#u should have seen the waterworks

[killerlookz]

hiii!!<3 if you’re thinking abt writing for joost, can u pls write some thing abt an established relationship fic based off the song birds of a feather by billie eilish if u can! love ur writing!

Hi anon! thank you sm for the request <33 this song is so sweeeet omg!!! also... technically an established relationship, but i do recap how reader and joost met :-)

Birds of a Feather | Joost Klein

description: gn!reader reflects on all the special moments in your and Joost's relationship following an unexpected proposal.

content: so insanely cheesey! sorry! pure fluff! + lots of crying (mostly happy tears) literally the most tiny smallest sexual reference this fic contains rpf, do not continue if that makes you uncomfortable

word count: 2426 (this was supposed to be under 1k words but i got soooo carried away)

/I don't know what I'm crying for / I don't think I could love you more/

Shaky fingers fiddle with the cold metal looped around your ring finger. Your hand flexes outward, watching as the light from your window reflects onto the small stone. Something warm rolls down your cheek- a solitary teardrop, caressing the skin of your face. Your hand reaches up to wipe away the tear, but it's too late, you can feel more welling up near your waterline, any sudden movement now would send tears streaming down your face. You look up, your eyelids brink rapidly in an attempt to prevent the inevitable waterworks.

You hadn't seen an engagement coming- in all the years you'd been together, it still seemed like a milestone that had felt so far away. Until Yesterday.

You and Joost had been nearly inseparable since just about the moment you had met- A nervous 20-year-old studying abroad in the Netherlands for your second to last semester of university. You sat on the stairs outside of the apartment building that stood as your temporary housing for the semester, on the brink of tears, your randomly assigned roommate had been a real piece of work. You were on your third argument that week alone, and, saying you were fed up was an understatement. You contemplated at that moment packing your things and just going back home.

"Gaat het?" (Are you ok?) A voice calls out, a goofy-looking blonde standing at the bottom of the stairs. He looks vaguely familiar, you think you may have seen him in the elevator of your apartment once or twice.

You furrow your eyebrows at him, "Ik spreek niet veel Nederlands," Using one of the few Dutch phrases you knew to tell him you don't speak Dutch. You shake your head, kind of hoping he would get lost, not wanting to be bothered.

"Ah," He nods, "Do you speak English?"

You stare at him for a moment, unsure if you should lie, after all he was a stranger but something is telling you to tell him the truth.

"Yeah," You sniffle, attempting to remove any emotion from your face.

"Are you okay?" He asks again, this time you understand.

"I'm fine," You weren't exactly searching for a deep conversation about your current struggles in someone you didn't know.

"People who are fine don't usually sit outside their apartment building crying."

You bite your lip, contemplating engaging the kind stranger in what was ailing you at the moment. You sigh, having a feeling he would probably keep pestering you if you continued to insist you were feeling in a way you actually weren't.

"It's just my roommate-"

Two months after your first encounter with the blonde man at the bottom of the stairs, you were standing in front of a mirror, doing a final check of your outfit before going on your first date. You had learned his name was Joost, he was 21, and lived in an apartment two floors above you.

He was unimaginably kind, with a wit unparalleled by anyone you'd ever met before, and truthfully, he was very cute- so when he had initially asked you out, you couldn't get a "yes" out fast enough.

It seemed a little inconvenient, given that you only had one more month left in the Netherlands- but he knew this, and didn't necessarily seem like he had been looking for anything too serious. Besides, it would be nice for you to have a good connection with someone outside of the people you saw in your classes.

There's a knock at the door, and your feet are quick to start shuffling under you, you're practically running to go open it.

You stop for a moment as you get to the door, letting a deep breath fill your lungs to capacity, before letting it out, whipping the door open as you do so.

Joost is standing behind it, a smile plastered on his face, hands behind his back. He's dressed up, now that you thought about it, you never really saw him in anything other than a sweatshirt or t-shirt and some jeans. It was a pleasant change- a white button-up shirt and some dress pants even if both articles of clothing had been obviously wrinkled.

"Hey," He greets, removing his hands from where they rest behind him, revealing a bouquet of flowers in an outstretched arm, "These are for you- I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked so I sort of just guessed." He's unsure of himself, in an entirely endearing way. He was trying.

"For me?" You grin, "Aww, Joost!" You take the flowers from his hands, "Let me go find something to put these in."

A month later you're sitting on Joost's couch after what you assumed would be your last date together. Your study abroad program was ending in three days, and you'd be returning back home.

There is an air of sadness that surrounds you, one that you hadn't expected to feel- you'd only known the man for three months, yet somehow it felt like you were leaving someone you had known your whole life.

Gentle fingers grab onto your jaw, Joost is turning your head to force you to look at him.

"You know," He starts, "I've really been enjoying our time together."

"Me too," You agree, a small smile peaking onto your face, you try not to give way to the sadness you were feeling.

"And," He says, "Y/n, I really like you, and I think if I don't ask you now, I'm never going to get the chance to ever again."

"What?" You perk up, your heart suddenly beating much faster, your breathing quickens, unsure of what he's going to say next.

"Well- I- what I'm trying to say is, do you want to go out with me? Like- officially- like dating." His voice is trembling, you'd never seen him so anxious before.

"Joost I-" You sigh, the reality of your situation crashing into you harder than it had before, "I'm leaving soon- we'll be hours away, when am I going to see y-"

You're cut off by Joost's lips crashing into yours, your thoughts suddenly disappearing the second your lips connect. You're entirely overwhelmed with emotion, every wire in your brain is fried, this move was an utter surprise, up until this point your relationship had been entirely chaste; the furthest you'd gone was sharing a hug at the end of your dates. Still, you kiss him back, your hand finding its way to his shoulder, tugging at it, begging him to come closer to you.

It had been seven and a half months since you had last seen Joost, but the two of you had talked at length each and every day during that time. By now, you had finished your degree in University and were ready to really start your life.

You could remember the cheer of excitement on the other end of the phone when you told Joost after a month of job hunting you had secured a job in the Netherlands.

"Does that mean you're coming back here?"

"Yeah, the job starts at the end of next month ."

A month and a half didn't necessarily give you much time to plan things out to the extent you would have liked, but Joost was more than ready and willing to help you out.

He had posited moving into his apartment- but the suggestion while sweet- was quickly thrown out. It wouldn't have been an ideal commute to your new job.

So the two of you got on to looking elsewhere, he had been kind enough to take the time out of his days to go to apartment showings for you near where you'd be taking your job, keeping you on Facetime as he viewed the places.

Eventually, you had found one you absolutely fell in love with, in perfect distance from the job. The problem had been- it was quite a ways out of your budget. You were heartbroken, it had basically been your dream apartment.

Joost, always swift with solving problems, suggested that the two of you move into the apartment together, that way he could cover the rest of the rent that you couldn't afford. And while you were over the moon about his offer- you worried about what living together would do to your relationship, the two of you had known each other for less than a year- would living together be such a great idea?

But as you're standing in the doorway of your bedroom on the first night being in your new apartment, staring up at Joost, who's leaning against the door frame- you just know you made the right decision.

A careful hand glides across your cheek, resting at the back of your neck,

"Thank you for coming back," Joost muses, gently massaging the spot where his hand resides. You lean into his touch,

"There was no other option" There's an undeniable twinkle in your eyes, admiring the man who stood above you, tired and messy from a long day of moving.

"I've been waiting to tell you this in person," His grip on your neck suddenly becomes still, rigid, "And- even if you don't feel the same yet, I just wanted to say that I love you." He's talking fast, simpering after he finishes his short words before resuming the gentle massaging motion of his thumb against your neck.

The breath is almost entirely knocked out of you- he loves you.

The words just about run out of your mouth, "I love you too,"

"You do?" His pupils are blown wide, "You love me too?"

You nod fervently, never having meant a statement so immensely in your life.

Joost is leaning down now, his head tilted so his lips can perfectly interlock with yours. It is possibly the hungriest kiss the two of you had ever shared, with the obvious implication of love now behind it. If Joost hadn't snaked his free arm around your back, you probably would have fallen straight to the ground, your legs tingling with excitement.

He pulls away, looking into your mostly empty bedroom, a smirk appearing on his face,

"What do you say we christen that bed I spent all day putting together?"

Five years later you're still living in that same apartment, the once-empty space now fully decorated with beautiful memories.

And now, the most crystal-clear memory sparkled in your brain, almost as bright as the ring itself. You'd been crying in intervals since then- since it happened since - You replayed it in your head.

"Do you remember when we first met?" Joost's fingers interlock with yours as the two of you walk down a familiar street- You were unsure of why Joost had insisted on taking you here, to the town where you both had lived when you met.

"How could I ever forget?" You grin, "Feels like just yesterday I was crying to some strange Dutch boy about my roommate issues."

"And how you told me, you never wanted to see the Netherlands again?" His words are slow as he looks deeply into your eyes, glimmers of adoration shining from every feature on his face.

"God, I was so dramatic- wasn't I?" You look away from him, scoffing as you look down at the pavement, thinking about your old self, looking back on it- it was a stupid decision to let one person ruin almost two months of your life, but back then it seemed like the biggest deal in the world. "Funny" You shrug, "The decision I made to talk to you on the day I was most certain I was just going to pack up and leave forever led me to making the Netherlands my home." You shake your head, "I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't met you on that day, but I don't think there's a reality that exists where we aren't together."

"Don't make me cry," He chuckles.

"I mean- I don't mean to be all sappy, but it's true- if soulmates are real, I can guarantee you're mine."

He's grinning now, you'd been so lost in your thoughts you barely noticed where the two of you had ended up, back at your old apartment, right in front of those very steps the two of you had met on.

He's pulling you up the stairs, and needless to say you're confused about this trip down memory lane.

"I think it's only appropriate that I do this here," His voice is low, and he's blinking more rapidly than usual. His hand slips from yours, and falls into his pocket- you watch anxiously for his next move. There's something in his hand now, and he's slowly bending down onto one knee.

The tears start nearly immediately, before he says a single word, you're cupping your mouth with your hand

"Y/n," He looks up at you, through the lenses of his glasses you can see there are tears in his eyes too, "Wil je met me trouwen?" (will you marry me)

"Joost," You choke out a sob- "Yes, Yes!" Your whole body is full of a tingling sensation, and your heart feels like it occupies more space in your chest than it did before, swelling with an overwhelming amount of love.

Joost grabs your trembling hand, caressing it tenderly with his thumb before slipping on the ring. You let him hold your hand for a moment more before you're pulling it away, desperate to see. You outstretch your hand in front of you, looking at the glimmering stone that sits on your finger. A visual confirmation of what had just happened.

He's barely stood all the way up before you're reaching for him, knocking into him with an embrace so energetically that it nearly knocks him over. As he catches his balance he wraps his arms right back around you, pulling you into him.

If you were to have gotten any closer, the atoms that make up each of your bodies may have actually fused together. Though you wish you could, despite how you fully braced Joost's body it doesn't feel like enough you want him closer to you.

Still, you're so warm in his tight embrace, letting out choked tears of joy against his chest.

A gentle kiss falls on the top of your head, followed by your favorite words to hear out of Joost's mouth, "Ik hou van jou." (I love you)

You shut your eyes, basking in the moment, you could absolutely get used to hearing those words every day for the rest of your life.

/I'll love you 'til the day that I die / 'Til the light leaves my eyes/

[wannaeatramyeon]

ur stuff is so fun to read!! if its ok w u, could u do a taehoon x reader fic where theyre training together and taehoon goes a little too hard on reader? like reader gets upset bc they didnt expect taehoon to go so rough on them and then taehoon spends the rest of the day trying to make it up to them?? ;w; tysm if u do!! have a good one ★

tysm for reading and requesting anon! OF COURSE I CAN! There's a few requests for if X hurts their S/O or the reader. Y'all wanting that sympathy huh?

Seong Taehoon x Reader: Getting accidentally kicked

You had thought that if you were on the receiving end of a kick or a punch, you would be cursing with at least a handful of expletives on reflex. In a serious fight, preferably the adrenaline would flow and you would be able to give back as good as you got.

You had grossly overestimated yourself.

It turns out that, on the receiving end of one of Taehoon's kicks square in the stomach, it actually hurts so much that you cannot utter a sound, struggle to even catch your breath. Bending over double, collapsing to your knees, praying the waves of nausea will pass.

Strong, calloused hands grip you and hold you steady.

It also turns out that Taehoon cannot shut up. Your boyfriend, the sometimes silent but often offensive and deadly type, rambles on and on after the initial shock.

In hindsight, you're not sure which of you is more surprised at his reaction.

"Why the fuck didn't you block? You stupid dumbass. You should have stopped me. How the hell didn't you see that coming? Are you ok? I didn't know you were so weak. I barely even touched you, dipshit. Did I leave a bruise? Were you even paying attention? I didn't mean to hit you so hard. Are you alright? Ugh we shouldn't be sparring, I was worried this would happen!"

Insults and concern all rolling into one big ball of frustration.

And then the waterworks start. You couldn't help it. The pain and Taehoon being so in your face. It's overwhelming. And honestly? Did it also hurt that bastard to hold back a little.

Taehoon absolutely panics. Sure, he's seen you cry before but not because of him hurting you.

Panic leads to your boyfriend not being able to leave you alone. At all.

You don't know whether it starts annoying you or Taehoon first.

Initially, it was fine. You were the one that got the sympathy attention. You didn't mind Taehoon fulfilling your every whim, asking if you're ok, running around for you.

But then it worsened from you being too lazy to do anything to you being forbidden to do anything.

Worried glances drifting to your stomach and ribs every minute, on the minute. Thinned lips and narrowed eyes when you moved at all. Strong arms holding you back and restraining you with an irritable huff and "I'll do it".

If you weren't allowed to do anything then you might as well do nothing.

Might as well just sit there and sulk.

Where the hell had your little nutjob gone? Why was he replaced by a mother hen incessantly clucking around you?

In the end, it was more pain that broke the tension.

Taehoon, in your opinion, flicks you excessively hard on the forehead. A truce, of sorts.

"I know I'm pissing you off. Be careful next time," he says, leaving you to your own devices.

A non-apology from anyone else, a half-apology because you know him.

So you continue to sit and you continue to sulk, only without the presence of your boyfriend next to you.

It feels surprisingly lonely.

Maybe you were too quick to let your temper get the better of you. After all, Taehoon was just trying to look after you, in his own way. It led to you both butting heads but it's the thought that counts.

If you consider it, what exactly are you complaining about? 'Oh no, my boyfriend wanted to make sure I was ok?' Actually, he was overbearing and a little too much. Still.

You grab your phone and reach out-

Y/N: thanks for looking after me

Taehoon: 👍

A thumbs up is good, a thumbs up means it's fine. You know he has no reservation about outright ignoring you.

And because you really do love and appreciate that asshole-

Y/N: love you

Taehoon: 👍

Not 2 minutes later-

Taehoon: ❤️

Taehoon: 🤡

[thegeminisage]

man theres so many CHESTS just laying around in the zora area

also it is AAALLWAYS raining girl let me CLIMB

these underwater/underground ruins are SO COOL i wish i'd seen these the first time i was here

YOOOOOOO MY FUCKING CLIMBING BOOTS. FOUND THEM!!!!!!!!!

shrine puzzle here where i gotta take the crystal and follow the beam. i am quite clearly supposed to build a raft, but there are materials for a bike. decided against this bc i love rafting in this game and also bc of the low ceiling, even though with the crystal as a counterweight the low ceiling ought to be no problem

actually, i should have done the bike. rafting is more fun when you're going with the current and not against it and also i'm dying to see how my new battery holds up <3

BIKE GOOD...i can't wait to get a chance to properly put it thru its paces

oh man i did a really long korok trip that with my old battery i wouldn't have been able to do!!!

there's a BED? up here at the reservoir. i slept in it expecting my bike to despawn but it was still there when i woke up

and a sidequest for helping this zora get stones for mipha's court...good i could use a break lol

NIIIICE zora fabric!!

god the music in mipha court still fucking kills me. it's crazy bc i didn't even LIKE mipha that much in the first game!! like ofc i cared about her, but she wasn't eating holes in my brain. but man...........

CLIMBERS BANDANAAAAAAAAAA AT FUCKING LAST

back in the ancoent zora waterworks for 1. zora greaves quest and 2. Frog. it's still really cool in here...

oh shit the water is gone!!! crazy..............

GOT MY GREAVES!!!

holy shit i just fused a weapon with 104 atk lol i can NEVER use this i have to save it for ganondorf. and a club with 72 atk wtf

well, i broke them immediately. i equipped one for a sneakstrike and i guess i forgot to unequip it so i must've broken them in this fight cuz they're both gone :(

uh...no...their attack got halved...? maybe i had some kind of effect going for me in the waterworks? water attack up or something? but i hadn't had any special food or armor...

OH i see! the zora swords i used for fusion have atk up when wet. it was raining and now it stopped lol. i almost panicked

:| i saved blood moon guy again and he said OH I KNEW YOU'D COME...like.........adn now he is like well i can do my research w/o fear. u always rescue me. buddy one day theyre gonna roast you over their little campfire before my ass gets here. then what. freak

oh damn he gave me a diamond??? ok fine ig

found another high/low tide cave. i like it better than the last one, probably bc this time i'm not trying to steer a shivery purse dog npc thru it on a raft

my rubber tights!!!!!!! FINALLY i can ride and farm farosh like she deserves. mwah

ANOTHER block puzzle i can't get...am i just stupid???

got my lightscale trident! unfortunately i am definitely gonna break it bc i do not have room for it in my house lol

lol sidon's wife says he talks about link constantly. "link is the best" "no task is insurmountable when i am with link" is he like. ok. like man are you happy are you like good? crackpot theory sidon like zelda canonically has a crush but it's up to us the decide if it's requited lol. i seriously tinfoil hat think he's gay. like is this all accidental writing sure but also. good lord

i am not against sidon getting hitched or whatever but this whole thing is so WEIRD...................

THE MAN HAS A STATUE OF THEM. LIKE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE whatever look it's fine. i'm normal. this is so normal. i think this is why i left in a hurry last time actually. weird vibes i get around here. i can't be doing this shit during pride month

happily this is all i have time for today. tomorrow i wanna try doing more story lol the right side of my map is so close to being clear but i need a break!!!

[rocker-by-heart]

I know I said I was gonna bounce until TROS,

but I just need to express my last minute theories(in case I’m actually right so can have proof and brag about it).

(i’m drafting this in google docs btw jus so u kno lol)

SO before we get in to anything, I should say that I have not read any leaks or things like that. I’ve only watched the things officially put out by Star Wars/Lucasfilm whatever. I also come from the Reylo/Bendemtion part of the fandom, so that’s the mindset I’m in. Now on with the theories:

Now originally I was of the opinion that Rey was nobody and I liked that and that was okay, and I didn’t want them to retcon it or anything, HOWEVER my mind has slightly changed. Kind of. Not really. Allow me to explain. 

The whole thing in TLJ is that we see that situation from Rey’s point of view. Rey believes that the people who left her on Jakku for drinking money and died were her parents. And they may very well be the people who raised her up until that point, ergo her parents, but they MIGHT not be her actual bio parents. And Kylo sees this in her mind and that’s why he thinks he knows the truth. Because essentially it IS the truth. And that is why, if Rey turns out to be SOMEONE in TROS, I don’t see it as retconning or anything like that. They will still honor what Rian did(and maybe planned) without undercutting it. Now don’t get me wrong, in no way do I think she is a Skywalker or a Solo, or even a Kenobi or a Palpatine(well her being a Palps is by this point the most likely of those, but ya kno). Now is the time for me to put my tinfoil tiara on because I think that it is very probable that Rey is

a clone

AND/OR a sleeper agent.

The reason I think this is because the very first thing I thought, before dismissing it as symbolism, in the cave scene when Rey saw her reflections was that holy shit is she a clone!? (later i was glad that i wasn’t the only one who thought that bc of all the theory videos floating around). I think that it might have been part of Palpy’s contingency plan to restart clone production, and especially how to clone someone force sensitive(that might be why the cloning guy from Mandolorian wants Baby Yoda’s dna or whatever), and he might have succeeded and Rey just happens to a random one of the clones, maybe she was misplaced, or planted on Jakku, who knows. I don’t think she is the clone template, but she might be. Then the dark Rey we’ve seen in the trailers will probably be one of the other clones. (or it could totally just be a vision and i’m just full of bs)

OR if she is a sleeper agent she might have been placed on Jakku for some reason, maybe her memories are real, maybe they are planted, who knows. Palps has some kind of trigger words or something to either wake her up, or put her under a Winter Soldier type like spell(who is the real Rey?).

The reason I kind of came back to these theories was because of the latest TV spots as of  the 14th of December.

But then again she could have been created somehow by the force to meet the darkness in Kylo OR if any of the above, or her being a Palpy is true, she might have been created by the dark(Palps maybe somehow) to meet Ben’s light, because Ben was conceived by light essentially, but then manipulated. Who knows, I certainly don’t.

This is basically a long way of saying I am now in the mindset that I don’t NEED Rey to be a nobody(everyone is somebody) just not a Skywalker or Solo, or even a Kenobi(though I like that headcanon the best), but it is also fine if she is.

(Also out of every brunette lady in Star Wars the internet have speculated being Rey’s mom I think Qi’ra is most likely. But I don’t really think she is.)

(Also, also, Rey got her name/made her name up from the helmet she had on Jakku.)

NOW onto some other stuff that could totally be separate from everything above. Theories and wishful thinking:

What’s going on with C-3PO is that he is getting his pre-end-of-ROTS memories back, sacrificing his memories after that, and that helps with something, perhaps telling Anakin’s true story to Ben (R2-D2 already knowing all of it kinda blows holes in this, BUT maybe C-3PO wouldn’t believe him or something and we need him to articulate to the audience idk.)

We’re going on a Horcrux hunt. That’s it.

Anakin force ghost DEFINITELY. (and maybe even a whole army of former jedi force ghosts helping to save the day idk, but Ani is DEF showing up or else i will sue)

(Anakin hearing Padme’s voice, him turning his head and smiling knowing his love is there for him in the cosmic force)

Ben finishing what his grandfather started(aka defeating Palpy) (also palpy being back doesn’t undercut anakin’s redemption bc it’s the thought that counts even tho palpy didn’t disappear)

If Leia dies(she might not, but probably will), it is from space radiation and she falls asleep peacefully, Connix(Billie) holding her hand because everyone else is off world. (ugh sob)

(Anakin being there with her omg??)

Speaking of Connix she will at LEAST have as big of a role in this as she did in TLJ if not larger. Please.

Chewie will NOT die.

Nor will the Falcon.

In the space battle(from the scene where we can see the Ghost and maybe the Colossus) we see glimpses from inside the ships(as we usually do), one of them being Hera Syndulla(the actual best pilot in the galaxy) going “phoenix leader standing by” and Jacen is with her casually using the force to grab stuff and shit PLEASE.

same goes for Kaz and co. i guess but i don’t care as much about them sorry.

(Ahsoka. maybe. played by Rosario Dawson please. Catching a glimpse of force ghost Ani at the end celebration and he’s smiling at her being proud BC THEY HAVE THE BEST MOST BEAUTIFUL MOST HEARTBREAKING RELATIONSHIP IN ALL OF STAR WARS sorry)

Okay so Harrison won’t show up, BUT ALDEN MIGHT.

AKA flashbacks baby.

Force healing.

The fact that the TITLE is The Rise of Skywalker can’t POSSIBLY mean the end of the Skywalker line, ergo Reylo babies. I don’t make the rules.

Okay now I’m going dark, see you suckers after TROS.

[45percenterthen]

Belated bday fic for bearer of cursed fruit facts @seraphlm and thee plant dad cas truther @cactuscas !! Love u guys v much, happy bday <3 (ao3 link here)

“Fuck’s a horoscope again? It’s like, stars and shit, right?”

