#u barely knew this kid I mean of course I feel terrible that someone with his life ahead of him was snuffed out in the blink of an eye

[tchaikovskaya]

I could/should elaborate when I’m not falling asleep as I am rn but like. I feel like for the people who you “mourn” who have died young and/or suddenly who you knew only in passing, or only casually interacted with, or were once close to but in the years between then and their death you barely spoke, etc etc etc, you arent actually mourning them or their presence in ur life (and now palpable absence) (supposedly) but just what it means to be a human on earth who has to grapple with inevitable loss and the immense weight of what a Person is and their footprint on everyone they interact with that is fleeting even tho there are several billions of us on the floating rock but none of those billions of lifetimes are ever overlapping 100%…. sigh :/

[worldismyne]

The Longest Sleepover: Ch 14

Summary: The first year of school did not go as planned for Harv and he’s never felt more alone. That is, until a loud kid from the saga studies course decides they’re best friends now.

(Year 1 AU, Harv deals with homophobia, Finn is oblivious.)

Series: Warrior U

Pairing: HarvFinn

Rating: T

Ao3 Link

That morning, Finn trudged downstairs for breakfast with a headache and a guilty conscience. He'd really hoped to shield Harv from his hysterical behavior, especially after trying so hard to fight it. However, seeing Harv kiss someone else had blasted a hole in his heart he hadn't anticipated. He was used to things like jealousy and envy, what he wasn't used to was a feeling of loss that was physically painful. He had called up the only person he knew who had close friendships with other men only to be told quite bluntly what he already knew. Friends didn't feel this volatile seeing each other be happy with a significant other. The only upside that came from last night was Beatus and Shad finally apologizing for saying he was weird before for not 'liking' anyone, since clearly, he liked someone quite a lot. Enough to spiral into an emotional meltdown that made Finn feel borderline psychotic and fear he wouldn't be able to put himself back together again.

At least now he felt he could talk to someone without lurching to an extreme emotion.

His appetite had come back a little, enough he could busy his hands and hide his shame in pointed silence. He never wanted Harv to see him like that. Especially when he'd felt so out of control. It was scary and embarrassing all the same. He still hadn't heard how Harv's date went. Finn begrudgingly set aside his toast, the anxiety and feeling of rejection treating to steal his appetite once more.

"Hey..." Harv said as he entered the kitchen. Finn glanced up and nodded, unable to force a smile. Harv plated his own breakfast in silence before taking a seat across from Finn. "Are you... okay?"

"No." Finn said.

"What happened?" Harv asked. "Everything seemed fine when I left."

"I was fine... kind of..." Finn sighed. "But then I saw you kiss him and- I should have been happy for you and I couldn't do it. I felt like a terrible friend and all I wanted was for that date to have never happened; which isn't fair to you. No matter what I do I can't make it go away." He gestured to himself. "It's not your fault. I mean, it kind of is, you let me become so attached to you it's really quite ridiculous looking back on it. You've had other friends before, you should have... I guess you did, I just didn't want to hear it." Finn looked down at his toast and bit his lip. "I'm sorry for saying you were lucky you had someone you liked, this feels awful."

"...you like me?" He had noticed Finn wasn't as affectionate with his other friends; but he had chalked that up to Finn barely being friends with them at all. He had done his best to squash any thought of Finn wanting to hold onto him this badly. Watching the guilt and shame take over Finn's features was oddly like staring into a window to the past. Even if the reasons were different, it was quite clear, Finn felt like he liked someone more than he should.

"As much as I possibly can, yes." Finn said quietly. "At least that's what everyone else seems to think. Which is very confusing, because these were the same people that thought I'd never like anyone, so maybe they're wrong. But if they are wrong, then I really have lost my mind." Harv reached across the table, and took one of Finn's hands, the bard stilled. "I know it's selfish, but I want to be the most important person in your world, and I want you to be happy... I don't think I can have both."

"Selfish how?"

"You should have seen the things people were doing on that hayride, and that was in public!" Finn took his hand back. "I might never want to do something like that. I'd feel like... like I'd be making you give something up. It doesn't seem fair."

"You know, next time I see Shad, I might punch him in the face for you."

"Don't do that." Finn said, though there was a small glimmer in his eye.

"I'm barely comfortable going on dates in public, and now that I've been on one, I can tell you the biggest difference was you're more..." Harv's face lit up. "You want to be touched plenty by what I've seen. Don't go throwing your weird bard friend's definition of relationships into it."

"You're just saying that."

"I'm not. It's a fact and furthermore, you've never asked if I liked you back." Harv pretended to be indignant, watching as Finn realized what direction Harv was pulling the conversation.

"I thought you liked Trevor."

"I do, but he... He's just not ready for the kind of relationship I want to have." He wasn't sure he could wait around for someone who might change their mind with Finn staring at him all starry-eyed across the table.

"Just how many people do you find attractive?" Finn gaped.

"...Do you mean physically or-" He cut himself off, laughing at Finn's dawning horror. "I'm not emotionally invested in all of them, I just have eyes. I've just known Trevor for a long time, we used to be best friends. I'm not sure he'll want to talk to me for a while."

"Well where do I fall on this list?" Finn crossed his arms and waited.

"It's not a list!" Harv said. "You've always been very cute, but very unavailable; so I didn't do anything about it."

"Well now I'm attractive and available, so what are you going to do about it?"

"I... I'm kind of out of sorts myself. I know it's silly to be upset when I'm the one who broke it off..." Trevor still hadn't called him back. The longer things went, the more certain he was that there'd be no second date regardless of the other boy's answer. It still stung. "I need time to fully deal with all of that. That means no more going on dates."

"That bad?" Finn cringed, his tone a little too hopeful to come off as fully sympathetic.

"We just wanted different things..." Harv said. "Right now, I'm very committed to my job."

"Yes, of course, your job." Finn took a bite of toast. "Well, I'd like to go to the speak easy today. It's been a very turbulent weekend for me and I'd like to spend time somewhere quiet and private."

"Alright, well I'm drinking water then. Those drinks are expensive."

-v-

The day of the duel arrived. Harv was dressed up in a particularly ridiculously decorated set of armor, but Finn insisted he looked dashing in it. Finn talked him into wearing a lot of things that way, like Darren's sword he'd accidentally stolen. An intimidation tactic supposedly, though it was probably just another way Finn could indirectly insult the noble.

He showed up to find the training grounds flanked by spectators eagerly awaiting the match. It seemed there was no way to handle things quietly like men, but rather make an utter spectacle of the other's defeat. Not that he was terribly worried, a week's worth of training was not enough to surpass his pure brute strength. It was a little nerve wracking being the center of attention again, catching quite a few familiar faces in the crowd.

"Wipe the floor with him Harv!" Emet cheered from the sidelines. She leaned back pointing to the clothes he was wearing, willing to tell anyone who'd listen who made them and how to order them. He might as well have been a walking billboard for her designs. However, her cheers had caused a ripple effect as other warriors from his class whooped and hollered as if nothing had changed. He offered a shy wave to his fellow barbarians, even Trevor was there to show support despite everything. Though seeing him did sting a still healing wound.

"Harvey, wait!" Finn waved him over toward the stands. Harv came in close as Finn pulled out a lavender handkerchief. "You are doing this to defend my honor in a way, so..." Finn clumsily tied the handkerchief around Harv's belt, a rosey blush dusting his face. "Knock him dead, Harv."

"I'm not going to kill him."

"Maybe just a little." Finn looked at Harv through a small gap between his fingers.

"Not gonna kill him."

"Fine." Finn sighed. "Could you at the very least maim him for me."

"I will humiliate him publicly, isn't that enough?"

"I guess." Finn pouted, and tried not to smile. "Good luck."

Harv pulled himself away from the stands to face his very angry opponent. He tossed Darren's glove back to him, who snatched it midair. Darren then dropped it to the side with a sneer.

"I will be taking my sword back." Darren said dryly. Harv casually stretched his arm in a performative attempt to warm up.

"You already have a sword." Harv said. "You can barely hold one up, let alone two." Darren clenched his sword and growled, while Harv patiently waited for the neutral party to announce the fight. While Harv was willing to try talking it out, Darren insisted the duel continued as planned. The arbitrator dropped a red cloth and instantly Darren lunged.

He was quicker this time, not underestimating Harv's strength like he had before. His technique was a little sharper too now that his mind was strictly on the fight. Harv deflected each blow lazily. The one disadvantage to thinner swords was he had a habit of breaking them on accident. This was supposed to be a fair fight after all, he didn't want Darren getting injured over some flying shrapnel.

"Could you at least pretend to take this seriously!?" Darren took a few steps back, having been the only one on the offensive.

"I am." Harv said. "I haven't had the chance to fight anyone in a while. I'm trying to keep it going." A few years back, he would have died for a chance to see a real knight in combat. So of course he wanted to have a little fun while in the ring, especially if this knight was as big a deal as he claimed to be. His sincerity fell on deaf ears, coming off more as a cat toying with a mouse than a fellow swordsman. "Isn't the point of having an audience to give a good show?"

Darren shot towards him again, his strikes clumsier than before. It was harder to predict which place Darren would try to strike next and he almost nicked Harv's arm. Harv dove out of the way, and flipped the sword around so he could grab it by the blade. Darren faltered, seeing Harv wield his sword more like a mace than a blade, and knocked Darren's sword out of his hands. Harv tossed his weapon up in the air, catching it by the handle and pointed it at Darren.

"Come on, pick it up." Harv tapped his foot. "I'll wait."

"That technique is for armored opponents." Darren spat. He collected his weapon, resenting the fact Harv continued to wait until he was back on his feet.

"Well, yeah, but I've always wanted to try it." Harv bounced a little on his toes. This time, he swung his sword overhead. When Darren, effortlessly blocked, Harv grabbed Darren's right elbow. The angle of his sword slipped, and Harv was able to break through his defense and gently tapped Darren's shoulder before letting go. "If only we were wearing helmets. There was one where you grab the visor and pull them toward the blade." He side stepped away from Darren's strike. "And then there's one-"

"I know!" Darren shouted. "I've been studying sword fighting since before you could walk. I don't need a lesson from some barbarian drop out!" Harv's smile fell. As Darren ran toward him again, he grabbed the tip of Darren's blade, pulling it to his side. He had the sense of mind to drop his own weapon, not wanting to seriously injure the knight. So instead of running into the hilt of Harv's sword, he got punched in the face. Darren stumbled backwards, the beginnings of two black eyes starting to bruise.

"I thought you knew that one." Harv said as Darren dropped to the ground. Harv picked up both swords and pointed both blades at Darren's heart. The noble moaned weakly in the dirt as a small trickle of blood streamed down from his nose to his chin. "I win." He sighed, sheathing one blade and burying the other one in the dirt. There was a roar of cheers from people who were happy to witness violence, though some booed at the lack of real bloodshed. Finn crawled over the stands to the battlefield and ran to Harv with open arms.

"You did it!" Finn cheered. Harv scooped him up, swinging him around to keep the bard from accidentally strangling him. Finn went to kiss his cheek only to be met halfway. The bard's grip slipped a little from the shock. It wasn't either of their first kisses, but it was the first time Finn had been kissed in public. The crowd was just noise to him, he couldn't tell if it was good or bad. "Oh..." When they separated, Harv gently helped Finn find his footing once more.

"Sorry, that was really petty of me." Harv mumbled. "I shouldn't have-" Finn kissed him again, then his cheek, and the bruises forming on his knuckles.

"Please, use me to be petty more often." Finn said, blushing in spite of his false confidence. "Make everyone jealous. We could actually make them a little more jealous." Finn leaned in again and Harv bashfully turned aside.

"Come on Finn, they get the idea."

"He likes to kiss me, on the mouth!" Finn half shouted, half cackled. "Not you, not you, ew definitely not you. ME!"

"Finn, now you're just embarrassing me." Harv started to lead Finn away from the crowd. He'd never consider Finn's obnoxious habit of showing off his favorite things might trickle down into relationships. Which was silly, Emet had warned him about this from the start. He couldn't help but feel a little rush every time Finn made eye contact to taunt another passerby that he just so happened to be attached at the hip of the strongest fighter in all of Cailburry. His words of course, not Harv's.

The whole walk home Finn was bombarding him with questions he didn't quite have the answers to yet. He had meant what he said about taking a break from dating, especially with him working for Finn's mother, but he also couldn't deny wanting to kiss Finn or openly stare at him. He also couldn't shake the slowly rising panic at the realization of what such a public display of affection might actually affect later down the line.

"Harvey, you just beat up Cailburry's star swordsman and my mother kidnaps people who insult her for fun. You're fine." Finn shrugged. "The worst thing that's going to happen is people might have new things to whisper about behind your back. But they'll be too scared to say anything to your face!" Finn winked, shooting a few finger gun's Harv's way. "It'll be fine. If anyone so much as looks at you funny, I'll give them the old 'if looks could kill'. That always shuts them up."

"That's true." Harv sighed. They entered the front hall, and Harv paused while hanging up his cloak. There was a cake in the trash.

"Harvey?"

"My mom was here." Harv quickly put his cloak back on.

"Harvey, wait, think about this!" Finn chased after him out into the street. "You can't just go running back there without a plan."

"It's my mom Finn, what do you-" Harv slowed down. He could see the concern in Finn's eyes. "I kept waiting for them to try and talk to me, and now she finally has. I have to at least try."

"But what if he's there too." Finn said. Harv's shoulders sagged, knowing deep down Finn had a valid concern. "Let's at least tell mother what's going on before going back there. She can keep an eye on us. I'm sure they'd rather talk to you alone, but..." He tugged Harv towards him by the arm. "I don't like the idea of you going there by yourself."

"Okay..." Harv tried to calm his racing thoughts. "No, you're right. It's just, if either of them will understand, it's my mom."

[myherowritings]

hearts intertwined | t.s.

— You and Todoroki have been roommates for months now but have barely had more than a two minute conversation. When quarantine hits and everyone is on lockdown, you find yourself forced to spend more time with him and actually end up...enjoying it? 

pairing: todoroki shouto x reader word count: 3,055 genre: roommate au, pro hero!shouto, fluff warnings: suggestive content, 16+, mc and todo are both mid-20s

a/n: this is written as part of the crackhead sanctuary’s server collab! (pls excuse my server name lmfdkgfdg i have terrible naming skillz) i hope y’all enjoy and pls lmk what u think!! xx sof

In many ways, Todoroki Shouto was the perfect roommate. 

He cleaned up after himself, always made an extra serving of food and set it aside for you (though it may only have been because he sucked at measuring out ingredients rather than him intentionally planning on leaving you leftovers), and generally kept his volume to a minimum when entering the apartment at ungodly hours of the night. 

There was also the fact that he was the most attractive person you had ever shared a living space with in your life, and seeing him shirtless on his way to his bedroom from the bathroom was a definite bonus.

But despite all that, he was never someone you considered yourself close to.

You needed help paying for rent and expenses and he happened to be a friend of a friend of a friend who was looking for a place in the city to stay. Call it a divine intervention, a gift from the gods, or even fate… But you still wouldn’t consider yourself his friend.

It wasn’t as if you didn’t want to befriend him--Todoroki seemed like a sweet person. It was more along the lines of neither of you having the time. While you spent most of your day in the lab studying and doing research, Todoroki was always working in his office or out in the field to fulfill his new hero duties. 

This quarantine was probably the first opportunity either of you had to be in the same building for more than thirty minutes at a time. Which was why, as the two of you sat side-by-side on the living room sofa, no one knew exactly what to say.

“So, the weather--”

“Looks warm out--”

Both of you opened your mouths and shut them at the same time.

“Sorry,” Todoroki said with a small smile. “You first.”

“I-- Oh… It was nothing,” you managed, clearing your throat in an attempt to compose yourself. “Just trying to make some small talk.”

With a tight-lipped smile and wide eyes, you slowly craned your head away from his view. Who admits they’re trying to make small talk? That breaks all the rules of how to properly talk to someone.

The faint sound of the television playing old infomercials buzzed in the background while you and your roommate sat in silence. You never struggled to talk to him during those brief moments of passing, so why now? 

Looking at the screen to pass time, you noticed an outdated commercial of an older Tamagotchi game playing and felt yourself breaking out into a grin.

“Aw, I miss that game!” you cried as you turned to Todoroki with an excited glint in your eye. “Don’t tell anyone, but in elementary school I used to play it in class and since I was such a goody two-shoes, the teacher never suspected a thing.”

He raised an eyebrow in response. “I see we have ourselves a rebel in disguise here.”

“It’s our little secret, though. To everyone else, I am the epitome of innocence.”

You couldn’t help but notice the way his gaze travelled down your body and lingered on where the fabric of your oversized pajama shirt stopped and the expanse of your thigh started. 

“Sure. I believe you,” he said in what was almost a teasing tone. 

You felt your face growing hot but you paid it no mind. 

“As you should,” you sniffed, crossing one leg over the other haughtily. When he chuckled, you turned back to him. “How about you? Are you a secret bad boy who played with his Tamagotchi in the back of class?”

Todoroki shook his head. “I never had one. I actually never even knew what it was until high school, I think.” 

“Really?” Your eyes widened. Sure, the hand-held game was marketed to girls, but to never have heard about it through your whole childhood? You weren’t sure how that was possible. “Not even your older sister had one?”

Now, you didn’t know much about his personal life (whether or not he was dating someone, if he slept on the left or the right side of the bed, which leg he put in his pants first, et cetera), but you did pick up on a few things about his siblings from the previous interactions you’ve had with him.

“Not to my knowledge,” he said, looking away thoughtfully. “My father never afforded us such luxuries.” 

You frowned. “What about toys like Pokemon? Oh! Or Yu-Gi-Oh cards?”

“Yu-Gi-Oh cards?” repeated Todoroki slowly, as if he was unsure what you were talking about.

Your jaw dropped in disbelief. “You never played--? Oh, never mind. How about family games like Twister or Just Dance?” 

As far as you were aware, Todoroki Shouto came from a rather affluent family. So it was a wonder why he never participated in at least one of these experiences that characterized a whole generation’s childhood.

Again, he shook his head. “Never did those either. I wasn’t exactly allowed to play with my siblings, let alone other kids my age. My father always made me prioritize my training.” 

“That’s not right of him.”

You winced. Of course he never had the opportunity to have a “normal” childhood. How could you be so insensitive? It was no secret Endeavor had a troubled relationship with his family, but you weren’t exactly sure to what extent. You didn’t focus much on the whimsical world of heroes and, ever since you were a child, you know you wanted to pursue the field of research rather than use your quirk. The lives of heroes--even top ranking ones--was something you never paid much attention to. Still, even you have heard some gossip about the estranged Endeavor. 

“Sorry for pressing you,” you said, toying with the hem of your shirt. “I didn’t mean to be so insensitive.”

He gave you a nonchalant shrug and a small smile to let you know it was okay.

“Don’t worry about it, Y/L/N. You didn’t mean to,” he comforted. “Besides, it’s been a long time. It would be useless to hold a grudge against my father for this long.”

You tilted your head to the side. “Forgiveness, huh? That’s very mature of you, Todoroki. I think I admire you.”

His shoulders moved upward in silent laughter. “Thank you. I admire you, too.” 

Ignoring the faint heat you felt in your cheeks, you beamed. “Thanks. Anyway-- You know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“You did not have a childhood.”

While his face remained passive, you could have sworn you saw his eye crinkle in amusement.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” he said in agreement. “My youth was spent quite differently than most.”

You nodded profusely. “Right. And while I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with that, per se, it could be beneficial to do these things you haven’t had the chance to!”

He examined you curiously as you bounced up from your seat on the sofa with an excited grin. After a few moments of silence, he craned his neck, prompting you for clarification.

“You’re bored on lockdown, I’m bored on lockdown,” you stated matter-of-factly. “What better time to reclaim your childhood than now?”

Todoroki didn’t bother to hide the small smile making its way across his face at your determined words. “Okay, then. Count me in.”

- - - - -

When you decided you wanted to help your new friend Todoroki reclaim his childhood, you expected your days to be full of cute Beanie Babies and Webkinz, as well as the presumed amounts of chaos that followed edible bubbles and candy kits. And while the first few days of the week consisted of that, the tone changed rather drastically when a certain game was introduced. Of all things, what you expected least was to be practically panting on top of Shouto as you braced your muscles and tried not to collapse onto him.

“Left hand, blue,” he called after flicking the spinner. 

How he managed to turn the spinner with one hand and keep his body balanced with the other on a Twister mat without toppling over was a mystery to you.

Stupid heroes with their stupid, bulging muscles, you thought crossly as you relived your many previous losses. You tried to ignore the bead of sweat dripping down your face as you struggled to stay up. 

Somehow, you turned your head just enough that you had the perfect view of Todoroki’s flexed triceps as he held himself in a modified pushup position of sorts. There was a look of concentration on his face and, while you found his furrowed brows to be rather cute, you still couldn’t help but focus your attention on his arms. He had a lean type of muscle that you thought would feel especially comfortable wrapped around your waist-- 

“Y/L/N, do you forfeit?” 

You blinked, feeling lightheaded both from this game which you lacked the stamina for and from the lack of oxygen that travelled to your brain as you held your breath while staring at Todoroki. 

Once your mind processed his words, you huffed. “Forfeit! Me? Never! Why would you think that?”

“Because I called ‘left hand, blue,’ minutes ago and you still haven’t moved.” 

Blood rushed to your face and you were thankful you had the exertion to blame it on. It wasn’t your fault Todoroki’s arms were so toned and strong and...distracting.

“No,” you said, unsure if there was even a question asked for you to reply to. “I don’t quit!”

Your eyes scanned the mat feverishly, looking for a blue circle to place your left hand on that would cause the least amount of strain. Shouto had already won the first two rounds and you’d be damned if you were to let him win again. (As much as you loved witnessing him succeed, your pride would simply be too hurt if you lost a third time in a row.) 

“Find a spot yet?” he asked in amusement. “I’m not sure how much longer my arms can hold.”

Of course, just the mention of his arms drew your attention from finding the optimal Twister position to staring stupidly at his triceps again.

As you attempted to tear your gaze away from him, you spotted hints of a smirk lingering on Todoroki’s face.

Did he notice your staring? There was no way… 

You looked at him, wide-eyed and dubious, and almost choked when you saw his shoulders start to shake as he tried to hide his laughter.

His laugh was muffled by his shirt in an attempt to keep his volume down, but it still rang rich and deep in the air. It was the first time you heard him laugh like that and you wanted to do anything to hear it again. 

With a shake of his head, he removed his hands from their spot on the Twister board and sat upright beside you.

“I concede,” he said when he saw you eyeing him with curiosity. “You win this round. My arms were getting too sore.”

After hearing the sweet sound of Todoroki saying, “You win,” you let yourself collapse on the floor, rolling onto your back to get a clear view of your cream-colored ceiling.

