#waaaay better than a few weeks ago

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for venting?

Long post, sorry for that. One of my (25M) best friends (22F) is someone I met online a few years ago in college. She's a great person, really well-spoken and funny and supportive, but she's also highly opinionated just like me. Sometimes, when we disagree, we get into heated arguments.

As a kid I used to have bad anger issues, but (after a lot of therapy) I'm now trying to deal with them in a better way. One of those ways is that when I get upset during arguments like this, rather than saying something I know I don't really mean and I'll regret later, I'll instead excuse myself from the chat and go talk to another unrelated friend. Sometimes I'll vent to them about our argument, but mostly not.

Last Friday, me and my best friend went on a trip to meet in person for the first time. During the trip, there was a moment when I let them use my phone to talk to our other friends while I went to grab something from the hotel room. When I came back, my best friend was a little quiet (unusual for her.)

I asked what was wrong and she told me that she saw where I was venting to a different friend after an argument before the trip. I'll admit, I was being a dick during the conversation and said some petty shit I shouldn't have, especially since that other friend isn't a fan of my best friend. It was childish and needlessly mean so I did apologize for that much right away.

My main issue was that chat was 1. a good couple of weeks before the trip and waaaay back in the DMs so she had to search for it 2. from a friend we both know she doesn't like (and wasn't on the server we were talking in, so I don't know why she was even in my DMs) and 3. I never repeated what I said there to her nor did I let it affect how I act towards her. Every other mention since that point (even in that DM) was positive.

She says that none of that matters because I shouldn't be venting about her at all to other people and that I come across as a two-faced friend. That really stung, so I asked if we could shelve the conversation until we got back to the room (we were eating dinner) since I didn't want to cause a scene by getting visibly upset in public. She agreed for the moment, but once we did get back we argued some more.

Again, I know I was being a bit of an ass and I do genuinely feel bad about that. My friend might get on my nerves, but I shouldn't be insulting just because. That being said, I don't think that venting when I'm frustrated to an uninvolved third party is quite on the same level as being two-faced or a bad friend and I really don't appreciate her going through my private messages when I trusted her with my phone to seemingly just find conversations to judge me for.

AITA? Or does everyone kinda suck here?

What are these acronyms?

[teresashiho]

15 Questions Meme

Wooooo, another tag from @raichana for an OC meme :D

Rules: Answer the 15 questions as your OC or yourself. Tag up to 15 people.

I tag @barefootfriar @jabbloo and anyone else who wants to do it!

Teach me more about your characters! Please!

Are you named after anyone?

Koray: Dunno, never asked. Eliana: No, I don't think so. Kyo: Why yes, my mother named me after a mighty king from eons ago. It's very fitting, don't you think? Reuel: Yeah, I was named after one of my great-grandfathers. Aysuna: Not that I was told.

When was the last time you cried?

Koray: None of your business! Eliana: A lot of nights I cry myself to sleep... but it's okay! I'm totally fine! Kyo: A King does not cry. Reuel: Just last week, haha. It's good to cry once in a while! Aysuna: It's been a while... I'm pretty good at holding it back.

Do you have kids?

Koray: I guess... but we're not really close. Eliana: Koray and I have a daughter, but she was taken from us... I wish we could have seen her grow up. Kyo: My daughter Malika! She's a wonderful young lady, and I'll make sure that she succeeds me on the throne one day. Reuel: Nope! Aysuna: No, never really thought about it.

Do you use sarcasm?

Koray: Well, yeah. Eliana: Once in a while, haha. Kyo: I don't know, DO I use sarcasm? Reuel: Here and there. Aysuna: All the time!

What’s the first thing you notice about others?

Koray: Whether or not they're strong. Eliana: Their eyes! Its still so weird that everyone has such vibrant eye colours. Kyo: How they carry themselves. You can learn a lot about someone by paying attention to their mannerisms, and will gives you an edge against them. Reuel: I guess whether or not someone's uncomfortable? I'm a big guy, and it makes some people nervous, so I wanna make sure I'm not scaring someone by accident. Aysuna: Nothing at first... but I always pay attention to how people treat me after they find out I'm a healer. Too many people get weird about it...

What’s your eye colour?

Koray: Red, obviously. Eliana: I had brown eyes, but after I became a child of Xidon they turned red! Isn't that cool! Kyo: Red, of course. Reuel: Silver. Aysuna: Green!

Scary stories or happy endings?

Koray: I doubt you can scare me, but go ahead and try! Eliana: Happy endings. The world feels scary enough right now. Kyo: Either is fine. Reuel: Happy endings! Its good to be reminded that there's hope. Aysuna: Scary stories! Tell me something exciting and thrilling!

Any special talents?

Koray: Well, I was considered the strongest warrior back home. Eliana: I'm a pretty good sharpshooter! Won a few competitions when I was younger. Kyo: I'm talented at everything! Reuel: Oh, I don't think I'm that talented at anything... I mean, I could control the weather if I focus really hard, so I guess that's special, but my dad's waaaay better at it than me. Aysuna: Healing, I guess. Wasn't really given the chance to be good at anything else.

Where were you born?

Koray: A small village. Nothing else to say about it. Eliana: Uhhhh, I really shouldn't talk about it. Sorry. Kyo: The palace, of course! I was even born on a clear day, in the early afternoon, when the sun was at it's peak. A good omen from the mighty Xidon. Reuel: My family has always lived in the old capitol, high up in the mountains, so I was born there. Aysuna: I was born in a village in the woods. Sometimes I miss it there, things felt quieter.

What are your hobbies?

Koray: I enjoy dancing... but don't go telling everyone! It's none of their business! Eliana: I love playing board games! It used to be tough to find people to play with, but now I'm surrounded by lots of nice people! Kyo: I have no time for trivial activities. Reuel: I love to cook! When I was a kid, I used to sneak into the kitchen and cook with the staff. It was nice of them to indulge me, haha. Aysuna: I couldn't pick just one! When was younger, I wasn't given the opportunity to do much, so now I'm making up for lost time! Last week I was playing chess and learning to play the guitar. Who knows what I'll be doing next week!

Do you have any pets?

