guard by his owner's quick subject change to something a little more topical. "Oh, by the way," she went on, "how's Starlight doing?" "She seemed a little nervous about getting through all those books," she said, "so I helped her point out a book to help her along. Haven't heard a thing from her for a while so I figure it was helping." Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Which book?" Spike tapped his chin with a claw, trying to recall the name. "Uhhhh...'By the Book' or something like that?" Twilight's ears flopped and her eyes diluted. "Oh no." The two began sprinting down the hall toward the library, and Twilight swung the door open with her magic. Her jaw dropped at the sight before her. "Oh no..." To say Starlight Glimmer was a blob would be putting it lightly. She had transcended 'blob' status and was something more of an enormous mass of purple, room-filling cellulite. An enormous fold curved along the middle of her belly to give her one mother of a spare tire, which was the closest thing to Twilight and Spike as they walked in. Her flanks had grown to the size of carriages, with her cutie mark greatly distorted thanks to the size and collection of rolls and folds sloping on her rump, which was squishing against the wall behind her. Her tail was amusingly tiny, flopped above the massive mare's formidable backside. Her hooves with thick like tree trunks, and were reduced to stumps being sucked into the great collection of fat on her legs. Her front legs were forced outward and rendered useless. Her face was almost nonexistent, her sagging, blushing cheeks forcing themselves over her mouth and giving her such a squint that Starlight could barely see. An avalanche of tire-like chins sloped beneath her face, almost covering her thick chest completely. Once the shock had worn off, all Twilight could do was sigh and shake her head. The mess of blank books at her hooves confirmed her earlier fears. "Starlight, what do I keep telling you about using magic as a shortcut? First the mind control, then swapping the Princess' cutie marks, and now this! What do you have to say for yourself?" Starlight could only manage a tiny, pathetic belch, causing letters to roll and bounce down her blobby form, making her flab ripple and wobble with each impact. The word BURP! landed on the floor in front of the Princess. "You're lucky I know a counter-spell for this," she went on, "or I'd have you replacing all these books!" Starlight's laboured breathing turned into pathetic grunts and huffs as she tried to wiggle her limbs, but to no avail. They had grown too heavy and flabby to have any hope of being useful right now. Another yawn escaped the alicorn. "But I'm exhausted after a long meeting, so I'm going to have some dinner and go to bed. I don't like leaving you like this, but you need some time to think about this. And I expect a good apology and an even better excuse for why you did this." And with that, the Princess turned on her hooves and walked back out. Spike could only offer Starlight an apologetic shrug before jogging along after her. Luckily for Starlight, she already had her apology ready, after having enough time to think about it. The excuse, however, might need some more time to perfect. The thought of dinner made her gigantic middle grumble with hunger, almost shaking the castle with how thunderous the growls were. And then a collection of words floated right up to the helpless mare's eyes. Dinnertime!

[seoul-less-ging]

Skin Deep Doodles ★☆Mark☆★

Group: Got7

Pair: Mark x Reader

Description: As far as you can remember you’ve had drawings and writings show up on your skin. Never knowing exactly who was being it all. Until one day when the realization came tumbling down onto you…

Word count: 1267

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Possible childhood nostalgia.

It all started when you were just a small child. You were about 5 years old. Your mother had brought you the park on a planned play date with a few of your friends from school.

 You were just playing with some of your friends, running around, playing tag and hide n go seek. Almost kind of like a combination of the two games where one person would count. Others would hide. If someone was found then they had 5 seconds to run before the person who was it chased after you. You were in your excellent hiding spot, in a tree. You were only a couple of feet or so from the ground and you were silently thankful for your mom for letting you wear clothes that weren’t dresses or skirts that would constrict you from climbing.

You were waiting for someone to find you when you noticed strange writings, at least to you, on your right arm start to suddenly appear. As well as a little bit of a drawing. This freaked you out but you were also really intrigued about it. You climbed out of the tree, once setting both feet on the ground you made a T shape out of your hands so your friend who was it knew you were paused from the game and cannot be caught as you made your way over to your mom. You got her attention and showed her your right arm. “Mommy…! This just magically showed on me…!!! What does it mean??” You questioned her. She gently took a hold of your hand, pulling you close so she could lift you onto her lap.

Getting a closer look at your arm she smiled and then said. “They are called music notes sweetie. And it looks like those are piano keys as well.” She explained. Already knowing what it was as she continued to speak. “Seems like you’re a special little one and already seem to be having things from your soulmate showing on your skin. Make sure Daddy doesn’t see or else he’ll get protective of his precious little girl.” she lightly joked. You tilted your head a little, confused as to what your mother was telling you. “Mommy.. what do you mean..? What is a sewmate? Why are they show on my skin?” Your mother let out a small chuckle

“It’s soulmate sweetheart. A soulmate is someone you’re supposed to be with forever. And there’s a small legend that explains why it’s showing up on your arm.”

 “Really!? Tell me it! Tell me it!! Pleaaassseeee!!”

 “Alright alright. I’ll tell you it..”

 “Yay!!!”

Your mother let out another small chuckle. “Okay. So it all began many thousands of years ago. A girl came up to a dragon questioning if he could help her find her true love, her soulmate. Because she had heard that this dragon had the ability to help humans find their true love and she had gone through lots of heartbreak and had enough of it. She also wishes for the rest of her kind to receive the dragon’s gift too so no one would go through the pain that she had. The dragon lowered his large head so he could look at the girl and replied that she was brave to come and talk to him and have such a large request of him. Many of her kind wouldn’t do so. That they are scared of him. And because of the bravery, she had shown she will get her request granted.

 Under one condition. That she must also prove herself by completing tasks for the dragon and that she and her descendants must come to him twice a year baring gifts of one livestock and 3 ostrich eggs. The girl agreed and questioned what were the tasks. The dragon responded that she needed to retrieve a Drake’s Heart, which is a gorgeous and beautifully smelling flower that only grows in rock land. A single large golden egg, an ostrich egg and a pebble from the deepest lake. She also needed a single drop of blood from the purest of the pure. She completed all the tasks, except the last one which required pure blood. Not understanding by what the mighty dragon meant by it, She ended up growing old with the last task being a burden in her mind. She had given up hope on finding her soulmate and forced herself to marry to help her family with financial problems. 

 She soon gave the Dragons last task a second chance and went up the mountain to the dragon’s lair one last time, planning to question the dragon what he had meant by the last task. Unable to look at the dragon in the eye she started to draw against her skin, digging her nail into her skin deeply, breaking the skin and letting her blood drip down her arm, which dripped onto the floor. She became startled when the dragon let out a loud chuckle, a cloud of smoke following after. She had finally figured out the dragons last task. Humanity never had given much thought about it before but she had given up her own happiness in her lifetime to try and fix the error of heartbreak for the rest of her people. Which in doing so she was purest of pure. And so the dragon granted her wish and ever since then everyone has a small key for finding their soulmate”

“Woah..!!! What did he need the ostrich eggs for mommy??”

“So he could make little baby dragons. Since he was the only one left of dragons. His fire supposedly changed the eggs to be a much bigger. Also changing the little baby ostrich into a little baby dragon.”

“Woah..!! That’s so cool..!! Is it true???”

“No one knows sweetheart. That’s why it’s called a legend.” She gave you a smile and then gently set you down off her lap. Gently patting your head a little and then gently resting her hand on your cheek before leaning forward, giving you a small kiss on the forehead. “I love you my little one. Now go and continue to play with your friends before we have to leave” You grin and nod “Okay mommy! I love you too..!!” You say before running off to join your friends.

 Meanwhile, a couple of hours later after you got home. But in another household in another country.

Mark sat in his room, doing some of his homework from elementary school when he noticed small drawings on his left arm start to appear. He blinked a couple of times before running at his eyes, thinking he was seeing things. But he wasn’t. There were drawings truly appearing on his left arm. The drawings looked to be like they were pale coloured markers, of cats, flowers, and other very simple yet random drawings. Or so he could guess. They were rather badly drawn. But hey. Little did he know that it was you drawing them on the other end, making “tattoos” with a washable marker. He tried to rub them off but they didn’t come off. Like they were permanently stuck on his skin. But he watched as one of the drawings seemed to get slowly smeared off and disappear as it got cleaned off. Only to have a bit better version of what was drawn replacing it. He was really curious as to what was going on. But it was late so he’ll just ask his father in the morning.