“For some reason, I sincerely doubt that your arms were getting sore,” you said, stretching your own--genuinely sore--arms out in front of you. “But seeing as I was about to fall flat on my face if I waited any longer… Thank you for conceding.” 

“Doubt I’d be sore?” he repeated, craning his neck to peer down at your face. He placed his left hand on his right bicep and gently massaged it with his thumb and forefinger. “What for?” 

By then, whatever rational thought was left in your brain had been fully replaced by Shouto’s arms and Shouto’s arms only, and you couldn’t even complain. 

“Mmm, what did you say again?” You blinked, clearing your throat. You suddenly had the desire to chug a cool glass of water.

Todoroki’s only reply was another small--almost imperceptible--smirk. It would have been easy for someone to miss, but to you, someone who was perhaps being more attentive to their roommate and newfound friend than they’d care to admit, it was clear as day.  

“You’re totally messing with me!” you groaned, covering your face with your hands as you continued to lie with your back on the floor. “Aren’t you?”

He let out a breathy laugh and shrugged, the corners of his lips quirking upwards. “Sorry. It’s just cute seeing your reactions. I didn’t know you liked my arms so much.”

You could’ve sworn he flexed once more for dramatic effect and an indignant squeak escaped your mouth.

“I-I don’t!” you protested, making sure to look anywhere but his arms. “I just never noticed how...proportionate they were before! Just thinking about how da Vinci would admire them. For scientific purposes, of course.”

“Sure.” 

You gaped at the knowing look on his face. “How did you even notice? Aren’t you a bit of the oblivious type?” With wide eyes, you slapped your hand over your mouth. “Wait-- I’m sorry. That was rude to say.”

Todoroki waved it off with a smile to show he wasn’t offended in the slightest. “I guess I was rather oblivious in the beginning of high school. But as I grew up I became more accustomed to picking up on such things.” 

You hummed in silent contemplation. Of course he had to have grown used to people making moon eyes over him. He probably got it all the time.

“I usually pay it no mind,” he continued as he stood up, peering down at you sprawled out on the floor. “But when you do it, I find it sort of cute.” 

As if he didn’t just say something that caused your heart to skip a beat, Todoroki extended a hand out to help you up.

Ignoring the heat rushing to your cheeks, you gently placed your hand in his.

“Thanks,” you murmured as Shouto pulled you off the mat and towards his body, a feeling of lightheadedness overcoming you at the sudden motion.

One hand held yours while his other was placed firmly above your elbow to help you steady yourself.

“You okay, Y/L/N?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he watched you regain your balance.

“Oh, yeah! No worries. This happens all the time, to be honest,” you admitted, vaguely taking note of how your chest was almost fully pressed against his. “Whenever I move my head too fast I get a bit dizzy. And whenever I stand too fast my knees sort of just crack.” 

Your words did nothing to soothe the worried furrow between his brows.

“Is...Is that not normal?” 

He blinked.

You grimaced. “Okay. Guess not. Maybe I need to work out more.” 

“You can work out indoors with me,” Todoroki suggested with a small smile. He looked so sincere you were just about to agree until he opened his mouth for a second time-- “As long as you don’t spend the whole workout gawking at my arms.”

With an indignant cry, you pulled yourself away from his loose grip, face burning with such intensity you wouldn’t be surprised if he were able to sense the rise in temperature. “I never gawked at your arms.” 

He hummed. 

“Well, okay, maybe I did,” you relented with a huff, bending down to fold up the game mat in front of you. “They look very strong. Being a hero must be hard work.”

Todoroki shrugged, helping you clean up. “It’s worth the toll it takes. I can imagine your research requires hard work too.” 

You tried to hide the look of surprise on your face. You briefly talked to him about what you did during the roommate-finding process, but you didn’t think it was anything interesting enough for him to recall. It brought an odd warmth to your stomach knowing he cared enough to remember. 

“I guess. But I’d say it’s nowhere near as difficult as hero work,” you brushed off. “Not everyone has what it takes to be a good hero.”

A faint blush colored his cheeks as he followed you into the kitchen for a glass of water.

“There are lots of great heroes,” he stated, filling up two cups and handing one to you. 

“Yeah, there are. And greatness is one thing, but you’re a good one-- In the heart.” Your gaze flitted to his, unsure why you were filled with the sudden urge to have such an intimate conversation after a game of Twister. Still, you rolled with it. “I know we haven’t talked much prior to this lockdown...but even I can tell how caring you are. And I’m looking forward to getting to know you more.” 

A comfortable silence filled the air as he took a seat beside you. If Shouto was taken aback by your sudden compliment, he did a good job at hiding it, simply giving you a small smile as he let his shoulder rest against yours. You glanced over at the point of contact and bubbled with elation. 

“Todoroki?” you called quietly, the edge of your pinky brushing against his. 

He looked down at the gentle touch of your hand and didn’t move away. Instead, he took the initiative and placed his fingers on top of yours, his hand surprisingly soft despite the calluses on his fingertips. The back of your neck heated at the sudden movement, but you decided you rather liked how his hands felt on yours. 

“Hmm?” 

“Thanks for letting me drag you along to play these childhood games,” you said, letting out a sigh of contentment. “It’s a nice change of pace while we’re stuck indoors.”

Shouto shook his head. “I should be the one thanking you. These are much better childhood memories than the ones from my actual childhood,” he admitted with a light laugh. “I’m glad we had the opportunity to spend more time together, Y/L/N.”

By now your fingers were intertwined with his, his thumb lightly stroking the peak of your knuckle.

He continued, “I hope this continues even when quarantine is over.” 

“I hope it does, too.” You couldn’t stop the grin from spreading wide across your face as you nuzzled your head on his shoulder. “Let’s keep making memories together, okay, Todoroki?”

“Happily.” 

[dynyamight]

For the interaction + action ask: “ You have the most beautiful eyes, I’ve ever seen. “ + attempts to pickpocket, but gropes instead

send me an interaction ask bonus + action

“You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen." + attempts to pickpocket, but gropes instead

From the moment he landed on the feeble looking man, making his way down the cobblestone pathway, Bakugou knew that was his next target.

Dressed in an oversized robe, with only his soft, round face showing, the merchant strolled the empty street with a satchel, visibly filled with who knows what. But, Bakugou had a gut feeling that it had to be valuables and riches.

The green haired fool had his hands protectively around its shoulder strap; of course there had to be something worth selling.

Swiftly, Bakugou hightailed, right behind the merchant, making sure to keep a relatively natural distance between them. Fortunately for him, the night sky allowed his presence to be hidden better, with only the dim street lamps barely making light.

When the merchant makes a turn, around the corner of the next street, Bakugou allows himself a few seconds to slow down. Give his target some time to look back, and notice nothing.

After his small breather, Bakugou then makes the turn.

“Hi!” The merchant greets in his face.

Taken aback, Bakugou’s left stumbling backwards, barely catching himself in the process. “What the- Holy shit.”

“I deeply apologize, I didn’t mean to scare you so suddenly.” The merchant smiles feebly, his expression painted with worry. “I just noticed we were headed the same way, and I was wondering if you too are wanting to meet with Wizard Yagi?”

Wizard who?

Now, usually, Bakugou would have dropped the mission, head over and found a different person. There’s no point in trying to steal from someone who already knows your face, and has caught you in the act. It ruins the fun in thievery, and Bakugou simply just doesn’t enjoy lying, due to having to talk to the other person.

He prefers to do the least amount of talking possible.

However, today was a complete bust. Bakugou hasn’t been as lucky as he usually is, stealing empty bags, and pickpocketing fool’s gold and counterfeit goods. It’s just been the fucking worst, to say the least.

So, yeah, he’s desperate as fuck. And, this guy looks like he could barely hurt an ant, without bursting into fat welts.

“Sure am.” Bakugou lies, offering an open hand. “You must be Wizard Yagi’s apprentice?”

Green eyes light up, and quickly their hands are met into a firm handshake. “Why yes! How did you know?”

Lucky guess. “The whole town’s been hearing about you. Someone who had extremely, wondrous potential. A fucking prodigy, genius even.”

There’s a slight blush that forms over the merchant’s face. “O-Oh, I wouldn’t say that. The rumors are always so exaggerated these days.”

“Pfft, c’mon. You’re fucking well known.” Bakugou states easily, “I bet you’re the best at magic.”

“Um, I don’t actually use magic.” The merchant weakly admits.

“You don’t?” Shit.

“D-Don’t worry!” He reassures quickly, hands waving dismissively in the air, “It’s a common mistake the folks say.”

“Oh, that’s a fucking relief.” Bakugou genuinely breathes out.

“All is forgiven.” The merchant chuckles, finally gesturing to his satchel at his side. “You see, I gather bunches of resources from the forest, as well as pick up spices and herbals from different shops, and create healing potions. If I could use magic, I think it would have been Light magic.”

“You can’t possibly collect so much, without a couple of coins in your bag.” Bakugou suggests.

“A-Ah, well,” The merchant scratches the side of his cheek, donned with freckles, “I do have riches, in order to trade and purchase.”

It has Bakugou smiling bright. “No kidding.”

“Um, anyways,” The merchant instantly shifts the conversation, “Why don’t we walk together over to my master’s lodging? It can get a little dangerous around here.”

“My, how kind of you. You’d do that for someone like me?” Bakugou teases outright.

The merchant nods confidently. “Yeah, I can protect you, of course.”

What a fucking liar. “Lead the way, then.”

With his huge robe in the way, Bakugou has come to the terrible conclusion that while they walk, he can’t seem to grab the satchel. Hidden by the long cloth, it will continuously appear and disappear, with each step the young man took. It irritated Bakugou, to no end.

“I never got your name.” The merchant chimes from in front.

“It’s Bakugou.” He huffs, still eying at his side.

“My name is Midoriya!” The merchant chuckles airly, shaking his head. “Sorry, you probably knew that already. It’s a force of habit.”

Thank god, he would have never guessed. “Don’t sweat it. I do that shit all the time.”

Immediately, Midoriya halts in his steps. And, before Bakugou could ask, he turns to face him, a wide, joyous smile printed on his face. “Really? You do that, too?”

The satchel has now flung behind Midoriya, no longer at his side. For fuck’s sake.

Nothing comes easy to Bakugou. Hard life comes with hard, strifling times.

“Y-Yeah,” He barely grits out through his teeth, pressing down on the urge to tackle Midoriya, right here and now. “Forgetful ass motherfucker. That’s me.”

“While your language is a bit crass, I completely understand how you feel!” Midoriya states, eyes shining in delight. “It’s like I’ll go to the theater, and the ticket master will say ‘Enjoy the show!’, and I say ‘Thank you, you too!’ It’s absolutely dreadful, right?”

Bakugou has never said that stupid shit, in his entire life. Who even does that?

Apparently, this idiot.

“Absolutely dreadful.” He forces himself to agree.

“My, we have so much in common!” Midoriya laughs, bringing his hands together in a fold. “Perhaps we were bound to meet; you and I. Out here, on this fateful night!”

Sounds terribly romantic. Which then, just like a lightbulb, perfectly brings a brilliant idea in Bakugou’s mind. A way to make Midoriya stand still, and reach around his back for that damn bag.

“Say,” Bakugou begins, taking a step closer, inching his face near, “Did anyone ever tell you are a lovely sight to witness?”

Midoriya’s eyes widened, lips agape in shock. “I-I am?” He weakly breathes out.

“The damn sunset would grow jealous of your rare beauty. Trust me.” Bakugou brings his right hand up Midoriya’s face, gently cupping his cheek. “Believe me.”

He can feel the warmth hit his palm, before he sees the red hue flush across Midoriya’s face. “U-Um, thank you, Bakugou. That’s rather kind of you to say.”

“You know, if we had met under different circumstances,” Bakugou whispers, making sure to add a hint of sultry and sweet into his rough voice, “I know exactly what I would have said, to grab your attention.”

With his lingering left hand, Bakugou reaches around Midoriya’s side. He hovers just slightly over his waist, towards his backside.

At this point, now he was waiting for the right moment.

Despite his calculated movements, Midoriya still had no idea. “Wh-What would you have said, if you don’t mind me asking?” He mumbles quietly.

“I’d say,” Bakugou smirks, ‘Excuse me, sir. You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.”

And, with those emerald, pretty eyes staring back at him in awe, Bakugou finally grabs at the satchel with a tight grip.

There was no buckle. No riches he felt. No crunch from herbs or spices. There was literally nothing he felt in his hand.

Except a piece of firm ass.

And the hard fist that slammed into Bakugou’s face left him unconscious, out on the street.

[thoughtfullyyoungduck]

Birthday

Summary: could you do a hs losers x reader where the readers new to town and hates her bday bc each year her past friends and family had always forgotten or did nothing so when richie finds out her bdays coming up he tells the losers and they all plan a special surprise party and richie saves up and gets her something super special and the losers r all like wow he’s never gotten anyone anything like this b4 so she finds out that he likes her or something so it’s like the best bday she’s ever had

Richie bikes swiftly passed you, faster than he usually does, which can only mean he’s trying to surpass you. You barely refrain from flipping him the bird in public, as you too throw your weight into peddling. It’s no use, Richie is more athletic than you by a long shot, and he’s been practicing with Eddie for track. You’ll never be able to catch up with him with no viable effort.

‘You asshole,’ you yell out to him, noticing an elder woman pledging through her yard too late to stop your exclamation. She regards the both of you with malcontent, stabbing her hark too brutally in the soil of her allotment for it to be a coincidence.

‘Not my fault your short legs can’t reach the peddles.’

You growl, lifting up from your saddle to race faster, but Richie sees you do it and does nothing but laugh.

Any other time you might give him hell for it, but today, you are in no mood to indulge in Richie’s escapades.

It’s your birthday, and while for most that equalizes a fun day stacked with presents and cake, to you it stands for a day full of misery.

Your birthday is cursed. And no, that is not you being dramatic. At your ninth birthday, your cake got slammed into floor, therefor ruing the gift your parents had been working on for weeks, and which was their only present.

At age ten, you fell off your brand new bike into a ravine and had to go to the hospital to get eleven stitches. On your fourteenth birthday, you and your parents got into such a huge fight they send you up to your room and forbad you from sneaking down at any point in the day.

There are more examples to back up your claim for the terrible birthdays, but you have tried to desperately block them all out, so you won’t rehash them.

That’s why your so peeved that Richie is forcing you to the quarry.

‘If you could tell me where I’m supposed to be going to bet u could find a short cut and be there faster than you.’

‘Nice try Dora, I’m not telling you anything. It’s a surprise.’

‘Alright, I get two attempts. If I can’t guess where we’re going, I’ll do your homework for a week.’

‘And if you do guess it?’

‘Then you owe me a favor and no matter for what reason I cash it in, you don’t get to complain.’

‘Fine, bring it miss know it all.’ Richie slows down to slide next to you, the wind picking up as the two of you descend down the mountain. His smile is mischievous and cheeky, probably too confident to think you’ll be able to reckon the spot he has in mind.

If only he knew that you had limited the possibilities to two places, the exact amount of guess you were granted.

‘Hm, are we going to the arcade?’ Your first theory is. Richie doesn’t have anything on him right now, except pennies that have been rinkeling inside his pockets the entire bike ride, the only thing he needs to go to the arcade.

Richie smirks, and shakes his head. ‘Try one my dear, may I say that the odds aren’t in your favor right now?’

His impressive ego in the way he taunts you with the right answer fuels your desire to be right. ‘Are we going to the Barrens?’ You sing, smiling wide as Richie’s shrinks.

‘Eh, no?’ He says, but he sounds petulant. ‘Fuck this shit, what gave it away?’

‘A girl never reveals her secrets’, you say covertly, forgetting momentarily about the agitating day. You suspect that might have been Richie’s intention.

It’s not like the Barrens is such a stretch in the first place, the losers and you have made that place your own, but you do hypothesize that he may have planned something special for you.

Your theory turns out to be true, as you can spot a long table at the end of the dirt path you and Richie are currently riding on to get to the clubhouse. The table is stacked with a variety of candies, your favorite, drinks that are sweet enough to rot your teeth, something Richie should be more aware off - having a dad who is a dentist-, and a giant cake with eight candles on. Each one representing a loser.

You say nothing as you approach, in a sneaky way torturing Richie a bit more before revealing that you’re at the verge of tears of this nice gesture. Richie slows down his speed by dragging his shoes along the dirt, glances darting nervously towards your face.

‘I know you said no parties, but how else was I supposed to show off my rocking dance moves?’

‘Do you mean the moves you make that look like you’re dying?’ Stan chides, him and the rest of the losers rolling up behind you two. They’re all walking next to their bikes, and Bill’s hands are smudges with cake residue he somehow missed while cleaning up. They didn’t want to be here before you and ruin the ‘surprise’, but it’s clear everyone has worked hard to organize this for you.

‘Fuck you Stan the man, the color green doesn’t fit you.’

‘Happy’, Bev grounds out, leveling Richie with one look, the way only Bev can, and then address you. ‘Birthday.’ She hugs you despite you still holding your bike, and you let it clatter to the ground with a loud bang.

‘Thanks Bev.’

‘Happy Birthday’, the other losers also call out, because there’s just too many of them for each to wait their turn.

‘We hope you don’t mind we don’t have any presents, we spend basically all of it getting ingredients for the cake, which we had to redo- twice.’

They don’t offer any other explanation about why the cake had to be remade two times, but by Eddie’s scowl you can fill in the blanks.

‘No, honestly, this is already too much.’ It is too much, but their efforts are so kind and heartwarming that you have to bit back a happy squall. No one has ever bothered to organize anything for your birthday, whether it be purchasing a two dollar present or even ordering a cake, but these people that you had met less then a year ago were willing to scramble together all the money they could, just so they could turn your day special. Thank god for moving to Derry.

For the first time in years, your birthday has brought smiles and laughter, and no tears and weeping moods.

‘Nonsense my dearest young lady, this is but a blip on our radar, a speck of dust on the tv, nothing compared too-‘

‘Can we please cut the cake now? Before something else goes wrong with it?’ Eddie glowers, refuting to wait for an affirmative.

‘Don’t forget the candles,’ Ben says as he follows Eddie to the table. You’re about to join them, when a hand on your wrists stops you.

‘Hey, Y/N? You really don’t mind this right? I know you said you didn’t want anything but I know how nice it is be caught off guard with something like this.’ Richie rubs the back of his head as if that makes him see any less anxious. It’s incredible how smart someone can be while simultaneously also being so dense.

‘Richie’, you say as you smile, unable to hide it any longer. ‘It’s amazing, thank you so much. If there is any way I can repay you I’ll do that. I’m really happy with this.’

‘That’s good, not that I was worried about it, who isn’t a fan of everything I do?’

Rolling your eyes only spurs Richie on, but it’s become an automatic response now, you can’t help but do it.

‘Oh, I almost forgot. I did get you another gift. Two actually, if you count my huge dong as one.’

‘Gross Richie, why do you always have to add something sexual to everything?’

‘It’s my game babe, love it or leave it. Anyway, here is the gift if you want it. If you don’t that’s fine too.’

‘Don’t get all shy on me now Rich’, you tease as your bump your arm into his while grabbing the package. ‘I’ve just gotten used to your antics.’

The package isn’t heavy, but it also isn’t light. It’s wrapped in enough layer that you can’t feel what’s inside of it just by holding it, but that was probably Richie’s intention. That or he is simply horrible at wrapping up.

While you carefully peel off each layer, you begin to speculate on what it could be. It could be a gag gift, but Richie looked sincere, and his eyes behind his glasses are magnified in true anticipation, a gag gift wouldn’t illicit that response.

As soon as the final layer is detached, you gasp, armored by the actual gift. It’s a blue bracelet, covered in butterfly pattering. You once mentioned having a similar one as a kid that you loved but lost one day while playing outside and had been sad about for weeks.

You can’t believe Richie had kept it in his mind, and had gone out to look for it.

‘Richie… I don’t even know what to say right now.’ You exclaim, squeezing the bracelet in your hand tightly, a blush covering your face. Richie’s mimics yours. ‘Thank you’, you say while reaching out to him and kissing him on the cheek. Richie face burns a brighter red.

‘Yeah… glad to be of service.’ His mind is ball parks away, and he is left dazed.

‘Come on Y/N, it’s time for you to blow out the candles.’

You go easily, letting your hand linger around Richie’s, deciding mentally that you’ll do it tonight before you go home. Your birthday has already been better than anything you could have imagined, and maybe it has one more miracle left to give. If Richie says yes to your question about going on a date, then this will truly have been the best birthday you have every had. By the love struck expression Richie is walking around with, you have an inkling as to what his response might be.

You blow out your candles, but you don’t need to make a wish. You already have everything you could possibly want.

----

‘Off course that asshole buys her a gift, but never returns the money I loaned him so long ago. I’m not a fucking bank.’

‘I think it’s cute.’

‘No, Eddie is right, I’m also waiting on my refund.’

‘It’s adorable he bought her something, he really can’t hide his crush anymore.’

[giorno-plays-piano]

Impersonator

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, stalking, death of minor character.

Words: 1953.

Summary: Meeting a cosplayer in Berlin isn’t a big deal, really. You don’t actually know why you are drawn to this guy in his stunning horned helmet, standing on the train with a seidr in his hand.

P.S. I own the plot of this story to amazing @caffiend-queen​ and my determination to write it to lovely @kinathewolf​ <3 Although I changed the story a little (this post made us discuss the idea), I hope you will like it!

_____________________

Waking up when it was barely six, you kept yawning and rubbing your eyes while sitting on the train. You worked for one of the thousands of start-ups in Berlin, and your boss always liked to start pretty early. Well, despite waking up when it was still dark, you didn’t mind, really – the U-Bahn was much less busy now than thirty minutes later, and you didn’t have to stand the whole way to your station.

Today was a bit different, though. Not that there were too many people, but that one guy with his horned helmet looked so fantastic you simply couldn’t take your eyes off him. He had entered on the Bismarckstraße station, and since then you had been staring at him shamelessly. He was the spitting image of Loki, that god from Asgard, the one who had been released by Avengers not so long ago for his aid in protection of Earth from an invading alien force. Now Loki had his own fan club, and this guy was probably one of the squad. Seeing him in a full suit wasn’t surprising either – tomorrow was the first day of Comic Con, so he was probably going for a cosplay catwalk rehearsal before the event.

No one was really paying attention to him as he stood silently near the door with his seidr, but you just couldn’t help yourself. Come on, he was probably the most handsome guy you had seen in years, not even mentioning his gorgeous costume. Although you had never been Loki’s fan – for God’s sake, you still remembered that day in Stuttgart – this guy’s passion for cosplay was admirable.

