#through the first two games there's kind of a vibe there but nothing really comments on it

[doedipus]

trails 3rd is a mixed bag because on one hand they keep throwing in scenes for basically every yuri ship you can think of, but they also keep having jokes about a possible agate/tita romance, which are getting increasingly uncomfortable to read through!

[dariwrites03]

Fucked up Monday. 2/3

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/daribertduck/748615753776955392/fucked-up-monday

A/n: Before you guys kill me; I’m already writing part 3. don’t you worry it’s coming your way. Please comment & repost, it’s giving me much motivation!

Summary: After Ellie kissed you on Patrol, everything was turning weird, you’re full of guilt and other feelings... What happens when your life turns from agonizing to better to so much worse? And why exactly can a few letters change everything?

Warnings: none? I think?

Taglist: @bready101 @lia-winther @liciapeonia @darkerstarsstuff @patricks-fabulous-face ( I tagged some people from my comments, hope that’s alright)

-5700k words

„And I thought I was weird for feeling uncomfortable at that, you know? They broke up, it's not really his place to say anything like that especially after telling Dina he's over her anyways" You're best friend said, finishing up her explanation of yesterdays event with Dina and Jesse. He found the two of them smoking near a warehouse and from what you made out of Ellie's explanation, he wasn't too happy to see them sitting so close.

You and Ellie were having another movie night, those happen pretty often. ( Every Wednesday, to be exact.) sitting on the old sofa in your living room with you're legs resting on hers. „Well, it's still fresh. Don't think he's jealous of the two of you spending lots of time together but maybe it's just a weird feeling seeing her with someone else, though there's absolutely nothing between you and Dina" you replied, chuckling at the thought of Jesse being all jealous over nothing. You rested your head back against the many sofa pillows, enjoying the comfy half sitting half laying position you're in. „Yeah.. totally" Ellie mumbled, looking down at her hands resting on top of you ankles, shifting uncomfortably. Knowing Ellie probably better than anyone else, you knew right away that something seems off.

„Wait.." you said,  sensing the weird vibe from you're best friend. „There is nothing between you two, right?" you said, lifting you're upper body into a more sitting posture. „Ellie?" you said her name as you're so called friend didn't answer right away. You felt you're heart stink, not really being sure of what's going on exactly. „uhm.. I don't wanna talk about it?" she said, looking at you with an apologetic look, making it sound more like a question than an real steady answer. „Hell no, remember our ‚no lying rule'?" you said. „Cmon we made that rule as we were 15, that's childish." she said while caressing through her hair, suddenly looking all exhausted. „It wasn't childish when I had my first kiss and didn't want to talk about it" You mentioned. Remembering the night you ran about 2 miles to Ellie's house after spending the afternoon with some other kids in the pub, playing some stupid games. After you kissed Sophia as you're truth or dare quest you took of running, straight into the arms of the brown haired girl who couldn't participate that nights event due to a cold. Ellie knew something must've happened and as you really didn't want to talk about it, embarrassed by the fact that everyone could probably tell you never kissed anyone ever before, Ellie set up a rule. *„Let's promise to always be honest, life is too fucked up to screw it up with lies"* you knew she was right and since that night you tried to always be honest to each other.

„Cmon that's totally different!" Ellie defended herself, crossing her arms above her chest. „Jesus, Williams, answer the fucking question and stop being difficult" you said with a light voice, feeling like Ellie was some deer that takes of running as soon as you're tone was slightly off. „I mean, there is nothing between me and Dina.. so" she explained and you could tell that She was satisfied with her answer since her shoulders became less tense. „But you wish there was?" you asked, not able to look at Ellie you decided to give you're hands something to do, grabbing the soda can you had standing infront of you at the table. „I.. yeah, I guess? Okay. Who am I kidding" she said, her hands running over her face. She revealed a slight laugh. „Oh god" she groaned, now fully blushing like a 13 year old teenager. „Yeah, yeah I do like her. Fuck, this is the first time admitting it out loud" she said.

You took a sip from you're soda, the carbonic acid being long gone since you opened the can almost 2 hours ago, giving you a second or two to continue to stay silent. Having the opportunity to ignore the trouble of you're mind right now

The Jealousy building up inside of you made you think like you're going all crazy, fighting against the urge to scream inside a pillow you took that energy elsewhere. „okay, good for you" you said, taking another sip from the drink, hoping to put out the fire building up in you're chest. Ellie looked at you saying „it's not weird, right? Falling for her?" you looked at her again, considering of telling her what you really think. You consider of telling her that's it's not weird, but you don't like it either. No , you hate it. You hate it so much because you want Ellie to fall for you instead of her.

But you didn't say that. Instead you betrayed your 15 year old self by lying to Ellie and yourself. 

It's been three months, 4 days and 2,5 Hours without a word from her. 

 Ever since then , You are entangled in the delicate web of grief for what felt like for two people, where the threads of loss and longing weave intricate patterns within your heart. Two souls, distinct yet equally significant, find their place in the chambers of your being.

Dylan, now resting six feet under, has embarked on a journey beyond the veil. His earthly vessel lies cradled by the soil, while his essence pirouettes among the constellations. The wasteland of the unknown stretches before him—And then there's your best friend, a constellation of memories and shared secrets. But her presence has become elusive, slipping through your fingers like sand. She chooses silence—a withdrawal that echoes louder than any spoken words. And you tried. Oh, how you tried to get her to speak—the silent symphony of longing, the unspoken words that hung in the air like dew-kissed spider silk. Your gaze, a language of its own, whispered secrets that transcended mere sentences. But she? She met your offerings with silence—a void that echoed louder than any spoken syllable. She stopped coming over. The threshold of your space became a chasm, a bridge severed by unspoken truths. The door, once a portal to laughter and whispered confidences, now stood closed. The only ever time you got to see her, to give yourself the inner peace of her being okay, was on the weekly parol meetings. She attended, her presence a fragile thread connecting you both. But she mastered the art of departure—slipping away before your eyes could catch hers. The opposite direction became her refuge, a path untrodden by your footsteps.

Talking wasn't what Ellie needed. You sensed it, that unspoken ache in the air—the need for silence, for space. So you stepped back, honoring the boundaries she drew around her heart. But your longing couldnt be unoticed by you any longer so after three weeks, you started writing to her. Youre desperation spilled over, ink bleeding onto paper.  You became a clandestine messenger, slipping perfumed notes into the small slit of her mailbox. Each letter carried a piece of your soul—a plea, a confession, a desperate whisper.  It lingered on your fingertips, a bridge between worlds. And as you pressed those letters into the darkness, you imagined her fingers brushing against them. Would she feel the urgency? Would she hear your silent screams for her friendship?  Handwritten letters—those delicate vessels of ink and paper—weave memories that transcend mere words. Each stroke of the pen, each carefully crafted sentence, carries a piece of the you in them. The intimacy lies not only in the content but also in the act of creation itself. You decided to write her if shes unable to talk, you wanted to give her the space she needed, you tried to be as understanding as you could. But one unanswered letter turned into two, three, four. You stopped putting them into her mailbox after five. 

Now, you're trying to ignore the pain in your heart every time you wake up. Ellie's childish behavior hasn't stopped you from living your life. Instead, you channel your anger and sleepless nights into your work, making each patrol count. Working alongside Jesse has become a bright spot—a fun experience you eagerly anticipate. It's not the same as those moments outside the gates with Ellie, but it's different in a way that doesn't breed resentment.

You and Jesse share a closeness that predates his separation from Dina. The heartbreak they both faced has left its mark, and you find solace in each other's company. Jesse isn't thrilled about the situation either—the breakup and lingering jealousy still gnaw at him. On that second day of patrol together, he broaches the awkward topic between you and Ellie. "So, you gonna tell me what happened or not?" Jesse's voice cut through the quiet of the abandoned checkpoint. He pulled a sandwich from his backpack, the crinkling of the wrapper echoing in the dim light. The two of you sat there, weary from the day's patrol, the weight of your assigned route still clinging to your bones. Nightfall had descended too swiftly, and the dangers of this post-apocalyptic world made it impossible to venture home safely after dark. You shifted uncomfortably on the hard ground, the rough edges of the old checkpoint digging into your back. The makeshift campsite was a stark reminder of the life you now led—constantly on the move, always vigilant. Jesse's eyes bore into yours, waiting for an answer.

"Don't really know what's there to say, to be honest," you replied, your fingers tracing the edges of the food you'd prepared hours ago. The silence now haning between the two of you wasnt uncomftable,punctuated by the distant howl of a lone infected.  "Maybe explain why we're now patrol partners? I thought you and Ellie made such a good team. Not that I'm complaining, though—we're badass too. Just wondering why you suddenly decided that Ellie wasn't good enough anymore," Jesse's voice cut through the dimly lit space of the makeshift camp. He lay down on the sleeping bag, using his right arm as a makeshift pillow, his gaze fixed on you. The flicker of confusion danced through the forest of your mind as you replayed Jesse's last words.

"What? I didn't decide that," you replied, studying your friend's posture as he took a bite of his cheese sandwich. "I asked Dina what happened earlier today." Jesse mumbled, his mouth still half full. "Ellie told her it was you who decided to change partners. Don't get me wrong—I feel honored to be your new partner in crime. I was just curious about what happened." - ''the fuck?'' You said more to yourself than him. ''Thats so fucked up..'' -"Okay, c'mon, I need the drama. Please explain to me like everything. Consider me one of your gossip girls," Jesse quipped, his unseriousness bringing a smile to your face. You took another bite of your food, savoring the dry bread as you gathered your thoughts. Trusting Jesse, you decided it wasn't a bad idea to share what had transpired between you and Ellie. So, with a deep breath, you began recounting the events of your last patrol with her. Jesse leans in, eyes wide with curiosity. His sandwich forgotten, he hangs on every word as you recount the events of that fateful patrol with Ellie. The tension, the unspoken words, the ache in your chest—it all spills out, painting a vivid picture of the fractured bond between you and the girl who once felt like your world.

"Damn," Jesse mutters, running a hand through his hair. "That's heavy stuff." His gaze lingers on your face, searching for answers. "You think she'll come around?'' You shrug, the weight of uncertainty settling on your shoulders. ''Dont think so, I think she regrets even kissing me. She has dina now, dont think that she'll need me anymore.'' Your gaze drifts down to your wrist, where the matching bracelet still clings—a fragile thread connecting you to Ellie. You wonder if she wears hers. Jesse, now leading forward, nudges your shoulder playfully. "Well, partner," he says, "we'll keep kicking ass out here. Fuck them both".

After that night, you felt like Jesse and you were attached at the hip. Somehow, you both helped each other navigate the jagged terrain of heartbreak, spending time together and letting the hours slip away. Being friends with Jesse had its perks. He acted as a bridge to Ellie, still maintaining a sort of friendship with Dina, getting slim updates from her. Through Jesse, you received updates about Ellie—whether she was safe, whether she'd eaten enough.

But it wasn't the same. Those impersonal updates couldn't replace the warmth of setting eyes on Ellie, hearing her voice—the cadence of her laughter, the way she'd say your name. You missed the little things, the mundane details that had once woven your lives together. But over the time you started to accept the turn of events, knowing you cannot force Friendship on somebody.

You started to distract yourself outside of work, whether it was with Jesse or... Sophia. After that encounter where Maria broke the news to you about Ellie changing everything, you did the only thing you knew you were really good at: You ran off.

Weirdly enough, two weeks after that pivotal moment and your  patrols with Jesse as your new partner, a knock on your door interrupted your vegetable-cutting session in the small kitchen. As you walked toward the door, a million possibilities raced through your mind. Was it Ellie, knocking on the wood on a late rainy afternoon? Or perhaps Jesse, wanting to talk? Dina? Or maybe Joel, coming all the way to the comfort of your four walls to deliver news about his beloved Ellie being hurt.

Secretly, you wished it was Ellie. So you ran a hand through your hair, glancing into the small mirror hanging near the door to check yourself out before opening the squeaky wood.  But on the other side stood Sophia, holding a plate covered in aluminum foil.  "Uhm... hey," she said, her cheeks flushed with red. "I've made some cake—way too much to eat all by myself. I wanted to share it. If, um, you want to, of course. It's chocolate cake." Her words tumbled out in a rush, and you sensed her nervousness. A Small smile spread across your face as you stepped aside, making space for her to enter the house. "That's too kind," you replied. "You've got impeccable timing. I just finished dinner—perfect time for dessert. Come inside." You didn't mention the comforting fact that her house was all the way across town, meaning she'd walked quite a distance just to bring you cake. Nor did you acknowledge that it was common knowledge that Sophia is allergic to Chocolate but it was your favorite.

One hour with Sophia turned into two, and before you knew it, the entire afternoon was filled with your laughter. She ended up staying over, making your house feel less empty. Since Dylan's passing, sleep had eluded you. Without Ellie by your side, it felt impossible to quiet your mind. Sophia changed that somewhat, but it didn't feel the same. Perhaps your own mind betrayed you, clouding your thoughts about her presence. You didn't want her to leave, yet you didn't necessarily want her to stay either. The universe seemed to decide for you, as the strawberry-blonde girl drifted off to sleep on your sofa after what felt like an eternity of talking.

You settled into your gray armchair, gently covering her thin body with your favorite blanket—the same one Ellie used to take whenever she stayed over. The entire night, you found yourself comparing Sophia to Ellie—the way she moved, the cadence of her voice, the sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about her interests. It wasn't a good thing, you must admit. Sophia is a nice girl, but you never really considered her a potential friend, especially since you both shared your first kisses with each other. After that, things got weird, and you both grew up, walking different paths.

Yet now, here she was—baking you cakes, making you laugh, and filling the void left by Ellie. The universe had a funny way of intertwining lives, even when hearts were tangled in memories and unanswered letters. Having someone else in Ellie's place is like trying to fit a puzzle piece into a space that was uniquely shaped for her. It's both comforting and disorienting—a blend of familiarity and foreignness. Her presence brings warmth, but it's a different kind—the soft glow of candlelight instead of the blazing fire that Ellie ignited.Sophia's touch is gentle, her fingers tracing patterns on your skin. But it lacks the electric charge—the pulse of longing—that Ellie's touch carried. You wonder if Sophia noticed the way you hesitated, the way your heart stumbles when she leans in too close.

The day with Sophia didnt end there, it  stretched into a comfortable rhythm, covering the next two days of your life —a dance of shared meals, laughter, and quiet moments. Her presence filled the spaces that Ellie had once occupied, and you found yourself not minding it at all. The awkwardness of those initial conversations melted away as you both peeled back layers, revealing stories and dreams that wove your lives together.

But life has a way of interrupting even the most harmonious melodies. Jesse, with his uninvited pizza and the entire Twilight saga in tow, barged into your living room. You tried to politely decline the teen romance marathon—you'd seen it one too many times—but Jesse, being Jesse, brushed off your protests. His eyes widened when he saw Sophia sitting there, a teasing grin tugging at his lips. You knew he'd milk this moment, teasing you about having a cute girl over at your house.

After Jesse left, well, pratically run out, you settled back onto the sofa next to Sophia. "That was... Jesse, right?" she asked, her fingers playing with her curly hair. You leaned against the soft material of the sofa, nodding. "Uhm, yup." Sophia's gaze lingered on you, and you sensed her curiosity. "You two do spend a lot of time together—even after patrols," she observed."Oh? You noticed that? Stalking me, huh?" you teased, making Sophia blush. Her cheeks turned a delightful shade of pink. "Well," she replied, her voice soft, "you just always catch my eye." And then, without warning, her body shifted closer. Her hands found their place on either side of your waist, and her lips met yours—a sweetness that tasted like possibility. You hated yourself for it, truly. Because here was a girl with good intentions, almost on top of you, and your mind couldn't help but wish it was Ellie.

Another two months slip through your fingers, ephemeral as morning mist. Life, once heavy with the ache of Ellie's absence, begins to lift itself up.  Sophia becomes a constant presence—a sunbeam that warms the corners of your heart as you allow yourself. Your growing relationship with Sophia blossoms, and you find comfort in her laughter, her touch, and the shared moments that weave your lives together. The unspoken question lingers: Are you allowed to call her your girlfriend? After all, you've shared more than just cake and conversations. Perhaps labels matter less than the way she looks at you, the way her fingers intertwine with yours.

And then there's Jesse—the steadfast friend who bridges the gap between patrols and pizza nights. His teasing about Sophia doesn't go unnoticed, but he's also the one who brings laughter into your home. Everything else remains unchanged—the memories, the unanswered letters, and the quiet longing. Life moves forward, and you find solace in the delicate balance of old and new. Patrol was as good as it could be, once you and Jesse found a way to connect your abilities, it didnt really feel like work anymore. 

"Yo, little one," Jesse's voice cut through the quiet of the stables, interrupting your grooming session with Lacy. You turned to meet his gaze, immediately noticing his patrol clothes—fitting perfectly against his frame. "What the hell are you doing? We have the day off, remember?" you asked, your fingers still caressing Lacy's mane.

"Not anymore," Jesse replied, already opening the door to his horse's stable. "Dina apparently has the flu, and they both forgot to sign in at the station outside. Maria asked me to take their route for today and look for anything weird." He led his dark brown horse out of the stable, determination etched on his face.