To be continued…

[charlieism]

Of Ink Stains and Love Notes

So I’m a few days late in posting this but!! I hit 400 followers, what the heck?? Thank you so much!! I decided to write a pretty long (around 5000 words), fluffy fic to celebrate haha. It’s a Prinxiety one, of course :) thanks to @use-it-ironically for letting me yell ideas at them until I get inspired and to @princeyandanxiety for telling me to write it because otherwise I would still be procrastinating rn. Also tagging @lekawaiimelon and @mylasagnaisraw :)

Everyone has a soulmate. Almost everyone finds their soulmate and forms a relationship with them, be it romantic or platonic. Some people have the link, an anomaly in which anything that is written, drawn, or doodled onto one person's skin will appear on their soulmate's skin, in the exact same place. Roman has the link.

Or at least, he likes to believe he does.

Everyone has a soulmate. Almost everyone finds their soulmate and forms a relationship with them, be it romantic or platonic. Some people have the link, an anomaly in which anything that is written, drawn, or doodled onto one person's skin will appear on their soulmate's skin, in the exact same place. Roman has the link.

Or at least, he likes to believe he does.

****

To be honest, he isn't really sure. He imagines that he is one of the special people, one with the strongest bond to his soulmate. To the person he is destined for, to love and cherish forever. The one who Roman will 'just click with.' The one who will love him and understand him, the one Roman is perfect for. What a glorious idea! The idea of a soulmate is something Roman has fantasised about forever. He's tried to imagine what his soulmate will look like, but it always changes. He's dreamed of their meeting, he's imagined the first time his soulmate's writing will appear on his skin, he's dreamt about the feeling of meeting someone who's soul, who's very being is so perfectly suited for Roman, and he is always filled with a feeling of awe. That one day, he will meet someone who he is perfect for.

Only problem is, it can't come quick enough.

****

Roman has been writing and drawing on himself since as long as he was able. At the beginning, before he knew how to read or write, before he knew how to draw so you could decipher what the picture showed, he would just grab marker pens of pretty colours and scribble up and down his arms in lines and patterns.

No new ones ever showed up.

Then, when he learnt to read and write, he began by writing tiny little things, like 'hi' or 'I'm Roman', then went on to write long messages or start conversations that nobody ever replied to.

And when he learned to draw, well, it fast became one of his favourite things to do. To pick the colours he knew went well together, to decide what pattern or drawing he wanted to create, to press the cool pen tip to his skin and let the lines flow freely, springing from his imagination onto his skin (and hopefully somebody else's skin too.)

And for years, nobody replied. No new writing appeared on his skin, nobody's handwriting but his own, nobody's artistic creations and doodles but the ones he drew himself. But Roman never let it get him down; there were stories everywhere about soulmates who didn't meet for years, about links that didn't start up for a long time. It was common knowledge that no link started from birth; many took years to activate. Roman just couldn't wait! He wanted to feel the tingle of somebody else's drawings coming through to him. He wanted to see the writing appear. It simply couldn't come quick enough.

****

A few years on, and Roman had a routine. He would wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for the day, snatch up a pen and doodle something quick on his wrist. Be it a 'Hello!' or a 'Good morning!" Or simply a quick drawing of a flower, he never failed to add something daily. And it wasn't that he had lost hope, no, Roman would never do that. It wasn't that he though he didn't have a link; he did! He knew he did. He couldn't explain it, he could just feel it. It was simply that his soulmate had never replied, that their link hadn't started yet, so he didn't pay much attention to the quick drawing of a crown he had just doodled. He didn't think the link would be activated suddenly, and so his soulmate was at the back of his mind.

****

Later in the day, Roman was lying in the park with his best friend Patton. Patton, aka Morality, aka Dad, (he was the Dad friend and had an unabashed love of dad jokes) was sitting in the shade of a tree as the hot beams of sunlight shone down onto the ground. He was trying to make the longest daisy chain ever, and then trying to make it a necklace for Roman. Roman was lying on his stomach, kicking his legs absently, sketching in his sketchbook. He was trying to draw a rose (how terribly cliche, he knows), but his right arm had started itching a few minutes ago and it was driving him mad. It was like a strangely strong mix of itching, and tingling. Like a frustrating case of pins and needles. Roman was determinedly trying to ignore it, but the tingling was annoyingly persistent, and finally with an agitated groan Prince shot his hand out and rubbed his wrist, glaring and frowning in annoyance. When he lifted his hand away and his eyes focused on the wrist, however, Roman's eyes opened comically wide and he gasped in shock, springing backwards into the grass and cradling his arm, staring at it in amazement. For underneath his hastily sketched crown, a tiny drawing of a pair of headphones was slowly appearing on his skin, fading up from nowhere.

****

As soon as Roman glanced at the drawing, the frustrating itching went away and left only a pleasant, magical tingling.

"Holy shit. Holy shit!" He yelped, the full realisation of what just happened hitting him. "P-Patotn! I knew it! I- I knew it! It happened! It's happening! I have it, I knew it! There's someone for me, it's real, it's happening!" He rambled, yelling for his best friend, who immediately scrambled towards Roman. He looked panicked; apparently Roman wasn't doing a very good job of describing what had just taken place.

"Are you okay? Princey? What's wrong?" He asked, eyes full of concern through his glasses. Roman stared in awe at the small doodle scrawled upon his arm. It was evidently just that: a doodle. An absent drawing, right underneath Roman's crown, which meant that Roman's drawing probably hadn't transferred over. So what would he say? What was the first thing on wrote to their soulmate? Or did he just draw? What did he do? Roman couldn't remember a single thing that he had daydreamed about. So, casting one more look to his arm, he thrust it out and presented the drawing to Patton. Patton inspected his friend's arm, then his eyes flew wide open.

"Oh! You didn't draw this! Oh my goodness, Roman, your soulmate!" He squealed, eyes lighting up in excitement. "What are you going to say?" Patton gasped. Roman shrugged helplessly at him.

"I don't know!" He wailed. "They're my soulmate, the one person I'm destined for! It has to be perfect, but I don't know what to do!" He yelled.

"Ok, ok, don't worry! Anything you write will be perfect! Like it's destined to be. Go ahead, just write something, Prince!" Patton urged. Prince took a deep breath.

"Okay. Okay, thanks Morality. Okay." He grasped his black felt, and had a mind blank. He had no idea what he was going to do. So he started off easy.

****

Roman pressed the cool tip of the pen to the base of the crown he had drawn, and traced it carefully. When the crown had a perfect other layer of ink upon it, he wrote a single hesitant message. Prince guessed he was still in shock. In his elegant, loopy handwriting Roman wrote, 'Oh my goodness, I suppose we're soulmates. Hi.' He and Morality waited with bated breaths for the reply, and after a minute quick words appeared atop Prince's skin. The handwriting was small and pretty messy, the angles of letters sharp.

'Holy shit, you're my soulmate. I have the link. Hi.' Roman no longer had a filter, he was just saying the first thing that came to his mind as he traced the sentence scrawled upon his wrist by another hand.

"Eloquent." He mumbled absently. Patton laughed.

"Ask his name, lover boy." He teased. Roman blinked.

"Oh! Of course!" He exclaimed, fumbling for his pen. 'It's nice to finally meet you! (Well, write to you, I suppose.) My name is Roman. Who are you?'

The reply came quickly. 'You can call me Anx. So, Roman, now that we're soulmates I suppose we should know a bit about each other."

And thus it began.

****

The conversation they had, scrawled along arms until there remained no room, letters dropped across knees and sentences rubbed off to make room for new ones. They talked until the sun began to set, at which point Roman was lying with his head in Patton's lap, Morality weaving daisies into his hair and watching the conversation between Roman and Anx flow. They learnt that Anx was a boy, ever so slightly younger than Roman, complete with quick wit and scathing sarcasm, yet undertones of friendliness. Eventually Morality had to snap Prince back to reality.

"Listen, Ro, you gotta go home, it's getting late."

"No, I'm talking to Anx! My soulmate!" Roman sighed dreamily.

"I know, Princey, but why don't you just swap phone numbers? You've run out of places to write on anyway." Patton offered, making Roman jump up in excitement.

"Of course! Thank you, Mo!" He beamed, before hastily writing his phone number in large, loopy letters on his already ink stained skin. Moments later a scribbled number appeared underneath it, followed by a winking face. Prince blushed and Patton cooed teasingly at him.

Later that night, Prince was standing under the warm water spray of his shower, watching sadly as the ink rinsed off his skin and swirled down the drains in pale clouds of black and blue. His first conversation, his first few hours talking with his soulmate, the first few precious facts he now knew about Anx, the beginnings of Roman's crush, gone with the water. It was depressing and suddenly Prince was full of dismay and sadness.