When you reached Wittenbergplatz, a group of cheerful tourists entered the train, and the guy had to move further, taking a place close to yours. Of course, you still stared at him in awe, and he quickly noticed you. His piercing gaze finally made you realize it was unacceptable to gawk at someone like this, and you averted your eyes, feeling your cheeks growing hot. The cosplayer chuckled at your reaction.

“I’m so sorry!” You muttered, clenching the fabric of your jacket. “I just- ugh, I mean, your cosplay is stunning!” Now that you said it, you were just too humiliated to add anything. Why couldn’t you be like all other people who didn’t harass the poor guy with them staring? Of course, no one would be comfortable with some creepy girl watching over them.

But the guy didn’t look worried or embarrassed even the slightest bit. When you saw his face, you realized he was amused as he looked at you with a grin on his face. Now you even felt a little scared because there was something animalistic in his gaze.

“Thank you. I was spending day and night crafting this costume.” He was smiling, and you realized he was probably playing the role of Loki now.

Oh damn, of course. Being a cosplayer meant not only wearing a costume of your character but being this character, behaving like them, speaking like them, sometimes even moving like them. This guy was doing exactly this, and, to be honest, he was really good at acting since for a minute you believed he wasn’t just a mere human.

“I’m sure you will be the winner of the contest this year.” You smiled shyly at him, still embarrassed at your behaviour earlier, and the guy laughed at you a little. God, you felt so terribly awkward.

“Thank you. If my brother won’t show up, I’m sure I’ll have a chance.” For a second you thought there was something bittersweet in his eyes, but then it was gone, and the cosplay rose to his feet, shining in the electric light of the subway. “This is my stop. Have a good day, my lady.”

Of course, you barely nodded at him, felling like you’re gonna explode from the way he called you and how the guy bowed his head a bit at you as if you truly were some Asgardian goddess. Minutes later you would curse yourself for being so stupid to not even ask his cosplayer’s nickname – how on Earth were you going to find his profile on Facebook now? Since you were in the middle of a new marketing campaign, your boss would never let you leave tomorrow to visit Comic Con, and that was your only chance to ever see that amazing guy again.

Ugh, living with that useless brain of yours was quite a challenge.

You had already bid farewell to the cosplayer since you knew meeting him by chance again in a city as big as Berlin was impossible – especially if without his costume and wig and makeup the guy would be unrecognizable. The next evening you were sitting in the train just like all other evenings when you were coming late from work, a bag with a chicken sub in your hands along with an already cold cup of tea. You sighed, thinking of Comic Con and all the fun people were having there. Damn, next year you would definitely take a short vacation to finally visit the convention. Maybe you would have a chance to meet that mysterious guy again.

“It smells nice.”

You immediately raised your head, staring at the cold blue eyes of the guy you met yesterday’s morning. He was still wearing his horned helmet and shining golden armor, the Scepter in his hand. He sat close to you again, and you suddenly found the courage to smile at him widely. God, it was happening. He was really here, with you.

Was he coming back from Comic Con? You thought they finished way later, but maybe he was just tired to spend the whole day in this outfit – you could imagine how heavy it was – and left earlier. You couldn’t blame him, thinking of how many people probably wanted to take a photo of him during the day, too, and it was definitely tiresome as hell to pose in front of tons of people for hours.

“Would you like some?” You handed him your paper bag. “It’s a sub with chicken. I haven’t opened it yet.”

“Ah, it’s a very generous offer. It would be rude of me to decline it.” His smile sent chills down your spine, but you reminded yourself he was still playing his role. Anyway, what could he do? Follow you to your apartment in this outfit? Seriously? He would be stuck in the hallway with those horns of his.

You watched like the Loki-guy took a half of your sub and returned the other half to you, then taking a bite and chewing slowly. To your delight, he nodded, telling you he liked it without words, and you chuckled at him. Now he looked almost cute with his puffed cheeks as he kept biting more and more. Apparently, the sub wasn’t bad, and you dug in it enthusiastically, caring little for a few other passengers. No one was looking at you two, anyway.

Halfway through finishing his part, the guy stared questioningly at your paper cup of tea, and you smiled at him with confusion.

“You can have it, too, but it’s already cold, sorry.”

Now he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Did he think it was funny? Was it because he thought real Loki would find it funny? You were too confused but decided not to ask. You looked silly enough yesterday when you were gaping at him with wide eyes. No more of this today! You couldn’t blow it if you wanted to ever see the guy again.

“It’s quite alright. Let me help you.” He carefully lowered his seidr so it touched your cup, and in the next moment you saw a soft blue glowing surrounding it. It was coming directly from the Scepter, and you literally opened your mouth while staring at it wide-eyed. Wait, did this guy put something inside the seidr? Like, a light bulb or something? God, it was beyond your imagination!

But before you started throwing questions at him, you suddenly saw a wisp of steam coming from your tea and felt how the cup grew hot in your hand. Oh shoot, it definitely wasn’t just some light bulb! His Scepter was a real machine!

You probably looked like a little kid, your eyes shining and jaw dropped at the sight of something that looked like a miracle to you, and Loki-guy chuckled softly. He was seemingly content with your reaction as you even sniffed your tea a little bit to feel it really was hot again. But when you brought the cup to him, thinking he wanted to drink, he gently refused it.

“Thank you, but you have already given me enough.” His smile was much softer, and your cheeks grew hot again at his kindness, though it was you who shared your food with him. Strangely, it was like this stranger had some effect on you, and you smiled back at him, lowering your head to have a sip of tea.

However, the next moment the guy furrowed his brows, looking somewhere behind you, and you saw him lifting his seidr again, pointing at something behind your back. You missed his concerned gaze, but not noticing the blinding light coming from the Scepter was absolutely impossible – for a second you almost lost your eyesight, squeezing your eyes shut and clenching the paper cup in your hand. What was that?! But before you got truly scared, the light had disappeared, and all you saw was that Loki-guy sitting close to you with a piece of chicken sub wrapped in a napkin in his hand. His Scepter looked the same as before, no blue glowing coming from it. Wait, you didn’t imagine this blinding light, did you? It was here just a second ago!

As you tried to turn back to see what was happening, the stranger suddenly stopped you, his warm hand on your shoulder as he leaned closer to you, smiling, “Your tea is going to be cold again.”

“Yes, b-but-“ You gawked at him and then stared at his seidr, unsure what to say. “I-I mean, have you seen that light? Did it come from this thing?”

You heard someone behind you letting out a sudden scream and smelled metal and plastic melting. It was disturbing enough as it was, but then you realized you smelled the burning flesh searing from someone’s bones.

The Scepter. The guy’s resemblance to the Asgardian God of mischief. Shit.

Before you tried turning again to see what was left of the seats behind you, Loki’s grip on your shoulder became painfully strong. You watched him leaning even closer to you in slow motion, the world around you slowing down as the man whispered to you in a dangerously low voice, “Don’t look back. You don’t want to see what is left of that creepy man who was staring at you all the time, do you, dear?”

Frozen on the spot, you barely nodded, your eyes not leaving Loki’s pale face as he smiled, letting go of your shoulder and touching your arm surprisingly gently instead. You heard the sounds of crying and whining, people around you scattering to the different part of the car to be as far as possible from a man in the horned helmet. But you just couldn’t move from your place, glued to your seat, an Asgardian God looming over you.

“I am grateful for you sharing your meal with me. I’d like to thank you properly,” he said softly, and you swallowed your tongue instead of letting out a loud scream. “Let’s leave on the next station. I know a few nice places in Mitte.”

___________________

Tags: @finleyjayne​ @alexakeyloveloki​  @helenaeisenhower​ @villanellevi​ @hurricanerin​ ​@void-hoechlin @abyssaint​ @heeeyitskay​ @chris-evans-indian-fanfic​ @rosalynshields​ @brattycherubwrites​ @sllooney​ @angrythingstarlight​

[blu-joons]

DATING BTS A⇴Z HEADCANON ~ JEON JUNGKOOK

A ⇴ Asking you out...

He was incredibly nervous to ask you out, the boys had to rally around him to grow the confidence to ask you out. He was a wreck, everyone knew that relationships weren’t his strong point, but somehow, he found the courage to approach you. He simply asked you to dinner, classic and romantic, his treat of course. The boys couldn’t be happier seeing their maknae finally growing into a man.

B ⇴ Bringing you to the studio...

Most days he brings you to the studio, when you’re free, just to stop the boys from teasing him. They love to joke with him, but you’re the key to shutting them up. He adores showing you what he’s been up to as well, you’re the first one to see all his routines, plus he always works a little bit harder when he knows your eyes are watching his every move.

C ⇴ Crying over him...

You usually cry when he’s not around, the first few days when he leaves for tour are usually the hardest, it’s easy to miss him when he’s such a big and lovable character, and so it often takes you a few days to come to terms with the fact that he’s not around anymore. Tears are usually shed when he comes home too, out of relief to finally see him again and know he’s safe.

D ⇴ Date night with him...

He tries to organise dates as often as possible because he feels guilty with how much time he spends at work, he likes to treat you, and do things you enjoy, the cinema is one of the more frequent places he’ll take you to. Jungkook likes to pay for all your dates, but you usually manage to stop him, even if has got a load of money, you like to be able to pay your own way too.

E ⇴ Enjoying each other’s company...

The time you enjoy him the most is when he’s at home, nothing makes you happier than when you get to sit to dinner with him and then curl up on the sofa beside him. It’s not much, but for you the simple things are what makes you happiest. A comfortable quiet, lots of hugs, and the scent of him around you are all you need to smile and enjoy having him around.

F ⇴ Flirting with you...

He’s the first to admit he’s not a natural flirt, he tries his hardest but usually just ends up embarrassing himself and making you laugh. Luckily for him, you find it adorable, playing along with him until he stutters or can’t think of something else to say because he’s too nervous. Flirting is definitely not his strong point, but it happens to make you fall for him even more.

G ⇴ Gets on your nerves when...

There isn’t much he can do to annoy you, but when he comes to your house and strips the cupboards bare of food it winds you up. You can tell when he’s stayed over because when you go into your fridge the following morning there is nothing there. He’s terrible at filling your fridge back up, leaving you to do a run to the shops the following day to fill everything back up.

H ⇴ Holds your hand when...

When he feels anxious, he looks to you for reassurance, being able to feel that you’re next to him is very important to him. He squeezes your hand to let you know that he’s feeling nervous, it’s always his way of letting you know how he’s feeling without having to talk to anyone else, knowing that you’re by his side is everything to him, so he holds onto your hand to remind him you’re there.

I ⇴ If he could...

If he could give you the world, he would, you mean the world to him, and at times he feels terrible that he can’t prove that to you. You don’t deserve a boyfriend who can’t always be with you, he thinks you’re crazy for wanting to stay with him, yet you don’t complain, ever. He’d give you everything just to make you happy and apologise for not being the perfect boyfriend he’d like to be.

J ⇴ Just because...

Just because he loves you, Jungkook will always take photos and videos of your times together so that he has things to remember you by. He doesn’t share many of them, he’s quite private when it comes to your relationship, but that doesn’t stop him filming most little things so that he had something to look upon when he was on tour or missing you.

K ⇴ Kids for the two of you...

He was very set on having kids with you, he was still a kid at heart, and loved the idea of being able to use up some of that energy on raising a family. Everyone always knew that he was going to be one of the first to settle down, but he wanted to wait and see whereabouts his career took him before deciding to settle down and start a family with you.

L ⇴ Loves you because...

He loves you because you’re there for him, he never realised how much he would love coming home to someone and being loved. He loved the little things, even just the company when you’d do nothing. Your support and love was truly valuable to him, he never realised how much he needed all of that in his life until he met you and experienced love for the first time.

M ⇴ Meeting his parents...

You were terrified to meet his parents, he’d told you several stories about the two of them, especially how they got together. Luckily for you, his parents were great, and pleased to see their little boy so happy. His mother loved embarrassing him with old photographs and stories to tell, knowing how much you’d tease him about it all when the two of you got home last night.

N ⇴ Never...

Never did he raise his voice, not just to you, but to anyone. He hated being loud, or being involved in conflict, sure, the two of you had the odd bicker here and there, what couple didn’t? He had his moments when he’d get annoyed, but he’d never shout, he didn’t want to, why would he shout at the person he loved? Quite simply, he never raised his voice, it wasn’t who he was.

O ⇴ Opens up to you the most when...

He’s usually most open when he’s feeling low, when he’s searching for something to pick him up, he’ll come to you. When he needs support, he’ll come to you because its one of the biggest reasons why he loves you. Sometimes you’ll sit and listen to him rant for hours, but it never mattered to you, just as long as he could let all his frustration out and you could cheer him right back up again.

P ⇴ Pranking you...

He tries hard to prank you with little things, which mainly involves jumping out on you. Again, he loves to film things so he’d always record your reactions so he could watch back over them and laugh. He can’t prank you with anything big though, mainly because he ends up laughing or smirking beforehand, giving himself away, you know the look now to know when something is going on.

Q ⇴ Quietly...

If it hadn’t already been mentioned, this boy loves his food. He tries his hardest to be quiet around your house when he’s sneaking around trying to find something to eat without disturbing you. It’s a challenge for him to see if he can grab a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps without you hearing him, only to find the evidence the following morning with all the wrappers in the bin.

R ⇴ Relaxes with you...

He relaxes doing absolutely nothing, when he can come home, change into his comfiest clothes, and stretch out on the sofa with you. The two of you could do nothing at all and he wouldn’t mind, life was so full on, he appreciated being able to stop and take a breath with the person that meant the most to him and at least try and forget about all the stresses of his day for a few moments.

S ⇴ Sex is usually...

With him it’s usually very passionate, he likes to be dominant and show off his strength, lifting you up and carrying you around the house, holding you closely. There was something so endearing to him about being so close to a person, there was a time when he’d never imagine being so intimate with someone, but then he met you and everything changed.

T ⇴Takes care of you when...

When you’ve had a bad day, he is always the first one to cheer you up, he’s on hand with his cheeky smile and sense of humour to try and make you smile. He hates seeing you feeling down and will not stop until he makes you smile. Half the time he doesn’t even realise what he’s doing, only when he spots the smile on your face, he knows that his job is done.

U ⇴ Understands you because...

Jungkook understands you because the two of you are so compatible, everyone always comments on how the two of you are a perfect match, you know what makes him happy, and when to wind him up, and he knows exactly the same with you. The two of you get along so well, you understand each other’s mood and feelings perfectly which makes things a lot nicer.

V ⇴Visits you...

He can’t often visit you, but he tries to come around most evenings after work just to see your face. Being so busy is hard on your relationship at times, so he likes to put as much effort in as he can to seeing you. If he’s incredibly tired, he’ll drive past yours on the way home and toot his horn, waving at you through the window before heading home, anything just to see you in the day.

W ⇴ Wakes up beside you...

It’s his favourite thing waking up beside you, he loves the company that love brings, and having someone beside him in the mornings is one of them. He’s not a morning person at all, but there is something about waking up with you by his side that makes it so much bearable. A kiss and a cuddle are all he needs most days to find the energy to get up and ready for the day.

X ⇴XO usually when...

He tends to kiss you in private, again he’s quite a private person, so often reserves kisses for spaces where there aren’t many people around. His kisses are to be savoured, at times he doesn’t give them all that often as you spend so much time around other people, so it always surprises you when you’re out of the house and he presses a kiss against you, giggling in embarrassment immediately.

Y ⇴ Yells because...

He yells when you wind him up by hiding the food stash, he’d kept for himself or when he can’t get his own way. It frustrates him greatly when you catch him out and play him at his own game. He likes to think he’s the one in charge, but then you go and do something extra to beat him, it winds him up a treat, but it’s definite to always put a smile onto your face.

Z ⇴ Zesty for life when...

He’s got a zest for life when the two of you are in a foreign place, he loves to explore and learn, and having you with him made the times so much better. When he could, he’d have you on the road with him so he had his companion to make memories with, and as expected he’d always have his camera out to make plenty of keepsakes of all the adventures the two of you went on.

---

Masterlists

[irondadfics]

Do you have any long irondad fics you'd recommend? I really want to settle down with a good muti-chapter fic, I'd love to know your favourites!

LONG FIC REC LIST PART 2

I know some of you are stuck inside due to be quarantined right now, and I really hope each and every one of you are doing alright. Please stay inside if you can and be safe! 

To help pass the time, here’s a continuation of one of our older lists (be sure to also check out part 1 for more recs). During hard times such as this, we often turn to different forms of art for entertainment and to help us cope. BE SURE TO LET THESE WONDERFUL AUTHORS KNOW THEY ARE APPRECIATED! 

This list is organized by word count. Most of the fics listed below are complete but some are not. For example if the word count is encompassed by two asterisks it means the fic is not complete and is subject to change, but the word count is correct as of the day this list was posted. 

ENJOY LOVELIES!!

The Guardian by Emily_F6 @justme–emily (234k+)

Guardian: a person who guards, protects, or preserves. When a terrible accident claims the life of May Parker, Tony Stark steps up as Peter’s guaridan. But it’s not just a traumatized super-teen he’ll have to worry about when he recieves a transmission from Thor.

If They Knew All About You by MsHermia (*224k+*)

Tony Stark had lost his son when he was only 2 years old, stolen away in broad daylight with nobody the wiser of what exactly happened. Years later, Tony has just made it through the disaster with Ultron. He is trying to keep himself and the team together but relationships are strained and tempers are running high.Then a random turn of events leads to his path crossing with that of a particular vigilante. They are strangers to each other, or so they think.Peter Parker is on top of the world. After a few shitty years, losing his parents and then losing his Uncle, things are finally looking up. Sure he lives in a crappy little apartment with his Aunt but he might have just found his mission in life.——This is an AU story obvious by some of the tags. I’m starting out a few weeks after Age of Ultron took place. Civil War will be a thing. Other than that I’m not too concerned about sticking to every canon detail and storyline.

The Third Option by Uncertainty_Principle (220k+)

Homecoming A/U. Ben and May divorced before Peter’s parents died, so when Ben is murdered Peter goes into foster care. It takes just a tiny taste of superpowers for Peter to decide he doesn’t want to put up with his horrible foster father anymore—the streets are infinitely more appealing. All he wants is to be Spider-Man anyway.So he leaves.Simple.Simple, that is, until Iron Man needs Spider-Man’s help. Peter isn’t about to turn down an opportunity to fight alongside Tony Freaking Stark, but he also isn’t going to let his hero know that his recruit is a fifteen-year-old homeless dropout. So they strike a deal. Peter will help Tony. In return, the mask stays on.And that’s when things get complicated.

 Lights To Guide You Home (series) by JolinarJackson @jolinarjackson  (185k+)

Tony becomes Peter’s guardian after May dies unexpectedly and over the course of a year, they learn to become a family.

 hydra’s not a home (series) by tempestaurora @tempestaurora (139k+)

At 6 years old, the son of Tony and Pepper Stark, Peter, is kidnapped, never to be seen again. Or, so they thought. Ten years later, while raiding a HYDRA base, the Avengers come across a new, enhanced individual, working for the enemy: in black spandex, with a tendency to stick to walls and shoot webs from his wrists, the Black Spider is a pain in the ass in more ways than one.

 built from scraps by peterstank @peter-stank (138k+)

“Everybody needs someone. That’s what you said, right?” Pepper meets his eyes and he’s struck by the way she’s almost pleading. “We both lost. We can help each other.”Her hand, palm up and open, stretches into the space between them.Peter hesitates.Then he takes it.or: the one where tony was dusted instead of peter, so he and pepper try to figure out the whole ‘family’ thing together.(oh, and it turns out that the man who died in peter’s arms on an alien planet is his biological father. who knew, right?)

rescue me from the waves (series) by homebuilding @marveal (*125k+*)

“Richard Parker was studying Cross-Species Genetics, but struggled with the ethics of it, because it required he use human DNA, which no ethics board would agree with. So he used his own. His work was successful based off of his own DNA, and every human has a unique DNA,” Bruce explains. “So, naturally, when HYDRA wanted his research, they knew they would never get his support, so they took the next best thing they could to his own DNA. His son.“Or, Tony finds a tortured and experimented-on Peter Parker in a HYDRA base and decides to help him because who else will?

more peril in thine eye by iron_spider @iron–spider (119k+)

Tony sits in relative darkness, the TV on mute, Friday running searches like she has been every day for the past month. A month, since Quentin Beck’s grand plan crumpled underneath him on that bridge. A month, since a flash of light was able to distract Peter just as he was about to bring Beck down. A month, since Beck snatched him, since both of them disappeared. An entire. Month.I’ll keep you updated. I promise.I love you, kid. Rhodey’s on his way, alright? He’s coming. He’s gonna go as fast as he can.I love you too. I’ll be okay. I promise. I can do this.The last thing Tony heard Peter say. Rhodey, Happy and Fury traversed the London landscape immediately afterwards. They found the glasses, but not Spider-Man. There was footage enough to incriminate Beck for what he was, but somehow, nobody was able to get a shot of when he grabbed Peter. Peter was knocking him around, looked like he was getting the upper hand, and then that flash of light. Gone. Gone.

 I Never Knew I Was Broken by GotMyInkPen @gotmyinkpen (*111k+*)

Peter Parker has been living in HYDRA ever since his parents died at age four. All he can remember are the lesson’s HYDRA taught him and a series of words that strike fear into his heart. The only thing driving him forward are the memories of meeting his hero The Winter Soldier when he was seven and the goal to one day be as great an assassin as him.At age sixteen Peter finds himself tangled in the lives of the Avengers and can’t help but wonder if there’s more to life than what he’s been told.Tony wants to help him, no matter what.

 Reviving Peter Parker by YellowDistress @yellowdistress (100k+)

Spider-Man was murdered five years ago, on a beach, at the hands of Adrian Toomes. Peter Parker never came home.Spider-Man was murdered five years ago. Today Peter Parker took his first breath.

 It’s a Secret to Everybody by StarPrince_Punk @starprincepunk (97k+)

“I have kids,“ Clint said. “I know dad behavior when I see it.”Tony blinked multiple consecutive times, processing the statement. “Excuse me?”“Tony,” Steve said now, “how long have you had a son? And how come we’ve never known about him?”“Yeah,” Clint spoke again, “I thought I was the only one with a secret family. Turns out you’ve had one longer than me!”——-Peter gets to spend all summer living in Avengers Tower with Tony. When the Rogue Avengers get pardoned and come back to live at the Tower too, they’re confused as to who Peter is. However, once they see how Tony acts around Peter, that confusion goes away, as they know for certain who Peter must be - Tony’s secret son.Tony and Peter decide to make the most of the situation, and play along. They hope they can keep up the act all summer. But they soon learn that they barely have to act at all.