He bumps Cas’ elbow, who’s squinting at one of his fern-looking-things like he’s experimenting with horticultural telepathy. The saga of the fern-thing has been turbulent, to say the least. It’s wilting a bit, leaves curling in on themselves like tiny fists. Cas has spent the past few days carting it from one window ledge to another, muttering to himself about humidity levels with a familiar air of irritated devotion. Dean reckons the whole underground bunker situation probably isn’t helping. It’s well travelled, though, for a plant. Dean thinks it should be more grateful.

Cas nods, releasing a leaf with a sigh and sitting down next to Jack. “Indeed. Stars and shit.”

Jack’s engrossed in some magazine, finger tracing the words as he reads. Cas reaches for the edge of the page to hold it taut for him, and Dean can practically see his other hand itching for his phone. Diagnosis time for the fern-thing. Dean’s never seen a favorites bar so wholly taken up by gardening websites. Dean’s pretty sure the definition of true love is pausing Die Hard to read an article about potting soil drainage.

“Do you want to hear yours, Dean? It’s for this week.”

“Sure, kiddo.” To be honest, Dean thinks the concept of fate can very much, actually, go fuck itself. Jack looks delighted though, so he keeps it to himself. He stirs a bit of extra butter into the eggs because that’s the way Jack likes them, dutifully not looking at Cas to avoid a depressing conversation about his cholesterol levels.

“Oh! It says you’re lucky this week, Dean!”

“Awesome, bud! Time to stock up on the scratch cards, eh?”

Sam chooses that moment to come lumbering in. The state of his hair suggests a sleepless night, or that a recent localized hurricane that targeted his bedroom only.

“Hi Sam! We’re reading horoscopes. Dean’s an Aquarius.”

“Oh, cool.” Eileen had been delayed on a salt and burn with some of the new-hunter-network people. Sam looks suitably mopey about it, forlorn housewife that he is. “Mercury’s in marmalade, and all that.”

“Aquarius is ruled by Uranus,” Jack continues, and Sam instantly chokes. On air, apparently. Bastard.

“One more time, Jack? Dean’s ruled by his –”

“You’re a child, Samantha.” Dean looks around for the nearest something-painful-not-fatal to throw at him. Plant’s a no. Instant divorce. He glances at the eggs, but decides he doesn’t want to spend his morning getting egg yolk outta the tile grouting.

“Dude, oh my – I should’ve just checked your horoscope,” Sam walks over to the fridge, catching the Mary Berry’s Baking Bible that Jody sent them for Christmas in mid-air. “Would’ve saved us a talk.”

“Eat your pineapple and shut up, man.”

“Did you know that pineapples are technically berries?” Jack says. Dean wonders if Cas introduced him to WebMD-for-plants. Or maybe this is just a side effect of being The New God on the block. Berry omniscience. “Well. The outside bit is. Bananas are berries too.”

“That’s weird,” Sam closes the fridge door. Stares into his bowl like he’s offended. Dean’s offended Sam eats nothing but fruit in the morning. “After the heaven rebuild. You should, like, fix berries.”

Jack turns to Cas solemnly. “Should I fix berries?”

“Perhaps you should concentrate on heaven, first. Then we can see about berries.”

“I don’t want to ruin the fabric of our established universe,” Jack says, and Dean’s struck, once again, with the sudden realisation that he’s making eggs for the most powerful entity in Creation. Mondays, man.

“I don’t think Chuck had any such purity of intent in mind,” Cas says darkly, pouring more milk into God’s glass for strong bones and teeth, and yeah, Dean’s pretty keen to steer Cas away from that particular line of conversation.

“Hey, what’s Cas’ horo-whatever?” He takes the eggs off the heat and walks over to the table, leaning over to see what the hell magazine this is, actually. Looks Rowena-y. Is the Queen of Hell sending his son-God care packages? That’s one way to establish diplomatic relations.

He rests his hands on Cas’ shoulders, stroking his thumbs at the neckline of his t-shirt when he feels tension. He decides against pressing a kiss to Cas’s hair. Just ‘cause he’s with a dude now, doesn’t mean he’s gonna be all gay about it. Cas’ left hand comes up to cover his own. Their rings clink.

“Cas doesn’t have a birthday, though.” Jack frowns at the page slightly, apparently looking for the section on fallen angel anomalies.

“Then we’ll have to pick one –” Dean starts, just as Cas says, “September eighteenth.”

Cas tips his head back against Dean’s chest, peers up at him. He’s got dried toothpaste at the corner of his mouth. Dean grins stupidly at his upside-down face. “September eighteenth, yeah.” Something swoops in his chest. Cas is earnest, and it’s unbearable. He loves at full volume, and Dean’s as grateful as he is undeserving. He squeezes Cas’ shoulder. Tradition, and all that.

Jack taps the page. “It says you’re a Virgo, Cas!”

They’re still staring at each other as Jack starts reading aloud. Dean brushes hair off Cas’ forehead and thinks, for once, he’s landed himself the permanent kind of happy. Dean’s pretty sure he’s loved him for years and years, quietly, achingly.

There’s the sound of cutlery against ceramic, and Dean looks up to check Sammy’s not weeping into his fruit bowl out of sheer girlish pride or whatever. He’d made it six words into his best man speech before the waterworks. Dean’s never letting him live it down.

⁂

“So,” Dean says later, after Sam’s gone to collect Eileen from town, and Jack’s off on heavenly refurb duty. “My lucky week, huh?”

Dean circles his arms round Cas’ midriff. Lets his chin rest on his shoulder, because he can, and also to check Cas isn’t half-assing the washing up.

“Apparently so.”

Dean hums. It’s funny. They’re married. And yet moments like these, the big ones, still manage to make him a bit nervous. It’s stupid. He’s hardly gonna say no. But Dean supposes they’ve never managed to get anything in the right order. Two deathbed confessions amidst a decade of friendship. An ‘I love you too’ echoing off brick in an empty room. Two kids co-parented before they even kissed, and they were already living together when they started dating. Someone get Nicholas Sparks on the phone.

“Perfect week to put an offer down on a house then, right? That one on the lake?”

Cas drops a fork into the bubbles. He turns his head to reply and Dean takes it as an opportunity to kiss what’s within reach. The smile lines around his eye, his temple greying with the proof that Cas loves him. He’s all in. Dean is too, terrifyingly.

“Really?”

“Yeah, dude.” Dean nods at the fern guy. “Your plants would appreciate the sunlight, right? And there’s a room for Jack.”

Cas spins in his arms, leaning against the sink to look Dean in the eye. Dean grabs at his soapy palm, intertwining their fingers, confident in his sappiness when no one’s watching.

“I know I always say Sammy didn’t make the most of his college experience, but dorming in my forties isn’t exactly what I meant –”

“You’ll miss him, though.”

“Of course, man. Lived with Sam my whole life. But,” Dean relinquishes the hand to cup Cas’ face, “I kinda wanna do my own thing now. With you. So, move in with me, Mr. Winchester? Somewhere… overground?”

It’s so off-your-feet sweepingly romantic Dean feels like he deserves a medal. Maybe this is their karmic justice after the proposal debacle.

Cas is smiling at him, soft and sweet. “Okay, Dean.” He puts wet hands around his waist and Dean doesn’t even care that it’s seeping through his t-shirt. “Lake house it is.”

Dean leans in, kisses him three times in response. He lingers on the last one, smiling against Cas’ mouth. Cas knows what he means.

[fallen029]

Basement Ghosts

"There's ghosts in the basement."

Laxus considered this, as he did most things, with a stoic face and long, cold stare, the likes of which could make even the toughest of men cower. But he wasn't facing a man, in that moment, but rather what he'd considered, up until that point, his rather reasonable girlfriend of only a tentative few months. Mirajane Strauss, a staple in the guild he'd loved his entire life, was known for her flights of fancy and frequent vocal daydreams, but he knew her on another level, same as he knew the guild. The man was aware that Fairy Tail, for all it's fabled history, toiled in a lot more darkness than the average observer might realize. For the woman before him in that moment, much or the same could be stated.

She'd gone through a lot in her short few decades of life. From the loss of her parents and excommunication from her home all the way to current day, dealing with the death and revival of her younger sister, Mira hardly had a simple life. She was complex. Everyone was to a certain extent, fine, but her above all.

The past few months, as she and the guild's most fearsome dragon slayer began, for the first time in their life, to truly dig deeper into one another, begin to understand what the draw was, that had always been between then, just beneath the now exposed surface, he truly thought he was beginning to get to know her. The deeply guarded her, that no other had seen. It had felt like they were forming a bond, these past few months. Though it hadn't been long, Laxus was finding himself becoming rather attached to both the idea of the woman and learning more about her.

Then she has to go say stupid shit like that and ruin it.

"Well," Laxus began finally, tone as void as ever, "guess I should be heading out the."

"You're that terrified of ghosts?" Mirajane asked with a slight frown.

"Nope," he answered with a subtle shake of the head. "Just not interested in entertaining nonsense, is all."

"You think I'm being nonsensical?"

Mira asked this in surprise, her down turned lips turning to form something else instead as her gaze hardened. It was hardly something any woman enjoyed, the slight telltale signs of mockery in the face of unconventional lines of thought, and she hated it even more, the way her boyfriend tossed a hand up, as if in defense.

"Look, it's fine, alright?" He even shrugged. "I was just going to look at your pipes as a courtesy. You said Elfman usually does it? Call him over. But I-"

"You're being a jerk."

"How?" His tone changed then, as he as the one on the defensive. "Just because I don't wanna play into your stupid ghost claims?"

"Stupid," Mirajane repeated softly and it was a word of contention, frequently in her line of work, but Laxus didn't transition into preventative measures. Only narrowed his eyes a bit as she questioned, "Why would you say that? You know that I-

"Try again, demon," he remarked with a hardness not typically used on a woman in apparent dismay. "You've told me before about how you can turn the waterworks on and off."

She glared through her tears as, not even wiping at them, she only remarked, "It's still mean, Laxus. To call someone stupid."

"I didn't."

"You might as well have." Huffing some, the woman took to crossing her arms over her chest as she looked off.

The pair were having this argument in her kitchen, where she'd taken the man not soon after he entered the Strauss home that afternoon. It wasn't unusual in those days for the slayer to spend some of his extra time in Magnolia there, but it there had been an intended purpose for his summoning to the old house that day. Mirajane had requested he come down and look at a leaking pipe in the basement. After confirming that, no, this wasn't a euphemism, she actually wanted him to go down into the basement and look at a pipe, they found themselves having this conversation.

She'd intended it as nothing more than a simple warning. A reasoning for her own inability to head down there.

The basement ghosts.

It all felt very reasonable to the woman and, were it another she was speaking to, they'd have probably allowed her to continue on in this delusion. Not the dragon though. Oh no. He wasn't so sure yet if he was trying to spend the rest of his life with this woman, but he was surely beginning to scope the potential that they had together. Part of that included calling the woman out when she played into her trumped up role at the hall a bit too much. She delivered the same in kind, to him, when he got a bit too brooding and judgmental.

But he was expected to take her light ribbing and outright behavioral corrections while the woman, in turn, was not.

"If you don't really think there's basement ghosts," she challenged suddenly, looking back to the man suddenly, "then you go down in the basement."

"I mean, I was planning on it," Laxus told her. "To fix the pipes. Remember?"

"At night," she specified as her eyes began to narrow. "You go down into the basement, at night. And stay down there. And you'll see."

Laxus huffed some, his chest puffing as he did so, before telling the woman simply, "Fine. If that's what it'll take to prove to you-"

"It'll only take one night," Mira challenged back, "to prove it to you."

.

The Strauss basement was an unfinished, stuffed to the gills storage place it seemed for all of the junk Mirajane couldn't fit in the attic. There were boxes upon boxes that Laxus could only imagine were, truly, junk and now he had two reasons that he should find a way to end things with the demon.

A horder and a loon.

It was night now, as he'd agreed to only head down there after sundown, but Laxus still intended to check on the leaky pipe she'd originally told him about. Along with his toolbox though, the slayer also carried a sleeping bag and fully intended on spending a night down in the drafty basement.

Honestly, it would hardly be the worse place he'd laid his head.

Mirajane wouldn't venture down with him, instead only waving goodbye to him from the top of the stairs. This was annoying to Laxus who'd hoped she'd at least go down so he could play big, strong protector when the pipes chirping or shutters fluttering or whatever was causing her to hear noises at night appeared.

Alone though, Laxus only tossed his sleeping bag down before fishing out a flashlight and looking over the piping in one corner. It was easy enough to find where the drip was coming from and it was an easy enough fix. Just a bit loose, was all the pipe was, and after a few quickly twists of a monkey wrench, all was well.

"There," Laxus sighed some. "That- Hey! I someone down here?"

He hated to be so spooked, so soon, but he felt it then. Sensed it. A presence. Eyes on him. As he spun about though, shining his flashlight around, all he could catch were shadows from the numerous boxes.

"Laxus," Mirajane called down from the top of the stairs. "Are you okay down there?"

"Peachy," he called back as the man merely rolled his shoulders and decided he was just psyching himself out. Clearly. "Fixed your pipe too."

"Great!" Mira even clapped. "Now are you sure you're going to spend the night down there? Or are you ready to admit that the basement ghosts are real?"

"I will literally never, ever do that, Mira."

"Well," she sighed some, "I'm going to have to close you in, then. I'm tired and have work in the morning. You can come up and join me at any time- But you'll have to admit that the basement ghosts are-"

"I'm not," he reiterated for the woman, "doing that."

"Fine." And the light at the top of the stairs started to dissipate as the woman, slowly, began to close the door. "Be safe."

"Be fucking safe," he grumbled only once he was certain the door was fully closed and the woman had gone off, to start on her before bed routine. "From what? Huh?"

Laxus was a bit of a night owl, to be honest, but he didn't have much to do down in the dusty old cellar other than wait for the not coming ghosts, so he figured it was best to just begin setting up his sleeping bag. Maybe go ahead and hunker down for the night. Then he could rise around the time that the demon got up to leave for the guild each morning, even earlier maybe, just to shove in her face that no, there were absolutely no such thing as 'basement ghosts'.

He was fearful that the woman would counter with some bullshit about them just not showing themselves to him. And he wasn't quite sure how he could counter that in a way that would avoid him having to spend the night down in the basement again.

Because while Laxus was willing to spend one night in the dark, dank basement to prove his devotion to his girlfriend (as well as shove in her face just how wrong she'd been), he wasn't so certain that he was willing to do it a second time.

Or a third.

Or fourth.

Part of him was worried that the demon had just trapped him down in the basement or something. Or at least that's where his mind wondered to, as he had a fitful time drifting off to sleep that night. The ground felt lumpy and his sleeping bag smelled a bit, or was it just the basement, and he kept catching weird shadows hiding behind boxes and oh gosh, what if something was down there with him? What if she was right? What if in the world of reanimated masters and magical beings, there was such things as ghost and they were going to devour him in the night?

Cannibal ghosts.

Or...would they not be cannibals now that they were no longer living beings?

Needless to say, some of these questions were answered in his dreams, others left to interpretation. Over all though, he did get a good few hours in there when he truly was asleep.

And then something awoke him.

It was a low creak, from the top of the basement stairs. The a louder creak, multiple now, from the stairs now as the old wood whined at even the lightest of pressure applied. Laxus, though somewhat dazed, immediately thought that it was his girlfriend, maybe, either coming down to check on him or realize how ridiculous this all was and bring him upstairs.

He hoped it was the second.

Or if it was the first, that he could trick her into the latter.

Rolling over, Laxus kicked out of his sleeping bag with a loud yawn, calling out as he climbed to his feet, "Come to get me, eh, demon?"

There had been a soft light, a flashlight maybe, a tiny one, that the person coming down the steps was carrying and as they raised it to shine into his eyes, blinding the wincing man, they called out themselves. Only it wasn't Mirajane.

"Laxus?"

"What the- Lisanna, get that out of my face? What are you-"

"Oh, god, are you naked?"

"No! I'm my briefs."

"You're what?"

"They're- Stop shining that light in my face!"

There was a strange moment where Laxus, now shamed for his underwear choice, took a step back, as if to shield himself, while Lisanna did lower the light, but was clearly snickering a bit as his state. The moment would have passed, as all do, and Lisanna might have made some sort of excuse as to being down there while Laxus would have only dove back under his smelly sleeping bag cover, but this opportunity was dashed as another person in the basement made themselves known.

"Oi, boss, I can take you being a total creeper, sleepin' down in my basement and all, but you're not sexually harassin' my girlfriend, are ya?" came a booming accusation from behind a pile of boxes.

"Are ya?" added a resounding echo as a soft, green glow of light also highlighted the boxes.

Laxus jumped at the sounded, whirling around while growling, "What the shit?"

It was Bickslow back there, making himself known as he stepped out from behind a fortress of forgotten junk hands on his hips, out of his typical gear, not even a visor. For all intents and purposes, it looked as if he'd been sleeping as well, honestly.

"Bickslow," Lisanna complained with a glare his way. "Why did you tell him that?"

"We were caught, Lissy," he assured the woman simply. "You don't free yourself from a trap by flailing wildly; you look to the trapper right in the eyes and challenge him."

"Challenge him?" Laxus frowned at the assertion. "And what the hell are you even doing here? In the basement? Are you… Trying to rob the Strausses? Or something? I'm...really having a hard time understanding why else you'd be-"

"Ain't obvious?" And he came closer then, Bickslow did, to find his place beside the still glaring Lisanna. "I'm bonin' one of 'em, same as you."

He took a step back again, Laxus did, blinking some. Blinking some more. Stunned. Dazed.

Very convinced this was just a strange dream stemming from his awkward sleeping situation.

Still, after a deep breath, Laxus took to nodding some, accepting the nonsensical pairing for a very brief moment before questioning, "Why were you hiding in the basement?"

"Kicked out of my apartment. Wanted to be with woman." Bickslow raised an eyebrow at his typical idol. "You?"

But Laxus didn't answer questions that didn't fall from the mouth of his demon.

"Yeah, why are you down here?"

Or her little sister.

"I," he told them both with a frown, "was sent to spend the night down here by your sister, Lisanna, because she thinks that there's ghosts down here. And I can only guess who could be causing her to think that."

Nodding, Bickslow decided, "The rats."

Laxus, frowning, rushed to bend down and snatch up his sleeping bag (this actually worked to cover his body), complaining loudly, "There's rats?"

"No!" Lisanna turned her glare on him. Then she took a pause and thought. "Well-"

"Can't a man hide out in his girlfriend's basement because he can't afford rent because he's been avoiding taking jobs because he wants to be around said girlfriend?" Bickslow shook his head as his floating babies scoffed on his behalf. "What's the world comin' too, eh?"

Laxus stood there, sleeping bag in hand, glancing back and forth between the two people in front of him before deciding, "I'm going to tell Mirajane."

"No, Laxus, don't." And Lisanna rushed to grab his arm then, the man glaring down at her as she dropped the flashlight and it rolled away from them. "Please."

"Why shouldn't I?" he questioned. "This is fucking weird, Lisanna. "This is fucking weird, Lisanna. Bickslow is fucking weird."

"Oi, boss." He'd gone to snatch the flashlight back up, but did send a sorrowful glance over his shoulder to his idol. "You wound me."

"How long has this even been going on?" Laxus went on. "Huh? Not this weird...basement stuff, but… Lisanna...are you actually dating him?"

"W-Well-"

"You need to talk to your sister."

"You don't get it." She clung tighter to his arm. "Laxus, please-"

"Please what? Don't tell my girlfriend that her little sister is meeting with a strange man in the basement to...to… This isn't my business. Or interest. So I'm going to go get Mira and-"

"She ruins things."

"What?"

Lisanna released his arm as the man wasn't moving forward then, only nodding some as he stood agape at her.

"Mira...and Elfman… They both think of me as a little kid. A lot. And I'm not. I'm only a year and a few months younger than Elfman! Not even a full three from Mira." Lisanna shook her head. "But especially now, after the whole...escaping death thing, they both treat me like a complete child. And any time I've tried dating someone, they ruin it. Not on purpose, but by being overbearing and weird."

"Your sister is overbearing or weird with or without a death," Laxus pointed out.

"Then you understand how much harder it is with a death," Lisanna insisted. "You saw how it was, Laxus, two months ago when I brought that guy home to dinner? And they scared him off?"

As someone who'd had an unfortunate invite to that shitshow, he could recall Elfman and Mirajane asking rather pointed questions and making some not so veiled threats, or at least claims to immense power that could be contorted into threats.

Laxus was sure his presence, brooding and annoyed over how slow the dinner was going, hadn't been much help at all.

When Lisanna got broke up with the next week, it was just as well for her siblings, who got to pat her on the head and dry her eyes, as well as Laxus, who was just glad he wouldn't have to sit through another dinner with that guy.

It never occurred to him that, should all the dinners continue going that way, then there would just be an endless string of bringing a guy home for the first time and, damn, he was never not going to hate those.

"In what way is Bickslow the answer to any of that?" Laxus griped to the woman then and Lisanna could only sigh.

"He's not." She glanced over at him then, watching as the seith held the flashlight out, onto a clear wall, for his babies to flutter around, casting spooky shadows in the otherwise dark basement. "But I do really like him. And he really likes me."

"And you're having him sleep in your basement because-"

"He fell behind on his rent and I was trying to be a good girlfriend and give him a place to stay."

"Lisanna." And Laxus hated to have to be the one to explain this to her. Leaning closer, he said softly, "If you've only been dating a guy for a short amount of time and he defaults on his debts, it's a sign you should cut him loose, not stow him away in your basement."

"I have ears, boss," Bickslow complained as he glanced over at the pair of them.

"Yeah? So does my precious demon who is scared to death of coming down here." Laxus remembered that, actually, he had a very good reason to be annoyed by this entire situation and it had nothing to do with protecting poor innocent, previously dead Lisanna's innocence. Because fine, maybe he scared that guy off too. Because no one should just get to date his girlfriend's little sister without proving themselves worthy. "She's terrified that her house is haunted."

"I mean, it is." Bickslow went back to watching his babies gleefully fly through the light. "There's fucking ghosts down here, dude."

Lisanna shrugged some. "It's a basement. Of course there are."

"I," Laxus said simply as he hiked his sleeping bag up higher and took another step away from Lisanna, "Don't have time for this. For any of this. This...Strauss nonsense. You're all insane. In fact, I think your brother might be the sanest one among you, which is actually killing me to say, you have no idea."

"Laxus, don't tell Mira," Lisanna pleaded with his back now as he headed up the stairs with a shake of his head. "Please?"

He didn't answer her.

But he also didn't go to her sister's room to break the news either.

Instead, he went to stretch out on the couch and just...process all of the information he'd just learned.

He and Bickslow would be having a huge talk about all of this.

Well, he would have a huge, one-sided yelling match at the nitwit and send his ass back out on jobs and to not neglect his duties for some woman.

Even if that woman was a Strauss.

Because he definitely understood the motivation.

That morning, he awoke to the sound of someone milling around in the kitchen, humming, and this time, it was without a doubt his demon.

Laxus was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when he found her in there, doing more than she usually would to get ready in the morning as she seemed to making him breakfast. Laxus recognized the signature, over-sized omelet she loved to serve him anywhere. In the corner of the kitchen, Lisanna was there as well. She was hunched over the coffee maker, clearly tense and nervous. For all the times that he'd spent the night at the Strauss house, Laxus had never known her to be an early riser without provocation, but he imagined there wasn't much for sleeping when you were dreading what was to come.

"Morning, dragon," Mirajane called all the same, hardly glancing over her shoulder at him. "Sleep well?"

