#time to die again for like. two days and then make another attack against someone else 😭

[peapod20001]

@little-b1rdy

So I drew some of your ocs...

[senanatheskenana]

Rengoku baby daddy headcanons

Rengoku spends the whole of the train ride rambling to Tanjirou, Nezuko, and Zanitsu about how excited he is to behaving a baby with you. So much so that even they have to admit they were excited.

Like would your baby look like you or him? Perhaps both?

When you both learn you are with child, he makes a promise to always keep the two of you safe.

It's only partway through the Mugen Train mission that he realises that he cannot do that if he dies.

His non-functioning eye waters at the idea of you and his child living all by yourselves, your child never having met their father.

He had never pondered how much he mattered to someone. Or how much the creature growing inside of you mattered to him.

The demon stares at him in confusion when he stops swinging his sword. Akaza nearly believes that heartbroken your husband.

"Tanjirou. If I don't come back- please tell my wife" he coughs "and my family I love them"

Tanjirou is not about to let Rengoku act like he's going to die.

"Rengoku, listen to me... You aren't going to die. You're going to return home, hug your wife and hold your baby, and you're going to live a long life- watching your family grow up. You'll teach your children a legacy. Kyojurou, you're going to live and be so loved!"

His speech awakens something inside of him. He knows he must fight for you- he can't lay and wait for death like a coward. He feels reinvigorated as he continues to fight off the demon's attacks.

Akaza almost feels bad for having to kill the slayer. Almost.

It's nearly day when Rengoku finally beheads the demon, a great deal of pride overcoming himself before he faints face-first into the ground.

Rengoku is barely back to form when you go into labour, but he forces his way from his bed- against the butterfly girls' begs- and hobbles into your hospital room, clinging to your hand as you cry.

He whispers sweet words of encouragement into your hand, kissing your knuckles to distract you and never flinching when you scratch him in pain.

When the baby is born, handed to you in a soft blanket, the first thing you see is bright yellow hair. He's in love with how cute their tiny face is, even as it cries.

"Congratulations! It's a perfectly healthy beautiful baby girl!" Shinobu grins.

His daughter. Nearly the spitting image of him. 'just cuter', he thinks.

When you're both finally allowed to go home, he fights tooth and nail to do all the housework, despite his injuries. You argue with him but he's sure that he'd rather have you comfy and with baby Rengoku than tired and unwell.

Over the months he gets closer to being fullform, though he's aware he'll never see from his eye, and will always have a limp.

That doesn't mean he won't do everything for your child though <3

He'll give her piggyback rides, tuck her into bed, and build forts with her.

He doesn't admit it but having Senjurou around is really helpful when he's in an episode of pain.

Even his father tries to be more involved after the birth, trying to reconcile with his children and make an effort in his grandchild's life.

He retires from the corp after his battle with upper four, with a considerable pension, so he uses all his time to the fullest with his family

But if you think he'll be content with just one baby, you've got another thing coming.

"Aw, but you'd look so pretty pregnant again! And surely Ruka would love a new sibling"

[melljam]

oh my god the unimpressed stare that shingen and gitae give when an opponent tries to attack them with something that fails miserably

shingen’s depressed little glance down at the blade that has just pathetically embedded itself into his skin as if that even does anything because his bones are genuinely impenetrable since he is quite literally built different

gitae’s mildly annoyed side eye at the officers for daring to believe that tasing him would work when they should have somehow known that he’s also just built different and would not even be stopped from committing axe murder if lightning struck him ten times over

ALSO these two are the type that gets excited over something/someone that can actually threaten their lives because of how used to being The Strongest™ they are

its such a shounen villain problem to have. sigh, another entirely boring and unfulfilling day of being the Strongest Guy Ever. when will someone who can actually contend with me come along to usurp my position as The Strongest™ :(

and shingen has experienced That with gap … now he longs for it again because he’s 1. depressed that he lost and 2. depressed that no one else can measure up to gap

their fight truly was the most important part of shingen’s life … unlike the birth of his many sons (or the very existence of one gun), which comparatively means Nothing to shingen

and gitae??? well, it could be argued that he might have just been annoyed at the officers for interrupting his fight, but that also means that he was enjoying his fight with jichang at least a little

but not in the same sense that shingen enjoyed his fight with gap. it was more like gitae was toying with jichang, and he found it amusing because of how easy it was

he’s so strong that he doesn’t even have to try with the strongest king. gitae can just mess with the poor guy until he decides to put him out of his weak misery when it stops being fun (which was when jichang rejected his offer to be his very own Smart Guy and it seemed to hurt gitae’s ego lol)

and after cop interruption, making jichang promise to let gitae be the one to kill him later on??? such a hilariously emasculating thing to do, like, we already know who’s winning our fight and it’s me so don’t even bother trying. just reserve yourself to die by my hand later, kthxbye <3

(jichang would not be able to uphold that promise, so i guess he was able to defy gitae in another way of his own …?)

or gitae’s teased fight with sinu. sinu went all out because he wasn’t taking any chances with another threat to big deal’s existence, and gitae got DISTRACTED in the middle of it. like, yeah your speed is cool and all but is that my dead father? oh, wait no! it’s my half-brother!

both jichang and sinu gave it their all to fight against someone who threatened themselves and their people, and gitae easily brushed them off but gave them an A for Effort !!!

shingen and gitae* must be somewhat bored with fighting when there are so few opponents that could actually compare to them in terms of strength. winning so easily almost makes it a menial chore for them. its the epitome of suffering from success lol

*it applies more to shingen than gitae though, gitae seems like he has the time of his life effortlessly messing around with weaker opponents, a predator playing with its prey

are they seeking something exciting, to flirt with the adrenaline rush of death because the safety of life has just gotten too dull for them?

to bring it back to the original point of the post: the ease of fighting must make the activity so underwhelming now. it becomes disappointing enough to produce such unconcerned expressions to injuries/attacks that would threaten an average person’s life

[queenimmadolla]

𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐀

(eddie munson x secret admirer!reader)

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 • eddie edit © @fefemunson! • ao3

Summary: After four long years of pining, it’s high time you tell your crush you like him and quite possibly your last chance to, luckily there’s no better time for love confessions than Valentine’s Day. If only you hadn’t chosen to do so anonymously, because you’re pretty sure Eddie Munson is hoping his secret admirer is someone else.

Warnings: pining, angst, misunderstandings, very brief (blink and you miss it) descriptions of oncoming panic attack (doesn't happen), Heather Holloway being a sweetie, and a whole lot of fluff

authors note: no, you're not imagining things. i'm reposting a story i already have up. unfortunately, i seem to have an anti who has been flagging anything of mine that gains traction as content that it is not so it's hidden to those who don't have the settings on (most people) and goes to die away, never to be interacted with again. they're attempting to do the same to Magical Mysteria, as they had the original flagged and, therefore, hidden. because everyone seemed to really relate to reader and enjoyed reading this particular fic, i've decided to give that anti the finger, so here's a repost.

word count: 10k

You stood posted by a row of lockers, peaking around the corner of the hall to watch as the longtime object of your affections laughed at something one of his friends said.

“Are you stalking him again?”

You jumped, clutching your biology book to your chest as you swiveled around to face Heather, your best friend.

“Geez!” You hissed out, voice low as you checked to make sure you hadn’t attracted his attention.

But it’s you, so of course you hadn’t. Eddie was still leaning up against his locker and chatting away, face framed by the mane he called his hair. His curls were defined much more than usual—clearly he’d washed his hair before school which meant he must have been up early. Why did you know that????

“I’m not stalking him,” you grumbled and Heather giggled. “I’m just observing him.”

“Well, stop observing him and go talk to him.” She nudged your shoulder, giving you a reassuring smile. 

“I’m gonna—,” You answered with false bravado that soon wavered, “. . . eventually. Look, I have a plan. Okay, today is a new day, Valentine’s Day and the perfect day for romance. No more watching from the sidelines─”

Heather coughed out a stalking, followed by another cough, all of which you ignored.

“No more quietly pining, I’m telling him how I feel.”

Heather raised her eyebrows, tongue clicking. 

“Let me get this straight, you’re not only going to actually exchange words with him, you’re actually going to tell Eddie Munson about your feelings?”

Your heart fluttered just at the mention of him.

Edward Wayne Munson. Eddie.

You’d had a crush on him since your freshman year of high school, and contrary to your best friend’s earlier statement, you had exchanged words with him already. Sorta. Basically.

Freshman year you’d ate shit in the hallway, tripping over literally nothing and all your belongings had scattered, he’d stopped walking to help you pick your things up before he was off again. It wasn’t much conversation, but he did say something about those invisible rocks people left lying around.

Then your sophomore year, he’d sat behind you with his club at the school’s mandatory pep rally. One of his friends had accidentally jostled you and Heather a little too roughly when he was finding his seat and Eddie had apologized on his behalf.

Then last year he’d held the cafeteria door open for you and your friends when you slipped in. That time, you’d been the one to thank him and he had said you’re welcome. Almost unprompted!

So, yeah. Maybe you were a little delusional, it didn’t matter though. What mattered was you were running out of time. 

Somehow, Eddie had managed to fail the past two years, allowing you to catch up to him but that meant you were now a senior as well. You’d let the other chances to approach him pass you by because you were too scared of rejection, this was your last chance.

The college acceptance letter you’d received at the start of the week also spurred your bravery, if he rejected you, you only had a few months left until you were on your way to California, there’d be all those states between the two of you. 

You had nothing to lose, so today was gonna be the day.

“Yes,” you took a deep breath, slowly exhaling as the determination sank deep into your bones. “I’m gonna tell him.”

“How are you gonna do that?” She cocked her head, the curls of her side ponytail bouncing.

“I’m glad you asked, my friend.” You grabbed her hand, dragging her down the hall to your partially opened locker. You pulled the door open fully to reveal a bouquet of roses, set on top of your books.

Her face wrinkled up in confusion, “You bought yourself flowers again?”

“No.” You glared at her, a hand scratching your head as you hissed out through gritted teeth, “And we promised not to bring that up anymore—these are for Eddie.”

Heather perked up at that, a hand resting over her chest as she fawned, “Dude, that is so cute! When are you gonna give them to him?”

“That’s the thing, I’m not actually going to give them to him directly. I need your help. You’ve got history with him, yeah?”

You already knew she did so it didn’t surprise you when she nodded. You slipped one rose from the bouquet and handed it to her. 

“Can you leave this on his desk?” 

“Sure! Wow, I can’t believe I get to be part of your love story,” she marveled, twirling the stem between her fingertips.

God, you hoped it’d be a love story and not a tragedy.

“And these are for you.” You pulled out a smaller bouquet of pink roses, and Heather just about burst into tears.

The two of you had been best friends since middle school, and often spent your free time watching corny teen movies, usually living through the main characters of the romance ones. You’d had a couple of almost-boyfriends, in the end you hadn’t been interested in them enough to accept when they’d try to make it official. And Heather simply hadn’t caught the eye of anyone, which was ridiculous to you considering how pretty and nice she was, so you were usually her valentine on Valentine’s Day. This was the first time you actually got her flowers instead of a bunch of chocolates to eat the night away, you’d figured she deserved them. 

She’d had a crush on Steve Harrington, but he hadn’t noticed her and ended up dating and getting dumped by Nancy Wheeler. Then he’d dated every other girl except her. You feared your non-existent relationship with Eddie might go the same way.

“Dude,” Heather yanked you in for a hug, squeezing you to the point you thought your ribs might be bruised.

“Uhm. Heather. Ow.”

“Oh, sorry.” She released you, holding you by your shoulders, “Okay, so I just give it to him?”

“No, no, no, no, no. There will be no interactions. Just leave it on his desk.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

You were about to reply when the first bell cut you off and threw you into a panic, nudging Heather in the direction of the classroom so she could beat Eddie there. Heather took off running once she realized the reason for your worry, only you both failed to remember Eddie was late to everything. 

You reluctantly made your way to your first period, plagued by thoughts of Eddie’s reaction to the first rose.

Would he like it? Oh, you hoped he liked it.

What if he thought it was some prank? What if he threw it away? Would he do the same to the rest?

Oh, well. There was no backing out now.

Your carefully thought out plan was put into action. You’d made sure to play sick the last 15 minutes of every class to get an excuse note to the nurse, only you didn’t go to the nurse. Instead, you ran around leaving a rose in Eddie’s various hang outs. One at the creepy old bench you knew he did business at. Two roses with the stems placed through the slits of his locker, three on his windshield wipers, one of the younger students in your art class was in Hellfire with him and after swearing him to secrecy, Will had promised to deliver three to Eddie personally, without revealing your identity.  

During lunch, you found yourself behind the stage of the cafeteria, in part of the drama department. It’s where Hellfire took place. 

You’d been there a handful of times, only when your curiosity for the metalhead got a little too overwhelming for you and you wanted to feel closer to him without having to face him. It was only ever set up on Fridays, the day Eddie got to school early enough to do so. 

You made your way over to sit in the chair closest to his throne, casting it a couple of nervous glances.

This would be where you left the last rose, so of course, everything about the set up, the throne had to look daunting to you now; a representation of how you were seeing Eddie as your confession grew nearer. If things didn’t go as planned, it’d be the last time you could come here.

The thought made your stomach hurt, a large void beginning to form there. 

The last rose was much too personal to leave just anywhere, where someone without a key to the room would find it. No one but the Hellfire club would occupy this area today. Attached to the rose with a ribbon was a note with a simple message that meant more to you than you cared to admit. You’d written it when you first came up with your plan at the start of the week and had been debating on whether or not to sign your name since then. 

The answer should’ve been obvious, right? This whole thing was to let Eddie know how you felt about him, and your romantic intentions were clear with the red roses. This note would finish implying the rest. And if you wanted Eddie to know it was you who admired him,  you just had to write your name.

Yeah, simple as that.

You clicked the pen in your grasp, placing it just over the paper. 

You wavered, licking your lips as you tried to convince yourself to just own your goddamn name. That’s all you had to do. Write on the paper.

Just write on the paper.

Your hand was beginning to shake, and with a heavy heart, you realized your name wouldn’t be going on this note.

You weren’t brave enough for that. You set your purple pen down, staring down at the words written in pink ink before you rolled the paper up, making sure the ribbon was secured (you’d used a hole puncher to slip the ribbon through) and left it on the seat of the throne before scurrying out of the room as fast as you could.

—

Eddie was at a loss, completely stupefied.

When he’d arrived at his history class, after having mentally prepared himself for the onslaught of boredom he’d face, he was surprised to find a single rose on his desk. By surprised, he meant incredibly suspicious. A glance around the room confirmed he wasn’t being watched, everyone was gossiping about Emmy Switcher’s upcoming party, so he’d settled into his seat and marveled at it.

Eddie wasn’t one to ever really get things on Valentine’s Day, not counting the mandatory valentine’s cards in elementary and middle school. The last time he’d gotten a card was his first senior year, and it had been a prank by a couple of girls on the softball team and their boyfriends. Embarrassed the shit out of him. The following Valentine’s Day he’d faked being sick to avoid falling victim again—god, he craved affection so much it made him pathetic enough to still hope for something gross and cheesy to happen to him. 

A rose was harmless though, right? Unless it was poisoned or something. Eddie lifted it to his nose, but all he could pick up was the seductive floral scent and when he didn’t immediately pass out from chloroform, he figured it was just a rose.

He glanced around again in vain, hoping someone would somehow stick out and when no one did, he held it in his grasp, rough fingertips stroking over the soft petals for the duration of the class.

He’d been stunned when he arrived at his locker to find two roses hanging out of it. A few people were staring at him as he carefully pulled them from their place, but they looked more curious rather than shy or mischievous. He had a feeling whoever was leaving the roses for him wasn’t around. 

He refused to leave them in his locker, the stems clutched in his hand as he went about his day and found more. Eddie was more than proud to display them, somewhat smug at the attention they were garnishing him.

Yeah, fuckers. Someone finally liked him. Eat shit.

He’d spent his English class convincing himself he’d never find out exactly who this someone was. He was pretty fucking stressed after that. He tried to come up with a roster of sorts, girls he thought might be interested in him enough to maybe leave him pretty flowers and woo him right out of his Reeboks.

He’d only been able to come up with four—impressive—but his first pick he was quick to scribble out. He hadn’t had a decent interaction with her and he figured it was creepy of him to put her at the top of the list all because of his wishful thinking. 

The second girl listed was possible, maybe. Chrissy Cunningham. He’d had a crush on her for as long as he could remember since she was always nice to him. She’d dumped Jason a couple of months ago and he’d been dealing to her for a short amount of time, but she seemed pretty flirty to him. Although, flattery did work on him.

The third name made him nervous, and not in a good way. Tina Sawyer. They’d both got pretty drunk at her Halloween party and hooked up in her bathroom but she avoided him like the plague afterwards, obviously embarrassed about interacting with him, which was typical for the lot of Hawkins.

He’d been sure it was a drunken mistake but sometimes, he’d catch her staring at him, and she didn’t look all that disgusted with him.

The last name on the short list was that of Tammy Thompson. She had made her interest in Eddie pretty clear his junior year, always trying to sit behind him in classes so she could play with his hair. Unfortunately Tammy was very, for the lack of better words, aggressive with her affections. He’d made out with her once and it had been sloppy and messy in the most unattractive of ways. It was like tonguing a dog.. Then he remembered she’d actually been able to graduate, unlike him, so he was spared. 

By lunch, Eddie was ready to try to figure out who his secret admirer was. Out of the two remaining girls on his list, he was leaning more towards Chrissy, who he felt wouldn’t be ashamed to hold his hand in public. 

He and his lunchbox full of drugs—and some snacks—made their way to the Hellfire lunch table where he spent a significant amount of time studying the two girls.

“Uh, are you okay, Eddie?”

Eddie glanced up at the concerned face of Will Byers, who’d arrived much later than the rest of the guys and Stephanie, one of the two girls in Hellfire. The question drew the attention of the rest of the table and Eddie internally sighed.

“Yeah, I’m fine—what are those?” Eddie asked, eyes honed in on the roses resting on Will’s tray.

The younger teen handed them over, “A girl told me to give you these.”

Eddie felt his heart skip a beat, “You know who she is?”

Will nodded and before Eddie could demand a name, he rushed, “I’ve been sworn to secrecy!”

Eddie scowled, carefully setting aside his roses so they wouldn’t be involved in his annoyance. 

“Byers, I’m gonna level with you. I’ve been in this miserable prison for six long years. While I’ve had my fair share of hookups, I have not ever had a girl like me enough to leave me roses and do cute shit before. And I fear I never will again. That’s why I’m actually gonna need you to tell me who it is so I can have a girlfriend by the end of what is supposed to be the most god awful romantic day of the year. ‘Kay?”

Eddie’s eyebrows dart up, face set in an intimidating glower but Will remembers how scared you looked when you trusted him with this task. He also knows, very well, how it feels to love someone without them ever knowing because you fear what their response will be. He’d also seen Eddie eyeing both Chrissy and Tina.

Will knew what it was like to have that special person interested in someone else, too. So, he’d protect your secret.

“I swore.”

Eddie groaned, head dipping forward in a brief moment of defeat before he slammed his fist on the table, making the other occupants jump. 

“Whatever, I’ll find her myself.” Just as Eddie stands, an idea occurs to him. Will said he wouldn’t tell him who it was, but the youngest Byers hadn’t said he wouldn’t tell him who it wasn’t, “Is it Tina?”

Will shakes his head, nose wrinkling. Nothing against her, she just wasn’t the nicest to him or his friends. Not the meanest, still.

Eddie breathes out a sigh, mumbling an oh, thank god as he makes his way to the cafeteria doors. That only left one possibility, and he was due to meet up with her in just five minutes. He couldn’t fight the grin off his face.

── 

Your heart was racing a mile a minute, having witnessed everything transpire at the Hellfire table.

You’d selected your lunch table four years ago because of the perfect view of Eddie it provided you, but right then it was killing you. You’d ruined your manicure, picking aggressively at the polish as you watched Will and Eddie, breathing out a sigh of relief when it looked like Will hadn’t revealed your identity.

Eddie hadn’t seemed too happy about that.

Then he stormed out and you fought very hard with yourself to not follow after him because then Heather would be right and you’d be a stalker.

“Regret it yet?” Heather asked after she’d swallowed a bite of her sandwich. 

“No.” You sorta lied. Yeah, you kind of regretted it but at the same time, knowing Eddie wouldn’t have to let you down gently made you less anxious. Besides, it wasn’t like you could just climb up the stage and duck past the curtain leading to the hellfire room without one of it’s members spotting you from their table. They’d tell Eddie in a heartbeat, especially if they found out the last rose and that damn note was there.

“Sure,” Heather drawled, glancing over her shoulder as you picked at your food, appetite suddenly gone. 

Maybe you really should have written your name on that love note. 

“Well, I hope you mean it, because Dream Girl is on her way to meet Ice Cream.” Your head snapped up at the mention of Chrissy Cunningham and Eddie’s code names you’d given them so both you and Heather were free to talk without either of them suspecting anything. You referred to Chrissy as Dream Girl because you’d known all about Eddie’s crush on her (while Heather had been depressed about Steve and Nancy, you’d eaten your weight in ice cream over Eddie and Chrissy’s more than friendly interactions with each other, which had nothing to do with Eddie’s code name—he was ‘ice cream’ because you wanted to lick him all over).