Until, when he stepped out of the shower and got dressed into his pyjamas, his phone dinged. And when he checked it, Anxiety's phone number flashed on the screen. It had only been about half an hour since they talked last, but the thought that Anxiety wanted to talk to him already made Roman's heart flutter.

Heya, Princey. Was the simple message.

Roman smiled.

****

After that, he and Anxiety talked daily, be it by texting or writing. Sometimes they simply drew and smiled at the now familiar tingling sensation. By now, they were dating, even though they hadn't actually met each other yet. It was just the obvious option; they had both developed crushes straight away, and the feelings only bloomed and developed and flowered into something stronger as time went on. Roman, being the romantic sap he was, had been writing Anxiety love letters and notes every morning since they had started dating. Today's one was silly and cheesy and Prince was smiling as he wrote it.

'Anxiety, my love, my sunshine, my chemically imbalanced romance, my darkly dressed wonder, my Disney prince, my angel, you're looking adorable today! You look so cute, especially stunning, absolutely ravishing, you beautiful, magnificent creature. Also, don't forget I love you!' He could practically see Anx's blush (although he'd never actually seen Anxiety; he was too shy and, well, anxious to send a selfie, But that was okay, Roman didn't care about what Anx looked like. He already loved him.) A moment later, the words faded a bit like Anx had halfheartedly attempted to rub them off. Prince grinned.

Shut up, you idiot. Was Anxiety's reply. And then, scrawled underneath that, I love you too. It was a Saturday, so Roman just lounged around the house, talking to his soulmate for a bit (sometimes he still couldn't believe he was lucky enough to have Anxiety as his soulmate.)

It was barely an hour later, when Anxiety sent him a short message so abruptly and unexpectedly that it made Roman fall off the couch.

I want to meet you.

****

He stared at the message in shock, excitement and happiness bubbling up and surging through him, making a beaming smile leap out onto Roman's face. He had been waiting for this! He'd been wanting to meet Anxiety for weeks, but he hadn't wanted to pressure him into anything's he wasn't comfortable with. And now Anxiety finally trusted Prince enough to meet him! Yes! When he realised he still had to reply, he scrambled desperately for the pen he had accidentally thrown at the wall as he fell. He basically jammed the marker against his skin, writing the words as fast as humanely possible.

Oh my goodness are you being serious??? Yesyesyes!!!!I I would love to meet you in real life!!! Glancing back over the extreme reaction, Roman was suddenly worried he'd overwhelmed Anxiety. Thankfully, his boyfriend's reply came quick.

'Lol calm down pretty boy. Um so hey if we're doing this, I remember we talked about this place a while ago, there's that park a while away from both of our houses?' And then 'btw, im really excited too.'

That made Roman smile fondly at his own wrist. But yes, he knew the park. It had been the source of some of their conversations, being the place that Prince was in when the link started working and the place Anx used to love going to as a kid. It would be the perfect place to meet; it was now officially Prince's dream meeting spot.

It didn't take long for them to organise the meeting, The park was pretty close to both of their houses, and it wasn't too big, which meant they should be able to find each other pretty easily. Now, Roman had to get ready!

****

He put a simple white shirt on and his favourite white, red and gold jacket, and dark skinny jeans (that he knew made his legs looks great). He styled his hair until it was impeccable and checked his face in the mirror, and sprayed some deodorant on himself. Then he took a few deep breaths while looking in the mirror, gave himself a quick pep talk because jeez, he was about to meet his actual soulmate! And then, before he knew it, Roman was walking out his door and down the road.

****

When Prince arrived at the park, he looked around but couldn't see anyone who looked his age. There only seemed to be adults or little kids milling about. Sighing, a bundle of nerves still heavy in his chest and weaving through his ribs, Roman decided to make his way to the tree where he first started talking to Anxiety. It was one of the biggest trees in the park, its sturdy, sweeping branches looping and twisting around each other, the bright emerald leaves fluttering and swaying in the wind, their glossiness reflecting the bright sunlight that shone down upon the earth. Prince wandered up to it, lost in his thoughts and fantasies and wondering about how he was finally going to meet Anxiety!! He was going to meet his soulmate!! That was both exciting and terrifying. He absently lay his hand on the tree trunk, the familiar bark comforting underneath his fingers. He couldn't say how long he lingered there, lost in his own mind, until an oh-so-familiar tingling sensation began emanating from his wrist.

Behind you

****

Anxiety was feeling anxious, but that was only to be expected. He was also more excited than he had ever been before He was about to meet his real life, honest to god, actual soulmate! The guy he'd been talking to for weeks, the one he'd been dating without ever actually seeing his face.

Heck, how was he going to know who Roman was? He had no idea what he looked liked!

Wait, all the cheesy movies said there was some kind of pull, maybe that was a real thing, maybe it would lead him to Prince.

Or maybe it wouldn't.

Maybe he would just see someone with the same writing as him, that way he would know exactly who Roman was!

Or maybe he would never find Roman, ever. Even thought that was incredibly unrealistic as they could just arrange another place to meet. In the end Anx decided to try to ignore the nervousness and focus on his excitement. Even though he'd never actually seen Prince, and Prince hadn't seen him, Anxiety's crush on the dramatic boy was stronger than anything else he'd ever felt. It was almost scary, but it was also feeding a fire of excitement in him with every step closer he took to the park. He was about to meet Roman!

When Anxiety arrived in the park, he was suddenly flooded with emotions and memories from his childhood. He used to come to this park all the time; he had loved to roll down the hills and throw sticks into the creeks and climb the trees. There had always been one tree in particular that was his favourite; it was one of the tallest in the park, and its branches curved and were low enough to clamber upon and sit on. Anxiety took a quick look around him, in case he suddenly saw his soulmate, but he felt nothing. There were only a few adults stretching in the bright sunshine and some kids running around and laughing.

Well, he had no better plan. He might as well head to his favourite tree.

****

Anxiety climbed up the grassy hill the tree grew on top of, steadily ignoring the heat beating down on him. He looked good in black, so he was willing to suffer. He was strangely excited about going to the tree, but he pinned it down to just being happy about childhood memories. Running a hand through his dark floppy hair, Anxiety took the last step up the hill and looked towards the tree, then froze.

A guy was leaning against the tree, one hand resting on the bark, his back to Anxiety. He looked like he was staring off into space, daydreaming. He was tall and lean, but looked strong at the same time. The dark jeans he was wearing made this guy's legs look great. He was wearing a white, red and gold jacket, and had neat, light brown hair. Anxiety couldn't see his face, but just judging from the back of him he was attractive. Like, really fricking hot.

And then Anxiety saw the back of the man's hand.

****

Drawn on the back was a large, elegant, looping infinity sign that merged seamlessly with Roman's loopy handwriting, spelling out the word love then flowing back into the infinity sign. The word love then had a thin line crossed though it, with the word pizza written in a messy scrawl underneath. Anxiety knew all the details about the silly little drawing, because he had the same thing formed on his own hand.

Which meant... that this was Roman.

Holy shit.

Holy shit!

This guy was his soulmate?? This was Roman?? He was Anxiety's boyfriend?? How the fuck had Anxiety gotten so lucky? What kind of flaw in the universe's system had gifted him with this guy? He didn't really know what to do. He didn't know what he wanted to say.

So he decided not to say anything, and to simply write. So he took the pen out of his hoodie pocket, looked for a space between the drawings and words and ink stains that already dotted his skin, and wrote Behind you.

Anxiety watched nervously as the ink dried on his skin, and watched the words fade up onto Roman's own skin. It was so strange to see something that he wrote appear on someone else's skin. Anx was full of apprehension as he watched Prince look at his arm in surprise, then stiffen.

Then slowly, slowly, Roman turned around.

All the breath whooshed out of Anxiety's lungs as their eyes met.

****

Behind you. Two words, that probably shouldn't hold so much meaning. How could two words possibly hold how important the meaning behind them was? How could two small words create so much feeling and emotion within Roman?

Behind you. He was about to see Anxiety, he was about to see his soulmate for the first time. All he had to do was turn around.

He was suddenly full of nerves, but he had to face his fear. There was no use waiting any longer! So Roman turned around, looked behind him, saw his soulmate, and promptly forgot how to breathe.

****

Eyes. The first thing he noticed were Anxiety's eyes; they were wide and stunned, their colour a beautiful hazel. It was an delightful swirl of shining emerald green and deep brown, complete with flecks of gold twinkling in the sunlight. They were rimmed in expertly applied dark eyeliner, that brought out the colour beautifully.