(Not me coming up with this one the spot, haha) Koray: No, but there used to be a big dog on the farm my parents worked at. Maybe one day I'll get one of my own. Eliana: Nope. Kyo: The royal family owns a wonderful menagerie that features many exotic animals from around the world. I suppose they could be considered my "pets." Reuel: Not officially, but there are a few stray cats in the area that come by for food and pets. Aysuna: I've thought about surprising Reuel with a cat of our own, but I think he loves the strays too much.

What sports do you play/have played?

Koray: Used to play some on the street with my cousins. Eliana: I played the usual sports you do in school, but didn't play any after that. Kyo: I played sports once in a while when I was a child, but it wasn't something that interested me. Reuel: I played a couple, but my size gave me such an advantage, that no one wanted to play against me. Aysuna: I wasn't allowed to play sports... healing takes a lot of stamina, especially when you're young and inexperienced, so I wasn't allowed to do anything physically demanding.

How tall are you?

Koray: Who cares? (he's 5'11") Eliana: 5'7" last I checked. Kyo: I suggest you drop this subject. (he's 5'4" and very sensitive about it) Reuel: 6'7" if you can believe it! It comes from my dad's side, everyone's crazy tall, even the women. Aysuna: Only 5'3" but I don't mind too much.

Favourite subject in school?

Koray: It was boring, so I always left. Eliana: Everyone else hated it, but I kinda liked math! It's logical and straightforward. Kyo: I did not attend "school" as the commoners do, I had private tutors of course. Though I suppose the most interesting topic of study was Law. You'd be amazed what you can get away with if you know the law's intricacies! Reuel: I was home schooled, which wasn't very fun, but I did enjoy history! Its really cool to learn about how the world used to be. Aysuna: I loved art! I used to use my gift to shape plants into cool shapes and figures.

Dream job?

Koray: I don't think about that stuff. Eliana: My dream has always been to travel the world! I'd take any job that would allow me to do that. Kyo: I'm a King, there is no better "job" than that. Reuel: I dunno, I guess something where I can meet lots of people. Aysuna: Never got to think about it. Once my ability to heal developed, there was only one career I could pursue... though sometimes I wonder what I might have done if I'd had a choice.

[everythingpresley]

Acts of Service (Elvis Presley x Reader)

summary: Elvis surprises reader with french toast.

word count: 2.4k

warnings: Explicit/Mature (NSFW, 18+)

Author's Note: Light and fluffy with some smut! Question, what do you guys think Elvis' love language was?

“Come on doll!” Elvis whined standing outside of the bathroom.

“Okay, okay.” I laughed walking out of the bathroom in a sundress “Hold your horses.”

“It will get cold!” 

“What will?” I asked. 

“It’s a surprise. Now come on.” He said and pulled me by my hand like a little kid trying to lead their parent to some toy they just saw. I giggled as he pulled me down the stairs and to the kitchen but stopped right before we entered. I looked at him confused as to why we stopped.

“Wait.” He said and walked behind me to cover my eyes.

“Is that really necessary?” 

“Yes!” He replied and lightly pushed me forward to walk into the kitchen. 

“Okay.” He said and removed his hand from my eyes. 

I grinned seeing the neatly set table with a fresh bouquet of my favorite flowers, orange juice and a stack of french toast and bacon. 

“You made all of this?” I asked him, my heart softening at the gesture.

He smiled softly and nodded then he walked over and pulled a chair out for me to sit. 

“I know how much you love french toast so I thought I would try to make them for you.” He said and it made me want to cry.

“Honey-” I smiled with tears in my eyes.

“You haven’t even tried it yet mama.” He laughed.

“It’s the thought that matters.” I replied and blinked back my tears. It was so sweet especially knowing he doesn’t really cook except for the occasional PB&Js but that’s not really considered cooking. 

“Yeah well I know your love language is Acts of service so double the points.” He said which made me laugh because only a few weeks ago I was reading a book on love languages to him, not thinking he was actually listening.

My love languages are acts of service and quality time while his are physical touch and quality time. So I always made sure that he had my undivided attention when we’re together and actually be able to spend time together with his busy schedule. It’s easier since we have the same love language so we’re both able to satisfy ourselves. 

“Okay. Try them.” He bounced in his spot, excitedly. 

“Okay.” I laughed and poked the toast, setting one on my plate and throwing some maple syrup on top. Cutting the corner of the toast, I lifted the fork up to my mouth and took a bite. Biting down, a loud crunch was heard.

I laughed, it wasn’t supposed to be crunchy and looked up at Elvis who was standing opposite where I sat at the kitchen table. He frowned and reached over to take the plate from me.

“No.” I said and pulled the plate back “Let me try the middle part.” 

I cut into the toast once again and popped in my mouth, humming in delight “Elvis, that’s so good baby!” 

It was genuinely so good. 

He narrowed his eyes and looked at me questionably.

“Really!” I said and ate some more. 

Elvis quickly took the rest of the stack and placed the plate on the kitchen counter with his back towards me so I couldn’t see what he was doing. I raised my eyebrow but continued eating and grabbed some bacon. 

He turned back around and placed the stack back on the table. 

I laughed, throwing my head back once I saw that he cut the crunchy crust off from the rest. 

I got up from the dining chair and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Best french toast I’ve ever had.” I smiled and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Better than that diner you love so much?” He smirked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Waaaay better!” I lied.   

He pouted dramatically and pushed me off of him “Liar.”

I giggled and followed him out of the kitchen “Honey I swear it’s really good! And it’s even better because you made it.” 

I reached for his hand and pulled him back to me. I cupped his face and swept little kisses all over his face. He loved when I did that so he instantly smiled. 

“Now come on, you didn’t even get to try it.” 

“Oh I did.” He replied then walked over to the trash can, pulling the lid open. I looked at him with a confused look on my face, walking over to him and peeked at the trash can to see maybe 10 pieces of french toast burnt to crisp. 

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. I could just imagine him going through a whole loaf of bread just to make a few pieces of french toast and judging from the trash I think he did. 

I wrapped my arms around his neck again “I would gladly eat your burnt pieces of toast baby.”

“Shut up.” He rolled his eyes and pushed me away from him, trying not to smile. 

“Are you sure your love language is physical touch?” I joked because he pushed me off of him twice. 

He pulled me back to him by my waist and slowly trailed his hands down my back and cupped my butt cheeks, squeezing them tightly “I only said that so that I can touch your glorious ass whenever I please.” He grinned. 