"Good luck with that," you said, turning back to continue your work. But Jesse wasn't done. "Nuh huh, lover girl. You're joining me," he declared, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Pardon?" You looked at him, confusion knitting your brows. "Don't hit me with Spanish,"- ''Its french'' Jesse chuckled. "well whatever it was,I don't speak it. Come on now, get ready. We don't have all day." He saddled his horse efficiently, his movements practiced. "Why should I? You said yes, not me," you replied stubbornly, even though you gathered all the essentials needed to prepare Lacy. "Well, because I'm your partner in crime? Your work husband? Love of your patrol life?" Jesse grinned, his eyes dancing with mischief. "And because I'll get bored alone. You don't have anything better to do anyway." - ''Rude?! maybe i had things planned?!'' You said, jokingly offended as you grab your stuff  ''You can meet sophia  and have all of those important 'converstations'' he made weird kissing noises ''later.'' He finished his sentance, making you laugh ''Well first of all I-'' You got interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. You looked into the direction of the noise and saw the last person you wanted to see today. ''Sup, Ellie.'' Jesse said, leaning against the stable door. ''what can I do for you?'' He asked, eyes stuck on ellie. But her gaze lied elsewhere; On you.

You shivered under her gaze, your heart racing. As you looked into Ellie's eyes—the first time in forever—you sensed something there, something you couldn't quite put into words. Her burning gaze finally shifted from you to Jesse, arms crossed at her chest.

"Earlier, when me and Dina were at the station, I lost my journal," Ellie said, her voice close, intimate. "Can you look for it? Kinda really need it back." Her words echoed through the stable, and suddenly, the air felt too thin. Your knees wobbled, memories of Ellie cascading down the memory bridge, crashing into your stomach. You felt like you might throw up. "Sure, we will look for it. Anything else?" Jesse asked, glancing between the two of you. Ellie's eyes traveled back to you, and silent hope bloomed in your chest. Maybe this was the moment—maybe Ellie would finally have the guts to talk to you directly, to say she's sorry. But as her gaze wavered, you felt the familiar pang of disappointment. Once again, Ellie remained silent.You felt a strong hand on your shoulder, silently offering support. Jesse's familiar scent enveloped you. "Thought so," he said, ending the conversation. Ellie nodded and turned away, leaving the two of you alone. The barn was filled with silence until you spoke with a shaky voice. "Okay, let's just go." And so you did—you and Jesse left for patrol. But with every passing second, the memory of that confrontation lingered, and you realized how much you still craved her.

"Jesus, I hate this path," Jesse grumbled, pushing open the old, creaky door to the station. His face turned red from the effort, and you couldn't help but giggle. "Stop crying like a baby. Let's sign in and leave," you said, walking toward the desk on the opposite side of the room. As you approached, you noticed that a pen was missing. Without it, you obviously couldn't sign in.

"Jesse, there's no pen," you called out, looking at your friend. "Really? Look under the table or something. We'll find one," he replied. You followed his suggestion, getting down on your knees. Spiderwebs greeted you, along with the encroaching dusk. You pulled out your flashlight, shining it underneath the table for a better look. And there it was—an old, leather-covered book. You'd recognize that book spine anywhere, even in the grandest libraries.

You picked it up, wiping away the dust that clung to its material. The thickness of the journal reminded you of what you were holding—a door to Ellie Williams' secrets and mindful thoughts. "Found one!" Jesse's voice snapped you out of your reverie. You turned around, hiding the journal behind your back. Jesse joined you, writing your names on the slim paper of the checklist. ‘Partner in crimes ( Jesse and y/n)’

"Did you find anything? The book, I mean. It's not somewhere I looked," Jesse asked. You shook your head, slipping the journal into your bag without it being noticed. "Nope, didn't find it either."

''Every poem I ever wrote was about her. That smile of hers, those golden eyes—whenever she's too close to the sun, it's impossible for me to stay away. The day I left, my heart shattered into a million pieces. In my head, inside my perfect self-made world, she never left me. All my thoughts revolve around her—the memories etched into my mind. Her touch, so soft—I never wanted to let go. The scent of her clothes, stealing my breath away. The nights we spent dreaming together, the minutes I never want to regret. I never dared to imagine a lifetime without her. Yet here I am, writing these words with a hole in my chest. I'm bleeding out, the wind kissing my mind, refreshing memories of letting go. The silence surrounds me, a reminder to hold on.

I search the past for redemption, but it eludes me. The only thing left of me are broken pieces of her.”

The words were carefully etched onto the paper, making it hard for you to breathe. You hadn't intended to overstep her privacy—why had you taken that journal in the first place? You dont know.  But here you were, sitting with the book in hand, the only light in the living room emanating from the countless candles you'd lit.

The journal looked thicker than usual, and that's what caught your attention first. You knew that book well, even though you'd never seen what she put inside—except for her drawings of animals, Joel, Dina, and you. She'd never shown anyone what she wrote between the pages.

The reason you'd decided to open the book, against all your inner morals, was the fact that as you carefully pulled it out of your bag—treating it like fragile glass—multiple letters fell out. You noticed them right away. They were yours—carefully written letters she'd never dared to answer. The envelopes ripped open showed you she defenetly read them all. You dont know how to feel about that yet. Relieved that she cared enough to read them? Happy becasue she carried your letters with her, doesnt matter where shed go? Or mad, because she never replied? You know nothing. The only thing you're able to do now is bury yourself in the book, reading what Ellie never dared to say out loud.

''Ive been having a hard time adjusting, I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting. I didn't know if you'd care if I came back, I have a lot of regrets about that. Pulled the car off the road to the lookout, Could've followed my fears all the way down. And maybe I don't quite know what to say but I'm here in your doorway. I just wanted you to know that this is me trying'' 

The words cut deeper than a knife,

before you knew it, your eyes traveled to the next phrases, crossed out, you could barely read them:

"It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you.

Seeing you with Sophie burns me from inside out.

Why are you with her?

I know I don't own you, perhaps I never will,

so the anger inside of me when I see you with her

is something I'm not allowed to feel.

What I feel, I shouldn't show you.

So when you're around, I don't.

I let you walk away with her.

I know I don't have the right to feel it,

but it doesn't mean I don't."

The rest of the book was empty, besides some skteches of eyes that look dangerously like yours. You swallowed hard, not really sure of what you should feel. You re-read the sentences out loud, letting the bittersweet aftertaste of them making you feel alive. Your heart has been Ellies since the first time you both laughed together; yet you were so sure of the fact that she would never feel the same. Considering the words in the journal, maybe it wasnt one sided after all. Youre confused, being with Sophia was easy, comftable. But with ellie, it was different. better. You miss the butterflies in your stomach, miss her touch and her closeness. The rollercoster was everything you ever had, after all.

Two days of full selfishness carried its weight, and you continued to keep the journal. The guilt crept in, stealthy as shadows, finding you at night, when the world slept and your thoughts roamed free. Those written pages from Ellie, inked with longing and crossed-out confessions, haunted your mind. You tried your best to hide the pain, a fragile masquerade. Distancing yourself from Sophia and Jesse, you walked the tightrope of deception. It wasn't deliberate; it was survival. The what-could've-been danced like a ghost, whispering secrets in your ear. You wondered if Ellie's heart echoed the same unspoken words.

Sophia, her presence a comforting harbor, yet her touch felt like borrowed warmth. And Jesse, his eyes— The guilt gnawed at you, a relentless hunger. You held Sophia too close, fearing Ellie's phantom gaze. You looked into Jesse's eyes, and the lie about keeping the Journal tasted bitter on your tongue.  Ellie, elusive as a wisp of smoke. The barn encounter—the air thick with unspoken truths—left you breathless. You havent seen her since. You called in sick for the patrol meeting, a desperate escape from the inevitable. The fear of facing her again, of unraveling the fragile equilibrium, gripped your heart.

In the quiet of your room, the journal lay open. The crossed-out phrases, the sketches of eyes—they were your silent companions.

——————————————————-

"Okay, Miss being all sad and distant, I'm not having this anymore. Tell me what's going on right now or I'm killing you," Jesse declared, pressing past you as you opened the door. His urgency hung in the air, a storm brewing behind his eyes.

"Jesus, very aggressive today, aren't we?" you quipped, trailing after your friend into the living room. The door closed behind you, sealing you both in a cocoon of tension. You sank into the couch, and Jesse settled next to you, his gaze drilling holes into your soul."Therapy session. Now. What's going on?" His hands clasped together, a makeshift gavel. The room felt smaller, suffocating. You glanced at the coffee table, considering the whiskey bottle, but thought better of it. "Nothing? Do you want to drink anything... or?" Your voice played innocent, a fragile mask. Jesse wasn't fooled. "The jury says stop trying to change the subject." His tone held a mix of exasperation and concern."The jury...?" You grinned, despite the weight in your chest. "Yeah, me." Jesse's eyes softened, and you chuckled. "It's nothing, really.“

"You're completely distant," he said, his voice calm. "Even Sophia asked me if I have any idea what's going on." The truth hung between you like a fragile thread, ready to snap.

"I don't know... it's, urgh, weird." You fidgeted with the edge of a cushion. Jesse leaned closer, his breath warm against your cheek. "Tell me!" His insistence bordered on desperation

"Okay, but promise me not to hate me?" You gave him a side-eye, afraid of meeting his gaze head-on. "Could never hate you," he replied, and the words carried weight. So you spilled it—the secret you'd harbored, the journal you'd found.

Ellie's words, inked and crossed out, danced in your memory. You didn't reveal the exact phrasing, but you shared the confusion—the way her emotions bled through the pages. Jesse listened, his eyes wide, and you wondered if he saw the echoes of your own heartache.

In that quiet room, the truth hung heavy. You'd kept Ellie's words hidden, but now they spilled forth. Jesse's hand found yours, and you clung to it, hoping for absolution. "It's Ellie," you whispered. "It's always been Ellie."  His silence spoke volumes, eyes carrying the weight of unspoken understanding. He'd always sensed your feelings for Ellie, perhaps even before you did. It wasn't a secret to anyone but her—the way your heart gravitated toward her, like a moth drawn to a flame. “You guys need to talk.” Jesse said.

"I can't," you whispered, the words fragile on your tongue. The weight of unspoken truths pressed against your chest, threatening to spill forth."And why the fuck not? What do you have to lose?" Jesse's voice held a mix of frustration and concern. He saw through your defenses, stripped away the layers you'd carefully woven. Ellie—the enigma, the ache—loomed between you like a shadow."Afraid of losing her? I think you already archived that." His bluntness cut through your heart. You knew it too well—the missed chances, the crossed-out phrases, the silence that echoed louder than words. Jesse could see the pain in you and the bluntless paired with that slight tinge of what appeared to be anger slowly disappeared into thin air, much like the smoke of a lit cigarette blown into the night sky.

"Look" he begins, sighing while he considers the phrasing of this. He means no harm, but being too gentle could erase the importance of the situation "I want to help you, but you cannot hide yourself away. If you truly want this girl, you need to be able to put in the effort. Dina and Ellie arent dating either, dina told me herself that the two of them thought there was something but ended up with nothing. Be honest with yourself, but also with everyone else" You exhale deeply, relief floods your system despite the heavy heart still pounding against your chest.

Jesse is the kind of friend you can never let go. He's just that important.

Between the soft tunes of comfortingly familiar songs and a few shed tears, the two of you scheme together... Creating a, hopefully, foolproof plan on how to finally approach the elephant in the room. Ellie and you; it wasn't over, was it?

[blurglesmurfklaine]

4, 7, 9, 12 for the ask game <3 (all glee if possible)

Yay, thanks for these Crys! 7 was previously answered so I went ahead and skipped it :)

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

I don’t ship St. Berry, but I am of the opinion that if it couldn’t be Finn, I’m glad it was Jesse. He and Rachel really are two sides of the same coin and they seem to love each other very deeply and I hope they’re happy together!

9. a ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

Samcedes 😭 they are my emotional support heterosexuals your honor. But also, they are two genuinely good people who care deeply about one another samcedes you will always be endgame to me

12. compliment someone else in your fandom

Okay this is gonna be a lot because I AM going to do all the active fandoms I’m in! So under the read more!

Glee:

First of all you, Crys! And @backslashdelta You are both so talented with your gif making that it kind of drives me insane.

@kurtsascot is probably one of the most talented writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of interacting with. I feel so lucky that we’ve gotten her so late in the game! I feel similarly about @rockitmans and @thelegendofjenna

@esilher @twinkkurt and @justgleekout make the most BEAUTIFUL fanart I’ve ever seen, and I also wanna thank @carsonphillips for klainegifs and keeping the fandom interesting with their events!

@somefeministtheatrepls is not only an amazing friend but the most thoughtful beta reader and honestly partner in my writing?? Writing is much less stressful because I don’t even worry about things being clunky or weird because I know her ass will help that chapter SHINE

@nancysgillians @kurthummeldeservesbetter also get shoutouts because they are wonderful people to have in your life

Newsies:

I could fill novels with how much I love and appreciate @somanywords! Their amazing storytelling and also volunteering to make art for the MiniBang I hosted earlier this year??? On top of listening to my insane ramblings?? They don’t make em like this anymore folks

@one-paper-bag is also SOOOOOO incredibly talented with their art, and their lovely comments on my Spider-Man AU keep me going (on GOD we are gonna get you another chapter ON GOD!!!!)

@livesincerely and @agentsnickers are some of the most prolific and INSANELY TALENTED writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and also genuinely lovely people! You know when you see someone on your dash and ur just like “wow. I hope they are having a FANTASTIC day and life. They deserve one.”

@piedoesnotequalpi and @regina-cordium are also so incredibly FUNNY and have the most correct takes on every single newsie and that’s on that ❤️

911:

I’m relatively new to this fandom, so I don’t know a ton of people yet, but there are def people I see on my dash that I have noticed!

@cranberrymoons @lesbianrobin @insertlovelyperson have written some of my absolute FAAAAAAVE fics! I feel like they really have a handle on who the characters are in a way that’s true to the show and kind of difficult to pull off!

@texasbama makes amazing gifs and honestly anytime I see her on my dash I laugh bc genuinely she’s so funny. Also on the list of hilarious contributors is @buckgettingstruck

And a couple of people who I think have genuinely great vibes are @buckera @leathercouchcushion and @yaz-the-spaz

And of course I can’t talk about 911 without a second mention to @regina-cordium who puts up with all my Texas!Buddie nonsense andbansndbsk

-

Okay yeah so that was a LOT sorry!! I didn’t mean for it to get so long BUT I do mean every single word! I’m really blessed to have met so many amazing people through fandom and my experience on this site has been nothing less than superb because of yall ❤️

[thisisxli]

are you able to write gojo x elsa? Their a cross-ship i rlly like. Scenario can be anything you think would fit for them (ex. sparring (fluff), coffee dates, first date, first kiss, etc.) their just some stupid silly ship I enjoy ‼️

Of course! Those two are a FAV, they give off the same vibe tbh, literally untouchable. Super cute! I didn't really know what to write so I came up with headcannons that I think would suit them! I hope that's okay and that you or anyone enjoys this!

Also here's a cute/funny picture I found:

Gojo Satoru x Elsa headcannons

Rs: Satoru Gojo x Elsa Arendelle

Warnings: none but slight mentions of drowning and shares of traumatic experiences

wc: 1.1k

First impressions

Attractive in each other's eyes.

Gojo was absolutely appalled when he sensed zero cursed energy from Elsa. He even thought she was a curse herself, considering her ice powers. So he was almost very cautious around her at first.

They met each other on the day after Thanksgiving when he took his first and second year students to go ice-skating.(he did not know Elsa caused the lake to be ice.) Ice-skating was kind of his thing, he liked the cold. So when he saw the lake frozen of ice, he had to go on it. It wasn't like he couldn't feel the cold, but he withstands it without any complaints.

Elsa's first impression was that she thought he was a threat too. She was sort of surprised when Gojo easily made his way past through her ice powers. She was internally freaking out- he was untouchable! And not the 'untouchable' energy that she holds, he was literally quite untouchable.

How they got together

Give them a couple of months to warm up and they were practically besties. Except Gojo always seemed like he was flirting; obviously, Elsa is quick to play the same game. He's the one who catches feelings first, Elsa was quite literally very hard to sway. Gojo was lucky they were pretty similar and attractive.

First Date

Their first date was taken place at the same frozen lake, except this time she wasn't the one that froze it.

He even had her(willingly) make a snow-cone for him. He didn't have one of those flavor squirting things so he just ate it with nothing, just pure snow. Elsa had one of the hardest laughs at that.

How they connect emotionally

They both almost share the same situation. They both held such immense power that it scared others and that others relied on.

Gojo tells Elsa about the time he had to kill his best friend. Elsa tells Gojo about the time her sister completely turned into ice because of her magic-doings. They spoil each other with soft kisses and cold cuddles for their past traumatic experiences.

Elsa can tell when Gojo is upset, when somebody says a back-handed comment or says anything offensively about her or his students. His smile drops sometimes or he tries his best to prevent anything bad happening to Elsa or his students.

Gojo can tell Elsa gets upset when she doesn't have her way or somebody hurts the people she loves. She desperately tries to help and save everybody; they both have a mutual understanding of what it means to be the 'strongest.'

Kisses

Gojo gets every moment and chance to kiss Elsa, especially on her cold cheeks against his warm lips.

He's a gentleman, for goodness sakes. He kisses her hands and the crown of her head. He immediately bowed and almost started kissing her feet when she told him she was royalty.

She's not super open about kissing, but from time to time, she does leave lingering kisses on his cheek or letting frost cross over to his lips a little bit. She laughs every time his lips get stuck together.