The next thing he noticed was, well, everything. Anxiety had skin like snow, clear and pale, and he had a light dusting of cute little freckles. His hair was a brown so dark it was almost black, and it flopped over Anxiety's face and eyes slightly. It looked so soft and smooth that Roman had the sudden urge to run his hands through it. He was wearing a large, soft looking hoodie and black jeans, and he was shorter than Prince! It was adorable! Anxiety in general was adorable. And beautiful. And hot. And exquisite and amazing and really good looking and heavenly and stunning and holy shit how did Roman get so lucky?! He must have been blessed.

Roman found himself moving closer, steps clumsy and stunned. Prince knew his expression was probably comical, he could imagine that it was full of awe and adoration and shock. Prince was relieved to see that Anxiety was drifting towards him too, his expression equally as awe filled and stunned, hazel eyes wide.

This was Roman's soulmate! And he was more perfect than he could have ever imagined.

****

Anxiety was in awe. This was his soulmate! He just wanted to stand there and gaze at Roman forever.

His boyfriend's skin was smooth and tanned, and was Roman blushing slightly? There was a dusting of pale pink adorning Prince's face as he stared at Anxiety. And holy shit, that was probably the most adorable thing Anx had ever seen. Wait, no, Roman in general was the most adorable/hot/attractive thing Anxiety had ever laid eyes upon.

His eyes were a warm chocolate colour, that shone with kindness. Prince's twinkled and sparkled in the light, and Anxiety felt like he could gaze into them all day. Roman's hair was a light, chestnut brown, styled immaculately bar a few fluffy strands being ruffled by the breeze. He was tall, taller than Anxiety, and slim, but still muscular. His jeans clung to his legs and showed them off in the best way possible, and he was wearing a simple white shirt underneath the soft looking jacket. Suddenly Roman was far closer to him, and Anxiety realised they had both been stumbling closer to each other, and then they were meeting in the middle and holy shit this was his soulmate.

****

Anxiety's breath caught in his throat as he and Roman stared at each other, drinking each other in, their expressions mirroring each other in terms of awe, affection and shock. Then Roman blinked and slowly his hand came up to cup Anxiety's face. The touch was gentle and fleeting, light as a feather.

"I know I said you were magnificent before, but... you truly do exceed even my expectations. You're exquisite. More stunning than I ever imagined, than I ever dreamed you would be." Roman breathed, eyes roaming over Anxiety's face. Anx could feel himself blushing, but this was the first time he had heard Prince's voice, and he could listen to it all day. It was velvety smooth, rolling and eloquent, and Anxiety's new favourite sound.

"I-I'm not that cute." He automatically stammered. Roman looked genuinely shocked.

"Nonsense! You're the most beautiful human I've ever seen. You're truly gorgeous." There was so much sincerity in his words it took Anxiety's breath away. Again. He didn't know what to say, he wasn't good with words, not like Prince was.

"You're not bad yourself." Was the first thing that came to his mind, and therefore the first thing he said. "Wait, no, scrap that. You're so fucking good looking, what the heck?" Anxiety's hands absently reached up and gently touched Roman's hair. It was really soft. Roman blushed and smiled.

"Glad you like what you see." Anxiety rolled his eyes, but Prince was still smiling and now he was too.

"Lucky you, I really do." He giggled. Roman's smile got even brighter, and it was adorable, and suddenly Anxiety was looping his arms around Prince's neck and pulling him into a crushing hug because he just- he needed to be closer to his soulmate. The urge was irresistible.

****

Roman responded almost immediately, his arms wrapping around Anxiety's waist and pulling him closer, and Anxiety had his head buried in the crook of Prince's neck and Roman's chin was resting on top of Anx's head and he felt so safe and happy and something else, a feeling that was indescribable. It was like there had been a piece of Anxiety missing all his life and now he finally had it, like the last piece of a jigsaw had just been fitted in, like something clicked inside him and suddenly Anxiety was so happy he could barely contain it. Roman was warm and strong, and his jacket was soft, and he smelt really nice, like vanilla and deodorant and it was all so perfect it was making Anxiety's head spin. Their chests were pressed tightly together, and Anxiety felt Roman relax completely against him. He subconsciously did the same, the bubbly feeling of bliss as he hugged his soulmate residing slightly and leaving him smiling like an idiot against Prince's shoulder.

****

Eventually they separated, standing back and smiling at each other, before deciding to leave the park and wader around the city. They walked around holding hands all day, their little adventures including showing each other their favourite places (the library, the theatre, that one cafe), exchanging stories and facts, talking about their friends Logan and Patton, Prince buying them both ice cream and taking countless cute, cheesy, couple-y selfies and posting them on every social media he owned. Patton, of course, liked and screamed about every single picture.

****

However, every day has to come to an end. So as the sun began to sink down below the horizon, and the flames of sunset's light grew and shone in bright colours through the sky, illuminating clouds and painting the sky a vibrant masterpiece, Roman and Anx made their way back to the park they met in. They walked so close together their shoulders bumped, hands held tightly and fingers laced together. They were silent for the first time all day, each enjoying their soulmate's presence for the last few moments that day. Each slowly growing sadder as they realised they had to part ways again soon. When they reached the park, they each lingered and held hands for a while longer, looking at each other sadly. Eventually Anxiety couldn't bear the silence anymore, but he didn't know what he wanted to say, and he didn't want to leave. What did he want to do?

"Do you wanna climb the tree?"

****

Roman looked at Anxiety in confusion, which quickly cleared up when Anxiety gestured with a tilt of his head towards the centre of the park. Prince grinned.

"Sure, I did that all the time when I was a kid."

"So did I! Let's go, Pretty Boy." Anxiety took off, full of childlike excitement again. Roman laughed and chased after him, and together they ran up the hill towards the tree.

"Hey, the branches are pretty high up. Need a boost, shorty?" Roman teased. Anxiety scowled at him.

"Haha, very funny, asshat." Anxiety shot back. Roman placed his hand over his heart in mock offence.

"Rude peasant." He grinned, then moved around Anxiety to climb up the first few branches. He found a branch that dipped in the middle to make the perfect place to sit in, and a second later Anxiety was clambering up and sitting next to him, pressing close to his side. Roman wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gazed out of the tree around the park. The view was great, as they were on the top of a hill. They could see to the very edges of the park, and could see all the leaves of every tree swishing in the gentle breeze. The sun was about to set, and he was sitting in a tree with his soulmate, with Anx, and everything seemed perfect. Roman turned his head to look at his boyfriend, only to see that Anxiety was already gazing at him. Anx looked away when Prince caught him staring, but there was already a tiny, pleased smile dancing across Roman's lips.

"C'mon, we should go soon." Anxiety mumbled after a minute, and began to slide down to the ground. Roman followed just a second later. He jumped down and landed on the soft green grass, running a hand through his hair absently. When he looked up again, however, he was struck breathless again.

The sun was setting, casting beams of golden, orange and pink light to Earth. The rays of light illuminated Anxiety's face like a halo, managing to make him look even more like a true piece of art. He was beautiful, and Roman couldn't stop staring. Eventually Anxiety realised Prince wasn't moving and turned, hazel eyes puzzled, hand brushing his dark hair out of his eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He joked.

"I was just thinking that you look really nice." Roman said flippantly, making a pretty pink blush appear around Anxiety's freckles, very noticeable against his pale skin. "And that I really want to kiss you right now." He added shyly. This made Anxiety's head jerk up, and his eyes widen. But then he relaxed, smiled at his soulmate, and said, "Then do it."

****

So as the sun began to sink down below the horizon, and the flames of sunset's light grew and shone in bright colours through the sky, illuminating clouds and painting the sky a vibrant masterpiece, Roman slowly leaned in. He cupped his boyfriend's face shyly, eyes fluttering shut, and gently kissed Anxiety. Anxiety kissed back immediately, equally as gently, and the indescribable feeling of happiness came back. The kiss was sweet and slow, innocent and happy, a perfect first kiss. When they pulled apart the two boyfriends hugged again, Anxiety being short enough to simply bury his face and smile in Prince's shoulder. Roman wrapped his arms around his soulmate's waist, and they stood in the sunset for a minute longer, softly swaying back and forth in peaceful silence, enjoying the sunset and their soulmate's presence. And when they finally parted ways again, both heading to the own homes, it was with a smile on their faces, a pen in their hands, and ink stains littering their skin.