And Lisanna stood upright then, turning to watch them, a stricken look on her face. She'd been glad, no doubt, to find Laxus snoozing on the couch that early morning, but now would be just as good a chance for him to ruin everything for her, she knew, and it was with a held breath that she watched the man come to wrap his arms tightly around his girlfriend, hugging her from behind.

"No," he remarked simply, nuzzling his head into her neck as the woman giggled. "There's ghosts in the basement."

"See!" Mira giggled as she folded the egg mixture in the pan. "I told you."

"Yeah." Laxus eyes though where on Lisanna, who he'd have to talk with as well as. Make her realize that she had to tell her sister and brother, eventually. Him keeping her secret, for now, hinged on the fact that very soon there would be nothing to keep. "Shouldda listened to you."

Lisanna bowed her head, in his direction, smiling and clearly pleased, but Laxus only went back to snuggling his demon, watching his food cook from over her shoulder.

"I bet though," Laxus told his girlfriend, "that within the next, oh, few weeks? Days? I can get someone down to the basement to exorcise any ghosts. Free you of them. If you want."

This statement caused Lisanna's joy to immediately flee, but Laxus ignored her as Mira only hummed, mulling over this idea a bit, before shaking both her head and herself free of him.

"No."

"No?" Laxus complained, watching as she moved to transfer his omelet to a waiting plate on the counter top. "What do you mean? Why not?"

"All basements have ghosts, Laxus," she told him simply. "And all ghosts have basements."

"You're not making any sense."

"I," she said as, finished with his breakfast preparations, she turned to head out of the room and no doubt get ready for the day, "own this house, so I get to decide what ghosts linger and which don't."

"Yeah, well," he complained to her back as she left the room, "this dragon lives in an apartment. So where do my ghosts linger, huh? Demon?"

He got no reply and that was fine as he only sent to slouch over at a kitchen table chair, stabbing at his food with a heavy frown.

Lisanna, seizing the moment, rushed to go to a seat across from him.

"So," she began, "you're not gonna tell Mira about-"

"Look, kid." He hardly glanced up at her. "Your boyfriend isn't going to stay in the basement, being a bum forever. I'm making sure of it. Starting today. And you need to grow some backbone about all this. Understand?"

Scoffing, she remarked simply, "Mira said that the ghosts can stay."

"Mira says a lot of things." He tossed up a free hand. "And I go along with them because I love her."

And Lisanna forgot about her own troubles for a moment, just to giggle at the usually stoic man's expense.

"You what her? Laxus?" she asked with a glint in her eyes.

"I," he assured the woman's younger sister, "love her."

"Awe."

"And if that means enabling some of her less pleasant qualities, fine." He looked at Lisanna fully then. "But no one makes my demon look stupid. And stowing away your boyfriend in the house that she owns isn't going to cut it. Understand?"

Lisanna slumped then herself, sighing as she remarked, "I just… I just want something that's mine. Not Mira and Elfman's. And I know that you think that Bickslow's a big joke and that he's your...lackey or something-"

"Bodyguard."

"You're not that famous, Laxus." Lisanna had never rightly felt the fear others did around the man. Even before her sister charmed him. "No one gives enough of a shit about you for you to need one of those."

"Hey-"

"I like him." Lisanna shook her head then. "I don't know why. But I do know that it'll all get ruined, if everyone finds out. You just don't understand."

Staring at her for a long moment, Laxus replied, "You think that I didn't feel the same way? About your sister? You chumps up at the bar ruin everything. Constantly. And yeah, they'll probably ruin you and Bickslow too. But me and your sister made it through. If you're meant to be together, you're meant to be together. And look at it this way, after you tell them, yeah, for a day or two, maybe a week, it'll be an item of interest, but then something new will blow through the hall. It always does. And if you're thinking about getting serious with Bickslow-"

"Serious?"

"Like...looking at him as marriage material and-"

And she laughed. Loudly. Genuinely. As Laxus only stared blankly, Lisanna simply shook her head.

"I'm only twenty-one, Laxus." She frowned at him. "I'm not thinking about marrying anyone I date. Ever. Gross. Ew, are you gonna marry my sister?"

"Lisanna-"

"Are you thinking about it? Does she know?"

"Knock it off."

"Big brother Laxus?"

"I'm gonna go tell her about Bickslow."

"She must be something special," Lisanna kept up, even still, as she leaned over the table just to poke the man's cheek, grinning cheekily herself. "My sister. For you to be thinking so heavily about that and all."

"She is." Laxus grabbed her finger then, tightly, as he looked the younger woman dead in the eyes. "To me. "And I won't see her taken advantage of. Do you understand me?"

Jerking her finger back, Lisanna nodded slightly as she sat back in her own seat. Softly though, she said, "Thank you. Laxus."

"Yeah." He went back to his food with a bit of a grunt. "Don't mention it."

[kpoppwriter]

Rose Colored Boy

Genre: angst/fluff

Words: 1k+

Warnings: this is kinda sad tbh, indirect mentions of depression and anxiety

A/N: so this is a song fic based on the song “Rose Colored Boy” by Paramore. I was listening to this song and just needed to write something based off of it so here you go!

Rose colored boy, I hear you making all that noise About the world you want to see, and oh, I’m so annoyed Cause I just killed off what was left of the optimist in me

You watched as Soonyoung “performed” for you and some of the boys in the living room of the dorms. He smiled happily at how he made you and the boys smile along with him. He didn’t have to know that your smile was fake. You just stared at him in awe, wondering how someone could be so carefree and happy. It was a concept that didn’t make sense to you. Not anymore. 

You sighed as you got up from your place on the couch. As soon as you were safe in the kitchen away from everyone else, your happy facade faded. You buried your face in your hands. You tried to even out your breathing, a bunch of emotions bubbling up in you. Anger, jealousy, envy, hurt, sadness...

“Y/N! There you are!”

You quickly looked up, your mask coming back on. Soonyoung stood in the doorway of the kitchen. His smile faltered as he looked at you. 

“Are you alright?”

But hearts are breaking and wars are raging on And I have taken my glasses off You got me nervous, I’m right at the end of my rope A half empty girl. Don’t make me laugh, I’ll choke

“Yeah! I’m fine,” you lied, “Just have another headache.”

“Oh, okay.”

You stood awkwardly in the kitchen together not saying a word. You broke the silence first telling him you weren’t feeling good and thought you should go home. Soonyoung protested and tried his hardest to try and keep you there at the dorms but you insisted on going home.

“At least let me give you a ride since you aren’t feeling well.”

“...Alright, that’s fair,” you sighed

He nodded happily and went back out to the living room to get your coat and his. He told the boys that he was driving you home to which the boys protested much like Soonyoung did. He said you weren’t feeling well and the boys begrudgingly agreed to let you leave. You said a quick goodbye and left, Soonyoung following close behind. 

“You should go see a doctor,” Soonyoung said as he go into the car, “You’ve been getting a lot of headaches.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re nothing,” you said dismissively

“It probably doesn’t help being around us all the time. We’re usually pretty loud,” he chuckled

“Mhmm yeah,” you laughed nervously

You didn’t want to think about the headaches too much. You knew what they were from. And he was right, being around the guys made them worse but not because they were loud. Because they were happy.

Just let me cry a little bit longer, I ain’t gon’ smile if I don’t want to  Hey man, we all can’t be like you. I wish we were all rose colored too My rose colored boy

You stared out the window trying to hold your tears back. You wanted to have the optimism that he did. Maybe if you were like him, you wouldn’t be this way. You wouldn’t be this sad. 

You pulled up to the front of your apartment.Soonyoung parked the car and turned to you before getting out of the car. You didn’t want to face him, knowing your tears would fall if you even looked at him. Apparently, you weren’t that good at hiding your tears. Soonyoung placed his hand on your shoulder softly calling your name. You finally looked at him. And that’s when the waterworks started.

I want you to stop insisting that I’m not a lost cause, Cause I’ve been through a lot, really all I’ve got is just to stay pissed off If it’s all right by you 

“No, I want to be mad,” you gritted your teeth, “It’s better than being sad.”

“No it’s not,” Soonyoung replied softly, “You can be happy. You can feel better.”

“No I can’t!” you snapped

Your sudden outburst surprised both you and Soonyoung, the expressions on your faces identical. You apologized quietly. He said nothing in return. He just stared at you with sympathetic eyes. 

Leave me here a little bit longer, I think I wanna stay in the car I don’t want anybody seeing me cry now You say “we gotta look on the bright side” I say “well maybe if you wanna go blind” You say my eyes are getting too dark now  But boy, you ain’t ever seen my mind

“I need a minute,” you wiped the tears from your cheeks, “I don’t want anyone to see me like this.”

“Who’s going to see you?” Soonyoung laughed to himself

You glared at him, his hands going up in surrender letting you stay in the car with him. You flipped down the sun visor and looked at yourself in the mirror. Your cheeks still had a wet shine to them despite how you tried to wipe off your tears. Your face was dusted pink and your eyes were already getting puffy. You groaned, knowing it was going to be a while before you’d look even halfway decent. You huffed as you flipped the visor back up. You could feel Soonyoung’s gaze on you, intently watching your every move. You felt a wave of sadness overtake you as you realized you were about to go back home, alone. Like always. 

“Stop it.”

You looked over at Soonyoung, confused.

“What?”

“Stop thinking about whatever your thinking about.”

He cupped your cheeks with his hands, holding you like you were made of glass. His thumbs ran over the tear stains on your cheeks as his eyes searched yours. You wanted to pull away but the way he was looking at you warmed your heart for some reason.

“Your eyes look so sad sometimes,” he whispered, “I hate it. I hate seeing you so sad.”

You opened your mouth to say something but couldn’t bring yourself to say anything. He was being so sweet and loving with you. He wanted to make you happy. Genuinely happy.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked

“Just about how I have to go inside eventually,” you mumbled, “And how I was going to be alone again-”

“You don’t have to be alone,” he interjected, “I’ll stay with you. For as long as you need me.”

Just let me cry a little bit longer, I ain’t gon’ smile if I don’t want to Hey man, we all can’t be like you. I wish we were all rose colored too My rose colored boy

[moralleeee]

⚠️BNHA CHAPTER 277 SPOILER WARNING⚠️

I decided that maybe I should start doing some random analysis of the new my hero chapters and give you some food for thought you didn't think you needed. Why? Idk, it was fun last time. But ALSO IDK IF I HAVE MUCH TO SAY ON THE NEWEST ONE.

Look man. Half of this chapter I was very emotional and was just trying very hard to figure out what was going on.

Looking at this specific segment tho was the one where I was like "AAAAA WATERWORKS" but.. not as much as the last chapter heh. Anyway, it's just mind blowing to me, but also at the same time not even surprised that out of ALL of this chaos going on, Izuku and Bakugo made Aizawa their top priority, like 🥺 Literally half of this chapter was just Gran tofino and Endeavor telling em to stay back cuz you know, if they get to him, they kinda done for. But then BAM, izuku and bakugo shoot through the chapter with wholesomeness! I wasn't surprised though, because you know, the last chapter was literally Aizawa being a dad and awesome teacher, I know it made me cry. It's just if you look at it, this scene and last chapter, it really shows how far they've come. I mean Jeez, throughout the whole first season and a little bit of season 2, Aizawa was sooooo done with 1-A. They've been through so much though at this point, I mean like rough things and wholesome things, it really brought them together.

In all of these new chapters, it's really amazing to recognize the massive development they've made from then to now. I mean JEEZ, Izuku basically has two quirks now and I bet more is coming- Izuku and Bakugo can work together like the power duo they are!! The relationship between the students and teacher has really grown. Even give Endeavor some credit, his first thoughts were literally "WHERES SHOTO." Other people actually know about all for one now 👀 And I mean, do I really need to say anything about Shigiraki?

Random things I'd like to point out though. In this scene, I think it made it all the more emotional, that (yes I know that's the pro heroes water) Aizawa looked like he was tearing up. Like, just that look on his face- And of course they showed a flashback to school which I really appreciate, because yknow everybody looks happy. Even Bakugo kinda! At least he doesn't look super angry so, that's a plus!

Also... in the second box, I'm like 99% sure that's the Indian pro hero or what not and ngl, I was very surprised they showed him fighting a n o m u. Like don't get me wrong, I think anyone that's made it that far to be a pro hero can definitely whip anybodies ass. Buttt... from what we've seen of this guy, he can't do much XDD He could barely hold his own against Stain! Although, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he probably sneak attacked, I stand with my point! I'm not sure why this guy is out there fighting nomU but oK, goodluck to him.

Anyway, I might do some more of these for this chapter or just wait until the new one comes out, who knows- Bai!

~Angel

[ghost-ghost-baby]

An ANGST (is that right? Lol) with 11, 8, 13, 15 and 17? In that order. With Dabi or a antihero!Todoroki? Anyway, Just have Fun and write what u would like this to be. I am really excited to read it soon as possible (just a few words it's okay) ser ya ✨🇧🇷

the reader has uuuh,,, a quirk called necromancer that lets them communicate with dead people around them,,,, they can try to summon specific people but its dangerous and uh,,,,, takes a physical toll on their body that includes but isn’t limited to: nose bleeds, lips splitting open and bleeding,bruises, and in extreme cases gashes 

i couldn’t fit in 17 but i hope u like it bub!!

“God, who the fuck would be knocking at this hour.” You pulled yourself out of the bathroom, making sure you were at least presentable before you opened the door. 

“Dabi? Why’re you-?” You had not been expecting to see your boyfriend.

“Nobody’s seen you in days, you haven’t been past the base.” Dabi invited himself into your apartment and you had to take a moment before you turned to him.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy. It’s not a big deal.” You didn’t have time for this, you were dealing with your own shit. 

“What happened to that guy, Kaminari? It wasn’t your fault.”

“Hah, sorry Dabi, but what the fuck do you know about that?” Who the fuck did this guy think he was? He didn’t seem bothered, and you didn’t like the way his eyes were fixed on you.

“Holding everything in doesn’t help, you know?” 

“God Dabi, can you- can you cut it? With this crap? I’m-”

“I’m worried about you Y/n.” Dabi was serious, more serious than you’d ever seen and you didn’t like it. 

“That’s bullshit, now please go. I’d like to be alone.” It took everything to keep your voice steady, just a few more minutes and you’d be alone. You had things to do, you didn’t need a distraction. 

“Look, I’ll come to the base tomorrow, just please-”

“Is that blood?”

Fuck. 

“No…?” You backed up as Dabi came forward, if he knew he’d freak. You just had to get him to leave. 

“You’re abusing your quirk again, Y/n, you know that could kill you.” 

Fuck, he knew you, didn’t he?

“It’s fine.” You hissed, only just registering the taste of iron. Fuck, how bad was the bleeding? 

“It’s not fine, we’re going back to the base.” Dabi strode forward far too quick, scooping you up before you had time to react. 

“I’m not letting you kill yourself, this, whatever it is, trying to contact that guys spirit? It stops now.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead and you couldn’t stop the waterworks anymore. 

“It was- god Dabi, it was all my fault, I should have-”

“Hey, shush, you couldn’t have done anything, okay? Stop blaming yourself. Now, lets get you home, fed and taken care of, then we can watch whatever you want. Sound good?” 

“Yeah, I guess that sounds okay.”

[cupsofsuga]

Hi honey, can i ask for a reaction from bts yandere when a friend of his girlfriend tells them that (member of bts) is not normal because he is very obsessive and those things, but she defends them saying that they are not like that (because she she loves him and trusts him, she's naive too) Excuse my English since it is not my mother tongue and if the orders are full I will understand Thank u

THE HEARSAY  ━ YANDERE BTS REACTION*:･。.

WARNING - This is a yandere au, meaning the following may be triggering to some viewers.  I am not trying to discriminate the boys in any way, this is for entertainment purposes. Viewer discretion is advised!!!

Thank you for requesting, my sweet dove! You’re English is phenomenal! Also, buckle up cause this ones LONG.

KIM SEOKJIN

━━━ This was never supposed to happen.

Before he could even think to react, he has been caught in this state of infatuation, like a butterfly in a net. No matter how much he spreads his wings, there is no escaping this need for you.

Seokjin craves and desires every fleeting moment of intimacy, creating havocs of emotions that whirl within him. The melding of colors in the boundless azure sky, the soft glimmer of stars that twinkle in the sky as well as your eyes. He inhales, tasting the sweet fragrance of the early spring, he then exhales, and litters of stars and flower petals fly in the air. Jin has set out the seraphic variety of emotions sat on a dome plate. All for you, every fiber or fragment of emotion held within his body was all made for you.

Every little bit of blood spilled from those who dared separating you from him was all in the name of love; all in the name of his dear Y/N. Without these heathens, he can finally settle in his home tucked away in the woods with his little doe to where they spend the remainder of their days in peace.

And this fellow “friend” of yours was nothing like the others on his hit list. He tried convincing you to leave Jin, throwing insults spiked with venom about his behavior towards you, trying to feed you these lies that he called “the truth”. This angered Jin severely. How could anyone say such vicious things to his angel? And once night fell, as he stood under Jin’s motionless, hardened gaze, time seemed to stop. Birds became silent, every flower died. The whole world seemed to stop spinning.

But now Seokjin returns home, hands bloody and his blood boiling, but once he catches sight of you sleeping soundly in your shared bedroom, all of this built-up rage seems to melt away. You sleep like the sweetest, little fawn, he thinks. And once he washes away his sins in the sink, he’ll then cradle you and care for you as if you’re a porcelain angel who now lies in his arms.

“Don’t you worry, my little doe… I will protect you from these blasphemous hellions; I will keep you safe for eternity.”

MIN YOONGI

━━━ You pleaded to go see a distant friend, meaning no boyfriend, only the two of you. This intimacy shared with you is obsessive, but he obliges the part for your sake.

It has felt like years since you’ve seen your childhood friend. You’ve almost forgotten how you bloomed like an unseen poppy in the first few seconds of April when you two venture together. A true, genuine bond you two have. 

But Yoongi is in your life now, and you must forget these memories. 

Your friend disagrees and there is this darkness that follows. He begins to tell you how unhealthy and mentally draining is it to cope with Yoongi’s behavior. You stop, question and drown in your own pool of realization. Was he right?

He pulls you into an embrace when the brunch date ends. His touch is so warm, you feel yourself start to melt with his arms locked around you. It’s been a quick minute since you’ve felt heat like this. Quickly pulling yourself out of this hazy daydream, you share a quick farewell, and then you’re off, the cold, brisk air sharing no sympathy for your exposed skin.

You stare silently at your feet as you keep pacing forward. You’re far too engrossed in your thoughts to think of a practical destination. Was he truly right? Was this relationship unhealthy or was he just feeding you biased lies? Should you return home and spend the rest of the time thinking in that man’s embrace? Or should you run for it and hop on the bus before it’s too late?

And just as you reach the bus spot, a cold hand has gripped your forearm. You turn around, spotting the same face you see every morning. Heavily panting, feline-eyes which are watery with fear, icy chills spreading down his spine and the glimmering of tears on his pink cheeks. How was he here? How did he find you? Had he been here the entire time? Better question, was he listening to every word spilled?

“Y/N, please… It’s so cold without you… A-And what he said, it isn’t true. None of it is true..! We’re meant to be, can’t you see…? I love you, my Aphrodite.”

JUNG HOSEOK

━━━ You two barely fit in the same category. You’re a dove who flies freely without any flock of birds to return to or a cage to be forced into. You’ve never needed Hobi’s affections and constant sweet nothings, but you find them amusing. To you, it’s just a short summer fling that would turn to ash once Autumn comes and the leaves start to fall. To Hoseok, this love is eternal and will last for many summers to come.

“He’s kinda creepy, don’t you think? I mean, it’s quite obsessive how much he demands to be by your side… Don’t you get tired…?” 

Is that what the outsiders think? That he’s some sort of mythical demon of some sort? Being around him during the times the sun shines most and the times where the moon glows in all of her glory wasn’t ever tiring, simply entertaining. Having somebody that didn’t see your cold demeanor and shiver or awkwardly avoid you was somewhat refreshing. Never have you seen someone, not even your own mother, look at you with such intense love in their eyes. And you took advantage of it.

Maybe you’d let the truth settle underneath a bed of leaves, like a trap, and as soon as he prances over to see you, the sickening reality will catch him and the sorrow in his eyes will glimmer. The idea of breaking his heart excited you, but when you returned home you expected him to come rushing to the door like a cheery golden retriever, not in this state.

Hoseok sat curled up in your living room, head buried into his knees while the faint, ominous sound of his crying echoed, almost like a ghost in a horror movie you’ve seen before. His gaze shot up towards you in surprise after hearing the creaking of floorboards. Eyes watery, cheeks wet with tears, lips quivering. A beautifully tragic sight plastered in front of you. Almost like a broken angel. 

And as soon as he recognized your flabbergasted expression, the waterworks were let loose. Slowly, he waddled his way over to curl up and hug your legs, still crying as you stood in uncomfortable silence. Incoherent mumbling across desperate cries was all that was heard.

“I-I-I heard what she said at the skatepark… That I’m “obsessive”, “creepy”. B-But it isn’t true! Y/N, I’m not any of those things…! You’re my everything, you are my sun… And I need you for many seasons to come”

KIM NAMJOON

━━━ Like a lion, you cannot be tamed. You won’t drop your guards and submit to those two will throw you in a circus for humans to pay and gawk for. You won’t be the obedient animal who lets human purr and coo at. You are rare, entirely a human of complete chaos. You chase thunderstorms and run from the rainbow afterward. You call the rain and the lightning against your skin your lover and you call the sun which kisses your mortal enemy.

You’re a god, all bruised knuckles and broken hearts littering your path. Nobody owns you, you simply are in control of your own soul.

And as Namjoon listens to your junkie friend blabber about the dangerous acts that your boyfriend has committed, he sits, listens and seethes with rage. You’re a human of your own opinion, though, and brush off his comments, but not without spitting out a protective threat over your lover (which warms Joon’s heart).

Namjoon watches; stalks like a cheetah about to pounce at his prey but there is no violence in the air, only the complete, wholesome lingering of feather-touched devotion that swarms within his mind. He has forgotten about the skater boy with a pea-sized brain that made his blood boil. There was only room for you in his head, anyway. 

And in a hushed whisper, his emotions leave his lips beautifully.

“Your heart may not be pure, but it is mine, all mine… Just like how my heart is yours.”

PARK JIMIN

━━━ Jimin’s entire cherub essence, so pure, so sweet. His eyes reminded you of pearls, ones you’d find strung upon the neck of Audrey Hepburn or some other angelic celebrity of the time. You listened and often reminisced of his laughter, like an echo of harmonious melodies that reverberates in your ears; a truly angelic noise. Or his touch, so silky and velvety like fingertips against the naked sky that glows in hazy light, not too bright, but bright enough to illuminate the blinding darkness that surrounds you.

Park Jimin, entirely a soul which turns seraphic with his own heavenly heart.

But what is this? What is this rumor, this hearsay of your angel doing such sinful things? Such violent manners?

Your sweet, sweet Jimin could never possibly make such horrible, horrific actions. But he was an angel gifted a sword, a child of the night, the utter darkness. He will travel to such measures, measures unspeakable for his love, his dearest rose. And now that someone is attempting to take you from his gentle, soothing embrace, the sharp tumultuous ring of his battle cry echoes.

“Ah, my sweet dove, never listen to such deadly lies… They aren’t good for your soul.”

KIM TAEHYUNG

━━━ His gaze stayed locked on you during the aftermath of the movie, your close friend caught on, you didn’t. She warned you when you two were alone (or so you two think), spitting out supposed acts so horrendous that you visibly shivered of his unknown presence. And you not knowing Taehyung, being afraid of him almost lets the most melancholy cry escape his throat.

You don’t remember him.