Sure enough, you looked over Heather’s shoulder, following her gaze to see Chrissy bidding her friends goodbye before she walked right out of the doors Eddie had pushed past minutes ago and as you watched her exit through the double doors, something inside you withers and dies a bit.

You knew Eddie sold to her (gave her a discount because she was pretty and because of their flirting, hearing him say that made you want to drive a knife right through your chest), you and Heather had followed them out a couple of times which is how you were both aware of the flirtationship.

After the first time you’d spied on them, the two of you had gone back to your home where Heather held a mock funeral for you. Now, you wished it had been a real one because you were sure Eddie had not only loved your roses, he also assumed they were from Chrissy. They would send him right into her arms at that shitty ass bench. And when he’d get a hold of the love note, well, you’d be the reason behind why Eddie and Chrissy would be hand in hand come Monday, canoodling by their lockers and kissing like no one else was watching. All the things Eddie should have been doing with you.

You should have signed your name on the fucking note.

─

Eddie had paced a pathway, disturbing the mounds of fallen leaves surrounding the picnic table. 

His stuff, another rose he’d found waiting for him included, was on the table and he’d taken off his jacket, despite the chill of the February air. He was working himself up in his head, overheating in the process.

“Eddie?”

His head shot around, grinning as Chrissy—who apparently left him roses—approached him, face broken out in a smile.

“Hey, Chris.” Eddie’s heart was racing a mile a minute, palms sweaty as he rested them over his hips, then quickly realized he looked stupid so he crossed them instead.

She laughed at his nerves with absolutely no malice and they sat down at the bench, getting down to business. She’d been about to hand him a twenty dollar bill after he slid her the ziploc bag of nugs, but he held up his hand.

“On the house.”

“Eddie, it’s always on the house. I feel bad.”

“Then stop.” He emphasized the demand with bulging eyes, smirking when she giggled. She had to like him, right?

Eddie tried to be discreet about it, plucking one of the roses from his growing pile. He played with the stem, even sniffed the petals again in hopes she’d comment about it, maybe look a little excited about it or just give him any sort of reaction to indicate it had been her.

Chrissy was too busy moving things aside in her backpack to make room for the baggy. When she finally did look back up, she smiled, but gave no hint she was even familiar with them.

“Ooh, pretty flowers. Where’d you get those?”

Was she playing coy?

“Uh, someone’s been leaving them for me all around school.” Was it you?

Chrissy’s face lit up and Eddie thought it was finally the moment of truth.

“That’s so sweet! Do you know who it is? Or is it like a secret admirer sort of deal?”

Evidently, not the moment of truth. She had to be toying with him, trying to prolong the reveal. Because if it wasn’t her, he was out of ideas. And he really, really didn’t want to be out of ideas. Not when there was someone out there, maybe thinking about him.

“I actually have no idea who it is,” he sighed out, hoping, if it was her, she’d just put him out of his damn misery already.

Chrissy glanced down at the table and Eddie perked up. Nerves? Was she finally gonna come out with it?

“It wasn’t me, Eddie…but, I wish it had been.”

Eddie didn’t know what to say, mouth dropped open a little as his eyebrows quirked up in surprise.

Okay. Hadn’t been expecting that. He was expecting a yes it was me or a no it wasn’t me but not Chrissy confirming it hadn’t been her while also telling him she liked him. 

“So, you haven’t been leaving them for me?”

Chrissy shook her head and reached across the table to place her smaller hand over his, palm warm against his skin. Eddie’s eyes squeezed shut as he groaned, head falling forward to rest against the table.

“Eddie?” Chrissy asked, concern lacing her voice.

He let out a very long sigh, a little miffed at how messy this whole thing had gotten. Now, there was his, Chrissy’s and someone else’s feelings in the mix. Christ.

“‘M’sorry, Chrissy.” Eddie sat up straight, face grim as he slowly pulled his hand out from underneath hers. “You’re great, fantastic, actually. You’re really nice and really pretty, but… I’ve been going crazy all day, trying to figure out who’s behind these.”

He gestures to the roses at his side, the sight of them filling him with an intense wave of longing.

“It’s been like years since I’ve gotten anything with real meaning behind it for any occasion—” he wasn’t counting the hellfire club or Wayne, referring to romantic intentions—“let alone Valentine’s Day, and someone in this school seems to be thinking about me.” 

Eddie thought about what it must have taken to do something like this, it may have seemed like a trivial thought, something simple to others. He knew it wasn’t. He had no idea who it was, but he put himself in their position. They had to know enough about him to know his schedule, where he spent time, and then make the time to leave them in those spots just before he got there. 

He’d spent the time waiting for Chrissy considering the anonymity of it. On the chance it wasn’t her, there was someone else in the school who was too afraid to approach him directly. He’d thought it might be out of fear of being seen with him, seen doing anything remotely romantic with him. Then, why even bother? They had to be afraid of his reaction, it’s what he would be nervous about if the positions were flipped.

And god, he’d never felt more alive before, more seen and all it took was a couple of roses. He felt like those fawning girls in John Hughes movies. 

“Before today, I never would have approached you about this, you know? I know we flirt, but I never would have been brave enough to cross that line.” He admitted, looking into her shiny blue eyes. Aw, man. Eddie hated making girls cry but it was true, he would have been waiting for her to make a move, or for Tina to make a move. Any of his past hookups, really. He’d have been with any of them—having craved affection and everything that came with it so bad—if they had just been the ones to initiate things on a more permanent basis. 

He would have. Past tense. They could all form a conga line and confess their undying love for him but, unless they were the one who left him the roses—the one who made him brave enough to actually go around confronting people in an attempt to seek her out—he’d let them down. 

“She made me brave, makes me feel really wanted and I don't even know who she is. It’s not you, it’s just─”

“I’m not her.” Chrissy finished for him, wiping under one of her eyes. “It’s alright, Eddie. I mean, I’m obviously a little sad, but it’s not your fault or hers. I do hope you find her, though. She’d be lucky to have you.”

She gave Eddie a sad smile, making him feel even guiltier but it’d be pretty shitty of him to try to be with her when he’d be thinking of someone else.

“Thanks, Chrissy.” Eddie stood up and gathered his things. It was clear she was upset and would probably need some time to gather herself, he didn’t want to force her to leave first or linger around and make it awkward.

He left her with a small, parting smile, relieved that he hadn’t charged her. Would have felt like a douchebag to make her pay for weed and turn her down in the span of five minutes when she’d been nothing but pleasant to him.

Eddie shook it off, determination setting in once more. Sure, he was back to the drawing board, but if all else failed, he could corner young Byers again until he finally gave him a name.

He’d come up with a pretty good list of ways he could force Will to give up the name by the time school let out and he got to the Hellfire room.

It wasn’t until he set his little bouquet and the lunchbox down (he didn’t bother with backpacks, just shoved whatever he needed in his pants pockets or the box), walking around the throne in a circle like some fucking animal because he was so restless, that he saw the rose.

The flash of white had caught his eyes and he dove down to grab it, trying to be as careful with pulling the piece of paper away from the stem of the rose, only he realized whoever left it had hole punched the thing together so he ripped the ribbon with his teeth rather than rip the note.

The ribbon was stuffed into his back pocket as he eagerly sat himself down, rose clutched in one hand and the note in his other.

Eddie,

Please excuse my lack of eloquence in this note and also in our real life encounters.

Eddie felt a shiver of excitement wash over his skin, cheeks a bright shade of pink at the confirmation he’d indeed interacted with his secret admirer before. Fuck, she’d talked to him! It made her feel even more real. 

She was a real person, someone he could probably hold hands with and kiss. Unless, this was done in a purely platonic way which would be a little fucked up. Red roses to be friends? C’mon. He read on.

I hoped you liked the flowers. I was actually debating on getting you different ones, something a little more personalized to you, but I ended up going with roses because, well, they convey romance better.

Eddie leaned over the arm of the throne, sagging back as he allowed himself to completely collapse with relief. Just for a few seconds, then his eyes were glued to the pink penmanship.

I’m trying really hard not to sound creepy because I’m totally not creepy and I know what you're thinking, ‘that’s what a creep would say’ but I swear I’m not, I just. I admire you. A lot. I have for so, so long. I admire the way you keep going, even when things are absolute shit for you, I like how you watch out for the underclassmen that come in and don’t really have anywhere to go. I like the way you dress, how pretty your hair is (even when it’s frizzy which is so unfair), how passionate you get with your rants (even though sometimes you’re an asshole about it). 

And I like your laugh I LOVE your laugh. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had what feels like the worst fucking day of my life and I’m ready to breakdown and cry and scream, but I don’t. Because I can hear you laugh your ass off at something one of your friends said in the cafeteria, by your locker or even when you’re just walking past me. And I wish I was there, laughing alongside you or making you laugh. I don’t know how your laughter makes me feel better, it just does. I get all smiley and I feel warm inside and I want to give you a hug for it, for making me feel better without even trying. 

But I can’t. You kind of scare me. Not in the mean, scary way, I’m just not sure you’ll like me. Or that it’ll go anywhere, or even if it should. 

You’re so confident, Eddie. And you’re stupid attractive (you are, and I’m sure you’re aware but I’ll go ahead and tell you I’m also physically attracted to you) and it’s so overwhelming that I can’t contain it anymore and I don’t really want to. We only have a couple of months before we’re out of here (I have a feeling this is gonna be your year, you’ll be free of this sentence, too), and I don’t want to have any regrets. The only way I’d ever regret you is by not telling you how I feel. 

So, here I am, Eddie Munson. Never thought I’d ever be confessing like this, but for the first time in my life, I feel brave. And it’s all because of you. Thank you, Eddie. I’ll be running around— dodging teachers and detention write ups— like Rocky in his training montages to get these roses to you because you deserve your flowers and I’d be delighted to give them to you today, and every single Valentine’s Day after. Actually, I want to give you even more than that. If you’ll have me.

Love,

What the fuck?

Eddie hastily searched the bottom portion of the back side of the paper, where the note ended for a signature, a name, initials, something but that’s where it ended.

 There was no name.

“NO! FUCK! NO! No, no, no, no, NO! I’ll have you, take me, just tell me who you are!” Eddie groaned out, note dropped into his lap so he could clench the roots of his hair with both fists as he doubled over.

This had to be a nightmare. It was the only reasonable explanation for someone to say all those wonderfuckingful things, just for them to disappear. 

His heart hurt and he blinked frantically to ward off the onslaught of water and sniffed to deter the tingle in his nose. 

The unmistakable sound of his own little rat pack making their way towards the room wasn’t enough to get him to pull himself together.

“Eddie, dude, are you okay?”

Eddie recalled his final option, head shooting to glance around at their faces in search of one in particular. 

“Byers. Where’s Byers?”

“His mom picked him up after lunch, wasn’t feeling good,” Mike informed him, completely unaware his grand Valentine’s gesture for Jane had been the cause of his sudden illness. 

It was the final straw for Eddie, he snatched the lunchbox and flowers and grumbled out, “Sessions canceled.”

He must have looked pissed as none of them protested, probably having something to do with most of them having dates afterwards. 

He almost made it out of the room when Gareth called him back, holding up a purple pen he’d found on the table and figured Eddie was about to forget.

“Is this yours?”

Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes. 

“No.” Then he walked out.

Before promptly storming back in, swiping the pen out of Gareth’s meaty hands. Eddie clicked the pen and scribbled furiously over the side of his fist until the ink finally ran. It wasn’t purple. The ink filler was pink.

His secret admirer’s pen.

“What a cruel parting gift,” he sighed, shoving the pen in his pocket before making his exit. Again.

The really sad thing was Eddie couldn’t even sink into depression in the peace of his room. Emmy Switcher had approached Rick about wanting some herbal refreshments at her party and since he was still under house arrest (how Rick managed to deal and supply in his circumstances baffled him) the job fell upon Eddie. He’d driven to Rick’s restocked, then hit the party. 

It was a horn fest, couples everywhere he looked. All heart-eyed and attached at the tongue. It was disgusting.

Eddie was pouting, quietly fuming that it wasn’t him and his secret admirer making out or cuddling or doing something equally romantic but noooooo. Just had to take the ‘secret’ aspect to its extreme. 

He banished himself to a dark corner, only interacting with people when approached for drugs or weed. He’d caught sight of Chrissy and it had looked like she wanted to come over but he’d purposely shifted his gaze. Despite the gaping hole left where his heart was, it wasn’t Chrissy or Tina, or the girl in the upstairs restroom, who’d thrown herself at him when he’d been searching for a free bathroom to piss in, that he wanted. Eddie wasn’t in the mood to rebound.

Which was kind of crazy considering he hadn’t even been in a relationship, hadn’t been dumped. He wanted everything in that note, especially the promise of more and only with its author. 

Now, Eddie hadn’t been in love before. Some serious lust and want, yeah, however, reading that note made him feel like he was falling a little bit in love and he wanted, very badly, to dive headfirst the rest of the way. Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.

Once he’d sold out the rest of Rick’s inventory, he stole a beer and headed for the front door. 

Once outside, Eddie took a minute to breathe. He hadn’t realized how stuffy it had been in there until he was no longer engulfed by the claustrophobic displays of affection. 

He trudged down the pathway and paused when he saw the figure of a girl sitting on the lawn. Her head was directed down towards the ground and she was most definitely not wearing the right clothes for the outside weather.

Eddie cursed under his breath, plans to immediately drive home and get crossed put on hold as he walked over, noting the dew already coating the grass.

“Hey, you okay?”

─

Drinking your sorrows away probably wasn’t the best idea, considering how much of a lightweight you were. 

Originally, you’d wanted to lock yourself away in your room for the night—and probably the rest of the weekend as well as maybe the next school week; nothing wrong with playing sick to avoid facing reality and your problems─to cry and pass out. Heather, on the other hand, had plans for you. She’d dolled you up, having to force you to wash your face and re-do your makeup once when you had started crying—put you in a cute outfit and dragged you to Emmy Switcher’s party. 

You knew her intentions were pure—as pure as underage drinking could be—but she knew her mistake when the party started to couple up. You’d been approached multiple times and she’d try to encourage you to go for the decent acting ones, you just hadn’t wanted to. When Chrissy Cunningham showed up, you’d gone for shots of the hard liquor (over the sink of course in case you gagged it up, which you did a decent amount of), sure that Eddie would soon follow and you’d be forced to witness their affection.

Obviously, you ended up shitfaced and somehow lost track of Heather. Or maybe she lost track of you. You’d very briefly attempted to find her, accidentally spotted Chrissy, now making eyes at Eddie who’d shown up, and you’d promptly headed outside, eager for some fresh air and an escape from the madhouse. The high alcohol level in your blood kept you from feeling how chilly it really was and you settled into the grass, twirling strands of it around your fingers.

You weren’t sure how long you were out there when someone approached you.

“Hey, you okay?”

You looked up, ready to ask them to just leave you when you locked eyes with Eddie Munson. Most of the liquid courage coursing through your veins evaporated, you couldn’t look at him for long, gaze moving back to the grass. What a way to start sobering up.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? ‘Cause,” Eddie sat down next to you, one leg crossed and his other, knee up with his arm resting over it. His unopened beer was at his side, “You’re outside, alone, in the cold and you look pretty fucking sad.”

You scoffed, fingers still playing with the strands of grass as you tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t make you seem pathetic. In that time, Eddie took you in.

He knew you, he’d seen you around school and you were nice enough to greet him. Pleasantries in passing. Pretty Hallway Girl, as you’d been dubbed—though never referred to as—until he knew your name. It had been the first one he had jotted down on his list for his secret admirer’s identity, of course he realized with your lack of interactions, it wasn’t likely. He entertained the idea of dating you often, you’d just never shown any real interest in him. Eddie thought about it a lot. Anytime he caught sight of you, really. Your pretty face didn’t make it easy for him to stop. He was a really, really big sucker for your eyes and that smile you’d give him during those brief interactions; like the two of you had some sort of secret between each other. Warmed him up inside.

And here you were, all sad at a party. He didn’t really mind not getting crossed if it meant he got to comfort you, keep you company.

“I’m just drunk,” you finally blurted out, unable to come up with anything else, “And bummed.” 

Try devastated.

“You look it,” he joked, nudging his shoulder against yours.

“You don’t look that much better.” You shot back.

“That’s fair,” he sighed, breath visible in the night air as he tilted his head back. “I’m pretty bummed, myself.”

You really didn’t want to ask, figuring he’d already had some sort of lover’s quarrel with Chrissy and you didn’t want to get in the middle of it. 

But you were an idiot, so you asked, “Why are you bummed?”

You watched him dig around the pockets of his leather jacket, pulling out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out of the pack, clenching it in between his teeth as he shoved the pack back into the pocket before he shrugged off the jacket entirely—denim vest included—putting it around your shoulders.

It caught you off guard but you were grateful, your body having decided to become once more susceptible to the chill of the air and dewy grass. Eddie must have been a freaking space heater because the lining inside was blissfully warm.

“Thank you,” you mumbled, shimmying around in it until you could slip your arms into the long sleeves of it, your fingers barely poking past the hem.

“You’re welcome,” he shrugged, flicking the lighter to life as he lit the cigarette. After he’d taken a drag, he answered you. 

“Love,” Eddie blew out along with a wispy plume of smoke, “Didn’t expect it to be so complicated.”

You wanted to mime the action of staking yourself in the heart. Of course he was in love with her. She was wonderful! And on top of that, he thought she’d been the one leaving him roses! Had he read the note? Assumed it was her, too? DUH! You were definitely playing sick next week.

“Yeah, well. Join the club,” you grumbled, hugging his jacket around you. It was as close as you were ever gonna get to actually hugging him. 

Eddie raised an eyebrow, hoping to school his disappointment. While he wasn’t looking for anyone else tonight, it was still displeasing to hear you were taken but of course you were. He couldn’t imagine you dating sporadically, you seemed much too wonderful for someone to even consider giving you up. No, he was gonna hurt himself with ideas involving you and a high school sweetheart stemming back to your freshman days, probably.

“Ah, I see. Is he here?”

You froze for a moment, “Uhm, yeah. He is.”

“Then why come? Or did it happen in there?” He jabbed a thumb behind him, gesturing to the party inside.

“No, it didn’t happen tonight, it was earlier. In the day. I didn’t really want to come but my best friend dragged me out here. I thought I was doing good, apparently not ‘cause here I am. I’m mostly bummed because of myself, though. I didn’t follow through on something I sort of promised myself and I messed everything up. For me. Not for him. I think he’s pretty happy, so I don’t want to ruin that. He deserves to be happy.”

Eddie could tell you meant it, you were vague as hell but whatever you’d done, however it ended, you genuinely seemed to want your boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?) to be happy. He hoped it wasn’t something you had to cave into for one of those meatheads. You deserved better than those jerks.

“That’s pretty selfless of you if you ask me,” Eddie raised the cigarette to his lips, admiring you.

“Eh, I guess. I fully plan on punishing myself for it, though. Really make sure to rub the salt in there, you know?” You finally turned to grin at him, despite the sinking feeling in your stomach.

Eddie thought about how he couldn’t just stop going to school so he could avoid having to look at all the faces in the crowds and wonder if his admirer is one of them.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m right there with you.”

Sweetheart. He really was trying to kill you.

“Eddie, get your ass in there and make up with her.” You lightly slapped his arm and jabbed your finger in the direction of the house. You were not about to let your sacrifice be in vain and he’d better stop unknowingly torturing you like this.

“I can’t!” He laughed, amused with your sudden bossy attitude.

“Why not?” You whined, eager to just get him away from you. It wasn’t fair, he wasn’t being fair.

“Because I have no idea who she is.”

Once again you froze, eyes widening. Luckily for you, Eddie didn’t look too much into your reaction. He figured most people would be surprised over him nursing a heartbreak from someone he didn’t quite actually know, or was aware that he knew.

“What?” You asked, trying to seem as uninterested as possible as you played with the ends of his jacket sleeves.

“Fuck it. Someone left me roses all around the school and this really amazing love note.” For a moment, Eddie entertained the idea of trying to convey exactly what it meant to him, then he thought better of it. He’d either seem crazy, desperate or like some pathetic guy in love (which, he kind of was on the cusp of), “Pretty sure it was a girl.”

Not a single dude in the high school was romantic enough to pull it off, maybe leave him an entire bouquet, but not expand upon it like she had.

Eddie licked his lips, raising the cigarette to them once more and ready to admit that he had no fucking clue who she was, but he figured he might as well make one last rally.

“Wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

“Not me,” you lied flawlessly, with a gentle shake of your head. “Sorry, Eddie.”

Sorry I’m a big liar because HOLY FUCKING SHIT, wasn’t expecting that. 

“I figured. Still had to try, your boyfriend probably would have kicked my ass, though.” Yeah, Eddie hated Valentine’s Day.

He stubbed the cigarette out into the wet grass, and laid the rest of the way down, hands covering his eyes as the back of his head met the ground.

You frowned down at him. 

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Hello. 

Eddie peaked at you through his fingers, “No?”

You shook your head and as Eddie moved to push himself back up, he yelped.