First Kiss/First 'I love you'

Kissing for the first time, Elsa was pretty nervous. Gojo wasn't sure how to feel because even he himself never kissed before.(as attractive as he was, he doesn't associate himself around many woman despite posing for them in public. At least that was before he met Elsa.)

They were both coming from a date that had them walking around in the park and drinking warm coffee with a tint of mint. Spring was soon to be near and the snow was melting but the cold air still lingered. They were on a bridge, staring at the slowly setting sun. "We better get back," Elsa chuckles, turning her back on Gojo before nearly spilling her drink when he grasps onto her arm abruptly. She cocks a brow at him, her arm reaching behind her head to move her braid over her shoulder. "I love you, Elsa," Gojo mutters, a smokey puff of gas leaving past his lips. Elsa stares at him in bewilderment before shaking her head lightly, "where is all this coming from? Satoru?" He inched closer to her until they were barely a feet apart. Elsa's heart was pounding in her chest. Even in the cold, her cheeks felt hot and so did Gojo's. Hesitantly, she murmurs as she reaches for his lips, his own meeting her halfway, "I love you too."

Meeting each other's family members

Anna didn't really know what to think of Gojo at first; just that he was any other pretty boy with a weird personality that shared unfunny dad jokes. Almost like Hans. So she was welcoming, but rather awkward and careful. So Elsa could only assume Anna didn't really approve of him at first. Anna was very persistent on her opinion until she saw how happy Gojo made Elsa and decided that she was going to treat him like a brother from now on. (Soon-to-be brother-in law very soon, Anna thinks.)

Gojo didn't really want Elsa to meet his actual family members. It wasn't like he was on bad terms with them. But it felt abnormal to even be associated with them.

So he had Elsa meet Yuuta! Yuuta was shy at first but he openly greeted her kindly. Yuuta immediately accepted her and was very fond of her, he liked how someone was able to bear and surround themselves with Gojo's antics. And he was happy Gojo met someone he could confide in, that she wasn't some sorcerer that relied on him because 'he was the strongest.'

Hugs/cuddles

Gojo is very clingy when it comes to Elsa. He loved how her skin felt nice amongst his own. His body radiated a warmth that everyone craved when it was cold and Elsa radiated the coldness that everyone craved when it was hot. It was like they were made for each other(quite literally.)

Gojo loves to come up to her from behind and slide his arms around her waist. Elsa would get caught off guard, blushing but she wouldn't mind or do anything about it. Elsa loves to wrap her arms around his waist, feeling his arms go over her body made her feel safe and secure.

Their limbs will literally tangle themselves together in bed. They were always asleep when they cuddled. Someone would always catch them in any position that involved cuddling, it would always touch their hearts because how cute they utterly were.

Things they like about each other

Gojo loves Elsa's hair. He's either playing with it or putting it up in a hairstyle, none in between.

Loves to hold his hands. Elsa knows about his infinity and one night in deep thought, she realized he turns it off around her. (He's just really comfortable with her so sometimes he doesn't even realize it.) She thinks it's super sweet, it makes her feel warm so she holds his hands every chance she gets.

Fun Fact

Her magical horse: the water element, does not like Gojo and once tried to drown him in the same ocean it nearly drowned Elsa in.

In the future, they do in fact, get married.

Was very fun to write. -thisisxliᰔᩚ

[erythromanc3r]

Annual writing self-evaluation

I was tagged by @pipergirl17 (and I'm so glad she did - thank you, friend!)

1. List of works published this year (in no particular order):

Better Living Through Chemistry

Among the Willows

It ain't fiction, just a natural fact

kiss me where you bruise me

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

I'm proud of all my children but I'm most proud of myself for writing Among the Willows because it really did start as just vibes and it ended up being a lovely little vignette of a moment in time that I put a lot of research and love into. Honorable mention to Better Living Through Chemistry because it was my first PWP and I personally thought it was a unique and fun take on sex pollen.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

[buzzer noise] I am proud of ALL my children!!!!

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I loved this exchange at the tail-end of kiss me where you bruise me because it was a good exercise in writing some post-coital awkwardness between two people who don't know each other all that well while still acknowledging that there's the potential for something more there. And I needed Eddie to take any opportunity to be a little softer and sillier bc he desperately wants Chrissy to not see him as mean and scary!

“I’m…good,” he says, throwing his palms up and flattening his lips into a tight, awkward smile. He’s looking for his right sock — she knows it’s on the other side of the mattress. Chrissy doesn’t know if it’s rude or not to grab it, worried Eddie might think she’s pushing him out when she’s not quite sure where she’d prefer he be. The red light of the alarm clock on the bedside table burns a bright 1:37 into the dark when she asks another question, maybe just to cut through the awkward silence. “Are you okay to drive home? It’s late.” (Where is home for Eddie Munson, anyway?) He smiles to himself a little before he answers her. “Nah. I’m a bit of a nocturnal creature, actually.” He throws two hands up, fingers curled out like he’s doing a vampire pose during a game of charades. “Still got a couple hours left in me.”

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

I'm a big fan of the incoherent flailing but I also really love when people engage with the details of the fic and tell me something they really loved about a particular line or description! I just love and appreciate getting comments in general!

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

November. Something about that month just zapped the energy out of me. This seemed to be a hard time for a lot of us for one reason or another…I propose we move NaNoWriMo to like…March or June or something because November is NOT it.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I gained a lot of confidence. I stopped obsessing over every line being perfect because I would rather have a finished product that others can enjoy instead of a gorgeous, perfect wip that no one else can read. And now that I’m not chasing validation (both internal and external) the process is way less stressful!

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I want to be more consistent! I want to explore more outlining methods, write more productively…and I want to be a beacon for other writers who are new to the process because the community aspect is so important.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

@staceymcgillicuddy is a rockstar of a writer whose work ethic amazes me. @pipergirl17 my angel in the comments your work is gorgeous and you’re so kind. Extra special shoutout to everyone who writes fearlessly and freakishly because we’re all better for it. And everyone who encourages writers to keep going!

11. Anything in your real life show up in your writing this year:

Wouldn’t you like to know? Ummm honestly though nothing super personal but it ain’t fiction came to me over nights of sitting on my couch watching old metal videos on MTV classic and wishing those two kids made it out of Indiana and got a shot at their dreams.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

The time will pass! Writing is vulnerable and embarrassing but I am more embarrassed by the years I spent not pursuing this hobby and letting all those ideas never leave my brain than by ANYTHING I’ve published.

13. Any new projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I want to prioritize finishing all my multichapter wips…but I also want to explore more historical AUs.

14. Tag three writers/artists whose answers you’d like to read:

(But only if you want to 👉👈)

@justhere4thevibez, @toodivineforhumanmind, @0nemorestranger

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

Crimson Flower Lysithea Story

I think the Three Houses writing is really held back by 1. the lack of impact non lord characters have on the story post time skip and 2. the lack of in depth unique development for characters on different routes. I understand why this was done from a game play perspective (perma death and also giving every single character 3-4 unique story lines is a lot of work and just unrealistic) but from a story telling perspective it definitely isn't ideal. So I wanted to take a swing at giving a non lord a unique story on a route that isn't their own a way that makes sense from the perspective of the developers.

Crimson Flower Lysithea is probably the most obvious place to start, she was also experimented on by TSWITD so there's so much potential for where her story could go. In Crimson Flower, you are working with TWSITD, something that will stir up strong emotions in Lysithea, even if she knows the plan is for the alliance to be temporary. I think this can tie into Lysithea's need to rush everything. We all know Lysithea's life span is shortened, so maybe she's afraid she won't live to see TWISTD destroyed. TWISTD is what destroyed her family and if they're still so powerful when she dies, she has no way to ensure her family is safe from their torment. So, she comes up with all these plans to prematurely bring them down. We get a cutscene at some point of her talking to Hubert, saying she has to have a meeting with Edelgard and Hubert refusing to let her through because he believes it will be a waste of Edelgard's time so he instead tells Lysithea to just tell him whatever she wants to tell Edelgard and he'll pass the message along if it's worthy of her time. Lysithea tells Hubert her plans but he quickly shuts them down, pointing out some flaw that will hurt their team's chances at succeeding. Lysithea gets frustraed and starts hurling her immature insults at Hubert (I'm imagining similar vibes to her Ignatz support here) but Hubert hardly reacts, finding her more amusing than offensive, causing her to get angrier and just storm off. I imagine this cut scene happening after chapter 14 (so right before the battle where you meet Cordelia). After this, you get the explore dialogue for chapter 15. Lysithea's original dialogue here isn't that important in terms of character development (it doesn't really tell us anything new about her character, generally just that she wants to protect her family which is also established by the stuff I'm adding anyways). So, her explore dialogue will now involve her mumbling to herself about Hubert being an idiot and how she knows what she's doing. Then, she notices you listening and gets annoyed, commenting on how eavesdropping is a childish activity.

Then, we have the "Seige at Arianrhod" battle. If Lysithea and Linhardt are both on the field you'll be given an optional quest (kind of like in Remire where you have a quest to save all the villagers but can still win the battle if you fail that quest). The quest is to have Lysithea be the first on to attack Cornelia. If you don't do this quest, nothing else will happen in Lysithea's story. If you do this, it will trigger a mid battle cut scene showing Lysithea attacking Cornelia but Cornelia is much stronger than she initially thought. After putting up a good fight, Lysithea gets severely injured. Edelgard steps in and stops Cornelia from landing a fatal blow and calls Linhardt over and he then teleports away with Lysithea. You then go back to normal battling mode but you can no longer use Lysithea or Linhardt. There will be two options for what happens after the battle.

Option A. Linahrdt and Lysithea did not reach their A support: In this timeline, Linhardt is not able to save Lysithea. In a cutscene where the battle is being discussed, Edelgard asks Linhardt about Lysithea's status and he says that she died. In the midst of the mourning Edelgard makes a comment about how Lysithea didn't seem like herself, how she's usually so well calculated but in this moment seemed to be driven purely by her emotions. The camera zooms in on Hubert's face, showing one of his more contemplative profiles, as Edelgard announces that they can't dwell on the past and must get back to working hard to secure the future Lysithea was fighting for in honor of her memory. All the characters disperse except Byleth and Hubert. Byleth makes a remark about how Hubert seems like he's thinking about something and Hubert makes a comment about how Lysithea had mentioned a desire to take down TWISTD as soon as possible but that he had stopped her from talking to Edelgard. You're then given two dialogue options. You can either say he should've let her talk to Edelgard which will cause you two to lose support points and Hubert will say something about how Lysithea's actions today proved she was not worthy of Lady Edelgard's time. The second dialogue option is remarking on how Lysithea had so much potential. Hubert will respond to this by somberly agreeing and then the cut scene will end.

Option B. Linhardt and Lysithea did reach their A support: In this timeline, you will see a cut scene between Linhardt and Lysithea before seeing one with Edelgard and the Black Eagles recapping the battle. This scene takes place just after Linhardt finished healing her and Lysithea makes a comment about being so exhausted she's about to pass out. Linhardt then says something about how he's going to pass out too after seeing all the blood. Lysithea simple respond with a "..." and Linhardt realizes something is wrong. He makes a comment about how Lysithea's actions were stupid and how she was unnecessarily risking her life and asks what she was thinking (but he does it in his Linhardt way where he's not saying it angrily just very matter-of-factly). Lysithea talks about how she wants to see TWISTD destroyed in her lifetime to make sure they can't torment her family anymore. Linhardt makes a comment about how powerful groups can never be overthrown quickly (maybe he could make some reference to a similar event in Fodlan history but I'm not knowledgeable enough about the history to think of an example off the top of my head) and also says that her dying early to accomplish this goal would be counterproductive. She asks what he means and he explains how she's one of the best mages on the side and how Cornelia was only one person. Even if she succeeded in taking down Cornelia, there'd still be the rest of TWISTD and the black eagles would be at a major disadvantage without Lysithea. He says she may not live to see the end of TIWSTD, it's possible none of them will, but if she focuses on taking multiple, smaller steps, she can make a greater difference than if she just tries to make one giant, risky leap.

After this, you can now unlock the Lysithea Byleth A support. This support will stay pretty similar, I like how it discusses her feeling a need to rush things due to her shortened life span. The main change would be that now she would mention what had happened in the last battle and discuss it and how it ties into the her desire to rush things and how she's starting to make peace with the fact that she may not be able to accomplish everything she wants.

This is where I imagine Crimson Flower Lysithea's arc ending. There are only six post time skip Crimson Flower chapters I believe, so I didn't want to add too many new cut scenes, especially considering that Lysithea is a side character who isn't even native to this route. I wanted the story I wrote to be one that could realistically be added into the game while maintaining good pacing, so I left out some scenes I would've liked that narratively just didn't fit in as well. If anyone has any head cannons for their version of Crimson Flower Lysithea, whether that be a written out story or just small head cannons you like to imagine, I'd love to hear them either in a reblog or an ask!

[gemmahale]

Gemmmmmaaaaa, it's-a me, Sy! 5, 17, and 23 for the writer game, please.

Hi Sy! I got distracted last night and totally spaced answering this, whoops! Here you go now!

Fic Writer Asks

5. First sentence of the 5th paragraph of an unpublished WIP.

Feylands, Chapter 3

“Stop!” His voice reverberates, deep and thundering. Josephine turns and runs faster, breaths puffing ahead of her in delicate little clouds.

(I gave you two, because the first was short. And I know you love Feylands. 😉)

17. Talk about your writing and editing process.

Oof. I'm always thinking about things and drafting scenes in my head (a solid number make it to the WIP eventually). But when I have time to actually sit down to write (and I'm not avoiding reports or anything 😅) I'm actually really...mundane. I don't have a special "writing beverage" or "writing snack" - at this point, I'm curled up in some convoluted shape in my chair with my tablet balanced in some gravity-defying manner (still learning the best way; when it was my phone it was different lol) and keyboard in my lap. Most likely in a blanket because I live with a human furnace named Kallen who keeps the house chilly. (I can put layers on, I only get crabby about it once in a while.) Hopefully when we get my office/craft room squared away, I'll be in there sometimes. Nothing really changes except a desk/table to work on; I am actively looking at lap desks for both crafting and writing purposes. 😄 The first part is picking my WIP - sometimes it's based on vibe, an idea I had, a comment I had when I'm co-brainstorming with someone, etc. I have 18 (oof) direct links on my tablet now to different WIPs. (Five - what the hell Gemma - of which aren't listed on my masterlist because I'm holding them close to my chest still. For an assortment of reasons.) Usually, Kallen and I are watching a livestream or playlist of YouTube videos from a few creators we both enjoy when I'm writing. If he's off to his office to go play with some friends, I put some music or a chill stream on for background noise. And then I go to town. Editing is kind of an ongoing thing for me - I go back and re-read what I've written before to get the vibe, see what's working/what isn't, fix weird spelling errors, etc. So there's always little tweaks happening to documents. I've shared WIPs with some close friends - you included, Sy 😉 - to get vibe checks and/or general feedback. But when (if) I choose to publish, I'll read through the document once or twice, have someone else proof it, and then off it goes and I find a spelling mistake upon posting. So really, I'm a poker and tinker as a writer. I know where I'm headed, we'll get there eventually. Someday.

23. Pick three words that describe your writing.

Evocative, personable, vivid

I used "personable" because I couldn't think of a word that meant "people are written as people - good and bad" because I feel like I do that well.

[crystalelemental]

Finished Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. I'm not going to have a lot to say, but for the sake of talking about it.

It's cute enough. The game has a sort of fairy-tale vibe, playing as a girl trying to find her prince/true love, and then having to rescue him from a witch that kidnaps him. It's pretty goofy in presentation though. The head witch keeps messing up her spells, one of her underlings is a cat girl whose actual cat subordinates are clowns, etc. It's lighthearted and silly for the most part, with the occasional pivot into an unexpectedly bleak outcome. There's a frog dude that gets super hard murdered and his lover implicitly kills herself, don't worry about it.

I can't really comment much on story because...not much happens. It's a very bare bones experience, which means the game thrives or fails based on gameplay, really. And it's...it's not bad, but...

It's a fairly standard RPG kind of experience, taking turns doing your whatever moves. The combat is, for whatever reason, grid based. I feel like this is largely unnecessary as it brings nothing of particular note to the table. Cornet's main gimmick is her Horn, which buffs your allies who do all the real fighting, casting spells and such. By the time you're higher level, your spells are basically hitting everything anyway. Spells have elements to them, but I can't say that there's a reason for them to be different; nothing ever seemed to deal more or less damage based on an element, so it's entirely up to preference. The combat isn't too difficult and only two bosses managed to kill anyone, which is good because reviving requires going back to your hometown to have your grandfather repair them, which costs a good chunk of money.

The main hangup with the experience is really just exploration. Dungeons are divided into a metric ton of individual screens that have up, down, left, and right exit possibilities. They are. Harder to keep track of than you'd think. Random encounters are generally low, so you cover a lot of ground, but I always felt really frustrated with exploration past the first like two dungeons, just because it's hard to tell where you're going or what you're missing, especially when the plot-critical path isn't telegraphed and will throw you directly into the boss fight. This is generally not a problem, I never used items in combat and never needed to, and the few mandatory party member acquisitions are more than capable of clearing the game. But it did mean I couldn't do the optional dungeon, because I missed one of these three brothers in a dungeon I was not about to go through again, and it turns out the boss of that dungeon won't even turn on without having all three directly in your part, so the fact that I never leveled the two I did find up was also a severe hurdle. It turns out the reward for this is just a bonus skill that would never have seen use, but it's still a little bit of a bummer that I missed an entire zone.