Taehyung should have expected this, expected his dearest Y/N to give in to the lies that swarm around her like annoying flies; like mosquitoes picking at her skin. But this sudden wrath of reality penetrates him, shakes him awake from this daydream he’s been so caught-up and utterly infatuated with.

Tae, now sitting at his desk hours later, grasps hold of his red pen, scribbling out blabbers of emotions that have been bottled up within him. He writes in cursive, as always, just messier this time. It doesn’t matter, though, because of the true, genuine, honesty in each word makes up for the sloppiness. Tears begin to stream down his cheeks so beautifully, so ethereal the way they seem to shimmer in the light of his desk lamp.

Finally, he holds up the card, slightly stained with tears that turn the ink distorted, but it doesn’t matter. It’s perfect. 

Maybe he’ll slip it in your locker tomorrow or into your backpack. Taehyung then shivers feverishly from the excitement of finally taking action for this fantasy he’s been chasing for too long.

“Y/N, my Y/N, I was internally born the moment we first met. I no longer have a past, I no longer need anybody else. I just need you, you, and you. Only you…. I only have a future, which will be illuminated by your love.

Sincerely, Your One and Only Lover, Taehyung.”

JEON JUNGKOOK

━━━ A sudden revelation embarks on a journey within his mind. The revelation of who you truly are, what makes up of you entirely. He has finally figured out why storms are named after people and how much destruction one person can cause. You swallow those unlucky whole and spit out their emotions, no source of envy or guilt held within you. Your eyes are cold, so is your heart. You are a cruel being, a wretched human who enjoys suffocating on their own renewed vitality. 

But it’s different with Jungkook, you’re softer.

He lets the light, your light wash over him like ocean waves to where he is reminded of eternal peace and drowns in his own joy. You hold the beauty of every microscopic star seen in the sky within your soul, but come closer and you see the glitter and dust that rival all things that shimmer in our world. He sees it, he sees it every day and yet, it never grows old. Every fragment of a moment with you is all fleeting palpitations in his heart and cheeks as red as two ripe cherries.

But someone, one of those pesky insects you call “friends” that constantly zoom around you believes you should leave him. And Jungkook is then reminded of every little reason behind his need for you and the eternal life he desires for the both of you only. But, don’t fret, your feelings are mutual as you spit back and defend Jungkook to the imp before you.

“Oh, Y/N… I knew I could trust you.. I’m your dandelion, aren’t I? And we’ll be with each other forever, won’t we?”

[zigsexual]

Theoreticals; part 3 (maxwell x mc)

part one. part two.

asdkfjals guys i finally DID IT it only took me a damn year but this is it, the final piece of the hypotheticals verse! love u all for continuing to bother me about this until it was finally finished,, idk what else to say i dont wanna ramble but im proud for my babies that they made it this far, fuckin hooray

note: this is the final companion piece to hypotheticals and empiricals, and honestly if you haven’t read those then u probably should because this one has a lot of plot throwback and also tbh its like very divergent from the main storyline seeing as i started writing it in 2017

summary: the coronation is actually happening feat. private planes, maxwell as a baby????? an unfortunate run in with some potpourri, dancing, drake, and an uber driver

word count: 5800+

Well.

Riley takes a deep breath, attempting to calm the absolute whirlwind of thoughts in her head that are, at any moment, threatening to become a hurricane. She can’t take the waterworks again, not when she’s finally stopped crying. She turns slightly to catch herself in the mirror, rubbing at the last smears of mascara with her thumb. The girl who looks back reminds her far too much of the girl who used to stare out from the curve of a freshly washed spoon in a New York bar. A reflection of another time; a defeated time.

She rolls her shoulders back. Today is not the day for defeat. At least, not yet.

When she emerges back out into the hallway, she’s relieved to find it near deserted but for a few of the king’s guard. One of them spots her and turns to the others, whispering something. She raises her hand in a brief wave, quickening her pace back towards the ballroom. Now is not the time to be intercepted and interrogated about her whereabouts.

She rounds the corner too quickly, head turned back to be sure none of the guards are still watching her, and nearly collides with Liam, who is also taking his corners too fast.

“Lady Riley!” he says, catching her by the shoulders before she can fully crash into him. His eyes, surprised and earnest, wash over her in such a way that she can feel herself beginning to blush.

“Hey,” she replies, mouth quirked up in a sheepish half-smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”

He laughs, dropping his hands back to his sides. Riley can’t quite meet his gaze; the full measure of him is just so… well, there was a reason she had decided to come to Cordonia in the first place. Liam is still Liam, still resplendent with that aura of dignity he carries so easily, still with that face like her teenage daydreams.

And now, this. This utter mess she’s made with his heart. No, there are too many reasons to keep her eyes downcast, fingers toying with the satin of her gown.

Liam’s voice drops lower. “I’ve actually been meaning to speak to you, if you have a moment?”

“For you?” Riley shrugs. “Of course.”

“There’s a family garden out back,” he holds out his arm, and she takes it, hesitantly. “The guests aren’t allowed out there, so we won’t be interrupted.”

She smiles, but it comes off more pained than pleased. “Oh, I mean there’s no need to, ah… we can just talk here, if you want?”

“I think it’d be better to have some privacy,” Liam says, and the air of finality to his statement pulls Riley reluctantly along with him.

The ‘family garden,’ another one of Liam’s modest descriptors, turns out to be a sprawling thing almost double the size of the palace itself, adorned at every turn with manicured greenery and delicately arranged flowers. Even the cobblestone paths seem somewhat luxurious, which is a relief to Riley as it means Liam won’t fault her for looking everywhere but at him.

“I’m glad you came here,” he says. “It’s been a joy getting to know you, and seeing you defy the odds against you. You have a very particular kind of strength about you that I admire.”

“Thank you,” Riley says, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m sure you must have some idea of what I wish to speak with you about.” His brow furrows, and he looks off towards the lights of the palace. “I hope… I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise.”

Riley turns, finally, to look at him, her heart pounding in her chest, “Liam, I —”

“I can’t marry you.”

Riley’s mouth falls open. “Hold on, what?”

“Oh —” Liam looks taken aback. “Did I misjudge?”

“Misjudge?” Riley stops walking, dropping his arm so she can stand in front of him, staring. “Misjudge what?”

“You,” Liam says gently, his eyes sweeping across her face, “Your heart.”

“My…” Riley reaches up and presses her hand to her mouth. “Oh.”

Oh.

“I thought as much,” Liam sighs. “I know I’ve been quite open about my affection for you, and I worried you might feel… obligated? Perhaps that’s too strong a word, but it troubles me to think that you might not be living the life you want. With the person you want to live it with.”

Riley feels her heart in her throat. She presses her hand harder against her lips.

“I suppose I wanted the chance to tell you all this before the official announcement to the court. I wanted you to know that your presence here has never been anything but a gift, and I’ve never expected anything in return.”

She nods.

“All that to say… I’m not going to ask you to marry me tonight. Or any night, for that matter. I didn’t want you to spend the whole ball fretting over the possibility of it, when you could just be enjoying yourself.”

She nods again, swallowing against the lump in her throat. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

The breezes rustles against them, the gentle scrape of leaves echoing in the wind.

Liam laughs softly, “It’s funny, Drake had always mentioned that you —”

“Oh my god,” Riley squeaks, voice sharp with panic, “No, Liam, oh my god. It’s not Drake. I’m not — we’re not — I would never—”

Liam laughs even more at her response, stunning her into silence. “Riley, I know. It’s my job to be aware of what happens in my court.”

“Oh.” Riley hates herself. “Uh, just wanted to… y’know, clarify that.”

“He does have a fondness for you, though,” Liam muses.

“He told you?”

“Well, not in so many words. I asked him once what he thought of you, and he said you were ‘almost passable,’ so I drew my own conclusions.”

“Wow,” Riley crosses her arms across her chest. “High praise from Drake.”

“The highest.”

“Can we… uh,” Riley nods towards a nearby stone bench, nestled amongst the rosebushes. “Can we sit down? Sorry, this is just…”

“A lot?”

“A lot.”

They both sit, Riley sweeping her skirts underneath her to allow Liam more space. There’s a fountain not far off, reflecting the lights from the party beyond, although the splashes of water are the only sounds of civilization she can hear.

“I’ve wanted to tell you,” Riley says nervously, “I kept trying to find the right time, but you know how that is. It doesn’t exist, not really.”

“You don’t have to apologize, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he reassures her, “I understand.”

“I know, but that almost makes it worse. You’re too good. I’m such a shitshow.”

He laughs. “On the contrary, you’re the only thing about this ball that isn’t.”

Riley hesitates. “Not to be weird or anything, but can I… can I ask who told you?”

“About you and Maxwell?”

Hearing Liam actually say his name sends a rush of something through her. It’s as if he’s made it real, now; as if something about him knowing has elevated the quiet nothingness of their relationship into a profound and essential Thing.

“Yeah,” she whispers.

Liam looks pensive. “No one told me. I mean, not exactly. It’s just that I’ve known everyone here all my life, and when you’re around someone for that long you notice when things… change.” He glances at her with a smile. “You’ve been a catalyst for a lot of that, here.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure at first, it was just a hunch. But you know how Maxwell is: never stops talking, terrible at lying, loyal to a fault. He’s always been at the center of things. And then you came along, and…”

Liam turns to her, his expression thoughtful. “He was so guarded about you. So careful. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Maxwell be careful about anything in his life.”

“He’s careful about the important things,” Riley says softly.

“He used to spend hours talking you up to me, working on distractions so you and I could be alone together. He wanted you to succeed in all of this, that much was evident. And it was gradual, the way he stopped bringing you up, the shorter and shorter conversations, but of course I noticed. He wanted you to succeed… and then he wanted you.”

Liam sighs, the quietest moment of weakness slipping out. “I guess I didn’t realize as quickly that you wanted him too.”

“Yeah, you and me both.” Riley swings her legs under the bench, shivering slightly as a breeze brushes her bare shoulders. “Trust me, when I decided to come to a tiny foreign country to compete for a chance to be royalty, this is the last outcome I expected.”

Liam laughs. “It is rather ridiculous, I suppose.”

“Will you be alright, though?” Riley glances up at him, worried. “Madeleine told me there’s this law or something, that you have to get married to be on the throne?”

“Oh, that.” He waves a hand dismissively. “It doesn’t actually matter, I can change it after the coronation. It’s not as if we have any alternate governing body. This is an absolute monarchy; I can basically do whatever I want. Honestly, it’s a little strange we haven’t had some sort of democratic revolution yet.”

“Not on your first year agenda?”

“Not yet, no.” He smiles at her, and the sadness in his eyes has almost faded out. “Riley… I hope that you won’t find it awkward to be at court after this. I don’t have many friends, and although I know it may not have been my initial intention, I should hope to remain friends with you.”

“Oh, Liam,” Riley bumps her shoulder against his, “Of course. And I’m not just saying that because you’re about to be king of an absolute monarchy and can basically do whatever you want.”

He laughs again, standing up from the bench and brushing off his jacket before reaching out a hand to help her up. She’s only slightly unsteady on her heels until her feet catch purchase in the cobblestones, and she rests a hand on Liam’s arm to regain her balance.

His eyes meet hers, only inches away, and she feels that gentle tug in her chest again. In another life, maybe; in another timeline, she could be his queen.

But not this one.

They walk back to the palace in silence, Liam with his hands in his pockets, surveying the grounds. Now he is the one desperate not to meet her eyes, though she doesn’t blame him. Even though Liam tries to be the picture of strength, of nobility, he’s only human.

His lips brush across her cheek for the briefest moment when they part at the door. “You don’t have to stay,” he tells her, and she reaches out and squeezes his hand.

He’s swallowed up into the palace before she can think of anything real to say back. And she knows it’s not goodbye, not really – but it certainly is an ending.

She closes her eyes, breathing in deeply. The emotional turmoil of this night (of the last few days, really) has been weighing far too heavily on her soul. Liam’s blessing seems to have unlocked something in her, released the dam on her heart and flooded her body with feeling.

When she opens her eyes, she knows exactly what needs to be done.

The ballroom is still teeming with people, although many have begun edging towards the bar. A quick glance around the room doesn’t return any hits, and Riley frowns, wondering where to look next. As Liam mentioned, Maxwell is usually at the center of everything, and she can’t imagine what’s more central than this.

She catches Drake still pouting near the hors d’oeuvres, her skirts bunched in one hand as she tries her best to run towards him in those damn stiletto heels. He looks over at her when the frantic click of her shoes gets close, then crosses his arms and watches her approach, amused.

“You’re such a dick,” Riley says, bracing herself on the wall so she doesn’t trip. “It’s not easy to get around in these things, you know. You could’ve moved.”

“Why move when you’re already en route?”

“Dick.” She pauses to take in a deep breath, embarrassed at how winded her wobbly half-jog has made her. Maybe she needs to take Maxwell up on that offer to accompany his morning runs, although the thought of him seeing her like this is mortifying.

“Do you know where Maxwell went?” she asks, straightening up and rolling her shoulders back, hoping good posture will eliminate the residual humiliation. “He was in here last I saw him, but then I got, uh — otherwise detained.”

Drake sighs. “You’re a piece of work, Aldridge.”

“Oh, fuck you. I should’ve just asked Hana.” Riley looks out at the room, running a quick sweep before turning back to Drake. “Um, where’s Hana?”

“Seriously?”

“Look Drake, you’re not my ideal conversation partner right now either.”

He laughs sardonically, but there’s a hint of affection in his eyes. Drake can talk all the shit he wants, but she knows she’s his weak spot. Well, her and Liam. And whiskey.

“I haven’t been keeping tabs on Hana,” he says, “But Maxwell went looking for you a while ago, so he’s probably lost. Good luck with that.”

Riley makes a frustrated sound. “Do you have your phone? I should just call him.”

Drake reaches into his pocket and hands her something that may have possibly been a phone, once, but now resembles a sort of conceptual idea of a phone as designed by a seven-year-old fresh into the twenty-first century.

Riley stares at it. “Drake, what the fuck is this? What am I supposed to do with this? Oh my god, is that an antenna?”

“Yeah,” he frowns, seemingly unaware of her horror at this technological trashcan. “I don’t get great reception at the palace. It helps if you pull it out.”

Riley groans. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Okay, nevermind — how do you text someone on this thing? You’ve got Max’s number, right?”

“I don’t have texting.”

Riley blinks. “Sorry, repeat?”

He shrugs. “It’s a waste of money. I mean, why text someone when you can just talk to them?”

“What in god’s name­ —” Riley barely stifles an angry shriek. “Drake, you’re useless. Why the fuck didn’t I pick a dress with pockets? I’m going to go find him myself; take your stupid prehistoric waste of plastic.” She shoves the offending object back into his hands before turning her back and starting off towards the very door she had just entered.

Figures.

“Sometimes you can get service on the third-floor balcony?” Drake offers. Riley lets out a final disgusted sigh before quickening her pace. The sooner she is away from this dude, the better.

It’s a much overdue blessing that when she pushes open the ballroom door, she nearly runs into Maxwell. Just the sight of him is enough to make her stumble forward, her shoe catching the marble with an ill-placed step.

He grabs her shoulders to catch her, visibly flustered. “Riley?! Oh, thank god. Where’ve you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere, I even asked Bastien, but no one knew where you were, no one had even seen you in ages, and I thought —”

Riley takes his face in her hands and kisses him quiet, her lips curling in a smile against his, giddy and breathless and warm. She doesn’t pull back until she absolutely has to — until laughter spills out of her lungs and she can’t keep the grin away any longer.

She beams up at his bewilderment. “Oh Max, you have no idea how good it is to see you.”

“I — uh,” he blinks, mouth turning up in a confused smile. “Thanks? Or, um, you too?”

“Let’s go,” she says, brushing her thumb along his cheekbone, “Let’s just leave.”

“What?”

“Right now, let’s just —” she tilts her head towards the end of the hallway, “We can just run away, before anyone says anything.”

“Riley,” his brings a hand off her shoulder to curl his fingers gently around her wrist, just as her fingers thread into his hair. “What are you talking about?”

But the question is already answered as she brings her lips back to his, stepping closer and wrapping her free arm around his neck. His hands find her waist and she falls into him, clutching at his shirt as she opens her mouth against his, and suddenly everything is a blur of soft and hard and need and want and more than anything, hope.

She leans into his touch, eyes closed, head swirling with every wasted moment that has led to this. It’s like a dream: the sense of detachment she feels as they pull each other closer, the heady drunkenness of her hands as she struggles to find a hold on his shoulder. They’re breathing too loud, touching too soft, loving too hard.

She lets out a shuddery sigh and feels him rest his forehead against hers.

“Riley...” he says, voice soft. She can feel his eyelashes brush against her cheek, and her fingers dig in against his back, trying in vain to grasp at the strings of their ephemeral moment and keep it from drifting away.

They look at each other, inches apart.

“I want to run away with you,” she tells him, “Right now. I want to run away with you and I want you to say yes.”

“Where would we go?”

“I don’t know — anywhere. McDonalds, for all I care. I just want to say fuck it to all this courtly shit and nobility and be with you. Like, properly with you.”

“Properly?”

“Yeah.” She bites her lip. “You’re my best friend, you know?”

Maxwell takes her hands in his, and he’s looking at her so intensely she feels the blush pool hot in her cheeks. “You’re mine too.”

She dips her head, hoping to hide the burning spreading through her face. “I’m always yours.”

He smiles.

“What,” bellows a new voice, echoing down the hallway with footsteps far too angry for a ball, “in the crown’s name —”

They both turn, hands still clasped between them, and Riley whispers, “Fuck.”

Bertrand looks equal parts flabbergasted and livid, his expression twitching between the two as if he can’t quite make up his mind which is more applicable. He is walking much too quickly, the furrow in his brow getting more defined by the second, and Riley grips Maxwell’s hand tighter while also fearing slightly for his life.

“Did I just — did you just —” he comes to a halt in front of them, out of breath for more reasons than one and seemingly unable to string together a coherent sentence. “Have either of you ever — did you even once consider —”

“Down to run away whenever you are,” Maxwell says under his breath.

“Have the both of you lost your damn minds?!” Bertrand throws his hands up, eyes wild. “All of the work, all of the time and moneythat we have spent, ensuring that this occasion would be one of restorative glory for our household — and the entire time the two of you have been sneaking around… fraternizing?”

“How long have you been standing there?” Riley asks tentatively. “Because technically we were friendzoning each other at the end.”

He gives her a look so withering that she takes a hasty step behind Maxwell.

“You should both be grateful that I am the one who ran in on this abhorrent exchange instead of someone who might have let it slip to the Prince, or else this—” he gestures sharply at the door of the ballroom, “would be over.”

“Oh, um,” Riley says, “Well, about that.”

“Bertrand,” Maxwell starts, “Look, you have to give us a second to —”

Riley raises her voice. “Liam knows.”

“What?” Bertrand hisses, at the same time Maxwell looks down at her in shock, “You told him?”

“I didn’t tell him,” she answers Maxwell, meeting his eyes and trying to pretend it’s just the two of them. “Or, well, I did tell him, eventually. But he already knew. He said he guessed.”

“He guessed?” Bertrand is losing his mind. “How long has this been going on for? Has the entire palace been in on this ridiculous affair?!”

“It doesn’t matter.” Riley takes a deep breath, turning back to face him. “Liam knows, and he’s not going to marry me, and I’m not going to be queen.”

“There’s still time,” Bertrand says desperately, “Maybe if you talk to him, if you just explain the situation, perhaps he would be willing to overlook the indiscretion?”

“Oh my god, this is not an ‘indiscretion,’” Maxwell says, a sharpness in his tone that Riley hasn’t heard before. “You have to stop treating Riley like some tool to get back in the court’s good graces. It’s nobody’s fault but yours that things ended up this way, and you can’t expect anyone but yourself to clean up the mess you made.”

Bertrand scoffs. “What are you insinuating, that our current state of affairs is my fault?”

“Yes.” Maxwell’s resolve doesn’t waver, but Riley can feel his fingers tighten in hers. “And you know exactly what I’m talking about, unless you conveniently forgot the last girl you tried to send packing?”

Riley glances between the two of them, confused. Clearly there are a lot more secrets in this family than anticipated. Who needs to keep up with the Kardashians when you have the Cordonian nobility?

“This… this is absurd,” Bertrand sputters, clearly taken aback by Maxwell’s unexpected turn on the offensive. “Both of you are coming with me, and we’re going to fix this. We’ll set things straight; we have to. Perhaps Prince Liam misunderstood, he’ll be gracious, he —”

“I said, it doesn’t matter!” Riley shouts, startling the both of them. “Maxwell and I are in love, and we’re running away together, okay?!”

Bertrand blinks.

“But not like, far,” Maxwell interjects quietly, “I mean, we’ll be back.”

Bertrand rubs his temples, visibly distressed. “I absolutely cannot condone this. Will you not stop?”

Riley loops her arm in Maxwell’s, pulling him closer. “No?”

“You could at least be definitive.” Bertrand sighs. “Perhaps I should have expected this from both of you, since you seem entirely incapable of doing what I ask. Why not go full speed in the completely opposite direction?”

“Good idea,” Maxwell says, squeezing Riley’s hand. She looks up at him, raising an eyebrow, and he raises one back, and then before she even has a chance to squeeze his hand back in confirmation, they take off towards the other end of the hall.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Bertrand yells from behind them.

Riley can’t help the rush of giggles that break free from her at his voice, the sound punctuated by the echoes of her and Maxwell’s footfalls in the vast hallway. “Running away together!” she calls out in response, not looking back.

She almost trips as she steadies her hurried steps on her toes (these ridiculous shoes much louder and higher than they need to be) before the two of them barrel into a side door and stumble out onto the garden.

Riley is breathless, hopping on one foot as she undoes the clasp on her heels, kicking the shoes off with a deft shake of each ankle, then running out towards the lawn to grab them. Maxwell follows her, laughing too, and she holds up the shoes in one hand like a prize.

“We did it,” she grins, “We even beat Bertrand. That’s final boss type stuff right there.”

“Sorry about that,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I didn’t mean to go off at him.”

Riley tilts her head, tracing a finger down his arm. “I don’t know, it was kinda hot.”

Maxwell laughs so hard at this that she smacks him with a shoe. “Shut up! It kinda was!”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind next time I fight with my brother. Real romantic stuff right there.”

“You’re the worst,” Riley wrinkles her nose at him, but can’t quite suppress her smile. “What’s his deal anyway? I can’t possibly piss him off that much, right?”

“He’s not good at emotions. Or like, relationships. He’s got — um, girl trouble.”

Riley barks out a laugh. “With who?”

“You’d be surprised.”

He slings an arm around her shoulders, and she wraps hers around his back, shoes still dangling from her other hand, and the two of them set off across the damp grass of the palace lawn. They don’t really have a destination, now that the running is over, but that’s okay.

“Oh! I’ve been meaning to tell you all night,” Riley says, feet sinking into the earth with each step. “I think Olivia is into Drake.”

“Olivia? Olivia Nevrakis?”

“Yes, oh my god, right? She said the weirdest thing to me in the bathroom.”

“How weird?”

“Like, ‘I want to fuck Drake’ weird.”

“No.”

“I’m serious!”

“That’s simultaneously the worst and best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“You’re welcome.”

Riley feels her feet hit the cool cobblestones of the main walkway, the lights of the city edging up over the hedges beyond. She pauses, her heartbeat loud in her chest, a sounding drum for the bridge in their lopsided melody. Maxwell halts along with her, his eyes falling on hers in a question.

“Let’s steal a car,” she says.

He doesn’t miss a beat. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Well — I mean, first of all you’d have to find a car to steal, and then you’d have to know how to steal it, and then there’s the matter of the King’s Guard.” Maxwell is rubbing gentle circles against her shoulder blade with his thumb. Riley’s not even sure if he’s aware he’s doing it, but her heart swells. “So like, once you get past all of that stuff. Sure.”