He shifted onto his side, digging around his pocket for whatever it was that stabbed him.

“Ouch,” He hissed, yanking the purple pen out. “Damn, that hurt like a bitch.” 

Your eyes squinted at it in suspicion.

“Is that my pen?”

“Huh?”

“My favorite—and pricey—pen. I lost it at school today.” In fact, you were sure you had and you were sure that was your pen. You’d broken off the clip of it by accident and you recognized the large crack in the body of it, having once given into an intrusive thought regarding whether or not you had the strength to break it while you were bored in class. You did have the strength and luckily for you, it still worked. 

When Eddie made no move to give your pen back, you figured he didn’t believe you so you added, “The ink is pink, right?”

Eddie continued to stare at you, mouth slightly parted in awe, and you suddenly felt very nervous, glancing behind you to see if there was something that caught his attention but all you could see were the empty lawns.

“What?” 

He finally blinked, licking his lips again. 

“You’re a really good liar.”

“What?” You repeated, this time your question was laced more so with confusion than panic. He was right, but why was he saying that?

His lips slowly parted up at the corners until he was grinning at you so wide, his dimples were showing and you could feel your heart beating wildly against your rib cage, as if it was trying to break free to fly right over to him.

“This is your pen?”

“Yes!” Is that what his happiness was about? That he was holding your prized pen hostage?

“This is your pen?” You could tell he was having fun at your expense now, getting more giddy by the minute.

“Yes!” You laughed out, his joy contagious even if he was teasing you with your own belongings. “That is my pen. Give me my pen!”

He clicked it closed with his thumb, “I found it where we hold Hellfire sessions, same pen that was used to write my love note.”

And just like that, your heartbeat seemed to stop all together, smile dropping instantly as you wished a giant hole could form in the ground below you and swallow you up.

“That’s not my pen,” you denied, shrugging off his jacket as you quickly rose to your feet. “I gotta go, bye, Eddie.”

When you saw him starting to hastily rise, you bolted, literally running back into the house to try to find Heather and get the hell out of there.

You heard Eddie frantically calling your name but you didn’t stop, forcing your way through the bodies as you desperately searched for your best friend.

Luck was finally on your side because you were soon smashed into her back by a passing group.

“Whoa,” she laughed, turning to steady you, “There you are, I’ve been searching for you everywh—hey, what’s wrong?”

You were sure she must have noticed the panic on your face, eyes shiny with tears you refused to let fall in public. 

“I wanna go home, we have to leave.” You grabbed her hand, pulling her into a secluded corner as your head darted in the direction of the front door. You wanted to make a run for it but you feared running into Eddie on the way.

“What happened?” Heather asked, voice initially soft before hardening as her protective nature came out, “Did someone do something?” 

You shook your head, chest heaving with your breaths. You were so close to having a panic attack. 

“Eddie. He knows. He knows, Heather.” And because she was your best friend, she understood, mouth and eyes going wide.

“Holy crap. Wait—isn’t this what you wanted?” 

“No—yes—I don’t know! I can’t face him!” There was a reason you hadn’t written your name down on the note, regardless of how badly you wanted to. You were just scared.

“Why not?” She bent down, leaned in closer to hear you. This girl and her twenty questions.

“It doesn’t matter, he didn’t want it to be me, anyways. He would’ve asked earlier, and he only did it now because of that stupid pen!” You should have kept your mouth shut and just gone to buy another over the weekend, “Can we just please get out of here? We can try the side gate in the backyard.”

“Is Eddie looking for you?”

“Yes, that’s why we have to leave!” Whatever Eddie had to say, you didn’t want to hear it. Yeah, maybe he could want you but if he didn’t, was searching for you to let you down gently you’d be heartbroken. 

“He knows and you don’t think he wanted it to be you?”

“Yes!”

“Then why would he be looking for you?”

You refused to answer her, pushing her towards the back door instead. She went willingly for a few steps, then Heather stopped and you bumped into her back again as she craned her neck to look over her shoulder. 

“I think it's too late for that.” She pointed at something behind you and you followed her finger. 

Eddie was standing on top of the kitchen table a bunch of guys had carried into the living room to play beer pong on, eyes searching the room with his lips set in a frown.

He was attracting attention, a multitude of heads turning to peer up at him in curiosity.

Oh, god. He was looking for you, you were probably going to get rejected at a fucking Valentine’s Day party in some stranger’s living room.

Eddie must have caught the attention of someone near the sound system because the volume of the music was lowered and you could hear everyone muttering amongst themselves, asking what had happened to the music before they noticed Eddie.

He glanced around, not even a little nervous at the amount of people staring at him. He hadn’t planned on making a huge show of it, figured they were all too drunk to pay him any attention, luckily he was used to being a spectacle. 

Eddie used it to his advantage, calling out your full name.

The crowd muttered, everyone looking at each other in confusion or maybe trying to catch sight of you. 

It wasn’t long before someone recognized you, head turning in your direction, followed by many more—a domino effect—until just about everyone was staring at you, including Eddie.

He hopped off the table and made his way towards you, crowd parting to allow him. Heather slipped her hand into yours at your side, giving you a reassuring squeeze before she too stepped away, leaving you to finally face Eddie.

Eddie didn’t look at anyone else, gaze trained solely on you.

“Hi, again.”

You blinked, unable to keep yourself from glancing at the crowd around you, curious—nosey—to see what would happen next.

Guess you were going to have to finally face reality, no more running. You didn’t think you could break through the crowd, anyways.

“Hi,” you whispered but you knew Eddie had heard you, his lips pursed into a smile, eyes lighting up when you didn’t shut down.

“You ran away before I could tell you how I feel.” Eddie took another step, pretty much invading your personal space but he was desperate to be close to you and maybe body block you in case you tried to flee. He didn’t want you to run away again, to disappear like he feared you had when you hadn’t left your name on the note.

“It’s only fair, right? Since I know?”

You nodded again, the drum of your heartbeat loud in your ears. You were surprised you could hear Eddie over it.

Eddie stared down at you, lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t look upset or frustrated. It looked like he was thinking about something.

Little did you know he was reciting the note in his head to give him some courage, he’d memorized it.

He didn’t leave you waiting for long. 

“I admire you. A lot.” Your breath hitched as the words you’d jotted down were repeated to you, “So much that I want to stand on expensive looking, antique tables and crash parties for you. I like the way you get animated when you talk, the way you give into your intrusive thoughts at the most random of times—yeah, I saw you trying to see if your finger fit in the pencil sharpener in the library once—I like how kind you are, even when people don’t deserve it. 

“I like how you’ve never made me feel ostracized, never made anybody feel like that and I like how dramatic you are—storming off, making an exit, falling flat on your face in hallways then staying there like a dead body before you decide to reanimate again once you’re done being embarrassed. I like how you beat up your locker when it won’t open and then you give it a couple of pats to apologize once it finally does.”

Eddie chuckled at those particular memories, having been thoroughly amused when watching you and you feel your face get hot at being the cause of his cute laugh.

“And I really like your face, your pretty eyes, all of this,” Eddie gestured to you, to all of you from head to toe, “… you’re beautiful. Although, I gotta say, you drove me really fucking crazy today. Made me feel emotions I didn’t know I was capable of feeling and you scared the shit out of me when I thought I’d never get to know who the person I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with is.”

Okay, maybe you didn’t want the ground to swallow you whole.

“I know we only have a couple of months left of school and you’re probably going off to continue being amazing at some college in some big city a million miles away—‘cause that’s my luck—but I’m willing to work with that. I want to drive those million miles to give you flowers and hold your hand, kiss you, listen to you complain about your bad days, hear you brag about your good ones, kill all the bugs you’re afraid of—even though some of them freak me out, you make me feel brave, too—and just be all around disgustingly domestic with you. 

“And yes, that includes all the not so fun domestic stuff like fights—which we’ll get over, I’ll do just about anything, even cave first, if you give me those big, coy eyes of yours—and taxes. I want to do it all with you. If you’ll have me.” Eddie ended, eyes wide and just a little out of breath. 

There it was. He’d thrown it all out there, everything he wanted to offer (because he wanted to give you everything, even though it kind of terrified him).

And you—you were just staring at him, left to gape at him since you’d expected… well, you hadn’t really known what to expect since you usually ran from the consequences—be they good or bad—of your actions. 

He wanted to be with you. Holy crap, Eddie Munson wanted to be your boyfriend. Wanted to do boyfriend things like visit you at college and hold your hand. You’d thought, the whole time, it had just been you observing him. You never thought he’d be observing you, too. It all sounded too good to be true, you couldn’t really think, couldn’t really form words.

You didn’t have to, Eddie grew anxious, maybe even a little impatient despite having decided the moment you’d run away from him in the front yard that he’d chase after you for as long as it took him to get you to give him a chance.

He found himself blurting out his strongest desire, “Can I kiss you?”

This was it, you were faced with another opportunity, and this one was the actual last opportunity you had to tell him how you feel, without any anonymity. No more hiding, no more running.

“Yeah,” you breathed out and he was on you before you’d even finished saying that singular word, his surprisingly soft lips pressing desperately against yours as his hands moved to frame your face, one of his thumbs stroking along your cheek.

Your eyelids fluttered shut as you returned the kiss and just like that, what he intended to be a simple but firm kiss, turned into your lips moving against each other, a little wet and enough to have Eddie want to pop his leg up like in the fucking movies.

The only reason he kept himself from introducing his tongue to yours like he so badly wanted to was the sounds of encouragement around him; cheering and hollering. You broke away, having also heard your peers whooping and wolf whistling, to hide your face in his chest, bashfulness returning full force.

Eddie laughed and kissed the top of your head, unable to contain his grin and joy. He definitely wasn’t used to this, more accustomed to jeering, not cheering. A couple of people even clapped him on the shoulder.

“You know what, I think they’re rooting for us, sweetheart.”

You pulled away just enough to look up at him, offering a small, pleased smile of your own.

“They’re not the only ones.”

Well, he had to give you some tongue for that one. The cheering and sounds of excitement got louder as he did.

—  You hadn’t walked into school hand in hand with Eddie when Monday came around—though you’d spent pretty much the entire weekend with him, driving around town, lounging around your room (he’d come in through your window) and making out—he hadn’t mentioned anything about meeting up in the parking lot and you weren’t offended in the slightest. While you wanted to see him, you appreciated the extra time to calm your excited nerves before you did. 

Heather ran up to you the second you made it to your locker, grin stretching from ear to ear. 

“I still can’t believe it. It didn’t even happen to me and I’m pinching myself because of how romantic it was!”

“Imagine how I feel,” You were all smiles as you turned the combination for your locker. But of course, since it was openly known as one of, if not, the shittiest of lockers in the school—having belonged to several wrestlers and football players before you, who’d evidently cared for it on the rough side—it didn't budge when you tugged at it.

You wouldn’t miss it when you graduated. 

With a sigh, you pulled the straps of your backpack off of your shoulders and handed it to Heather. Then, you yanked aggressively at the small locker handle. It was your routine though, so you knew it wouldn’t open then, either. It was only when you slammed your fist against it, after all the yanking, that it opened.

Roses immediately flooded out of it, piling onto the ground at your feet. You and Heather watched with open mouths, glancing at passersby, who also looked on in surprise, until your stuffed locker finally finished its floral avalanche.

“Like ‘em?”

You jumped up, and then internally scolded yourself for almost trampling a couple of your flowers. You carefully twisted around to face Eddie, who was leaning back against the row of lockers behind you, smug smirk on his handsome face.

“Yeah, what are all of these for?” You asked, still marveling at them as he pushed himself off the lockers to wrap his arms around your middle and press a kiss to the side of your head.

“I realized I never got to ask you to be my Valentine or give you flowers. So, I bought some Saturday morning,” They were on sale so he’d gone purposely overboard, “used my uncle’s collection of mugs as vases to keep them alive, then woke up at the asscrack of dawn this morning to get here before you did. I probably broke your locker even more, by the way. So, be my Valentine?”

“I’m pretty sure it was part of the terms and agreements of our relationship, but yes. I’ll be your Valentine.”

Eddie closed your locker for you, pressing his weight against it to make sure it was secure and no more roses would escape before he scooped up the ones that had fallen out, arranging them into a large bouquet which he handed to you, leaning in to give you a kiss.

You hummed happily against his lips, nose wrinkling in glee when you felt him smile.

Eddie let out a content sigh when you parted before glancing to his side at your gawking best friend.

“Hey, Heather.” Eddie wasn’t at all bothered by the audience. “Nice shoes.”

“Thanks! They’re new. You done sucking face?”

“For now,” he promised, then turned his attention back to you. “I’ll see you later, beautiful. I’ve got a test to barely pass. Gotta make sure I walk that stage with you.”

Eddie pinched your cheek, pressed another kiss to your forehead and rushed off down the hall. You’d barely locked eyes with Heather when Eddie came running back, taking your face in his hands as he muttered something about one more and gave you a kiss that had you a little shaky on your feet.

‘One more’ actually turned out to mean a couple more pecks before he really forced himself away, blowing you a kiss just as he disappeared around the corner.

“He’s whipped,” Heather stated.

“Pretty sure I’m falling in love with him.”

“That’s appropriate.” You both nodded before you turned to face your closed locker, arms full of sweet smelling roses. 

“. . .  You still need to get your books, don’t you?”

“Yeah.��

Heather slid her arms through the straps of your backpack, over her front, so she could hold your flowers for you as you prepared to battle your locker again. It was totally worth it.

─

Eddie never ended up giving you your pen back, it’s the one he used to write love letters to you while you were away at college.  

[the-moon-files]

Aaaaa yay, you updated for Linked Universe again! 🙏 And right when the hyperfixation was coming back for me, too 👀 

I was looking over your posts for LU, and if you don’t mind, I’d love to share some of my own random thoughts with you! I hope that’s okay 👉👈

After I read your “Humans aren't just round-eared Hylians?” post I have had,, many thoughts 👀 One random difference between humans and Hylians I thought about was the possibilities of varying strength,,, You briefly mentioned how Hylians seemed lighter than they seemed to Guide!Reader, and let me tell you, it was such a small detail, but I was transFIXED. I have this image of humans/Guide!Reader just being naturally stronger than the average Hylians - and it made me think of scenarios of the Reader just effortlessly hauling around two Links on their shoulders like sacks of potatoes- And them also picking up things that are supposed to be really heavy with ease! Like, Four would make a longsword, and Reader picks it up out of curiosity, expecting it to be really heavy, but it’s actually not that bad?? (Four in the background: 🧍)

If the Reader is already pretty strong (and maybe even has a profession in fighting, like a boxer or something,, [I might be projecting slightly—]), then ooo 👀 I can see there being this one time where a bunch of monsters ambush the Chain, and as everyone is fighting with the Reader giving them advice and whatnot, a Lizalfos managed to slip past everyone and sprint towards the Reader to attack them. The others are panicking because they won’t be able to reach the monster in time, but just as the Lizalfos raised its sword, one single punch from the Reader sent it flying back into the fray, knocking it into a Moblin. Reader is just standing there with their fist still in the air like “👁️👄👁️ h u h … whY ARE YOU GUYS STARING, YOU’RE STILL FIGHTING—”

In your newest post about the Guide!Reader’s voice, you mentioned how some entities could hear them, and I don’t know if he would, but I think it’d be kinda funny if Ganon and all of his other reincarnations could hear the Reader talking to Link- I’m not sure if he remembers his past lives, but if he does and hears/recognises Reader’s voice, I love the image of him thinking “Oh god, THIS guy again??” Because Reader WILL clown on him-

Dehydrated Ganondorf: *insert evil monologue here*

Guide!Reader: Uh-huh, sure, bold words for someone whose skin looks like a prehistoric riverbed. :|

Sage: *w he eze*

As I was writing all this, I had to think to myself, “Huh,, Guide!Reader doesn’t die when they fall into lava, aren’t really affected by harsher temperatures and winds, and also can swim against strong currents. They’re environment-resistant basically. But there’s bound to be at least one weakness to it all, right?” I did come up with said weakness, and I think it’s kinda basic, BUT one idea I had was that because Guide!Reader is so resistant to the natural elements of Hyrule, they are conversely quite weak to unnatural causes in turn. If they get injured, say they get cut with a knife by a Bokoblin, then that wound would take much longer to heal than it should. Any injuries that the Reader sustains in Hyrule are harder to heal (which I feel like could make some interesting angst,, 👀); their injuries would take more magic to completely heal them, or have more healing potions to drink. I also thought of the Reader being very vulnerable to any sort of poison- Like, if they get a pinch or two (or three) of strong poison in their system, they get knocked out for like two days 💀 

So basically, Guide!Reader is very resistant to the environment, possibly quite strong, but does not have any good constitution,,

[On another note, maybe it’s just a me thing, but I personally love the thought of Wind looking up to the Reader as like a big brother figure,,]

And also!! Happy birthday!! 🥳🥳🎉 As a way of procrastination, I’ve been compiling memes with Guide!Reader and the Chain because the brain rot is hitting HARD,, I can share it with you in the future if you like! /gen /pos And sorry if this is such a long post dkjfgndf-

NOT SOMEONE BEING HAPPY I UPDATED UwU

ur ideas, ur compliments, ur bday wishes, etc. hitting me like^^

Sun: Masc!Reader (he/him) this will be default unless ppl specify otherwise! , Guide!Reader, Boxer/Martial Artist!Reader

Orbit: Headcanons-ish

Stars: Most Links of the Chain mentioned + Sage (Totk Link)! No focus/centric Link

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: light cussing, & Trigger Warnings: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

In reference to This Post! Wait, Humans Aren’t just Round-Eared Hylians??

YOUR BRAIN>>>????!!!

This was such a yummy treat tysm for this, sharing is caring 🫶

I absolutely think Humans could be 10x stronger than Hylians, I mean if we base everything abt their universe off of Link weighing ~8 apples lmao

that means swords, armor, broadswords/claymores, battle axes, huge shields, if those weigh abt like fake swords/wooden ones back on earth to us, then i cant even imagine what canons/horses/tree trunks/boulders weigh 💀

like props on a stage weight rather than the real thing lmao

No but how many Links can you fit in one carry??

ok u got a heavier Link on your back, like Time, Twi or Wars, then Four/Wind/Hyrule/Legend (yes he’s light/smaller side, tho he may deny) in ur arms like one Link per arm, maybe 3 Links if you can like wrap ur arms around them

so like 4 Links total? well, Wind or Four r so light/small one could possibly ride on ur shoulders, so 5 LMAO??? that's like half the Chain already AHALJFAfJLL-

on another note,

I LOVEEE ganon being able to hear Guide Reader bc spent too long around them, also i originally based that off of characters who’ve shown they're meta/highly magical kinda (esp the meta part where they may have directly addressed players/broke 4th wall)

No bc Ganon would just be SO fed up by like, Wild’s time, it would literally be EXACTLY like what u said I’d imagine:

(u just playing the game and not realizing until later they can hear you)

Ganon: “ugh that blonde twink again, god when will this plan actually work-?!”

You: “eyyy, Ganon! omg, why’s he?? Hot??? damn, botw best ganon version fr”

Ganon: “you know what maybe you should just kill me right now, hero Link.”

(the thought of Ganon never being able to escape ur voice whenever Link was near him bc u didnt have a body to fight/kill, and instead he just had to deal with ur comments is SENDING ME)

changing subjects again sorry

YES!! that's the weakness/drawback I was thinking abt for Humans in Hyrule, while yes their environment isn't that effective on us, (i like to use “inside a video game” as the reason bc i think its neat)

humans are notoriously fragile in our own world already - we get sick, we get acid-reflux/throw up from bad food/food poisoning, etc.

so it makes sense we’d be more sensitive to this new environment, but even if we got adjusted,

we’re more external-proof, not internal-proof

(u know that's another reason why it works for Hylians and not Humans, we aren’t automatically healed by food, but their world does, and even in botw/totk when u have “dubious” food, its never inedible, its just useless to eat, so technically Hylians can kind of eat most anything off of that logic, like there is no such thing as “bad food” for them)

and u could take this either way tbh,

like we’re either entirely resistant to magic/dont take to it well bc our world didnt have it so potions/fairies don't work and we have to heal naturally

or just yeah, its like ur in a new country tbh, new germs/nature/food/etc. and u def cant guarantee u wont get a little sick from that

this would definitely include genuine poison!

bro the amount of WORRY the Links would feel after realizing the human guide guy who’s physically here now can barely handle their food??

Wild’s making a thorough list of what foods work for you and what don't, like safe foods to go back on, including recipes,

the way Time/Wars would absolutely be willing to take little detours/stop by towns more to make sure you have the right food you can eat,

and even tho Wild’s cooking, Sage is constantly testing for poison, like the dish itself, the herbs/plants, every ingredient needs to be extra safe even by Hylian standards (like not eating adventurous stuff like pufferfish or smth that could possibly have poison if cooked wrong/not enough etc)

that is to say, even if Wild makes a new recipe/other meal, he always has a backup safe meal to give you instead on those nights, and just way too many in general (yes he knows it doesn't buff ur health but he cant help his Hylians instincts to stuff the hurt person’s face with food ok??)