There are two other games that were brought to Switch, with the second and third being a bundle deal. I am. Not particularly invested in getting them anymore. Which is good because they don't seem to exist.

"Hey, you can't just not mention the songs! It's a musical for god's sake!" It's fine. They're fine. Nothing to really say.

[diamondsandlemons]

Hi sorry for being the least normal person on the planet about this but I saw you rbing some The Locked Tomb stuff and it's only been like a week or two since I got extremely into the series and it's nice to see someone I follow also show interest in it around the same-ish time as me! Can I ask abt your take on the books so far n fav character/s?

well I've only read the first book (I'm definitely interested in continuing with the series but I probably won't get to it for a while, esp. since I wanna get back into playing Ace Attorney games, as playing a visual novel kinda takes up the same time slot in my day as reading a novel, yk?) so there's def stuff I don't know abt yet.

but anyway yeah! I did really enjoy it. I appreciate the comedy in it, which I wasn't really expecting since like the cover art is so grim and it opens with some really dense politics stuff and a bunch of long names (that I just know should be pronounced with a british accent but I can't really make my head voice do that) and like the actual plot is very serious with deaths and stuff but nonetheless This Book Has Jokes

and its best when they're the dumbest, simplest jokes you could think of and Gideon says them out loud because thats the kind character she is. love her

Palamedes is great too because he entertains Gideon's antics while also being the one most focused on solving the mystery castle puzzles. (this girl who's been here for like a month and has never spoken a word to anyone is talking to me now? and she's rude? thats fine I'll just roll with it). he's also like the most normal dude in the whole cast. you feel comfortable when he's around

(btw what the hell was up with the thing he discovered about the rooms in Canaan House being from different time periods? like the different rooms are literally different ages? I don't think that was ever explained or brought up again???)

Also, for "lesbian fiction" being basically the one thing everyone says about this series, I was kinda surprised at the lack of a romantic plot in this one? I mean maybe there will be more of that in the other books idk, but like. ok so from the beginning it's very clear that Gideon and Harrow are gonna be the main pair here. and I was a little skeptical they were gonna be able to sell me on that because of where their relationship started, but nahhh I had nothing to worry about. they were meant for each other and enemies to lovers works great it turns out. but like. their relationship definitely improves a lot over the course of the story, but most of the time they don't talk to each other about anything but their jobs. its all bones and skeletons and locked doors with them.

don't get me wrong it has strong gay vibes all the way through (and Gideon is constantly commenting on how hot other women are, which is great) but at no point are Harrow and Gideon actually like. dating. closest they got was when I think it was implied they fucked once, after the pool scene. which like, good for them, I'm glad they got the opportunity to do that before, ah, y'know.

speaking of which I have NO clue what'll happen next based on how it ended. and the brief glimpse of the emperor at the very end was not at all what I expected, so that's curious as well...

OH yeah and speaking of the empire. uh at least the copy of the book that I have has a bunch of bonus material at the end, like in-universe essays and reports (and a pronunciation guide where I frustratingly learned I'd been reading half the characters' names wrong). and ONLY in that bonus material was it ever acknowledged that other inhabited planets exist outside of the empire. like for the whole book it kinda seems like there are nine planets that comprise the empire, and that's it. no humans anywhere else in the universe. no life outside the empire.

sure, the Cohort supposedly fights "enemies of the empire" but that's all that's ever said about that. could be like evil skeletons or some other kind of space monster for all we know. but no there ARE other civilizations, which I guess might be at war with the necromancers? it's cool to know that, that this story's universe is bigger than we've seen, and if I had to guess I'd say bigger than we probably ever will see, since there's still so many ghost/death mysteries and House history stuff our beloved necros have yet to solve.

ok thats probably everything I have to say about Gideon the Ninth for now. thanks for giving me an opportunity to put it all into words, lol

[amazing-spiderling]

for the fic author game:💘🎀💝💌

💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?

I don't usually have this urge with my stories. (I'm much more likely to wish I could return to some years old stories and finally find the muse to complete them.) But I do have this one Metal Gear Solid college AU... well, I can't even call it a fic(?) that I posted. I'm the sort of person that is in the habit of messaging a friend at 2 am and laying out a whole AU in very casual conversational terms, and this story is basically... that, just tidied up a little. I posted it because my friend enjoyed it a lot, and at the time there was very little fic for the fandom and ship (especially compared to the length of time the series has been around). But now it's a little embarrassing because it's little more than some collected thoughts and vibes, and sure it *kind* of reads like a complete story but it's really not what I consider my usual prose writing. I don't feel the urge to go re-work it, so much as I wish I'd written it out properly the first time. XD

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I think it's... easily digestible? aadsfjd Is that a compliment? I think I write stories that it's easy to settle in with before bed. Probably because those tend to be the sort I like to read. IDK Sometimes I wish I could write souffles and caviar but the world needs peanut butter and jelly too.

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

"Bound in Volumes" started as a tumblr meme prompt that sort of... took on a life of its own. I started it off thinking it would be a one-shot, or two chapter at the most and then it bloomed into ten. It's not that I didn't put time and effort into doing research and trying to make things seem true to the experience, but I was also *deathly* afraid that I was going to get things wrong and people were going to make a point of letting me know. But in reality, the response was nothing but positive, and a lot of people over the years have commented to let me know how much it resonated with them and made them feel like someone understood their experience, which was not something I expected. I think this was also the first story I ever wrote that got spontaneous fanart, which blew me away. I was scrolling through my phone and just YELPED while in line for chicken nuggets like a totally normal person.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

I'm working on a not-exactly-secret Earth-65 project and I think I should win an award for having to come up with half a dozen different funny synonyms for "corn dog".

[thatrandombystander]

Okay so I’m kind of curious! I know nothing about Dragon Age other than a bit of what I’ve seen from you, but it looks like Inquisition is on sale on steam right now. Is it a game you’d recommend playing yourself vs watching the cutscenes? And is it like part of a continuity or mostly standalone? :D

Dang all THREE Dragon Ages (Origins, DA2, Inquisition) are on sale on Steam right now. 10AUD each. Those are good prices. Wish I only paid that much for them.

Disclaimer that I have not played any Dragon age since 2015 and may misremember some stuff or my opinions may not hold up once I get around to replaying them.

I'm incapable of being brief sorry. This is almost 1000 words. 😔 TL;DR you can play the games stand alone, and I personally would recommend playing yourself.

Are they stand alone?

So each Dragon Age game's core plots and major characters are generally independent of each other. The protagonist is also a completely different person in each of the three game. You don't need to play any of the other games but they are all in the same world occurring sequentially one after, so you do get more out of it from playing previous games.

Characters from previous games will appear (or be referenced) in subsequent games, but usually it's major characters getting a cameo, or minor characters playing a larger role. There's a few exceptions - e.g. Varric is a party member in both DA2 and Inquisition - but it shouldn't leave you too confused. Events from previous games also build into newer ones, but anything important should be covered within the game you're playing. They're designed for both returning and new fans to enjoy.

Even if you start with the first game (Origins) you're gonna feel a bit lost with the world at first, because they did a fair amount of worldbuilding during development so even in Origins they'll reference characters and events as if your character already knows about them. Ya sort of just figure it out, although I think Origins does the best job of introducing the various factions and groups in the world and how they interact with each other.

That being said, I've only ever played the games in order so I can't really comment on how well they work for new players. But at the same time I never played the DLC for Origins and DA2 either, which I later found out had relevance in later games. (I believe current Steam versions of the games come with all DLC)

Watch cutscenes or play yourself?

Each of the Dragon Age games has some gameplay problems. Origins and Inquisition are both pretty long games with some slow or annoying bits, especially if you're doing sidequests and such. Fandom jokes include complaining about pretty much every main quest in Origins (there's a even a mod to skip one section) and especially complaining about The Hinterlands in Inquisition. DA2 is shorter but also... that game was very clearly rushed out and needed more development time. Lot's of location repetition.

Personally, since I'm a character-driven person and I like fantasy, I'm happy to push through the boring bits since I like a lot of the characters in the game and I want to romance people uwu. Frankly I don't even remember that much of the gameplay or actual plot details. I remember characters and vibes.

Speaking of romance; Dragon Age is a franchise that gives you choices that effect the world and characters around you. Choices vary in the significance of their consequences, but some of those choices can carry over and effect the worldstates into the next games.

This is why I personally would not watch a playthrough of the games. I have some strong feeling about the choices I make and would be annoyed to watch a playthrough that does things differently. (Tabris is best HoF option I shall not be swayed. King Alistair players DNI, this is a Queen Anora household. Templar supporters also DNI.) It's also why I'd need to replay the other two games before I get to Inquisition, because I don't like the default worldstate.

As a new player you wouldn't have that same issue, but you do lose out being able to make those choices as a playthrough watcher. If you don't want to play the previous games and want to go straight to Inquisition I don't think it would bother you either, since you wouldn't know which choices the game has defaulted for you. But again, they're decently long games so if you're rather just watch a playthrough, that's an fair option.

Side note + conclusion

If you're interested in the Dragon Age posts I reblog, warning that they're proportionally most likely to be from DA2, although I do like and share posts about all the games. It's a love or hate game for pretty good reason (some people will just recommend skipping it) but I fall into the love camp, I think because I like the characters and the plot is on a smaller scale.

Choosing to start with Origins and play all three is valid, only playing Inquisition is valid, playing Inquisition and then maybe feeling like playing the previous games is also valid. I only wouldn't recommend starting with DA2.

Ah, also the games have mature ratings. You can look up/ask about the details on that. From memory the most distressing would be implications/suggestion/aftermath of sexual assault (I think mostly in the first two games?) and slavery being a sort of thriving institute in parts of the Dragon Age universe.

If you have any other questions or confusions about the games/characters/world at any point, you're welcome to ask me. Even if I don't quite remember the details I can check the wiki to help block you from any unwanted spoilers. ✌

[iri-vail]

The last few months have been kind of dour, so on a brighter note: I've managed to trick myself into reading again. Ramblings under the cut!

I've been trying to get back into the swing of writing (and I'm restless and nervous for some reason and online oversharing feels good when I feel like that) so I wrote this both in German and in English. Might be a bit weird to get excited about this, but I'm honestly a little astonished that I can read again. Actual books! Is it the meds? Is it the therapy? Who knows. And I need to talk about it. So. Here we are.

I used to read a lot as a kid - like a lot. A lot of different books, any spare minute I had. Stopped sometime during school, I don't know why. I recently realized that I actually struggle to read quite a bit, so maybe it's that? It's easy once I'm in the flow, but getting there is hard. Most of the time when I sit down to read now, I have to force myself to go back and read paragraphs over and over because I spaced out. Maybe that's a lack of practice, maybe I could reach a focus state easier as a child, or maybe my attention span has just gotten worse. Whatever it was, I didn't read anything but fanficiton, online essays and the news for years. Read a lot of those, at least, but no books.

The trick was getting a smaller phone. My last one was so big, so for the next one I decided to spend a little more and get one in a smaller size (for whatever reason only the expensive phones get smaller sizes). Turns out, reading on a smaller screen is harder, who would have thought. Came in handy, because I wanted to ween myself off obsessively reading reddit comments on my commutes anyway, so I started carrying around books again and - tadaaa. Suddenly I'm reading again, even at home! Maybe I just needed to get into the habit again?

Anyway, since I've been feeling chatty recently, I decided to write up all the books I read in the past few months. Not really reviews, just 2-3 thoughts I had.

Ranpo Edogawa - Strange Tale of Panorama Island

I admit: I bought this because two anime characters (that I know of) are named after Edogawa and I wanted to know what that's all about. This one was probably not the best suited to finding out why Conan is named after Edogawa haha. I expected a detective novel and it is not that. Definitely interesting: I love doppelganger stories and identity horror so that was nice. Could have used a few less pages of underwater descriptions, but I'll take it. I had fun!

Ren Warom - Escapology

My reading has been all over the place because I've been making my way through all of the books I bought over the years and then never touched. This one was part of my Cyberpunk phase in 2021. Not as intensely Cyberpunk as Neuromancer and the end was almost more fantasy than sci-fi, but I really enjoyed that. Characters and story too.

Hard in Hightown - Varric Tethras

Got this as a present years ago, never touched it. Until Veilguard happened and hardcore disappointed me, sadly. I had my fun with it, but it was shaky, to say the least. But it kicked me back into Dragon Age hell so I grabbed this off the shelf. Very cute little story, I loved the noir vibes. Maybe I want to try writing something like that as well...? I could write the scene where Rook and Varric first meet, they really should have included that in the game... Was the bartender supposed to be Fenris by the way? Very cute Varric!

Terminal Boredom - Izumi Suzuki

Would have fit perfectly into the one Queer Studies seminar I took at uni. Why did I spend so long avoiding sci-fi...? Nothing has made me think this much in a long time.

MDZS - extras

Finally got around to reading the last novel! I read the German translation, since I only started reading in English originally because I wanted to experience stories in their original language, and that wasn't possible here anways, so: German. I thought the translation was very well done, I liked the tone of it. The sex scenes would have probably been a tough read in English as well, but German was extra awkward haha. Hot take though: I don't think the sex scenes were /that/ bad, except for: lube, wwx, lube!!

Oh by the way: The juniors are translated as "Sprösslinge" in German! So basically someone's offspring, or the offshoot of a plant. The word makes me think of the little grass sprout on anime character's heads. It captures the vibe of "ducklings" very well.

I think there was more, but I can't remember any other titles right now. I usually write stuff like this in my journal, but again, I've been feeling like I need to do stuff recently. I've used tumblr on and off for journaling. It's nice, I think? Don't think I'll be doing this often though. Anyhow. Bye!

----

Ich habe als Kind immer sehr viel gelesen - viel viel. Viele verschiedene Bücher, zu jeder Tageszeit. Irgendwann in der Schule hörte das dann auf. Mittlerweile ist mir aufgefallen, dass Lesen tatsächlich ziemlich schwierig für mich ist. Wenn ich einmal im Flow bin lese ich immer noch sehr schnell und lange, aber da hin zu kommen ist schwierig. Meistens zwinge ich mich stundenlang Absätze immer und immer wieder zu lesen, weil ich gelesen habe ohne den Inhalt aufzunehmen... Vielleicht ist das die fehlende Übung, vielleicht komme ich heute schlechter in den Fokus als früher, vielleicht ist mein Aufmerksamkeitsvermögen auch heute einfach schlechter. So oder so, habe ich einfach jahrelang nichts außer Fanfiction und Nachrichten gelesen. Davon immerhin ziemlich viel, aber keine Bücher.

Der Trick war: kleineres Handy kaufen. Mein letztes war so groß, dass es mich nur genervt hat, also habe ich beim nächsten extra auf die Größe geachtet. Und auf dem kleinen Screen lese ich einfach nicht so gern. Plus, ich wollte ohnehin mal aufhören obzessiv Reddit-Kommentarspalten zu lesen... Also habe ich aufgehört in der Bahn am Handy zu lesen und mir stattdessen Bücher mitgenommen. Und seitdem lese ich wieder. Vielleicht musste ich einfach wieder in die Gewohnheit reinkommen? Wie beim Sport: Wenn man einmal angefangen hat ist es nicht so schwierig, im Rhythmus zu bleiben. Setzt man einmal aus, ist es sooo schwierig wieder anzufangen.

Anyway: Ich hab in letzter Zeit irgendwie Mitteilungsbedürfnis und wollte auch noch mehr Schreiben (nicht nur fanfiction, sondern auch original und nonfiction), deshalb dachte ich ich schreib einfach mal auf, was ich so gelesen habe!

Ranpo Edogawa - Strange Tale of Panorama Island

Ich geb zu: Hab ich mir gekauft weil mehrere Anime-Charakter nach diesem Autor benannt sind und ich rausfinden wollte, was es damit auf sich hat. Strange Tale of Panorama Island war aber vielleicht nicht das beste Buch um zu verstehen, warum Conan nach Edogawa benannt wurde haha. Ich hatte einen Detektiv-Roman erwartet, das war's aber so gar nicht (oder nur erkennbar in der generellen erzählerischen Qualität). Die Geschichte mochte ich sehr gern. Ich liebe Doppelgänger-Geschichten und Identitäts-Horror. Die 4 (?) Seiten Unterwasser-Beschreibung hätten kürzer sein können, aber insgesamt: hat Spaß gemacht!

Ren Warom - Escapology

Die Bücher die ich im Moment lese sind thematisch wild gemischt, weil ich einfach alles lese, was ich über die Jahre gekauft und dann nie angefasst habe. Escapology ist ein Überbleibsel aus meiner 2020er Cyberpunk-Phase. Die Cyberpunk-Elemente fand ich im Vergleich zu Neuromancer recht oberflächlich, aber die Story und Charaktere mochte ich. In vielerlei Hinsicht kam das Buch mir mehr wie Fantasy als Sci-Fi vor, was ich ziemlich interessant fand. Nicht ganz was ich erwartet hatte, aber sehr interessant.