“You are so annoying.” I said and pinched his butt cheek “Can you come eat with me now?”

He nodded and plopped down on the dining chair, pulling me along with him to sit on his lap. 

I cut into another piece of toast and picked up the fork to feed him. I cupped his chin to make sure the syrup doesn’t drip on him and fed him the small piece of toast. 

He hummed and nodded “I did good!”

“I told you.” I chuckled and planted a kiss on his cheek. 

Once we were done with breakfast we still remained seated in the same position, I was running my fingers through his hair while he had his eyes closed.

“Do you want me to bathe you?” I asked softly.

He grinned and opened his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes that I loved so much “Would you mommy?”

I grinned and kissed his lips “I would love to baby.”

If there was one thing that Elvis loved, it was being babied and held. He loved when I would wash his hair and body. 

I stood up and pulled him by the hand, intertwining my fingers with his as we walked up to our bedroom and into the bathroom. 

He stood still while I stripped him down to his birthday suit and doing the same to myself. I turned on the shower head and we both stepped into the shower. 

Even though I could tell we were both extremely turned on by one another we both just wanted to take a relaxing shower together. 

I went to squeeze out some of his shampoo when he stopped me, placing a hand over mine “Can you use your coconut shampoo? I wanna smell like you.” He smiled sheepishly. 

I smiled and nodded, squeezing out my shampoo.

I reached forward ran my hands through his hair, massaging his scalp gently while he closed his eyes and groaned in satisfaction. 

I then squirted some body wash on the loofah and slowly scrubbed his body. I turned him around so that I could scrub his back and while I was doing that I couldn’t help but slap his bubble butt. 

“Hey!” He looked over his shoulder while I giggled. 

I rinsed off the shampoo from his hair and body. I planted little kisses on his back, running my hands down his arms and turned him back to face me, rinsing his front.

“Can I do you now?” He asked. 

“Sure.” I said and turned my back to him as he started applying shampoo to my hair. He swept my hair to the side and kissed my neck. 

I arched my neck back, laying my head against his shoulder when he pulled me back against him, feeling his erection on my butt.

“Ahm. Can you finish your job?” I cleared my throat. 

“Right. Sorry.” He replied and rinsed off my hair. Then he placed his hands on shoulders, turning me back to face him. Then slowly running his hands down my curves, his eyes darkening as they roamed my body.

He looked up at the ceiling for a second.

“What are you doing?” I asked him, confused. 

“Thinking.” He replied then looked back down at me with mischief in his eyes. 

He grinned, biting his lower lip then cupped my pussy. 

I gasped, gripping his arm “Elvis!”

He ran his fingers through my already wet folds. I moaned, jutting my hips forward. 

“Elvis, you said you’d bathe me.” I pouted, pushing his hands away. 

“I couldn’t help it. My beautiful wife is standing in front of me with that heavenly body of hers, I have to touch it.” He said, getting down on his knees as he kissed up my thighs “And appreciate it because lord almighty I have to let you know how beautiful you are.” He said in between kisses. 

I grabbed his hair and pulled him back, letting him look up at me. 

“You’re gonna fuck me in this shower and then you’re gonna wash my body.” I told him. 

“Anything for my princess.” He grinned “Plus I know you’d be mad if I fucked you after bathing you because you’d want to wash your body again.”

“Smart man.” I replied, letting go of his hair.

He kept looking at me like he was waiting for something.

“What?”

“You know what.” He frowned. 

I smirked and pulled him up to stand. Pressing my body against his, my pussy against his cock, I whispered in his ear “Fuck me daddy.”

He moaned, throwing his head back. He gripped my hips and lifted me up to wrap my legs around his waist and slammed me against the glass. 

I gasped at the force “Elvis! The glass will break!” 

“It’s okay, I’ll get it replaced if it does.”

I frowned and turned my head to see behind me and I could see us in the long mirror of the bathroom, my ass pressed up against the glass. 

He held my face and turned my face back to him, smashing his lips on mine. 

“I love you.” He said, thrusting his cock into me “Tight as ever for me mommy.”

I moaned, gripping his shoulders tightly. I scratched down his back as he pounded into me. He groaned in my ear making me even more hot. 

He moaned, his eyes fixated behind me “Oh you should see how good your ass looks pressed up against the glass while I fuck you raw.” He rasped. 

Elvis sped up his pace, pounding into me with all his might when we heard a loud crack. 

“Fuck!” Elvis said and gripped my hips, turning me away from the glass. 

“Did it break?” I panted, legs still wrapped around him and his cock still inside of me. 

“Just a small crack.” Elvis replied “I’ll get someone to come fix it tomorrow.” He said and slammed me against the wall this time, continuing where we left off. 

Once we were done and out, I grabbed a towel drying myself before throwing on a bathrobe while Elvis dried himself off, wrapping the towel around his waist. 

Ugh. My husband is so hot, I thought, biting down on my lip while my eyes trailed down his tanned, hairy chest.

“I know.” He said, smirking.

“What?” I asked. 

“You just said my husband is so hot.” He chucked.

“I said that out loud?” I asked, my face flushed and my cheeks darkening. He laughed and nodded.

“Why are you blushing?” He laughed, poking my cheek “You tell me way worse stuff, that was very tame for you.” 

“I know. I just didn't know I said it out loud.” I chuckled. 

I grabbed a smaller towel and started drying my hair while he did the same. We both stood next to each other in the mirror, he started doing his hair, placing some hair gel while I combed through mine deciding to just let it air dry. 

I lifted my comb up to my mouth, pretending it’s a microphone “Lord Almighty! Feel my temperature rising!” I sang loudly and obnoxiously, copying his country accent “Sorry, this song has been going through my mind the moment you said lord almighty in the shower.”

“Oh god.” Elvis said, looking at me through the mirror with wide eyes.

“What? You don’t like the song? Fine. I’ll sing another one.” I said, not giving him a chance to answer.

“Hey baby! I ain’t askin’ much of you! No, no, no, no, no, no baby! I ain’t askin’ much of you! Just a big, a big, a big a hunk o’ love will do!” I sang leaning my back against Elvis’ side and lowered myself down his body, annoying him.

He turned to look at me, still looking at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth “You’re just a natural born beehive! Filled with honey to the top! But I ain’t greedy, baby.” I ran my hands down his chest singing the next lyric “All I want is all you got no, no, no, baby!” 