Hyrule! Is!! Losing!!! It!!!!

he has all the healing magic in the world and the one man he wants to help the most, for keeping him from being lonely on his adventure/looking out for him/being on his side no matter what, now he finds out he can’t even help them??

mans would literally keep trying to heal u til he’s drained it all out to just try and get the wound to close, if u didnt stop him

U get injured for the first time, and while a bruise/cut taking weeks to heal (depending on how bad) is normal to you, Hyrule + lowkey everyone is Freaking Out

Wounds DO NOT take weeks to heal?? They take hours at most??? Dude, are you dying-

(Wind got elbowed for that one, purely bc he voiced Sky/Hyrule/Wild/Twi paranoia out loud lol)

that is going with the version ur mostly unaffected by magic, but u could also do the human thing where we get adjusted to things over time (at least more than nothing), including food/sickness

The way All the Links just surround you or outright don’t let you come into crowded parts of town so ur poor immune system wont make u sick again 😭

on the bright side they'd all get rlly good at preventative measures like this, and taking care of sick you lol

(yes, u bribed Wind to get little bro cuddles when ur sick, it wasn't hard, he sees u as the most genuine bigger bro probably bc ur likely hte most affectionate out of all the Links)

(should I get into cultural differences between humans/hylians like humans being more openly cuddly/affectionate? like how in humans are space orcs fandom they acknowledge its unusual for us to “packbond” so easily to so many different species? and how this could possibly apply to not only Hylians but any Friend-shaped creatures across the Hyrules?? ..nah. I’ll save that for another post)

AND YES!! feel free to shoot rambles/thoughts/not even requests my way! Id love to talk abt it or just post it for the world to marvel at too lol

ohh mY God;; YOU HAVE MEMES FOR THIS?? PLEASEEEE SHOW ME????

thank you for this, srsly /pos

Peace out,

🌙

[peterparkersnose]

Folded

pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader

word count: 3.4k

warnings: attack description, clicker attack, nightmares, anxiety, wound description, angst, denial of feelings, alcohol mentioned, swearing, mentions and descriptions of gun use, near death experience (if u can’t handle the game don’t read)

HAPPY LAST OF US DAY!!!

a/n ive played tlou 3x and tlou2 2x (going through my second round rn) so shut up pls i dont want any of the ‘you only like joel bc hes pedro’ fr come on ive been playing this game since i was 12. (i’m not like other girls 🥵) jackson joel just does something to me mmmm. wrote this nov 18 ‘22 saved for today

Don’t forget 9PM EST on HBO Max

summary Y/N gets attacked by a clicker during an intense time with Joel

masterlist

join the tag list

read time: 12 mins 28 seconds

You could feel the air escaping your lungs at a dangerous rate. The rifle at your side slammed against your thigh as you kept running. The thick forest was just as you remembered it; wet, cold, and dark.

You were outnumbered. Mostly runners, but you spotted a few clickers. The brush on the forest floor wasn’t helping. Your heavy breathing and the sloshing of your boots against the snowy ground were making too much noise.

Where the fuck was Ellie?

3 bullets. Rifle was empty, spent that on some sharp shooting up the hill on some runners you and Ellie found in the town. How stupid were you? Those were an easy kill with a knife. But your childish games on who could get the best headshot left you empty.

Your heart dropped as the rock formation appeared. It was too high. It covered the forest like the earth split into two. That is when you came to terms, and you had to come to it quickly.

You were going to die.

Soon enough, the first runner appeared. Easy kill. One down, maybe 7 to go?

Where the fuck was Ellie?

The next one came. Two down. Three at a time now? A fucking clicker followed them? You wished the brush was tall enough to hide in.

It was useless fighting off three runners at a time with a clicker on their heels. This was it. Death.

The stone wall was cool against your backside. You hugged your knees to your chest as you pulled out your handgun.

At least the clicker would have a good meal.

Shot- one down. Shot- another. The clicker sped up. Shot, wounded but not dead. Quick slice with the knife. Dead.

The shrieking screams of the clicker engulfed your senses as the monster came running at you. It’s flailing arms we’re the last thing you were prepared to see.

You felt the hands on your shoulder. Dead hands of a monster, unspeakable to most. The hands grabbed your shoulders, but no bite came.

Just blinding white noise and a splatter on your face.

You had convinced yourself you were dead. You would never see anyone again. You had died the same death as your father years prior. The death that left you alone.

“Dad?” you managed to mutter out.

The white noise turned into ringing as two hands held your shoulder and shook you.

“Y/N? Y/N please, are you okay?”

Ellie.

“Maria I found her! Here!”

Cloth material wiped over your eyes and they opened. Ellie, splattered with blood stood in front of you with the most panicked look you had ever seen on the girls face.

“Your okay!” she yelled at you, wrapping her arms around you.

Sitting besides you two was the headless clicker that should have killed you.

***

You should be dead. Get this horrible life over with. Dead with your father, with the mother you never knew. Living a life without this disease, these creatures. Free of pain.

When you woke up in the medical wing you were pretty sure almost the whole town was there. You felt like an item on display at a museum. Looking over all the eyes, you most definitely were not searching for his. The whole reason you volunteered to go out with Ellie that day instead of Dina. And of course, he was not there. Why would he be?

“She’s awake!” someone yelled from the crowd. Every eye in the room seemed to fall on you at once. The nurse pushed past the group of people and went to your side.

“For heavens sake! Get out!” the nurse yelled to the group of onlookers. “Give her some goddamn space.” you heard from the crowd as people started to walk towards the exit.

Everyone wanted a look at the girl who survived a clicker attack.

“Hey,” she said, slowly approaching you and sitting on the chair next to your bed. “Ellie!” you exclaimed, embracing the girl tightly. “What happened?” you asked Ellie, releasing your grip on her and settling back into the bed.

The bond had been there since the day you met her. You always remember the look of the scared little girl on the back of Joel’s horse when they first entered Jackson. The bond you two had helped her grow into the person she is now. Ellie had always described you as an older sister. But Ellie was always there for you, and you for her. She was your best friend, platonic soulmate. And a damn good shot.

“I killed it,” she said bluntly. “I-I came at the right time it was about to bite you and- you should have seen it Y/N my shotgun did a number on that thing.”

“A-am I infected?” you asked, looking down at your body for the first time. Your tank top was still on, your jacket was missing. Your jeans were covered in dry blood and smelt of pine needles.

“It’s been three days. You got some pretty nasty scratches though. Sick looking if you ask me. Scars of a warrior.” she added, referring to her tattoo.

And that’s when you saw them. The claw marks were sewn shut on your left shoulder. Your eyes widened as you began to panic. You began to squirm and the pain set in.

“Hey, hey calm down. She took care of you. Best nurse in town, I made sure.” Ellie said, grabbing your good shoulder and stroking your arm to calm you down.

“The doctors said if your vitals stay stable for the next few hours you can go home. Dina and I cleaned up the place for you,” Ellie smiled, stroking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“What have people been saying?” you asked, holding her hand tightly in yours. “That your a hero. You cleared out that building and we found a stash of food that’s going to last for… well, probably a good year. That’s amazing Y/N! They found baby formula for JJ- tons of it. You were right it was the old warehouse.”

A small smile rose to your lips but Ellie could tell what you really wanted to hear about.

What Joel had been saying.

And Joel hasn’t said much. Tommy had told him a brief description in passing of what happened when it was happening. He figured you were dead when they sent out a rescue wagon for you. He even watched as Maria’s horse lead in your body. Ellie was sitting with you in her arms screaming for a nurse, your whole left arm was covered in blood. What was visible of your face was white as a sheet and you weren’t moving. Joel had to silently give up the inkling of what could have been. Hell, you were the first girl who he even considered after his divorce over thirty years ago. It had to end one day and he had to silently agree with it.

“I don’t…” Ellie began, following with a sigh. “Y/N, don’t get yourself worked up over it. It’s not worth it.” Ellie began, knowing her friend too well. “Did he even come and see me?” you asked, looking to Ellie’s eyes. She couldn’t look into yours. She closed her eyes for a quick moment and shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

“Am I a fool?” you asked her. “I’m not sure,” she replied, weary.

The whole reason you went with her instead of Dina was because of Joel. You most definitely could not face him that day after the previous night.

He had knocked on your door a little after nine. He noticed a change in your demeanor today when he came in the room while teaching the some of the kids how to shoot. He wanted to make sure you were okay. Joel felt like he had some responsibility over you to make sure you were always okay because of what happened.

Joel was the one who was with your father when he died.

Sure, he was older than you. You weren’t sure exactly, but he was younger than your father by many years. The attraction from your end started when you saw him drunk off his ass during a celebration dancing with Tommy in the bar. It was the most unconventionally attractive thing, but it flipped some switch in you. When your dad died he taught you how to perfect your aim and kill efficiently. Never crossing any line because you were his dead friend’s daughter. And you were so close to Ellie. Ellie wasn’t too fond of your crush that you confided in her, but she grew to love the idea. Her family.

He came and visited you a little after nine. You were about to slip into bed before you heard the knock on your door. The night was cold and your pajama pants and thin tank top was not cutting it. You invited him inside. He had brought you a tiny gift to lift your mood; a bottle of gin. Your favorite. And you two drank at least half of that bottle of gin. You talked about everything from your father’s death to the time Tommy accidentally washed his clothes with Maria’s pink bra and still has an abundance of pink clothing to this day. The gin was most definitely speaking when you told him how you felt.

And he left.

“Let it go for now- okay? We’re gonna get you out of here and back home.” Ellie reassured you. Nodding your head, you fell back into the cold bed and closed your eyes just wishing it could all go away.

-

Home was empty as it could be. The bottle of gin sat on your coffee table. Your bed was made for the first time in years. Your work station was organized and all of your pens and art supplies were cleaned. You had remembered when Joel gave you those pens, he found them one day and thought of you. Your rifles now hung on your wall. Definitely was Dina’s idea, but you liked it. A tiny gift wrapped in a beige paper with a tiny bit of twine around it sat under your newly mounted rifles.

“Woo hoo. Christmas.” you said to yourself sarcastically. Kneeling down, you opened the package.

Bullets.

For safe keeping, ~Maria

Of course it was from Maria. She always played the mother you never had when she wanted to.

The immense feeling of sleep hit you like a brick wall. I guess being attacked by a clicker and living was a strenuous activity. All you wanted now to do was sleep. Unmaking the nicely folded sheets, you melted back into your bed. The sun was setting in your window and the horses were coming in for the day. You could hear them trotting past your window. You wondered if Joel was just feet away. It was what now… Thursday? You couldn’t remember if he still did the Thursday shift or if he switched with someone else. Who cares, sleep was creeping up slowly and the thought of Joel set you out cold.

The forest was blacker than usual. Without a doubt, you recognized where you were. Running again. All you seemed to do was run now these days. Taking a brief look back while you ran through the forest, you stopped as you realized a whole hoard of clickers were just at your heels. You didn’t have time to react. They were on you ripping your flesh off your body. The dream never seemed to end. You felt each bite and tear of your flesh until-

“Y/N!” Maria screamed, shaking you awake and still being mindful of your wound. “Fuck!” you screamed, sobbing into her arms. “Fuckfuckfuckfuck!” you continued, squirming in bed as she held you.

Your door was wide open and it was now pitch black out. The screams alerted security, and they called for a search of the town. Tommy quickly found the source of the screams and sent Maria in.

Standing outside your door was Tommy, peering in on the sight of his wife with you.

“Gather people. She needs to be watched.” Maria commanded Tommy as she held your shaking body. Too many people had left their homes now to look at the scene and disrupted the peaceful night.

-

Ellie sat with your head in her lap, slowly stroking your hair trying to get you to fall asleep. “Don’t worry. Nobody in this town will let anything happen to you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The whole previous night you didn’t sleep. You stared at your wall and just thought. And that whole day you delved yourself in drawings you hadn’t finished or poems you had the inspiration for. Took a shower. You looked through your closet and picked out a fresh outfit. You tried all the little things that usually worked on your old self, but your old self was gone.

That bottle of gin sat on your coffee table and haunted you throughout the day as well. You didn’t have the heart to throw it away, or the mindset to drink it. So there it sat. Pitiful.

You were at a loss for words. No words could describe the immense amount of pain re living that memory caused last night.

Ellie began to hum a tune. It was sweet and reminded you of something innocent. Your eyes began to get heavy. “You ready?” she asked, fluffing up your pillow. Reluctantly, you shook your head yes.

The absolute end was there and tiredness finally seeped in. Distraught sleep left and peaceful sleep took its place.

Ellie dimmed your lamp and smoothed the covers on your bed. It reminded you of the time you took care of Ellie years ago when she was sick. “Sweet dreams,” she said, giving your forehead a brief kiss.

Mumbling was heard outside your door, but you didn’t care.

The field was beautiful. Finally, peace. The flowers stemmed beautifully and the sun shown down on your face. Your hands ran through the fresh green grass. Laying in the rays, you suddenly felt the field get smaller. Sitting up, you realized the sun had disappeared and the field was getting smaller and smaller by the second. The sudden edge of a forest was getting closer and closer. And then with one blink you were back. The forest erected around you. You were back.

“No, no…” he heard from your house. Joel’s interest peaked from the grounds left in his coffee mug to the silent struggles in your bedroom. He lifted himself off your porch chair and looked through your window. You were writhing in bed.

“Ellie!” you let out the first yell. It was so loud that it startled Joel to his core and began a flight of panic. Joel didn’t hesitate to burst your door open. “Ellie don’t leave!” you yelled again.

“Hey,” he said softly, patting your shoulder. A loud groan of pain came from your lips. Joel’s heart sank as the feelings on guilt he felt for letting you go on patrol that day set in once again.

“Y/N!” he whisper yelled, yanking your body over to face him. Your eyes shot open. Ripped from the dream into another one.

You looked him up and down. This wasn’t real. It was another dream. Tears welled up in your eyes as you shut them tight, praying you would wake up somewhere else.

“It was a bad dream,” he whispered, resting his hand on your thigh. His thumb patiently rubbed your thigh as your breathing sped up. Your legs matched up perfectly, knees facing him. Your face was buried in your hands that were now grasping at your eyes.

“Stop it,” Joel hissed, grabbing your manic hands tightly. “This isn’t real,” you cried out, sobs following it.

His heart seemed to break into a million pieces when you started to full on cry. The last time he dealt with a crying girl it was Ellie. Wait- no, maybe it was Sarah. He honestly wasn’t sure, but it was most definitely years ago.

“Everything is alright. I know how it is. I-I didn’t sleep for a few days after my first clicker encounter. Those things are nasty fuckers.” he said, his hand returning to your thigh trying to soothe you. He was clueless on what he was supposed to do.

At this point, you realized you weren’t dreaming. He was here. His hand was on your thigh. He was sitting on your bed. You were in a tank top that cut a little too low for your liking.

Your teary eyes looked up and met his. He hadn’t moved his gaze off of your face. He gave you a soft reassuring smile.

Joel cursed himself for letting his feelings creep back in. This was wrong anyways, he felt sick any time he thought about you. The pit of his stomach couldn’t handle it much more, he had pretty much forgotten about you (as much as he would like to admit). But when Tommy assigned him second watch of you that night, he just knew it had trouble written all over it.

“Go back to sleep now. Pretty girls need their beauty sleep.” he said, instantly regretting it.

That line worked on Sarah, but in a whole different way with a much different meaning. He wanted to suck back in the words as fast as he said them.

Letting a tense breathe go, he steadied himself on your bed frame and made his way to the door.

He had made his way to the door as you spoke.

“Joel?”

His hand stopped his motion as it rested on the top of your door frame.

“Yeah?” he asked, turning around.

“W-will you stay? Just for a little bit.” you said, stuttering as you realized how large his body was compared to your door.

He paused. “I suppose.”

You moved your legs so he would have enough room to sit next to you. You heard his knee crack as he sat down on the low rise bed. His legs sat upward as he leant a hand behind your legs to steady himself.

“I’m sorry.” you said. It had to be said, what better time than now? “I don’t want to hear your apologies.” he huffed. “It was inappropriate.” you spit out again. “No- Y/N, stop. Please.” he asked. “You need to get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep. Every time I sleep I go… back there. I can’t.” you whimpered. He sighed, groaning and wiping his brow.

“What would you like me to do about it? I can’t do anything.”

“Stay.”

Joel was left confused on how your calmness met his angry tone. He knew you well, he was surprised you weren’t screaming in his face. You didn’t take shit. You were being patient for once in your life.

Oh, how you’ve changed since the attack.

“I’m here. What more do you want from me?” he asked. His tone had extra edge of anger to it that was fueled with a faint passion.

In the darkness, you reached for his hand. It was coarse and dry, with many various scars and callouses you could feel just with a slight touch. He instinctively pulled back a bit, but gave in within the second. Wrapping your fingers with his, you places his hand back on your thigh.

“Y/N I-”

“The thing you were doing before on my leg. It was nice.”

“Oh,” he said, defeating the original thought from his head. His thumb began slowly moving in circles once again.

You were showing him what you needed.

He watched as your sad face closed your eyes and sighed. You felt safe for the first time in days.

Joel felt the pit in his stomach widen and fully consume him. The girl who practically raised Ellie from when she arrived; his dead friend’s daughter; one of the best damn killers in all of Jackson; Y/N. God, he was in so much trouble with his morals.

“I’m too far deep in this shit,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his forehead with his free hand.

Your eyes fluttered open to see him. “What?” you asked.

“I can’t…” he said, beginning to shake his knee up and down. “What?” repeated yourself in a confused tone.

His strong body swept over yours. He grabbed your shoulder ever so softly and perched you in his arms. Your arms instinctively wrapped around his neck.

No initiative had to be made besides the movement of your lips against his. Your hand wrapped itself in his hair, playing softly as he held your back strongly. A slight moan came from his lips that he instantly regretted when you accidentally tugged ever so slightly on his graying strands of hair. For the split second that you two separated gasping for air, he pulled you tighter.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been fighting this,” he whispered on your lips. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this,” you sighed, staring back at his scruffy face.

Joel came back to his senses. He felt different. He could never go back to the same person he was a minute ago. His world revolved around something new. No more obsessing over patrol and how to appease Tommy. No more worrying over how Ellie could handle herself. No more worrying about his aching joints and the fear of getting older. Something new became the center of his universe. He had folded.

The girl laying in his arms who now rested her head against his chest.

“You really need sleep darlin’,” he sighed. You sighed in resistance.

“You want me to stay?” he asked, looking down at your exhausted face.

“Please.”

You moved over in your bed as he made himself comfortable. Joel never realized how much larger he was than you until he slept with you in his arms.

You layed on his chest as one arm wrapped around your shoulders. His hand rested comfortably on your shoulder.

“Thank you.” you whispered. He placed a small kiss on your head. Your arms wrapped around your stomach, making yourself more comfortable in his embrace. The only sound in the room was your soft breathing.

“Go to sleep now. Your safe with me, my sweet girl.”

tag list: @dani5216 @uwiuwi @alohastyles-x @samanthacookieone @maddieinnit0 @alexxavicry @scoliobean @jmillerswife

[grandlinedreams]

For my 100 followers milestone, I give you this!! Buckle up this sucker is 3.4k lmao

[heads up!: grim reaper!Law, slow burn, angst, fluff]

The day Law meets you, it's because you almost die. 

It's a cold winter day, the sun pale and bright against the gray of sky ㅡ and the iced over pond is too much of a temptation to ignore.

You're wearing a heavy coat, one that helps keep the bitter chill from your skin save for your lips and nose ㅡ how very ironic that it's your coat that almost kills you. 

Places like this are always buzzing with the energy of potential tragedy ㅡ even with the watchful eye of parents and loved ones, misfortune still has a way of happening.

The ice, for one, is far too thin to bear the weight of so many feet, made thinner in spots for what meager warmth the sun does provide.

It's one of those spots that you happen upon, located on the other end of the pond, away from your friends. The ice doesn't so much crack as dissolve, frigid water up to your knee as your balance is lost and sends you into the water entirely.

Dark and cold, water soaks your clothing quickly ㅡ including the heavy winter coat you've got around you. It drags you down,  thrashing made harder for the frozen ache of your muscles ㅡ and the cloud of bubbles that explode from your mouth as your lungs burn. 

And then there's a hand snagging into the back of your coat and hauling you up, not unlike a housecat ㅡ and you're on the frosty bank, coughing blindly until you vomit foamy pond water into the mud. 

"You shouldn't play around places like this," an unfamiliar voice tells you, striking you hard between the shoulder blades to elicit another wave of pond water and watery-eyed hacking. "You could die."

You gasp raggedly, clawing at the ground to work yourself further from the embankment, then focus on your rescuer. All you can make out is a shock of dark hair and golden eyes ㅡ and then your name, being shouted with increasing alarm. 

"You were lucky," the stranger says. "Next time, it won't be like that." 

By the time your friends have made it to you and have called for an ambulance, the stranger has vanished ㅡ leaving you with nothing but the frosty air and a brush with death.

 ㅡ

Law isn't sure why he'd saved you that winter day. He can fall back on the fact it hadn't been your time, but that doesn't account for the fact that now, he's watching you.

Call it curiosity or perhaps morbid fascination, there's a pull that drives Law towards you. It shouldn't interfere with his work, of course, because nothing ever does ㅡ but then suddenly, you do. 