Hard in Hightown - Varric Tethras

Vor Jahren geschenkt bekommen, aus dem Regal gezerrt nachdem Veilguard mich ziemlich enttäuscht hat. Im dritten Akt hat das Spiel etwas die Kurve bekommen, aber der Anfang war...holprig, mindestens. Jetzt bin ich trotzdem wieder im Dragon-Age-Hype, und deswegen: Hard in Hightown. Schöne kleine Story, ich mochte die Noir-Atmosphäre. Sollte Fenris der Bartender sein? Sehr süß Varric :D Jetzt hab ich Lust, auch mal was in dem Stil zu schreiben... Vielleicht schreibe ich Rooks erstes Treffen mit Varric? Das hätten sie echt ins Spiel aufnehmen können...

Terminal Boredom - Izumi Suzuki

Hätte sehr gut in mein eines Queer Studies Seminar an der Uni gepasst. Warum habe ich so lange gar kein Sci-Fi gelesen? Lange hat mich nichts so zum Denken angeregt.

MDZS - Extras

Endlich den letzten Band gelesen! Ich hab die Bücher auf Deutsch gelesen, weil ich ursprünglich angefangen habe auf Englisch zu lesen um Geschichten in der Originalsprache zu erleben und das war hier ja ohnehin nicht möglich. Also: Deutsch. Ich glaub die Sexszenen wären so oder so ziemlich hart gewesen, aber auf Deutsch war's schon echt schwierig durchzukommen. Aber hot take: Sooo krass weird find ich die Extras gar nicht. Bis auf: lube, Wei Wuxian, lube!!

Insgesamt fand ich die deutsche Übersetzung ziemlich gut gelungen. Fun fact: Die "juniors" werden als "Sprösslinge" übersetzt! Richtig süß, und kommt an den vibe von "ducklings" ziemlich nah dran finde ich

Ich glaube, ich habe noch mehr gelesen... Aber es fällt mir jetzt nicht mehr ein. Irgendwie bin ich in letzter Zeit etwas rastlos, deshalb dieser Impuls zur Ausnahme öffentlich, und nicht in einem Notizbuch, zu journalen. Irgendwie komisch, auf Deutsch im Internet zu schreiben.... naja. Hier sind wir.

[kiwicopia]

Hello may I request a match up for Jujutsu Kaisen and Genshin Impact please? :) I’m a straight female and my pronouns are she/her.

I’m very shy, distant, quiet, and a little awkward. Basically a huge introvert at first. However, once I get to know you better or I at least see that you’re comfortable around me, I’ll get comfortable as well :) And once that happens, you could say I become slightly more extroverted. I get louder, laugh more, and am overall less shy, distant, quiet, and awkward. I’m also very sensitive and have tons of trouble speaking up for myself. When getting yelled at or just insulted, I try and act unbothered but I think everyone knows that I’m holding in my tears at that point… (it’s really embarrassing ok don’t judge 🫠) But one thing I can say is that I’m somewhat funny. When I feel comfortable around people or just someone, I usually let more witty and funny comments out. The same goes for when I’m like shy Y’know? Its just that it’s much more less cause the last thing I want is awkward silence. Hobbies I have are photography, gaming, golfing, bowling, board games, jigsaw puzzles, and listening to music! My appearance usually consists of grey sweatpants, grey sweatshirt, and black boots— it’s usually my go to outfit since it’s pretty comfortable. At home, my hair is tied in a low ponytail. Outside however, my hair is let down. I let my hair down outside because I’m hella insecure about my side profile. I have a round face, curtain bangs, eye-bags, black hair, and really dark brown eyes :) some people say they look soulless but idk 🤷‍♀️ I think the only thing that’s preventing my eyes look completely soulless is the fact that I commonly express myself through reactions. I also tend to speak using a lot of “uh” or “um” because if usually when I don’t say those two words, I end up mixing up my words and my whole sentence just ends up sounding confusing 😬 As for what I’d like to do during Valentine’s Day, I think I’d prefer just staying indoors and having a comfy and stress-free day. Like a day where we don’t worry about anything and we just stay at home and vibe 😋

Your personalities may differ, but that's honestly what drew Satoru towards you in the first place. Yes, yes, there was a bit of teasing here and there, but all of his words were genuine, in terms of his feelings for you. He's a mean what he says kind of guy, so when he says that he has feelings for you, he means it. Satoru doesn't mind how sensitive you are, but he absolutely hates it if anyone badgers you to the point of making you cry. He won't stand for that at all. He's a gentle man, caring and sometimes a little clingy. He'll spend Valentine's Day with you indoors, where no one can bother either of you. It also gives him a chance to love and kiss you in ways he's been craving to. Peppering his lips here and there, whispering words of praise and worship, listing all the reasons as to why he loves you. It's such a perfect moment and day.

Ayato finds your personality to be quite adorable. Such a cute and shy little thing you are, and whom he has taken quite the liking to. Being one of Ayaka's friends, it was only a matter of time before you grew to be his, and then so much more. He doesn't mind your sensitive side and finds it quite endearing, yet he won't hesitate to tell off anyone who dares to yell at you or make you cry. As busy of a man that he is, Ayato still makes time to spend with you, and today is no exception. He had planned it for months. The staff had been ushered away, leaving the two of you alone to rest in his chambers. You're both nothing but a comfortable pile of legs and arms wrapped securely around one another, enjoying the other's presence. At least until Ayato initiates a little more. Just some sweet kisses along your neck as he tells you just how much he loves you, in the words of poems. You're his little cherry blossom, and he will do anything and everything to keep you happy.

[new2fivesauce]

Classically Your's... - Eddie Munson

Summary: Eddie is being this soft, romantic guy the week of your upcoming anniversary and you have nothing to compensate until the day of. (5.2k words of fluff)

No warnings, just Eddie being fucking in love with you.

A/N: I couldn't get out of my head that Eddie gives off golden retriever boyfriend and I know for a fact that he would just be like the best boyfriend ever and would be all lovey dovey. He just gives off those vibes. This is probably just a nonsense fic too, lots of words. Also I was inspired by the Pop Goes Classical (<-link)playlist on Spotify because I'm just a dork who really likes classical shit. Thanks and enjoy :)

When Eddie Munson and you initially got together your junior year and his first senior year, it was the talk of the school for about a week. You two weren’t necessarily the most popular people for either one of you to make the front page of the school paper but you had. You weren’t on the cheer team, you didn’t play sports, you weren’t even in the marching band. You had opted for the softer option and was the top violinist in the orchestra and Eddie… Well Eddie was Eddie.

This was now his second senior year making him a year older than you. He was also not in sports or extracurriculars, but he was a nerd underneath the long hair, dark clothes, and metal rings. He was known as a troublemaker and the school drug dealer, but he wasn’t just that person to you. He was an avid reader, not that he let anyone know that fact. He was greatly interested in mythology and had a poster in his room that connected the aspects of his favorite fantasy game, Dungeons and Dragons, to mythological and folklore. He was also a very good musician, something that the both of you could relate to very well and talk about for hours. He was incredibly musically inclined and just by hearing a song once or twice, he could pick up the rhythm and notes and play it almost exactly note for note on his guitar.

Now Eddie’s music was not particularly kind to the ears of Hawkins’ people. The whole town was going through a panic, blaming metal music and fantasy games for the bad things happening not just in this weird, small town but the whole world too. Fortunately for you, you nor your parents fell for that crap. Sometimes you felt as if your parents were from some different planet. 

The first time you mentioned the long haired boy and your sudden love interest in him to your mother, her eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. “OH! You must bring him to dinner some day.” She had insisted. When you brought it up to Eddie, he was surprised. Typically parents and especially parents of girls he was seeing did not approve of him, but after some careful consideration, he went to dinner one night and he was accepted so fast, Eddie believed he was being pranked. He was low-key expecting someone to come out from a bush and yell GOTCHA!! in his face and then premiere his reaction on the local news channel.

Your mother, Donna, adored him. Your mother, quite the talker she was, could talk to him forever and Eddie never minded. Sometimes, you believed, he needed this maternal interaction since his mom was not in the picture.  Your mom didn’t care about his appearance; she did, however, care about his well being. Seeing as Eddie only lived with his uncle in the not best part of town and was often left alone to fend for himself, your mom always made sure he was well fed, often sending you to school with care packages full of home baked sweets and home cooked easy microwave dinners when his schedule was full from DnD games, band practice, and whatever shenanigans he put himself through the week. Eddie, who had always been scrawny even as a kid, had finally started to fill out and gained a decent amount of weight from your mom’s cooking. He wasn’t anywhere close to being pudgy, but often commented jokingly that Donna would be the death of him if she didn't stop feeding him.

Your dad, James, although a bit hesitant and not as accepting at first as his wife, around the second time Eddie came over for dinner, he had been fully embraced by the patriarch of your family. Your father could tell that Eddie was smart and very well versed in books, music, movies, and world news. Eddie had even beat your dad at Monopoly one family night. Your dad never lost. Your dad was so proud to finally have lost a game and suddenly they had this very close relationship. Eddie had even started teaching your dad about Dungeons and Dragons and they would talk battle strategies until dinner was ready.

You didn’t think your life could be any better than it currently was… until you realized that your one year anniversary with Eddie was a week away. You only remembered when one day as you stepped up to your locker at school and opened it, a bouquet of orange lilies (your favorite) in a small vase was placed on top of your books. You plucked the small note stuffed between the petals and read it.

Your laugh is like music to my ears - EM

You pressed the small, white card to your chest, your entire body filling with giddiness and pure love for this boy. You recalled the time he had said that to you, for even though you’d known Eddie for a long time having grown up in the same small town, you had never talked to him until your sophomore year of high school. 

He had been running in the hall, apparently making a getaway from some jocks that he had pulled a prank on, when he slipped and knocked you and your books over. He apologized profusely as he helped you pick up your belongings. One of the books you had was Shakespeare. He had made a joke that made you laugh so hard, you snorted. You hid your mouth behind your hand in embarrassment, but he had looked at you in awe. “Your laugh… is like music to my ears. Don’t be embarrassed of it.” 

—---------

The next day, you met Eddie in the woods next to the school. He was sitting on the top of the picnic table where he often did his little drug deals with the student body of Hawkins High. He heard your footsteps crunch the leaves and a smile as bright as the sun appeared on his face when he saw you walking up to him. You couldn’t help but smile back even though you had had a gnawing feeling in your gut since the day before after receiving the flowers. When Eddie handed you a flat sturdy square, horribly wrapped with the biggest bow he could manage to put on it, the feeling got even worse.

“For me?” You asked through feigned surprise. He nodded, scooting to the edge of the table as you began to unwrap the gift. It was Michael Jackson’s Thriller on vinyl. Your eyes widened in glee as your eyes scanned the front of the vinyl cover and then flipped it over to read the song tracks. Over the song track PTY (Pretty Young Thing), there was a taped tiny blue paper that read You are my…

Read together it said You are my PTY. You laughed and squeezed the vinyl in your arms gently. 

“Eddie!!” You squealed as you put the record on the table first then wrapped your arms around his neck. “Oh my God! Where did you find this? I can’t even imagine you walking into a store asking for Michael Jackson!” 

You pulled back to look at his face, his hands were at your waist. He shrugged shyly. “I just want to make you happy.” He mumbled. You shook your head, mumbling I love you as you inched forward to kiss him. 

You couldn’t believe it. This man must have gone far to get you the record you had wanted so bad. Eddie was a metalhead through and through and he despised your love for mainstream music. He tolerated it like you tolerated his music, although he had admitted that MJ was a very good entertainer. The reason you wanted the vinyl was because your parents had bought you the tape three times already and every time you wore it out. Vinyl would last longer, but Hawkins was such a tiny town and the music stores still had music from the 60s. Anything current had to be purchased in the city.

“Eddie…” you started, peeping at your boyfriend through your eyelashes. “You know you don’t have to do all this.” you said quietly. He placed a hooked finger under your chin, the thick, silver ring on his digit felt cold on your skin and it sent a slight shiver down your spine.

“I want to do this.” he told you sternly. “You are my first real girlfriend and I want to do everything right. You see those couples walking down the hall everyday. They look happy but they’re not. Then they break up and the whole school takes sides. I don’t want that. I don’t ever want you to hate me if something were to happen to us.” 

His eyes closed for a moment. His eyebrows were knitted together; there was something troubling him, but when he opened his eyes again and looked at you, whatever was wracking inside his brain seemed to dissipate.

—---

Day Three’s gift was all black geometric sunglasses similar to the ones that Madonna wore in her Into the Groove music video. The first time you had allowed Eddie into your room, he had pointed out the Madonna poster that you had hanging on your wall. He liked her music. “It’s catchy.” It was one of the very few artists’ tapes that he had in his van collection… just for you to listen to whenever he picked you up.

—----

Day Four’s gift was a Pat Benatar t-shirt. It was black, faded, and had the female artist in a power pose. You slipped the tee over your powder blue top immediately and admired it from your view. “This is so sweet.” you commented, grinning up at Eddie. He brushed his hair back with one of his ringed hands coyly. 

“I knew you’d love it.” he said. And indeed you did. Love is a Battlefield was your anthem. It was also the song that you and Eddie first danced to.

You had been invited to one of Steve Harrington’s big parties. All your friends were going with their boyfriends/girlfriends and you wanted to go so bad. However, you were reluctant to tell Eddie about it. He never intentionally got invited to these types of events. He usually just crashed them or would pop up outside and sell weed. He was the one that brought it up and you were surprised when he did.

“I actually got invited this time.” he mentioned, his eyes flickering over to the jock table. “I guess you give me some type of good rep.” he shrugged.

You could tell Eddie was uncomfortable the second you arrived. He picked a beer from one of the coolers placed around the house and retreated to a dark corner to people-watch. He let you have a good time with your friends and when Love is a Battlefield began playing loudly through the speakers, Eddie saw the way your face lit up and immediately turned to him. You beckoned him over to the dance floor with a wave of your hand and he shook his head no, a smirk teasing on his face. 

You pouted, no doubt, before shuffling through the crowd to get to him before the song ended. You grabbed his hands and pulled with all your might as Eddie dug the heels of his boots further into the linoleum floor of Steve’s living room. 

“You know I don’t dance.” he groaned as you pulled harder, his body barely moving forward a centimeter.

“Just this once! Please!?” You looked at him with the saddest puppy eyes you could manage. He ran a hand down his face, groaning in discontent and begrudgingly let you pull him to the dance floor.

You could feel everyone’s eyes suddenly fall onto the two of you. Eddie stood still as you tried to encourage him by placing his hands on your waist. The song was half over and even if he just shimmied his body just once, you would die happy. But he did you one even better. As the song got to the chorus, his hands dropped from your waist whilst taking a deep breath.

“Please don’t laugh” he remarked as he burst into the choreography move set from the music video. Your hands flew to your mouth in absolute astoundment but recovered quickly to join him. The bystanders around you realized what the two of you were doing and joined in as well until the song ended. 

When the song finished and transitioned into a slow one, you stayed on the floor, arms wrapped around Eddie’s torso and his around yours. 

“What the hell was that?” you asked, trying not to laugh. He bent his head forward, placing his forehead on yours, ignoring the giggles that were slipping from your tight lips. He couldn’t help but cheese back at you. 

“You do know that you’ve shown me that video countless times. I’m sure your mom could do those moves in her sleep.” 

“But you know the moves?” you questioned, an eyebrow arching.

With a roll of eyes, he said “I might have practiced in the shower once or twice.”

—---

On Day 5, Eddie was supposed to take you home after band practice. He took a detour to his trailer first though. He made you wait inside the van while he dashed inside. He came out a few minutes later, his guitar case in one hand and a small box in the other. He handed you the box when he got back into his seat.

“Uhh Eddie… what is this?” you stared at the box. It wasn’t small enough for a ring, but jewelry was a big step up from the other gifts Eddie had given you.

His foot was nervously tapping the floor as he watched you take off the lid. Inside was a small bracelet. When you lifted it out of the box, you realized that it was made from a guitar string. A little skull charm hung off of it. 

You lifted it up to your eye level, studying the charm and the grooves on the string.

“That’s the guitar string that broke at the first show you ever went to see me play at.” 

You briefly remembered the way Eddie loudly cursed on the microphone when he plucked the string too hard after he saw you walk  into the bar. He had invited you to watch earlier that day, but since you hadn’t given him a definitive answer, he didn’t think you were going to come.

He gently plucked the bracelet from your hand so that he could help put it on your left wrist. Your lips trembled, eyes filling up with tears.

“You’re such a fucking romantic.” you whispered, your right hand softly running over the bracelet. 

“Eh, I try.” he said. He eyed you curiously, making sure that you were okay before he put the van in drive and began heading in the direction of your house.

The pit in your stomach now felt like it was going to eat you from the inside. You were still stuck on what to get Eddie. You had scribbled ideas in your journal, even asked some of your friends, but nothing seemed good enough. You had the terrible notion that maybe Eddie knew you better than you knew him. Gosh, you were a freaking terrible girlfriend.

It was a comfortable silence on the way to your house. Eddie had just gotten the new Metallica album on tape so that was playing quietly in the background. He had bought a tape for you too. Even though he knew you were not too fond of metal, you did enjoy the guitar riffs. 

“You okay, Y/N?” Eddied asked as he turned into your neighborhood. You nodded. “Am I doing too much?” 

You didn’t want to tell him yes. You knew if you did it would feel like you were rejecting him. “I like this side of you.” You replied. “I like that you’ve taken what I like into consideration even if it’s not exactly you.”

He nodded. “Okay… I don’t have a gift for you tomorrow.” he said as he pulled into your driveway. “I kinda ran out of ideas, but I have one more. I’ll give it to you on the day of.”

As you grabbed your belongings, Eddie asked you if you had had a chance to listen to the new Metallica tape. You shook your head no.