“Doesn’t Liam have like a hundred cars or something? What’s the point of being royal if you don’t have a hundred cars?”

“What’s the point indeed.”

“And the second part — we can just google that.” She frowns. “Wait, shit. I don’t have my phone. Do you have yours?”

“Yeah, but service is notoriously terrible at the palace.”

“Again, what is the fucking point of being royal.”

“Pretty much nothing when you put it that way.”

She sighs, letting her head fall against his shoulder, shoes swinging from tired fingers. “What if we just call an Uber and go home?”

“What’s… Uber?”

Riley jerks her head back up, suddenly too exhausted for this. “No, do nottell me that Cordonia doesn’t have Uber. I will personally march back into that goddamn ballroom and scream in Liam’s face until he calls the fucking CEO himself and gets that shit set up, I’m not even kidding, I am dead serious—”

Maxwell is laughing, eyes alight with that all too familiar mischief, and she feels herself slump back against him. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”

“Of course we have Uber,” He’s got his phone out in his free hand, the glow of the screen illuminating his smile. “You’re too easy, you know that?”

“I’m not easy,” Riley grumbles against his shoulder. He kisses the top of her head.

“Whatever you say.”

Their driver looks thoroughly unimpressed upon arrival, despite the resplendent glamour of the palace behind them. As Maxwell opens the door for Riley, the driver gives her a look through the open window.

“No shoes, no shirt, no service.”

Riley holds up her heels, now dangling from a single finger. “Shoes.” She nods towards Maxwell, who’s trying not to laugh at her. “Shirt.”

“Well, I’m charging extra if you make a mess,” the man grumbles, turning back towards the road. Riley drops down into the backseat in a huff.

“You know he’s like, basically a Duke?” she says loudly, leaning forward and making eye contact in the rear-view mirror. Maxwell slides in on his side and pulls her back, and she scrunches up her face, but leans in against his shoulder anyway. “What? You are.”

“Bertrand’s the Duke, not me. It’s much less impressive with the qualifier.” The driver has fully tuned them out at this point, and Riley closes her eyes, reaching down to fold Maxwell’s hand in hers as he shuts his door.

“Okay, but what if some terrible accident befalls Bertrand?”

“Title goes to his heir.”

Riley laughs. “What heir?”

“Um — I mean like, hypothetically, if he had a child with a secret fling who consequently went into hiding somewhere like, I don’t know, France or whatever. Then, y’know — heir.”

“Sounds juicy,” Riley murmurs. “We can only dream of Bertrand leading such a dramatic lifestyle.”

“Mhmm.” Maxwell sighs. “More like a nightmare.”

The further they get from the palace, the more Riley feels the tension of the coronation night slipping away from her. It’s a welcome relief, a lightness in her shoulders and in her heart that she hasn’t felt in weeks. Maxwell is warm against her side, and she can feel her eyelids getting heavier as the streetlights become fewer and far-between.

“Max?” she says quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

He turns to look at her, and she blinks up at him from her spot nestled into his side, hoping he understands exactly what she means.

She’s half asleep when they finally pull in at the Beaumont estate, her shoes still loosely clutched in one hand as she emerges, bleary-eyed, from the car. Maxwell is a few steps away, fiddling with the payment on his phone, and she watches him illuminated in the glow of the screen.

He looks up finally, catching her staring. “What?”

“Nothing, I just…” she sucks in a deep breath, chewing on her bottom lip. “I’m glad this is happening. You and me.”

“Yeah,” He offers her his arm and she takes it, the two of them heading up the walkway to the entrance. “’We’re in love and we’re running away together,’ right?”

“That was — look, it was thematically appropriate phrasing at the time, okay?”

He slips his hand into hers, fingers falling into place like they were always meant to. “You would be a terrible poker player Riley.”

“Oh, shut up.”

The door opens before they’ve even made it up the stairs, one of the staff members emerging from behind with a demure bow. Maxwell pauses in a brief moment of panic, watching as her eyes flick between their clasped hands and Riley’s disheveled appearance.

“Lord Beaumont, Lady Aldridge,” she says carefully, “We didn’t expect you back this early. Everyone’s been following the coronation proceedings on television.” Her tone is pointed as she raises one deliberate eyebrow. “Very interesting waiting to see which of his suitors the prince will choose.”

Riley feels the heat in her face, but Maxwell is moving again, pulling her after him, taking the stairs two at a time.

“That’s great, that’s wonderful,” He’s talking even faster than he’s walking, striding past the judgmental gaze with each word. “Then you’ll know the whole thing was terribly stuffy. Huge bore. Not our kind of scene at all, old nobles and all that. Figured we would just get the highlights later, leave the ceremony to Bertrand.”

The woman shuts the entrance doors behind them, the air of propriety still heavy around her even as Maxwell practically drags Riley down the hallway and out of her presence. “My apologies sir, the Duke informed us that you wouldn’t be back for several days, otherwise I would have prepared —”

“Don’t worry about it!” Maxwell chimes back, already halfway through another doorway as Riley hurries after him. “I’ll let you know if I need anything!”

Riley kicks the door shut behind them, sinking down into a nearby couch and dropping her shoes on the side table. “Jesus,” she says dryly, “Suddenly I’m thankful for my common upbringing.”

“It’s not the worst thing she’s caught me doing, that’s for sure,” Maxwell runs a hand through his hair. “But given the circumstances… I guess it ranks.”

“Ooo, storytime?”

Maxwell drops down next to her on the couch, wrapping an arm around the back so his fingertips brush her shoulder. “Only if you’re lucky.”

She kisses his cheek. “I’m always lucky. What room is this?”

“It’s a parlor room,” He answers. “No one should come in here — at least, none of the staff.” He glances over, sheepish. “Or Drake.”

Riley laughs, but it turns into a yawn midway through. “You and your staff… sir.”

“Lady.”

She grins, reaching up to brush the hair off his forehead, fingers lingering along the side of his face. “Is she going to tell on us?”

“Oh, absolutely.” He catches her hand, kissing the inside of her wrist. “This is some prime gossip; I imagine she’s already sent out a news bulletin.”

“I can see the headline,” Riley yawns again, leaning into his side. “’Desperate Love Affair Exposed: King’s Former Suitor Caught Barefoot with Almost-Duke.’”

He makes a face. “Don’t focus on the barefoot, that makes it sound foot fetish-y.”

“Hmm, okay… ‘Waitress Gets Biggest Tip of Her Life’?”

“God, Riley, seriously?”

Riley closes her eyes, her laughter just barely audible. “S’like a bad porno.”

“There’s your headline,” Maxwell says.

She blinks one eye open, blearily looking up at him. “I can’t believe the one time we’re actually alone… and all I wanna do is sleep with you.”

A pause, then she adds, “Like, the sleeping kind.”

He laughs, eyes bright. “I gathered.”

“But the other kind too,” She sighs, tucking her feet up. “Gonna jump you in the morning, okay?”

“Mmhm,” he replies, resting his head on hers as she nestles in against him, “And we can get brunch.”

“Waffles.”

“Belgian waffles.”

“And mimosas.”

“And pineapple.”

In a moment of clarity, she sits up, touching his shoulder until he looks back at her, their faces a breath apart.

“Hey,” she says, voice suddenly low, “I don’t wanna make this weird, or weirder than it already is, but I just need you to know —“

He shakes his head almost imperceptibly. “You don’t have to say it. We have time. We’ll have so much time to say it.”

She lets out a breath of nervous air. “Do you think… do you think we’re gonna be good? I mean, with everything going on and all this stuff… do you think there’s a happy ending for us?”

He kisses her forehead, pulls her closer in to his side. “Why would you want an ending?”

Her heart swells with something deep and gentle, a touch not unlike the drowsy tug of sleep already pulling her from reality. And maybe that’s what this is — a break, a piece of time pulled separate from the rest. A little moment all their own.

She closes her eyes, already halfway to a dream.

[cruelzy]

movie

ao3 cross

pairing: bakugou/reader

“What?”

“I said,” you spoke offhandedly, eyes trailing the blonde ambling into the room with his mail. “We should go watch a movie on your day off.”

“Oh wouldn’t I just love that?” His voice was utterly drenched in sarcasm as he dropped the package, pressing a hand into the column of his neck with an irritated hiss. He sat without a semblance of grace, kicking the chair back.

“What? Why not?” You whined, begged, leaned over the table to invade his personal space. He batted away your flailing arms with a single hand, eyes never moving from the box he was opening. 

“I don’t have time,” he grumbled.

“Please?” Your muffled voice came from underneath his palm. Peering through the gaps in his spread fingers your tone softened, lips pressing gently to the rough skin. “You’re always training.” The young hero barely had any time to do anything, and it was driving you nuts. “Spend some time with me?”

Bakugou glared down at you. You found yourself being lost in the tunnel of those blood red eyes--a familiar storm within them quietly brewing, calm for now but ready to rage when necessary. 

He grunted a sigh, reluctantly submitting to your request. “Fine.”

You positively beamed, wiggling your eyebrows. “Yes! It’s a date then.”

“Not a date.”

“Shh,” You flicked his forehead. “Get into the spirit you brat.”

This’ll be nice, you thought to yourself as you jumped over the couch, dodging the chair that was thrown at you by the enraged hero. A nice, peaceful escape from the stress and excitement. After all, what could go wrong?

As it turned out, the right question to ask may have been ‘what could go right.’

Because everything was going wrong.

“We are not watching some dumb chick flick,” he eyed the poster of the movie with disdain.

The cashier looked nervously between the two of you from the booth, raising his hand slightly. “U-uh, you guys are holding up the l-line-”

“Shut up!” You both turned on him simultaneously, and he let out a terrified squeakclose to that of a dying animal. 

 You hissed a sigh through your teeth, turning back to Bakugou. “This is supposed to be a time to relax.”

“Sure.”

“Peace. Tranquility.”

“And?”

“What about loud explosions is relaxing to you?!”

His scowl deepened. “Do you even see who you’re talking to?”

“I-If i may cut in,” the cashier spoke again, quickly, rushing over the words lest the two of you decided to turn dark stares upon him again. “How about a c-compromise? There’s the n-newest comedy out?”

You paused. That might actually not be that bad. You turned hopeful eyes to your companion as he groaned for the third time that day.

“Fine,” that seemed to be his favourite word for handling the exhaustion that came with you, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

The cashier smiled, handing you the movie tickets with your receipt. “There you go! I hope you enjoy your date!”

Bakugou snatched the tickets with a bit more force than necessary. “Not a date.”

You rolled your eyes, ignoring the cashier’s flabbergasted expression and rushing to follow after his long strides. “Don’t worry--he’s just shy. Have a good day!”

The movie itself, quite plainly, sucked.

It was corny--and not intentionally so, but the kind that was trying way too hard with every bad pun. The row in front you seated a woman whose extravagant hair-do was attempting to shoot into the ceiling, and consequently you had to find creative ways to maneuver your head so that you could even see the screen. A couple elementary school kids across from you were snickering at everything. And you meant everything. 

You had to physically hold down Bakugou’s hand from blasting them through the wall.

Bakugou himself only got more annoyed as time passed--though you think that attributed more to the people around than the movie itself. He seemed pretty impassive on the film, apart from the occasional smirk whenever the main character would get hurt for comedic effect. Figures that would be what he found funny.

Your own mood increasingly soured with each second. Soon you lost interest completely, the screen becoming a collage of flickering pictures and background noise.

By the time the movie had ended, you had a stiff back from the seats, a headache from the rowdiness, and a strong temporary dislike for children.

“That was dumb,” Bakugou said, cut clear and straight to the point as the two of you walked down the sidewalk. You agreed.

“It was. I always seem to mess everything up yeah?” You mused absentmindedly that you hadn’t seen the stars in a while - what with the light pollution in your neighbourhood. It was nice to admire the twinkling lights for even a moment.

When you glanced back down, Bakugou was looking at you as if you had just said you were planning to go fly to the moon.

“What are you on about now?” He narrowed his crimson eyes at you in incomprehension, small wrinkles cresting by his eyebrows, his mouth twisted down in a familiar yet entirely alien gesture.

“You said you didn’t want to come, but I pushed anyway,” you laughed. “Right?” The laughter wouldn’t stop, and soon you found that words were falling from your lips without passing through your brain first. “Every time we try something like this, it fails. I should have learned my lesson by now, but I guess not. Looks like I’m even more stubborn than you.”

He stopped still, the scuffling of his shoes on the gravel fading to a silence that echoed down the empty street. You didn’t notice, already caught up in the white noise that buzzed and pounded inside your head.

“I don’t know why I even try anymore. Is it pity why you still tolerate me?” you rambled, choking on the laughter that had turned to gasping convulsions of giggles. Self deprecation twisted inside you, burrowed deep, writhing. “Not that I’d be very surprised-”

You tripped.

It wasn’t of your own volition, more a side effect of the hand that had suddenly grabbed onto the back of your shirt and pulled. The collar tightened around the front of your throat momentarily as you tried not to stumble. 

Bakugou released you once you were firmly put back by his side, making you realize you had begun walking without him. When had he stopped moving?

“Baku-?”

“First,” he made abrupt eye contact with you, his storm fully raging now, yet somehow still managing to look almost bored. You couldn’t break the gaze--it successfully planted you to the ground, preventing you from leaving whether you wanted to or not. “Stop with the waterworks.”

You blinked owlishly, mute in confusion, before you slowly registered the wetness on your cheeks. You touched a hand cautiously to the skin in disbelief. You hadn’t even noticed you’d been crying. Your mind further blanked when a coarse thumb wiped underneath your left eye, taking some of the moisture with it. 

“You’re being more of an idiot than usual. How are you responsible for the cashier recommending us that waste of time? Or for the morons in the theater?”

You couldn’t find a rebuttal. “I-”

“Quiet,” he growled, yet the caressing motion of his thumb on your cheek contradicted the harsh statement. “You’re messing up that damn makeup you wailed and fussed over this morning.” You flushed in embarrassment, knowing you over dressed for this simple outing. You couldn’t help it. You had just been so…happy. 

The blonde’s utter disregard of sugar coating the ridiculousness of what you were doing cut through your emotional fog, and you sighed. 

“You’re…right,” You murmured, tugging at the end of your shirt absentmindedly. “I’m sorry.” 

You made to move, already eager to get back home. You were exhausted, the shoes you had chosen to wear uncomfortable and squeezing the life out of your toes, makeup no doubt smudged. Your bed was calling to you, inviting you in its warm embrace.

“Didn’t I just say to shut up?” 

Perplexity and soon annoyance flooded you at his words, and your head snapped up, ready to lay it on him thick. Your mouth opened but any thoughts fell on a noiseless tongue as he slid his hand to the back of your neck, unnaturally warm against your clammy skin, the pads of his fingers pushing you closer abruptly. 

His mouth met yours and the world fell away. 

Against anything you ever would have predicted, it was soft at first. He was gentle even. (That’s it, that’s the sign, you must have been hallucinating, this is Bakugou you were talking about.) He pressed a short kiss to the corner of your mouth, once, twice, barely there, hovering. The third time he noticeably lingered, as if savouring the contact, fingers grazing the baby hairs at the base of your neck.

There was a lull, a split second where nothing was happening at all, merely shared breaths and uncertain hesitancies. You swallowed shakily, letting out a shocked whisper of his name from your lips onto his. 

The moment snapped and then his hand was suddenly tangled in your hair, and he was kissing you. You swear you felt sparks, bursts of heat running along your skin--and there was a good chance that it wasn’t your imagination, steam rising in your peripheral from him. He took advantage of your slightly parted lips--open from the words you never got to say--and dove deeper, pressed his free hand into the arch of your spine so that he could close the distance between you forcefully. You tried to think, comprehend what was going on, but anything other than the feel of his hands on your skin, the desperation curling in your chest, the taste of him was shoved to the back of your mind. 

It was over all too soon, and you opened your eyes (opened, when had you even closed them?) to see him studying you with an unreadable expression. He licked his lips briefly, causing your heart to stutter, before he turned wordlessly.

“Terrible date,” he spoke, but his words had no bite as he began to walk once more. You stood for another second, speechless, before a grin spread contagiously across your face.

“You admitted it was a date!” You yelled as you ran to catch up with him, nearly face-planting from your unsteady feet.

He snorted.

“I knew it!”

[davidcarner]

Chuck vs The Truffaut Industries Ch 3, Want You Back

A/N: Remember when I told you in Chapter 1 I was afraid this might bomb…the last chapter was why. Either you're going to be mad, or you're going to understand that Sarah was in a no-win situation. Did she do the right thing? Did she do the wrong thing? Was there a right answer? Here's what we know, Sarah loves Chuck, Chuck loves Jenny, and Jenny is Sarah. We all hate Orion. So now what, as several of you asked. Well, find your Haim CD (you should get one if you don't) Ch 3, Want You Back

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, but I do have the Haim CDs

"So, just to get this out there so there is no confusion," Chuck began, and then paused, as Molly made herself comfortable in his lap, looking up at him, with a smile on her face. Chuck couldn't help it, he reached up and brushed her hair with his hand. Molly leaned against him, sighed, and closed her eyes, content. Chuck looked at Sarah, who was on the verge of a breakdown.

"She's yours," Sarah said. "If you need a test or something to prove it, I understand." Tears were in her eyes. "I'm not expecting anything, just so you know. I made this terrible decision and I am prepared to live with all the consequences." Chuck studied her.

"Two things," he said, preparing himself. "One, are you really prepared? Two, what do I call you?" Sarah lost it, and the next thing she knew, Chuck pulled her into him.

"I don't deserve you," she said, through sobs. Molly reached up and hugged Sarah. Emma was watching it all, on the verge of tears herself.

"I don't ask this to be cruel, but do you think I could get your contact information this time?" Chuck asked. Sarah laughed. She looked up at him and smiled. Chuck reached behind him, pulled out his wallet, and pulled something out. He pulled out the letter and looked at it. He offered it to Sarah. She took it, unfolded it, saw it, and the waterworks began. She held it up to her mother, who came over and looked at it. Emma began to cry as well. Chuck's phone went off, he pulled it out of his pocket, and looked at it. "Uh, this is my ride." Sarah nodded, gathering herself.

"Maybe if you have time tomorrow you'd like to come over and see Molly?" she asked. "And, it's Sarah," she added. She reached for his phone, hesitantly. He handed it her, and she put in her number, the agency's, and Emma's. "We're all in there," she said, handing it back.

"I'd love to see Molly," he said.

"Anytime you want, I'm not keeping you away any more," she looked up at Emma, as something hit her.

"He's fine," Emma said. Sarah let out a breath, Chuck was confused.

"It's my dad, and he's a huge part of what happened, that I will explain. I promise, you deserve all of this," Sarah said. Chuck nodded and looked down at Molly.

"I have to go, Sweetie," he said. She reached up to hug him.

"Go home, with me," Molly said. Chuck had tears in his eyes and Sarah was just flat crying at this point.

"It's not my home, Sweetie," Chuck explained.

"Mommy and Gwammy will let you stay," Molly explained. Chuck gave her a sad smile.

"I'm so sorry, Pumpkin," Chuck said, and he started to the door. He got there, paused, turn around and came back. He walked right up to Sarah and took her free hand.

"I have to say this, and I'm sorry if it hurts, because I don't mean it to," Chuck said. "I love Jenny Burton, I don't know if I know Sarah Walker." Sarah nodded, understanding. "However, we are not done," and he turned to Molly. "And we, Pumpkin," he said, and leaned in and gave her a raspberry on the cheek making her squeal. "Are never done." Chuck looked at Sarah, and kissed her on the top of her head. "We'll talk," he said, and he left. Emma watched him go and then watched her daughter and her granddaughter. Sarah turned to her.

"See, I told you I made too many mistakes for us," she said. Emma smile a knowing smile.

"I never heard him say that," she said, thinking. Outside, Chuck got in the car with Morgan.

"Thanks, Buddy," Chuck said softly.

"Rough install?" Morgan asked.

"You remember me talking about Jenny Burton?" Chuck asked. Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Remember?" Morgan asked. "That requires you not to talk about her so that I could forget her." Chuck gave a small grin at that one.

"I found her," Chuck said softly. Morgan's eyes got huge.

"Dude!"

"She has a kid," Chuck continued. Morgan nodded.

"This isn't a deal-breaker, right?" Chuck looked at Morgan and shook his head no.

"No, Morgan, it's not a deal-breaker," he said.

"Good, Ellie would be disappointed in you if it was," Morgan said. "I would understand, but I'm proud of you."

"Especially when it's my kid," he said softly. Morgan's eyes got wide again and he made a U-turn.

"Where are we going?!" Chuck yelled, grabbing on the handle bar as car horns blared.

"To see my, nephew, niece, which is it?"

"Niece, her name's Molly," Chuck said. "And, turn around. I need to go home and talk to Ellie."

"You need to talk to Ellie," Morgan said, giving Chuck a look. "That bad?"

"Jenny knew where I was the whole time and never told me," Chuck said.

"How do we feel about that?" Morgan asked.

"She didn't tell me why, she didn't get a chance, but what good reason can there be?" Chuck asked. Morgan turned the car back around.

"We need Ellie," Morgan said, and the rest of the drive was in silence

}o{

Simi Valley, Ca, home of Emma, Sarah, and Molly

"Sweetie, why don't you get some sleep?" Emma asked. Sarah had been quiet ever since she got home.

"I don't know if I'll ever sleep again," Sarah said. "I made such a mistake. I let Graham tell me..Oh no, Graham." She picked up her phone and went in the other room.

"Graham Secure," Graham said.

"Walker, Secure," Sarah said.

"Sarah, is everything okay?" Graham asked.

"No," Sarah whispered.

"You told him?" Graham asked, his voice not betraying the emotion on his face. He was past caring what Orion wanted.

"He found me, by accident," Sarah said. "I told him about Molly, and I'm going to tell him all of it."

"Understood," Graham said. "Sarah, if you need to, call me and I'll explain my part."

"Sir?" Sarah said, confused.

"Sarah, this has gone on long enough," Graham said. "Your father's record is expunged, and if he needs to talk, or yell at me, tell him to feel free. You two deserve your chance."

"I've missed that chance," Sarah said. "I'm just hoping for Molly to have one."

"Sarah, has he said that?" Graham asked gently. "Chuck Bartowski is many things, but one who holds a grudge…that doesn't seem to be in his makeup."

"I made him do to Molly what his father did to him," she said.

"No, I did," Graham reminded her. "And, Chuck didn't leave by choice."

"Regardless, I made him miss two years of her life," Sarah said.

"I gave you orders," Graham said.

"I didn't have to follow them," Sarah said. Graham sighed.

"A piece of advice, Sarah, you can do your best to fix the future or fixate on the past," Graham said. "Make it your mission to win him back, and the poor guy doesn't stand a chance."

"I'm not going to seduce him," Sarah replied, the fire in her waking up.

"Did I say seduce?" Graham asked. "Did you seduce him at Stanford?"

"No," she whispered.

"Then win him back, take care Sarah," Graham said, and ended the conversation. Sarah came back in the room with her daughter and mother.

"What is it, Honey?" Emma asked.

"I want him back," Sarah said. "Or I want him, or whatever. I want him in my life, however he'll let me be."

"You've watched him ever since, haven't you?" she asked. Sarah nodded. "What are you willing to do for him?" Sarah looked at her mom. Tears were in her eyes, but so was determination.

"Anything," she said.

"Sarah, you haven't told him about your child, your over two year old child. You were with him using an alias, and you haven't told him the truth about your family, the CIA, or anything, do you know how long it could take?" Emma asked.