He doesn't know if saving you has allowed something of a supernatural ability to rub off on you where you're aware of his presence ㅡ but the knack that you have for stepping in and messing with the intended order of things is both alarming and annoying. 

The older lady he'd been sent to collect from an unattended heart attack? Somehow, you manage to call an ambulance in time and save her life after she collapses in the middle of an aisle in the grocery store.

Then there's the guy you save from an unfortunate end via the business end of a knife following an altercation at a bar ㅡ tempers diffused and the proper authorities called, he scowls as another of his intended targets walks away. 

There are two or three more after that ㅡ and each time, he swears that you spot him, staring at him with a tiny, self-satisfied smile that drives him crazy.

He doesn't have time for this, damn it. (He actually does, but there are things that have to run on a schedule ㅡ and you're messing with the natural order.)

He needs to get rid of you. 

Cruel? Yes, especially given the fact that he's already saved you once ㅡ but he can't just let you run amok like this. He knows what will happen if he does ㅡ they'll send someone else to handle you, and he doesn't want that. 

So he ends up following you at a distance as you make your way home. Again, he thinks himself inconspicuous enough to not warrant attention ㅡ but by the third time that you turn around, he can tell that you've spotted him.

"If you're trying to stalk me, you're terrible at it. Come on out, I'm unarmed."

"I'm not trying to stalk you," he says flatly, "and telling someone that is hardly a good idea. Are you trying to get killed?"

Ironic, coming from him. 

There's that smile of yours, the one that makes Law think you're laughing at him. "Isn't that why you're here?"

He blinks. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

You roll your eyes. "I saw you, that day I almost drowned." You shift to tug your sleeve up, exposing your arm. "You left me with a souvenir."

The skin of your forearm is gnarled like the scar tissue of a burn, several shades darker than the rest ㅡ and in the shape of a hand. You pull your sleeve down. "There's one on my back, too. But ever since that day, I've been able to see the border between life and death." Your eyes lock with his. "And you."

This is bad. Very bad. Though he'd assumed you were able to see him, having you confirm it only makes this situation so much worse. If the others find out about this ㅡ 

A couple of things happen in rapid succession. The light turns green as you step off of the sidewalk onto the crossway, a car whips around the corner on a straight trajectory towards you ㅡ and Law snags his hand into the back of your shirt and yanks you back as the car breezes past where you'd just been standing. 

And for the second time, Law saves your life. 

                                ㅡ

You invite death into your apartment. 

It's a strange sentence to be sure, but death is far less imposing when it takes the shape of a man who wears a hat modeled after a snow leopard. 

"Would you like something to drink?" You're nothing if not polite, though you tip your head as you eye Law with no small amount of amusement. "Or do you need things like that?"

Law is less amused than you, golden eyes sharp as he stares. "We need to talk. This isn't a matter to be taken lightly." 

"Of course not," you say, and he watches as you pull a pitcher of water from the fridge and pour a glass, then pour a second. "Serious talk makes me thirsty, though."

Law takes the glass that you offer him, but he doesn't drink from it as he watches you cross the room to seat yourself in a battered, well-loved ottoman. He waits a moment, then seats himself on the couch when you raise an eyebrow.

"Let me get the obvious out of the way," he begins, "you shouldn't be able to see me."

You stare. "I thought we made that clear from this," you say, gesturing to your arm. When his gaze lingers, you shrug. "It doesn't hurt, if that's what you're wondering."

"I wasn't."

Your lips curve against your water glass. "You're so kind." His eyes narrow, and you sigh. "Okay, so I shouldn't be able to see you. What else should I know?"

"That what you're doing is dangerous."

You look away. "I don't know what you mean."

Law scowls. "Don't play stupid with me. You know that you're messing with the natural order of things, don't you?"

The casual way that you shrug annoys Law further. "I think everyone deserves a second chance, don't you?" 

He glares. "No. And if they did, you already used your second chance. What would you call that narrow miss with the car?"

You watch him, the upward curve of your lips that he hates so much. "I call that luck," you answer. 

ㅡ 

Corazon is waiting for him outside your apartment. He towers, a contradiction for the makeup he wears and the shroud of feathers, the lazy curl of smoke from a cigarette between his lips. (He enjoys smoking while in human form. Law has never understood, but he doesn't question it.)

"There you are." Cora turns towards him as he approaches, his eyes flicking to the apartment behind him. "Never thought you'd be one toㅡ"

"It's not like that," Law counters before Cora can make some dumb insinuation. He debates for a moment before he sighs as Cora raises an eyebrow in question.

"Then what is it like? You never interact with humans."

Law's teeth grit. This is all your fault. If you'd stop getting in his way, if he'd just let you drown ㅡ he huffs, kicking at a loose chunk of pavement before he looks up at Cora. "Fine. I'll tell you."

Whatever Cora had been expecting, what Law tells him is far from it by the way the older reaper's eyes widen. And then he laughs. Long and loud until he's doubled over, and Law scowls.

"I don't see what's so funny, Cora."

"All of that is," Cora wheezes, swinging a hand to your apartment before he wipes mirth-born tears from his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day you had a crush on a human."

"I do not have a crush." Cora gives him a knowing look that only pisses Law off further as his eyes flash.

"Sure you don't," Cora humors him, though it's clear the older reaper doesn't believe him. Calmed down, he sucks on the cigarette, the end of it flaring before he exhales a long stream of smoke. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

This time there's some warning to Cora's tone, reminding Law that he can't get into deep, reminding him of what and who he is.

"I do."

                                 ㅡ 

Law has no idea what he's doing. 

"Have you ever been to a bar?" You're laughing at him again with that smile of yours, head propped on your arm as you drum a tempo on the table with your other hand.

Around you there's nothing but noise ㅡ tinny music playing from speakers set in the corners of the rafters, televisions broadcasting various sports ㅡ and of course, drunk people. 

"No," Law finally answers, studying the din around him with no small amount of annoyance, "I haven't." 

This time you laugh outright, then take a sip of your drink ㅡ and Law does his best not to follow the work of your throat as you swallow. "Alright then, what does death do for fun?"

There are a thousand things Law could tell you. That he's not the only reaper around, that he'd been warned not to do things like this with someone like you. That he should've let you die the several chances he's had to make it happen.

He doesn't. Instead, he lets his eyes linger on your face, trace your features, tread the dangerous water of interest as he has the last few weeks. 

"I don't know," he answers, "but it definitely isn't this."

ㅡ

There are so many ways that Law can kill you. They're everywhere that he looks, and yet he can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he lets you chatter away, lips curving despite himself.

Maybe you're not quite as annoying as he'd thought ㅡ but as his eyes drift to the plush of your lips before darting away, his brow furrows.  Not just annoying ㅡ you're dangerous.

Dangerous because you've been touched by death, dangerous because you get in his way, dangerous because all he wants is to kiss you.

It's your abrupt stop that makes Law almost collide with you and he takes a step back, lips parting to ask what the problem is ㅡ and then he stops.

"Cora," he says, feels your eyes on him as he stares at the man a few feet away from you both. 

"What a nice little jaunt," Cora says, head tilting as he watches the way you reach for Law's hand ㅡ and the way Law doesn't stop you despite the danger of it. "I think we need to have a talk. All three of us."

ㅡ 

Corazon "Cora" is a reaper.

You know that much ㅡ you can see it, the dark shroud that silhouettes him like it does with Law. 

As for what he's doing here, that remains a mystery to you. But from the way Law tenses as Cora talks to him, you can guess that it probably isn't good.

You stand nearby idly, pretending that you can't hear your own name being tossed around, mostly from Law who corrects Cora's careless usage of "that human". You have a horrible feeling that Law's getting into trouble for the last few weeks, and for before, when he'd saved you.

Why had he? Surely he hadn't had to ㅡ he could have let you drown and that be it. None of this. 

Law finally approaches you, and you watch him carefully, trying to glean what their conversation had been about by the look on his face. But his expression is carefully blank, unreadable as he reaches you. "What did he say?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about," he answers, and your eyes narrow before you pull away from him and dart towards Cora. "[Name]!"

"What did you say to him?" You demand and Cora blinks, studying you for a moment. "You guys were talking for a while, so spit it out. What did you say?"

He doesn't have to answer you. Cora knows that, that he owes you absolutely nothing ㅡ but his eyes flick to Law, who's staring at you. This is for your own good, kid. 

"I told him what would happen if he kept this up with you." He pauses to light a cigarette, and you watch the little flame waver.

"And what exactly would happen?"

Cora sighs. "If the higher ups found out about it, they'd strip him of his powers."

Your gaze doesn't waver, boring holes into him. He sort of understands Law's fascination with you ㅡ even without the touch of death, you're an odd one. "And without his powers?"

Smoke curls towards the sky, ghostly tendrils that curl before they disappear. "He'd cease to exist. Reapers are nothing without their powers."

You look back to Law, who's watching you ㅡ and your brow furrows. He wants to say this is nothing? "Is this because of me?"

Cora could lie, but he doesn't. "Yes."

Your fingers curl into fists, aware of the shiny skin of your forearm, the patch between your shoulder blades. "What if he killed me?"

"He won't. I already suggested that."

Your eyes lock with Cora's, unwavering. "What if a different reaper did?"

ㅡ 

Law doesn't like that you're talking to Cora. He doesn't like that the other reaper won't leave and let him face the repercussions of his actions as he wants to. He knows Cora has told you, can see it in the tension of your body, the way you look at him. 

When you return, Law knows something is wrong. "What did you talk about?"

Instead of answering, you wind your arms around him, pressing into him. The pressure should be comforting, but Law tenses, trying to squirm out of your grip. "[Name], answer me."

"Cora told me the truth." He stills. "Were you really just going to keep me in the dark about it?" He feels your hands fist at his back. "You're an idiot."

He knows that. He doesn't care. "What's done is done," he answers. "I'm simply facing the consequences."

"Stupid." You pull away from him and blink, and he reaches to swipe his thumb beneath your eyes. 

"Crying? Really?"

You pull away completely, scrubbing at your eyes. He expects you to call him an idiot again, demand to go home, to talk about what's next ㅡ but you don't. Instead, you exhale slowly. "I'm sorry."

Law blinks, brow furrowing. "About what?"

"This," you sweep your arm out. "You should be in trouble because of me." He wants to protest that he did it of his own volition, that you hadn't forced his hand in any of it ㅡ and then with a jolt, he realizes that Cora hasn't left.

"[Name]," Law starts, "what did you do?"

"I'm cleaning up my mess," you say firmly, "I'm not going to let you get your powers stripped because of me. So Cora and I made a deal." 

Law doesn't have to ask what kind of deal it was, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. His eyes narrow, anger and hurt clashing. "So dying is an easier solution?"

"It is," you tell him, rigid in your resolve. "It's what should have happened in the first place, Law." 

He hates this. Hates that this is how it ends, that you look so at peace with your decision. You approach him again, reaching to stroke his cheek ㅡ and he leans into your touch. "Don't be sad," you tell him, "I'm annoying, remember?"

His eyes close. "No you're not."

You huff a soft laugh. "See, you're a softie after all." You pull away, and his cheek feels colder than it ever has. "Maybe we'll meet again someday. Do this the right way."

The likelihood of that is slim, next to nothing ㅡ but Law lets himself indulge in the idea of it anyway. "Yeah," he answers, "maybe."

ㅡ

Law doesn't get to see you go.

You'd made it clear that you didn't want him to see, didn't want him to watch you die. "You spent too much time making sure I didn't," you tell him, "feels like it'd be a copout if you did it again."

He can't argue that, because he knows he would. You both do. That he'd defy his orders over and over, let you live a little longer again and again.

Maybe he shouldn't have saved you from drowning in that pond. (He's glad he did.)

Law has seen a thousand and thousands mortals die and will see thousands and thousands more, but yours is the one that actually hurts. 

Cora warned him. He warned Law, and he didn't listen ㅡ and now he's paying for it. But it'd been you who'd chosen to leave him ㅡ even though it'd been to protect him. 

Idiot, he thinks, but it lacks any bite. Much as he loathes it because it's a very human emotion, he misses you. 

(Not like he'd ever admit it.) 

"Law." He looks up to find Cora approaching, a look on his face that automatically makes him wary. "I have a gift for you."

Law's eyes narrow. "I don't want it."

Cora's head tilts, eyes gleaming with amusement. "Are you sure? Because I'm sure you'll like this one."

There's someone standing beside Cora. The dark robes draped around them says that it's a new reaper ㅡ and Law resists the urge to roll his eyes. Cora's been oddly insistent that he take on a protege ㅡ perhaps he's not been as adept at hiding how your death affected him as he thinks he's been. 

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted," Cora says, patting the new reaper on the shoulder before he heads back the way he'd come. Law sighs, then shifts his attention to the newbie. 

"First off, you don't need the hood up. It's a dumb stereotype." He looks away, mentally questioning if he has the energy for someone to hang off his every word.

There's a soft laugh, strangely familiar ㅡ and then an even more familiar voice. "And here I thought it gave me a mysterious charm."

Law freezes, then turns as the newbie yanks down the hood. It's you. For a second, Law thinks he's hallucinating ㅡ but you're smiling that frustrating, irritating, beautiful smile of yours.

"Surprise," you say, rocking on your heels. "This was part of the deal that Cora and I made."

"You're a reaper too," he says, and you nod before you hold your arms out and do a small spin, making the robes flare.

"What do you think? I think it suits me." Law approaches, grabs a fistful of fabric and pulls ㅡ and finally, finally, gets to kiss you the way he wants to. 

You blink dazedly when he pulls away, and he smirks. "You said that maybe we could do this the right way someday," he tells you. "I intend to hold you to that."

You smile. "Fine by me."

[lolitastories]

Shadow

Dimitri Belikov

Royal Moroi Reader x Dimitri Dhampir

Description: After a close attack by the Strigoi, reader is hurt. She is strong and stubborn so she decides to go back to her regular routine after a couple days in bed,but she has a feeling someone is watching her.

“You are paranoid” I let out a sigh, allowing my shoulder to loosen up. Maybe I was paranoid. “The Strigois attacked the vehicle 3 days ago, you are probably still shaken up about it” Rose caresses my arm trying to calm me down.

“I guess you are right.” I shake my head trying to let go of the worry and lighten the mood.

“Plus, Aiden is always there to protect you” I look over to the dark haired guy standing only a couple feet away. He has become a dear friend so her words only make me worry not only about me but also about him. Knowing their teaching and priorities, Moroi comes first. I send a smile and nod towards the girls.

“Come on let's dance” Lissa grabs our hands with a slight laugh pulling us towards the dance floor. But I couldn’t stop the tremble shivering down my body. All the noise in the party was making me panic. The room full of people laughing and talking wasn’t allowing me to breathe.

“You two go,” I smile at Lissa and Rose. “I will be right back” With another quick smile I let Lisa’s hand go and turned to walk away. I turned over to Aiden who was busy talking with another guardian. I took this time to sleep past the people and out the stairs. I grab hold of my dress, being careful not to trip and roll down the stairs. The wind was blowing a gentle coldness and the moment I reached the terance, it's exactly what I needed. Arch columns stood surrounding the roof. I closed my eyes, breathing in the cold air, but soon my lungs took enough air in that my mind started to function again. “Shit” I groaned, wrapping my arms around my body. I wasn’t ready to go back inside but also knew that I might die out here in the cold. My head turned sharply to the stairs. There it was again. That feeling that someone was watching me, waiting for me.

“You shouldn’t be out here” My heart stopped as the low voice and dark figure came into view. “Without your guardian” I closed my eyes thanking the gods it wasn’t who I was thinking it was. But jumped seeing another familiar face infront of me once I opened my eyes, he wasn’t the one I thought it was eitheir.

“Dimitri,” I watch him move closer, unintentionally blocking the wind from hiting my skin. “I thought you were Aiden” But before that I thought you were a well mannered Strigoi or someone else coming out for me with bad intentions.

“He freaked out when he couldn’t find you,” A little smirk played on his face which made my head turn in curiosity. “Told him I would come get you,” He grabs my arm pulling me closer and wrapping what he could of his jacket around me. Dimitri has always been nice, except at the beginning. He was cold and quiet when I hung around Lisa. He explained he was new to the place and as a guardian he couldn’t trust anyone. Until we were waiting on Lisa outside a feeding. All of a sudden we started to talk like long time friends. I don’t know what switched that day but I am glad it did. Now he is like a protective older brother, but when he smiles down at me like he is now, or traces my skin whenever he gets a chance I can’t think of him close to a brother figure. He makes a red tinted appear on my cheeks. I lose my ability to breathe. My hands warm against his back, wrapped tightly and enjoying the moment. He has become a close friend and he is the only one my eyes find first in any room. “Are you better?” I nod slowly. His question was simple, but somehow it was the answer for the anxiety in me to calm down. “We should head inside” His hand loosen around my waist and move down my wrist to hold on to my hands.

“Wait,” I pull back, pulling him into a hold. Our hands were holding on as he had made distance trying to pull me back inside. His eyes searched mine for any mistake he might have made but I shook my head to let him know it was nothing serious. I took a couple of steps not letting his hands fall. “I didn’t connect the dots until now,” A confused smile played on his lips. “Since I got out of bed I became a little paranoid,” My hands pull his pull to enterwind our fingers. “I felt eyes watching me. I felt someone always following close behind, hell even in bed I swore I saw a shadow walking by my window” I see his chest rise but unable to exhale. “Everytime in public you were there” My eyes fell against our hands. Slowly I pull them behind me. Still holding on, I pull us closer. “When I walked alone I turned around and in the crowd there you were” I looked up, a small smile playing on my lips. His eyes soften, unable to look at my eyes. “Tell me something Dimitri,” I remove one hand from his to pull his chin towards me. “Tell me you were the shadow,” Because if he wasn’t, then I would truly turn paranoid.

“Yes” So simple falling from his mouth but yet it meant a lot to me. He let out the breath he was holding and moved his hand to cradle my face. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I onl-”

“I’m okay,” I give him a reassuring smile. “It was a stupid idea to walk outside the walls close to sundown. I wasn’t thinking but I won’t do it again” A smile finally appeared on his face. I remember waking up on the medical bed with him, Lissa and Rose standing around me. After the girls left I got an earful on how stupid it was to do that. It was one thing to walk out with my guardian and another to walk out alone, both being a no in his books. I didn’t get a chance to tell him that so I had to make sure I appreciated his worry.

“Good,” His hand moved to the back of my neck as his lips placed a kiss on my forehead. “Let's get you inside” The moment lightened up so it gave me strength to pull gently on his hand taking a stance on not moving as he started to walk away. He turned around lifting his brow back at me. I wasn’t going to say another thing about him stalking me and almost making me sign up for the psychward, but there was another thing I had to get an answer too.

“Is this your watch?” He always has a long black jacket or any type of clothing covering his wrist. Now that I had been holding on to his hand I noticed he wasn’t wearing his watch. And remembering every detail I could of him, I knew it was his watch on my wrist. Who was the stalker now?

“Yes,” He removed his eyes from me for a quick second before clearing his throat and turning over to me again. “I knew you wouldn’t want to stay in that bed so we needed a way to know you were okay,” his watch had a feature where it tracked your vitals but also something else.

“Is that right?” I smirk, walking closer, swinging our arms together.

“Yeah, I’ve been giving the records to your doctors” He stood straighter, proud.

“What about the tracking? Is that something you give them too?” I thought I had the upper hand. His hands were becoming sweaty and his eyes flicker occasionally somewhere else. But when his hand moved to circle my back and pull me closer, when his other hand found the back of my head, or when his lips found mine, my mind lost it. My hands instantly found his hair and pulled him closer. He deepened the kiss, his lips moving with a gentle intensity. My lips parted, inviting him in. Our mouths danced together, the world around us melting away. Everything is fading into the background. Time stood still. My hands trailed down to grab onto his neck, unable to believe he was here. The kiss grew more passionate, our hearts pounding as one. Suddenly, Dimitri broke away, gasping for air. Hesmiled, his eyes never leaving mine.

“That's just for me” His hand moved to cradle my cheek. “When I can’t be there,” My lips curled into a smile. I was trying my darnest to not give into a full teeth smile that was currently threatening to come out. How happy the little girl in me was giving back flips and the butterflies were out of control. “Just in case you forget and walk outside those walls again,” He moves down, placing a simple yet gentle kiss on my lips. He pulls away but not far. His lips hovering over mine with an intriguing smile. “I will be there this time” I roll my eyes. Like I was a child who couldn’t be trusted to learn their lesson. I stomp my feet pulling back a bit.

“I promise I won’t make a stupid decision like that again” His hands pull my face closer to the position we were before.

“I know. But keep it on, for me?”

“Demanding things so soon?” I smirk. “I am not even your girlfriend” I go to remove his hands from my face but he pulls me back with some force. His stare would usually make a person squirm but me? It makes me want to tease him. I place a quick kiss on his lips and look back at his face to see if something changed. His eyes open again, giving me the same stare. My breath danced across his skin. Dimitri’s eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched. Still, he said nothing. I pressed another quick, gentle kiss to his lips but he remained still. "You're so serious," I teased. Another quick kiss, this one lingering a fraction longer. A fourth kiss, softer still. His control snapped. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling her close. His lips claimed hers, deepening the kiss. This time, he didn't let go.My laughter melted into a sigh, my body sinking into his. His lips moved with a hunger that surprised me. Hands slid up his chest, fingers tracing the contours of his face. I felt his tension dissipate, replaced by a raw desire. Our mouths danced together, tongues entwining. The world narrowed to the sensation of their lips touching. His grip tightened, I felt his heart pounding against mine. My thoughts blurred, senses overwhelmed. I gasped for air as we pulled away.