“I know it’s hard for you to listen to. You being a classical enthusiast or whatever, but listen to the title track. Puppets is…” he paused to think of a word to describe it. “Indescribable.”

You laughed at his lack of choice of words, but promised him that you would listen to it. 

When you entered your house, your mom was in the kitchen. She greeted you by placing a pb&j sandwich at the kitchen bar. You climbed up to a stool and began peeling off the crusts. Your mom looked out to the living room as in expecting someone to strut in behind you.

“Eddie had band practice today.” you said. Your mom pursed her lips, turning to look at the magnetic calendar on the fridge. She shook her head. 

“No, today is DnD.” she said, pointing at today’s date. In Eddie’s handwriting it read EM - DnD at 5:30. Your mom wasn’t a creeper. She didn’t try to live vicariously through you or Eddie, but she liked to know when Eddie was coming to dinner so she could make his favorites. Eddie had gotten so used to your comfortable home life, that he just did things on a whim as if he truly lived there, … including notifying your mom of his after school things.

“Yeah, but the Wheeler kid couldn’t make practice so he canceled that and he has a show coming up soon so…” you didn’t finish your sentence but your mom understood.

She nodded and then went back to clearing up the pb&j mess on the counter.

After your snack, you stayed in the kitchen, talking to your mom and showing off the gifts you’d received. You mentioned that you were stuck on not knowing what to give in return. 

“He’s going above and beyond for me, Mom!” You nearly cried, your tears stinging your eyes as you tried to hold them back. “I feel so bad because I don’t know what to do. You know, he’s even going to the recital next week? He’s told me he only likes classical music because I play violin! He’s too perfect.” you signed, dropping your head onto the counter.

The bang caused your mother to look at you with some concern. She tried to give you some advice, but your parents were together for metaphorically centuries but this was a new relationship. A one year anniversary was either a make it or break it situation in the world of high school.

You thanked your mom for trying to help before trudging to your bedroom. You tossed your backpack on the bed, causing some of your items to fall out. You rolled your eyes, annoyed at yourself. You picked up the stuff off the floor, leaving the Metallica tape Eddie had given you last week for last. You peeled off the plastic wrapping off of it and placed it in your cassette player. You put the volume on the lowest setting. 

You were studying your music for your recital for next week, practicing some of the measures when the introduction of Master of Puppets interrupted your thoughts. You turned up the volume of the radio slightly and you were quickly engrossed by the music.

Your foot tapped gently on your carpeted floor, your head bobbed to the beat, and your left hand was fingering the strings of your violin trying to figure out the notes. 

Suddenly an idea popped in your head. “Holy shit.” You whispered as you quickly got up and went to grab the phone from the kitchen.

—--

You were late. You shoved your violin into its case and snapped it shut in a haste. You threw the strap of the case over your shoulder, grabbed your backpack and threw the strap of that over your other shoulder and dashed out of your room.

You slipped into the kitchen to grab a pack of pop tarts from the pantry. Your mother was at the breakfast nook, reading the morning paper. She looked up at you but didn’t ask anything, just furrowed her brows and went back to drinking her coffee and reading. 

“Bye Mom!” you called out as you made your way to the front door. You hadn’t even bothered to look up after swinging the door open; you were so occupied with trying to open your breakfast that you bumped straight into a body. He hmphed as you bounced back, almost dropping your pop tarts.

“Eddie!” you exclaimed, stumbling with regaining your balance. You shoved the straps on your shoulders back to comfortable positions as the boy in front of you scanned his eyes over you curiously.

You were in jean shorts, a Hawkins hoodie, long socks and beat up Vans sneakers. Your hair was put up high in a ponytail and your face makeup free. 

“Going somewhere?” he asked, his dark eyes darting over the bags on your shoulders. You arched your head and stood on your tippy toes to look over Eddie’s shoulder. A tan car was pulling into your driveway and you could see that it was Tim, your orchestra buddy who sat next to you in class. He took a glance at what you were looking at and scoffed.

“I am.” You answered nonchalantly. You waited for him to step aside so you could make your way to your ride, but he didn’t budge.

“I could have given you a ride.” his tone was bored, but you could tell he was hurt just a tiny bit.

“I didn’t want to wake you.” you lied. He didn’t take it.

“So you wake up Tim? The guy who’s been suddenly crushing on you since we got together.” 

Eddie was not usually the jealous type. He didn’t make a big show of making sure everyone knew that you were his and his only. It was just a given. But he didn’t fuck with Tim like that. You didn’t know why, nor did you really care because you didn’t see yourself dumping Eddie for that guy. Tim was just a friend.

“Ah, Eddie…” you paused to try to find the right words. “It’s a recital thing. Something came up last minute and Mr. D gave us some new music to rehearse.”

Eddie stared into y/e/c eyes, squinting a bit as if trying to read your mind. When you didn’t so much as blink back, he stepped backwards, with a bow and wave of his arm. “See you around, my lady.” 

You could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but you skipped away and hopped into Tim’s car.

—---

You awoke with a start and realized that today was the day. You’d officially been together with Eddie Munson for one year. You tried to stretch but there was something heavy at your feet. You sat up and saw that there was a big box at the end of the bed. This box was carefully wrapped in pink wrapping paper and a white bow. Your eyes were wide with curiosity as you crawled to the end of the bed and pulled the box into your lap. 

The inside of the box was filled with white tissue paper and cushioned in the middle of the paper was a scrapbook. The scrapbook was black, obviously, and had giant stickers of your initials and Eddie’s. The book was thick and was tightly closed by a leather string that was tied around the book.

You untied it and began flipping through it. The book had everything from your first year with Eddie. Your eyes welled up with tears as you skimmed the pages. There was the front page article of when the two of you were in the Hawkins newspaper, a scrap of a menu from the local dinner where Eddie took you on a first date, the hand drawn flier of the first Corroded Coffins show you went to, the ticket stub from the homecoming dance, the note that he tossed to you in the lunchroom that was Eddie asking you to be girlfriend, tons of polaroid pictures, and other little memorabilia. 

Your heart hurt as you reviewed the book again. Your body was so full of emotions, you couldn’t help but let a few tears slip.

You got ready hastily. You had to see Eddie.

You parked outside of the Munson home. You grabbed the book and rushed to the door. Before you could knock, the door swung open to reveal a shirtless Eddie, hair ruffled and face still puffy from sleep.

“I heard your car.” he mumbled, gently rubbing the drowsiness from one of his eyes. 

You held up the scrapbook to his face. “You made this?!”

He hmmmed and you took it as a yes. You attached your body to his so fast, he almost lost his balance. 

“Seriously! This is the sweetest thing ever.” you gushed, flipping through the pages once more with him looking. He ushered you into his place so that you both wouldn’t be standing out in the morning sun. “I can’t believe you kept all of these tiny memories. Eddie, who knew you were such a softie?”

He led you to his room and closed the door behind you.

“Like I told you, I just want to make you happy and everything in that book is times that you’ve me happy. I love you, Y/N and I know that’s weird coming from your local metalhead with tattoos and rad hair, but it’s fuckin’ true.”

You pressed a hand to your chest whilst giving him a soft look. He took the book from you to place it on his messy dresser. He took you into his arms and leaned down to kiss you. 

Before things could get steamy, you pulled away, earning you a whine from Eddie as he lost the warmth of your body. 

You beckoned him to sit on his bed while you stood in front of him. He tried to make a grab for you but you stepped back. You couldn’t let him distract you. His eyes swept over your body as they usually did when you were acting abnormally. He knew there was something weird going on when you grew fidgety.

“Y/N…” he began, but you held up your hand to stop him.

“I know I've been a little odd this week. Honestly, I almost forgot that our anniversary was today… until you put those lilies in my locker, I remembered… and on the second day, you gave me another gift and then another and another. I felt like I was so imcompetant. How could I forget?”

“You had a lot of things on your mind…” Eddie tried to reason.

“No, well yeah, but that wasn’t it. I felt like you were putting in so much effort into the relationship and you know that’s not how we are. But your gifts were so carefully thought out; I can’t even imagine how long you’ve been putting all this together…”

“Well your mom helped me out some. She did the frilly things in the scrap–”

You shushed him so you could finish getting your speech out.

“...and I was just stuck. I didn’t know where to even begin… I finally listened to the Metallica tape you bought me when it dawned on me… Our love language… It’s music. From the beginning. Even though you’re metal and I’m you know, a mix of classical and pop, we still express a lot of our feelings through songs. You’ve made me countless mix tapes with songs that make you think of me. I’ve made you tapes of songs that have played in the background of places we’ve been to.”

You walked over to his boombox as you pulled a cassette case from your pullover kangaroo pocket. 

“I didn’t have a gift for everyday leading up till today, but I made this for you and I hope you like it because it’s a little bit of me and it’s a little bit of you.”

You placed the cassette in the player and pushed play, making sure to turn up the volume because Eddie liked his music loud.

There was static as the tape started, followed by some general room noises, some footsteps, a clearing throat, the tapping of a baton on a music stand.

Then the sudden start of multiple violins began and you thought he would realize the tune quickly because this was one of his top bands, but the instruments must have thrown him off since it took Eddie a good minute to recognize the tune.

Master of Puppets by Metallica. (link)

His eyes widened, his eyebrows went to the ceiling as he realized that the violin was you. He darted his eyes to and from the boombox to you, his mouth in a perfect circle with a fist covering it. As the song got to the climax, his brown eyes began to gush up with impending tears. You’d never seen him cry, not even out of anger, frustration, or sadness, but you’d seen him get wrecked over music before, but not to this extent.

When the last notes of the song faded out, you pushed stop on the player. You faced Eddie. He was still sitting, his body like a statue with the look of surprise still on his face.

“This is why you were hanging with Tim yesterday?” he suddenly asked. You nodded.

“He's the second chair, I needed his help, plus we got together with some other kids to fill in on the other instruments. It took us all day to figure out the song.” You explained. “Believe it or not, you’re not the only one with a good ear.”

At last, released from his stupor, Eddie jumped off his bed and embraced you tightly. 

“That was fuckin’ amazing! I can’t believe that was you! That was you taking on those riffs on your dainty, little violin!” He grabbed your left hand and saw that you had brand new calluses on your fingers. He held up his hand next to yours. “Shit, we really match now.” Noting the calluses on his fingers too from his guitar playing.

He kissed you deeply, gripping your waist tight and pulling you so close you could feel the heat rising off the bare skin of his torso. “You’re incredible. That’s going to live in my brain forever. We need to collaborate now.”

“Whatever you say. You know I’m yours.” you whispered as he reached behind you to rewind the tape and play it again before he snuggled his face into your neck, giving you a playful nibble.

“Can’t wait to see what you come up with on our next anniversary.” he mumbled, taking you back to his bed to show you how much he truly loved and appreciated you.

[anonymousfiction211]

Happy birthday

Summary: Everyone has forgotten your birthday, expect your loving boyfriend Loki who has a special evening planned for you.

Word count: 2.588 words

Happy birthday When you woke up this morning you were so excited. But now, you couldn’t wait for this day to be over. The whole day went by and everyone had forgotten it was your birthday. There were no text messages from friends, no cards in the mail, not even your parents had bothered to call you. At work no colleague had congratulated you, there wasn’t even a cake – apparently the office tradition broke with you. And adding to your misery, Loki was still in Asgard and you had no idea when he would be back. For a moment you though about leaving a message for Heimdall, Loki had taught you how. But you didn’t feel like yelling to the sky, to a men you never met, only for him to tell your boyfriend that you were sad. And then what? You would only wonder the rest of the night if Loki had gotten your message or if he also didn’t care like everyone else.

Deciding against leaving a message you drove the rest of the way home in silence. By the time you arrived at your house you were actively holding back your tears. Somehow you had hoped that maybe it was all a trick and there would be a surprise party at your house. But there were no cars and you didn’t see the lights on in your house. You sat in your cars for a few minutes, taking a few deep breaths. You would just order a pizza, watch a movie, and go to bed. At least it was weekend now, and you could spend the weekend doing all the things you love like reading, baking, playing the piano and maybe buy a few more plants. You rumbled through your purse, looking for your keys. You got out of the car and opened your front door. You entered your hallway and the first thing you noticed was that there were lights on, and you could clearly hear someone walking around in the kitchen.

You briefly wondered how you didn’t see the lights from the outside of the house, you should have. But panic rises as you realized that someone was in your house. The problem was that your phone had died, so you needed the phone in your living room. But once you would call the person inside your house would hear, and that could lead to a very bad situation. You put your purse and keys down as quietly as you could. You grabbed an umbrella and slowly made your way to the kitchen. If you played this right you could knock the person out, tie them up and then call the police. With the umbrella in your hand, you slowly opened the kitchen door. There was a man in front of the furnace, standing with his back to you, but you recognized him immediately.

‘Loki?’ you asked.

He turned around and smiled brightly at you. ‘Happy birthday, love’ he said.

You immediately ran towards him and he opened his arms to catch you. It took a moment for the two of you to let go of each other. When you did he kissed you.

‘I missed you’ he said.

‘I missed you too. How are you even here? I thought you had to remain there until the end of the month?’ you asked him.

‘Darling, like I ever was going to miss your birthday’ he smirked.

Normally, you would laugh. But the remark hurt and you started to cry. Loki’s happy expression changed into a worried one. He pulled you closer and let you cry against his chest.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked when you stopped crying.

‘Nothing’ you mumbled, nuzzling closer to his chest. You didn’t want to admit it that everyone forgot your birthday.

Loki grabbed your shoulders, moved a bit away from you so he could look at your face. ‘Tell me’

You stared at the ground until a finger under your chin made you face Loki again. You sighed. ‘You’re the first person to remember today’ you said, your voice barely higher than a whisper.

You saw the hurt in Loki’s eyes before he pulled you into another tight hug. ‘That’s awful’ he whispered.

‘I’m really glad you’re here’ you said back.

‘Me too, and I will do everything in my power to make you happy tonight’ he said.

‘But why are you holding an umbrella? It isn’t raining?’ he asked.

You broke the hug and put the umbrella on the ground next to the door. ‘Ah, well. The lights were off, but when I entered I saw them on and heard you in here. I thought you were an intruder’ you explained a bit sheepishly.

‘And you were going to attack me with an umbrella?’ he cocked one of his eyebrows in amusement.

You shoved him ‘Shut up, that was the best plan I could think off’

He just laughed a little. ‘Sorry to startle you. The lights would be my doing. I really wanted tonight to be a surprise’ he explained.

How he did the trick with the lights you didn’t ask. You knew that once Loki started to talk about magic, he would be talking for hours on end. The kitchen timer went off and you noticed that Loki had something in the over. You were curious and tried to look passed him, but he blocked your view.

‘Go sit at the dining table. I have a few surprises for you tonight and you are far to curious, kitten’ he mused.

You wanted to protest, but the look of excitement on his face was way too adorable to ruin. So, you did as you were told. You walked to the dining room that was just across the hall. When you entered you froze. Not only had Loki already set the table, there also was a large bouquet of roses, candles were burning and your favourite wine was in a wine cooler. This was by far the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for you. You sat down in your chair when Loki walked in with two plates, covered by a lid.  

‘You like it?’ he asked

‘I love it’ you smiled at him.

He sat the plates down and instead of removing the lid, grabbed the bottle of wine. He poured you a glass, which was thoughtful, but you suspected that he liked to drag out his surprise meal a little longer. He poured another glass for himself and sat down. He sat very close next to you, adding to the intimate dinner. Finally, Loki removed the lid from the plate and you saw your meal. It was your favourite, steak with red wine sauce, oven baked potatoes covered in herbs and green beans. It tasted amazing and suddenly you realized that Loki didn’t cook.

‘How did you manage this? I thought you couldn’t cook?’ you asked.

‘I wanted to do something special so, I learned this dish’ he explained a bit flush.

‘Hmm, don’t you remember early in our relationship that you explicitly stated that Gods don’t cook?’ you teased him.

Loki grabbed your hand kissed the back of it. ‘He does for the one he loves’ he said, making you fluster and blush. He smirked at the effect his words had on you. The rest of dinner the two of you talked about what had happened in the three weeks he was away. Loki, of course, had many stories that involved tricking and annoying Thor. Once you finished your meal Loki grabbed the plates and told you he was right back. He came back with a large slice of cheesecake the two of you shared. He told you proudly that he also made the dessert himself. When the two of you were finished you started to clean up, but Loki stopped you. He conjured up a blindfold and you looked questioningly at him.

‘I don’t want you to see just yet’ he mused.

You rolled your eyes but let him put on the blindfold. He steered you through the house. When he told you to stand still you felt him move in front of you. He undid the blindfold and once it was off he moved to the side.

‘Surprise’ he mused.

You gasped when you saw. Loki had set up an enormous blanket fort in your living room. There were blankets, large pillows and he had al kind of snack set up on the table. There was a string of light that gave the whole room a romantic vibe. The fort was placed so you could still see the tv, there were multiple DVDs laying in front of it. Next to de DVDs there were several board games.

‘Remember our first movie marathon and we spontaneously build a blanket fort?’

‘Of course I do. That was the night you asked me on our first official date.’ you whispered a bit overwhelmed by his surprise.

‘A date that went so terrible you actually told me that the blanket fort was a much better date’ he mused.

‘Well yeah, you got us kicked out of the restaurant before our starters even came. It was pouring outside and you lost the car key’ you laughed. ‘But walking in the pouring rain with you turned out to be fun’ you added.