 Peter and the Jailbirds by beautifullights @beautifullights1 (86k+)

NOW COMPLETE “If you did play chess,” Ross said, “you’d remember that a pawn can become a queen. The most powerful piece on the board, Parker, remember that? But—” Ross smiled— “only if it obeys.”He adjusted his tie, stood, and looked down at Peter. “I’ll ask you again,” he said. “Eventually. You may feel differently after you’ve been living in a six-by-six cube without sunlight or fresh air for a few years.” “What pawns do,” Peter said, voice shaking slightly, “is sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I have no regrets.”He had a lot of regrets.Like, a lot. A crapton. A shitload. An overloaded dumpsterful.“When I visit you on the Raft,” Ross said, “you’ll be old enough to grow a beard.” The cell door clicked shut behind him. [Rated mature for graphic violence.]

 Hardest Lessons (Softest Results) (series) by mainstreamelectricalparade @riseuplikeglitterandgold (*76k+*)

The MCU if Peter was Tony’s biological child.

 In the Home by aloneintherain (68k+)

The Avengers have been infected, turned violent and aggressive against their will. And Peter, the only one unaffected, is trapped inside the Tower with six feral teammates.“Natasha,” Peter says cautiously, “what happened here? Steve attacked me, and if there was ever a sign that something was wrong, it’s having the embodiment of Truth, Justice, and the American Way throw you across the room—”Natasha comes closer, her stride controlled. Nothing necessarily out of the ordinary, but there’s something in her face, in her eyes—Natasha lunges across the space, and slams into Peter, hard.

 From Fraud to Father by TonyStarkissist @tonystarkissist (67k+)

“Tony,” she placated, “all you have to do is read a couple children’s books to them and answer a few of their questions. You’ll be fine.” “Will you come with me? You’re so good with kids,” he pleaded as she finished up with his collar and awkwardly patted the lapels of his suit down, forcing a smile onto her face when she looked up at him.“No. I’ve got a lot of work to do. Phil’s going with you, though, and so is Happy. You shouldn’t have a problem. They’ll make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”Theres a long pause before Tony finally voices his true concern.“But what if one of them sneezes on me?”

Archetype by Bean_reads_fanfic @the-reverse-mermaid (57k+)

Tony knows something is up when the research of ex-Hydra agents gets recycled in an underground Oscorp lab… what he doesn’t expect is the boy in a hospital gown sticking to the ceiling; or, how said boy proceeds to imprint on him like a baby duckling (a poor decision on his part, really). Did he mention he wasn’t intending on bringing home a kid that day?

 Taking Leaps (and the falls that come with them) by Kamomile_Tea (*45k+*)

All across New York City the boroughs are crying out with one voice, asking a question everyone wants the answer to.Where is Spiderman?But no one is asking about Peter Parker.So, he sits alone. Contemplating how his life could have gone so downhill. Grief and nausea well up in his chest and the boy quickly shoves it back down. A shiver courses through him as the cold November air seeps into the building and through his thin clothing. And on the back of his navy blue overshirt, in blocky, white letters, reads the words:CROSSROADS JUVENILE CENTERBROOKLYN NYINMATE 3042 ========== The world seems content with ignoring this young teen. That is, until Tony Stark shows up and asks him if he wants to go to Germany.

Runaway by Spectra @iridescent-spectra  (42k+)

Tony and his adopted son Peter get into a huge spat over his late night spiderman escapades, in which case Peter takes the term ‘Not while you’re under my roof’ way too seriously. After all, how hard could it be to run away from a multi billion dollar genius?Chaos ensues as the whole city becomes a metaphorical chessboard for the two equally stubborn masterminds.

[fandom-puff]

Arthur Shelby Fluff Alphabet

as requested by @beautifulfigment​ ! 

Arthur is my absolute fave, and I’ve had a few requests to do the smut alphabet for him too :)))

Warnings: some mention of arthur’s issues (PTSD, alcholism) mentions of suicide attempt

A = Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?)

Arthur adores your laugh, the way your whole face lights up and your eyes twinkle. He especially loves it when you’re trying to hold back laughter, rocking silently with the giggles at the most inappropriate moments (normally when Tommy’s doing one of his lectures)

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?)

He wants children. Aside from Finn, he’s the last of his siblings to have kids, even though he’s the oldest. there’s always the worry in the back of his mind, however, that he would be a terrible father, just like his own. You tell him, firmly, that that is utter bullshit, and he’d make a brilliant dad. 

C = Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

He is a GANGLY man, all long limbs. So long as he’s close to you, he doesn't really mind how you cuddle. His favourite way to cuddle is with his face buried in your chest and his arms wrapped around your waist.

D = Dates (What are dates with them like?)

He very rarely takes you to posh nightclubs or restaurants. They’re loud and busy, and he hates feeling like everyone is staring. Instead, he’ll take you on drives through the country, spread out a picnic blanket in a field and have a proper little picnic (thank God for Aunt Pol). 

E = Everything (You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…))

You are his little angel.

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?)

He knew he was head over heels in love with you when you kicked some bloke in the balls in the Garrison. He was behind the bar, pouring drinks, noticing the man bothering you. Until then, he had all of these feelings for you that he couldn’t put into words. But when the man tried to grab your waist, his anger flared and he was about to shout and jump over the counter when your foot made contact. You walked away as the man fell to the floor, brushing your hair out of your face, and ordered yourself a drink. Arthur simply stood staring, mouth slightly agape. Tommy grinned. “Oi, Arthur. Get the lady her drink and invite her to the pictures,” 

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

He is so gentle. He knows how much damage he can cause with his bare hands, so he makes every touch as light at possible. You have to tell him off eventually, saying that you’re not made of porcelain and would very much like him to hold your waist in public, as well as other public displays of affection. He also speaks much quieter with you as opposed to his normally booming voice- it often seems as though you two are in your own personal bubble as you talk

H = Hands (How do they like to hold hands?)

Arthur ALWAYS grabs your hand when you walk by him, unashamed to hold it in front of everyone. You’re his girl and he loves you, so of course, he’s gonna hold your bloody hand (fuck off John, go see to your own woman). When he starts getting angry, you tend to slip your small hand into his, and it mellows him out fairly quickly. You both have a system of squeezing one another’s hands for encouragement, reassurance or a code for ‘shall we go home?’

I = Impression (What was their first impression?)

That you didn’t belong in Small Heath. It was too industrial, too dangerous, too dirty for you. You seemed to innocent for the drunks and the whorehouses and the dodgy bookies like him. 

J = Jealousy (Do they get jealous?)

Yes. If he’s sober, he’s more likely to close up and become distant as his brain goes into overdrive; what if you leave him? what if he’s simply not good enough for him? 

When he’s drunk, he’s more likely to speak up, though he doesn’t throw fists straight away, unless you’re clearly uncomfortable. More often than not, the situation defuses to him holding you proudly to his side saying (rather loudly) “That’s my girl! My YN!” 

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?)

You initiated the first kiss. he was walking you home after your second date as an official couple, and it was clear he was apprehensive about something. He eventually admitted his true feelings, how he had loved you for a long time, yet he was nervous and didn’t want to wreck it. 

You cupped his cheeks in both your hands, forcing him to look at you. “You can’t wreck it, Arthur,” you had murmured. “Because I feel the same way about you,” the first kiss had been sweet, no tongue, and you stroked his cheek gently. 

In general, his kisses are tender, even the chastest ones filled with passion and longing. Often, he’ll be in a rush and press hurried kisses to your cheek or forehead while you’re in the middle of getting ready. 

L = Love (Who says ‘I love you’ first?)

Arthur. He’s hungover and you get him water and aspirin, before settling next to him. He grabs your waist and snuggles close, kissing you (but missing your mouth slightly) and mumbling “I bloody love you,” 

M = Memory (What’s their favourite memory together?)

When he asked you to marry him. It was by no means a perfect proposal, and it took him ages to pluck up the courage but seeing realisation and happiness spreading across your face as he got on one knee was worth every second of apprehension 

N = Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

Arthur loves to spoil you... the only problem is he’s useless at picking stuff out, always worrying whether or not you’d like it. He often ends up getting Ada and Polly to help him pick something out, though he always makes sure he goes with them. 

“What about that frock? She likes them pretty patterns,” 

“Arthur, that’s a maternity gown,” 

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their other half?)

sky blue. It was the colour of the dress you wore on one of your first proper dates. He was speechless when he saw you, unable to believe how lucky he is

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

Love, darling, my angel

Q = Quaint (What is their favourite non-modern thing?)

He loves when you send him letters when he’s off for work- you never send telegrams, or use the typewriter for the notes. He keeps them in his breast pocket, and when he’s stressed, he holds the paper close to his heart, inhaling the wafts of your perfume to calm down

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

Stay in bed with you, slipping in and out of sleep, All spft caresses and gentle kisses, huddled up under the blankets

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?)

Whiskey and snow used to be his go to. But with you, he has other ways.

T = Talking (What do they like to talk about?)

Anything and everything with you. He’ll ask questions, genuinely curious about all sorts, cooking, your family etc... one evening you ended up showing him how to crimp the pastry at the edge of your steak pie because he asked how you got it so pretty.

He talks about work, often glossing over the worst of it. Even with the glossing over, he feels much better, like he has someone who understands how the war and the business effect him, especially as his closest brother never seems to listen

U = Unencumbered (What helps them relax?)

Laying in your arms, holding your hand... generally just being close to you makes him feel calm

V = Vaunt (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?)

You. You’re his girl, and he wants everyone to know it. If you tell someone to piss off, he’ll grin like mad, leaning to his brothers and saying ‘that’s my girl’.

He’s also proud of how far he’s come with you, how much more mellow he is as well

W = Wedding (When, how, where do they propose?)

He proposes a while after you start dating, once he is certain you’re the one. He proposes on your birthday (read this!!) and you have a quiet wedding, just close friends and family, in a quaint little church. Tommy let’s you use Arrow House for the reception, and Arthur stays sober the whole night

X = Xylophone (What’s their song?)

‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is every Shelby’s song.

But his song with you is Moonlight Serenade by glen miller (I know the dates don’t quite match up). He remembers being the last two in the garrison, slow dancing with you, your head on his chest as he swayed with you

Y = Yes (Do they ever think of getting married/proposing?)

Once he is sure you’re the one, he knows he wants to marry you, and he wants to do it properly. Nothing arranged like John and esme, not because you’re pregnant like Tommy and Grace and Lizzie. He wants it to be because you love eachother deeply, wholly, truly.

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?)

Arthur wants a great big dozy dog who’ll just trot behind you and nearly knock him over when he comes through the door. He’d give it a human name too, like Dave. This makes you giggle like mad.

Tag list: @the-makingsofgreatness @peakyswritings @haphazardhufflepuff @diksy1112 @zodiyack @theunderlier @soleil-dor @hiddensapphic @fckingpeakyblinders @snugleo @alittlebirds @satanxklaus @glamsaturn @thegirlwithoutaname87 @queenofmankind

[dirt-cup-draco]

Hermione x Reader - Trouble

Could you do a Hermione x reader where your Harry’s sister (in the same year) and you guys are both put in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and you Hermione get in a fight and she wants you to talk to Dumbledore to get you out but you’re doing it for Harry so you stay (she’s doing this because she has a crush on you) you end up saving her in the water challenge but she’s still mad at you and then when Voldemort comes your with Harry and she admits after that she was mad bc she likes you and cares for u

A/N: I tweaked a little things but it’s not much, hope you like it!

You shook your head in disbelief. Not only had the goblet chosen Harry, but it had chosen you. Two competitors that were too young to even put their names into the goblet, and one extra competitor. There were glares and students whispering all around as the professors looked at each other, not quite sure what to do. Dumbledore was currently watching you both as if he wasn’t sure what to do with this information. 

Ron clapped your back, a laugh bubbling from his lips as he congratulated you and Harry on being perfectly impossible. You two continued to amaze him, yet you didn’t feel very amazed right now. If anything, you felt sick. Of course something bad has to happen! You thought. 

Trouble followed your brother, his scar might as well be a flashing target painted on his back. You knew your parents were amazing, they had to be with how people spoke of them, but you couldn’t help but feel that the Potter name was cursed. You were lucky enough that your twin had been the first to catch Voldemort’s eye. You had been left unscathed, Harry saving you as he saved himself. You two only had each other. 

Which was why you sighed heavily as Hermione gripped your arm. “This is clearly a mistake! You should both speak to Dumbledore, don’t put yourselves in danger!” 

Harry shrugged. “It’s a bit exciting, don’t you think, Y/N? Besides, we’ve faced more dangerous things than a friendly school competition,” 

“Do you think I can convince people I was the one who got your name in the goblet?” Ron asked, wondering on how to boost his popularity. 

Hermione rolled her eyes, a disgusted grimace on her features as she turned from the boys to focus her attention on you. Her gaze softened a little bit but she was still terribly tense. “Lets go talk?” She asked and you couldn’t say no. 

“Yeah, of course ‘Mione,” You agreed after making sure your headmaster didn’t want to talk to you, even if he undoubtedly would call on you later. You followed behind her as you watched her back straighten impossibly more, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her sweater. Once you got into the hall she leaned heavily against the wall. 

“Something is wrong,” 

“Obviously,” You snorted but it didn’t seem she was feeling the same way. She blew a piece of wild hair from between her eyes and you stepped forward, grabbing her hand as she let a little smile break out onto her face. 

“I really do think that you should talk to Dumbledore, it isn’t right for you to be in the tournament,” She argued softly and you shrugged, squeezing her hand.

“I would, really, but I have to look after Harry. You know he won’t back down...” You reasoned but Hermione shook her head violently. 

“You don’t have to do anything! Harry will be fine he’s-” she bit her tongue but you frowned, dropping her hand as you took a step back. 

“What? What were you going to say?” You asked as she tried to wave it off. 

“N-nothing,” 

“Say it “ You demanded. 

Hermione’s fire was dampened momentarily as she mumbled, “Stronger than you, Harry is stronger than you...” 

“My brother is no better than me and I’m no worse than him!” You found your voice rising as your insecurity bubbled up deep in your stomach. Harry was the chosen one, the important one. He had always taken precedence and you had always been left to clean up after him. 

You didn’t blame him. It was a coincidence Voldemort had seen him first but what if your brother was better than you? What if the Dark Lord had set his eyes on you first and taken your life. You were only one years old, it was a miracle Harry had managed to live. What if you didn’t have that same power or that same fight? Maybe Hermione was right...

That didn’t change the fact that you had to look out for him. Harry was your best friend and your only family. You had to make sure he was okay and that he stayed out of trouble during this tournament.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Hermione tried to say but you cut her off. 

“What else could you have possibly meant?” You snapped. “I am going to help Harry and I am staying in this tournament. I know something isn’t right, I can feel it, but that means I have to be there beside him. I can’t let him get hurt, he’s all I have”

Hermione sputtered, trying to think of something to say. “You won’t even do well!” She shouted childishly, trying to find some upper hand but only feeling regret as your eyes turned to ice. 

“Just leave me be,” You asked of her before you spun on your heal, headed back to the great hall to talk with Harry and Ron. Hermione stayed pressed against the cold wall and sighed loudly. She hadn’t meant to hurt you but you were being daft. It was an awful idea for you to join the tournament. You might think Harry was all you had but you had her too and she couldn’t bear to see you in danger and this entire tournament screamed trouble. 

--

The gillyweed was, for a lack of any word, like chewing a tire covered in slime. The rubbery texture bothered your teeth and the way it slipped down your throat when you had finally given up on trying to break it down had you gagging. 

“I could have found something else,” You spat out as you stood beside Harry. The only thing bringing you comfort was that he looked just as uncomfortable as you were. 

“But you didnt,” He smiled back and you just rolled your eyes. “You’re welcome,” 

“Whatever, be careful,” You warned gently. 

You shivered on the wooden deck, the split wood rough and bothersome against your bare feet. You peaked at your competitors as they took their places, ready to dive into the depths of the black lake without any clue as to what dangers might be just underneath the surface. 

You tried to relax your breathing but it was increasingly hard as your gills started forming. It was becoming uncomfortable to be above water and your chest was tight as a drum. You gasped for air. Your ears were fuzzy as the world went on around you but then suddenly Krum was leaping into the water, followed by Fleur, Cedric, and then your brother. You shuffled for a moment, almost holding yourself back. 

Kids snickered nearby and you flung yourself into the lake, the shock of the cold water turning your blood to slush in your veins as  your eyes adapted to what was around you, kicking your legs to propel yourself through the murky depths. 

You held your wand at the ready, feeling the water move around your body in a way that alerted you to someone, or something’s, presence. Your heart was pounding violently as you let out another gasp, bubbles swirling around your head as your voice went unheard. Something had definitely touched your foot.

You swam faster, eyes peeled for any of the other competitors, finally finding Harry....and something far more daunting. Hermione and Ron, as well as Fleur’s sister, Gabrielle you believer her name was, and Cho were all floating lifelessly, tied down as Harry kept sending out spells, the light bouncing sporadically through the water’s disturbances.

Merpeople were shrieking, tridents positioned in a fearsome stance as grindylows swam around Harry. Despite all the chaos, your eyes were trained on Hermione. Her hair was spread above her, swaying gently. You would have thought it beautiful, if she was breathing. You knew she was safe, mostly, but you couldn’t help but feel your heart skip two uncomfortable beats as you feared the worst. 

This made your fight seems so insignificant. Even more so now that months had passed. You had watched her during the ball, dancing effortlessly with Krum more beautiful than you had ever seen her.Some bitter part of you had whispered in your mind that she would have been happier dancing with you. Yet, she’d barely spared you a glance. You understood why she was upset, you didn’t want to be in this position anymore than she did but that’s how it had to be. Why couldn’t she see that?

Your eyes were torn between following Harry as he struggled to get to Ron, fighting left and right and Hermione as she danced unknowingly to the ripples of the water. Unfortunately, yet thankfully, your brother had every living things’ attention. You were being overlooked as you thought of what your next course of action was. It seemed to be decided for you however as a bulky form sped past you, in a beeline to Hermione. It was Krum, and without much struggle at all he had her free and she was floating up, up, up. 

Five competitors and four hostages. Hermione had been tucked under Krum’s arm as he shot towards the surface and now only three remained. Cho, Ron and Gabrielle. Yet Fleur hadn’t made her appearance yet. You bit your lip. You had to continue with the competition and if saving the little french girl meant you would, then Fleur was out of luck. You took a fortifying breath and shot towards the girl, finding that Harry had broken free from the mass of watery beasts, going to Ron. Cedric was working at Cho’s restraints and Gabrielle was still untouched, her sister nowhere to be seen. 

--

“You okay?” You asked cautiously as you made your way to Hermione’s shaking form, a thin towel wrapped around her. Despite having dried her hair and clothes the wind and overcast skies had her feeling chill. It seemed that had transferred to her attitude. 

“Just fine.” She said snootily and you huffed in response to her haughty tone.

“You don’t look it,” You commented, begging her to just let go of this petty fight and open up to you, crack a smile, anything. 

“Thanks,” Hermione hissed. “Glad to know I look awful,” 

“I didn’t say that!” You felt your chance slipping away from you as she turned on her heel, nose in the air. “Mione, talk to me!” You called after her, voice cracking in distress. Her shoulders tensed at the sound of you choking up but it seemed she didn’t care enough as she carried on, making her way towards Krum. What did she see in him? He wasn’t good enough for her, he wasn’t right for her. 

--

“They’ve been in there a while now...” Hermione said anxiously, arriving at your side silently. She picked at her fingernails, wearing them down and chewing on her lip. Her eyes were wide and worried as she observed the entrance to the maze. You had been swallowed by the shrubbery, Harry only steps in front of you as he tried to reach you when you screamed, a vine clutching your ankle and dragging you away. 

“Maybe they took a wrong turn,” You snarked, eyes glued to some far off point that was anything but Hermione Granger. You were feeling strange about today, everything seemed wrong and you couldn’t put your finger on it. Hermione wasn’t really helping, especially since you anticipated whatever she had to say would turn into a fight that left you feeling worse.

“Y/N... Can we talk?” 

“Oh now you want to you?” You laughed mirthlessly as the crowd around you chattered about the games, smiles on their face as Harry and Cedric pushed forward. Fleur, Krum and even you had been picked off steadily and now one of Hogwarts’ most popular pair of boys would win the goblet as well as a sensational amount of galleons. 

“Don’t be like that, I just feel like something isn’t right,” She said softly. 

You stared at her incredulously, “Don’t be like that? Are you serious? I have been trying to talk to you for months and now that you don’t feel good you come back... Great, good to know that I am only good for when you need something,” You bit your lip and kept your gaze averted, feeling tears start to well up in your eyes. 

“That isn’t true... I need you- Well, just because I need you. You mean a lot to me-” 

“Doesn’t seem that way,” You interrupted, feeling petty from the hurt you had endured. “Maybe you mean the other Potter,” 

“Y/N, you aren’t your brother-”

“I’ve heard that before, but yes, please continue telling me how unlike my amazing brother I am!” You finally faced her, lips pulled up in an angry snarl. 

“Oh you idiot!” She exclaimed, grabbing your face and pulling you against her, lips sliding against yours before you could even register that she was kissing you. Hermione pulled away, red faced and eyes wild but not a trace of regret. “I really like you and you mean a lot to me and I have been an absolute git the past couple months but it helped me realize just how much I care for you, so please let me apologize!” 

You didn’t have words. You could only blink slowly as you watched her. Merlin she was pretty when she was angry. Her hands were still warm and a bit clammy against your cheeks.”Me too,” 

“Y/N?” She asked at your vague answer.

“I-I mean, I really like you too, have for ages now. It’s why I always get so mad when you talk about Harry being better...” You admittedly pitifully. 

“He’s not really my type,” She teased and you let out a laugh, the first real one you’d been able to conjure up in a while. Hermione giggled too and it sounded like music.

“How about we stop apologizing and get back to kissing?” You suggested playfully as her cheeks burned. 

Unfortunately the giddy buzz in the air was cut short as Harry arrived back into the arena, Cedric Diggory laying stiff in his arms, eyes unseeing and lungs stuck without oxygen, his heart stopped, never to beat again. 

His father cried out, a wild howl that chilled you to your core. You looked at Hermione, eyebrows knitted together in concern as she nodded, understanding something behind your eyes. She gripped your hand tight and led you through the shocked masses of students, Dumbledore trying to get a handle as you rushed to Harry. 

You and Hermione had just found something good, something precious. But it would have to wait it seemed as you knelt beside Harry, his arms pulling at you as he finally let out a choked sob. 

With one word you knew that it would be a while before you and Hermione could focus on your feelings.

“Voldemort” Harry had spoken softly, flipping your world upside down once more.

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explosion #9:

Asks answering previous posts:

Sabrina, I have one word of advice for you...

R U N

“Chat, please stop talking.”

“But that’s my thing!”