Elvis reached forward and placed his hand on my mouth, stopping me from singing. I giggled against his hands “You are so annoying.” He said, trying not to smile and pretending he's annoyed when I know he’s not. 

He slowly slipped his hand off my mouth.

“But you love it.” I said, looking at him pointedly.

“Correction.” He said and tugged me closer to him by pulling on my bathrobe “I love you.” He smiled and kissed my lips. 

I  grinned, wrapping my arms around his neck “By the way, thank you for the french toast. It was really good and I love you too.” 

He grinned, planting a kiss on my ear, then poking his tongue in. I cringed and pushed him away while he laughed “You’re so annoying!” I said while wiping my ear. 

“But you love it!” He called out, walking out of the bathroom. 

“Well, honey! I love you, too much!” I continued singing, brushing through my hair. Elvis wasn’t in the bathroom anymore but I knew he could hear me from the bedroom “I need your lovin’! Too much!” 

Then the bathroom door slammed shut behind me which made me burst into laughter. 

[tamagochiie]

Hi!! Could I request a hc for my man Levi Ackerman where he has been crushing on the reader for a while now but thinks he doesn’t really have a chance because she’s just so beautiful, kind and a little on the younger side. And he doesn’t really think that someone like her could ever be interested in someone like him. Then those toughts only get bigger as he sees how much time she spends with Jean or Eren or someone. And then some sort of drama is happening which eventually leads to this dramatic confession from both Levi and the reader. Hope that’s not too long? Have a great day!

First of all, I am SO sorry this request took so long to reply to. I was in a really bad headspace when I first got this, and I couldn’t write it properly at the time. But here I am now! Also, I got waaaay too into this, so I apologize that it’s a little long... 

Move My Mountain ; Levi Ackerman 

Levi Ackerman is nothing short of confidence and pride; insecurity scurries back into the shadows at the sight of him.

But you are sunshine and hope—all the good things in life wrapped in a lilting laugh, tucked in the corners of your lips when you smile, and the twinkling in your eyes;

Just the sight of you makes his title as “Humanity’s Strongest” fray at the edges and wither away, and it irritates him to no end. 

Of all the ugly his eyes have seen and horror his ears have heard, its you that has him weak in the knees, you are a sharp contrast to the stoic man.

You’re young, youthful, and promising—all the things Levi is not. 

Levi is many things, but worthy to feel the warmth you radiate as you walk into any room, a room that he might find himself lingering around in, is not one of them. 

Levi may be sharp, attentive, and quick on his feet (quite literally). But it takes him an embarrassingly substantial amount of time to realize his feelings for you—that no, he does not hate you, but rather he finds himself completely smitten over you.

He realizes he always has been since the first time he saw you as a cadet. You weren’t entirely talented, and your skills were questionably underdeveloped, but you had heart and you were just as determined and fiery as your counterparts. 

Levi looks forward to seeing you persevere during trainings; but he likes it better whenever you waltz into his office and assist him in paperwork he can clearly take care of on his own. 

And you find yourself feeling comfortable around the Captain, entertaining him through small talk or sharing a few fun facts with him that always leave him dumbfounded. 

Not that he’ll show it. 

He’s quite kind to you, and though you found it off-putting at first, you had eventually grown comfortable to it. You even found yourself growing selfish, wanting more and more after each visit. 

However, unbeknownst to everyone save for Erwin and Hange, Levi Ackerman is petty as he is incredibly violent. 

There’s a twinge of jealousy in his chest and a twitch in his eye whenever he sees Jean joined to you by the hip. He’s aware of the history you two share, being childhood friends and choosing to join the Survey Corp together after the attack on Wall Rose. 

But it doesn’t stop jealous seeping out of Levi like a waterfall. 

He hates it when he catches Jean ghosting around you, dipping down to you a little too close for comfort whenever he talks to you, so Levi’s patience snaps like a twig and he crinkles his nose in disgust, steam rising from him when he watches Jean throwing his arm over your shoulders, pulling you close to his chest while you laugh at his jokes. 

A line has been crossed. 

Unfortunately for Jean, though his actions meant no harm, he’s drowned in piles and piles of work within the following week. Levi has him carrying extra weight, makes him run more laps to his knees shake, and riddles him with questionable work from dusk til dawn. 

And just when things die down and the tide of Levi’s jealousy pulls back, it’ll come rushing back in when he catches Jean do another thing like leaning his head on your shoulder after a day’s worth of training. And it begins to bother you, picking at your skin until you can longer keep quiet and watch your friends suffer. 

You’re in the middle of handing Jean your bottle of water (because Sasha chugged all of his in one breath) when Levi cuts in. Maybe it’s the heat of the sun that casts over the training ground, or maybe its the fact that once again, Levi’s jealous has once again gotten the best of him and he’s playing it off as frustration for the whole squad. 

Whatever it is, there’s steam rising off as he glares at you and Jean. 

Levi clears his throat, arms folded across his chest as he taps his foot, “If you have time to drinking other people’s water, Kristien,” Jean chokes on his water when he realizes Levi’s presence, quickly saluting him, “then you’ve got time to do laundry.” 

Jean’s eyes widen, jaw slacking. “B-But I already did that yesterday, S-Sir.” You watch as Levi pulls his brows down, narrowing his gaze intensely as he strides up to Jean. He shifts uncomfortable under Levi’s inspecting eyes and clears his throat to try and gain some composure. 

“That’s the great thing about laundry,” Levi grits, “it always piles up, so why don’t you hurry the fuck up and fuck off.”

However, Levi’s plan to wedge you to apart because you offer yourself to help. 

You may be bubbly and full of life, and some may mistake your soft nature as someone naive and gullible, but you read the room easier than anyone. For the first time, Levi finds himself silenced; throat dried as if sawdust had been shoved into his throat, and he watches you saluting to him before excusing yourself along with Jean. 

Unluckily for you, you become the target of his boiling rage. He’s ticking like a clock, the countdown to another outburst lingering in the air. It’s your turn to be buried in the extra weight of chores and responsibilities, doing more laps and push ups than you can manage. But you never complain, not even once.

Not until Levi strips you and Jean from the opportunity to go out on an expedition and traded off for laundry. 