Loki grabbed your hand and guided you to the fort. He sat down and put you between his legs. The rest of the night the both of you cuddled, talked a lot, and played the games. A few hours later you decided to put on a movie.

‘Thanks for the amazing evening. This night was really the best gift you could have given me’ you said hallway through the movie.

‘Did you really think that this was your gift?’ he said.

You squirmed out of his grasp. Loki overdramatically sighed but laughed at your giddy attitude. He reluctantly let you go, so you could bounce up and down, excited to see what he was about the give you. He conjured up a small dark green box. When you reached for it he pulled it away.

‘I think I deserve a kiss first’ he smirked.

You rolled your eyes but started to kiss him. Knowing Loki, he would demand another kissed so, you made out with him for a while. The moment he lowered his hands around your waist you grabbed the box.

‘And they say I don’t play fair’ he teased.

You ignored his comment and opened the box. Inside the box was a beautiful golden necklace with a snake on it. The snake was in a s-form and there was a tiny green stone for the eyes.

‘It’s beautiful’ you said.

Before Loki could reply you grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for another kiss. He just laughed at your action and took the box from you, once you were done. He took out the necklace and you turned your back towards him. You removed your hair and he fastened the necklace around your neck. When it was in place you turned around and Loki pulled you flush against him.

‘Thank you, for everything’ you said.

‘I’m glad that you liked it all’ he said to you.

You kissed him again, more slowly this time. Loki moved his lips with yours and you felt his tongue asking for permission. You opened your mouth and he slid his tongue inside, exploring every inch. You moaned slightly in the kiss. Your hands were under his shirt and his were caressing your upper body. You stopped kissing him and pulled his shirt over his head. For a moment you stared at him, and you noticed Loki slightly blushing under your gaze.

‘Let’s make this more fair’ he whispered.

He removed your shirt and unclasped your bra in one smooth motion. He laid you down on your back and started to kiss your neck. He moved lower and swirled his tongue over every inch of your breasts. You were extremely aroused and your nipples were hard by the time he was done. You were breathing fast underneath him. He brought his head up to yours and kissed you deeply. He laid on his side next to you. His hand slowly trailed from your cheek down to your breasts. He pinched your nipple, earning him a gasp from you. He moved lower and undid the button of your pants. You eagerly kissed him back and stroked his naked chest. His fingers slipped between your folds. Once his fingers were wet with your arousal he circled your clit. He swallowed every moan and whimper that left your lips with his own mouth.

You felt the pleasure wash over you. Loki slowly circled your clit until your orgasm had subsided. He retracted his fingers and licked them clean.

‘You look very pretty when you come undone for me’ he whispered in your ear.

He pulled of your pants and underwear. Once you laid naked before him he removed his own. When his erect cock sprung free you licked your lips. You wanted to get up, to suck his cock, but Loki laid you back down.

‘Tonight, is about you’ he said.

He was on top of you and stroked his erect cock against your wet folds and your clit. In one smooth motion he pushed himself inside of you. Your legs automatically hooked around his waist and Loki started a slow pace. His eyes didn’t leave yours, unless he was kissing your mouth, neck or whispering in your ear. He whispered how beautiful you looked, how much he loved you and how incredible you felt around his cock. Because of the slow movements and your wetness, you could really feel every movement he made. Every movement was deliberate, it really felt like you were the only thing that existed for him right now.

To your surprise he stopped. Before you could ask, he rolled the two of you around. You were on top of him and due to gravity felt his cock slid deeper inside of you. Hitting just the right spot. You started to ride him in the same slow pace as him. It truly was a sight to have Loki lay underneath you, moaning and praising you. Once you felt your orgasm build up, you started to ride him faster. His hands went to your bouncing boobs and he started to play with them. This was definitely the most intense sex the two of you ever had, normally there were a lot of games and Loki was an enormous tease. Loki started to moan shamelessly underneath you, but you were doing the same at this point. When he started to circle your clit with his fingers you came undone immediately. You felt Loki’s cock twitch inside of you and his seed spill. After a few more thrusts you collapsed half on top of him. Once your and his breathing had gone back to normal you pulled him out of you. He immediately grabbed you back and laid you close to his chest.

He was stroking your arms. Goosebumps were forming and you started to shiver a little. Loki grabbed a blanket form nearby and pulled it over the two of you. He nuzzled his head in the crook of your neck and pulled you as close as he could.

‘This really is the best birthday I ever had’ you said.

‘It’s far from over yet, love’ Loki said while starting the kiss your neck and trailed his fingers to your clit.

Tags: @delightfulheartdream @the-best-phineas​​ @theaudacitytowrite

[svchengss]

king of hearts | d.sc

PAIRING. dong sicheng x reader

GENRE. high school!au, fluff, slight angst, kind of e2l

WARNINGS. none (lmk if i missed any!)

WORD COUNT. 6.7k

SUMMARY. sicheng’s subtle flirts are not working effectively but it only motivates him to try and woo you more. the devil sure works hard but dong sicheng works harder.

PLAYLIST. king of hearts

TAGLIST. @floraljae @clovdless @mashiihearts @ndr1271 @kunrengui (shoutout to mashi for being a major help in the process of writing this <3)

// just to let you guys know, reblogs and feedbacks are appreciated !! thank you for reading :D

music was blaring through the multiple loudspeakers scattered around the school grounds, booths of various interests that were set-up by the clubs being swarmed by visitors and ecstatic oohs and aahs from the ones playing games can be heard intermittently. the annual school festival of redlands high, an event that is looked forward to by every single student there. or maybe not, you’re quite unsure of the self-made data.

you immediately made a beeline to the dance club booth which is managed by yangyang, the president also holding the title of your best friend. a cartoonish grin crept up on his face when he spots you walking towards him.

“so, what do you think? looks legit, huh?” he crossed his arms together, observing the design of the booth with a proud smile. the set-up is definitely eye-catching, not much decorations going on, adding to the simplicity of the white theme with gold touch-ups. you browsed through the plastered posters on the board, inviting people to sign up for their upcoming audition. looking up to the signboard hanging outside, you showed a thumbs up towards him, muttering a quick ‘perfect’.

“so what exactly is your booth doing? there’s not much… activity going on?” you scratched the non-existent itch on your left eyebrow. the boy in front of you gave you an eye roll before explaining that there will be mini dance games - or just dance as he worded. an amused sound left your lips as you bent down, dropping your signature in the guestbook on the wooden table.

“are you coming to the stage shows tonight? i heard there’s a new band performing,” your ears perked up instinctively upon hearing the words. after your sister graduated high school, nobody paid any attention to keep the band going. the zikas, a trio that made the music club strive back then. either the newer batches were too lazy to make an effort or too scared if they weren’t up to the already high standards of the school.

“i’m going if you’re going,” you simply stated, which made yangyang flash you the same grin from before. you said your simple goodbyes when people started lining up to try the just dance game at his booth. after he reminded you to wait for him by the statue, you went off to check out the food sales, eager to fill your growling stomach since this morning.

you can do this, sicheng. you can do this.

he made sure to double check the tuning of his guitar for one last time before joining the rest of his bandmates on the stage. his tall and slim physique surely left an impact, seeing that some of the audience suddenly became more invested in the performance compared to the others. he’s wearing some band’s shirt - probably green day since it’s quite similar to your sister’s posters in her room, black leather jacket and his black hair middle parted. not to miss the silver pendant necklace on his neck, sparkling under the spotlight.

the moment he struck the pick through the strings of his electric guitar, the drummer and bassist followed after, producing a melody that is pleasing to your ears. he held the microphone closer to his mouth, singing the lyrics as you bobbed your head up and down to the covers they sang - american idiot and helena are the ones you recognized since you’ve heard the songs so often. yangyang on the other hand kept on sipping the chocolate milkshake in his hand, vibing with the music as well.

the next song was a sentimental one which you assumed is a self-composed one, since you’ve never heard this song before. before you know it, the performance is over and the audience have started packing up their belongings to hang out somewhere else or go home.

“good job everyone, we did well,” yuta, who played the bass earlier, high-fived the rest of the band with a sly grin on his face. guanheng chugged the mineral water down his throat before stashing his drumsticks into the bag while sicheng was lost in his thoughts. he doesn’t know why but you stood out from the crowd, only able to see you just now. he wouldn’t say it’s a crush, not knowing anything about you but it definitely made him feel something. a trigger in his heart, not knowing where it leads to. but what he does know is that you caught his attention.

“and you know what he said? i’ll come back crawling to him just like his other exes. what the heck is even that?” you took out the binders from your locker while listening to ningning rant about her love life. since you haven’t had any relationships before, you’re not really a professional in this aspect of life so you just kept your mouth shut to avoid giving useless advice.

“that sounds so rude, he’s such a jerk,” you commented, taking the first bite of your sandwich afterwards. the tea-spilling session eventually came to an end when she reached her class first and you kept walking to mrs. walker’s, english being your first period. nothing exciting really happened in that class except someone got their phone confiscated for texting in class - just the usual things. classes later, it’s finally recess when you met up with ningning and yangyang in the cafeteria.

“first of all, cut him off. block him. everywhere,” yangyang emphasized the last word, knowing how much of an idiot the guy can be. you just scrolled through your socials, double tapping on certain posts that caught your eye. owning a cat looks fun, you made a mental note to bring the idea to your parents later. the bell rang which signals that classes are starting back soon and the same cycle of events continues before it’s time to go home.

you observed yangyang’s sharp moves, following to the beat of the song echoing in the dance room. it’s currently half past seven and he’s still here, beads of sweat running through his hair. and why would he stay in school so late, you may ask? obviously, he’s here for a reason and it being an upcoming dance tournament is the most accurate one. while you’re here, sitting on the floor, back against the mirror and legs straightened out with your phone in your hand. it amazes you how the goofy boy transforms 360°, being all serious when he’s in his element.

“let’s go home, i’m tired already,” he panted out breathlessly, using a cloth nearby to wipe his sweaty forehead. you wait for him by the glass door as he packs up his things when the lights in the music studio also switched off. you wondered it must be the band guys so you paid no attention whatsoever. of course, your predictions were right when you saw two lads stepping out.

since yangyang is taking too much time tidying up the dance studio and the music studio seems unoccupied, you decided to check it out for a bit. it’s been a long time since you last entered the room, always accompanying your sister for her extra practice when you were younger. not much has changed, except some additions of instruments can be seen. not seeing anything in the dark condition as the room is only illuminated by the faint lights from the hallway, you pushed the switches down only to be met by a gasp.

“what are you doing here?” the tall boy approached you, a stern look visible on his fine features. your eyes scrambled around the room in an attempt to find any logical excuses for your ‘break-in’ but to no avail. your tongue was dry, not a sound escaping your throat when you heard yangyang’s voice, signalling your cue to exit the room and escape from the tension building between you and the boy. he just shook his head, the black hair bouncing left to right as he finally caught on.

it’s you, you’re the girl from the crowd. and your name is y/n.

the walk home was filled with one-sided conversations where yangyang kept on babbling about how he should improve the choreography he created earlier while you only added small comments. your mind is filled with embarrassment, too much that you feel slightly mad at yourself. why didn’t you say anything earlier? now, you look like a complete idiot with communication issues in front of that boy.

“yeah, and remember that pasta? we should definitely try it again, it’s like, so good,” yangyang said, earning a nod from you when you saw the boy from last night’s music studio tragedy approaching your table. you tried to look away but it was too late.

“dude, just wanna let you know that mr. park is seeing us after school,” your grip on your fork loosens up when you realized he wasn’t talking to you. maybe he forgot about the incident? you really hope so.

“yeah, totally. thanks sicheng,” yangyang playfully winked at the latter, earning a disgusted look from him who started walking away. he glanced back at you with a smug smile on his plump lips, making you freeze up again.

he didn’t.

“are you okay, y/n? feeling sick?” ningning furrowed her eyebrows upon seeing your sudden change of demeanor. you shrugged her off and continued to consume the macaroni placed on the tray in front of you, mentally cursing at yourself for the poor life choice you’d made. well, at least you know that his name is sicheng, right?

oh boy, you’re in for a long ride.

you can’t wait to go home and snuggle under the covers, today has been a long and tiring one for you. you had three pop quizzes as if all the three teachers intended so, your class had to run multiple laps during p.e. and so on. you’re already planning your routine in your head, trudging your way to the lockers when you saw him leaning against yours, scrolling down his phone.

“crap,” you muttered under your breath.

there it is, the smirk on his face returns when he spots your figure approaching. oh, how you wish you could wipe it off his face. he moved a couple steps backwards to give you some space to arrange your things before locking it, turning your head towards him.

“i’m sorry, why are you here again? and if it’s because of last night, then i’m sorry if it bothered you or anything,” you huffed out.

“what? i didn’t really care, it’s not like you were stealing anything, right?” he squinted his eyes, eyeing you up and down suspiciously, laughing shortly after seeing you get riled up.

“damn, you really need to learn how to take a joke. y/n, right? i’m sicheng, nice to meet you.”

“why exactly are we having this meet-and-greet or whatever this introduction is?” you crossed your arms, waiting for his response. but he didn’t, immediately turning on his heels and making his way towards the stairs, probably going to the studio.

“jerk,” you cursed under your breath, walking out the school building.

“what? you got accepted? seriously?” ningning’s voice echoed against the cafeteria walls, earning surprised and annoyed glances from other students who were either satisfying their grumbling stomach or simply having conversations. yangyang softly nudged her elbows using his, asking her to lower her voice down before telling you to go on. you were quite surprised as well, the acceptance email was not what you expected to receive. when you filled in the application form, it was just a mere shoot-your-shot agenda to see if you’d make the cut. although this is just a camp, you’re still unsure of what lies ahead.

“yeah, it starts next week. but i’m so nervous though,” you sipped the iced coffee in your hands. you’ve only watched videos of people producing their own music from scratch which you start to take an interest in. however, you’ve never done it hands-on before, only having basic music theory knowledge thanks to the piano lessons your parents signed you up for when you were young.

“you’ll do awesome, i promise,” yangyang gave you a reassuring smile, making you release some tension from the overthinking you’ve had since you received the email last night.

“thanks yang.”

now, here you are on the first day of attending the internship camp. you stood in front of the tall mirror hanging on the wall, straightening your cardigan and applying some makeup onto your face as touch-ups. it’s currently 7:40 in the morning, the earliest time you’ve ever woken up on a saturday. your siblings are still swallowed in their states of sleep. you double-checked the contents in your tote bag, making sure that no important things are left behind. you totally don’t intend on leaving a bad first impression on your first day.

after bidding a swift goodbye to your parents who just woke up, you drove your mother’s old honda to the completely new destination - mbyte studios. the tall building with light grey and blue painted walls definitely made it stand out, a futuristic look catching the eyes of the passersby. taking a deep breath, you entered the main lobby before being escorted to a room on the second floor. you assume it’s a waiting room for all participants of the camp, scanning that majority of the occupiers might be college students. you thanked god that the camp takes place on weekends so your high school senior life won’t be interrupted that much.

DAY 1

your eyes widened when you spot sicheng with the same white and blue tag you’re wearing, seated on the sofa. what the hell is he doing here? you avoided acknowledging his presence, trying to make yourself as unnoticed as possible heading over to occupy the seat farthest from his. after quite some time staring at the paintings hanging on the wall, a middle-aged lady with a petite figure entered the room, making you sit up straight.

“welcome to mbyte studios! i’m the assistant director, mrs. hwang. first and foremost, congratulations on being accepted. it’ a pleasure to witness the start of your musical journey embarking here. i believe that we should know each other first?” she gestured for any volunteers. sicheng stood up from his seat, charisma evident in his stance which left quite an impression on the others. the strong confidence in the way he speaks made the woman smile amusingly.

some names later, it was your turn to introduce yourself. the moment you stood up, he immediately recognized you and you were sure you caught him making some faces. the ice-breaking session went well thankfully, mrs. hwang elaborating on the social rules and the itinerary throughout the whole six days. one that caught your attention was assisting the producers on making a track from scratch, just like you had dreamed of.

when it was finally time for lunch break, you shot up from your seat to get away from sicheng as fast as possible but to your dismay, he beat you to it, jogging up towards your standing position.

“i didn’t know you were into music, what’s the sudden occasion?”

“it’s none of your business actually,” you sneered back, obviously not favouring his attention.

“woah, relax. you’ve got quite a temper, don’t you? by the way, we’re having lunch together,” he placed his phone onto a nearby table, pulling a chair for you.

“just eat on your own, i don’t have the appetite,” you flash a sarcastic grin before disappearing into the women’s restroom. he just laughed bitterly at your response before walking towards the food counter, joining his newly made friend, jaehyun. being the same age, they’re easy to click.