"I don't care," Sarah said. "He saved me from going down a long terrible road. He gave me one of the best weekends of my life. He gave me a wonderful daughter, and I love him. What else is there? What else compares? What else am I supposed to do? How far mom? I can't go far enough." Emma nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Take a nap," Emma said. "I'm going to go out, get a few things, it could be a bit. I'll take Molly, and when I get back, we'll work on getting Chuck back."

"Dada come home?" Molly asked upon hearing Chuck's name.

"Would you like that?" Sarah asked. Molly grinned and clapped. "Me too, Sweetie." Sarah went to bed, and Emma took Molly on her errand.

}o{

Echo Park

Chuck and Morgan came in the door, and as usual, Ellie began to threaten to run Morgan out, but took one look at Chuck's face and knew something big was going on. She took one look at Chuck, and pointed for him to sit.

"Summarize, Morgan," Ellie said.

"You sure, Ellie?" Morgan asked. "This is huge."

"I'm a doctor, we just rip the band aide off," she replied.

"Okay," he said, not sure this was the right thing to do. "Chuck just found Jenny Burton, and our boy has been a father for a little over 2 years and he didn't know it." Ellie's eyes got wide.

"Have you seen them?" Ellie asked softly. Morgan shook his head.

"No, I turned back in traffic to go meet my niece," he said, ignoring the look Ellie was giving him. "But he told me to come here, because he needs to talk to you. He wanted to talk to you." Ellie's eyebrows raised.

"He wants to talk to me?" Ellie said slowly. She sat. "This is big." Morgan nodded. "Sit, Morgan, you're part of this." Morgan sat. "Next time you need to not only go back, but get pictures. Good job though." Morgan smiled.

"Next time, El?" Chuck asked, an eyebrow raised, and a small grin on his face. "I don't really plan on doing this whole scenario ever again. I'm going to see them tomorrow and I'll get pictures then, and I'll invite them to dinner," he said, making Ellie smile at predicting her requests. "El, what do I do?"

"Why did she leave?" Ellie ask. Chuck shrugged.

"We didn't get that far, but she promised to tell me everything," Chuck said. "I am going to be a part of my daughter's life, but I have a problem, I make $11 an hour, so how am I going to contribute, live an hour away, and have to take on an extra job?"

"Is she asking for money?" Ellie asked, her hackles raising.

"No, just the opposite, she said she wants me to be in Molly's life and wants nothing from me," Chuck said.

"But you can't do that," Ellie said, proudly grinning at her brother.

"I had no idea El," he said, tears in his eyes. "I did to Molly what Dad did to us." Ellie came over and put her arm around Chuck. He leaned into her, and cried. Morgan looked at his friend, feeling helpless.

"You didn't know, Chuck," Ellie said, rubbing his back. There was a knock on the door. "Morgan, would you?" Morgan nodded, got up and went to the door. He opened it.

"Is this where Chuck Bartowski lives?" the woman asked, holding a baby.

"Dada!" Molly yelled, causing Chuck to raise his head.

"Uh, Chuck," Morgan said. "I thought Jenny was your age?" Chuck came over, and Molly reached for him. He took her, and she hugged him.

"Come in Emma, and please ignore my friend, carnival freaks found him in the dumpster," Chuck said.

"But, they did raise me as one of their own," Morgan said, extending his hand. "Morgan Grimes, Chuck's best friend.

"Emma Truffaut," Emma said, "Sarah's mother..er..Jenny…but she goes by Sarah now," she said sighing. "I'd tell you more, but it's Sarah place to tell it."

"I understand," Chuck said. "Emma, this is my sister Ellie," he said, introducing the two.

"Pleasure to meet you," Emma said. "Is your boyfriend here?" Ellie's and Chuck's eyebrows raised. Emma grinned.

"Sarah has kept eyes on you over the years," she said. Chuck's eyebrows raised.

"What is she, a spy?" he asked, chuckling. Ellie was playing with Molly, who was loving it. Chuck turned around and saw the look on Emma's face.

"She is the head of Truffaut Industries, but what she did in her prior life…again that's a discussion you two should have," Emma said. Chuck thought for a second.

"That makes so much sense," Chuck said. "The name, she didn't exist at Harvard," and then he realized what he said. Chuck shrugged. "We all have our talents." He thought for a second, and his face fell. "I was just a mission," he said dejectedly. Emma shook her head.

"Listen," she said, getting Chuck's attention. "What she felt for you, wasn't a mission, and honestly, you saved her." Chuck looked at her, and then lowered his head.

"How could she just leave?" Chuck said. "How could she just leave after she found out she was pregnant and not tell me about Molly?"

"Chuck, there is nothing she regretted more, but it wasn't her choice," Emma said. "May I sit?"

"Where are my manners, of course you can sit," Ellie said. Emma sat, as did everyone else. She looked directly at Chuck. "Chuck, to a certain extent she was blackmailed. She was told her father would go back to jail if she saw you."

"Me?" Chuck asked. "Why me, and for that matter why was she assigned to me?"

"I have no idea, and that's a conversation you two need to have," Emma said. She took a deep breath. "But, there's a conversation we need to have." Chuck looked nervous, and Emma smiled. "Chuck, don't worry, everything's fine. I think it's a shame you've lost out on all this time with your daughter, so I have an idea that might suit everybody." Chuck raised his eyebrows. "I need an IT person." Chuck grinned. She pushed a piece of paper over to him. "This would be your starting salary, and no, that's not what I paid Lester, but he hadn't proved himself like you have." Chuck opened it, and looked at it. His mouth dropped. He looked back at her. "Sarah has some business sent her way from her former boss," Emma explained. "We have plenty of clients.

"I have a counter offer," Chuck said. "I keep the salary of $11 an hour, and the rest goes towards Molly's back child support." Ellie never looked prouder of her brother. Emma's smile threatened to break her face.

"While I appreciate that, it's not necessary," Emma replied.

"I haven't done my part," Chuck replied, crossing his arms. Ellie looked away, her hand was across her face, covering her mouth to keep laugh hidden.

"Okay, for six months," she said.

"Two years," Chuck said. "That's how long I've not contributed."

"Six months, Chuck, or nothing," she said. Chuck looked at Emma and grinned.

"Well, that's where she gets her stubbornness from," Chuck said grinning.

"Uh, Chuck, if you leave the Buy More, how will you get to work?" Morgan asked. Chuck's face fell.

"Part two of my offer," Emma said. "I want you to move into the empty bedroom of my house."

"Uh, I'm not so sure about that," Chuck said. "Does Jen- uh Sarah know about this?"

"It's my house, Chuck, and my granddaughter has been without her father way too long," Emma replied.

"I don't know," Chuck said.

"Charles Irving Bartowksi," Ellie said. Chuck turned toward her.

"Ellie I'd be living in the same house as Sarah," Chuck said as if that explained everything.

"You two are adults, what you do is your business," Emma said, with a grin. Chuck turned four shades of red.

"That's kinda my point," Chuck said, adjusting his collar. "Is it just me or is it hot in here." He looked around and everyone else was enjoying him being uncomfortable. "Look, I don't know her."

"Yes you do," Emma said. "She gave you everything that was her. Chuck, you know her."

"Chuck, go pack a bag," Ellie said. "You're staying there until the weekend and then if you want to stay Devon and I are bringing your stuff." Chuck's mouth dropped. "Chuck, you wanted me to talk, and this is our talk, go be with your family. Raise your daughter. Spend the week, talk to Sarah, and then afterwards if you want to come back, we'll talk, and I'll see."

"Ellie, you can't do this," Chuck said. Ellie raised an eyebrow and he knew he had messed up.

"Chuck, I can, I'm throwing you out," Ellie said.

"Chuck, I'm with her," Morgan said. "Do you remember how much you wanted your Mom and Dad back?" Chuck hung his head.

"What about Big Mike?" Chuck asked. Morgan waved his hand.

"Chuck, he knows every day he gets from you is a gift," Morgan said. He picked up his phone and made a phone call. "Big Mike, Morgan. No sir. I'll bring you a dozen in the morning. Chuck is being offered a job that make four times what he does, but he can't give two weeks notice, and is worried. He's right here, sir." Morgan handed the phone to Chuck.

"Hello," Chuck said.

"Son, you're fired," Big Mike said. "Good luck and if it doesn't work out, there's always a spot here for you."

"Thank you, sir," Chuck said. He hung up, got up, and went to pack. Ellie leaned in.

"What about Sarah?" Ellie asked, grinning.

"She told me she couldn't go far enough to win him back," Emma said. Ellie tried not to squeal.

"Family dinner, here," Ellie said.

"Tomorrow night at my place?" Emma asked. Everyone exchanged phone numbers and addresses, including Morgan. Chuck walked out of his bedroom with his bag. Ellie stood up, came over, and hugged him.

"This is the right move, for Molly," she said, hugging him. She whispered in his ear. "Give Sarah a chance to explain." He pulled away.

"What can she say?" Chuck asked.

"She can say she's sorry and made a mistake," Ellie said. Chuck nodded. "Listen, it doesn't matter how you start, it matters how you end, and this, this could be a great ending." Chuck nodded.

"You're not letting me come back, are you?" Chuck asked. Ellie shook her head no and gave him a tight grin.

"Love you, El," Chuck said.

"Love you, baby brother," Ellie said. Morgan came over and hugged Chuck. The two watched Emma and Chuck walk out, Chuck holding Molly, they waved and the door closed. Morgan put his arm around Ellie.

"It's hard to watch them leave the nest," Morgan said.

"You're touching me, Morgan, we have rules," Ellie said.

"Right," Morgan said, moving his arm.

"Chuck's gone, it's time for you to be," Ellie said.

"Are you sure you're okay and don't need me to co-" Morgan began.

"OUT!" Ellie yelled, pointing at the door. Morgan scurried out the door. He stopped and looked back.

"Ellie, are they going to be alright?" Morgan asked, halfway out of the door.

"They need to talk, and then…" Ellie shrugged. "We'll see."

"You're going to interfere if not, right?" Morgan asked. Ellie gave him a look. "Right, silly question." He left. Ellie stood there in the empty apartment.

"Your damn straight I'm going to interfere if it doesn't work," Ellie said. "He deserves to be happy."

A/N: Do we feel better? Resolved a few things, and yet left a lot unresolved. This is going to take some time. Until next time.

DC

[winwiniswinning]

Clumsy Feet | Taeyong

Requested by @kookiexdae: Hi I was wondering if I could request a Taeyong scenario in which you two meet as trainees and you have difficulty dancing and he helps you out and then bc he likes you asks you out or something like that? fluffy plz thank u <3

Genre: Fluff | honestly think there’s like little bit of angst at the beginning?

Word Count: 1969

Warnings: None (unless you’re counting my crappy writing that will possibly make all of you go blind from reading it)

Creds to @megan1tuan for reading this and giving me the confidence to post this haha

Beads of sweat ran down the back of your neck and drenched your t-shirt as you tried and failed once again to complete the set of fast foot steps. You blocked out your dance teacher’s screaming, making it muffled like you were underwater. You already knew everything she was saying anyways. How you should be working harder, you weren't improving whatsoever, and you'd end up being kicked out if you performed like that at the monthly evaluation that was coming up. You knew. She had screamed that in your ear at least a hundred times by now.

You didn't even have to look up to know that all your fellow trainees were looking at you with pity. You hated that. Being looked down upon or with pity made you feel horrible. But you knew they only did that because they knew how hard you worked, and how little all your work did.

                                                      -   -   -

12:00, midnight. You were exhausted and frustrated with yourself. You've been staying behind after everyone else to put in extra practice every night. And every night, you felt like you were getting worse instead of improving.

Right now, you were trying to do the entire dance routine perfectly. The monthly evaluation was at 7:00 in the morning and you were not going to allow yourself to get kicked out of SM because you couldn't perfect one dance routine.

Taeyong passed by the practice room you're using and peeked in through the window in curiosity when he heard loud music playing. He thought he was the only who practiced late and the idea of someone else being so dedicated as to practice to midnight like him made Taeyong excited.

Seeing you dancing hard in front of the mirror, he admired your determination to get the routine down. But he really couldn't deny the fact that your dancing was rather messy. Taeyong remembered to a time about a week ago when Jaehyun and Yuta talked about how bad of a dancer you were and laughed at a video that one of the girl trainees had taken during practice. Taeyong had felt horrible when he saw Jaehyun and Yuta, two close friends of his, making fun of another trainee. But he knew that you weren't as bad of a trainee as people made you out to be. Taeyong had heard plenty of other things about you too. How you were always complimented for amazing vocal and rapping abilities. And how you wrote great lyrics for songs that you made yourself. Taeyong hated to think that all of your talent could end up wasted just because you were a slower learner when it came to dance.

He opened the door quietly and slipped into the practice room. You paid no attention and continued dancing.

Your steps were muddled and messy but it wasn't too terrible. Taeyong figured that if the teacher had spent a bit of extra time on doing the steps, you would have it down. Now the main problem was your coordination. Your arms and legs seemed like they didn't even belong to you. Flopping and not strong and graceful.

While focusing hard on dancing, you feel as though you were being watched. Like someone was burning a hole through your back. You lifted your head up and spotted Taeyong standing behind you. You could feel your mouth opening in surprise. Taeyong was an extremely popular trainee, what with his rapping, vocals, dancing, and amazing visuals. Girls would always giggle about him and other cute boy trainees during break.

You had seen him dance before and was amazed by his skills. Every move of his was sharp and powerful. Not wanting to look weak, you straightened your back and turned off the music. “Why are you here?”

Naturally, Taeyong put on his cold exterior in response. Without missing a beat, he coldly replied with seemingly no emotion, “Your arms are a flailing mess, you keep on skipping over the same footsteps, and you're off beat.”

Without warning, your eyebrows furrowed and tears formed in your eyes. In seconds, the waterworks started and you were quietly sobbing to yourself. You knew that everything Taeyong was saying was right. The entire time, you had been trying to keep up to the music and control your movements. Hearing him say what you had already known with such a straight, cold face made you break.

Taeyong was startled by your sudden tears. Having no experience with girls, especially crying ones, he stood silently, frantically wondering what he should do. Deciding that a crying girl was no different from a crying boy, Taeyong approached you the same way he did with his younger trainee friends. Quietly, he stepped forward and gently pulled your head towards his chest. Keeping one hand on the back of your head, he wrapped the other around your waist. As Taeyong gently stroked your hair, he whispered, “I’m sorry for being so cold. Please stop crying.”

Having not been held by someone for so long, you started crying harder. Although you had just met him, you couldn’t help feeling like his hug had a nice, familiar feeling. The two of you stood there for five minutes. Even after you stopped crying, Taeyong continued to hold you to his chest. Your arms had found their way to wrap around his waist tightly, burying yourself in his soft sweatshirt stained with your tears.

“Are you feeling okay now? I’m so sorry, I was too harsh with you. I know that we’re having the monthly evaluation tomorrow so would you like me to help you with the dance routine?” Taeyong asked as you withdrew yourself from him.

Smiling through your tear stained face, “That would be great. Thanks,”

You were surprised by how different Taeyong was acting now from before. Although still skeptical about how you felt towards him, you gladly accepted his offer. He was considered one of the best dancers out of the trainees for a reason.

After that, Taeyong was much gentler to you and showed his real side; a soft, cuddly, little teddy bear that was willing to do anything to help. The two of you spent hours going over the entire routine and he was extremely patient in helping you with parts that you found difficult. The way he taught you was so much better than the dance teacher. Part of it was because he had you do the moves slowly at first and then build up your speed, but another part was that he made the atmosphere light and comfortable. Even though he knew that you only had a limited amount of time before the evaluation, he made jokes and gave you breaks. You were so grateful towards him. You knew that Taeyong could have easily passed by you and gone back to catch some sleep. But instead he took time (lots of time) to help you out. It was one of the sweetest, if not the sweetest thing that someone had done for you since you’d become a trainee.

                                                      -   -   -

“Yes, Y/N! You did it!” Taeyong swooped you up in his arms, a move that caught you off guard for a moment. Once getting used to his warm arms around you, you laughed as he twirled you around. After working together on the dance routine for 5 hours, the sun was rising and you had finally been able to complete the entire routine without any mistakes.

High-fiving one another, you were both grinning ear to ear and standing there looking at each other. Realizing that the moment was getting rather awkward, Taeyong looked past you to see the sunrise. He couldn’t help but think that you looked so beautiful with the sun’s warm rays glowing behind you; it made you look like an angel.

“Hey Taeyong, you okay there?” You waved your hand in front of his face. He had been staring at you with a faraway gaze for a bit now and it was starting to creep you out. Although you really couldn’t deny the heat rising in you, heading straight for your face. Shaking his head a bit to get rid of those seemingly unnecessary thoughts about you, Taeyong gave a small smile back.

“Sorry, seems I sort of drifted off a bit from staying up so much.”

You felt a pang in your chest at his words. You knew that you were the reason he was so tired and out of it. Noting the small fall in your smile, Taeyong grabbed you by the shoulder and shook you gently. “It’s alright. It’s not your fault that I’m tired. I wanted to help you, didn’t I?” He reassured. “Hey, let’s go to McDonalds! We have some time before the testing and you need some good ol’ food in that tummy.” Taeyong followed by poking you gently in the stomach, eliciting a giggle from you.

Over an extremely unhealthy meal that a trainee definitely should not be eating, Taeyong and you spoke about the most random of topics. From your pets, favorite colors, funny trainee stories, to what words rhymed as you guys tried to form a rap together. You found yourself having much more fun that you’d experienced in a long time. Taeyong was very enjoyable company and had many interesting facts that he eagerly shared with you. And in the course of a simple short hour, you found out more about him than you ever thought you would.

Despite wanting to spend the entirety of the day with him, you knew that it was time to return to the SM building. The hands on the clock were quickly approaching six o’clock, the time when trainees were supposed to gather to prepare for the evaluation. Taeyong and you walked briskly back to the entertainment building as you chatted about your life back home. Taeyong almost wanted to burst out laughing at the animated expressions and hand movements you made to accompany your enthusiastic voice while you gushed about funny experiences, your friends, and how you became a trainee. He found them extremely endearing and unique to you.

Stopping in front of the sliding glass door of SM, Taeyong held your wrist to keep you from entering the building. His joyful expression had turned into one of nervousness. He fiddled a bit with his fingers.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” You laughed gently at his sudden change in personality.

Taeyong gave himself a small, You can do it! in his head before clasping his hands together. “Okay, so I know we haven’t known each other for that long,” He started slowly.

“Only like…” Pausing for a second, he counted on his fingers slowly. “Six hours.” He grinned at you. “But I really like your personality. You’re funny, sweet, energetic and so much more. And I admire the way you’re so driven with all of training. And honestly, I think I’m getting ahead of myself, but would you consider going on a date or two with me? Because I really want to know you more and spend more time too cause you-”

You interrupted his cute ramble and your heart seemed to pump faster as you spoke. “Of course.”

“What?”

“I said, I’d love to go on a date or two with you.” And more to yourself than him, you mumbled, “And maybe be your girlfriend later.”

His face lit up like a little kid on Christmas day, not only from you agreeing, but also because he managed to catch what you said to yourself. You guys smiled goofily at each other for a minute before you remembered that the clock was ticking and you really did need to get into the building. Quickly, you squished his cute little cheeks and gave a small peck on his nose before hurrying into the building.

“Wish me good luck on my evaluation!”

[crossroadsdimension]

Maria’s Adventures: Homeworld Bound

Remember when I was posting World Collision? This is that story’s sequel. I’m posting it on FF as well (author name FourthWallBreaker), and I’ll be dropping it onto AO3 soon enough. Just have to get everything else up there first....

Anyway! This one’s Transformer-based, so it’s kinda going out into left field if you guys are just following me for Gravity Falls stuff. Here we go!

Prologue – Return

The shockwave of energy that went off in the Nevada desert didn’t go unnoticed.

But it was where the shockwave originated that made some people worry.

“Did you just say the ‘Energon Badlands’?!” The man in the labcoat looked at his superior in shock. “We can’t send people in there, you know that! That’s neutral ground that even the Cybertronians label as off-limits!”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t investigate where the explosion came from,” the other replied. He sighed tiredly and ran a hand through his graying hair. “So far, all that’s being done is making sure that there wasn’t anyone in the area when the explosion went off. The plan after that is to wait and see if anything else happens.”

The younger of the two fidgeted worriedly. “And then?”

“And then we’ll have to see if the Cybertronians decide to do anything about it…or tell us if they’re experimenting with possible weapons on our planet’s soil.”

Space Break

The world was colored gunmetal gray, made of metal that seemed to have been something once, but was now slowly falling apart into piles of unidentifiable parts as the oxygen of the air ate away at the alien metal. It was quiet, but there was also something at work in the air here that drove away most who would come to this place.

A single figure stumbled over what used to be someone’s head, tennis shoes scuffing against the faded metal before leaping off and landing on the desert sand below.

A face with a guarded expression looked around slowly, taking in the landscape and the decaying metals.

“This place….”

Tears threatened to leak out of bright, almost glowing blue eyes, but they were blinked away.

“What happened here?”

The figure – a teenage girl in appearance – brushed her brown hair out of her eyes and looked around again, slowly turning. With each step, she saw another metal face, with optics cold and dark, and knew that there was something horribly wrong with what she was seeing.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, pushing down the waterworks that attempted to flood her system and bring her to her knees. “I need to know what happened here. Then I can allow myself to grieve.” She opened her eyes again, a grimness settling on her face as her eyes sparked. “Time to find the Autobots.”

Chapter 1

The last thing Bumblebee had been expecting to hear was a blast of static from his communication system right in the middle of patrolling the Nevada desert.

He pulled off to the side of the road. “Who thinks it’s a good idea to scrapping call me in the middle of a scrapping—“

His dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree when he tuned in properly to the voice that was speaking.

::--anyone on this signal, this is Flare-Up. Can anyone copy?::

Bumblebee stiffened on his tires. “Holy scrap.”

::To anyone—:: The voice stopped, then demanded more harshly, ::Who speaks?::

“I-it’s Silent Stinger,” Bumblebee replied quickly, using an old code name that he hadn’t said in a long time. It felt weird to say it now. “Not so silent anymore, though.” The excitement quickly leaked into his voice. “Flare-Up, where’ve you been? We haven’t heard from you in years – not since Morgen and Katie disappeared! What have you been up to?”

There was a pause.

::It’s not something that should be spoken about over the comms, Silent Stinger:: Flare-Up replied. ::Where are you right now?::

“Outside Jasper,” Bumblebee replied instantly. “Where are you? You sound pretty—“

::I…appear to be in the middle of the remains of a Cybertronian battlefield. On Earth:: There was another pause. ::I’ll come to you. Meet me on the outskirts of the town::

The connection ended abruptly, leaving Bumblebee sitting on the side of the road, dumbfounded.

Then he swerved onto the road in an abrupt U-turn, cutting off an old, white pickup truck that should have fallen to pieces from rust in its undercarriage by now. Bumblebee hardly noticed, however, as the Autobot was racing back the way he had come in order to meet up with someone he hadn’t thought he’d see again in a long time.

“I can’t believe she’s back,” Bumblebee muttered to himself, just barely staying within the speed limit as he shot past a sign that read “Jasper: 10 miles.” “She just up and disappeared without a word to anyone and now—“

A cold feeling settled in him. “She sounded…different. I hope she’s all right.”

He spotted the familiar figure five miles out from Jasper. It was a little hard to miss the figure who was flying low and fast towards the town, especially with how the hoverboard was catching the desert sun. Bumblebee honked loudly and turned off the road and towards the figure in the distance who was flying in a similar direction.

The figure turned sharply and flew towards Bumblebee, and the figure’s form became much more clear: a teenage, human girl, with brown hair and bright blue eyes that almost seem to have a glow hiding behind them. The orange jacket, red shirt, and jeans she was wearing rippled and waved in the wind caused by both the speed of the red and orange hoverboard and the desert landscape.