“YOU JINX EVERYTHING!!”

Ayyyyyy~

Well, it’s something, I suppose?

Answered this here.

It absolutely did. Bless you, kind and hilarious citizien. ;P

I’m torn because... on one hand, I want to give proper mythology and such for like--anything that’d be put into the show, but on the other, I liked the idea that Alix’s brother was just sort of a conspiracy who thought of stupid stuff (which is why I kept the concept for MC Jalil Kubdel).

Zoe did it really well in Scarlet Lady where Alix knew the actual mythology and started blurting it out whenever Jalil got it wrong.

New Asks:

Considering “Ikari Gozen,” I imagine Alya and Kagami don’t get along as well. I agree with basically everyone that Marinette and Kagami not getting along is bad, but Alya and Kagami not really getting along makes more sense and is more tolerable.

Since Alya is Marinette’s “““BFF”““ (supposedly), I could see her kind of being like, “You’re competing with my girl over the same guy,” and keeping Kagami at arm’s length, worried that keeping Kagami close will allow Kagami to be closer to Adrien since Adrien is an extension of their friend group (kinda, sorta, not really, but Marinette calling him a friend so technically--)

You know, Alya trying to be a good friend and help Marinette with Adrien in more subtle ways. It’s the wrong way to go about it but she’s trying.

LUKANETTE IS AMAZING IN TERMS OF PROGRESSION KDJNGJDFG, I ADORE IT. Every episode they share together, we either learn something new about them or see more details on their relationship.

I think I was already all-in before “Silencer,” but man, that episode just sealed it even more. I was like well dang, why does the love square even EXIST???

jfdngjkfdjgfdg

Incredible. Only problem is that the creator doesn’t know how to use it properly.

You mean fourteen year olds aren’t perfect human beings???? :o

(no, but really, that’s me all the time; like, she’s barely a teen!)

He’ll believe it if it’s Chat Noir who’s doing it. If Marinette ever does it though, he’ll be sure to shut it down. ;P

Ugggggh, the worst part is that I have the same exact fear that they really are going to be like yeah Ladybug you silly fool Chat Noir has been with you since the beginning!

I mean, we’re already basically getting that with the New York special; Chat was supposed to protect Paris and then didn’t tell Ladybug that he “had to” leave for New York (and the New York thing is inadvertently Marinette’s fault and parts of the fandom actually did blame her for it even though it was Chat’s choice not to say anything), then Ladybug gets upset with him when she discovers it mid-battle, which leads to Chat being distracted and Cataclysming someone (another thing that Ladybug can be “inadvertently” blamed for), then Chat gives up his miraculous so Ladybug isn’t even allowed to be angry and cue the later line of “I can’t imagine being Ladybug without... him.”

So clearly that’s saying something. Adrien doesn’t get anything close to that level and Marinette is chewed out for not asking him to stay when Nino had already asked him too.

It’s like--Marinette chooses to go after Adrien and then gets either nothing in return, or humiliated by the narrative, and then in the New York special, she decides to do nothing and everything still goes wrong while Alya yells at her for it. The “damned if she does, damned if she don’t,” on display is stunning. The girl tries to confess and it’s like, “no, not allowed, but Chat is allowed to confess.”

I still don’t understand this logic of his overarching plot but also “there’s not much of a timeline.” I think the only solid thing we’ve ever gotten was something about all the episodes in one season coming after all the episodes in a previous one, but there are still things that don’t add up? The only thing the season 3 production order will give is making sure the hero debuts work out (so no Viperion or Pegase before “Party Crasher,” for example).

It’s not really reliable. I mean, like--I’ve been experimenting with timelines for a while, and stuff like “Miraculer” baffles me. It’s basically non-canon with no value whatsoever. All it does is make “Heart Hunter” look even more confusing and treats Marinette even more horribly for not picking Chloe when she explicitly told Chloe that she wasn’t getting it back.

I’m not familiar with that one! Is it any good?

(Okay, I actually was too curious and ended up looking it up; fancy! I couldn’t have guessed that it was a webtoon! I started reading the 1st issue and before I knew it, I was on the 6th! Oops~)

Lila is totally Rashta, 100% agree. The fact that the comments have a nickname of “Trashta” for her, equivalent to Liar Rossi, says as much ;P

Because lessons that involve telling someone that they’re valid and allowed to feel a certain way don’t apply to Marinette. Isn’t it nice? :3

Not that I know of? Though I also don’t look for that kind of thing, so it’s possible that it exists and I just don’t know about it.

Even if it did exist thought, I don’t see a problem with you doing your own regardless. Good luck if you do!

No. No I do not. ;P

GREETINGS FELLOW INTJ!

And yeah, I’m not really capable of not analyzing shows. There are some small exceptions, but they’re usually not full shows in the normal sense. If there’s an ongoing plot, my mind tends to be working at all times.

In terms of Miraculous, Season 1 was harmless enough where I was bothered but pretty quiet about it, but then it just got progressively worse. It really feels like one of those things you can’t unsee when it finally hits you, y’know?

I’m glad I was able to help you get that satisfaction you need (and appreciate Lukanette, of course ;3)!

Non-Miraculous Asks:

(some heavy Puella Magi Madoka Magica salt below)

Wow, this is a really dedicated ask! Nice!

Gonna go point by point here:

1 - Yeah, the whole thing with Homura not “being able” to save everyone... kinda questionable, and I didn’t really buy the arguments they used to explain it away. I think there was this one PSP game or something with Madoka Magica where you could kind of choose what happened (like, there were bad ends where Sayaka didn’t get her soul gem back in time and her body was partially decayed; ick) and I think there’s a good end where Homura saves everyone but--yeah, not canon.

I just don’t care for twisted stories like that unless there is actually a good end on the horizon (and I mean like “Everyone Lives and is Happy” good end). Angst is just so exhausting so the second I saw Mami’s head being bitten I was just like, “Ah, okay, so we’re doing this then.”

2 - Eugh, the sexism thing. It’s so... yeah, and especially this because the whole “girls are emotional” thing, I don’t really care whether or not the show is trying to “subvert” or “explain” anything, it just feels like poor taste and I don’t like it. (I also didn’t know about that Death Note thing because I didn’t watch it, but geez.)

3 - Wow, I’ve been away from the show for so long that I forgot what Mami’s wish was; I thought it was to “not be alone” or something (or maybe not die alone?? I really don’t remember), but either way, the fact that it follows some sort of genie wish logic is just--*sigh*--they’re teenage girls, come on (plus, the “genie wish logic” is really overdone to me anyway).

4 - The other thing about Sayaka is that it’s really predictable that she’d “die so quickly.” Basically everything was pointing to her just being annihilated at some point, and being Madoka’s best friend, it was pretty inevitable that she’d go.

((semi-unrelated, but someone also asked me which character’s name was lied about before episode 3 hit and they wondered if it was Sayaka’s; it was Kyubey’s))

Yikes. Sorry you had to experience that.

Anyway, I guess I’m not experienced enough in multiple fandoms to say for sure? If I was ever in a fandom, I would just blacklist the people/stuff I didn’t like, so I didn’t get to see a tong of “bad things” going on.

+ I try really hard not to generalize fandoms into one thing.

𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓝𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓼 𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓾𝓹𝓲𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓑𝓸𝔂𝓼 𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓐𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮 “𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓵𝔂” 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼

Oof, uhhh, shows, huh? That’s tough.

I think the main ship from Given (Mafuyu and Ritsuka) is really adorable (you might’ve seen the amusing video of their love being mutual before), and while I would’ve said the same thing for the kinda-sorta side ship, it gets--uh... really bad during the movie/rest of the manga, I’ll just say that much.

Mafuyu and Ritsuka though, totally adorable.

Inuyasha kinda? Though Inuyasha and Kagome are definitely not the kind of romantic chemistry that I lean towards (I find “the bickering couple” to be rather exhausting). Plus, Cardcaptor Sakura did the “male tsundere” better than Inuyasha did (though the Clear Card Arc was terrible, at least it’s not canon kinda-sorta? idk it seems like a mix of the anime and manga so...).

After that there’s...

uh

...

hm.

I mean, there’s probably a couple more examples somewhere, but--yeah, I’ve got nothing. Maybe if I thought back to all the generic children shows I watched when I was little (like those old Disney live-action shows; I had no taste when I was younger), there might’ve been something that satisfied kid me but idk.

I don’t remember what post inspired this, but I have no problem answering regardless, ahaha~

My main issue is Aang’s attitude about the whole thing. I’m not saying it was right of Katara to go out and get “revenge via murder” exactly, but I also think that Zuko had the right idea with allowing her to go and face the man who killed her mother so she could get some form of closure (also note that Zuko doesn’t express any sort of opinion when Katara decides not to kill him; he just wanted her to have whatever she thought she needed to heal).

It’s also the episode where Zuko directly confronts Aang on his “violence isn’t the answer” rhetoric which then goes completely ignored as Aang lionturtles his way out of the conflict. Aang is also not confronted on his point of “forgiveness is the first step to healing” (when Katara has a right not to forgive and Aang isn’t challenged outside of Katara commenting on it) and was permitted to ride his high horse when Katara “steals” Appa like, “It's okay, because I forgive you... that give you any ideas?” which is just--

reaaaaaally "holier than thou”-esque when Aang is like, ten, and Katara is a sort of motherly figure to him. The episode even has Sokka praise Aang for how “wise” he is and I groaned through the entire thing.

Another smaller thing is that it sort of makes the air kingdom look way too “perfect” by having Aang be the “source of wisedom,” especially when it’s like “violence isn’t the answer” while all the other airbenders are dead.

[onewfantaesy]

Yes! Give me all of the old goodies! I want the good, the bad, and the cringe.

u asked for it!!! it’s terrible and horrible but if literally anyone wants me to go more into it i���d be so down to just starting writing shit for it. i’m straight up just gonna copy and paste it from the message i sent like literally 4 years ago also it’s long as hell so it’s almost all going under a readmore there were no line breaks i had to go put in every line break omfg

okay so this is both a bandfic sort of idea but it's also a high school sort of idea so just bear with me pls 

 so like,,,u know how taemin and kai went to the same arts high school??? what if,,,,and this is a big fun fanficy what if 

 but what if okay so taemin and kai are in one class yes because same school year if i remember correctly, then sehun and krystal are in the year below them i'm like pretty sure so they're also both in the same class just for fics sake lmao 

and like,,,they're all just doing their school thing, and taemin and jongin sit sort of next to each other in their class, and by that i mean taemin sits in like the 3rd row by the window and jongin sits in the seat directly behind him so taemin's always turned around during breaks talking with him and playing like rock paper scissors and all that bullshit 

 and okay so lets just saaaaaay there was like an new reality-ish show, like that one show where taemin went to high school again with all those other idols and it was at an arts school, but like this show is for older idols to do other jobs and lmao this is why i don't wanna put it on tumblr or anything because it's so fanficy it's gross but it's so fun to imagine in my head and i wanna just headcanon it with someone who also likes the idea 

 but like so jaejoong ends up being taemin and kai's teacher for like a week or 2 for this show, and then fuck idk Rain is the teacher for sehun and krystal's class and when taemin finds out he's SO JEALOUS 

 "WHAT THE FUCK NO I LOVE HIM MAKE HIM SWITCH TO OUR CLASS" 

"and get stuck with jaejoong, fat fucking chance lee taemin go dance to rising sun or some bullshit why don't you" 

 and also just because why not add more fanficy shit with something that's already so ridiculously fanficy and let's say taemin used to be fairly close with jaejoong before the whole ~lawsuit~ thing happened, and he used to maybe see him and the other dbsk members like once a week because he was close with them and they helped him with dancing, singing, etc whatever cute bonding shit

 and then one day taemin went to go see them and jyj were just gone and taemin was so confused and changmin was upset and yunho was upset but just like "they left the band taemin they're gonna leave the company" and taemin's this lil freshly debuted kid and he just "but they didn't say goodbye?????" 

 and taemin's been so upset with jaejoong since that day because like he feels very hurt about them just leaving and not saying goodbye to him 

 so when jaejoong shows up as his teacher that morning, everyone in their class thought it was just a normal day, and there were cameras in the classroom but they also just assumed that it was something taemin or jongin related because idols in their class and all that so taemin's just turned around playing rock paper scissors with kai, and then the door opens and it's another camera and then a man walking in but it's right after the bell and no one's really looking so they just assume it's their teacher so everyone just "goodmorning teacher" in monotone voices because they have to, and jongin pushes taemin forward so he's facing forward and everyone just 

 "what's going on" 

"taemin what is this!" 

"jongin!! is this a new reality show??" 

 and taekai are just what the fuck because jaejoong is standing at the front of their class and that's definitely not their teacher where the hell is Mrs. Kim 

 and jaejoong explains that it's a new reality show, and he'll be their teacher for the next week or so, and everyone is kind of excited except for taemin and jongin who are like well SHIT because once their company gets a load of this, they're gonna be in a load of shit 

 and jongin just leans forward and whispers in taemin's ear "this is a load of barnacles" like that guy from spongebob, and taemin absolutely SNORTS so of course everyone and the cameras and jaejoong turn to him, and jongin immediately falls back into his seat and taemin tries to put on a straight face and jaejoong just 

 "taemin, jongin, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" 

 "no, nothing," taemin says, sending a very annoyed smile at jaejoong. 

 and then when jaejoong isn't looking (but a camera is still pointed at them), jongin leans back forward and just "we're good noodles" and taemin fucking SNORTS SO LOUDLY and slaps jongin away from him and jaejoong just 

"taemin. stay after class, won't you?" 

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH”

 everyone immediately just is like lmao u know how high school students are when someone gets in trouble lmao and taemin just huffs, and when jaejoong turns back around, taemin turns quickly to hit jongin on the shoulder and turn back around before jaejoong can see it 

 and like, taemin and jongin quickly become so annoyed with all the cameras, and like they're honestly just trying to do their work at one point and taemin is slumped over his desk trying to do the work with the person who sits next to him, and he just turns to the cameraman and just 

 "can u get that thing out of my face pls i'm not a cast member on this show"

 "but you're in the class!!!" 

 "i'm not the only one in this class!!" 

taemin is so exasperated like man i'm trying to learn i didn't sign up for this shit and then during a break someone like

 "oh u know those things we sign at the beginning of the year that say we can be on media and shit for the school?? this must file under that, we must be one of the classes where everyone's guardians signed yes" 

 and then at lunch, taemin and jongin go see if sehun and krystal have this same problem and they just walk up to the classroom because it's lunch time and usually the teachers all leave right away and taemin just pushes the door open so dramatically like

 "sehunnie!! you'll never believe who our teacher is this week holy shit!!" 

 and he just runs smack into Rain and just

 "oh my god" 

looks up at him with these wide ass eyes and he's having such a fanboy moment he loves rain so much omg and jongin has to like hold onto him to hold him up because rain just 

"oh, shinee. big fan" 

and walks away and taemin practically fucking FAINTS

 "BIG FAN!! HE SAID HE'S A BIG FAN!! OF ME!!!!" 

 "he said shinee u dipshit"

 "I AM SHINEE!!! I'M GONNA SHIT MYSELF!!" 

 "who's your teacher though don't leave us hanging" 

 and the other three come over and taemin immediately sobers up and just "ugh that fuckhead jaejoong i can't fucking believe this you know who's gonna get in toruble for it?? US. un-fucking-believable" 

 "you know, you never had a mouth like that when i knew you. also, if i recall correctly, i asked you to stay after class" 

 and taemin turns and sees jaejoong and a camera and he just "shit" because dammit he hopes he didn't get caught cursing on camera and now he's gotta have some fake heart-to-heart with jaejoong and he's none too pleased and jaejoong pulls him aside but there's still a cameraman following them and taemin is so uncomfortable and just

 "please i'm serious get that thing out of my face" 

 "taemin it's just for a couple minutes." 

 "what do you want?"

 taemin is just so upset and like he's so on edge because at school he can be somewhat normal but no now he's got an idol teacher and cameras following him around and dammit he just wants to go eat his lunch 

 "i wanted to talk to you about what happened when i left"

 "no, sorry, i'm not doing this" 

taemin just cuts him off and walks away, but jaejoong follows him and just 

 "why not"

 "because!! that's a personal thing, and if you're only gonna talk about it because you're being filmed, then you really don't care at all and i don't wanna hear it. now can i go eat my lunch please, i'm hungry" 

 and jaejoong just sighs and looks at taemin, and taemin's just this sad kid right now looking at him with these big eyes and he looks so upset and jaejoong just 

"okay. go. but no more disturbing the class, got it?" 

 "that wasn't even my fault" taemin grumbles "jongin was the one saying shit not me" 

 "don't let it happen again" jaejoong warns him, but taemin just walks off and goes to look for his lil friends. 

 also!!! kwonho is his friend from school right?? that's the guy taemin sits next to in class lmao i just remembered that, and kwonho is part of their lil group and!!! probably also moonkyu!!! moonkyu can sit next to jongin lmao so that's like the general gist of it i'm sorry this is so long lmao but i've had this idea in my head for probably a year now and it flows a lot better in my head than in writing but yeah i just!!! really wanna talk about it

and also another part of this au deals with a manager and is like mm three or so days into jaejoong being their teacher and maybe fuck idk kang hodong is a lil first year class teacher who taekai barely realize is there until they hear him crashing down the hall on day 2 and everyone in the classrooms goes up against the windows to look outside and see what's going on only to find kang hodong leading a bunch of firsties down the hallway as some form of prank or lesson or no one really knows what's happening, but everyone wishes hodong was their teacher after that 

 and anyways a manager comes one day to pick taemin up for a schedule and taemin completely forgot about it so he's absorbed in the lesson that jaejoong is teaching, and so the manager has to go straight up to the classroom to collect taemin because he forgot to go down to the office to get picked up and the manager just knocks once and opens the door and just

"taemin, come on" because this happens rather often but then he sees who's teaching 

 and taemin "shit" and gathers up his things really quickly and just tries to get out of there without some sort of weird fight thing happening and just "sorry hyung sorry sorry i'm coming!!"

 "what is going on" 

 "what?" 

 "why is HE in your classroom?? and cameras???" 

 "we're on a show hyung can we go please i'm gonna be late" 

 taemin's just got his backpack slung over his shoulder and he's so anxious to just leave because oh no this is the angry manager and he's getting that angry look and oh no "get in the hall"

 and he just grips taemin's arm and shoves him outside and FUCK it kind of hurts and fuck everyone saw and the cameras saw and just fuck 

 "jongin, get out"

 "what, i don't have a schedule today!" jongin is seriously like annoyed like no today is a day off until like 6 pm fuck that "jongin, NOW" and jongin is so freaked out and he just "sorry okay i'm coming" 

and he gets his things and he's hurrying outside and he just "how long has this been goig on??" 

 "what??" 

 "how long have you two been on a show without telling anyone!!" he's getting so angry and taekai are so freaked out holy shit they didn't think it was that big of a deal

 "hey, do you have permission to take jongin out of class?" jaejoong is like worried like is this even legal 

 "you stay out of this" the manager Does Not like jaejoong. not one bit. and the manager like gets so angry and he's yelling at taekai in the hall and another teacher hears it and peaks out to see what's going on and he like grills them for not telling anyone that they were on a show and that jaejoong was their teacher and blahblah 

and he asks if sehun and krystal have been ont he show too and they both just "yeah" and he makes them go get them and so they hurry down the hall to their classroom and knock on the door and they're so nervous when rain looks at them like 

"excuse me what the fuck you're interrupting my lesson" 

 and taemin just "um, we have to, um, a manager is here and, we sort of, have to have sehun and krystal come with us right now, now, like right now"

 and he's so obviously extremely nervous and the other two immediately know which manager it is just by how nervous taemin is and they start packing their shit up and they all hear the manager yelling for them to hurry up, and rain just "you two stay in here. everyone stay in here, you two come with me, you're going back to class" 

 and taemin just pipes up as rain puts his arm around the two of them to guide them back to class and he just 

 "i actually have a schedule right now i'm actually supposed to be leaving" 

 "then kai will go back to class and you can call another manager"

 "um actually, rain, sir, i go by jongin when i'm at school"

 "then jongin will go back to class, and taemin can call another manager to come pick him up" 

 "yes sir, rain, sir, okay, yes" 

 and by now jaejoong and the manager are outside of the classroom arguing, and a cameraman is out recording the whole thing and then rain joins in like

"hey can we just let this one go back to class and let the other go to his schedule why do we have to fight and get the children involved"

 and then the bell rings but it never fucking stops and after a moment of confusion, taemin and jongin just look at each other like 

"holy shit holy SHIT is this real holy shit HOLY SHIT"

 and all the classroom doors close and lock and the blinds on the windows get shut and jaejoong, rain, the manager, and the cameraman have no idea what's going on but taemin and kai run up to their classroom and start banging on the door and just 

 "HEY LET US IN LET US IN OMG OPEN THE DOOR" 

 but their classroom president just "sorry we can't open the door for anyone until the lockdown bell rings again or until the principal says over the intercom that lockdown is over" 

 "hey kids what's going on??" rain is so confused and the camera is going between the boys and the adults

 and taemin just "WAS THERE A LOCKDOWN DRILL TODAY" 

"what??"

 "YOU'RE THE TEACHERS OMG WAS THERE SUPPOSED TO BE A LOCKDOWN DRILL TODAY YES OR NO"

 "i don't know???"

 "OH MY GOD YOU PEOPLE ARE USELESS"

 taekai are just freaking out holy shit because if they're on lockdown that's like serious they never go on lockdown unless it's a drill and they go back to banging on the door begging for their classmates to let them back in but their classroom president keeps saying no despite the fact that many other people are saying they should let them in 

 and taemin just "JAEHYUN YOU PANSY SON OF A BITCH OPEN THE DOOR" 

 "WHY DON'T YOU GO HIDE IN THE BATHROOM, IDOL" 

taemin just "THIS IS WHY I VOTED FOR [insert girl's name here] INSTEAD OF YOU" 

 and the girl just "wait taemin you really voted for me???" 

 "yeah you're WAY BETTER THAN THIS PANSY PIECE OF SHIT" 

 "WHY DON'T YOU TELL THAT TO THE BATHROOM YOU'RE GONNA GO HIDE IN"

“WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?”

"IM IN CHARGE WHEN THE TEACHER IS ABSENT"

 "YPU ONLY WON FROM LIKE 3 VOTES NO ONE LIKES YPU" 

 and taemin and kai just scream a little bit out of frustration before kicking the door one last time but when they realize that the supposed adults in charge aren't doing anything they just 

 "fuck this we're hiding in the bathroom until this is over have fun ARGUING IN THE HALLWAY"

 and they run down the hall to go hide in the bathroom and lock the door and then over the intercom the principal just 

 "there is a man trying to take our student idols without authorization. the proper law enforcement officers have been notified, but do not let any of your student idols go with a man who says he is here to pick them up. this is not a drill. teachers, lock your doors, and keep your students away from the windows." blahblahblah 

 and taemin and kai are int he bathroom just laughing out of both frustration and a little bit out of disbelief that the school is actually calling the cops on their manager and then someone in shinee calls taemin, probably key, and taemin ends up facetiming with them and the other four see that taemin and kai are int he bathroom at school and just 

 "what the hell taemin you're so late for this recording where are you???" 