[ichirakukpop]

Y/N and Park

MASTERLIST 

Genre: Fluff (w/ a tiny bit of angst? Just a pinch, like 1/8 of a pinch lol)

Characters: You x JImin

Word Count: 2.3K

Plot: Jimin was popular and you weren’t. You never thought your paths would cross, and you never wanted them to. However, fate had other plans (lmao this is such a  cliche plot but just read it, it’s not that cliche).

a/n: This was inspired by the book “Eleanor & Park.” If you haven’t read it, you should because it’s really good! I used the same format as the book. Also, the line break indicates a new day. :)

Your POV

He was always the popular boy. Ever since elementary school, he always had a group of friends following him along with an audience. You never knew what was so great about him.

While he was friends with half of the school, the other half– minus one, wished they could be his friend. That minus one was you.

You sat alone at a cafeteria table and tried to eat your lunch in peace. However, the fact that Park Jimin kept throwing glances at your way irked you.

Jimin’s POV

He first noticed you on the first day of grade one. You were quiet and remained to yourself. Not a lot of people noticed you, and you seemed to like it. You were so shy and he never thought much of it back then, but he thought it was adorable now.

Jimin always wanted to talk to you, but something about you made him too nervous to approach you.

Jimin stared at you across the cafeteria, admiring your beauty from afar. He watched you take a bite out of the disgusting school lunch and chuckled to himself when you made a grossed out face.

Your POV

In class, you were bored out of your mind. The teacher called on students, asking for an answer to a question that was only answerable if you were as smart as himself. The teacher called on Jimin’s name and you rolled your eyes. You waited for a stupid, unfunny answer that would be followed by laughter from the other students.

Jimin’s POV

He heard the teacher call his name. He didn’t know what the question was or if was even a question in the first place.

Jimin wasn’t paying attention to the teacher, instead, he was distracted by watching you doodle some drawings in your notebook. They looked like scribbles from where he was sitting, but he remembered that you were good at art. He always wanted to see your scribbles up close and wondered what you were actually drawing.

Your POV

You waited at the library for your partner. 20 minutes has passed by and you grew agitated

You felt stupid and should’ve known that Jimin would be late. Maybe he wasn’t going to show up at all.

You were supposed to meet up to work on an English project, but by the looks of it, it looked like you would have to start tomorrow.

Jimin’s POV

He ran to the library as fast as he could. He didn’t mean to be late, but his boss made him stay and extra half an hour to clean up at his job.

When he got to the library, he saw that you were already packing up. Jimin walked quickly to your table and apologized.

Your POV

He gave you an excuse that he probably used for everything. You rolled your eyes but emptied out your bag to start the project. You were annoyed that he was late, but at least he was there now.

You asked him his what favourite Shakespeare book was. There was no point in choosing one yourself since you doubted he’s ever read any in the first place.

Jimin’s POV

“Uh, Macbeth.”

He never even read it. Did he even get the name right?

He saw you reading it in the library one day and it just popped up in his mind.

Your POV

Just two days into the project, you found out that you and Jimin had many things in common. You liked the same books, TV shows, and types of movies.

It was strange, you never thought Jimin would ever be into the same things you were into.

Jimin’s POV

You asked him what his favourite colour was. He liked blue, but he knew you didn’t. He lied and said he didn’t have a favourite color, just so he wouldn’t lose that connection with you.

Your POV

You presented your project with flying colors. You didn’t expect a good mark because of Jimin, but when your teacher handed you back your mark, you were surprised that you actually achieved a good one.

You were happy the project was over. However, as much as you didn’t want to admit it, you were going to miss sharing a bond with Jimin– even if it was just the slightest bond possible.

You still couldn’t understand why he was so popular or had people following him like a bunch of “fans,” but Jimin wasn’t as horrible as you thought he’d be.

But he was still popular, and you weren’t. That meant that he wouldn’t be forced to talk to you or make small talk anymore because of the project. The project was over, and so would your friendship– if it even was a friendship, with Jimin will be.

Jimin’s POV

He watched your expression as you received your mark. He didn’t look at his mark when the teacher gave it to him, but when he saw your smile, he knew it was good.

He was happy the project was over. He felt that the two of you developed a friendship. Now he could talk to you more often and more freely– and without the topic of Macbeth popping up.

Jimin’s POV

He hurried out of class to catch up to you. He saw you walking towards math. He had that class too.

“Hey, good job Y/N. I think we did the best.”

“Oh, uh,” you looked shocked and he thought it was so cute. “Yeah, I think so too.”

Your POV

Jimin sat beside you in math class. He usually sat at the back, but today he sat at the front. With you.

Your POV

Two girls that usually sat at Jimin’s lunch table approached you. They knocked your tray down and your food splattered everywhere. Onto the floor, on the table, and on you.

Jimin’s POV

His head turned into the direction of the noise. He saw you standing there covered in food.

He looked at his two friends who were giggling, approaching his table. He gave them a death stare and they sat down quietly, avoiding eye contact with him.

His blood was boiling. He wanted to yell at them and tell everyone to stop staring at you. He was furious. But in the end, he turned his head and remained quiet for the rest of the lunch.

Your POV

You were embarrassed but not surprised. Those girls did that often to people. You just happened to be the next target.

You knew he saw you, and for some reason, you wanted him to stand up for you. He didn’t, though.

Your POV

You sat at the cafeteria table and ate the food that was on your tray. Suddenly, you heard a slam on the table and looked up to see Jimin standing in front of you.

Jimin’s POV

He stood in front of you and smiled. You looked startled, so he apologized.

He purposely left his lunch at home, just so he could eat the cafeteria food with you.

When he took a bite out of what looked like chocolate pudding, but tasted liked canned dog food, he tried his best not to throw up.

Jimin’s POV

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For yesterday.”

Your POV

You considered him Jimin a friend. You didn’t know if he considered you one, but if he did, he had plenty of those. It wasn’t like Jimin had to stand up for you or say anything. It’s not like he had to care.

So, you forgave him, you had no right not to.

Your POV

You saw the same two girls walking towards you while you stood at your locker. You knew they were coming, they’ve been doing it for about a week.

You waited for them to appear and throw your notebook or something out of your locker and onto the ground, but they never showed up.

You looked past your locker door and surprisingly, they were gone. Instead, you saw Jimin.

Jimin’s POV

He didn’t know why his “friends” were acting that way. Why was he even friends with people like that?

You were the nicest person ever. Maybe they couldn’t see it, but Jimin knew you.

Your POV

Jimin walked you home. You knew he lived in the other direction, but he insisted. You didn’t mind, you liked the company.

You liked Jimin.

Jimin’s POV

He wanted every excuse to be with you. Maybe he should just ask you out, but he was too afraid.

He liked you, he always has.

Your POV

The school dance was coming up. You weren’t really a party person, but everyone was talking about it.

Everywhere you turned, there were posters advertising it. Every morning on the announcements they would remind everyone to buy their tickets.

You were also used to people going all out just to ask someone to the dance. People wrote songs, bought gifts, one person even kidnapped their significant other just to ask them to the dance.

You didn’t really want to go to the dance, but if Jimin asked you, you wouldn’t hesitate to say yes.

Jimin’s POV

Jimin wanted to go to the dance with you. He knew you were shy and didn’t want to do something big to ask you like everyone normally else did. He didn’t want an audience, he wanted you to feel safe and comfortable. Just you and him.

After school, while he walked you home, he thought of how to ask you. What if you said no.

Your POV

Jimin didn’t really talk much like usual. You felt as if something was bothering him.

“Are you okay, Jimin?” You asked.

He turned to you and looked shocked, like he was just pulled out from a daydream.

“Do you wanna go to the dance with me?”

He sounded nervous, but then shocked at his own words. It was cute.

Your POV

The night of the dance arrived. Jimin would be at your house in 20 minutes.

You looked at the mirror one last time. You wore a blue dress that fit you in all the right places. Your hair was down, and you wore makeup that looked alright. You felt embarrassed since you looked so different.

Maybe you should change. You could feel your insecurities acting up and wondered what Jimin would think. What if he thought you looked ugly? What if he said you looked good, but didn’t mean it?

Suddenly you heard the doorbell ring.

Jimin’s POV

Your mother opened the door and Jimin greeted her kindly. He stepped inside and waited for you to come down.

When he saw you appear at the top, his mind went blank. All he could see was you and you were glowing.

You looked different. Not better than how you always looked, but not worse either. You always looked beautiful to him. But now, you just looked different. Good different.

You looked like a princess waiting at the stop of the staircase and he felt as if he were in a movie. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you

He could tell you were nervous. He decided to walk up the stairs to help you down so you wouldn’t have the spotlight all on you.

He took your delicate little hand and led you down. Your mother stopped you two near the bottom to take pictures. He didn’t mind, he wanted to remember this moment.

Your POV

Your mother was embarrassing you. You told her to stop but she didn’t listen.

Finally, she and your father let you and Jimin leave.