“Will you-”

“Okay” I quickly respond with a stupid smile on my face. Dimitri’s smile was lopsided, his eyes burning. “We can go back now” Feeling the situation resolved I felt way better. I could dance the night away now.

"Not done yet," he whispered back. I look back confused but not for long as he swept me in for another kiss.

[raayllum]

Your Aunt's Spirit In You :: Callum & Amaya, a Meta

Was thinking about these two due to writing a scene between them in a recent oneshot, and then about the similarities they have, so thought - why not? Especially for a shorter meta than more of the long form ones I have siting in my drafts, let's talk about Callum and Amaya

As always, SIMILARITIES first:

Both loyal siblings to a monarch (Sarai through marriage, Ezran through birth)

Taken captive and interrogated by elves

Willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the group (special shout out to 3x01 which puts this back to back * )

* This is slightly negated by Rayla, not Callum, being the one to actually risk her life (as she talks Callum out of risking his own quite easily) whereas Amaya goes through with it. Still, Callum's sentiment and willingness is there (and on multiple occasions), so it's included. ("I need you to kill me" being another example)

Skeptical, distrustful, and good at reading people (even if Callum changes his mind about Rayla and Amaya does not about Viren)

Good planners / generals (see my General Callum tag here)

Often times more decisive than their partner (Rayla often hesitates, which Janai worries about as well) and encouraging them to prioritize their own needs as well above just their 'duty'

In 4x01, they are both worried about secrets (as a result of war based trauma) and potential attacks, even though both 'secrets' wind up being something positive and wonderful (successfully for Amaya - as she is proposed to and happily rejoices with her partner - and an attempt for Callum, as it leaves him forlorn because his partner is still missing)

Slightly darker sense of humour, maybe ("Now that you'll officially be my little brother, I'll try not to beat you up too much" + "Besides, she only eats three people a day. It's a small price to pay for peace")

And last but not least, there is Janai's assessment of their similarities (aka the meta title) that accompanies the soundtrack piece of "Like Aunt, Like Nephew".

Callum does often undertake dangerous quests / make dangerous choices (travelling across the world to return a dragon egg, throwing himself off a mountain, running into what he believes to be a trap, etc). This is, however, much like how Aaravos' assessment of Callum in 4x04 ("and my favourite, the human mage, already tainted by darkness, and destined to play right into my hands") is true for all of his mage pawns up to that point (Ziard, Claudia, and Viren in the past), true of just about every character in the show. Which makes sense - in an action/adventure fantasy show, most of the characters are going to have to be okay about throwing themselves into danger just by proxy of genre. In most of the trio scenes where someone is hurling themselves into danger, it is usually Rayla first - and then Callum, stepping up if/when she can't do something on her own.

As you might've noticed while there are similarities, outside of their skepticism and willingness to sacrifice (which is again, something most characters in the show have) there aren't that many that go beyond more surface level "these events both happen to these characters," as Amaya and Callum's mindsets aren't that similar, which are the bulk of the main differences we're going to talk about next.

DIFFERENCES:

Prejudice (or therefore lack of)

Amaya is very prejudiced against elves ("Moonshadow elves - the worst kind [...] Don't worry, Callum, I've slain monsters before") at the beginning of the show, whereas Callum never is. He still holds some poor misconceptions (mostly the blood drinking) but he still always sees them as 1) people and 2) therefore worth reasoning with: "Can't you just make peace with them? You don't want to die, I'm sure the elves and dragons don't want to die, so everyone agrees"and his first conversation(s) with Rayla.

2. The ways in which Amaya is similar to Viren are largely different than the ways Callum is similar to Viren.

Amaya devoted her life to safeguarding the Breach and their kingdom's borders, a form of security that Viren was worried about and continued to be worried about once he came into power. Amaya and Viren can both be a little two-faced, willing to present a trusting front and hide their ulterior motives (most notably from each other, and something Rayla has in common arguably with both of them), whereas Callum is incredibly honest most of the time and is very bad at covering up his emotions (something he also has in common with Rayla, since although she often tries to cover things up, she routinely fails at it).

Viren is willing to send his children after the princes in spite of the danger of their secret missions ("if you must choose, choose the egg") and Amaya is willing to hold the Breach rather than go after her nephews, leaving Corvus to do so in her stead. This is very different than Callum, who automatically and often times insists on going along with his loved ones (Ezran, Rayla) when they're embarking on dangerous journeys of their own.

On that note, Amaya and Viren are both also taken captive by the Sunfire elves and given the Trial of Light, with very different outcomes that S5 also reaffirms for Callum, so let's talk about it:

3. The Light Will Decide Your Fate

During Janai's interrogation of Amaya, and Finnegrin's interrogation of Callum, the two respond very differently. Both Janai and Finnegrin want information, but Janai doesn't resort to torture even when Amaya remains entirely silent on any and all matters, and Finnegrin keeps pushing at Callum (and Callum keeps giving up information) even if he doesn't give up what Finnegrin wants, at first.

Amaya's trial is specifically about whether or not she's "pure of heart" or, more accurately, whether or not she's done dark magic. Her interrogation and test, if you will, ends with her passing it - to Khessa's surprise. Amaya is not a mage, and certainly not a dark mage, and is therefore going to interact and approach the world differently than a mage - human or elven or otherwise - would. Callum's interrogation and test is also about dark magic, and he does not 'pass it', lmao.

Because where Amaya had to confront the Light, Callum had to confront his Dark.

This is where we get into more of the mindset differences.

Amaya is willing to cut her losses (if she cannot successfully defend the Breach, she will destroy it, circa 3x01) but Callum almost never does (staying too late in the Great Bookery, for example; holding onto hope that Harrow might be alive even when he knows deep down he knows better, etc). Amaya refuses to give up the Sun Seed for her partner's life, knowing it safeguards a bright future and is what Janai would want her to do; Callum does give Finnegrin the spell and does dark magic to save Rayla, even when she wouldn't ultimately want him to do either of those things on her behalf. 5x08 makes this comparison particularly clear by juxtaposing these two deals and scenes throughout the episode.

Part of this is because, as Amaya acknowledges, for a great deal of her life, she and Callum had very different ideas regarding strength - which is exactly what allows these perspectives to switch:

When she died, I felt lost and weak without her. I hated feeling that way, so I learned to be strong alone. Stoic, strong... and lonely.

But the last two years have changed everything. Meeting Janai, falling in love, I am stronger than I ever was... because we are stronger together. And I realized that was the real truth of me and Sarai, too.

Callum has, up until about halfway through 5x08, always believed that he (and others) are ultimately stronger together, and we see this reflected through the first four seasons and into season five. However, the back half of 5x08 begins to greatly challenge this. Meanwhile, this is something that both Amaya and to a more detailed degree, Rayla, have had to learn. Because, when it comes to how they've responded to trauma, Amaya and Rayla are more similar to one another (and arguably to Viren in this way) than Amaya is to Callum, who by and large has a very different trauma response.

CONCLUSION (??)

While Amaya and Callum do have some similarities, Amaya is not extraordinarily similar to either of her nephews - Callum included - due to their differences in occupation, mindset, and trauma response. The similarities they do share are mostly things that they each share with Viren (such as skepticism) or share with most of the general cast (intelligence - although Callum is a standout - and bravery, for example). Most of their parallels, therefore, are put there to provide contrasts within similar themes (mostly in S1, 4x01, and 5x08), and they do not parallel more than any particular pair of characters in the show (seriously, you could throw a dart and probably find parallels between almost anyone, the show is so steeped in them, so looking at consistency and structure is key). Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

—Dragons out

[twstfanblog]

*~500 Followers Fic: WaterPark Episode~*

A/N: Ignore me taking so long to get this out, AGAIN. As you've noticed I literally forgot about this fic sadly but I remembered! And to make up for it I will be adding more onto this fic in the form of vignettes in a part two. But, for now, enjoy the start up fic! Word Count: 4.4K Warnings: They/She OC, headcanons on the sexuality of the characters Main Pairings: Malleus/Yuu/Jamil/Azul, Alluded-Riddle/Floyd, Jade/Trey, Leona/Ruggie, Cater/Idia, Vil/Rook, Sebek/Silver, Firstie Poly The inspo and reference for most of the dorm's swimsuits! LOOK AT THEM!

Part 2

“Morale is so low lately…” Crowley tapped a golden claw against his desk, pouting as he rested his cheek against his other hand, “The campus is so depressing…”

Yuu raised an eyebrow, not looking away from shuffling the papers in their hands, “What do you expect? We lost to RSA in, like, four events last week. I'm surprised no one’s started a fire or something yet.” They didn’t respond when Crowley just groaned louder, writing something down on the form before moving to the next one.

“That damned RSA! Ruining the peaceful atmosphere of our lovely school! Destroying the ego of our students! Taking my award grants away from me!” He furiously ran his fingers in his hair, messing up the black locks, “The board of directors is going to cut our funding again!”

“Where is the fucking accident report-Oh, there it is.” Yuu forged Crowley's signature on another document, rolling their eyes before finally putting down the headmaster’s paperwork and watching the man fall apart at his desk, “...” They smiled, grabbing a paperweight and slamming it down to gain Crowley’s attention. Once the headmaster startled up, Yuu leaned more against the desk, “I got an idea-”

“Oh, no-”

“Shut up. I have good ideas. All you need to do is approve my event and make sure it’s properly advertised. I promise morale will be raised by the time we get back.” 

Crowley looked concerned still, almost pressing into his chair as if Yuu was poised to attack him. He hums, looking to the side and nervously clicking his nails against his desk, “...” He tilted his head toward Yuu, “No one is going to be hospitalized this time?”

“I mean, probably…”

“...”

Yuu shrugged their shoulders, looking through the piles of papers to grab a blank sheet, “We're NRC students; someone's bound to break a bone if we do anything, ya know?”

The headmaster sighed, face tilting toward the ceiling as though to question the higher powers, “Is that what we're truly known for these days…?”

“I mean that and managing to not die…” Yuu took their time writing something on the paper, ignoring Crowley's groaning as he struggled to make a choice. Just when the man had opened his mouth to give an answer, Yuu held up the piece of paper, “Never mind! I got the okay, already.”

Crowley stared at the paper, realizing Yuu had wrote out their idea and simply forged his signature for approval, “HEY-”

Yuu snickered, waving the paper as they rushed out of the room, “Thank you~! Bye~!”

Once Yuu had slammed the door behind them, Crowley sighed at his desk, “...Well a broken bone isn't too bad…”

“A water park-”

“A water park!?” Kalim nearly climbed onto the table, beaming in joy, “We get to go to a water park!?”

Yuu smiled, pinching at Kalim’s cheek playfully and shaking his head, “Damn right! I even got official permission from Crowley.”

Vil looked at them deadpanned, cup of tea half way to his mouth, “Official, huh?”

“Fuck you.”

Riddle sighed, simply making peace with the fact neither Yuu nor Kalim would apologize for interrupting him. He sipped his tea thoughtfully as Yuu and Vil bickered before speaking, “I've never been to a water park-”

Yuu cuts him off, speaking softly in an almost pitying tone, “Oh, of course you haven't; you poor sickly Victorian child.” 

“Why am I always Victorian?”

Leona yawns, scratching behind one of his ears as he kept himself balanced on the back legs of his chair, “Anyway, who do you plan on having pay for this? Forged signature aside, a trip this big will cost a lot of money…”

“...” Yuu turns back to Kalim, smiling as they tilted their head gently while batting their eyelashes, “Hey, Kalim, can you pay for this trip?”

“Sure! I even know the perfect park! My 6th youngest brother from my dad's 12th wife had his birthday party there only a few weeks ago so I can just call them to book the whole park for the Asim family again. Oh, and I can pay for all of the food, the souvenirs, the-”

Azul sighed, lightly placing a hand to Kalim’s arm in an effort to calm him down, “Kalim, I'm doing this as a favor to Jamil; Stop.”

Idia chuckled, in a rare IRL appearance from the third-year, and continued to play on his phone, “Well, you losers have fun getting burnt in the sun…”

Yuu smiled, tilting their head to the other side as they started poking Idia repeatedly in the ribs, “No~. Participation on this field trip is mandatory~.”

Idia jolted, squirming away from Yuu's fingers, “There is no way this event is mandatory.”

Swiping Vil's pen from his breast pocket, Yuu clicked the gem and quickly wrote on the scrap piece of paper before holding it up to Idia, “It is now.”

Riddle spoke, placing his phone back onto the table face down, “Plus, I have already informed Cater about our impending day trip.”

Idia sat in a stunned silence, his phone starting to buzz on a seemingly continuous loop. No doubt text after text from Cater asking which set of sunglasses were the most ‘Camable’...

Vil snatched his pen back, clearing his throat and reaching for his own phone to alert Rook, “Well I suppose it's settled then. A little romp in the sun could do a few in my dorm some good…though I will need to give a short talk about proper after-swim skin and hair care…”

Yuu smiled, sending a pleased look around the table, “Well, you guys just pick a weekend this month and we can-Fuck, where's Malleus?”

Kalim groaned, slapping the palm of his hand to his forehead, “I knew I forgot something! I was supposed to go to Diasomnia to get Malleus for the meeting this turn…”

Leona scoffed, raising an eyebrow, “How do you herbivores keep forgetting that lizard? He's nearly 7ft tall…”

Rolling his eyes, masking it by adjusting his glasses, Azul gave Leona a side glance, “Oh like you've never forgotten when it was your turn to fetch him.”

“I didn't; I just never went to get him.”

The waterpark trip had finally come, each dorm going through the mirror to the closest Mirror Station*. From there dorms had crowded into buses and made the hour drive to the waterpark.

As the 'event coordinator,’ Yuu and Grim arrived early to the park with the faculty. While Crowley and the other teachers did a final safety sweep of the grounds, Yuu and Grim were to hand out the wristbands as the other dorms arrived. Though Grim, of course, didn't stay long. The cat monster snatching a wristband and rushing into the waterpark to ‘find the best spot’. They sigh, snapping the band of their boy-short bottoms in boredom, Crewel had vetoed Yuu’s original request to wear their bikini of choice. ‘Confidence aside, puppy. Showing that much skin isn’t school-friendly’. As such, Yuu stood waiting in patterned boyshorts and a thick banded halter top to match.

Before long, the first group of buses pulled in, unsurprisingly being the ever-punctual Heartslabyul. The first off the bus was Riddle, a sunhat adorned with a few roses firmly on his head and rubbing what Yuu assumed was sunscreen onto his bare arms. He ordered people off the bus by the vehicle, making them stand along the curb as he personally checked that each person was accounted for. Once Riddle had counted a person, they made their way over to a growing crowd with Trey and Cater in the center. Each of them had a large bin in hand, Trey handing out small tubes of sunscreen while Cater handed out shades in various colors.

Riddle walked up to them, sighing heavily and fanning himself as he grabbed the thick bundle of wristbands from Yuu, “The sooner I get to a cooler area the better…all the bands are accounted for correct?”

Yuu looked Riddle up and down, lips pursed in displeasure, “Have I ever told you that I hate your dorm uniform? Because I know I have, I'm just not sure if I've said it to your face specifically.”

Looking over his swimwear, Riddle sputtered before huffing, “There is nothing wrong with my swimwear!?”

Truly,  there wasn't. Crewel had heard ‘waterpark’ and decided he needed to design standardized swim trunks and tops for each dorm. A way to have a united front while in the semi-public eye and still be able to tell which dorm was stirring up trouble. So while Riddle was perfectly in uniform for the event, Heartslabyul-themed swim trunks, a tucked-in red and black tankini top, and school-issued water sandals, Yuu still sneered at him.

“There is too much going on. I don't know how Floyd fucks with you; you're clearly poisonous.”

“I don't need to take this. I'm leaving; good day, Yuu.” He had started to walk away, quickly turning around and pointing at them as he handed the wristbands to a very excited Ace and Deuce, “And remember sunscreen!”

Yuu waves at Riddle, mumbling under their breath to not give a clear answer.

Savanaclaw and Octavinelle’s buses had arrived just as Riddle had started to signal his dorm members into the park once they were all fitted with a wristbands. Yuu couldn't help but laugh, watching the Octavinelle students stare out of their bus's windows with glares as a group of Savanaclaw students all rushed out and mobbed their buses. A petty act to keep them on the vehicles so that their dorm could enter before theirs.

Leona walked up to Yuu, his hair braided into two large sections that rested over his chest and a full beach towel tucked into his themed swim trunks, “We're here, give me the bands.”

“...” Yuu looked at the redheaded child hanging limp in Leona’s one-armed hold, a baby-fanged grin and shining hazel eyes beaming up to them. They point at Cheka, trying to keep their smile small, “He doesn't go here.”

Ruggie appeared from behind Leona, adjusting a number of bags slung over his shoulders with a little snicker, “You don't know every person in Savanaclaw, prefect. Come on, he's a freshman.”

Cheka seemed to understand the lie, holding up his fists and making an angry expression, “Let me in or I'll beat you up! RAWR!”

Yuu had to physically turn away, a hand covering their mouth to hide the wide grin on their face. Turning back, Yuu personally snapped a band around Cheka’s wrist, “You know what? You're right. He's clearly a fearsome Savanaclaw member, you have fun in there, buddy.”

Seeing the multicolored plastic on his wrist Cheka squirmed around, pointing to the band and smiling at Leona, “Ouji-Tan! I did it! I got in!”

Leona didn't look down, grabbing a band himself before walking into the park as he mutely spoke, “Good job…”

Ruggie moved to follow, only to have Yuu grip him by a bag strap and yank him backwards.

Whispering harshly, Yuu kept their eyes on Leonas's back just to make sure he wasn't listening to them, “How the fuck is Leona getting away with having his tits out? Like, I can't wear a bikini top, but Leona can be out here freeing the royal nipple?”

“Ahahaha…Oh, Yuu…” Ruggie gently worked Yuu's hand off of the bag strap, patting them on the shoulder before pulling them even closer to hiss with a glare, “This horse was a gift, stop looking in its mouth.”

Shaking their head, Yuu shoved Ruggie away lightly, rolling their eyes, “Horn dog, that's your new legal species. Can you stop thirsting over Leona and make your dorm members leave the Octavinelle buses alone? I think they’re gonna actually flip them…”

Looking over his shoulder, Ruggie noted how…yeah the others were rocking and shoving the buses to the point the wheels had started to lift off the ground at a semi-steady pace, “Huh…yeah…” Looking around, he caught sight of who he was looking for and called out, “Jack! Round ‘em up! We're heading in!”

Yuu watched Jack give a salute to Ruggie, turning into his larger wolf form and chasing the other Savanaclaw members away from the Octavinelle dorm and into the park.

Jack made a lovely herding dog, corralling the rowdy Savanaclaw students easily into the park and allowing Azul to finally step off his bus. The cecaelian looked pale, pausing a moment with a hand bracing against the side of the bus before he called for his dormmates to exit as well. As the crowd walked closer, Yuu saw Jade being half dragged by a frowning Floyd, the shorter twin looking vaguely green.

“You guys have fun? It looked fun.” Yuu handed the thick grouping of bands to Azul, leaning closer to peck his lips gently.

Azul sighed, grabbing three wristbands before handing them off to be passed into the growing crowd, “The ride over was already bad enough. Even with smooth roads, being car sick is still far too easy for me and Jade…”

Floyd mumbled, trying to snap his wristband on one handed before giving up, “These two losers nearly threw up on the way over here…

”Jade lifted his head lightly, his full weight pressed to Floyd's side as he looked into the park unamused, “And the rocking did not help…”

Yuu chuckled, helping Floyd with his wristband, “Well have fun dealing with the chlorine smell.”

Azul raised an eyebrow, “Chlorine? Why would you use chlorine in water?”

“To keep the water clean?”

Jade squinted his eyes, holding his wrist out for Floyd to place his wristband on, “That seems unethical…”

“From what I understand, most land pools use a natural filtration system. At the very least this park does from my research…”

Yuu shrugs, “Well, what do I know? I'm just a silly bitch.” They smile, leaning over the podium and loudly whispering to Azul, “Don't put on sunscreen yet, I wanna be the one to slather you down.”

“We're going into the park, goodbye Yuu, we shall see you inside!” Azul had one hand braced against each smiling twin's backs, shoving the teasing Eelmers into the water park and hoping no one could see his blushing cheeks.

Kalim was the first one off of the Scarabia buses, different songs blaring from each bus as they pulled into the empty parking lot. Kalim saw them from across the way, running over with his hands waving in the air and a big smile. Jamil notices as he exits the bus, running after him in hot pursuit.

Yuu watched as Jamil nearly tackled Kalim to the ground. The only thing saving them both from eating pavement was the second Jamil got close, he grabbed onto the cords of Kalim’s loose, twisted tube top and pulled. The fabric tightened instantly, no longer in danger of drooping and flashing an Asim nipple. They stood in the parking lot, Jamil glaring and double-checking Kalim’s outfit before reaching into a beach bag, spraying him down heavily in a mist of sunscreen.