 "so long story short, manager hyung got the whole school put on lockdown and me and jongin had to hide in the bathroom because our stupid pansy fuck of a class president wouldn't open the door for us to go back inside of our class"

 "what the hell are you talking about" 

 so taemin and jongin explain the whole reality show thing with jaejoong being their teacher for a week and jinki probably just 

"you're saying jaejoong was your teacher all week and you didn't tell anyone" 

"basically yeah and then the manager u fucks sent to pick me up BLEW UP AT US and it was not pretty can you please tell the NOT ASSHOLE MANAGER that i'm going to be late because THE ASSHOLE MANAGER is probably in the process of being arrested ~~thank you~~ COME GET ME. I'M LITERALLY LOCKED IN A BATHROOM. THIS IS NOT FUN."

 and idk other people they were supposed to be on the show with that are just lingering about are giggling at the misfortunes of the young idols and lmao idk the asshole manager probably gets fired literally all our lil high school idols babies get in trouble for not telling anyone they were being filmed at school for a tv show and taemin makes up with jaejoong yay happy ending i just wanna talk about this so bad 

Tbh I mostly just enjoy the image of taemin and Kai being followed by a cameraman as they run through the halls in their school uniforms to the bathroom because their asshole class president won't let them in because of a technicality and just shouting "This is BULLSHIT" and scrambling to lock the door to the second floor boys bathroom

Also just taekai and their two other friends goofing off before class and forgetting a camera is there and they're talking about a new movie or something and taemin just

 "IT! WAS! SO! KICK! ASS" and alternating between fists to punch the air in front of him and they all like re-enact scenes they liked or whatever 

 And they're just being dumb boys u know and then the teacher and jaejoong come in and they all immediately scramble to sit down in their seats and just It's a really funny contrast to what they act like as Exo/shinee u know

And then Kai just "wait when did you go see that movie??" 

 "I went with kwonho on Sunday" 

 "WHY WASNT I INVITED??" 

 And moonkyu just "OR ME??" 

 "I'm sorry but you knew going into this 4-person relationship that I would have to split my time up between the three of you" 

 "Taemin fuck off" 

 Taemin is just unphased and continues "and that sometimes one might get more attention than the other" 

 "You are the worst" 

 "Thank you I'm taking that as a compliment" 

 And just uwu the four of them being smart asses together

And taemin just shakes his head and closes his eyes and shrugs like "I am a busy busy man" 

 And Kai just scoffs like "hey busy man, did you finish the math homework?" 

And he waves around the paper that has half of his homework done 

 And taemin just Pauses 

 "I am a busy busy man who forgot there was math homework" 

 And he leaps forward and takes a piece of paper of moonkyu and a pencil and just "lemme see lemme see lemme see!!" 

Because they have math first and fuck he totally forgot and there's only 5 minutes before class starts 

 And moonkyu lets them copy his homework and then the class president comes over and just "Excuse me IDOLS are you CHEATING?" 

 And taemin just makes a face at him and goes back to it, but before anyone can really say anything about, another classmate comes over and just "Oh shove off asshole, you copied my history homework at lunch yesterday" 

 And everyone just snorts, and he goes shuffling off to his desk 

Everyone hates the class president because right after he won he became a dick about it and everyone regretted voting for him 

 And the girl who ran against him just "I told you to vote for me" 

 And taemin turns to his friends and just "I told you to vote for her" 

 "Taemin shut up"

 "Never trust a man who only wears glasses in class!!!" 

 Kwonho just Shoves taemin closer to the window

[alchemist-shizun]

Anagnorisis

(AU belongs to @pistachiolan​. Check the notes for more info!)

ἁναγνώρισις: Sudden and unexpected recognizing of the identity of a character in tragedies or other written works, which often determines the turning point in a story. (Latin: Agnitio)

Merry super extra late Christmas aaand at this point this can count as a happy new year gift? I've been literally working on this since last decade, this is some dedication. I hope you like it Lan!! Lov u

Read on Ao3!

Word Count: 3,812

Characters: Roman, Virgil (Patton and Logan are mentioned), Thomas

Pairing(s): pre-Prinxiety

Warning(s): Migraine (and its symptoms), implied mind control, self-harm, crying, implied panic attack, some metaphors might be a bit graphic, please tell me if I missed anything!

Summary: Roman couldn't remember exactly when all of that had started. What he was sure of was that as soon as it begun, all the happenings before became … hazy. He would start to forget specks of time, details, people. And then came the headaches.

Song used: Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty

A/N: I now have Once Upon a Dream stuck in my head. I like to call this "let me just take all the creative liberties I can get and distort everything about the plot". Okay I have no clue if this is at all the idea you had in mind so I improvised thanks to the lyrics, I hope this isn't too far off? Either way, enjoy the angst and these two pining boys cause I sure as hell had a good time. To all my regular readers: you have no idea what’s coming. (Don’t forget to check out @pistachiolan’s profile for their fantastically marvellous au which you can find in their blog under the #TsCultAu tag) The poem Roman recites is a rough translation I did of Catullus's 48th carmen (had a book of his poems and ended up using my fav ofc). The narrated parts in cursive are either thoughts or past events, the parts in cursive and bold are the song lyrics.

✾

❝I'm in love with a fairytale, even though it hurts.

Cause I don't care if I lose my mind,

I'm already cursed ❞

I know you!

A hand flew to Roman's face, which was contorting with unwelcome pain he hadn't seen coming, before he could even register it was his own.

His fingers pressed on a spot between his eyes and the bridge of his nose, his skin wrinkled around them and he had to steady himself against the rocky wall that led to the dungeons.

The dungeons.

Roman attempted to take a look at the stairs he was on: he was met with a flash, or maybe they were multiple flashes, attacking his vision like sharp blades diving into your skin numerous times, one right after the other.

He was blinded.

Eyes closed again, a whimper came out of his mouth; his free hand found its way to his forehead, getting warmer by the second along with his face, then it slid through his hair, barely able to feel its texture.

Too much of a recurring sensation.

Roman couldn't remember exactly when all of that had started. What he was sure of was that as soon as it begun, all the happenings before became … hazy. He would start to forget specks of time, details, people.

And then came the headaches. When he forced himself to remember or clear the discordance in his memories, pain would come.

Oh, come on Roman, his head would reprimand, didn't you learn by now you shouldn't do that?

Headaches turned into fully-fledged migraines.

And hallucinations.

At least that was what he called them. He would be certain of events that had never taken place.

For instance, dungeons.

Roman had been walking down the path leading to them when his mind started to drift away: it happened the same way you look at an object and a memory hits you before its meaning.

For some reason, he remembered being there with Virgil in the past, they had conversations about carvings in the back of the furthest cell, which became the symbol of a legend kids told to scare each other.

It was insane.

Insane his mind could ever fathom the possibility of interacting with Virgil.

Sure, his distress towards Virgil had diminished the more he'd been around without causing any trouble or suspicion, but a memory was a memory. They had yet to have a serious conversation that wasn't necessary, a memory meant they had already spent time alone together as if they had been childhood friends.

Doubt came in, but there had never been solid proof of Virgil himself being up to something, so he had decided to drop that theory.

Roman fell down, but didn't rise up like he usually did in conflicts.

The pulsing in his head made him nauseous; everything was spinning, even the void he was met with once his eyes were closed.

His arms went over his head, trying to shield it from any other malevolent deity that had decided to plague him.

It just all felt so real.

As if he had known Virgil all along.

I walked with you once upon a dream.

Months, months and still no sign of defeat.

Now, who the hell was thinking that messing up with Roman's brain was a fun activity to spend time with?

Even his subconscious had to shove him further down the hole confusion had created: his dreams often displayed all too familiar situations, all too familiar events he knew he had been in, but with that one particular difference in them.

Virgil was present in every single one of them.

It made him lose his mind, so much that he was barely able to bear his sight anymore. He'd feel somewhat embarrassment, he'd turn away after a single glance, as if he had gotten burnt by it.

And then he'd never tear his gaze off of him because, gods of the Empyrean, that boy had to be up to something or else he had no idea where to begin to look for clues.

What a terrible mistake.

Instead, he ended up with the image of Virgil constantly occupying his mind, everywhere he went to, there wouldn't be a moment where his thoughts wouldn't drift away from his task and focus on him.

Daydreaming and migraines became one, distinguished only by the type of pain they caused. Emotional and physical.

Overthinking was his main daily pastime.

And what if his mind was actually trying to tell him something? Dreams often had meanings, so what was his subconscious up to exactly?

That was Roman's train of thought upon waking up from one of those fated dreams, the pounding in his head a visitor who had now become a close friend.

Only thing he was sure of, was that what he had to concentrate on was the fact that it involved Virgil. He tried to recall all of his past hallucinations, all the fake memories, trying to connect the dots between them.

If only he had Logan's skills, he would've had cleared it up in a second. Of course, this one thought was something he was never going to admit and that he would have willingly taken to his grave.

Going into detail was a mess, all the events that had displayed in his mind or in front of his eyes had no correlation whatsoever; so he started looking at the big picture, put labels onto what he remembered.

Those memories. They were all … happy. Carefree little quotidian life bites.

And he felt serene, something that had to be ruined by the massive physical pain. His thoughts told him to stay in those memories, to hold onto them the longest he could, to endure the constant aching so he could stay that additional moment.

It was another him, another Roman who was desperately trying to catch his past and bring it back to himself.

Present Roman wouldn't have been able to perceive that conclusion.

Actually, present Roman was currently losing his mind.

Because just what if what he hadn't realized by then was exactly what he had been focusing on all along?

Feelings. Feelings for someone who had been infesting his thoughts ever since he had arrived.

I know you!

Roman was a knight walking around the village in a busy afternoon at the marketplace. One turn towards a figure in front of a stand, a few feet away, and he switched to distressed knight mode.

« You've got to be kidding me. »

Virgil kept himself from jumping in surprise and faced the owner of the voice right behind him. A single infuriating eyebrow was raised in confusion.

« Pardon me if I dare to show up and get Patton the stuff he needs. » everything was accompanied by a whispered “geez” and an eye-roll.

Again, infuriating.

« That's not- ugh, you're always putting words in my mouth! » Roman watched as Virgil started to walk away.

But he didn't sense the bitterness left in the boy's chest, the one he felt every single time their conversations resulted into senseless bickering.

Then, it happened again.

Virgil stood next to the fountain and Roman's head started spinning.

The way the sun rays hit the water, glimmering in delight, the sparkles that reflected onto Virgil's clothes, the sound it made when he quickly passed a hand through the small cascade.

Dumbfounded, the knight approached him again, searching the scene with his eyes for even the smallest clue to prove him either right or wrong, he simply wanted to get it over with.

Of course, the other noticed his staring. « Like what you see? » Virgil jokingly asked, a hint of sarcasm never leaving his voice.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure that out. Roman stayed silent for another second.

« Are you going to walk back? »

« I don't have a carriage, I apologize. »

He sighed and wondered if he really was considering having feelings for such a … a-

Virgil chuckled right after, ducking his head toward his hand, which shielded his smile.

Gosh, he was gorgeous.

Roman fought a peculiar instinct to pull the hand away and let the whole world be blessed by such a sight. And maybe it was the first time he had smiled like that in his presence, maybe it was the first time after so long of not being able to do that.

Maybe it wasn't the first time at all and Virgil was simply a master at hiding it when Roman wasn't looking. When he didn't want him to realize the truth that could've hurt both of them in brutal ways.

« Well, » Roman snapped back to reality, trying to ignore the headache at best. « It just so happens that I have a horse. » he gestured to the beginning of the plaza.

« No, you don't. » a cryptic expression crossed Virgil's face.

« Wha- » Roman turned just that much to notice that, yes, his horse had definitely freed himself and was now on the loose around the village. « Oh my gods. Oh- Oh my gods. » his hands flew to his hair. « Nope. No. Absolutely unreal. This isn't happening. »

« Dramatic much? » Virgil approached the broken ladder still tied to a fence and started examining it.

« What are you doing? »

« Helping you. »

Roman was getting drunk by all the deja vus he had been getting that day.

Virgil showed him the direction in which the horse had run away, judging by what was left of the ladder. « He might be in his favourite spot. »

« Favourite spot? » his words felt almost slurred, like he had cotton in his mouth.

The other pretended he didn't notice how odd his behaviour had been for the past week. « You don't remember your horse's own routine? »

Roman didn't even know he had one.

After some sighs and an incredulous conversation, they reached a clearing in the woods, where the horse was promptly considering whether or not to swiftly jump and reach one of the fruits on the trees.

« Samson! Really, running off like that on me? »

The animal happily trotted towards them, resting his face against Roman's hand before facing Virgil and surprisingly nuzzling his cheek. For some reason, Samson had always taken a liking into Virgil, which had made it really difficult to interact with the boy in the past.

It was as if Virgil had been his best friend before he was Roman's.

Like he had known him for as long as they did too.

The headache hit his forehead once more.

The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.

Relax time, Patton had called it.

Stressful weeks had been pestering Roman, Virgil and Logan, all for different reasons, yet there never seemed to be time to catch some breath.

Patton had insisted some untroubled hours at night, sat around a little welcoming fire, would have helped their constant stiffness.

So there they were, watching flames try to reach the sky and fail with every attempt.

Oddly enough, their conversations were … simple. Nothing too heavy, no bickering or sarcasm, some jokes but not an overbearing amount.

Roman had his eyes fixated on the fire.

The voices started to drift away from his hearing and everything became muffled as he zoned out, leaving space for the familiar buzzing of nightly insects.

« Earth to Roman, did the gods finally take you away? »

Of course he was sitting next to Virgil.

Of course his whispering would bring his attention back despite having ignored any other louder noise.

He turned his head slightly, his head was resting in his crossed arms on his knees.

« I wish. » he let it out before he could stop himself.

Virgil simply chuckled. « Same, but I don't think Pat would be too happy with that. » And some others, too.

He faced the fire and let its light reflect in his eyes.

Roman believed he could see the stars. « Mhm. »

Virgil seemed to ponder something, reflect on a decision; he could have stayed silent, he could have simply not indulged in a certain matter any further, because that would have costed his life. But he needed proof.

And so he spoke.

« You'll be fine, princey. None hates you here. »

There it was again. Virgil made his best not to immediately check his reaction, but he could see from the corner of his eye how Roman was already raising a hand to his head.

Okay, he thought, something is up.

He bit his lip and ignored the anguished feelings rising in his chest.

Yet I know it's true the visions are seldom all they seem.

Where did that even come from? Why did he call him that, why did it feel so normal as if he'd been used to it his entire life?

What was happening?

Why was his heart beating so fast as he replayed the scene in his head? With Virgil's eyes glimmering against the sky and that smile hidden in the dark.

Who dared to send him so deep in the admiration zone to forget about the continuous pain he was subjecting himself to while being around Virgil so much?

When exactly did he sign the “I will dedicate my existence to destroy myself in order to be around such a human” contract?

To think that months prior he would have called him monster.

Then again, what a peculiar word it was. A mixture or positive and negative meanings, it was the extraordinary, a prodigy, a miracle. That incredible thing that also presented itself as a heinous atrocity.

And it had devoured his mind.

Here he was, now, countless migraines after, finally accepting his feelings because he was at the last stop before having that nightmare finally end.

Except it didn't.

Except non-existent memories of him and Virgil in a past he had never experienced came back to him at once and stronger than before. He couldn't almost breathe and he had no idea where he was going.

But he needed to find Thomas.

Last resort, as they say. A literal deity would have solved the problem in the blink of an eye.

Right.

Thomas had a weird twinkle in his eyes when Roman explained how often he had been getting the headaches and what was the recurrent situation the dreams displayed.

He made him sit down somewhere … he was too clouded by the pain to understand where he was exactly.

« I perfectly know what's going on. » Thomas had reassured him. « Trust in me, everything will be alright soon. »

Yet, when he placed his hands above Roman's head and he closed his eyes not to be blinded by an all too familiar glow, “alright” would have been the last thing he would have felt.

Or it wouldn't have been a word at all, because with the persistent twisting and turning and deleting and reforming of his thoughts and memories in his mind, there was no way he believed there could have existed anything else but pain in the world.

Roman didn't even have the strength to scream anymore.

And it was agonizing. Dangerously agonizing, as he fell to his knees and couldn't even feel the touch of his own hands vehemently pressing on his eyes, strong enough to push them far back into his eye sockets.

Maybe he was actually shrieking so loud his hearing had failed him long before.

His fingers dug onto the sides of his face and fell down on his cheeks, the nails traced red paths down both of them, white bits of dead skin left by them crossed paths with bitter tears that were somehow able to escape the limit his palms put.

« Everything will be alright. » Thomas had repeated while he nonchalantly destroyed the poor boy's mind. « You don't need him. »

That was the downfall of his discernment.

« I'll fix it for you. »

But if I know you,

When the blinding light ceased to hit his face, Roman's entire body plunged into the pavement for a split second, before immediately scrambling back to his feet.

His vision was back, the headache was gone.

But the confusion …

The thoughts that were now forming into his mind. Those were the doleful sting of skin thrown carelessly into flames: just as the skin burned and turned into an ashen damaged substance, so Roman's memories were filled with blank gaps and eroded by the flames of Thomas's power.

« I need- » he stormed out of the room without ever completing the line.

What he needed was actual reassurance.

If before his memories only conflicted with each other, now Roman felt like his whole life he had lived an illusion.

Gods, what was even true at that point?

So, he needed.

He needed answers, confirmations, he needed to feel authenticity.

Roman knocked on a door.

When Virgil opened it, he was met with the sight of a dishevelled and devastated boy, with red on his cheeks and in his eyes. This boy suppressed a sob, barely able to keep his lips from trembling.

« Are you even real? »

It was the exact same feeling as having a crowbar hitting his teeth: insanely painful and impossible to bear.

Followed by colossal quantities of resentment.

Virgil moved carefully, he let Roman in before closing the door behind them and let him sit on a chair in his room. In a second, he was already at the knight's side with a glass of water placed on the desk next to them. Eyes wide with concern, trying to fight the angered shaking of his hands.

He knew it all. That was just the confirmation. Yet, he couldn't talk, only help. Which was the first priority at the moment: care for Roman.

« What happened? » nothing. « Are you hurt anywhere? » still nothing.

His lips contorted with concern; Virgil watched the other try to steady his breath, looking around the room to see if he could still distinguish whether or not he was hallucinating.

Roman raised his arms and pulled Virgil close to him. It felt real. He buried his face in his chest, and still felt real. The tears wetting Virgil's shirt were real.

Real, real, real.

You're real, Roman. He's real. Your feelings are real.

He held him closer.

I know what you'll do.

How long Virgil had denied everything in favour of his safety.

And anyway, as soon as he was back, Roman had instantly hated him, who could even blame him for suppressing the truth?

Then things changed. He had noticed the alterations in Roman's demeanour, the loss in his focus, how disoriented he had started to become.

Townspeople constantly told him to pray to the gods, go visit Thomas for some “blessings”.

Yeah, right.

Virgil's heavy knot contorted in his stomach at the sole thought.

Instead of burdening himself even more, he passed a hand through Roman's hair, maybe embracing him with his other arm a little too tightly.

His feelings blossomed at once again, so much harder than before, as if he had bottled them up for so much time that they exploded simultaneously at the first display of affection he received.

Too long he had waited for something as simple as a hug. And there was only one to blame.

Roman wasn't even able to talk, he didn't want to move and face his issues, there was no way he would have wished to speak up about anything that had happened.

He felt damaged. He barely knew his identity at all and Virgil's presence was so grounding that he would have stayed in his arms forever.

Which Virgil would have gladly accepted.

« Can you tell me a place? » Virgil lowered at his level so he could look him in the eyes. « Somewhere safe, a comforting space? »

Roman sniffed one last time before being finally able to respond.

« The Black Lake. »

You'll love me at once.

Seeing someone calm down on the spot, with the breathing evening out nicely, was a rather cathartic experience, Virgil's own tight chest could finally be released from the grip of anxiety.

The two were sitting by the limit of the Lake, which was enlightened by the moonbeams.

« Follow me now. » Virgil called for Roman's attention. « Focus on the water. »

Roman did as instructed.

« What's your name? »

Grounding exercises.

« Roman Kingsley. »

« How old are you? »

« 22. »

Virgil waited for Roman to take a deep breath.

« What's your title? »

« I'm a knight. »

What is the name of your brothe- « Tell me the name of one of your friends. »

« You. Virgil. »

How can you even exist?

Virgil tried to hide a wide smile at best, while his heart jumped happily.

« Where do you live? »

« In this village. »

« Where are you now? »

« At the lake in the forest. » Roman took more breaths with his eyes closed. « You're with me. You're a friend, I think? I don't know it's all so confusing- »

« It's okay, let's talk about something else. » Virgil let the silence sink in purposefully, so the other could regain his focus.

He watched as Roman moved closer to the water and immersed his hand in it, pushing the water away in vain.

« Can you tell me something you learnt by heart? »

Roman didn't take his eyes off of the water.

He seemed to think about it for a second. « If someone, Juventius, would let me kiss your honey-like eyes to the bitter end, » the steady movement of his hand was almost hypnotizing. « I'd kiss them three hundred thousand times; never will I feel like I'm satisfied, » he raised his hand and stared at the drops falling back into the lake, creating the chaos that mirrored the one in his head. « Not even if the harvest of our kissing were to be thicker than the dried ears of corn. »

Virgil snapped back to reality when he felt Roman's head rest on his shoulder, his eyes closed again, but this time they weren't squeezed shut with pain.

« Thank you. » he whispered.

And, for once, nothing was wrong.

✾

« Want to know why this is my favorite place? »

In another memory, in another past, Virgil had turned to Roman with a small but expectant smile. « Why? »

« No matter how many times I come here, » Roman had returned the smile, holding so many more things he was never going to be able to tell him. « You're always here with me. »

The way you did once upon a dream.

[limbodouman]

⟨ WONG KAHEI. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, LIXUE KARISMA LIU is actually a descendent of H E P H A E S T U S. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-TWO year old BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR from SHENZHIEN, HONG KONG has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite CHARASMATIC & INTENSE.