Bumblebee hit the breaks and swerved before stopping as the smaller figure flew up and stopped next to him.

“You haven’t changed a bit!” Bumblebee said in surprise as the girl landed.

The girl stepped off her hoverboard, not looking back as it folded up and disappeared into thin air behind her. “And you’ve gone back to your old paint job.” She raised an eyebrow at Bumblebee’s yellow-and-black appearance.

“I happen to like this design a little better,” Bumblebee admitted. Black and yellow had only been because of the Decepticons and needing camouflage. “I’m a bit attached to being yellow and black.” He chuckled nervously. “At least I’m not pink like Arcee would have been, right?”

A flicker of a smile appeared across the girl’s face, but then it was gone. “What happened here while I was gone? I saw—“

“Yeah.” Bumblebee sank down on his tires. “We, uh…we don’t really go to the Energon Badlands. Not after…well, I’m not sure what happened. Cybertronians started disappearing and then they just....” He trailed off.

The other’s expression darkened slightly. “There must be more to the story than just that.”

“Well, Ultra Magnus is keeping it under lock and key if he does know anything, and I haven’t seen him since he kicked me off Cybertron with my team.” Bumblebee popped the passenger’s side door open. “I can take you straight to the base we’ve got. It’s not much, and we have to keep things quiet, but it’s enough.”

The girl slipped inside without any word of protest, and Bumblebee closed the door and got back on the road.

“Who is still here?”

“We’ve got some old and new faces. We’ve picked up some pretty new tech too recently that lets us blend in a little better. You’ll see what I mean when we get there.”

His passenger folded her arms across her chest. “Considering that it has been…some time, since I was here, I would expect that some things would have changed. How are relations with the humans?”

“They…could be better.” If Bumblebee could drum his fingers right now, he would have. “They didn’t exactly appreciate it when a bunch of dead Cybertronians dropped into Nevada out of nowhere. And they don’t exactly like the fact that most of us down here were kicked off the planet and are now considered in exile.”

“Why?”

“…most of the Cybertronians back home weren’t part of the war. At least, most of it. And they wanted to put the blame on somebody, so…”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds like when we put all the blame on the Germans for World War I. That’s a powder keg waiting to explode if things aren’t handled well.”

“Well, it’s Earth, and I kinda feel more at home here than I do there anyway.” Bumblebee took a turn in the road. “So, where’ve you been? Do you know where Morgen and Katie disappeared to?”

His passenger turned her gaze away from the wheel, looking instead at the passing landscape. “I’ll tell you when we get to the base. This isn’t something that should have to be said more than once.”

Something in her voice made Bumblebee slow a little. “…what happened? You don’t sound like you did.”

“A lot’s happened.” His passenger closed her eyes.

Bumblebee got the impression that she wasn’t planning on saying anything else. Considering how reserved she’d become, he wondered how much she was going to say at all when it came to what she had been up to.

Time Break – Change in POV

Maria came out of a light recharge when Bumblebee came to a stop. She opened her eyes and blinked twice when she saw metal walls and a human-sized corridor leading out of the large room they had arrived in.

Bumblebee popped the passenger door open, and she stepped out.

“Another underground base?” Maria looked around, eyes glowing a little in the dim artificial light from the few bulbs in the ceiling. “Where is it this time?”

Bumblebee’s sports car mode broke apart, parts shifting into other places as a towering mech took the car’s place. The doors settled onto his back as he explained, “We’re in the Rockies. I think that’s what you humans call it? We’re closer to the northern part of the country.”

Maria nodded, frowning slightly. The chamber they were in was completely empty. “Where is the rest of your team?”

“Over there, probably.” Bumblebee pointed towards the human-sized exit from the chamber. “Come on; I’ll reintroduce you.” He started walking towards the door, only to be surrounded by a bright flash.

Maria blinked, then blinked again. “Bumblebee?”

“Hmm?” The yellow-haired young man with the black stripe across the top of his head turned and looked at Maria in confusion. He blinked his glowing blue eyes a couple times before he smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh, yeah – you weren’t around when Joshua figured out Pretender Tech.” He motioned to his appearance – the yellow-and-black striped jacket, the yellow shirt underneath, jeans, and black shoes with yellow stripes. “Joshua figured out how to make us human-sized – and how to make us look human. Not everybody picked it up, but I like the idea of being able to blend in like this.”

“Joshua is capable of something like this?” Maria raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. He’s been busy since I saw him last.”

“He might be around here or back in the Midwest with the Predacons and Maximals; I haven’t been keeping track of what he’s up to.” Bumblebee motioned for Maria to follow him, grinning. “Come on; I want to see the looks on their faces.”

Maria followed after Bumblebee with a guarded expression, gaze fixed on the familiar Autobot symbol on his back.

So much had happened in her absence from this world. Could it really be the same world that she had left? It almost didn’t seem possible, but Bumblebee had recognized her, mentioned her parents and cousin by name.

She quietly moved her gaze away from Bumblebee’s back and towards the wall to her right as they started to reach the end of the tunnel. They were not going to take the news of what had happened to Morgen and Katie very well, especially if Bumblebee didn’t know what had happened to them.

“Hey, guys!”

Bumblebee’s call caused Maria’s gaze to move up again as they stepped out into the open.

“Bumblebee?” spoke up a confused, woman’s voice. “What are you doing back? I thought you said you were going to be gone for another day at least!”

Maria didn’t recognize the voice. She considered it likely that the speaker was a Cybertronian pretending to be human, and someone she hadn’t met yet.

“Something came up.” Bumblebee rubbed the back of his head and laughed. “Well, okay, more like someone.” He stepped aside, and Maria stepped into the room.

The first thing she noticed was that the room looked like a comfortable living space and a command center had collided together and gotten so mixed it was hard to tell where the Cybertronian technology ended and the sofas and gaming centers for the humans began.

Heads turns and stared as Maria turned her attention from the room itself to the people in it.

A man with dark yellow hair rose to his feet and stared in shock with wide, blue eyes. “No way. Is that….” He started moving forward. “Maria? Sis? Is that you?”

It took Maria a moment to recognize him. “Collin. You…you’ve grown.”

“Wait.” A young woman with long blue hair that had a white stripe disappearing into the tight bun on her head turned and stared. “That is Flare-Up? The World Jumper you’ve been talking about for the last five years we’ve been on this planet?”

So, the Cybertronians had been here for five years. But…Collin wasn’t a little kid anymore.

Collin looked back and nodded. “Yes, Strongarm. This is her.” He looked back at Maria and moved forward quickly before grabbing her in a hug. Maria blinked when she found that her face was pressed into her brother’s left shoulder.

He’d gotten taller. She hadn’t had the chance to.

“It’s good to see you again, sis.” Collin pulled back from the hug and smiled. “You haven’t changed a bit – I guess, since you’re a Reploid, you can’t age, huh?”

Maria nodded a little. “Yeah.”

“So, where’ve you been? I haven’t heard anything from you, Matt, or Liz since that summer you guys, Mom, and Dad disappeared!”

Maria looked away. “Speak for yourself; I come back and you’ve shot a food above me, Bumblebee and other Cybertronians are exiled from their home world, and there is a graveyard in the middle of Nevada.” She looked back at her younger brother with a deep frown. “What happened.”

Collin’s smile faded. “A…a lot’s happened, sis. Joshua’s been the most in-touch with Cybertron after Wildfire, Shape-Change, and Sparkseer disappeared with who knows how many other Autobots and Decepticons—“

“I saw the remains,” Maria replied flatly, the piles of gunmetal gray forms flashing through the back of her mind. “Where is Joshua? He no doubt knows that I’m back by now.”

“We haven’t heard from that Reploid in weeks,” Strongarm said with a frown. “Said something about trying to keep up with some top secret experiments and he just vanished off the face of the Earth. In any event, you don’t need him to tell you what happened. Cybertron settled back into peace after everything was rebuilt, our people moved back in, and then Cybertronians started saying something was coming right before they disappeared. When their bodies were found, someone had to take the blame, so they exiled anyone who was close to them. The only reason that I’m here is because I was investigating the disappearances and I bet they thought I was getting too close to a solution.”

A police officer, not a soldier. Cybertron was definitely no longer at war.

“What of Prowl?” Maria asked.

“He’s one of the Cybertronians who disappeared,” Bumblebee replied. “We’ve, uh…we’ve lost a lot of people that you guys knew.” He raised his hands quickly. “Not everyone – don’t worry about that! – but…” He lowered his hands. “How about I show you around so that you can see who we’ve got here?”

Maria tilted her head slightly, then nodded.

“So, we’ve got Strongarm and Collin.” Bumblebee motioned to the two of them. “I’m kind of in command – over here, anyway; the Predacons and Maximals have their own leaders with Jolt and Joshua working as mediators between them. Anyway, here we’ve got Sideswipe –“

“Hey, kiddo.” A young man with spiky red hair raised a hand and waved from the couch.

“—Bulkhead—“

A slightly round, but still muscular man with dark green hair nodded from where he stood leaning against the back wall next to a computer covered in Cybertronian script.

“—Wheeljack—“

“It’s good to see Wildfire’s little legacy is still running around.” The man next to Bulkhead, wearing a mostly-white jacket with a green and red stripe on his left sleeve smirked and gave a mock salute.

“—First Aid—“

A woman with mostly-red hair with two white streaks in it looked up from where she was tinkering with something and nodded. “I’d like to make sure you’re still running well, Maria. It’s probably been some time since you were last looked at.”

“—and Coil,” Bumblebee finished, motioning to a young man who looked eerily identical to Collin. The only difference was that Coil’s eyes glowed and he looked a little skinnier than Collin was.

Maria nodded a little. “Are there any actual humans around besides my brother?”

“We get visitors sometimes. Mostly Jack, since he took Fowler’s place when he retired. Miko and Raf swing by too, but not as often.”

“I have a wife and kids who know about what’s going on as well,” Collin added. “The kids are still pretty small, though, so I only come up here to check on things every few days. You probably won’t see me or Coil very often….” He paused. “Unless you want to come home with me and meet your niece and nephew.”

“Don’t throw me into everything at once,” Maria replied. “I…I need time to adjust to this.” She looked away from the others and closed her eyes before taking in a deep breath. “The last thing I remember of this world is that summer. I didn’t expect to come back and find out that you had grown up in our absence.”

“Our?” Strongarm repeated.

“She’s talking about Mom, Dad, Matt, and Liz,” Collin explained. “They disappeared that summer too; no one’s seen them since then.”

Maria looked up sharply at that. “I was with Matthew; he should have returned here with me, but I haven’t seen him yet. Joshua probably sensed where he returned.”

“What about the others?” Bumblebee asked.

“Morgen and Katie can take care of themselves, wherever they are,” Sideswipe called with a lazy wave of one hand. “They’re tough fleshbags; they’ll be--“

“They died the day I disappeared,” Maria said flatly.

Silence fell over the base instantly. Maria felt and saw the stare of every Cybertronian in the room as her words sank in.

“…what?” Collin asked in soft confusion. He shook his head slowly. “You – you…” He stepped back slightly as a hard look crossed over his face. “Who killed them?”

There was a tenseness in the room at Collin’s words. Coil looked like he was ready to step forward and pull Collin back.

Maria lowered her eyes to the floor before looking up again. “Joshua was there. He saw what happened, even if he didn’t disappear with me. He should have told you – why didn’t he?”

“Because he locked himself in his lab after you disappeared and refused to come out for years!”

Maria frowned. “And now?”

“Now, he’s been keeping up the idea that you’ve all just disappeared and his lab is now in the middle of a secret government base that only looks like our hometown!” Collin started pacing around the room. “It’s annoying how many secrets he likes to keep, especially after he decided on a whim to revive Galvatron to give the Predacons a proper leader and knock Predaking down a peg or two. That could have been dangerous for everyone!”

Maria filed the information away for later as her eyes narrowed. “He should have told you about the Dark Arms and what they did. They disintegrated our parents and then took me to—“ She cut herself off and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. They won’t be coming after us again.”

Collin stopped pacing and looked at Maria strangely. “Dark Arms? I haven’t heard of—“

“It. Doesn’t. Matter.” Maria’s voice came out clipped and annoyed. “What matters now is figuring out what is going on here and setting things straight before we have an even worse powder keg on our hands than we already do. If we don’t know what caused what I saw, then there is a chance that it could happen again, or someone is planning something far worse. I’m going to need to talk to Joshua. Do you have a Ground Bridge I can use to get to his location?”

Collin stared at Maria, then looked at Bumblebee, who looked just as confused and surprised as the human.

Bumblebee shrugged. “Uh…we don’t exactly have a working Ground Bridge here yet. And even if we did, the human government would probably try to come after us for it. The only reason we’re not being hunted down by them is because we agreed to keep to ourselves and stay out of anything they did. Same for the Maximals and Predacons.”

“Well, does anyone want to come with me on a cross-country roadtrip, then?” Maria looked over at Collin with a raised eyebrow.

Collin raised his hands. “I have a wife and kids not far from here; I’m not about to up and leave without giving them a few days’ warning at least.”

“I was planning on going.”

Maria looked over at First Aid as she left what she was tinkering.

“Joshua and Jolt both need to be looked over; at the rate they’ve been avoiding me, it’s starting to become dangerous if they keep it up. I don’t care if they’re both mechanics, they need a doctor’s touch.” First Aid looked pointedly at Maria. “I can look you over then, as well. Whatever it is you’ve done, it’s brought you back changed.”

“I won’t argue against that,” Maria replied. “An alternate version of Ratchet did assist in giving me some upgrades, but I went through a number of battles immediately afterwards.”

First Aid blinked a couple times. “You were…you were on an alternate version of our world?”

“Among others.” Maria looked over at Collin. “Matthew was on their world before the events that took place. I met up with him there.”

“You mean the DC one?” Collin frowned. “What happened over there? Joshua came back from that and said everything was fine?”

“Some….” Maria trailed off, then shook her head. “Some other things happened. Either Joshua wasn’t aware of what was coming or he became aware of it too late to warn the rest of us. In any event, it would be wise for me to let him know that I am back and that I want his help in finding out what exactly has happened here.” She motioned back to the door she and Bumblebee had stepped through moments ago. “Shall we go?”

[ificouldbegin-to-be]

Like We Did So Long Ago

 Her sisters and mother are having a hard time adjusting to life with her back and remembering how life was before, but Pink is determined to remind her family of the bond they once shared, and the laughter they missed. (Rp based on Pink Diamond returning)

Pink was on a mission; one to bring smiles and lighten the mood--maybe to bring her sisters to play with each other for the first time in thousands of years and White for the first time.....ever, probably.

She wondered honestly if her siblings, over the years of her being gone, had spent any time together. Time that didn’t involve one or the other of them crying and mourning--the time they had once played as sisters in private, acting the way no demure royal should act. Did they even remember it? ...Maybe it would take some reminding.

First target: Blue. And Pink was currently in the monarch's vent, trying to sneak into her room.

"Oh..." Blue's morose sigh echoed in the vent, the large blue figure settled at the edge of her bed as her Pearl attempted to straighten her hair with a comb. "Careful, Pearl. I felt a knot."

"My apologies, My Diamond."

"Ah! Pearl," she couldn't threaten without turning into a whine.

"Apologies again.”

You need to get that hair cut, Pink mused as she crawled very gradually through the vent, dragging her belly slowly across it so the noises of her feet didn't come through.

She slithered out quietly and inched forward on the floor, butt wiggling like an eager kitten about to pounce. The Pearl turned her head and Pink threw a finger over her lips, telling her to shush.

Blue Pearl's mouth formed a small 'o' in surprise before she nodded and resumed combing her Diamond's hair.

"Feels better, though maybe I should trim a bit."

"If that is what My Diamond wishes..."

Pink was inches away from the chair now, surprised Blue hadn't picked up on her. Yellow almost always could. Then again, her sister was very sharp and Blue was too busy moping about...stars know what.

But it made it very easy for Pink to pose under her chair and spider her fingers over her sister's sides. "You'd look cute with a chin cut."

Blue Diamond shrieked and fell backwards, making the room shake and her Pearl skitter backwards from the force of the landing.

"Pink!" she yelped, a hand desperately combing back her frazzled hair. "Wh-What is the meaning of this?"

"You made this too easy. What's the meaning of this? You've been crying for 6,000 years, that's what!" A maniacal cackle as her fingers wiggled eagerly, nearing the sister. "Now here comes the claw."

Blue Diamond's eyes widened and she held her hands up as she felt herself smile.

"No, Pink... Pink, no, please-- I've gotten better! Pink! Pink... Pink, I'm serious, I don't want to giggle in front of my Pearl!"

"Oh, that's a good point." Pink looked over at the Pearl with a smile. "Pearl, leave," she chirped to her. Then she grinned at her sister. "And now you have no excuses." A light poke.

Blue Diamond watched as her Pearl scurried away. "W-Wait, that's my Pearl! Oh, no, Pink-- Pink!" She giggled and covered her mouth as a tear threatened to spill from one of her eyes.

"I guess there are no way to make the waterworks stop," Pink hummed thoughtfully and grinned as she pulled her sister closer. "Buuuut if I can make them tears from GIGGLES I will!" She scribbled at her sister's tummy.

Blue Diamond's giggles increased and she reached out to grasp the hands that assaulted her sides, pushing them back.

"St-Stop that, Pink! That's n-not funny!" Though her smiling face seemed to prove that false.

Pink grinned as one hand managed to capture both wrists and hold them away while her other fingers continued wiggling along her belly and sides. "You sure? You're doing an awful lot of giggling!"

She dropped both wrists to attack with both hands. "You were sad for thousands of years so you've got thousands of years to go for this!! Hm..." She looked at the edge of her sister's dress, where she knew she always had bare feet.

Blue followed her gaze and she grinned even as her voice heightened in fright. "N-No! Pink! Not my feet! N-Not there!" She twirled around and caught her hands as they neared them, laughing. Her gem began to glimmer.

"You can't stop me from getting the feet!" Pink cackled playfully, too engaged to notice their forms were starting to shift until the light engulfed them. "Huh?"

She squeaked a giggle, dropping her foot and staring down at herself in shock. "Wha--huh??"

... What happened?

The Diamond looked down at herself, violet eyes wide in surprise. She reached back to feel her full, wild locks, tinged lavender.

What happened?!

She whirled around to stare at the mirror, which she leaned down to look at fully. She towered at least several feet over what used to be a bed fit for a regular Diamond.

We're... I'm so...

"WE'RE HUGE!" the Fusion shrieked out, Pink's set of arms clutching to her hair in shock. The once-forgotten Diamond spun around slowly, catching a look at the long flowing dress, touching the violet diamond on her belly.

"We're so big!" she squealed and ducked her head, nervous eyes looking up. "We're gonna go through the ceiling...."

"We are?!" A nervous sensation crept over the Fusion, and she looked up at the ceiling, which began to fall away from her. "Oh... I wouldn't like that at all... What would Mother think..."

Violet blinked as she found herself shrinking back down, although still plenty bigger than a normal Diamond. ...Diamond. Pink's mouth twitched.

"Pink had a part two of this whole giggle mission," Violet said, one set of hands wiggling. "....Four hands are better than two~"

"NO!" she squawked back. Her other hands swatted at the wriggling ones. The mouth beneath her neck opened to frown worriedly at them. "C-C'mon... Come on, that's..."

"Blue isn't the only one that hasn't laughed in thousands of years," Violet pointed out haughtily. She smirked. "Let's get her... It'll be funny to see the look on her face!”

There was a moment, but the Fusion giggled as she realized the tables would soon be turned in her favor.

"She might dissipate!"

"Hehehe...we'll wait until she reforms to get her."

Thanks to shapeshifting Violet was able to stand up now without smashing her head through the ceiling, and she gazed at the vent. "I don't think we'll fit there." She slipped from the room, trying to be as....stealthy...as a giant space woman could be.

Yellow Diamond paused as she felt something shift in the air, and she clutched her gem in surprise.

"My Diamond?" Yellow Pearl cautiously watched her from the side of the keyboard.

"It was nothing, Pearl," she suddenly remarked, and resumed her work. Though her eyes were drawn to the door as they narrowed. Something had happened...

 Violet was an obvious mixture of giggling excitement and nerves as they crept up to the door and perched outside of it. Pink's hand delicately knocked on it.

"Yellooowwww, it's your favorite sister~" But the voice sounded like neither of them.

 Yellow Diamond's chair swung heavily against the ground as she launched up, weapon at the ready. She had it poised at the door, her other hand nudging her Pearl protectively to hide behind the monitor.

"Who is that?" she demanded at the door. Her narrowed eyes glared at the energy that pulsed beyond. "State your purpose!"

"Our purpose?" The Fusion effortlessly pried open the door and giggled down at her stunned, small sister. Fingers wiggled eagerly. "Giggles!"

Yellow Diamond's eyes bulged as her trident vanished from sheer shock. "Wha-a-a-a-a-at!?"

"OH, MY STARS!" Yellow Pearl fainted at the sight of the gargantuan woman.

"What... Wh-What... ?!" Yellow Diamond sputtered, backing up so quickly that she tripped over her chair, tumbling to the ground in an unceremonious heap.

 Violet's eyes slid over to the yellow Pearl and she shrugged. "That's one bother out of the way." She picked her up by the leg and slid her out the door anyway. "Oh I hope someone doesn't trip on her..."

The Fusion then locked the door and powered down the systems, leaving them alone in almost darkness if it weren't for the window. "Don't look so scared! It's like you think Pink and Blue are gonna hurt you!" A grin. "That's the last thing on their mind..."

 "But..." Somewhere in the back of her mind that wasn't flailing in shock, Yellow Diamond would have remarked on how pathetic it was how she crept back like a lowly Quartz on her last limb, wide eyes looking at the Fusion. She brought back a wave of memories that she couldn't suppress...

Violet...

"I... I haven't s-seen this Fusion... since..."

 ....Shit.

Inside, Pink bit her lip. She didn't think this one through. She was sure Yellow would be happy to see them, it didn't even dawn on her that the last time she had was thousands of years ago before Pink had died.

Smiling, the Fusion came near. Pink's hands cupped her face. "It's good to see you too..."

 Tears couldn't be stopped, and soaked the Fusion's hands as Yellow's face contorted as if in pain.

"VIOLET!" she shrieked, and the large sister was thrown back, with the addition of a quivering Diamond at her waist. A shuddering breath escaped the monarch as she looked up at them, a watery smile. "O-Oh, I haven't... oh, it's so good to see you again!"

 Thank the stars.

Violet giggled as she caught her sister, lifting her happily where she could hug her better. Yellow was more than half their size, it was adorable. "Aren't we still super fab-u-lous?" she teased, cheek rubbing the other's.

The Diamond wanted to wave her away, rubbing her own eye desperately. She sucked in a small, stuttering gasp. "Oh, st-stop, stop, you're getting m-my tears all over you..."

 "Ah we expected that," she giggled. "No one can help but cry at the most prettiest of all fusions ever created." She bounced her lightly.

Yellow Diamond stopped rubbing her eyes to look up at them, but her lips quivered as she smiled, a tiny, shy thing.

"But... wh-what about Verde Diamond? ... Or..." the hitch in her voice showed her hesitation to even murmur the long-long name, golden eyes streaming with tears, "Dawn..."

A grin. "I think we can cover all of that today. Pink's third target was going to be Mom. It's been aaages since Pink has played with her!" She put the smaller Diamond down to crouch evilly. "But the first target is going to be you."

She backed up, though it was useless. She managed to compose herself, though she absently wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. "O-Oh, Violet, no... I... I just saw you, this... I might dissipate if you try anything," she tried to argue.