Once they had finished, more Scarabia members exited their buses and walked over in a crowd. Yuu noticed from the corner of their eye as another dorm's buses pulled into the parking lot.

Smiling, Kalim waved, “Hi Yuu! Scarabia, set and prepped for a day of fun!”

“Did you put sunblock on?” Jamil had already grabbed Yuu by the arm, trying to tug them from behind their podium with his spray can prepped.

Yuu mumbled loudly, managing to pull their arm free from Jamil's grip. To counter his second attempt of grabbing them, they shove the thick band of wristbands into his hand. He groans, already being swarmed by his dormmates trying to grab a wristband to enter the park quickly.

Kalim laughs, calling out to his dorm, “Don't crowd Jamil too much! And remember to put on your sunscreen and kohl!” Turning to Yuu he asked, “Do you want a kohl stick? I have a few extra that haven’t been used.”

“I'm good Kalim, plus I plan on getting on slides and I will probably rub it out of my eyes at some point-”

“Kohl is waterproof, you know this.” Vil had appeared, a large sunhat keeping his body completely shaded though he wasn't actually showing much skin. He was in a strapless full-length romper, light in color with splashes of deep purple littering it tastefully. A black braided shawl over his shoulders protecting his arms and tying his outfit together with his designer black shades and plain black flats.

Kalim exclaimed, eyes wide and smiling, “Wow! Vil you look so nice! I've never seen a bathing suit like that before.”

“Because it's not one. I've had time to think it over since we all set a date for this trip.” He held his hand out, silently demanding Yuu hand over the bands for his dorm, “Even with my blend of sunscreen, The chance to tan is too high. I'll simply be enjoying the jovial atmosphere from a lounge chair, maybe do some reading.”

Scarabia had slowly entered the park as Jamil handed out bands, finally freeing the other sophomore from the crowd to join the conversation, “Hm? I can understand not wanting to get into the water; I barely trust NRC students without the threat of drowning. But not even sunbathing?”

Vil huffed, rolling his eyes playfully from behind his shades, “Jamil, if I'm going to tan, it has to be perfectly even and full body. And I highly doubt our teachers would appreciate me being in the nude.”

Yuu sighs dreamily, leaning against the podium to twirl their hair And look just barely not into the sun, “I bet Rook would. Rook loved when I sunbathed naked on our anniversaries.”

“I will drown you myself-”

A purple blur passed them, making them all look into the park though only Vil scoffed at seeing who it was. Epel had taken his chance and raced into the park while Vil was distracted. In the Pomfiore trunks with a cropped halter top and his short hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, he sent them all a nasty smirk of victory, quickly grouping up with Ace and Deuce. The two freshmen sitting in an area they had claimed with enough space for all their friends to rest once they had arrived.

Vil grumbled, shoving the wristbands into a Pomefiore student's hands once his dorm had walked closer, “Thinks he's ‘Too good for sunscreen’- Rook.” He snaps his fingers, the blond seeming to appear from Vil's shadow, and hands him a super soaker. Vil shakes the gun once, making sure it was properly loaded before aiming into the air and firing. 

Yuu, Kalim, and Jamil all watched in a shared muted fascination as a stream of semi-translucent liquid shot from the gun, arching high before splattering all over Epel's exposed back, making the freshman scream and curse as the no doubt cold liquid hit him without warning.

Epel whipped around, eyes bewildered and body shaking from adrenaline, “VIL, WHAT THE FUCK!?”

Vil smiled, handing the gun back to Rook who happily made his way into the park, yelling to Epel while miming that he was rubbing his arms, “Rub that in! Have fun with the other potatoes!” Vil turned to Yuu, lowering his shades and cocking a brow as he gave their swimsuit a look over, “Did you put on sunscreen?”

“Vil, we both know if we fight in this parking lot only one of us will be ok with a titty slipping free.”

“...” The third-year sighed, rolling his eyes and walking into the park.

Jamil glared, mentally following through a plan to wrangle Yuu into submission to spray them down, “Did you put on sunscreen?”

Yuu looked away, smiling lightly as they waved Jamil's question off and mumbled.

Yuu had slowly become annoyed. The Ignihyde buses had yet to appear and their anger only grew as the Diasomnia buses pulled in. They slam their head on the podium, groaning as they wonder just how much longer they'd have to wait to finally enjoy the park themselves. Soon, their beloved Dia-quartet had walked over, the rest of their dorm in two neat lines behind them.

Lilia was already fanning himself, an old black wicker sunhat somehow comically big yet resting on his head. While he was wearing the Diasomnia-themed swim shorts, his upper body was completely hidden by a black shawl that mimicked bat wings, “Diasomnia all accounted for Beastie!” Seeing Yuu had kept their head resting against the podium, he poked at their head gently, “Are you upset that we took so long? You know it takes time to look this cute…”

Yuu sighed, holding their head up and passing the wristbands to Lilia to pass out, “I'm happy, I swear. I'm just also pissed because I know for a fact that you guys left after Ignihyde and somehow you got here before them…”

Sebek hummed, snapping his wristband on without hesitation, “We passed them, I believe…they were pulled over at the side of the road.”

Silver nodded, helping Lilia pass the wristbands out as the Diasomnia members walked into the park, “Their buses might have broken down…”

“...” Yuu turned to Malleus with a small smile, the taller fae already smiling back at them from under his modified sunhat. The horned fae was fully covered, a floor-length cover-up that looked close to a shirt dress with a small green ribbon tying it closed. Fluttering their eyelashes, Yuu cooed sweetly, “Malleus~? Could you maybe…bring them here?”

“For you, my love? Of course.” With a snap of his fingers, the tell-tale sweep of pressure that followed Malleus’s magic moved through the area. The magic moving and condensing to an empty part of the parking lot. Suddenly three buses materialized, suspended a few feet off the ground before crashing down and making the students inside scream at the jostling.

“Oh! Malleus, don't shake them.”

The Diasomnia warden hummed, holding his hand out for Sebek to clip his wristband on as he gave the buses a pensive look, “I didn't think a few feet would matter. I will admit I was wrong.”

“Yeah, a few feet airborne from a car standpoint is a lot. You guys get into the park and I'll make sure no one got whiplash…” Yuu still took the time to pull Malleus down, pressing their lips together before rushing to the new buses, “Thank you again! Lilia, tell Cater if you see him that his selfie stick is here!”

Yuu ran over, keeping a wide breach of the buses just to make sure they didn't tip over onto them or keep rolling. Soon the doors opened, shell shocked Ignihyde students all stumbled out groaning. From one of the buses, Yuu watches as Ortho carries out a paler-than-normal-looking Idia. She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked over the bewildered students, “Please tell me no one broke a bone. Crowley gave me a quota for broken bones and I can’t use it all up on you guys.”

Ortho places his brother on the curb, saluting Yuu with a cheerful ding, “I did a brief medical scan of everyone before dismounting the bus, Prefect Yuu! No broken bones to account for…Though my brother states his ankle hurts…”

Idia flinched back as Yuu's eyes turned to him, the shorter student standing over him in his vulnerable position as she smiled ‘sweetly’

“Oh! Idia, does your ankle hurt? Want me to check it?”

Idia was almost 80% positive that meant she was really going to break his ankle just to prove a point. He turned away, his hood going firmly over his head in a desperate attempt to protect himself, “No! Just…just a phantom pain, I guess? Hahaha…haaaa…the buses teleporting was a major jumpscare…”

“I will apologize for that. Malleus didn't really think through that vehicles don't like being airborne…” They smile wider, holding their arms out before gesturing to Idia’s Ignihyde-themed swimwear and coverup, “But hey! Look at you! Showing off your translucent skin! I told you you'd have fun when you got here.”

Idia grimaced, zipping his coverup closed and doing his best to shove his legs into the loose fabric, “I told you I didn't wanna come…”

“And I told you this was mandatory. Anyway! Ortho! You got a swimsuit?”

He beamed, having waited patiently to show off his new outfit shell, “Nii-san made it fully sealed so I can get into the water! I also have an attachable waterjet system that I'm very excited to try out.

“Do a spin!”

Ortho laughed, executing a perfect twirl on one leg to show his form. Ortho's body still couldn't wear actual clothing so Idia improvised. There were bright blue lights etched into his limbs, other pathways of black and a darker blue making more water motif designs. His black shorts-looking shell seemed more flexible than his normal outfits and his goggles were a slowly scrolling rainbow display. Yuu thought Ortho's feet looked like mini speed boats to her delight.

“OH! Baby boy, Ortho! You look like you're ready for fun in the sun~.”

Idia sighed, trying to draw his cover up hood tighter around his face, “Can’t I just stay on the bus…?”

“Idia~!”

They all look to the park entrance, Cater standing and waving his arms to make sure his boyfriend saw him. Standing in his Heartslabyul-themed swim shorts, he had a patterned white button-up opened to show his top scars with their vanity diamond design, and blue-tinted shades resting on his pulled-back hair, “There you are! I've been waiting forever! Come on, I've got a perfect spot for us to chill at before I start taking pics for my cam!”

The elder Shroud slowly emerged from his cover-up, eyes wide and almost sparkling at the vision of his boyfriend, “Whoa… ultra rare topless Cater…this…this is an SR event. No, SSR-”

Yuu lightly nudged Idia toward the gates, other Ignihyde Students already having grabbed their wrist brands and entering the park, “Can you just go and spend the day with your boyfriend so I can finally go fun?”

Giving one last scowl, Idia sighed and pulled his cover-up over his head and made his way toward a cheering Cater. He wasn't going win against Cater, his brother, and Yuu. Some quest's rewards just weren't worth the grinding…

With a smile, Yuu cheered, doing a small dance in victory, “Finally! Time for me to actually have some fun. Ortho, you wanna sit with me and the other Firsties? Ace and Deuce promised to save chairs for all of us.”

Ortho beams, his goggles showing decals of stars, “Sure! Thank you for inviting me along, Prefect Yuu. I can show everyone my water jet pack!”

World Building

*As far as I can tell, the Dark Mirror is the only like...personal sized mirror capable of extended long-distance travel. But I made it so there are massive transportation stations that use the mirror's blue prints to create massive manmade portals that they can control the locations to. Making over seas travel a breezy weekend trip, though it can STILL be very expensive to buy same day travel trickets.

But since these stations are of course more like bus/train stations, you'll normally need to take other methods of travel to get to an exact location. I just like the idea of trapping these fuckers in vehicles together and I will be doing it more often.

[gentrychild]

mdzs AU where either lwj is better at communication (mr not even my brother knew I was in love until I attacked 33 of our elders), or wwx less of a brickhead (mr did I become gay bc of being in the body of a gay)

Holy shit, Anon, did you need to roast them like that? I know that this is nothing but the truth but I am pretty sure you killed Wei Ying again and Lan Zhan will need another year to heal.

Before I start, I must apologize because I feel I can't make them too good at communication without making them OOC.

1 - This happens during the "Come back to Gusu with me." scene. Instead of jumping to the worse conclusion, WWX, who is absolutely exhausted and whose brain is barely working, looks at those beautiful, all concerned, golden eyes, and asks "Why??? Why would you want me to go back to Hosu? With you?" He genuinely doesn't compute. LWJ explains that he wants Wei Ying to come back with him because he is worried for him. Wei Ying looks like he hasn't slept in six months. He might die. WWX is confused as to why someone would care about him but also kinda moved. He thanks LWJ but explains he must go back to Lotus Pond to see his sister. LWJ nods and informs him that he will accompany him there. They go to the Lotus Pond, informs the shijie that WWX is alive and then WWX, still heavily sleep deprived, kinda follows LWJ back to the Lotus Pond, passes out and proceeds to sleep for the next week. LWJ is elevated.

2 - Now, JC might suck at communicating but he knows a sibling stealer when he sees one. He thought his sister was safe after the soup incident but he apparently should have watched out for that awful Lan! He breaks into Gosu, saying that LWJ cannot marry his brother. To everyone's surprise, WWX is "Why not? He is [lists an endless list of of all of LWJ's qualities and why he would make an excellent spouse]." LWJ's ears are fully red while LQR and JC have passed out from sheer rage, which was WWX's plan all along. He informs LWJ that it's time to go hunt Wens again and he leaves, with LWJ running after him.

3 - There is nothing romantic about a war but WWX and LWJ learn to know each other more through it. They are partners in this war, always by each other side. WWX learns that LWJ doesn't hate him and that he was looking for him during his disappearance because he was worried. He calls LWJ his friend. LWJ learns that WWX cares about him. It's even possible that he realizes WWX doesn't have a golden core anymore (and why).

4 - After the war ends, the other clans are looking at the grandmaster of demonic arts and being "Maybe we should... get rid of him?" The Lan elders are not happy about someone using the demonic arts. But the Lan brothers immediately "Oh, we just know you're not about to throw under the bus someone you were all too happy to use against the Wens during the war. Pretty sure it would break a couple of rules." and pretty much tells them that if WWX is punished, they will share his punishment since they helped him during the war and didn't try to stop him. JC, who can't do less than those two Lans, also warn that the Jiang clan will stand by WWX. Which is very good because WWX rescues the remaining Wens the next day. And brings back his friend back to life. LWJ is too in love to be annoyed but JC screams so much that he loses his voice for a week.

5 - However, since WWX keeps being WWX and playing with dark forces, someone breaks it to him that it would be better if he forged a powerful alliance with a clan. Now that I think about it, it's Wen Qing, so there is a moment of confusion where WWX thinks WQ wants him to play matchmaker for her and JC (he was really enthusiastic about it). WQ had to spell out that he should marry LWJ. WWX is shocked. LWJ obviously deserves to marry someone wonderful and shouldn't be shackled to someone like him. LWJ appears (was he actually near them or did he teleport after sensing someone talking about WWX's marriage? Your guess is as good as mine.) and he informs WWX that if he's not opposed to it, this is actually an excellent idea. WWX is not opposed to it. WWX is under the impression LWJ is doing that to keep the peace. It's okay, though, he will soothe LWJ's sacrifice by being the best cultivation partner he can.

+ 1 - Cue a very ridiculous fake marriage for WWX and LWJ trying to pull a Fake Wedding to Lovers AU. Since it's pre timeskip LWJ, he fails but it's okay, WWX is the first one to kiss him.

[canbean-enby]

I feel like I need to post so here is some Stardew Valley fluff for my favorite writer boi

Elliot had been working on his new novel for the past few months. Because of his dedication, he had become more and more closed off the closer he came to finishing it. He always pushed himself too hard when it came to his books. He thought that if he didn’t finish them that he would be a failure and the entire reason that he moved to the small town would be a waist. He also thought that he would be a bad husband to you if he wasn't able to provide funds for your crops for the coming season. Of course, you could hold your own, you were good with saving and your crops always sold for a pretty penny because of the new fertilizer that you were able to get. It was safe to say that you were financially in the right place, however, Elliot always concerns himself with the “what ifs”

What if you get into an accident on the bus? What if your crops die earlier than they were expected. What if the fertilizer stops working? What if your animals weren’t able to provide enough milk this week?

The what-ifs consumed him and pushed him to continue writing. But the progress he was making on each chapter, caused you two to grow further apart.

Some days you two would barely speak. Others, you could not get a single word out of him. He would always forget to eat so you had to make sure he was doing that while also taking care of the farm. You were getting exhausted. And today caused you to pass out.

You decided to get your farm duties done early so you could get something nice for Elliot in the mines. You know he doesn’t like to show it, but the man loves being spoiled. Especially with crab cakes and some jewels. So, that’s what you decided to get. You understand his determination to get books done when he has the idea in place. You’ve seen him when he has to discard a book because of the loss of direction and you never want him to be that sad again. Even if it costs you quality time to spend with him. You have your farm to distract you anyway.

While thinking about your darling husband, you got distracted and a slime snuck up on you. While you attacked it, there was another that snuck up behind you. You managed to fight both of them off but they messed you up pretty good. Your body was torn and your energy was depleted. You need to go home. You don’t need another $1000 charged because you wanted to complete a task. That would be the tenth time this month and you know Harvey would scold you until your ears bleed. Plus, there is always someone stealing in the mines. No one knows who but if you pass out, you wake up with less than you had before. You found that out the hard way and there is no way you are going to let that happen again.

So, you dragged your sluggish body back to your house. Your feet cried at the fact that your house was so far from the mines. Your stomach yelled at you for not eating before coming here. You thought it would’ve been a quick trip. Didn’t realize that crabs were so hard to come by. Then again the TV did say that your luck would not be good today.

You didn’t even notice that you got home until your head banged against your front door. You opened it and suddenly your legs gave out as soon as the indoor breeze hit you. You didn’t even care at this point, your body was just so exhausted.

In your fog of exhaustion, you didn’t notice that your husband was trying to get your response to see if you were okay. He heard the bang at the front door and knew it was you, what he didn’t expect was the collapse that followed right after that. He knew you worked yourself hard but this was going too far. What could you possibly need that you would risk passing out in a place like the mines?

Once you gave your husband a quiet whisper that you were okay, he walked you over to your shared bedroom and set you on the bed. He pressed his fingers on top of your forehead to see if you had run a fever but everything seemed fine. So he ran to the kitchen to grab you some food that you left in the fridge for him. You did not hesitate to eat it. You didn’t even realize how hungry you were until the plate of food met your eyes. Once you were finished, you set the plate aside and tried to sit up only to be pushed down by the ginger.

“Darling you need to rest”

“I’m okay Elliot, really. I just need to remember to bring some more food with me when I go to the mines. And I probably need to go the adventurers guild to see if I can get a new weapon. Who knew slimes could be so-“

“My love,” he places a hand on your cheek and a thumb on your lips to stop you from talking. “I don’t want you out of my sight for the rest of today, okay? My eyes need a break from the screen and you need to rest. Why not help each other out hm? How does that sound?” You couldn’t help the smile that crawled onto your face or the heat that spread across your cheeks as you looked at the man you loved. “Depends, do I get a kiss out of this deal or?” He only chuckled before pressing his lips to yours, filling the kiss with passion and love, something you both have needed for the past few months. Once he pulls back, he moves into the bed next to you and pulls you close to him, playing with your hair gently to try and lull you to sleep. Of course, it was working.

After a few moments of silence, you can hear the hesitation in his voice. The way he opens and closes it prompts you to ask what is on his mind.

“I am sorry for my neglectful behavior these past few months. It’s just…I feel that if I do not make this book better than my last, I won’t be able to financially support the farm and I would eventually become a burden to you.”

You look up at him and see that his eyes are full of tears and his breath has quickened. You move your hand gently onto his face and slowly make him look at you, giving a small kiss to his nose to try and ground him from the thoughts that continue to rack his mind.

“Elliot, we are fine financially. You know this. You are not and never will be a burden on me. The house is already paid for, the farm is just something I feel the need to do. There is nothing you need to worry about when it comes to finances my darling. Everything is covered. You do not need to worry.”

Though you said this, a smile did not appear on his face like you expected it to. So you did what you know would bring a smile onto his face. You moved your hand into your pocket and felt around for the receipt that Pierre provided when you sold your crops. You showed it to your husband and his eyes lit up in surprise.

"How- you made all of this from the farm? Was this from this month?"

"Darling...that was just from today." You didn't think his eyes could get any bigger, but they did. He sat in shock, looking over the numbers that were inked onto the small piece of paper. The guilty feeling lifted away as you slipped the piece of paper onto the night stand next to you.

"If you ever need help on the farm. Do let me know. Maybe if you showed me how then we can make even more than that."

You giggled at his excitement, moving you hands around his waist and pulling him in closer to you as you close your eyes.

"Yea but you have to learn to remember to water your crops every day my love. And not with salt water..."

He kissed the top of your head and angled his arms around you, getting comfortable as multiple yawns were shared between the both of you. "I guess you are correct. Maybe I should stick to writing."

[starlightwayfinder]

*Walks in with a skip* hey hi Ven and Lauriam brainrot au anon. Would you like to hear another idea that's been buzzing in my brain?

Okay imagine this: the boys take the lifeboat, become xehanorts victims, ven get hurt, lauriam goes insane buuuuuuuut this time lauriam is able to get them both away. And they just both so happen to end up in LoD. Ven is currently losing light and life by the minute and Lauriam is in pretty bad shape. He drags them up the stairs and bangs on the door banging for help. Cue Eraqus answering in surprise, Lauriam who is fading in and out and can't see well in the dark quietly whimpers, "Brain . . . help . . ." before collapsing in a heap with Ven held protectively to his chest.

Eraqus now worried and confused how a random kid knows his grandfathers name calls for his apprentices to help move the boys inside (I imagine Aqua is 17, Terra is 19, and Lauriam is in the middle at 18 and Ven is 12). Ven still manages to connect to Sora's heart but it takes longer than originally but Eraqus and Aqua were able to stabilize his heart before he lost anymore light. Ven falls into a mini coma and Lauriam is out for a few days.

Xehanort shows up at some point asking if Eraqus had seen two young boys, his apprentices had an accident and he's "worried." This can go one of two ways, Eraqus is an idiot and allows Xehanort to come in and see the boys knowing where they are and can manipulate the situation in his favor orrrrr Eraqus deeply concerned how Lauriam and Ven ended up in such a bad state alone at his doorstep so he lies but promises to keep an eye out.