“I’ve had it!” You boom as you uncharacteristically lose composure, shoving the basket of dirty laundry to the side and causing Jean and Armin to flinch. “I’m gonna do laundry—laundry instead of joining the expedition? You’re kidding!” 

Levi had overworked you painfully til your knees shook and your head felt dizzy, and at some point you wondered if was still training you or if it had any ulterior motive.

“I’m only the barer of the news!” Armin defends, visibly shrinking as you slowly grow unhinged. 

“Then I’ll talk to him!” Jean steps in front of you, looking at you warningly as his chest heaves. “Jean, go away.” 

“No,” He’s firm, headset in stopping you. “Make no mistake, the man is short, but he’s scary as hell. You saw him when he beat the shit outta Eren.”

“I can take a punch,” You state dryly, “now move.” 

You place your arm on Jean’s shoulder, gripping it tightly before swiftly shoving him to the side, causing him to skid on the floor.

Determination drips from every step you take out the room and down the corridor. Your eyes directed towards one door and one door only. You wind past other captains and cadets, not bothering to even take a glance at them as you finally close in on Levi’s office. 

You storm in, not even thinking to knock. You’re met with wide eyes and looks of disbelief from Erwin, Hange, and Levi; they were in the middle of a meeting when you barged in. Erwin’s jaw slacks, his brows pull down as he looks at you quizzically, “Cadet—What are you—”

“You.” You seethes, breathing heavily as you glare at Levi. “Why am I assigned to do laundry instead of joining the expedition?” 

Hange and Erwin turn back to Levi with an alarmed expression painted on their face, as if they were only hearing this for the first time. “Surely, that’s not true,” Erwin chuckles lightly as he grips his hands on the armrest of the chair, shifting uncomfortably underneath the thick tension between you and Levi, “Levi, is this true?” 

“It might be.” He answers dryly, a bored expression in his dark eyes as he glares back at you, “But I’m sorry, am I supposed to be answering to you? Who the fuck do you think you are interrupting a meeting?” 

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Your new found confidence not only shocks them, but most importantly you. 

You always kept yourself in your place, never needing to be reminded who you are and what you’re meant to do, always biting your tongue and cheek when you’re angry. You never caused any trouble, but always slyly getting your friends out of it. 

That is, until now. 

“Excuse me?” Levi looks at you in bewilderment. 

“What the fuck does doing laundry have anything to do with saving humanity?” You repeated, balling your fists till your knuckles color white. “I’m one of the best and you know it, yet I’m wasting my time cleaning Reiner’s DIRTY UNDERWEAR EVERY DAY.”

“Bold of you to assume you’re one of the best.” Levi is cold as the first winter of the year, looking completely unfazed by flow of your emotions. But you are, indeed, one of the best, nearly surpassing Mikasa. 

Not that he’d ever admit to it.

“Why am I staying behind?” You press, raising your voice as you take a few steps closer to the desk. 

Unfortunately, Hange and Erwin stay in the crossfire of your argument. They’re unsure when to take the beat to get up and leave.

They worry they missed that opportunity a while ago. 

“It’s dangerous and you’re not ready,” Levi clips. 

“I’m ready and you’re just taking your anger out on me!” You counter, “You don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been taking your anger out on Jean and now on me?” 

“You made us work to the bone, but we persevered. We pulled through. So, if I can handle Reiner’s sweaty laundry, then I can handle saving humanity. Grow a pair and let me back in on the expedition.” 

“No.” Levi is stern, the grip in his pen is tight and his knees locked in as his ability to stabilize his emotions withers. 

“Why not?” You groan, throwing your head back. “Because it’s dangerous.” He states matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“WHY DO YOU CARE IF ITS SO DANGEROUS?” You’re yelling, breaths labored and chest constricting as your frustration grows. You’re completely unhinged and with little to no care in the world how you look like to everyone in the room. Levi bangs his fists against the surface of his desk, swiftly standing from his chair. Erwin and Hange flinch at his sudden aggression, exchanging looks of surprise. 

“BECAUSE IF SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO YOU, I WOULDN’T KNOW WHAT I WOUDL DO.” 

Silence falls on the room and after a moment, everyone stands on their toes as they reflect the confession that slips Levi’s lips just moments ago. 

You, Hange, and Erwin look at Levi wish a slack jaw and a puzzled expression. 

“I don’t—“ You swallow thickly and take a deep breath, “I don’t understand what you mean… Why would you—”

“Hange,” Erwin calls out to his friend softly as he clasps his hands together, “I think this is the part where we leave.” 

Hange pouts her lip begrudgingly, “But—“ 

“Now.” Against her will and her wishes for juicy gossip, Hange mirrors Erwin’s actions as he rises from the chair and a hunched position and swiftly scurries out the room. 

You and Levi stand in a thick blanket of silence. Levi is a man of many words, though most are painted in aggressive and backs up his violent tendencies, so he admits his worries about someone and that someone being you, it means everything. 

It comes as a shock—a shock that feels electric and runs down your spine, you feel like you’ll lose your breath. “Why…why would you care?” You come down from your anger and the thumping of your heart calms down. “I don’t—I really don’t understand….” 

Levi licks his lips as he loosens his grip; for the first time you can see him clearly without having to second guess it. He shudders a breath as takes a step back from his desk, the chair scrapping against the floor as he abandons the paperwork and slowly yet surely walks to you. 

You grow tense and the budding anticipation in your stomach spreads through your body and up your throat. It’s only until Levi is a few steps away that you finally tear your eyes from him, dancing around the room desperately looking anywhere but him.

Levi halts his movement, only within an arm’s reach away from you. “I’m not good with words,” He admits in a mutter, more to himself than to you, “but I—I would like to be honest because you make me want to be honest.” 

Levi’s gaze wavers along with the rest of him; his arms fall limp , his hands clammy as he twiddles his fingers to ease the fear hammering in his chest. “I have…” Levi speaks softly, a sharp contrast to how he usually his. His voice comes out dry and gravelly as if he had just woken up. 

“I can easily read others as if I was looking at the back of my hand, and I know  when people feel things…But it took me forever to understand what I felt for you and when I finally caught up with it, I didn’t—I don’t know.” 

Hesitantly, as if you were scared to see something contradicting his words, you meet his eyes and you gasp. He’s looking right at you, eyes full of certainty yet wavering in his doubt that he’ll ever get a chance with you.