DAY 2

“today, we’ll be focusing on the recording process. you’ll be assigned into groups that will have a tour of the whole department. our staff will facilitate each group,” the manager said loud and clear. you remembered his name was johnny. the tattoo on his shoulder really stands out, considering the fact that he’s always wearing a sleeveless shirt.

but what are the odds when your groupmate is none other than the guy himself, sicheng. it’s like the universe truly resented you for having to be associated with him at any event. your group was escorted to the farthest recording studio on the floor. to say that this was a great experience is truly an understatement, making you observe the gears used in astonishment. you hate to admit it but sicheng has a handful of knowledge on this particular topic, always correctly answering the questions directed by the staff. maybe it wasn’t quite surprising upon knowing that his career choice is a singer, not that you care anyways.

again, nothing out of the ordinary happened today, except that you and sicheng had lunch on the same table. of course, it’s not that you accepted his offer but he welcomed himself to the spot. being the quickly favoured participant among the rest, obviously they welcomed him with open hands. he placed himself among the two guys sitting at the right corner, eyeing you whose eyes are still not leaving the article you were skimming through. with the last spoon of food shoved into your mouth, you quietly excused yourself from the group. sicheng just watched your movements in subtle signs of annoyance.

with the final task of doing microphone check-ups, day two of the camp ended with a breeze. you can’t wait to go home, get into a warm bath and spend the night watching netflix. it was a tiring one indeed but you’re not one to complain. pushing the car keys into the ignition slot, the sound of the engine starting is still nowhere to be heard even after a couple of retries. you rested your forehead onto the steering wheel, cursing silently in your head, having to get a taxi and call your mother about this incident. you’re sure to be receiving a handful from her, not to mention her soft but stingful remarks.

“hey, are you okay?” a deep voice interrupts your stressful state of mind. looking up, it’s sicheng with a concerned look on display. you hesitantly shared your problem, making him press his lips together probably thinking of a solution.

“you know, i don’t really know how to fix your broken engine or whatever but i know someone who can. let me just ring him for a sec. and you’re coming home with me.”

and that’s how you ended up in the front passenger seat, sicheng steering with one hand and the other rested on the windowsill. the faint music from the radio can be heard, probably a song by jon vinyl. you’d steal quick glances to see his other hand dancing in the air, enjoying the rhythm of the song playing. besides that, it was silent as both of you are preoccupied with your own things - sicheng on the road while you on your phone. he tried to make small talk but you would say it’s unrequited, only replying with short sentences. after a good ten minutes drive, the sight of your brown painted gate becomes a sign for him to stop the moving car.

“your car is safe with my friend so you shouldn’t worry about it or anything. also, what’s your number? it’ll be easier for, you know the car business of course,” he reached over to unbuckle your seatbelt, handing over his phone to you after. the close proximity made your breath hitch, the dewy scent of his perfume diffusing into your nose. not too strong, he has a good taste.

“thanks and um, i’ll buy you a drink later. just for today.”

“are you asking me on a date?” there it is, the significant tug on the side of his lips making its presence once again.

“stop being so narcissistic and move along please,” you rolled your eyes before giving him a small wave, stepping into your property. sicheng stared at the numerals on his phone screen, a small, proud grin etched on before driving off the lane.

“how was the camp? met any cute boys?” the first thing you hear in the hue of the blue monday morning is ningning’s chirpy voice. sometimes you wonder how she gets all boosted up at this hour of the day. yangyang is the polar opposite, his appearance as if he just got out of bed, the hood of his denim jacket resting on top of his auburn hair.

“it was good and no, no cute boys. but sicheng was there,” you replied nonchalantly, a mischievous grin crept onto her lips. you can almost predict the words that are going to spill out of her mouth.

“what’s up with her?” yangyang yawned, his eyes lazily gaze at you. you just lifted your shoulders, having no idea whatsoever. a ping sound was heard from your phone, notifying that a new message is received.

unknown: hey sicheng here

unknown: ur car may be ready tmr. want me to drive u there?

listening to your heart, you were about to type ‘no’ but remembering the fact that your parents will be busy the whole day tomorrow and yangyang is coming home late once again, you have no choice but to accept the lad’s help.

now you’re back in his vehicle, the same spot as before. you’ve only noticed now that a musical note charm is hung on the rearview mirror, a semiquaver to be exact. you’d say that it looks authentic, gold specks shining when sun rays hit the surface. observing the interior of his car, there are quite a number of small decorations.

“can we get coffee first? my treat for the car and the ride,” you suggested, looking at him whose eyes are focused onto the road. the traffic is quite pleasing today, nobody honking mindlessly at the other drivers and flipping each other off with the famous middle finger gesture. his side profile does look charming, some type of earrings dangling from his ears. if you’re going to be honest, his appearance does seem to be your type. you’re not one to say about his persona though, always managing to bother you at any time of the day.

“sure, wanna go to the new cafe? i heard it’s good,”. you just nodded while he skillfully steered the steering wheel, moving the car to the new destination. you turned your eyes to look outside from the car window, seeing the one hundred and one manners of the citizens. a mother struggling to take her child who’s having a tantrum out of the toy shop, a young couple having their romantic meal in the french cafe. the motion of the car stopping awakened you who was being distracted by your clouded mind.

from the moment you stepped into the place, the interior caught your attention. the light brown painted walls with black furniture complementing each other perfectly, making a retro-like appearance. the funky song playing faintly in the background surely is a mood-setter, just how you like it. even the barista serving you is being friendly, making a couple of small talk in the midst of operating the machines.

you would say that it was a pleasureful day for you. the exquisite taste of latte washing down your dry throat, getting your car back without too much babbling from your dear mother and the gap between you and sicheng closing in for a little.

the last sentence baffled you for a second.

DAY 3

sicheng’s eyes shot open from the short slumber he was trying to get - failing miserably even, upon spotting you enter through the door. he pulled the chair beside him in hopes for you to get his message and take the seat. a frown made its way onto his face when you just waved at him, making your way to another spot a few chairs to the front. he scoffed, head tilting slightly before approaching you instead. you shot him a puzzled look, roughly translating to ask him what he’s doing here.

“i just want to be close to you. now focus,” he redirected his eyes onto the muscular man who just entered the room. he’s a songwriter - the best one in this company to be exact. you were focused on each point he explained, making small notes on your laptop. it’s not always that you’ll get a chance to be guided by a four-time award winning songwriter, might as well gain some benefits from it.

“another tip i have is to use all types of chords. remember, do not stick to the same ones, you’ll lack creativity. for instance, use major, minor, dominant, diminished, and augmented. i promise you, more ideas will be flowing and better quality songs will be produced. you got me?” the questioned, earning buzzing sounds of positive responses from the hall.

DAY 4

another day of group work, you’re given the task to create a melody according to the themes given - for your group, it’s love. looking at sicheng, he’s already on his electric guitar, strumming mindlessly to find the perfect note to start on. the rest of you are now juicing out some thoughts on this particular sense of human nature.

“love gives us thrill, the feeling of excitement, the feeling when you’re uncertain about something but when you have that special someone with you, you’re sure to wing it all,” jaehyun suggests, earning nods of approval from the rest of your groupmates.

“you’re a pro at this, mr. romantic,” you teased him, earning a soft chuckle. a dimpled smile is etched onto his features, rosy cheeks and his eye smile making you fawn. prince-like visual and a sense of humour? a two in one package, totally.

“not really. i guess i’m a sucker for romance movies,” he rubbed the back of his neck. your small conversation came to a halt when you heard a crooked, loud sound coming from the rough strum on the guitar strings. you turned around to see sicheng gazing directly towards the both of you, a sharp one even. jaehyun just blinked his eyes before catching onto the situation unfolding in front of him while you’re still being completely oblivious. you tilted your head in confusion, unsure of what’s gotten into him.

it’s the day that yangyang has been looking forward to since the past few weeks, his dance tournament. you’re seated with ningning on the bleachers, music from the loudspeakers echoing through the walls. with the cheers of the bewatchers whenever someone captivated them with a trick or dance move, usually the risky ones, it truly is a loud atmosphere.

“now, welcoming contestant number 43 to take the stage,” the host announced, you and ningning clapped with all your might, shouting words of encouragement as well. yangyang took a deep breath before lifting his right hand up, cueing for the music to start playing. just then, there’s the sound of someone plopping down on the hard surface next to you - sicheng. he’s looking casual today, a light yellow hoodie replacing his usual dark clothings.

“what are you doing here?” you shout whispered while ningning raised her eyebrows at you.

“didn’t yangyang tell you? i’m here to watch him dance,” he countered your question before darting his eyes back to the boy who’s busy popping on the dance floor, tinashe’s song playing in the background. he ended his routine with a moonwalk, making his way to the end of the stage. you’re confident that he’s going to win the competition, looking at how precise and clean his moves were. all the late night practices he had eventually paid off when he’s announced as the second placer. nonetheless, he’s still proud of himself, not to mention you and ningning who have been with him throughout his whole journey.

“you did well,” sicheng welcomed him with a fist bump which he reciprocated back. you didn’t know that they were this good of friends.

“i’m starving,” he rubbed his hand onto his stomach, making you remember that your stomach has been rumbling since you only ate a cereal bar that morning. you were about to catch up to yangyang and ningning who were walking fast ahead when you felt a tug on your shirt, looking down to see sicheng crouching down to tie your loose shoelaces.

“you might fall,” he placed his hands into the pockets of his hoodies, waiting for you to come along.

“um, thanks,” you muttered out before catching the glances given by your friends, later teasing you about the scene.

roars of students can be heard coherently, filling the basketball court. the basketball captain, a tall one with black charcoal hair is shooting a three-pointer. the players are then called over to their respective sides for whatever strategy their coaches will be implementing in the third-quarter. the home team is currently leading by five points, knowing that the players wearing the significant red and black jersey have been training their asses off for a while now.

but why exactly did you come to the game tonight? besides from the main event happening in the moment, the other reason is now standing in his position, strumming his electric guitar producing a funky sound that vibrates through the walls - a cue for the start of another buzzing stage. sicheng has been bugging you about watching him perform tonight and after quite some time evaluating, why not? when he finally caught you among the crowd, he flashed you a flirtatious wink. right before the band bowed as gratitude to the audience, he gave you a gesture to wait for him at the back of the gym.

“you came! but seriously, thank you,” he rested the sparkly white guitar against the wall, enveloping you into a hug. this is new, you tried to hide the flustered state of yours as you reciprocated his movement. from the corner of your eyes, you can see a black-haired guy approaching the two of you, followed by one with long, white hair and a bandana nicely keeping the fluffy strands in tact.

“ooh, who’s this?” the first one wiggled his eyebrows, later introducing himself as guanheng, the latter named yuta. to your surprise, the bond between you and them are quick to form with guanheng piloting the conversation. not to mention his subtle jokes making you giggle at times.

“well y/n, your little boyfriend here is getting jealous so we’ll excuse ourselves for now. see you whenever,” guanheng banging his drumsticks into the air while yuta gave you a quick wave before disappearing into the store room of the gymnasium. the nickname they gave sicheng surely made you a bit shy.

boyfriend?

DAY 5

you’re seated in front of the computer screen, your chin resting on the palm of your hands and the tabs of different colours left untouched. you redirected your gaze onto the projector screen, the words ‘arrange, mix, edit and master like a pro’ on it. a long sigh leaving your lips, you try to remember what the producer said earlier.

don’t make the song sound too repetitive

a good buildup promises a good melody

you can have a certain instrument playing only on one part for cinematic impact

DAY 6

“i’m hyo and you’re,” she moved the wheels of her chair to the back a bit to take another look at the clipboard resting on the desk, “sicheng, y/n and jaehyun, right?” the three of you nodded in harmony, anticipating for the next order that will be given.

“okay cool, we’ll be brainstorming first,” and she proceeded to explain what the requirements for this project are. you mouthed out the important points she gave, soft rock, heartbreak and drums. you’re on a roll today, contributing your countless ideas during the first few minutes of the discussion. sicheng just looked at you discussing with hyo, your lips pursed slightly. his gaze seems full of adoration, even jaehyun said so.

“any objections?” hyo looked over to the rest.

“i think she made some great ones. i’m sure this project will come out fresh,” jaehyun voiced out his opinions, sicheng nodding after. he went straight to handling the instruments , you and jaehyun collaborating for the mixing process. hyo eventually chimed in on some times, giving small advice whenever you seem stuck in the brain. with the hours ticking by, you’re feeling more satisfied than ever with your earphones in, listening to the final product created.

all of the participants are then assembled in the hall again, waiting for a final speech by the director which formalizes the end of the camp. sure, you’ve earned worthy knowledge throughout the six days. but if you’re being brutally true to the sound of your heart, it would be how you came to learn sicheng’s true antics. he might be the cocky guy who thinks they have the power to do anything but in truth, he’s just some guy with an honest heart, honest intentions to know you better.

summer break, your most anticipated event for the past few weeks. the moment the last bell rang, that scene in high school musical 2 kept replaying in the back of your head, the students doing a parade in front of the lockers picturing how your little heart is doing backflips in your chest right now. all the beach trips ningning planned is making you feel dizzy. you turned around to a voice calling out your name from the end of the hallway, your eyes catching the sight of sicheng jogging towards your spot. he stopped in front of you, hands on his knees catching his breath.

“are you free tomorrow night? there’s a party at guanheng’s and you know, it would be really cool if you join,” his fingers tracing onto each other, waiting patiently for your response.

you didn’t even have the time to process his invitation when ningning crashed her body against yours, yangyang following suit.

“a party? y/n would totally love to come, right?” ningning nudged your arms softly while yangyang tried to stifle a giggle. you were about to mouth out a ‘what?’ before sicheng cut you off.

“cool, you guys should come too. tomorrow at 10,” he and yangyang exchanged finger guns gestures before leaving the three of you. you just stood there in disbelief, eyeing them up and down before ningning dragged you to the parking lot. a stringful of grumbles escaped your lips, making the guy laugh obnoxiously.

“i can’t believe you guys did that,” you extended the seat belt, buckling it to the slot beside you.

“please. but you do want it, right?” you can’t deny, what she said was true. plus, you should have some fun and distress before having to go back to the usual dull routine of yours.

“how do i look?” you turn around, revealing the baby pink crop top and flare pants on your legs. it’s not your best outfit but giving the cliche excuse - you have nothing to wear, the two articles totally complements each other

“you look hot, that’s all i gotta say. right, yang?” ningning lifted her head from the headboard, glancing over at yangyang who’s going over his messages.

“yeah totally,” he lifted his hands, giving you a thumbs up. you threw a jacket onto your shoulders and grabbed the black purse on your dresser, glancing at the wall mirror one last time.

from the moment you stepped into the venue - guanheng’s place, smells of alcohol lingered around your nose, a group of people cheering ever so loudly over a game of beer pong, some already passed out on the couch. not to mention a brownish stain on the carpet - probably from someone throwing up. the mess would take a whole day to get rid off, you note to yourself. your friends are no longer to be found, both of them getting affiliated with god knows what. your eyes scanned the living room for sicheng but his presence is still nowhere to be found.

you decided to step towards the kitchen bar, pouring a drink for yourself. the mixed sweet and sour taste of it remained on your tongue for a couple of seconds. looking over at the snacks served, you grabbed a strawberry flavoured lollipop from the clear bowl. the crowd is cheering loudly for some type of incident happening at the back of the room, the music has been turned up to be a little louder than the volume before and you’re suddenly getting a little bit overwhelmed. you grabbed your purse and stepped out, inhaling some fresh air and looking up to the starry night sky.

“y/n? where have you been?” sicheng approached you from behind, making you a bit startled.

“sorry, hanging out outside can calm me. where did you go?” you popped the lollipop into your mouth.

“some jerk decided to throw up in front of me,” you pinched your nose with a disgusted expression, making him roll his eyes.

“do you want me to accompany you out here?” he offered. you just nod your head, placing yourself on the patio with him following suit. the sweetening flavour empowering your senses. it’s definitely much more calm out here, allowing you to clear up your mind. it’s not that you hate the atmosphere in the house right now, you’re just not in the mood.

“you know, you look pretty,” you turned around to meet his face. his brown eyes brimming with unconfessed love.

“shut up, stop with the jokes,” you lightly land a smack on his arms.

“what if i say i’m not joking?” he looked straight into your eyes, trying to find any emotion inside you. the sudden seriousness is making you feel much more awkward so you forced out a laugh, turning your attention right back upwards. the stars are shining brightly tonight, you can almost spot a constellation.

“i know what you’re doing, dong sicheng. just stop it already, it’s not working on me.” denial, that’s what you’re experiencing in the hot minute.

a gentle tug can be felt on your wrist, his eyes still not leaving yours.

“didn’t anyone tell you before? you’re really pretty. like, i can’t even describe it to you. you’re just,” he leaned over to caress your cheeks, “pretty,”.

what jaehyun said on the other day is true, after all.

love gives us thrill, the feeling of excitement, the feeling when you’re uncertain about something but when you have that special someone with you, you’re sure to wing it all.

your heart is beating so fast, it could fall out of your chest at any moment now. even the faint music blasting through the speakers inside the house can’t flush down the sound of your heartbeat. you’re not used to this, the sudden need of the significant skin to skin contact that symbolizes love between two individuals.

“can i?” his face in a very near proximity from yours, whispering into your right ear with his honey-like voice. you pulled the candy away from your mouth and nod, giving him the approval he needed before he dived in. heat rose from your stomach to your chest. you could only focus on how soft his crimson lips felt on yours, invading your privacy by all senses. you felt the kiss expand beyond your bodies, whirling you round, swirling you into the stars. he pulled away with a soft smile, you thought you could melt right then and there.

“wow,” that was the only word escaping your throat. your jumping heart still hasn’t settled down yet, your very first kiss still feeling surreal. you could see that sicheng is very much mirroring your emotions, his slender fingers grazing over his lips - the one that has come in contact with yours.

“the strawberry lollipop is sweet,” he commented, making the both of you laugh.

a ping from your phone awakened you from the gushy eye contact with him, unlocking it only to find yangyang’s text message. the second part of it made you fluster.

yang: yo r u coming in or what? and congrats for the kiss, we thought we’d have to wait longer for this