“Y/N, you’re so beautiful, you know that right?” Jimin said to you once the two of you were outside.

You blushed and thanked him. It wasn’t like you’ve never received a compliment before, but the way Jimin said it was different than how anyone else gave you one. He talked about you– not how you looked tonight, not your dress or your makeup, just you. His words made you feel like you really were the most beautiful girl in the world.

Your POV

You were surprised. The dance was really fun.

At first, you felt a bit awkward because Jimin knew everyone there and you the opposite. You barely knew anyone and weren’t really used to such social events.

But Jimin never left your side. He danced with you the whole night. Some of his friends joined in as well, and although they didn’t really know you, they didn’t care. They wanted you to have fun just like Jimin, and that’s exactly what you did.

Jimin’s POV

Jimin knew that you were having fun. You were smiling so much and he was happy to see you having fun in a place that was out of your comfort zone.

Although you didn’t really know anyone there, Jimin was happy that his friends didn’t exclude you and quickly invited you into the fun. Everyone would finally see you for the amazing person you that really were.

Jimin didn’t stay with you because he thought it would be rude to ditch you, he stayed with you because he wanted to be with you. He wanted to live in that moment with you and only you forever.

Your POV

After the dance, Jimin drove you home. You two raved about how fun the night was.

When Jimin reached your home and you sighed. You didn’t want the night to end, but all good things do.

“Thanks, Jimin, I had a really great time,” you said to him with a smile.

“Me too, Y/N,” Jimin said back.

The two of you stayed in his car for a bit, just looking into each other’s eyes waiting for someone to say something.

“Y/N…” Jimin said softly, with a nervous look. He moves closer to your face and soon you’re only inches apart from each other.

You opened your mouth to say something, but Jimin leaned in and brought his lips to yours, closing the space between the two of you. You close your eyes and melted into his warm kiss.

It was past midnight– the night was already done. But unlike all good things that come to an end, in the moment, you knew that you and Jimin were going to last forever.

Thanks for reading! & lol maybe this actually was really cliche…

[whitecatgeek]

Remember that time I started a Game Grumps/egobangiplier fanfiction and never got further than three and a half pages?

yeahmeneither

‘I’m Sonic the Motherfucking Hedgehog,  or more like, the fuckin’, fuckin’, what even is a hedgehog do we even get those in America what the fuck why isn’t it like Sonic the Armadillo those shitheads can roll into a ball and probably move really fast maybe I mean I don’t even know.’

Those were the thoughts casually flowing through the brain of one Arin Hanson as he sat in class, the monotone of algebra a mere background noise as the lead of his pencil scratched furiously against squared paper. What should have been numbers was multiple, somewhat crude doodles and drawings of video game characters. A particularly sad and bewildered Tails ‘Miles’ Prower stood, arms a bit too long for his body, looking lost as Sonic flipped him the bird, and a sense of angry pride swelled in Arin’s head.

“Hahahaa!” His thoughts were broken by a pleasant, but to him incredibly disruptive, laugh coming from the back of the class.

“What the ffffFFFUCK.” He spat out involuntarily and entirely without thinking, the tip of his pencil breaking as though to echo his rage. Of course, that exclamation was supposed to be in his head, not bellowed out for his entire class to hear. Although actually quite shy, Arin was not known for his self control.

“Excuse me, Mr. Hanson?” Dread practically dripped down his neck as he heard those words from the authoritative figure that was his Maths tutor, hairs prickling up on his arms as he realised what he had just done. “Is something wrong?”

“I-... Uhhh.” He muttered, cheeks burning with embarrassment, yet still he could not stop himself from glancing around to the source of the laugh that caused his outburst. Why was he being punished when someone else was fooling around in class?

The merriment came from the lanky, long-legged boy who always sat out of reach and out of consequence, his chair tilted back as he looked at Arin, his gaze not seeming to actually reach the shorter, grumpy boy but instead always looking past him, as though something else ultimately took his interest.

Daniel Avidan, or Danny to his friends, was not your typical troublemaker. He never paid attention, never handed in homework, never really seemed to do... Anything. This infuriated Arin to no end, because despite his preference for other creative hobbies he always did his best to scrape by. Yet this other boy, this tall, big-haired, droopy-eyed, painfully charming student never seemed to have a care in the world.

“How about you think about it outside the class and let the rest of us get back to learning, Mr. Hanson?” Arin’s eyes quickly snapped back to his teacher at hearing those words, and he resisted his natural instinct to swear under his breath, or question if that was a request or a demand when he knew full well what it was.

He clumsily snatched up all of his belongings, jabbing pencils and notebooks into his backpack as he tried not to let the amused stares of his peer’s burn into the back of his head for too long, chin length strands of slightly greasy mahogany hair falling over his eyes and allowing him to hide his shame.

Just as he was about to reach the freedom of the corridor, he heard that laugh again. Girls liked that laugh; they thought it was “cute”. It made Arin freeze on the spot and his hands clenched into fists. In that moment he hated that laugh and everything that it stood for. To be fair, Arin was known for his melodramatic attitude.

He burst out of the classroom and closed the door behind him, swinging his backpack onto the floor and pressing his forehead against the wall of the hallway. ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid.’ His brain repeatedly battered away at him, being this close to escaping the prison that was high school and going to college meant that he didn’t have room to make mistakes like this.

Whilst he considered himself to be a loner, Arin was actually in a very happy place. All of the awkwardness of being bullied for being “nerdy” had settled as fellow students focused on their studies and the paths that would inevitably lead to college or other roads in life, and he had amassed a small but very loyal group of friends.

He groaned quietly, smooshing his face into the wall as he imagined what said friends would say when they found out that he managed to get kicked out of his class this late into the game. In fact he didn’t really need to imagine it because he knew exactly how they would react, one young man in particular whose maniacal, “HAH HAH HAAAH!” would no doubt soon be echoing throughout the corridors.

“Uh, hey man, are you... Alright?” He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden question and Arin flew backwards, almost bumping into the student who approached him out of the blue. He furiously brushed and swept at his hair with his hands before actually laying eyes on the kind stranger. “You looked pretty intimate with that wall there.”

“Oh, hey, dude! I’m fine! I’m great!” Arin bellowed in response before giving a clumsy, fairly pointless thumbs up.

Before him stood someone that he did not recognise, though he appeared to be of a similar age. He was just a tad shorter than Arin though with a broader build, with jet black hair draped across his forehead. His face was handsome but understated, and he appeared to be at least part East Asian in ethnicity.

“Uhhh, do I know you?” Arin continued, staring dumbly at the shorter boy.

“Oh, uh, no, I don’t think so! I’m Mark!” Mark Fischbach, as it turned out, quickly introduced himself whilst glancing around, an obvious sense of nervousness about him that wasn’t hidden by his surprisingly low voice that had an almost radio DJ quality to it. “Hey I don’t mean to bother you, but I am totally lost here, it’s my first day and I literally have no idea where I’m going.”

“Oh, bro! Yeah sure, I mean, I can probably help.” Arin involuntarily puffed his chest out, his natural desire to go into ‘show off’ mode kicking in. “Where do you need to get to? I know this whole place super well, almost like someone who comes here every day.”

“Oh, well, I’m trying to find Room 237; it’s for Chemistry with Ms Dubois..?” He sheepishly responded, searching Arin’s face for a response.

“Noooo problem!” The young man beamed, easily distracted from his previous woes. “I’ll show you how to get there, consider me your personal guide.” With that he snatched up his backpack, the dark colour of the fabric carrier decorated with little bursts of colour in the form of hand-made badges and key rings of his own artwork, along with bright candy packets littered in Japanese font sitting in the small netted pocket at the front.

He set off with long, proud strides and the meeker boy followed behind him, making sure to keep up with the slightly erratic youth that he had encountered. As they travelled across the school building, its halls ghostly quiet due to classes being in session, they made small talk.

As it turned out, Mark had just moved into the neighbourhood and was trying his best to catch up, but Arin got the impression that the other teenager was very bright and even more modest. Mark found Arin’s quirky, eager to please attitude strangely charming and enjoyed the boy’s constant outbursts of facts about the school, though sometimes he found it a little difficult to get any words of his own into the conversation.

“So, uh, like. Are you-... You know.” Arin suddenly stopped and stared at Mark, then at the floor, then back at Mark, and then pretty much everywhere he could possibly lay his eyes in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. “Nihonjin.”

“Ni-... Home gym..? Wha’?” Mark blinked, absolutely lost.

“You know, nihonjin, nippon, nihongo?” Arin muttered through his teeth, moving closer to the shorter student and now staring at him intensely with an expectant look.