"Pffth." That was clearly Pink. And Pink's fingers wiggled but she slapped at Blue's that seemed to be hesitating.

"C'mon, we used to do this all the time! Well...not together but, makes it more fun." She grinned. "Size and extra arm advantage."

 Yellow seemed to shrink as she kept her eyes on the Fusion, a step back each time they stepped forward. "But it's... been such a long time..."

 "Then we got a looooot of lost time to make up for," Violet purred, advancing slowly. She loved building up to the attack, and Yellow had utterly no where to run. "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. No one to help her. Poor Lemon face..."

 "Violet..." she refused to believe that was a whine that came out of her mouth, helpless as she was scooped up like a Pearl, dwarfed by her Fusion-sister's stature.

"Hehehe, she's whining!" Violet giggled. Blue's arms held her, Pink's wiggled menacingly near her skin, knowing the anticipation was the worst. "The claaawww!"

 "Not the claw," Yellow Diamond whined again, leaning back as far as she could in her grip before the fingers tapped her stomach and she began to tremble with giggles. Already?! Ugh. I haven't been tickled since my Pearl brushed against my foot! But unlike her Pearl, she couldn't punish this being.

 The giggles were music to her ears, especially after these weeks of tension and crying. They all needed some laughter; White was next on the list but she was going to be hard with that. And probably a solo mission for Pink.

"The claw!" the Fusion cackled. Fingers from one hand scribbled against her 'little' sibling's stomach. "Know what's better than one hand? TWO!" And added another into the fray.

 Yellow Diamond's laugh was muffled by her hand, but it was haughty and lively. "O-Oh! Oh, Violet! That's... This is c-cruel, even... by my st-st-standards!" she giggled.

 It was adorable because Yellow Diamond, the calloused and stoic of them was actually the most ticklish next to Pink, a ball of squirming nerves that Pink and sometimes Blue loved playing with way back when.

"Cruel? Oh naw... If I was really cruel I'd do this." A maniacal cackle as she smacked at Blue's free hand and the third hand scribbled along her side and under her arm. The poor thing was being attacked from all angles. "Fusion is a magical thing isn't it? Too bad you have no one right now to fuse with and help you!"

 "N-No one... e-expect my Pearl!" Yellow Diamond snickered, and it wasn't brought from the tickling. "O-Of course... that I-isn't an option!"

"Sure it is, if you can fuse with someone unconscious. But you'd still be tiiiiny!" She didn't know if that was possible, and she just kept on tickling her sister. "The claw is hungry!" she cackled, finger tips managing to get just under the rim of her shirt.

 Yellow Diamond stiffened at the feeling and her arms shot down to yank her uniform back down, blazing gold. "T-Too far!" she yelped. She chewed her lip to stifle another round of giggles and swatted at the more lively hands.

 "Oh too far?" Violet giggled. "Oh you ain't seen nothing yet. Remember thiiiis?" Pink's hands lifted her closer to her face, devious intentions perfectly horribly clear.

Yellow's eyes widened significantly.

"Not that..."

"Oh yes..." Violet giggled. It was both of them giggling now, Blue's arms that helped hold the squirmy gem while Pink lifted her shirt enough to blow a raspberry against her belly.

The shriek echoed through the room, down the hall.

"N-NO-O-O-O-O-O!" Yellow Diamond cackled wildly. Tears sprung to her eyes, fingers swatting at her face.

They blew another, a harder one, and pulled back to look down at the poor giggling squirming thing. "I guess we don't want you to dissipate."

 Yellow Diamond shook her head as words failed her, hands pressed to her mouth.

She was just so cute! And a few final pokes and a few louder squeals of laughter was all the fusion needed. Violet dispersed, still laughing, and collapsed into a heap with Yellow.

 The laughter died down, and the monarch was thankful as she panted. Being crushed by her two siblings, however, also helped dim the mood.

"I... may dissipate if you both... continue to lay on me," she managed out.

 Pink snorted out a giggle and climbed off her sister, kneeling beside her instead. She wiped at the tears on her face, grinning. "Those are the only tears I wanna see," she said, kissing her nose.

 Yellow Diamond's face scrunched up at the kiss, but she was far from unhappy. She reached over and grabbed both of her siblings to rub their shoulders.

"That was... torturous, but... delightful," she admitted. Only Violet Diamond could do that to her.

The three giggly sisters shared a three way hug that lasted for a moment before Pink rose, eyes narrowed playfully on the vent that connected all quarters to each other. "Target three: Mama."

White Diamond sat on her throne. She would always take time out of her busy schedule to reflect on past accomplishments and past failures, and decide how to organize them in order to create a solution. It was the one moment in her day that she allowed herself to be that free.

White Pearl was settled on her knee, placated by her soft, constant strokes.

 "Dun dun....dun dun..." Pink hummed to herself as she gradually crawled through out the vent, belly low to the floor. "Dun dun...dun dun...."

 White Diamond listened to the odd song, but didn't stop petting her Pearl. She spoke after a long moment. "Pearl. Leave the room."

"Yes, My Diamond," was the servant's drawl as she rose to float to the floor.

"Dun dun..." Pink whispered menacingly as she made her way slowly through the vents, spotting her mother's back. "Target acquired...."

The large monarch's head remained facing forward, away from her daughter. She seemed to sigh. "Pink Diamond, did you forget how to use the door? My Pearl can let you in if you wished to visit..."

A soft giggle, her humming drowning off to a snort. Tickling her mom was hard but not impossible. She had so much bulk, she wasn't as ticklish as the rest of them and she was amazing at keeping a straight face. But she HAD cracked her before many times, she'd do so again.

"Dun dun..." the little Diamond hummed as she got increasingly closer, snorting out another giggle and unable to keep her evil face. "Pffthehehe..."

White Diamond paused, and a realization seemed to hit her. Icy eyes blinked.

"Ah. I recall this..." She turned to the vent, and her lips upturned. "Pink Diamond, I recall you crawling through the vents before... In some sort of... bonding attempt..."

"Good memory, Mama," she chirped. It had been a while since she had called the Diamond 'Mama. "Dun dun..." Giggling, the small Diamond pounced on the large, fluffy queen.

The smaller Diamond bounced on the miles of sparkling white silk and White Diamond tilted her head as she watched her.

"Greetings, my Pink Diamond."

The dress was like a trampoline, the softest pillow that the little Diamond could have fallen asleep on. But she had a mission to do. If she could just...find...a way. She tried to find areas where the fabric was thinner which was thankfully on her mother's upper body, and she scribbled her fingers over her mother's sides.

"Hello Mama~"

 White Diamond's lips were still upturned, but it seemed less from the tickling and more from her daughter's attempts. As the clearest of the Diamonds, she was not as sensitive to the odd gestures that the smaller Gem had learned from her time on Earth. "Pink Diamond, you have attempted this before and it did not work very well. I offer a counter solution."

"I've managed to make you giggle before!" she protested in a pout, tickling harder. But that got her attention. "A counter solution?"

 "Yes." Her large white hand rested on the top of her daughter's thick, fluffy locks. "Insead of my waist or sides, attempt to reach my neck. That is where I find that my reactions are most involuntary."

The youngest tilted her head. "I don't..." She was searching for an access through the dress. "I don't know... Why do you have so much floof?!"

 "I prefer the coverage." White Diamond tilted her head back and forth, trying to aid her dearest Diamond in locating her skin. She suddenly twitched, and she let out a small, soft chuckle.

Her sisters would never have helped her reach THEIR tickle spots, but then again...no exploration was necessary on the twitching ball of giggles that was her older siblings.

"Ohhh...." Pink grinned playfully as she managed to lightly scribble against the skin, hearing a giggle she never thought she'd hear again. "You can giggle!"

 "Yes. I am capable," White Diamond drawled out, but her soft smile remained. The light scribbles against her throat made her scrunch up as if to keep away from her wriggling fingers, but she missed it too much to stay there for long.

"You should get yourself a scarf, Mama," Pink teased as she kept at it, now with both hands, both of them now at the edge of the chair.

 "Not if it... keeps you from... bonding with me..." White Diamond's stoic voice was broken up with giggles, and she suddenly reached up to grasp those hands. Icy eyes looked down at them, rosy tan compared to her pallid skin. So small...

I never thought I would hold these hands again.

"Pink Diamond," she began, and her eyes seemed to reflect her joy. They were soft and at ease. Throughout the millennia without her daughter, she never could truly relax. "I need to tell you... how wonderful it is to have you back. I do not say it enough. I wish to rectify that." Her head leaned forward, and her gemstone graced the edge of Pink Diamond's forehead.

 A wide smile crossed Pink's face as her magenta eyes became dewy and she giggled as a tear rolled, nuzzling fully back.

"I-I'm so happy to be back too Mama. I know things have been rough for a while but I love you. We love you. You're...Mama."

 White Diamond couldn't stop it, and her mouth stretched in a full smile. Her head felt warm from the rush.

"My little jewel..."

A happy wistful sigh escaped the little Diamond as she nuzzled her mother's face softly, their noses rubbing gently. "My Mama..." Her belly had begun to glow.

 Her vision was filled with white as the large monarch's own gemstone began to hum and shimmer.

A moment passed, and frosted pink eyes opened.

"... Where are we?"

"Where are you?" Pink's voice came out, confused. She stood up, and not expecting the ridiculous bulk, she tripped. "How do you WEAR this thing Mama?!"

"We... I wear it as I always... have..." The eyes looked down and quickly realized that the light pink gown that encompassed her figure was not White Diamond's own fluffy ensemble. "Except this is not... mine... This is ours?"

Pink looked down at the fluff, the pristine gloves she now donned and even felt the cool pressure of a new gem on her forehead. She looked at her other set of hands, eyes starry. "We...WE'RE DAWN!"

 Dawn's eyes widened.

"Oh... I haven't felt like this in... thousands of years..." Her bubbly voice was hitched with intermissions of disbelief. Her hand was raised before her eyes, unbelieving. "I... can't believe I'm back!"

Pink's hands explored the new limbs and fluff, flapping the folds up and down like wings. She wasn't used to a puffy dress. And then her hands flung up to the tiara on her head. "I HAVE A CROWN!"

"A circlet-- but yes, a crown." The Fusion managed a chuckle, but decided to spin a bit in her dress. Though she admired the silken folds of White Diamond's dress, there was a sleeker elegance to her own attire. "I've forgotten how nice it felt to be me! The loveliest Fusion returns to Homeworld."

 "Violet's pretty too." The lip jutted out in a pout before she resumed touching the crown and floppy fluff. Then a smile. "We have Pink's sensitivity now..."

"Remind Violet that there's room for more than one lovely Fusion. Just not now." Dawn giggled and resumed fixing her circlet.

Pink's set of hands deviously scribbled at their belly, an effect that was torturous to Pink but something she'd deal with if it was the same to her mother. "I got you! ...I got us!"

The laughter was free and bubbly, the other set of hands reaching around to try and stop her. "Desist! Too much fun! Ol' White isn't used to that kind of stress, you know?"

"Th-haha-t's what makes it funny!" Dawn giggled, fighting with her own hands and tumbling back into the chair laughing. She could hear footsteps outside the door and blinked over to see her daughter/sisters staring.

"It's the little jewels!"

 Blue Diamond's wide eyes blinked at the large figure. Yellow Diamond's own stare was matched in incredulity.

"Dawn?" came the dual response.

"Our jewels!" Dawn purred as the very very large Fusion bounced over, dress quite literally bouncing. Hands cupped their faces tenderly. "Like the size of Peridots." Well, they were a little bigger, but still the size of toddlers in comparison. A set of hands smushed in Yellow's cheeks.

Yellow reached up to grasp the wrists of the hands squishing her face. Her gaze trailed down to them for a fraction of a second before she returned to the Fusion's frosted pink eyes.

"It's... a pleasure to see you again, Dawn Diamond," Yellow replied.

Blue Diamond nodded. A surprising smile laced the corner of her mouth. "How does it feel being back?"

Arms enveloped the teeny Diamonds happily. "Like we never should have left." Pink's hands flung back to her head happily to pat happily at the crown. "The most gorgeous of the Fusions." She waved a dainty hand. "Sorry Violet."

Blue Diamond's smile was a little bigger. "She won't be happy to hear that."

"Darling, any Fusion involving you can't be happy either way," came her sister's response, only to smirk at her affronted glare.

Dawn chortled and then looked over Yellow who was still staring at her. A finger poked her nose. "And you, you look like you've seen a ghost. Although I suppose a sister coming back from the dead would be like that." And then fused into a giant being.

"What is a ghost... ?" Yellow grunted and swatted the hand away, arms crossed. "I am not that shocked. I saw Violet mere moments ago, so it seems only natural that Pink would go on a Fusion spree."

"Testy," Dawn snickered as Pink's fingers poked at her cheeks. "You look like you're feeling left out. Pink hasn't forgotten about you." She tapped her chin, seeming to be talking to White. "Why don't we make the little jewels laugh?”

 "I don't know what you're planning," Yellow warned as she took a step back, "But if it involves what I think it does, I'll have no part of it."

Oh you know what we're planning," Dawn crooned. She looked over to Blue, who was already giggling nervously. "See? She's already giggling!"

Yellow glared at Blue. "Stop giggling!" she snapped, that trademark scowl settled on her lips. "I don't need to be fused due to pity."

 "Pity!" Dawn exclaimed, frosty pink eyes wide in shock. "Did you really think Pink wasn't planning on fusing with you?" She smiled as she picked her up. She was so tiny in comparison.

The Diamond shifted unsteadily on her feet from the sudden lift, poised on the Fusion's palm. Golden eyes flickered down before they returned to roll at Dawn's assumptions. "I'm not the... best company."

"Yeah we know, we've had to endure it for thousands of years." Dawn waved her hand playfully but leaned down to peck a kiss to the Diamond's nose--which was over her entire face really.

The kiss made her grunt and she wiped her face. "Lovely. Are you quite finished mocking me, Dawn?"

 "Sourpuss." Dawn pressed her cheek against the other's affectionately and then smirked over at the little blue Diamond. "Feeling left out Blue?"

 "From the loveliest Fusion? Why would I?" Blue Diamond rolled her eyes, but she seemed to carry a smirk. It was so unlike her normal expressions, but she daintily crossed her arms.

Two hands snapped out and eagerly grabbed her with a little 'ragh!' Then holding a sister/daughter in each hands she looked at both squirmy Diamonds, wondering what to do.

Fingers scratched against...Blue's face. It seemed the Fusion had Pink's eagerness and White's willingness to bond with her children...but also her utter cluelessness.

The blue monarch was bewildered at the scratch, and rubbed her cheek as she watched Dawn attempt to... tickle her?

Yellow Diamond huffed, a hand cradling her chin as she watched the Fusion prod at her sister. "What are you attempting?" she drawled.

After scratching Blue's face enough and realizing it wasn't gaining the reaction she wanted she gave a nervous smile. "Bond...the way Pink does?" So she tried Blue's arm, but still didn't seem to elect the same reaction. "Mmm..."

 Blue Diamond watched, her mouth placed in a thin line of contemplation. "Hmm..."

Yellow suddenly heaved a sigh and managed to lean out long enough to grasp her sister's hand. "Let's just show them a Fusion that knows what she's doing," she replied with a sudden grin.

The proposition surprised the other, but her wide eyes slowly melded into a pleased nod.

The other hand reached out and their forms slithered out of Dawn's grip in a glowing form of light.

Oh shit, was Dawn's thought. Words that White wouldn't say out loud and words Pink would gladly say out loud.

Dawn watched the glowing form expand, already on her guard but still unable to keep smiling at the fusion before her, even though she was "in danger." "I thought...I'd never see you again."

 "Well..." came Verde Diamond’s haughty reply, as a slender green finger pointed accusingly at the Fusion's face. Both sets of golden and frozen eyes were upturned smugly, and her shimmering emerald robe fluttered as she whirled to view her sibling/mother, "you thought wrong!"

"And I thought I was the cocky one," came Dawn's quip. Emotions did overtake her however as she stepped forward to embrace them tightly.

Verde Diamond accepted the hug, and her lean arms pat the flouncy pink ruffles on the Fusion's back lightly before she viewed her through half-lidded eyes.

"You're the smug one. That's cocky without being charming, like me."

 "Like you're charming," came the laughing half sob as Dawn's eyes shut and trickled a few tears. "What made you think a tiara was a good idea? You aren't the queen," she teased, stepping back.

"Oh, the Beauty Queen wants to tell me who wears the crown around here?" Verde smirked and reached over to tap her circlet playfully. "Tiara beats... forehead bracelet any day."

"It's a circlet you uncultured rock," Dawn scoffed. She tapped her crown affectionately and then stood back confidently. "Fusion won't save you from me. Four arms against two!" Four arms that had...no idea what they were doing.

She raised her own arms in a mocking show of defense, a smirk curling her lips. "Four arms, elbows, fingers and tips are no threat to me, smother!"

 "Smother." A Pink giggling snort as Dawn held a hand over her mouth. "Battle of the sisters, and the smother."

She didn't know what she was doing but she at least knew how to pounce and pin. Fluffy frills bounced up like a parachute as she took down Verde.

 The Fusion hit the ground with a harsh grunt as she was pinned. Her two arms struggled against the four that held her down, teeth grit in irritation.

"Surprise attack? That's such a Pink thing to do," she bit out.

"Four hands is a bit unfair," Dawn agreed after a moment. Best to give her a fighting chance. "And don't forget I'm half Pink!"

She released their arms, using just her weight to pin them but she still knew it wouldn't be enough. Fingers scribbled at their belly. Seemed she was starting to learn, unfortunately for them.

 Verde snarled through her laughter to kick at the Fusion. "M' not... as t-ticklish... as Yellow!" she bit out. Her mouth was opened slightly to try and pant the laughs out, stubbornly refusing to admit that Dawn was victorious in any way. "You... c-can't... win by... this!"

"Too bad I didn't attack you individually," Dawn giggled, but was very pleased to see she was getting the reaction she wanted. "Yay! Ol' White is learning a thing or two!"

She brought some of her weight off her so she was no longer pinned. She wanted a fair fight after all.

 "Ol' White's gotta learn when to keep her guard up!" the green Fusion grinned, and suddenly launched up to grapple with her remaining arms. "Bite check!"

CHOMP!

The fusion squalled out in surprise, tumbling onto her backside. She stared at the mark on her arm, gaping. "....Oh you so did not!"

Verde's fanged tooth shone at them as she ran her tongue over it playfully, an arm raised in mock surprise. "Oh, but I think I did!"

Dawn’s weapon was summoned, the frilly parasol bonking against their head. "You do not bite the smother!"

 The knock on her head made her grunt and rub her stylish mane back in place, eyes narrowed in a haughty squint.

"Smothers shouldn't tickle!"

A smirk. "Oh I disagree there!" She jumped onto the Fusion, the war escalating into nothing more than childish grappling and loud giggling, until their forms began to glow.

Giggles, playful bites, all melded into glowing forms that melded together. Warm and lost in the sensation of joy and unknowing to the light that enveloped their laughing forms.

Darkness...

Warm darkness...

It took a moment for all eight eyes, lined with sparkling pink and yellow, dots of blue between unseeing white, to blink into existence. Four black sets of arms staggered to stay on the ground as the figure kneeled. She shook her head, wild mane of midnight hair swaying against the marble floor like ink bleeding into snow...

A collective shout echoed in Ebony Diamond's form.

WHOA!

Her form shuddered once before the light enveloped her and all four Diamonds scattered in an explosive disruption.

They landed in a heap, and Pink fell against her mother's miles of floof. All four Diamonds were flat on the floor, just staring wide eyed. Except for Pink.

"That was....AWESOME!!"

 Yellow Diamond's prone form shot up into a sitting position, holding her head. "That was..."

"Ebony..." Blue Diamond's wide eyes remained staring at the ceiling.

"Hm," came White Diamond's small hum as she seemed to compose herself. She stood, arms crossed as she contemplated how she felt. Curious. "I originally surmised that Ebony Diamond's form would be too unstable to ever recreate..."

There were stars in the youngest's eyes, her head tilted in excitement. She bounced up excitedly, perched on her mother's back in an involuntary piggy back. "Maybe that's a good thing! It's a great thing actually! Even after all these years and everything that's happened...we can still create her."

White Diamond didn't bother to unlatch her daughter from her back. She recalled centuries before that it was a lost cause and waste of energy to attempt so. "It is certainly... inspiring?"

"What a word to use for that," Yellow Diamond drawled as she held her starstruck sibling up.

Pink had somehow made her way onto her mother's head, pushing the tiara down over her nose. "We should do it more often! It's been so long!”

"It's not that simple, Pink." Yellow Diamond steadied Blue against a wall before she dusted herself off. "Fusion is all new to us. We haven't... had these attempts since you were gone."

White Diamond nodded, placid expression shifting quietly into a pensive frown. "Fusion was... a recreational enjoyment we only found because of you. After your semi-permanent dissipation, we did not... could not attempt further Fusion."

The smile on the girl's face fell as she breathed out. "Oh..." She supposed that would make sense. It would have been painful to fuse when it was linked so strongly to her beforehand. "Well...I'm back now. So we can do it more."

She was looking pretty pointedly at Yellow Diamond now, that kitten-about-to-pounce look clear in her eyes.

 Yellow Diamond noted the look and narrowed her eyes. She stepped back and crossed her arms defiantly.

"Verde took enough out of me when Dawn assaulted her."

That wouldn't deter the vicious pink fluff ball, and only edged her on more. "Hey, you were jealous." On all fours on her mother's head, she pounced on the other.

 A tangle of irritated yellow and delighted pink scuffled childishly on the floor. "Get... off!"

White Diamond watched impassively. "You should know by now that it is pointless to refuse a Pink Diamond. Your previous experiences should have taught you that."

"... I'll risk it." Chomp!

"Ow!" Pink squealed, eyes watering for moment before she gave a growl of her own and bit down hard on the other's nose, like a piranha. How weird that this was the way their bodies suddenly melded together into a mingle of light.

The form stretched, hair fluffing out in jagged, angled spikes before the four-armed Fusion sat on the floor, orange skin and jumpsuit shimmering as a musical laugh echoed in the room.

"What will those two think of next to bring me back?!" Valencia chirped.

The orange gem giggled, standing up and brushing off her outfit. "The last time they fused Pink was headlocking and giving Yellow a noogie." They hardly ever danced to fuse. Then again, the Diamonds didn't dance to fuse often. The three of them had fused by tickling each other today.

"Valencia..." White Diamond reached to hold Blue Diamond steady as she wobbled beside her mother to view the new Fusion that graced them with her existence. "It is very pleasant to see you once again."

 Valencia's eyes sparkled happily at seeing her mother and sibling. She reached out to touch White's cheeks....and of course smush them together.

Blue Diamond quickly lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle the loud snort that she emitted from the sight.

While her face was undignified in a squished expression, the monarch's icy eyes lowered to a half-lidded look.

"I allow this only because you are my daughters," she responded dully.

Valencia giggled and then pulled both Diamonds against her chest happily. "Looks like we all got a chance to shine in the fusion spotlight today~!"

"It appears so." White Diamond allowed a small smile.

Even without the Fusion's grip, Blue Diamond's own smile returned without assistance as she was cuddled to the side of her giant sister. "All thanks to Pink!"

She hugged her family for a moment and glanced out at the confused and shocked Pearls at the doorway. And Yellow Pearl that had to be held up by Blue, slightly drooling.

Valencia's arm shifted out to snap up the three little twigs into the hug. "The whole family!"

White Pearl's impassive eyes roved to her Diamond, who merely gave her a glance.

"Let it happen, Pearl."

"Yes, My Diamond." She remained in the grip besides a drooling Yellow Pearl, her nose scrunching up slightly as the puddle neared her.