When Lauriam wakes up his memories are fuzzy he just went into straight panic mode when he thought Ven would actually die this time. He's very wary of Eraqus and demands to see Ven refusing to leave his side sleeping in the bed and holding him to his chest. Aqua and Terra are curious about the two mysterious kids that fell on their doorstep but Eraqus keeps them at a distance seeing they've been through a shock.

Things get better when Ven wakes up but Lauriam is distressed to see how empty and traumatized Ven is. He practically has to relearn everything like a baby not just his keyblade training. Eraqus tries to bridge a tentative peace with Lauriam offering to let them stay as long as they need. Slowly Lauriam and Ven find a place for themselves becoming Eraqus' pupils, Lauriam missed having peers around his age and sparring against someone not trying to kill him is surprisingly therapeutic.

Ven recovers and seems to have no memories of the year of hell or daybreak down the union leaders or darkness. Lauriam decides to let Ven be no need to bring old demons back, having Terra and Aqua as additional support which gives Lauriam time to use the library to do research and find his sister and friends. Since Lauriam has had more training he gets to take his mark of mastery sooner and actually passes allowing him to travel and look for more clues. Xehanort eventually shows up depending on what Eraqus does to Terra and Aqua's mark of mastery and Lauriam feels a twinge of fear seeing his abuser again.

Despite his best efforts Lauriam can't stop Xehanort from interfering both in the exam and leading Ven away from home. Lauriam travels the worlds looking for Ven but is always one step behind. Luxu finds Lauriam and decides he'll be useful, this time Lauriam does make it to the keyblade graveyard in time for the final battle just like Strelitzia he can't bring himself to hurt Ven and is mostly on defense. Terra gets taken by Terranort, Ven destroys his heart and lays dying again. Lauriam is desperately trying to save Ven along with Aqua but neither notices Luxu skulking behind until he's right on top of them. Lauriam goes for the attack while Mickey and Aqua take Ven and flee.

Luxu and Lauriam go into an all out brawl but ultimately is defeated by Terranort cutting him down turning him into a nobody. But he's kept imprisoned for a bit before he officially joins the organization. When he goes to CO Marluxia doesn't understand why he feels so agitated (or what he thinks is agitation) why he wants to take the organization down but there's this burning need to. He feels drawn to Sora, he wants him as his puppet but there's a strange feeling of affection as well, he doesn't want to actually hurt him and has to resist the urge to comb his hand through his hair when standing close.

Ven's sleeping heart responds to Marluxia's presence, and Sora feels this longing pain but is also disgusted by Namines abuse. Even though Marluxia can't actively remember Ven some part of him feels he's close. He knows Ven is in danger and is ready to do anything to keep him safe even if it means being obliterated. Hiding away in the chamber of waking Ven's body sheds tears for his brother and Sora is confused when he starts crying as he prepares to go to sleep and fix his memories.

Oh hey, you did find me! 

Thank you for sending me an ask ! 🌟

I love that Lauriam initially mistakes Master Eraqus for Brain. They definitely look alike, and it would be such a shock for Eraqus that someone so young would mention his grandfather! (That would definitely raise some questions,,,)

And Aqua, helping to stabilize Ven’s heart; that sounds like such a frightening moment for all of them—especially since Terra and Aqua are so unused to having any visitors at all. (Also, it’s interesting that Terra and Aqua are closer to their BbS ages, while Ven is closer to his age in UX. I wonder if Ven and Lauriam arrived later in time?)

Hmm… if Lauriam is willing to trust Eraqus, Terra, and Aqua, he might be able to warn them about Xehanort… but there’s a lot of reasons for him to be secretive too. Either way, I think Eraqus knows to at least be cautious, so he’d probably keep them safe, for the time being. 

And it’s cool that Lauriam ends up in the final battle, even if it doesn’t end well for him… I can see how becoming closer with Ven would change his relationship with Sora later on too.

I actually have a question for you, if you’d like to send another ask:

Does Xehanort know that Ven was involved in Strelitzia’s death? If so, does he try to use that to turn Ven and Lauriam against each other?

Thanks again for sending this! Adding Lauriam into BbS makes for a very heart wrenching AU. 

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Horrortale Sans & Papyrus character sheets (Updated version)

OAK (Horrortale Sans)

Backstory : Oak only live through one timeline but damn, what a timeline. After befriending everyone and making him believe that maybe they would get to see the sun again, Frisk killed the King, left and never returned. Or so is the story Undyne is telling to everyone. Oak knows something happened that day, not sure why, and is sure the kid will come back someday. Unfortunately, not everyone is that faithful. After a short civil war between Toriel and Undyne, Undyne took control of the Underground, leaving him in a very fragile position, as Oak was Toriel's first conselour. If Snowdin's monsters are still very loyal to the Old Queen, the rest of the Underground is a whole another story, and except for some friends here and there, Oak was not feeling safe anymore. It all turned even worst when the CORE stopped working, leaving monsters to die of starvation, or fall into this sick habit of eating humans falling down. First against any kind of human murder, Oak had to make a difficult choice the day Willow almost died, killing his first human and tricking him to eat it. Willow never really forgave this, but as time passed, resigned to do so to survive. Oak never ate any human. He refused it, feeding only on berries, and when times were desperate, on grass or wood. That let him very weak for something he didn't planned at all. His relationship with Undyne was not good at the time, but it was still more or less ok. Well, at least until, asking him for a meeting, she suddenly and out of nowhere attacked him, making a huge hole in his head to get his magic eye in a vain attempt to restart the CORE. It worked two hours before crashing again. Willow, not seeing his brother coming back, found him left for dead on the floor, and ran to Toriel's place to save him. Oak stayed between life and death for several months before waking up, traumatised, unable to talk, move or do anything by himself. He had to learn again, little by little, but the three of them quickly realized something was terribly wrong with his short memory. Oak grew worst and worst once back in Snowdin, having crisis that makes him aggressive and very dangerous, almost animal-like, but pretty normal a few seconds later, without any memory of what happened. After seven more long years, the fall of Aliza finally gave the Snowdin monsters the bravery to rebel against the Queen. Undyne died in the battle, but monster were finally free. Monsters are now learning to have a normal food diet again, but the consequences of what happened Underground will never really leave. Oak and Willow, closer than ever, now live in a small farm, next to Toriel's house, and both try to go with their life, doing their best to forget.

Personality : Adaptable, alert, calm, caring, fair, honest, incorruptible, independant (but not too much), observant, patient, protective, prudent, absentminded, private, reserved, solitary, apathetic, asocial, cautious, disorganized, escape artist, insecured, lazy, reactive, uncooperative.

Job : Farmer, sort of. He can't work by himself, he needs to be under his brother's or Toriel's supervision.

Hobbies : Taking care of the farm animals, writing his thoughts in his notebooks, cooking.

Loves : Food, animals, cuddling with S/O, his brother or Toriel, the forest, pretty rocks, going where Willow tells him he can't go, do what Willow tells him not to do, napping in places he can't fit in, annoying Grillby for attention when he's bored.

Hates : Undyne, anything close to his head hole, people who stares at him for too long, loud noises, crowded places, people not patient when he's struggling to talk, people who try to baby him, the hospital.

The S/O of his dream : Someone who is not scared of him and doesn't judge him for his past actions. Loving to cuddle for hours is a huge bonus.

Dealbreaker : Babying him, trying to separate him from his brother, being mean to Willow, screaming because he's forgetting things.

Contacts :

Family : Willow - HT Toriel - HT Grillby

Adopted family : Nugget - Pumpkin - Copper - Chief - Delta - Dune (adopted dog???)

Best friends : Honey - Sam - Ben

Close friends : Papyrus - Grillby - Red - Rumba - Killer

Friends : Toriel - Asgore - Blue - Coffee - Rambo - Salsa - Fang

OK/Neutral : Gerson - Edge - Nox - Moon - Sun - Tango - Demon - Creeper - Error -

Would better avoid : Sans - Alphys - Mettaton - Burgerpants - Gaster - Muffet - Rus - Ink -

Absolutely hates : Undyne - Frisk - Chara - Flowey - Wine - Torpedo

_______________________________________

WILLOW (Horrortale Papyrus)

Backstory : Willow had a really rough time Underground after Frisk left, which he didn't really understand in the first place (well, at first, after everything that happened, he's glad the poor kid didn't get stuck in the middle of everything). He was right in the middle of the fight between Toriel and Undyne, trying to calm down everyone and finding alternative ways to avoid a civil war, before Undyne took the trone. Willow found himself torn between his loyalty to Toriel and his friendship to Undyne, who was now threatening his brother, considering him a traitor. When the CORE broke, Willow overdid himself to help everyone, forgetting to take care of himself in the battle, as he rejected with all he had monsterkind starting to use humans for food. Oak abused his weakness to force his hand, then Willow had to accept it blindly because there was not really any solution left for him to survive. But every human killed was a hit in his soul, and he can still remember any face he killed. When he found Oak half dead in Waterfall, he thought this is it, that he would be on his own, but Oak struggled and survived, somehow. In the meantime, Willow asked Undyne for help to find who did that to his brother, and she did, sending him on wrong tracks again and again, to the point Willow found it suspicious and begged her to tell the truth. After he learned Undyne almost killed his brother, their friendship is over. Willow never felt so betrayed in his life. Despite everything, and after monsters killed her with the help of Aliza, he never felt satisfied with the ending, feeling a bit of regret, like he could have done differently. The monsters refused to give Undyne a grave after all she did, and at first, Willow agreed, but it just felt wrong. He went back Underground not a week later to collect her dust, and Alphys', who was gone a long time ago already, and buried the both of them in the forest. When he left, to start his new life on the Surface, he told Undyne he's forgiving her. Willow now has a farm with his brother and tries to live normally, despite him struggling with how he looks and what he did Underground. But he's getting better.

Personality : Benevolent, caring, cheerful, creative, cultured, dramatic, enthusiastic, forgiving, gentle giant, kind, logical, observant, peaceful, perceptive, persuasive, rational, self-critical, sensitive, sentimental, tolerant, moralistic, sarcastic, anxious, melancholic, paranoid, regretful, lack of confidence.

Job : Farm owner.

Hobbies : Take care of the farm animals, cooking, crafting things, decorating the house, volonteering to distract old people in retirement homes.

Loves : His brother, flowers, pretty objects, cleaning, reading, visiting new places, bitching on the neighbours, children, his routine.

Hates : The Underground, his past, his body, how his back hurts for nothing, not being able to run in the morning anymore, when he burned food, people staring at him, rude people, people not letting their seats in the public transport, when Oak refuses to listen to him for once in his fricking damn life.

The S/O of his dream : Someone who won't judge him and comfort him about how he looks. Someone who likes to share his interests and the other way around.

Dealbreaker : Being mean to his brother, using his past against him, saying he's lying when he says he's too in pain to do anything, trying to hide him from your family because you're scared how they will react around him.

Contacts :

Family : Oak - HT Toriel - HT Grillby

Adopted family : Nugget - Pumpkin - Copper - Chief - Sam - Ben - Delta - Dune (???)

Best friend : Toriel (second mom)

Close friends : Papyrus - Mettaton - Grillby - Honey - Killer

Friends : Sans - Asgore - Gerson - Blue - Red - Rus - Coffee - Rambo - Salsa - Rumba

Would love to be friends again but is too scared to ask : Undyne - Alphys - Frisk - Chara - Asriel/Flowey

OK/Neutral : Burgerpants - Moon - Sun - Tango - Demon - Creeper - Fang - Error

Would better avoid : Gaster - Muffet - Edge - Nox - Ink

Absolutely hates : Wine - Torpedo

[hummingbird-of-light]

June of Doom 2024 Day 16 (@juneofdoom)

16. “At least it can’t get any worse.”          

| Secret | Stranded | Setback |

~

Christine Chapel and her fiancé reached their house completely out of breath. The door was quickly locked and all the necessary safety systems activated.

"What a race! And here I thought that dinner at the restaurant was the worst thing that was going to happen to us tonight," Christine moaned, leaning her head against the now locked door. "Well... At least it can't get any worse."

"I guess you're right, darling. But I really didn't think we'd make it in time."

When she heard Roger's voice behind her, Christine turned and gave the man a sad look.

"I just hope more people made it. The victims who are still alive at the end of the night and are brought to us in hospital are always so badly battered and usually have little chance of survival."

Even though it had been a few years since the so-called Blood Elite had been formed to decimate the crowds on the overcrowded Earth at irregular intervals, it was still a terrible thing.

The members of the group were personally selected by the government. Microchips were implanted in their brains, turning them into mindless slaves. They simply had to kill and could not resist the urge.

There were only a few people who were safe from the attacks. Old people who would soon die anyway. The few children who were allowed to be conceived, born and raised at a high price so that humanity itself would survive. All other humans were fair game and could and should be killed by the group, to which an incredible number of members belonged.

The warning signal, which some rebels had invented to alert the inhabitants of the small town where Christine and Roger lived to attacks by the Blood Elite, was the only hope many people had.

It was already part of their everyday lives. They went about their typical days and suddenly there was another attack.

"Hey, everything will be fine." Roger stepped quickly to his fiancée and pulled her into a hug and Christine snuggled tightly against him. Somehow the man's words didn't sound too sincere. There was a strange undertone to them, but Christine didn't hear it. She was just glad to be in his arms.

Roger was everything to her. He was her safe haven. He carried her through every difficult time. And she loved him more than anything.

"How about we have a nice glass of wine now and then go to bed, huh?"

Roger gently stroked a long strand of hair from Christine's beautiful face and gave her a kiss. Although he was smiling, there seemed to be something strangely sad in his gaze.

"That sounds like a good plan."

The path quickly led them into the living room, where Roger quickly pulled out two glasses and a bottle of wine, while Christine was already seated on the couch.

Roger quickly joined her and soon they were drinking their wine together and cuddling.

It was these normal, quiet moments that made Christine's life worth living and gave her hope. Maybe the rebels would win one day. Maybe one day they would live in a normal world again.

"Can ... I ask you something, Chris?"

Christine was surprised at how unusually cautious her otherwise so self-assured fiancé sounded.

"Of course. What's up?"

Roger didn't look at her, keeping his eyes fixed on the contents of his glass.

"Would you ... kill someone if that person wanted you to?"

Christine felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach and an icy shiver ran down her spine. What kind of strange question was that?

"Roger?"

Her fiancé finally looked at her.

"Would you?" he asked again. This time with a little more emphasis.

Christine looked at him uncomprehendingly and put her glass down on the table in front of her.

"I swore an oath and you know it," she said and she was surprised by the despair and sadness reflected on Roger's face when he heard those words.

"Yes. I know that, but –" Roger didn't finish the sentence. He ran a hand over his face and sighed heavily.

"What's wrong, Roger? Why are you asking me a question like that?" Christine became restless. The whole situation was making her uncomfortable.

It took a brief moment before Roger took her hands in his and squeezed them tightly. There were tears in his beautiful eyes.

"Christine, I ... I haven't told you something."

Her mouth went dry as she heard Roger's shaky voice. She shook her head slowly.

"Yesterday, some government employees came to our lab. They ... selected new members for the Blood Elite and ... I'm one of them."

Christine felt her throat constrict and hot tears stream down her cheeks.

"Roger, that –"

"Shhh." Her fiancé's finger found Christine's lips, silencing her. Roger swallowed hard before finding his voice again.

"The chip is already implanted. It will be activated tomorrow morning." Tears began to flow as Roger placed his hand on Christine's cheek and gently stroked the skin with his thumb. "There's nothing I can do about it. All I wanted was one last beautiful evening with you, my fiancée. That's why I kept it a secret from you. I'm so sorry."

Christine shook her head again and again. She just didn't want to believe it. It simply had to be a bad dream.

But the look in Roger's eyes said more than a thousand words and showed that he was telling the truth.

"I ... I'd kill myself, Chris, but ... I'm just so scared of it. And I know you know a lot about medication. Can ... can you mix me a lethal cocktail that will give me a gentle death?"

There were so many emotions in Roger's gaze. Despair, fear, sadness. But also hope. He hoped that his fiancée would grant him his last wish.

"I can't do that, Roger," she sobbed, "I just can't!"

"Please, Christine, I'm begging you! All I want is to fall asleep next to you and not wake up the next morning. I don't want to become a murderer. I ... I don't want to hurt you."

It wasn't fair. It was just too cruel a situation. And they both knew that. But when Christine saw the pleading look on her fiancé's face, she knew there was only one thing she could do.

She nodded. She would indeed do it. And Roger's grateful eyes were reason enough.

Together they got up from the couch and wandered into their bedroom. Christine's path first led her to the bathroom, from which she fetched some medication. She mixed a mixture that she knew would be impossible to survive ... and handed the glass to her fiancé. The man she loved so much. The man who gave her hope.

Roger drank a few sips before Christine and he lay down, their arms wrapped tightly around each other. The kisses they shared were the most tender they had ever had. They showed their love to each other one last time, saying how they felt over and over again.

And when Roger finally fell asleep, Christine did the only right thing. She took the glass and drank the rest.

Roger had always been her hope. And without him – without hope – she didn't want to continue this fight either.

Neither of them would wake up the next morning. They were free.

[justapixelthing]

Do you ever have moments where you hate your favorite ship? (Another Oot Zelink rant - electric boogaloo)

Here we go again I guess. For some context: I grew up with Ocarina of Time. I played the game since before I could even read (I was like 4 for sure). I had kind of a rough childhood so for me Oot was an escape. Link was my childhood friend. I identified with him but at the same time saw him as my closest companion.

And well to little me there was no doubt that Link and Zelda were a thing. Same with Mario and Peach (SM 64 was there at the same time for me). Like it was clear as day to me. I was a child and it shaped the way I would end up liking my relationships. A hero and the princess. And I even ended up getting my hero in real life and he likes to call me his princess. We've been engaged for a while now.

So because I grew up with it, before I even understood what shipping was, it was more than a ship to me. It was my childhood. My reality.

You also have to realize that before TP came out and even for several years after TP was there, oot Zelink was also still very popular.

Then closer to today, we have things like Hyrule Historia and.... Zelda youtubers all saying the same thing of how the Hero of Time canonically marries Malon (which ... is still a theory. Like youtubers saying it's what happens and not marking it as theory doesn't make it canon) and the majority of the fandom treats it as fact. And okay, I get why the theory is popular, though I still think it should be treated as theory.

But now you have everyone going against you. Oot Zelink content is most of the time depressing tragic and painful content. What once used to be stories of love and peace faded out for the most part. When you write a fic about oot Zelink being happy together or make art about it, people will tell you 'but Link banged Malon' and worse things. Like I'm not here to tell you Malink is impossible, but I do think (and I will die on that hill) that oot Zelink IS possible. But then I get insulted over it. Hell someone called me the T slur over it.

I'm not blind to the hints, but these two are engraved into my mind. And sometimes I actually DO wish I could stop shipping them and wish they would stop affecting me. But they don't because they were part of my growing up process. Now when I see content about them, things like simple tweets or opinions or even just Oot content in general, it can put me into total agony. Oot used to be one of my favorite games and now just looking at it can ruin my mood and put me at unease. All the hero's shade content basically feels as If I'm watching my childhood friend die over and over again (which is whole different topic in itself) and all the tragic oot Zelink content rips my heart out. All this also made me feel unable to really like TP, which is a shame, as it introduced some of my favorite things.

What also hurts is, that as a child I really liked Malon. She was one of the things in my life that inspired me to sing. But this whole situation and the way several fans are has made me detest her. I try to like her but I basically have to force myself to do so.

I'm never going to attack you for having a different ship than mine (unless its illegal). But this situation is really hard on me. I wish I could agree with Malinkers but I probably never will.

Who knows, maybe I am delusional. But seeing as Nintendo never has and likely never will confirm Malink and has pushed oot Zelink (Oot 3d promotional manga? Approving of the mangas that push oot Zelink, which includes the TP manga? Miyamoto literally saying he'd like to see Zelda as Links girlfriend in oot?! The whole ending of the game literally being set up like a romance film with a break up and a reunion!?) you can't tell me Nintendo never intended anything romantic to come from them. And using this I still feel in the right to ship them in a non AU way.

But because of how the situation is, I no longer like Oot as much as I used to. It was once the greatest game ever to me and I still objectively consider it as such, but it isn't as it used to be for me. Sometimes I even wish It didn't exist (though that would be a great injustice to the world if it didn't), because it upsets me too much. I hate seeing my childhood friend die and not get what he deserves. I detest the tragic oot Zelink path (though I do not mean to tell anyone that they shouldn't like it - this is just my personal experience and I get why others like it).

I do like some other things that are tragic - I mean one of my favorite films is Titanic, but I guess I grew up with those things already being tragic (imagine Titanic not being tragic! A literal historical disaster!)

It is shocking how much a simple thing like a ship and a character's fate can affect you mentally. Things that are part of your childhood, even fictional stories, can shape you quite strongly.

So yes, sometimes I hate this ship. Sometimes I love it, but when I love it, I usually need to be far away from the fandom.

I wonder if anyone else feels that way about this or another ship?