“What do you mean?” Your words come out so quiet, Levi almost misses it. “What don’t you understand?” 

“Out of all the things I’ve seen and heard, and all the blood my hands have been stained in, you move me.” 

He steps a little closer and you find yourself holding your breath, “You move me.”  

You don’t know what to say. You scan through your memories, all the ones that you had with him and try to remember what you felt. And maybe you did feel something for him, something more than just cadet and captain, but you never let yourself think too far from it. 

You were scared to let yourself fall, but for some odd reason, Humanity’s Strongest was letting him fall on his knees for you.  

You can’t help but smile and your eyes glistening as you take the final step to close the proximity between the two of you. “

If you’re saying what I think you’re saying then,” You sigh as you close your eyes, your breath fanning against Levi’s cheeks, “don’t be shy to move a little more and show me what you mean.”

 Levi’s takes a moment, studying the look in your eyes as he calculates his movements. He feels excited, but fear pulls the rug beneath his feet and all of a sudden he finds himself more scared of you than any mission he’s even been in. 

You hold his face in your hands, smiling at him. “Don’t tell me you’re shy now.” 

And just like that, your words egg him on and have him pushing all his doubt behind him.

 Levi’s lips are soft against yours, the kiss is gentle yet eager to go deeper. He’s reluctant to cage you in his arms, but when he feels you smile against his lips and how your arms wind around his neck, he realizes he’s eases in. 

Levi Ackerman has seen all the uglies in the word, and had his heartbroken one too many times to count, but you are the only one that moves him. 

[cuteciboulette]

So, I broke my cell phone a couple of weeks ago. (Let me insert here a small rant because it jumped from my hands, not for the first time, but fall on a straw doormat. HOW it is THAT’s what took the screen out when it had fallen on hard wood floors countless times before??) So anyway, yeah, phone is done for. I kiiiinda still use it but the screen basically remains black so when people call me (which doesn’t happen that often, granted), I can pick up only because I know where to put my fingers. When I get a text (waaaay more often) or want to use the phone, it take about 6 to 10 tries to have the screen light up. (It also tends to cut off conversations after a few minutes). (Funny thing is, if I take a screen capture, the screen looks perfectly fine.)

I don’t know what to do.  On one hand, repairing it will cost me 300€ (1€ is about $1), because Samsung Galaxy S8 are made like that. Changing the screen is replacing half the phone. So I’m like: NO WAY! On the other way, if I replace it, I want something about the same size that isn’t an iPhone (I like MacBooks alright but not iPhone, it’s a thing ^^; ), it will cost me about 600€. A few things to know about me: - I don’t like to change my electronic devices. I will soon need to replace my MacBook, I was symbolically wanting at least till next January to celebrate its 10 birthday. I had to tape the cord in September because the protective layer is broken.  - I don’t like to rush replacing things. I’ve been thinking about replacing the laptop more or less for a year. Which means I would probably get to actually do it in one or two more years ^^; - I WASN’T PLANNING ON REPLACING MY FRICKING PHONE FOR ABOUT 5 YEARS OR SO. (The last one, I replaced it because the battery swell and imploded. I still took me about 1 year to actually replace it, I replace the battery first, it imploded again after a few months...)

But: - I CANNOT wait to replace this fricking phone, the past 2 weeks have been super annoying. Basically everything I do online requires to confirm my identify with my phone. Texting is super annoying. Calling/receiving calls is very difficult. So I HAVE to rush a decision. - A new one would cost me 600€ only because of the “Black Friday” sales I only have a week to decide yes or nay. A week! aaaah! - Technically 300€ is better than 600€ and I can afford both, it’s really about the principle of things. I don’t want to change my phone. It annoys me to pay that much not to even get a new one.  - You can’t add an additional storage card in the new one, which is also annoying, so the new phone would have as much space that the current one, this is ridiculous, why did they do that? (that also the case about the previous version, BTW.) - ... ... ... the new one would be purple and super super pretty... This is stupid. Paying 300€ more than a repair because of the color of a phone is ridiculous. Paying that much for a repair is ridiculous. A week to decide. (Assuming that there is enough stock in purple.)  Aaaaaaarrrrg. 

[monsta-sextories]

Study Buddy- 4

Son Hyunwoo

word count: 1473

🎧 Fire for You - Cannons

🔥 mild

Hyunwoo is bad at texting. Almost comically bad. There’s a million emojis scattered in odd places, no punctuation marks, and his responses consists of five words max. However, they keep coming rather consistently now.

It’s been a busy week, and it just so happens that Hyunwoo doesn’t have any exams at the moment, but you have three. All your free time is being spent at the library trying to focus and use all the willpower you must not check your phone every second.

You still daydream of the kiss and the nice conversation you had over coffee, but this… you smile at your phone, is unimaginable. You still can’t believe it, but somehow it feels normal. The idea that you might look down at your screen and see a dopey selfie of Hyunwoo, just his face (taken at an unflattering angle… but cute nonetheless), is so thrilling. It gives you butterflies and it’s like you’re holding onto a small harmless secret. There’s something there.

Hyunwoo: where in library

The message on your phone lights up the screen.

Your heart speeds up just a bit. You had told him not long ago that you were studying, not thinking anything of it.

the usual spot…

You reply nervously, and distracted. You don’t want to jump to conclusions but then you see him walking towards you, one full iced coffee in hand. He’s smiling ear to ear as he approaches and you cant help but melt and smile back.

He holds the coffee out to you immediately.

“Aw, what’s this about?” You swoon with a flattered giggle. That’s embarrassing.

“Sounded like you could use it.”

His hair is wet and he smells like chlorine.

“Did you just come from practice?” You ask finishing your sip of cold, refreshing, bitterness. He nods.

“I figured I’d check on you.. hoped maybe I caught you needing a break,” he hints playfully.

You smile and roll your eyes sliding your books away as you take another sip of coffee.

“A bribe, I see,” you joke.

He smiles and looks down, and you notice his hands are fidgeting, which is all too adorable.

“There’s a swim meet. This weekend. Away. Doyouwannago?”

He says the last part kinda fast, but you hear him clearly.

“Uh… where at?” you ask already knowing the answer. You’ve been paying a bit more attention to the swim team’s schedule.

“Ardell,” he says eagerly. “Saturday at 10am. You could take the bus with us.”