Yeah its Min with the second character. This time Ill try to keep it short and sweet 

CHARACTER BASICS

Full Name: Lixue Karisma Liu

Nickname: Karisma, XueXue, Little Liu

Age: 22

Gender: cis female

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity: Chinese

Nationality:Hong Konger

Education: High School Diploma,

Hometown:ShenZhien

Divine Parentage: Hephaestus

Written Aesthetics: Hands covered in ink and grease, poprocks sparking in ones mouth, the sight of a small light frame,a loud scream from atop a carousel, An angry face clutching a thread bare teddy bear 

CHARACTER APPEARANCE

Face Claim: Wong Kahei

Height: 5′3

Hair Colour: Varies

Eye Colour: Brown

Dominant Hand: Ambextrixious 

Distinguishing Features: Cleft Lip and scarred eyebrows

BIOGRAPHY (bullying tw) 

It was quick and whirlwind, the romance that it is. Karisma’s mom has been a nursing playing pool she whispered some tricks to help the god win. She didnt think much of it. He was nt half bad to her. 

She did get pregnant and headed on maternity leave. Somehow by luck she met a fellow doctor during her pregnancy, he fell for her and was willing to take care of the kid

That would be easier said then done as the kid was more rambunxious then intended. Always running around and piecing things back together. They thought it was the terrible twos but little did they know it was much more

 (Tw)They enrolled Karisma in private school, hoping that a quality education would help her find her way through life, sadly she did get made fun of for any little thing. One school mate even asked why she smiled so oddly. 

She buried herself in other hobies manly robotics and metal music. She was able to find a few friends but she was well aware she wasn’t liked by many. Even her friends admit that sometimes she seems a bit too strange (Tw end)  

All that would change when she as trapped by a monster. She experience her senses flaring up as they never had before. Karisma was struggling in her net when the figure snarled at her and muttered the words I got you little demigoddess. And why was her smile so crooked, just like her father 

Thats all it took for her to set the net on fire. There was white hot flames she herself never experience. She just remembered setting the monster aflame before running. She remembered running fast and heading home. The subway only made her ruinmante. 

Karisma was angry, confused, and scared. She started crying to her father as she confessed the events. It was her mother that finally came clean with the truth. The man she knew all her lief wasnt her father but someone else. When Karisma asked for his name, her mother admitted he only went by H and hasnt contected her since.Only a satryr intruppted her line of questioning.

The satry tried to explain better than her parents about the demigod hood but she was placated enough to come with him. Karisma looked at her parents in disappointment- she really wished they told her soooner. 

Camp Halfblood was diffrent though. There was something that contrasted against the colder private school she went too. The minute she entered the gates the ends of her pigtails set aflame in excitement. She was able to talk to more people without judgment. Tough the question remained who her father was,

The claim just happened, seeing the iron hammer over her head. She felt a lot of emotions but anger being one of them. She as secretly hoping for Hermes or Apollo but she got the one with the temper. One that she didnt realize she had. Sure she was to get close to them but the first night she slammed the door and hid under her covers screaming. 

She grew to realize that Heph was her father and that maybe he had reasons to not tell her. In a very strongly worded letter she asked why, her father replied a year later. For your protection. Please understand. Se was hesitant to write back since. 

Of course she went on quests. the heph id with the flaming hair and sharper tongue. She liked them but wanted to be a leader instead of a big three kid. 

Now that shes in college she accepted some things to a degree. Though she found a new outlet to get her anger out: Metal Music 

PERSONALITY

Appears very eccentric but is actually a no nonsense type. She is very blunt and genuine with her feelings. A scary critic especially when it comes to obscure music genre and mechanics. However she will help you out, just don’t expect a smile on her face. Very few people have seen her smile due to past instances of being ridiculed, and opts for a half smile.  Is self-conscious to a degree, but not to the point she won’t show her face. Pretends she knows what she wants in life despite the reality she’s just as confused as everyone else. Overcompensates. To those that dont know her she can look very tough or even haughty, but she doesnt care due to judgement. She knows shes a Heph kid and proud of it, it doesnt mean she wont try her other pursuits before she graduates.

POWERS

Pyrokenesis - this is fire strongest power yet its very emotional based. With Karisma’s application, she has used for thermal, melding, and sometimes destructive purposes. She has also used it the way of effects during her performances with her Experimental Metal Group- The Demi-Disasters Hence her Stage name Red Hot Karisma . Primary weakness however would involve the water and freezing point.

Trap Sensing - This is her second most strongest abilities. She can sense and disable traps within a mile distance. She developed this at a younger age, when she was walking through the subway and the capital city. She can’t sense every trap such as those blessed with other god abilities.

Techenkenis - Very limited due to her personal lack of discipline and patience. She can communicate with her own devices, but other peoples devices takes days even months to figure. Rather than use her own power she prefers to use her own instincts.

Enhanced Combat - Very defense like and agility like tactics. Can be on the offense but makes her feel odd doing it. Has some informal training on weak points of the body courtesy of her mother.

OPTIONAL INFO

Extracirculars:

TBD 

Housing:

Hephaestus hous

Connections:

Half siblings 

best friend

course mates

rivals 

Members for her group the Dem-Disasters

People to debate and argue

ees and ohs the whole shebang 

More stuff coming soon

[calpalirwin]

Never Imagined We’d End Like This

Summary: Just because it doesn’t work, doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Sometimes people are better off as friends.

A/N: Time to learn a little bit more about the couple Finn and Vanessa were before they became our favorite exes (some overlap of the beginning of Package Deal)

Word Count: 4.4k

And away, and away we go!

__

“Um… Mr. Campbell?” Vanessa asked shyly, her knuckles barely scraping against the open door of the young man’s office.

“Yeah?” Finn asked, not looking up from his work.

“Sorry to bother you… but, um Professor Roe sent me. I missed the midterm and he said I should contact you. I would have emailed but I saw your office was open.”

Finn’s eyes tore away from his work and over at the woman. She was young, eighteen, maybe nineteen, if he had to guess. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with bangs sweeping across her forehead. Soft and innocent eyes that shone with intelligence. “Intro to Psych?” he asked kindly, pulling open a desk drawer and ruffling through it.

“Yes, sir,” she mumbled politely with a nod trying to look anywhere but at the handsome teacher’s assistant the sleeves of his shirt perfectly rolled midway up his forearms, lithe fingers running through the various folders before locating the right one.

“It’s Finn, please,” he told her, opening up the folder and pulling out a test. “I know it’s kinda cramped in here, but you’re more than welcome to the space. Or you can take the test with you and bring it back whenever. I would just recommend setting a timer for like an hour. It’s not worth spending much more time on it than that.”

“Thank you, Finn. But it might be best if I take it here. Quiet space even if it is small.”

He chuckled and cleared off a space on his desk for her. “Here, you can take my chair,” he offered, gesturing to the newly created spot.

“Oh, I can stand,” she waved him off. “You’re already being so nice.”

“Nonsense. I need to check with Professor Roe if he needs anything before class anyways so I’ll be on my feet for a bit,” he half-lied.

“Thanks.” Her cheeks flushed as she took the seat and set out to work.

“I’m sorry,” Finn shook his head. “I’m terrible with names. You are?”

“Vanessa Parker. Tuesday/Thursday class at 3.”

“Daydreamer,” he recalled with a nod. The girl had a strong tendency of letting her mind wander, a lazy smile on her lips with her chin cupped in her left hand while her right twirled her pen. But despite her daydreaming, she always had the correct answer on the tip of her tongue.

“I-” she started to stammer. “Last class. Long day. Don’t mean to.”

Finn chuckled. “No, it’s fine. I’d be more concerned if you weren’t so on top of your studies. Are you a psych major, Miss Parker?”

“Vanessa,” she corrected. “And no. Economics.”

He let out a huff of surprise. “Economics, huh? Never woulda guessed.”

She shrugged. “I like numbers. Always a definitive answer.”

He chuckled again and she smiled, liking the way he laughed and him equally enamoured with the way she smiled.

~~~

“Oh, it’s just gonna be me and my mom. I’m an only child, and Dad died when I was in high school,” Finn confessed when they were their plans for the break after the end of the semester.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Vanessa sighed sadly, cupping Finn’s face in her hands, thumbs rubbing across his cheekbones.

“S’alright,” he smiled softly at her, turning his head to press kisses against her palms. “He was sick a lot when I was a kid. Cancer. So we knew it was coming.”

“That’s still shitty, love. I can’t imagine losing my dad even if he does drive me crazy.”

“Yeah, your family. Tell me about them.”

“Mom and Dad. Still married. A sister who’s a year younger than me. I don’t really get along with any of them.”

“Why’s that?” Finn pressed gently.

“My sister’s a narcissist and my parents let her get away with it. My entire life has been her one-upping me. Like I honestly wouldn't be surprised if when I get home she tells us that she got accepted early into like an Ivy League and is valedictorian.”

“Then come home with me for the break.”

She snorted in disbelief. “I can’t just go home with you for the break.”

“Why not?”

“They’re my family, Finn. Whatever our bullshit I haven’t seen them in four months.”

“They may be your family, but toxic is still toxic, Ness.”

“Well…” Vanessa smiled at the thought of spending her week wrapped up in Finn rather than with her family. “I’d have to at least make an appearance… but no one said I had to stay there the whole time…”

Finn brightened, kissing her excitedly. “Oh, this’ll be great! My mom can’t wait to meet you.”

“You told your mom about me?”

“Of course I did. Think I’d keep someone as great as you a secret? I’d tell the whole world if they’d listen.”

Vanessa blushed. “Oh, stop. I’m okay, sure. But I wouldn’t say I’m great.”

“Well, that’s why I’ll say it for you.”

~~~

“Mom, this is Vanessa. Ness, this is my mom, Carol,�� Finn introduced.

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, sweetheart!” the older woman said, pulling Vanessa in for a hug.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Vanessa returned the warmth, already liking this welcome home much more than the one she imagined was waiting for her at her parents’ place.

The rest of the afternoon found Vanessa sitting besides Carol on the couch, pouring over photo album after photo album, Finn growing up in front of their eyes. School pictures, birthdays, Halloween costumes, his high school graduation, and finally a picture of him that couldn’t have been that old: his hair an unruly wet mess and a wide smile as he straddled a surfboard in the middle of the ocean. “I didn’t know you surfed,” Vanessa murmured, admiring both the picture and the man at her side.

Finn shrugged. “I’m alright. I’ll take you out sometime if you like.”

“And I’ll teach you how to paint!” she agreed happily.

“You paint?” both Carol and Finn asked.

Vanessa nodded. “Mhm. I have some of them up in my dorm room. You’ve seen ‘em.”

“I thought you bought those…” Finn admitted sheepishly. “They’re really good, Ness.”

“Thanks, love,” she smiled at him, interlacing their fingers together as he kissed her cheek.

“So…” Carol said, “Finn tells me you’re a freshman. How was your first semester living away from home and everything? I bet you miss your family tons.”

So Vanessa spent the better part of the evening rattling off how great her first semester had been while Carol listened intently, beyond happy for the young woman hanging off her son’s arm.

“Mom really likes you,” Finn told her later that night as they settled in for bed.

“I really like her too. She raised a hell of a man.”

“And I can’t wait to meet the family that raised such an amazing woman,” he returned the compliment.

“Oh, trust me. You can.”

Finn was sure his girlfriend was exaggerating, so when they got to her house the next morning, he was more than taken aback. “A boy?” was the greeting he got, complete with a look over from Mr. Parker.

“Finn, Dad,” Vanessa was quick to smooth things out. “He goes to school with me.”

“Mmm. And what do you study?”

“Psychology, sir,” Finn told him.

“Mmm… good money in that to be sure. Not sure if it’s worth all the schooling though. What year are you in?”

“I’m a junior, sir.”

“Older,” was the comment as the man looked over at his daughter.

“I got straight A’s, Dad,” she answered the unasked question about what running around with an older boy would do to her academics.

“So did your sister. Got her early acceptance letter, too.”

“Good for Erica,” Vanessa said with a tight-lipped smile. “Where is she? And Mom?”

“Around.”

As if that was the magic word, an older and younger copy of Vanessa practically poofed into the room, with bright smiles and airy laughs. “Nessie!” the younger one shrieked, before wrapping her sister in a tight hug.

Finn rubbed nervously at the back of his neck, thinking that the dad was a piece of work, but the impression of the sister seemed to be going okay so far. “Nessie! Did Dad tell you about school? I got in! Early acceptance and everything!”

“He did,” Vanessa nodded. “Congratulations. Erica, Mom, this is my boyfriend, Finn.”

Erica’s face fell as she looked over at Finn with the same level of scrutiny the father had given him. “Hello,” he said politely.

“Hi…”

The day quickly fell apart from there. Finn learned exactly what Vanessa had meant by Erica’s narcissistic constant one-upping and the parental acceptance. Every story Vanessa tried to tell her parents was quickly interrupted by an even more glorious story of the younger Parker daughter’s accomplishments with little regard to Vanessa’s own feelings. Still, at the end of the visit, Vanessa hugged her parents and sister goodbye with a smile on her face.

“So, whaddya think?” Vanessa asked, her voice far too bright for the hell they’d just endured.

“Do you want my honest answer, or the answer you want to hear?” he asked.

“The honest one…”

“Baby… your family sucks. Like… I don’t know how someone as great as you came from a family as horrible as that. And the fact that you still willingly put up with them… You’re probably the strongest woman I know…”

When her lip quivered, he was quick to add, “Oh, baby… no, it’s not your fault.”

“I hate them!” she wailed, before breaking down sobbing. “I hate my family!”

He held her while she cried, gently shushing her. “It’s alright.”

“No, it’s not!” she continued to sob. “They’re my family! What kind of monster am I for hating my family?!”

“You’re not a monster. Sometimes people just suck. But it’s not a reflection of who you are.”

His words soothed her enough to calm down, but she was still sniffling when they got back to his mom’s. “Oh, my, what happened?!” Carol asked, pulling Vanessa in for a hug and the warmth of it set Vanessa into hysterics again.

“Her sister’s a narcissist and her parents aren’t much better,” Finn deadpanned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Finn!” his mother scolded, while rubbing Vanessa’s back. “Shh, it’s alright, sweetheart.”

“I didn’t say it to be mean, Mom. I said it as a professional assessment.”

The woman smacked her son in the arm. “Time and place, Finn, time and place. Your girlfriend is upset.”

“She’s upset because her family sucks.”

“Finn Christopher!”

Vanessa sniffled, pulling out of Carol’s embrace and wiping at her face. “No, Finn’s right. My family… they aren’t the greatest.”

“Well, that’s okay, sweetheart. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do about who were bonded to biologically. But, we do get a say in whether we accept that bond and strengthen it, or create new bonds all together. My own family wasn’t much, but I eventually found one that was. They say you don’t get to choose your family. I say they’re half right.”

~~~

Finn’s mom quickly became Vanessa’s family after that. When spring break rolled around, Finn and Vanessa only visited Carol. And when summer came, Vanessa signed herself up for the school’s summer sessions so she didn’t have to give up her dorm room. A summer spent studying in Finn’s office while he worked, or sitting in the warm sand painting the handsome surfer when they succeeded in pulling the other away from their work.

It was a pattern the couple continued with the following school year. Minimal contact with her family while immersing herself in the new one she had found with Carol and Finn. And when Finn graduated that following spring, him and Vanessa moved into a little apartment a few blocks from campus.

It was in their small apartment that they dreamed about the family they would create together once she finished school and got a steady job, and once he completed his master and doctorate programs and started his own practice. Their own little life far away from the scrutiny of her family.

When Vanessa graduated with her bachelor’s and Finn with his master’s, Finn started to set money aside for a ring so they could start living the life they dreamed about together. But life had its own agenda, much like it does and instead of a ring, Finn bought a pregnancy test and stood with shaking hands outside a bathroom door rather than seated in a chair at a fancy restaurant.

“What’s it say? Finn asked timidly after what felt like the longest three minutes of his life.

“Pregnant,” her voice answered, small and terrified from the other side of the door.

He fought against his throat closing up to croak “Can you come out of the bathroom? Or let me in?”

The door slowly creaked open and she flung herself into his arms. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, baby,” he chuckled, running his hands through her hair and cupping her face in his hands so she’d look up at him. “We got this. I’m here every step of the way. I love you.”

“I love you.”

They told Carol first. After an appointment to make sure everything was going smoothly, they presented the woman with the sonogram. “I-is this…?” Carol stammered, looking quickly between her son, Vanessa, and their hands resting softly on Vanessa’s abdomen.

“Mhm,” Finn nodded.

“Oh, that’s great!” Carol clapped her hands to her mouth as a few happy sobs wracked her body. When she composed herself, she rattled on and on about how excited she was for them, and how if they needed anything all they needed to do was ask her.

Telling Vanessa’s family was another story.

The twenty-two year old woman slid the sonogram towards her parents, her other hand clinging tightly to Finn’s underneath the dinner table. “What’s this?” Mr. and Mrs. Parker asked, faces pulled into frowns as they studied the small picture.

“Your grandchild,” Vanessa told them.

“Oh, Nessie,” they said sorrowfully.

“I’m sorry?” she asked.

“Well you just started at your job. This isn’t going to be easy, Nessie,” her mother said, patting her daughter’s hand comfortingly.

“We know that. But it’s still something we’re excited for and honestly, I’m a little disappointment you don’t seem to share the same enthusiasm. This is your first grandchild.”

“Nessie, we are thrilled for you and Finn,” her father stepped in. “But…”

“But you don’t approve of the timing,” Vanessa finished sharply. “Because you never approved of anything I did.”

“Nessie!” her parents called out in shock as the couple got up and left.

“I’m so proud of you,” Finn murmured, placing a kiss in her hair.

“I don’t know what they want from me… I got good grades. I got a solid career. I have a great relationship with a great man. I’m carrying their grandchild. I did everything right!”

“Shh, it’s alright. They don’t have to be around the baby. You don’t owe them anything.”

“That’s the thing though, Finn. Despite it all, I still want them to be able to meet the baby. My own feelings shouldn’t get in the way of them having a relationship with their grandchild.”

“I ever tell you how proud of you I am, and how much I love you?”

She gave him a watery smile as she nodded. “Yeah. You’re really good at that.”

“You make it really easy. And yes, this may be their grandchild, but it’s our child. And if people want to be in their life, they have to earn it, no matter who they are.”

“Five bucks says Erica’s pregnant by Christmas,” she joked humorlessly.

“Ten says your parents are actually thrilled.”

Both ended up being right. They made their appearance Christmas morning and Erica busted out her news before the couple could hang up their coats. And the younger sister’s news didn’t end there, as she flashed her ring hand exuberantly. The entire breakfast was spent with Erica gushing over her pregnancy and following engagement while Mr. and Mrs. Parker beamed with pride of how wonderful it was that Erica would graduate, and become a wife and mother by the time summer rolled around. Vanessa left fuming that she’d never speak to her parents or her sister ever again. Finn wholeheartedly agreed, but knew his girlfriend would probably flip flop back and forth between wanting nothing to do with her family and wanting them in their child’s life.

~~~

“Are you ever gonna ask me to marry you?” Vanessa asked as they crammed together on the hospital to stare over at the bassinet that held the world’s most perfect little boy.

“I was,” Finn admitted.

“Past tense… Uh-oh…”

Finn gave a soft laugh as he kissed the side of her head. “I didn’t want you to think I was asking you because you were pregnant and it was the ‘right��� thing to do. When I ask I want there to be no doubt in your mind about why I’m asking. I won’t ask you if you think I’m only asking because you’re the mother of my child. I want you to know I’m asking you because I can’t imagine my life without you by my side. And when I think you know that, I’ll ask. Until then, I’m just gonna love you and Mason like crazy.”

~~~

“Finn? Finn. Finn!”

“Huh? What?!” Finn jumped in his seat.

“Were you even listening?” she asked, voice laced with annoyance.

“Yeah… the babbling… more stories. Library.”

She sighed.

“What?”

“I told you about the library having toddler time last week.”

“Oh… sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was saying,” she said in a clipped tone, “that we should try to get him in a routine.”

“Mase already has a routine,” Finn pointed out.

“No, but like even more of one. Like we can talk with Mom about getting her to do the same things with him at the same time every day when she watches him. And at home we can do the same thing. Says here that getting rid of any unpredictability can help kids with autism.”

“Mase isn’t autistic though.”

“No, the doctors say he’s too young to know for certain. But he definitely has signs we should be looking for. If they thought he wasn’t autistic, they would say he wasn’t and tell us to look for something else. Not being entirely sure isn’t the same as not being it at all, Finn.”

“Whatever… get him on a stricter routine then.”

She threw her hands in the air. “So you don’t even care? This is our son, Finn.”

“How are you mad at me for agreeing with you?”

“I’m not mad at you. I’m frustrated in general, and would like you to take this seriously.”

“I am taking it seriously!”

“No, you’re not!”

“Just because I don’t spend all my free time pouring over different studies that all conflict with each other like you do, doesn't mean I’m not taking this seriously, Ness.”

“I’m not expecting you to do the research with me! But I’d like it if you would listen to it.”

“I am listening! You want him on a stricter routine. Great. Do that then.”

“Ugh! Why are you so frustrating!”

“Because this is frustrating! You think it’s easy being told that my son will never be able to look me in the eye, or call me ‘Daddy’?! That I’ll probably never hear him say he loves me?! Just because I’m not struggling with this news the same way you are doesn’t mean I’m not equally heartbroken about this! Just because my coping is different than yours doesn’t make me a bad parent!”

“I never said you were!”

“You didn’t have to…” His chair scraped back as he stood up.

“Where are you going?!”

“We’re both way too worked up, so I’m leaving before we say something we’ll regret.”

“This is so fuckin’ stupid!”

“Oh look! Something we agree on!”

Vanessa swallowed the scream. She envied the way Finn could remain level headed, pick his words carefully, and even realize when he needed to walk away from a conversation. Being with him, she had picked up on some of those habits herself, but she knew she still struggled with wanting to give up the fight even if it was only to hit pause.

After ten or so minutes, she went in search of her boyfriend, finding him laying in bed with Mason, doing everything he could to get some sort of response from the almost two year old. “I’m sorry,” she started, crawling up onto the bed with them. “There’s a lot I’m frustrated about and I took it out on you. Forgiven?”

“Forgiven,” Finn nodded. “And I’m sorry too. I should have listened to what you were saying rather than drawing my own conclusions. Forgiven?”

“Forgiven.”

“Do you want to tell me what you’re frustrated about? Or would you rather move on and create a new routine for Mase?”

“It’s my family…” she sighed.

Finn held back on rolling his eyes. “Of course it is… What happened in the perfect Parker household this time?”

“Danny’s talking up a storm. Erica and Scott are planning their anniversary trip to Mexico or Europe or something.”

“And they asked about Mason?”

“Only to compare their two grandsons.”

“Well, I’ll take potty-training whiz over talkative anyday.”

Vanessa laughed at that. Mason had taken very quickly to potty-training, whereas her nephew, Daniel, showed no interest. “Yeah, Mom said we even woke up from our nap dry.”

“Great job, buddy!” Finn beamed at the small boy who was watching his parents intently. “You just want your words to count, huh? Too smart to waste time on nonsense babbling. Right?”

There was a twinge of fear in his last word as he looked over at Vanessa worriedly. She quickly nodded her head. “Of course. Man of few words, aren’t you, sweet boy?”

“You’re a great mom, Ness,” Finn said softly, reaching out to rub his thumb over the back of her hand.

“And you’re a great dad. We did everything right. Mason just is who he is and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Exactly.”

While the words were right, it did little to soothe either of their raging thoughts. Thoughts about if they were doing right by their little boy. If they were doing right by each other. The smile they gave each other was weak and forced, and the way their fingers interlaced was far more out of instinct than anything else. They were running on fumes, they just didn’t know how to let go for fear of shattering the other one more than they were already shattered.

Finn told his mother about it one afternoon when he picked up Mason on a day Vanessa had to stay late at the office. “I love her. I do. I know I do. But… we haven’t been us in a long time. We’re fighting more. And I thought at first that it was just a rough patch. But…”

“But you’re both focused on Mase. And as much as you love him he’s a handful. Children require a lot of our attention. And it’s easy to lose track of other things. And it’s no one’s fault.”

“But I still love her.”

“No one’s denying that, sweetheart But, you can still love someone without actually being in love with them anymore.”

“I failed her, Mom… we’re not supposed to end like this.”

“Finn… listen very carefully to what I’m about to say. Some people aren’t meant to be together forever. There’s no shame in that. It doesn’t mean the relationship failed. It doesn’t even mean that the relationship was wrong or that the feelings weren’t real. People fall out of love and that’s okay. This isn’t ending your relationship with Ness. It’s just closing the romance chapter and starting the parenting one.”

“But I’m not ready to fall out of love with her…” he cried. “I don’t want this to be a chapter. It’s supposed to be the book.”

“Then try,” she encouraged. “Go out on a date. Get out of your heads and roles as parents and just be Finn and Vanessa again for a night. See if that helps. If it does, then keep doing that for yourselves every now and then. And if it doesn’t…”

“Then I have to let her go…”

“You have to let each other both go,” she corrected lightly. “It doesn’t mean you love each other any less. But you both deserve to be in love with someone, so you’re not doing anyone any favors keeping each other from that. You don’t want to wake up one day and resent Vanessa anymore than you want her to wake up one day and resent you. You’ve built a beautiful life together. And you can keep doing that. You just might have to change how that looks is all.”

“C-can you watch Mase on Saturday for us?”

“Of course, sweetheart. He can even spend the night.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

~~~

The night started out really nice. Finn felt himself smiling brighter than he had in a long while at the excitement in Vanessa’s eyes he’d missed seeing. But as the night wore on, the guilt sank in and so did the undeniable feeling that they just didn’t work anymore. Still, they couldn’t bring themselves to end their last night of pretending, dragging the moment into the wee hours of the next morning.