“Is... Is this hazing?”

“WHAT. No. Man, you know! Japanese? Are you Japanese!?”

“Oh! .... Huh?”

“Oh my God, Arin, not every Asian person is Japanese.” The awkwardness was abruptly broken by two students appearing behind them having just walked around the corner, the taller of the two placing a hand upon Arin’s shoulder. “Are you harassing people again?”

“Barry!” Arin exclaimed and jumped back away from Mark, “I was just... No!” His bottom lip jutted out in a dramatic pout whilst his follower continued to look utterly confused. “...Wait, what are you doing out of class?”

“I had to walk this guy to the nurse’s office.” Barry responded, waving his thumb over at the grinning youth next to him.

“I got bitten by a crocodile!” Said youth exclaimed, strands of pale brown hair cascading over his eyebrows, beneath them his blue eyes were wide and bright despite the fact that one of his hands was wrapped around his knee whilst and he hopped awkwardly upon his other leg, obviously injured.

“No, you did not. Someone decided that it would be a good idea to try and play cricket whilst everyone else was running track, and the baseball he used bounced back and hit him.” Barry sighed, putting a palm upon his forehead in exasperation.

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault that we don’t get to play real sports... Wait, why are YOU out of class?” The hobbling boy asked, his words all lifted by hints of an Australian accent.

“Oh, uhm...” Arin sighed before explaining the situation, and then it happened as expected.

“HAH HAH HAAAH!”

“Shut up Ross! It wasn’t my fault! It was that guy, that... DAN. He thinks he’s so cool just because everyone likes him and he’s so handsome and like, ‘Oh look at me, I’m Dan, I’m so cool and everyone likes me and I’m so handsome!’ Yeah well you’re a loser and you suck.”

“Oh come on, he’s not that bad.” Barry interrupted, leaning against a pillar structure in the wall of the corridor. “So what’s your story?” He nodded over at Mark who was listening patiently to the three.

“Oh, uhm, hi! I’m Mark!” He plucked up and introduced himself, and with that they all started to head towards the new student’s classroom. “So who is this.. Dan?”

“Oh he’s just a guy that Arin is obsessed with.”

[thatwriterchickrachel]

Mysteries at Midnight - 23

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng; Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe; Chat Noir/Ladybug

Characters:

Chat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug)

Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug)

Alya Césaire

Adrien Agreste

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Nino Lahiffe

Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug)

Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)

Madame Bustier (Miraculous Ladybug)

Chloé Bourgeouis (Miraculous Ladybug)

Nathaniel Kurtzberg (Miraculous Ladybug)

Lila Rossi (Miraculous Ladybug)

Additional Tags:

dance au

Ballroom dance

College

Grown up AU

Royalty AU

Language:English

Read on Ao3   [for reliable updates please read on Ao3 I forget about tumblr]

Chapter 1                        Chapter 2 Chapter 3                        Chapter 4 Chapter 5                        Chapter 6 Chapter 7                        Chapter 8 Chapter 9                        Chapter 10 Chapter 11                      Chapter 12 Chapter 13                      Chapter 14 Chapter 15                      Chapter 16 Chapter 17                      Chapter 18 Chapter 19                      Chapter 20 Chapter 21                      Chapter 22

Chapter 23 - Connected Inside

Summary: Adrien learns that Marinette has supernatural forces on her side, and Marinette confesses her concerns to Adrien.

Marinette couldn’t believe what she had just done. She had hit Adrien Agreste with her sketchbook! What was wrong with her?

And he was laughing. The sound was almost enough to bring her out of her shock. Almost.

“Sorry, I forgot you don’t like to share your designs,” the boy laughed, pulling out the nearest chair and slumping into it before reaching out to take one of the glasses and drink from it. “Forgive me?”

His green eyes were kryptonite; she was sure, because she didn’t even have it in her to be annoyed with him.

“Th-they’re not designs,” she stammered, her voice crackly. She cleared her throat and tried again. “They aren’t… designs. I mean, well they are designs, but more like doodles, not anything important or anything like that,” she continued, awkwardly knocking her bag to the floor beside her chair as she spoke.

"I um, I was just looking at your father’s folio and was taking notes and then suddenly I wasn’t. How weird is that? Like you know when your brain just zones out and you’re not doing what you think you’re doing and you just lose time, you know? What am I talking about? You’re Adrien Agreste, you don’t know,” she added as she shakily reached for the other glass and pulled it to her lips.

“I told you that you didn’t have to call me that,” the boy said quietly. “You’re my friend Mari, I don’t want you to see me as a model or someone famous. You’re my friend and I want you to see me as a friend.”

“S-sorry, I’m trying, it’s just a big thing for me you know? I’ve been a fan of yours…and your fathers, for a very long time.”

“I understand,” Adrien sighed, looking at Plagg who was sitting in another chair cleaning himself as if no one was watching.

“H-here,” Marinette said, carefully sliding her sketchbook across the table to him. She didn’t want him to feel like she didn’t trust him, especially when that wasn’t the case; but she couldn’t very well tell him that she had a massive crush on him which is why she was weird around him.

The boy raised his eyebrows and looked at her. She nodded at his unasked question and he carefully turned it over so he could see the pages.

He was quiet as he flickered through the pages. After a moment, he gestured for the folio he had given her and Marinette obliged, paying attention not to touch his hand as she passed it over and staring at the ice cubes in her drink, trying incredibly hard not to speak or shake.

“I can see you used my father’s work as inspiration,” the boy said after a bit.

“I-I know, which is why it’s just a doodle, I couldn’t actually use any of those anyway,” Marinette forced a laugh.

“What? No, I mean, I can tell because I know what I gave you to look at, but it’s just the colour scheme and the shapes you’ve taken notes from. They are definitely original Marinette’s,” the boy grinned as he slid the book back to her. “So are you going to use any of them for Ladybug or Chat Noir when they compete?”

“I hadn’t thought about it,” she replied honestly as she stared at the shapes in her workbook. “I mean, in my eyes they are almost plagiarisms of your father’s work, I wouldn’t, I mean I couldn’t, disrespect another designer like that.”

“I understand. You could still use them for your assignment though, right? I mean you could talk about the elements of my father’s line that inspired yours,” Adrien offered and Marinette smiled.

“That’s… that’s genius, I hadn’t even considered… Thank you,” she finished, cheeks rosy. He grinned back at her and Marinette returned her attention to her drink, unsure of what she should say next.

“Marinette…”

The boy sighed before reaching out and touching her arm, his whole body shifting in the chair to face her. She looked up at him, surprised by the seriousness of his features.

“I have a confession to make to you,” he said quietly, looking down at his feet.

“Adrien? What’s wrong?”

“I got a letter from Volpina as well… and she visited me the other night.” Adrien’s voice was so quiet; Marinette wasn’t sure she had heard him right, but if she hadn’t already had known, she would have guessed she hadn’t.

“Vol-Volpina?” Marinette managed to reply. “W-w-why, why would she contact you? You aren’t involved with Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“Actually… I don’t know if Ladybug had told you, but she and I have hung out a few times… Volpina seems to think there is something going on between us because of it.” The boy looked away, his fingers sliding from her arm and into his lap.

“What did Volpina’s note say?” Marinette asked quietly, unwilling to go into it, but knowing she should ask. She wasn’t supposed to know as much as she did.

“Basically that Volpina wants me to be with her,” he ran his hands through his hair and turned back in his chair. “Like, not just as dancers, but as a couple. And I can’t do that, I have too many other commitments, you know?”

“I understand,” Marinette nodded, trying not to think about the pressure he must be feeling.

“Besides, it’s not how two people should get together. There should be friendship and feeling… a genuine connection, you know?” Adrien met her eyes and Marinette nodded almost hypnotically.

“Y-yeah, I know what you mean,” she mumbled before shaking herself and realising she had been staring at him. “So, um did you want to study?” she asked.

Adrien sighed, leaning back in the chair. “Actually, I’d really rather not. I mean, I know that’s why you came over, but after this morning… I’m just drained.”

“That’s understandable,” Marinette nodded. “I can go if you want to be alone,” she suggested, her heart jumping in her chest as he immediately protested.

“N-No, please stay. I mean, it’s so rare for me to have someone to hang out with,” he smiled.

“Okay,” Marinette nodded, putting her stuff back in her bag. “What shall we do?”

“Well, I may have acquired the new Mecha Strike Ultimate Tournament game,” Adrien gave a small grin and raised an eyebrow.

“Well why didn’t you start with that,” Marinette cried as she leapt out of her seat. “Let’s go!”