His eyebrows are high, his words accommodating.

“Is that what you brought the coffee for?” you ask trying to hide your disappointment. Not with him, just this odd pressure. You don’t want to say no, but you know that’s not something you’d want to do. Draw attention like that? hell no…

“well… I just… we won’t see each other much this week…” he trails off, “there’s plenty of seats on the bus is all.”

“is that even normal?” you half snort, a little awkwardly.

His face tints a bit.

“yeah, I mean the guys bring their girlfriends all the time and some extra faculty…”

Girlfriends?

“oh,” is all you can manage to say, but then his eyes grow like he’s said a curse word and you cut him off before he can say anything to sway you or overexplain.

“I’ll see what I can do, but I have some plans this weekend.”

No I don’t. im just too afraid of what other people will think. I’m not as confident as you, and I don’t want to draw attention or run the risk of someone exposing you to the truth that… you’re waaaay out of my league.

“Oh, uh… yeah I get it. Well it would be really cool if you could,” he says reaching for the back of his neck.

You smile the warmest most sympathetic way you can. Of course you don’t want to disappoint him, but there’s no way in hell you are getting on that bus with Hyunwoo making a spectacle of whatever this is, just so you can obsess over what this is. His disappointment can’t measure up to the heartache of the answer to that dreaded question.

“thanks for the coffee,” you say low with a smile, “again.”

His face slowly twists into that dopey tight-eyed smile that you love to see. He shrugs with a bashful grin, and man… that was easier than you expected. Who woulda thought? You could have that effect on him?

“How is it?” he asks, leaning on his elbows, with these half-lidded eyes focused on you. it looks like he almost licks his lips. And just like that… you realize you were a fool for thinking you had the upper hand just a moment ago. The way his eyes are trained on you, and his words without any intentions behind them have just ignited a fire in you.

“it’s good,” you say feeling your eyes drawn into him, your heart speeds up, and you don’t know how your voice manages not to stutter when you ask…

“want a taste?”

He gulps, expression unchanging, with a lightning speed flicker of a smirk. Your heart races in those moments you lock eyes, and he gives you one firm nod, before pulling in his bottom lip and breaking eye contact.  You see him turn a shade pink, as he reaches for the cup and takes a very charade-like sip.

What the fuck was that…

Your face is hot, and your core is on fire.

Did we just?...

“I’ll uh, let you get back to work,” he says avoiding your eyes, but offering a polite smile.

Were we…. Firting?

“It’s a little sweet,” he says as an afterthought as he stands up.

You smile, and he gives you a tiny wink over his shoulder as he walks away.

This… this can’t be real.

…

Now that you have a taste for just how fun this could be, you can’t help but think of cryptic texts to send, or something to give you another spark to ignite that flame. It was so simple so easy but staring at Hyunwoo and seeing him reciprocate that tiny little heat wasn’t just intriguing but addicting.

You dreaded the idea of going to that away meet, but you also knew that might be the soonest you could see him. he wasn’t going to drop by out of the blue with coffee all the time, even if that would be pretty nice. And although you guys had been texting, there wasn’t much you could think of at the moment.

It wasn’t until a few days later, as Saturday was approaching that you decided to send him text around 9pm

What are you up to?

Ten minutes must have went by before you got an answer

Huynwoo: Leaving the gym hbu

Just got done studying

That’s all you said and immediately tried to think of something to add, but five more minutes went by and you almost expected him not to answer.

Hyunwoo: Did you think about saturday

You sighed, wishing you would have seen this coming.

At this rate I cant think of anything but studying

You decide to say, hoping to avoid answering the question

Hyunwoo: not even me?

and there it is…

you said you’re leaving the gym, why would I want to think about you all sweaty and stinky?

of course, sweaty was still kinda hot… but he didn’t need to know that

a few minutes go by and your actually kinda nervous that maybe you messed up this whole flirting thing, like maybe he’s actually upset. You start typing something, going as low as to maybe even just say yest to Saturday but then you get two texts that make your mouth hang open.

Hyunwoo: getting in the shower

Hyunwoo: how bout now?

Did Hyunwoo just give you permission to think about him in the shower? And if he’s giving you permission, better yet, suggesting it… is it possible that maybe he too is thinking about you showering… as in you naked? Or is that a stretch? Either way it’s hot.

You have a good idea of what he looks like already. You’ve seen him nearly nude with nothing but his tight swimming bottoms that don’t hide much, completely soaked, hair dripping, skin flushed…

What are you suggesting? 

You ask, although it’s pretty clear, you want a little bit of transparency

Hyunwoo: Since you’re too busy to see me at least think of me 😊

And you want to respond. You want to think of something, but that alone is everything. That alone makes you smile as you head to the shower and feel the water against your skin and you let the night end with that simple request. That small indication, that transcending moment… the flame that lights the fire. And you let yourself enjoy the warmth.

<<previous

[circusheart]

i am trying every day to be a more positive and joyous person and its hard but i think it is worth it in the end. this year is almost over and I accomplished most of my yearly goals months ago so thats good. finances are somewhat strained but nothing that me and my mans can't handle. i am taking care of myself in a lot of ways

there are a lot of things to look forward to:

- im hosting a friendsgiving for the first time ever this year!

- the semester is almost over & next semester I will have finished one of my majors entirely!

- i will be getting a second job over winter break which will be a good way to break up the monotony of the past few months

- ive been doing more art and more worldbuilding in the past two weeks than I have since I was a teenager, and the quality is waaaay better this time around

- i am really accomplished in so many areas of my life - I am a stellar cook/baker, artist, worldbuilder/conlanger, i am enjoyable to be around and i have many people in my life who love me

[sanchosammy]

You’re My Person

Flip Zimmerman is a stubborn man heavily committed to his job and nothing else. That is until you’re hired to work in the file room. With past history between the two of you, a sudden shift in his priorities that he’s fighting against, and drama in a case that unknowingly involves you... Who knows what will happen next.

Note: I swear the other chapters will be so much better than this! And will include waaaay more Flip content! It was just a bit difficult to get the storyline started. I’m trying to do a whole plot for this series! Hopefully someone can enjoy this, much love from ya girl.