“You know I’m always gonna love you, right?” he asked, savoring holding her against him one last time.

“I know,” she nodded her head against his chest. “We’d do it all over again, right?”

“In a heartbeat.” His voice was soft and she felt a tear splash in her hair. “You’ve given me so much, Ness. I know it’s probably cheesy to say, but I’m a better man for having known you.”

“You’ve made me a better woman, and have given me just as much. You gave me a family.”

“We’re still family. I’m not going anywhere. We’re still a team. I still love you.”

“I know.” She kissed her way up his chest. “The only thing changing is that we’re no longer physically together. We didn’t give up on us. We’re making us better. Better people to each other, and better parents to our son.”

“Exactly. And hey, promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Find someone.”

“Only if you promise to find someone too.”

“Pinky swear,” he nodded. They interlocked their pinkies, giving their fingers a quick kiss, sealing the deal. “No regrets.”

“Not a single one. I love you, Finn.”

“I love you too, Ness.”

__

Tag List

@frontmanash​​ @goeatsomelife​​ @flameraine​​ @creator-appreciator​​ @cxddlyash​​ @1-irwin-94​​ @sparkling-calm​​ @tea4sykes​​ @youngblood199456​​ @5-seconds-of-obsession​​ @gosh-im-short​​ @aquarius-hood1996​​ @talkfastromance4​​ @itjustkindahappenedreally​​ @philthepegacorn​​ @boomerash​​ @teenwolfss24​​ @karajaynetoday​ @myfavfanficsever​ @stormrider505​ @cashtonisruiningmylife​ @another-lonely-heart​

[cherrybracelets]

Silver Linings (Chapter 1)

pairing: nurse!ben hardy x reader ; lawyer!gwilym lee x reader

summary: after just breaking up with your boyfriend of 6 years, gwilym, you find yourself sulking in a bar being chatted up by a handsome young blonde, ben

word count: 4k / warnings: 18+!!! smut!!!! also mentions of getting sick, drinking, and pregnancy

AN: okay i know this is my second fic I’m working on currently but guys this one is gonna be sooooo good I’m so excited to share it with you. love u all❤️

It wasn’t the worst bar in the East Village. It wasn’t the best, either. You had been to both the worst, and the best. This was medium. In between. The drinks were good and cheap, but the crowd was mostly middle aged men drinking away the troubles of marriage. The nice thing was, everyone seemed so preoccupied with their own bullshit that no one saw you sulking in the corner, nursing your third soda water.

You slurped down the last sip of it, making a loud obnoxious sound. The bartender walked over to you and smiled, taking the empty cup away.

“Are you sure I can’t get you something a little stronger than that? It looks like you need it,” he motioned at the bottles of alcohol behind him, his face filled with pity. I’m sure he was used to treating people with pity at a place like this. Everyone had something that lead them here.

“I can’t. I’m pregnant.” You pointed at your stomach, which wasn’t showing yet, and looked back at the bartender. “So just another one of these. It gives me the allusion that I’m drinking.”

“I’m guessing this wasn’t a planned pregnancy, then?” He asked, pouring you another drink.

“Not at all. And it all happened in this bar, by the way. So I blame you.”

“You got pregnant in my bar?”

“No, no. Gross. No. I just met the man that got me pregnant in this bar. And it fucked my life up.”

“I’m sorry about that. Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s a long story...”

“I have plenty of time.”

You took a long sip of the drink in front of you, and placed a hand on your belly. You were sure the bartender could actually care less about your situation, and was just looking for a little extra tip, but you needed to tell your story. You needed someone unbiased to hear it. Someone who wasn’t Ben or Gwil or your parents. Someone who could give you their opinion, without already having an opinion going in.

“Alright, well like I said, it all started in this bar. About four months ago...”

The night in question four months ago was almost exactly the same as tonight. Except you were drinking alcohol. And a lot of it. And you were sad. Very sad.

And then he walked in. A handsome blonde, also bearing a sad face. This was a bar for sad people, it seemed. He walked up next to you and took a seat, clearly not understanding the ‘Let Me Sulk In Peace’ vibe you were trying so hard to give off.

He flagged down the bartender and said “Can I get a gin and tonic, and get her another of whatever she’s having.”

“Thanks, but I’m alright. I probably shouldn’t.” You smiled nicely at him, hoping he would get the message, but also secretly hoping he wouldn’t leave. The company of a handsome stranger was nice.

“I can tell by the look on your face you need another. I know that because we currently have very similar looks on our faces.” The bartender placed both of the drinks down in front of you and you hastily grabbed yours, taking a large sip and letting it burn your throat.

“Why are you drinking tonight, handsome blonde stranger?”

He giggled, and took a sip of his drink. “You can call me Ben. And I’m drinking because I didn’t get a job I was really hoping for.” He took another sip, and sighed. He shook the ice in his cup around, watching it intently. “Why are you drinking?”

“I just got dumped.” You raised your glass in the air and laughed. “Six years of my life, just gone. We were supposed to get married. We talked about it! But apparently a job in San Francisco is more important than all of that.”

“Did he ask you to come with him?”

“Of course. But I can’t give up my life here. I love my job, and my friends. My family isn’t too far, either. I’m not a Rachel, I won’t give up my life for a guy.”

Ben took another sip of his drink, and looked directly at you. He was very handsome, almost like a model. It was kind of stupid how good looking he was. Maybe you were just drunk, but you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at the perfectly chiseled angles of his face.

“I didn’t catch your name.” He raised his eyebrows in question, waiting for an answer.

“Sorry. It’s (Y/N).” You stuck your hand out in front of you, smiling brightly. He took your hand gently in his, and it sent shivers through your body.

Ben drank the rest of his gin and tonic in one swallow, and swiftly ordered another. You were still working on yours, trying to drink a little slower, because things were definitely getting a bit fuzzy.

Your brain kept taking you back to thoughts of your relationship, to thoughts of Gwil. You weren’t mad at him, you didn’t hate him at all. You loved him, to be completely honest. And you missed him.

You had spent six years of your life with him. You honestly he thought he would be your be all end all. You had told him the kinds of engagement rings you liked, your kids names were picked out... God, you lived together! What the hell were you going to do?

"Do you want to talk about anything? It looks like you want to talk." Ben turned his body to face you, his eyes wide and full of kindness. He clearly needed a friend right now, and honestly so did you. Although you usually put up a cold front to strangers, maybe this should be the time you break down your walls.

"I do want to talk, but not about this. I'm not ready." You felt your face get hot, the rush of tears coming up, but you managed to take a deep breath and swallow your emotions. Whatever you did, you were not going to cry in front of this guy. You weren't at that level yet.

"Well, do you want to hear about my problems?" He asked, laughing loudly as he took another large sip of his drink.

"I'd love to hear about anything as long as it doesn't involve Gwil."

"I take it that's your ex?"

"Yes. And that's all you get to know for now," you winked. "Talk to me about you."

"Well, as you know, I didn't get my dream job. But it's a bit more complicated than that, you see..." he took a large sigh and swirled the ice in his drink around, his blue eyes catching the neon lights of the various beer signs around the bar. 

"My roommate secretly applied for the job and got it. I guess he was better suited for it than me... but the thing that pisses me off was that he knew how much I wanted that job... I had talked about it all the time." Ben's cheeks turned a bright red, a rush of anger and frustration coming over him. He balled his fists up and dug his nails into his palms to stop him from crying. It made you feel a little better about almost breaking down in front of him.

You reached your hand out and set it on his knee, offering just the lightest touch to let him know he was not alone. He smiled at you, although it was barely a grin, but he did the best he could. He was thankful for you, too. He just couldn't say it at the moment.

"I'm so sorry. That's terrible. People can be so..."

"Selfish," he said, finishing your sentence exactly as you had thought it. "I kicked him out, I couldn't bare to see him everyday after what he did. I'm sure he was planning on moving out anyways but... I won't lie, it felt a little bad ass to kick him out." Ben smiled, this time a full and meaningful smile.

You and Ben sat and talked for about another hour. You both tried to avoid the things that brought you together in the first place, but every once in a while something would come up and you couldn't stop yourself from talking about Gwil. Ben had finally caught up to you on number of drinks, and you saw him release a little bit of anger one sip at a time.

"Thank you, for chatting with me." You smiled gently at Ben, really feeling like you were a little better off now than you were when you walked in.

"Thank you, too. I needed this." Ben stood up, and you finally realized just how attractive he was. His arm muscles were bulging through the sleeves of his shirt, and his thighs went on for days. Again, this may be the alcohol talking, but your brain was thinking about doing a lot of things to him.

You stood up as well, realizing it was probably good to get out of here while you were feeling this happy. To your surprise, Ben wrapped his arms around you and gave you a hug. You were shocked at first, but quickly melted into his arms and let yourself feel something other than pain. He was warm, and strong. He smelled like lemons, and it reminded you of the stuff your mom used to clean the kitchen with in the house you grew up in. You buried your head deep in the nape of his neck and absorbed him for a moment, letting him wash over you.

When you finally decided to let go of him, it felt like ripping away a band aid. You didn't want to do it, but you didn't have a choice. You couldn't stay here forever, just holding him. But in that moment, if you could've, you would've. You guys walked outside together, the sky dark but the streets still illuminated by life going on around you. The smell of street food and cigarettes filled your nose, and you got a queasy feeling.

"You alright?" Ben put a hand on your shoulder, looking at you with concerned eyes.

"Yes, just need some water. And possibly a snack," you said.

"Let me take you home," he blurted, and then laughed a bit, before saying, "Not like that, I mean. I just have food there, and water of course. And you said you were just going to stay in a hotel for a few weeks until Gwil moved. I'd much rather have you somewhere safe."

"And you're the safe option? I just met you like an hour and a half ago, Ben. That's crazy dangerous." You laughed, and raised your eyebrows at Ben.

"I'm not a serial killer, I swear it," he teased, putting a hand on your cheek and holding your face in his hand. You looked at him for a moment, taking a deep breath of city air. And then you leaned in and kissed him. You kissed him intensely, your lips taking charge and telling him where to go. He wrapped his hands around your waist and pulled you closer to him, his body pressing against every inch of yours. His tongue moved about aggressively in your mouth- he was not holding back. He wanted you, every inch of you, and you wanted him, too.

When you got to his place, he walked you through the door and immediately started kissing you again, barely giving himself time to lock the door. He pulled his shirt off quickly, revealing a nearly perfect body.

You started giggling and Ben looked confused, shielding himself with his arms.

"What's wrong?" He nervously asked.

"Oh, god, nothing! I'm sorry... it's just amazing. You're amazing. Good work God." You ran a hand over his stomach and giggled again. Ben just laughed at you and rolled his eyes before picking you up and bringing you into his bedroom. He took your clothes off quickly, desperation and need taking over his thoughts. He kissed down your stomach and finally reached your center, devouring you like a midnight snack. He made you cum twice before finally stopping to kiss you again. He hovered above you, kissing you and biting at your lips.

"Can I?" He asked, his tip placed right at your opening. You nodded and smiled, bucking your hips towards him. He pushed into you slowly at first, letting you take a moment to get adjusted to him.

"Go faster," you moaned, ready to have him. He quickly started pumping in and out, his hands dug deep into the sides of your hips. He continued to kiss you, although after a few minutes he asked you to turn around and put your ass up for him, which you did without question. He slapped your ass hard, making you squeal with pleasure. He continued pumping faster and harder until he came. He flopped down next to you and kissed you again, this time much slower and with less energy.

"Wow..." you muttered, breathing heavily and wiping sweat off your forehead.

"You should stay here... with me..." He turned on his side and faced you,  wrapping his fingers in your hair.

"I already said I would. Besides, I don't think I'm walking tonight." You winked at him and kissed him again, just for a few seconds.

"I know you are tonight... I meant until you get your place back. Until he moves out. Just stay here."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow... you're not in the right state of mind to be asking me that kind of question..."

"Alright, fine. But I'll still feel the same way in the morning." Ben kissed you once more, and then rolled on his back. You were both asleep within minutes, the emotions of the day, and the alcohol, finally getting the better of you.

So, the next morning you and Ben both decided that you would stay with him for a few weeks. And things were great. You loved living with Ben, he was respectful of your privacy but also knew when to bother you. It had been about four weeks now, and you had only about a week left before you were going to go back home. Although you would miss Ben, you were ready to be back in your place.

You were both hanging out tonight, just watching a movie, ordering takeout. You usually didn't like Indian, but it was all you were craving the past week, so you ordered Bens favorite and a lot for yourself. You were scrolling through Netflix looking for a movie when the doorbell rang.

"I got it Ben, it's probably the food," you yelled to Ben, who was finishing up some work in his room. You walked over to the door and opened it excitedly, your stomach growling at the thought of eating. But it wasn't takeout. It was Gwil, standing in your doorway, cheeks flushed and eyes red and watery.

"What the... how did you..." you stood, baffled, trying to comprehend what was happening. Gwil had tried to contact you multiple times over the past month, but you decided it would be best not to answer. He was leaving, and you needed to do your best to break the connection.

"I called your mum... she told me you were here. I'm sorry to do that I just... had to see you." Gwil looked exhausted and desperate, falling apart at the seems.

"Gwil... why are you here? You're leaving in just a few days... I don't think I can do this." You felt your heart pounding, and your eyes were tearing up at the sight of him. You wanted to hug him, hold him. He looked so broken, just like you.

"I'm not leaving, not anymore."

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" You shook your head in confusion, about to ask more questions when Ben walked out of his room.

"Hey sweets, is the food here?" Ben stopped in his tracks when he saw Gwil, the look on his face changing instantly.

"Is this the guy you've been staying with?" Gwil asked, his eyes examining Ben. "Yes... he's a friend," you whispered, trying to break the tension between the two.

"How come I never met him when we were together?"

"I met him after we broke up..."

"Oh, bloody hell (Y/N)... you're staying with a stranger? He could be anyone, he could be dangerous..." Gwil shook his head, judgement and worry on his mind.

"I think you better stay in your lane, mate... I was the one that took care of her when you left her alone." Ben walked closer to you, puffing his chest to try and look more intimidating.

"Stop, Ben. Let me handle this, please. Gwil, can we talk in private, in my bedroom?" You motioned for Gwil to follow you, and he nodded and walked in your direction, not taking his eyes off Ben until it was impossible for him to look anymore. You and Gwil walked into your room and you sat down on the bed, throwing your face in your hands and sobbing.

"Love... I am so sorry. I fucked up so bad... I messed everything up. But I am still in love with you, and nothing, no job... nothing is worth leaving you. Please, you have to forgive me... I'm falling apart. I've never been this unhappy." Gwil started crying, a sight that you had only seen a few times in your relationship. He really was broken, and so were you.

"I miss you so much. Every day... I love you, Gwil. I want to come home with you."

Gwil cupped your face in his hands and kissed you, smiling as he did.

"Come home, baby. Come home."

You found out in the bathroom at work. You knew it, though. Or at least you knew something was wrong. You had only been back home with Gwil for about a week and a half, and almost that whole time you'd been puking and exhausted. All it took was the two little lines to confirm your suspicions. You were pregnant, probably a little over a month along if you had to guess. And that meant it was with Ben's baby. You were almost certain of it, and the thought made you... confused. You didn't know how exactly you felt, but you knew you were terrified.

Your brain was fuzzy, and you had to get out of there. So you told your boss you were sick and had to leave immediately. They didn't question it, because they could tell by the look on your face you were serious. You got on the subway and just stood, staring at the anti-vaping poster in front of you. You missed your stop, but you couldn't go home anyways. You couldn't tell Gwil. You couldn't tell anyone. So you got off at the next stop, which so happened to be Bens, but you didn't really realize where you had gone until you found yourself staring at his front door, waiting to knock.

And you knocked. And he came to the door, a bit surprised to see you, still a little mad that you chose to go back to Gwil, but he would never tell you that to your face. He knew you were upset, he saw it in your eyes. He was very good at reading you, and it scared you a bit. It was like he knew you for a very long time.

"Ben..." you muttered, tearing at the hangnails on your fingertips. "I have to tell you something. And I don't know what I am going to do, yet. But I need you to know."

Ben just nodded at you and whispered, "You can tell me anything."

"I'm pregnant."

You both were silent for a few moments, and Ben cracked his knuckles.

"It's mine?" He asked, his eyes tearing up.

"Yes... I'm sorry. I know it's not what you want. I don't expect anything from you... I just... think it might be what I want... and I need you to know." You felt tears streaming down your face now, and saw tears on Bens, too. You figured he was angry, and frustrated. But you weren't very good at reading people, you weren't like him.

"Whatever you decide... I am here for you. I want to be apart of this, whatever it is. And if he... if he turns you away, you both always have a place with me." Ben stood up and hugged you again, much like the hug he gave you the first night you met him. You melted into his warmth, and the two of you stood there for a long time.

"I need to go home... I need to tell him." You looked at Ben and kissed his cheek, before walking towards the door.

"Please call me..." he spoke. You nodded and walked out the door, heading home.

You walked through the door of your apartment, hoping somehow Gwil would not be home, but he was, and you had to face up to this now. You walked into his office where he was laid up with papers everywhere and his laptop whirring away. He smiled up at you and then frowned, noticing the obvious distress on your face.

"You alright?" He questioned, setting down his pen and shifting in his chair.

"We need to talk..."

You told Gwil everything. You told him about the night you met Ben in the bar, about the type of relationship you had with him... and the pregnancy. He was quiet for most of it, just nodding along and biting his lip occasionally.

"Gwil... I don't think I can give up this baby. I want it... as terrified as it makes me, I want this. And I know it's not what you want, I get that. I'm not asking you to be involved. But I do love you, and if you want to be apart of my life somehow I... want you to be there."  You felt yourself wanting to cry again, but it seemed your body had used all its supply of tears, because nothing would come out.

"What about... him? Does he know?" Gwil looked you directly in the eyes and refused to look away.

"He does. And he wants to be involved." You looked away from him, unable to handle his gaze.

"Okay." Gwil sat back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, blowing air out of his mouth. "Do you remember what I wrote to you in the card I gave you on our First Year anniversary?"

"Of course... I have it framed in my office."

"I said, no matter what, I would love you. No matter what, you were mine and I was yours. I'd always be there every night to tell you I love you and every morning to do the same..." Gwil looked at you again, this time his eyes soft. "I may have messed that up a bit ago, but I'm not going to again. You and me belong together. If this is what you want, and you still want to be together, we will make it work. Somehow."

"Gwil... you don't have to... this is a lot..."

"My love, life is a lot. It will take me some time to process this all but... I am not going to walk away." He took your hands in his and squeezed, smiling lovingly at you. He really was the perfect person, you couldn't believe he was going to stay with you.

"So, it's been about a month since I told them both. None of us have told our parents, we're not... exactly sure how to explain it. But I am here, again, and I'm exhausted." You took another sip of your drink and smiled at the bartender, who was trying to find the right words to say.

"I'm sorry about all that... I wish I knew what to tell you..."

"Thanks. I should get home, soon. How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house, tonight. It's just soda. You deserve a bit of a break, anyways." You thanked him and left the bar, walking outside to another night of city life. You felt your phone vibrate in your bag and grabbed it to see Gwil calling.

"Hey, love," you answered.

"Hey, just checking when you'll be home? Wanted to go over some stuff for tomorrows appointment."

"Heading over now."

"Alright, see you in a few. I love you."

Gwil hung the phone up before you got a chance to say I love you back, but he knew. Just as you were putting your phone back in your bag, you got a text from Ben.

"Which crib do you like better?" He asked, attaching two photos of very pricey cribs he found.

You smiled, your heart fluttering at the sight of Ben being a father. Future father, you should say.

'Fuck,' you thought to yourself. 'I am so fucked.'