Adrien grinned and lead her into the living room, Marinette’s eyes finally able to wander over the intricate décor of his apartment. He had a basketball hoop attached to a far wall, and beneath it, rock climbing knobs decorated the entire corner wall, leading up to the platform landing where Marinette could only just see bookshelves filled with large and impressive collections.

At the end of the landing was a large cat condo and beside it, a spiral staircase leading back down. Marinette could only guess that the two doors on the wall beneath the platform, lead to the bathroom and Adrien’s bedroom.

The girl shook off the blush on her cheeks as she returned her appropriate attention back to the blonde boy who was setting up the console attached to the large television. Marinette sat on the large couch, a little surprised that it was stiffer than it had looked.

“Sorry, my couch isn’t a marshmallow like yours,” Adrien apologised with an almost sad chuckle as he joined her. “My father is against any comfort that could affect my posture,” he explained with a sigh before handing Marinette a controller.

“He sounds like he really is all about appearances,” Marinette mumbled but then froze as she realised what she had just said… out loud, where Adrien could hear.

“Unfortunately, since my mother disappeared, it’s all that really matters to him.”

“Hey, look, the game is starting,” Marinette cried suddenly, hoping to take his mind off of it. “Let’s see if you can even get close to my score this time,” she said, desperate to get a smile out of him.

“Yeah right, like I could even get close,” Adrien scoffed, but there was a smile on his face.

“I dunno, you never know what could happen.”

“I’m not that lucky, Mari,” Adrien winked.

“Honestly, neither am I, but I have this,” Marinette smiled, holding out a pink bracelet with jade charm and some small beads.

“You’ve been using supernatural forces this whole time?” the boy gasped exaggeratedly.

“Do you want to try it or not?” Marinette laughed.

“Sure,” Adrien smiled, reaching out and taking it from her, their hands lingering together a little longer than necessary, sending Marinette’s cheeks burning.

******

Adrien and Marinette battled for an hour or so, Adrien somehow managing to almost match Marinette’ wins with his own, despite his score still being significantly lower.

“Maybe this charm of yours works after all,” Adrien grinned after he managed to secure another win – just barely. The girl gave a small smile in reply, but her brow was furrowed. As it turned out, Marinette wasn’t a very graceful loser.

“Or maybe it’s the fact you’ve been playing the Ultimate Tournament longer than I have,” she huffed and Adrien let out a laugh.

“If that’s how you feel, why don’t you play on your own for a while?” he suggested, putting down his controller and Marinette’s face dropped.

“N-No, I didn’t mean…” she frowned at herself and Adrien wondered if he had done something wrong. However, he was unable to ponder for very long, his stomach letting out an obnoxious growl and causing his guest to look up in surprise.

“Ah, I guess we should think about food at some point,” he chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. “I could maybe order a pizza or something?”

“I thought you had spent ages learning to eat properly this afternoon?” Marinette asked.

“Well, yeah, but you know how like royal people in movies tend to have tiny spoons and forks to go with their over-priced tiny portions?” Marinette nodded and Adrien continued. “It was just one of them and with Astor teaching me what to do, the one course took over an hour.” He added a small chuckle at the end to try and lighten the seriousness, but Marinette’s face said she saw through him.

“Pizza sounds great then,” she said with a forced cheerfulness. Adrien was grateful she didn’t say anything about his food portions. He knew their lives were greatly different due to their parent’s philosophies.

“You better get a whole one for yourself,” Marinette added when his stomach growled again and Adrien felt a small self-conscious blush on his cheeks as he nodded. The boy got up to get his phone, noticing he had a few messages from Nino begging to come over and free Adrien from Astor’s torment. He shot back a message saying Marinette had come ‘round and saved him with some basic ballroom and now they were just hanging out.

Adrien scrolled through his contacts to find the pizza place’s number before hitting call and calling out to Mari what she would like on her pizza.

“Um, just cheese please,” Marinette said, looking up from Plagg who had crawled into her lap.

With a nod, Adrein relayed her order to pizza man, adding in another pizza with the lot as well as garlic bread and a bottle of coke. Once he was done, he went into his room and pulled some cash out of his wallet, sitting it by the front door for when the pizza arrived.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked as he returned to the couch. She was scratching Plagg's stomach, but her expression was troubled. "Do you think we should do something? A-about Volpina, I mean."

"Volpina?" He asked confused.

"Well, yeah. We can't let Ladybug and Chat Noir cover for us forever right? Plus, there is only so much they can do... They aren't super heroes," she added quietly and Adrien tried not to smile at the idea. The two running across the rooftops in Paris in spandex and masks.

"I-I think they're okay with it, Marinette," Adrien said slowly.

"B-but what if we could do something? Like, I dunno, go on the Ladyblog and tell Paris that Volpina is threatening more than these seemingly perfect beings," Marinette suggested, looking up but staring ahead of her, as if determined not to meet his eyes.

"We can't do anything, Marinette. This is in their hands, we have to trust them."

"I can't just sit by and let my friends be in danger," Marinette finally looked at him, her expression fierce, her eyes full of emotion. "I have no doubt they can take care of themselves, but they mean a lot to me. Chat Noir and I... well we get along really well and we're kinda close, despite his tendency for puns," her eyes hand fallen back to the cat in her lap who was squirming, almost demanding more scratches. "He's not all that bad once you get used to him, and he's actually quite funny and smart, when he wants to be," Marinette's cheeks flushed a little before she hurriedly continued. "L-Ladybug too, you know, she's a really good friend, a-as well."

Adrien felt his cheeks flush but tried to hide with a nervous laugh that came out more as a cough as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I understand."

They both fell into silence for a moment, Marinette's eyes glued to the black feline in her lap who had resumed purring with the scratches. She seemed determined not to meet Adrien's eyes until he took a deep breath and began again.

"Look, I want to protect them too, Mari, really... but I don't... I don't think that would help them. I mean, if Volpina felt threatened by you and had someone track Ladybug and plant a letter in your home, then who knows what she will do if we take to the public," Adrien reasoned. "B-Besides, I couldn't do that. Not only would it put Ladybug, Chat and you in danger, if my father finds out I have anything to do with this stuff, that's my tiny slither of freedom gone," he paused as his mind began to whirr and spin. "That's it, no clubbing, no dance lessons, no uni, nothing that makes me happy. It'll be back to work full time and royal lessons, my life will be over... Mari, this Volpina thing can't get out, It just can't-" he was cut off by Marinette's hands on either side of his face.

"Okay," she said softly. Her eyes were a familiar shade of soft blue that calmed him almost instantly.

"O-okay?"

"Okay," she gave him a small smile. "I understand how inportant this is to you and I know your relationship with your father isn't easy, so we won't do it. Or at least, you won't. But I have to tell Alya what I know... I hope you understand that. You know she and Nino will do whatever they can to protect you too," the girl added.

Adrien nodded, letting out a sigh of relief as his eyes left her to see Plagg on the floor between their feet, letting out an annoyed yowl. Marinette and Adrien both gave him a small smile before pulling themselves apart.

"Adrien, we're all here for you, even if I'm the only one who knows the truth," the girl said, shuffling back to her side of the couch.

Adrien blinked before his knee was headbutted by his feline. She didn't know what Alya knew, but that didn't matter, he realized as he stood to feed the cat. She was his friend, his first true friend since he had met Nino.

"Adrien? The pizza is here, do you want me to get it?" Marinette called.

"Y-yeah, the money's on the table," he called back as he fed Plagg who looked indignant as his bowl was placed in front of him. "Don't look at me like that," Adrien frowned. "You aren't normally this friendly, we will be talking about that later, I promise you," he added sternly before making his way back to Marinette who had somehow retrieved their glasses from the dining table and set all the food up on the coffee table. It looked like a lavish banquet of calories calling his name.

"W-wow, you make take out look almost regal," he grinned as he sat beside her. "Is there anything you can't do?" He winked as she took a bite of garlic bread.

She coughed and spluttered, her face turning red and Adrien worried if she was choking.

"T-trust me, there is, I mean, there are so many things I can't do," she stumbled and Adrien realized she was okay, just surprised, he guessed. "S-so, um, do you maybe wanna watch something while we eat...or?"

"Y-yeah, oh do you like anime?" Adrien bounced out of his seat and moved to a large cabinet. He swung the doors open to reveal a large collection of cases neatly arranged in alphabetical order.

Marinette's eyes widened as she took in the collection. "Well, what would you recommend?" She asked with a grin and Adrien took a moment, staring at the rows before sliding one thick case out of it's place and closing the cabinet.

"I think you'll love this," he grinned.