Word count:2123 - Chapter One

It was never in the plan to return back to your hometown Colorado Springs. You moved away without any warning at fifteen because of your fathers’ job problems. Though the recent death of your uncle Tommy had left you with his house in your hometown according to his will… Which surprised everyone in the family including yourself. He never had any children of his own but he always considered you one of his. That being said you had completely run out of options after the breakup with a boyfriend a year ago. With no more money to afford an apartment in your last location, this house seemed like the best option for you at this point.

Back here once again.

It was weird being in a place that had hardly changed since your childhood. Now being an adult and seeing the familiar sights that you once saw each day; it was somewhat comforting. This was home before and it could possibly be home again, right?

You allowed yourself to have the first few weeks in town to mourn the death of Uncle Tommy, and to settle in your new house. It felt a bit strange at first moving all of his stuff into one of the spare bedrooms. Tommy had never remarried after his first divorce, so you never worried much about upsetting anyone by changing some of the décor… It was basically a mancave with a few photos of his long-term girlfriend. Of course, you allowed her to take whatever she wanted from his place, you never felt too attached to the physical items but more the house itself.

After that though came the next step… a job. You watched the newspaper religiously looking for something that would help you not drown in debt considering you were hardly able to keep afloat for the past year. And then there it was!

“Colorado Springs Police Department: Looking for someone to work fulltime inside the file-room. Similar position to a secretary. Call for further details.”  

You never considered working for a police department before. It was never something that crossed your mind growing up; but this position sounded so much better than returning to waitressing. When you called for more information on the position the local police chief was the one who wanted to speak with you. He explained that you wouldn’t need any sort of certificate, intense training, or anything truly special for this job. The listing had two requirements: you needed to pass a background check and be able to read… Easy enough considering you’ve never got into any serious trouble in your life.

In the middle of the phone call it had become pretty clear that your uncle was truly your guardian angel. You casually dropped his name and the chief instantly recognized it. They happened to be close friends in recent years and with that knowledge alone, he practically slipped you into the position without a second thought because he “owed that son of a bitch a few favors.”

You laughed that night and said, “considered them paid, sir.”

The first morning at the station you arrived earlier than you meant to. It wasn’t the worst thing because the sweet secretary Brenda introduced herself. She was kind and soft spoken, around forty-two, and the only other woman in the building. According to some sort of immature girl code carried on from high school, this created an instant work friendship between the two of you.

You figured out rather fast that Brenda was real gossip that could talk someone’s ear off and she would if you allowed her to… Which felt somewhat ironic considering she worked for a police station. She mentioned that the rookies were beyond relieved by the news of someone being hired to work in the filing room. Apparently for police officers this was the most dreadful job that came with mockery from their peers.

You were thrilled to have this opportunity though. It was almost stupid how simple the job was. Find a file for the officer and return it when it was no longer being used. Well sometimes you’d need to fill out paperwork but if that was the hardest part of the job then you considered yourself lucky. A reliable paycheck and something interesting to say about yourself at social events. What more could someone ask for?

After talking with Brenda, a man by the name of Ron Stallworth walked you to the file-room. He never made it seem like it was bothersome to be put in charge of helping the new employee though and you felt appreciative for that. He handed over a stack of papers with information about building polices and how to fill out specific paperwork for the future occasions.

Ron was an interesting guy. There was some sort of charm about him; throughout your first conversation he made you feel as if you’ve known each other before. He had an ability to keep the conversation funny and lighthearted. As he showed you around you slid in how nervous you felt in such a new environment.

“I wouldn’t sweat it, (Y/L/N). Once you get the routine down it’ll feel natural.” You recalled his words a few hours later and he was honestly right, the whole routine was somehow calming by how straightforward it was.

The sound of the door being pushed open snapped you out of your thoughts that surrounded earlier this morning. The door was the only bothersome thing about this room, the sound was hard to miss every time someone attempted to move it. You came out from behind the several rows of shelves and nearly died on the spot.

You practically stopped in your steps when you saw him. It’s been so many years since you’ve seen Flip Zimmerman… and somehow you still recognized that face in the blink of an eye. He was one of your closest friends growing up. Throughout school and on most weekends from seven years old to fifteen, the two of you had practically talked every day. Hell, you once had been camping together at fourteen… That was your first kiss.

The memories and feelings nearly overwhelmed you. He looked so different now. The last time you saw Flip was the day before your father moved the family out of town without any warning overnight… You came home and everything was packed up. You never had the chance to say goodbye to anyone. It was practically as if you died in the town, a person who slowly was never mentioned again.

Flip was a man now though. A huge one actually, he was incredibly tall with broad shoulders. A gun holster tightly holding onto them. He now had long hair that covered his big ears but it complimented his rough handsome look. Not only were you shocked by seeing him after all these years but completely blindsided by how attractive he was.

He stepped up to the counter that was separating the two of you still focused on the paper in his hand. You didn’t know what to say, would he recognize you? Would he remember you at all?

“How can I help you, officer?” you attempted to keep your voice steady as you spoke.

“I need a file on a Henry Johnson, case number four-eight-one-five.” You sucked in a breath when you heard his deep voice. The words came out his mouth so smoothly when he spoke. It baffled you how the goofy Flip Zimmerman you knew at fifteen was now the most attractive man you had ever laid eyes on.

“Sure thing, I’ll get right on that.” Your thoughts were racing as you shuffled through the boxes to find the case number. It sounded childish and stupid but this man used to be everything you ever wanted. You cannot explain how much you hated your father for years after not being able to say goodbye to Flip. The childhood feelings were stirring through you with way more intensity than you’d ever want to admit.

What if he doesn’t even remember you? It’s been nearly fourteen years, he probably forgot that entire part of his childhood. Oh God, he could be married… with children! You felt nearly sick with so many thoughts rushing through your mind at once.

As you walked towards him, he finally looked up. His eyes stopped dead on you and didn’t move. He looked serious all of the sudden, his face tense with an emotion you weren’t sure of. He just stared wordlessly as you placed the file on the countertop waiting for some sort of reaction from him.

His eyes being locked in on yours, it was harder for you to look away. You couldn’t. He hadn’t had the chance to say anything to you before a new voice broke the tension between the two of you, and it nearly made you jump out of your skin. “Well, holy shit. I didn’t know they hired a beautiful woman to work in here. I’m Jimmy, what’s your name sweetheart?”

An older man who was standing next to Flip held his hand ready to shake yours. A part of you wondered how long Jimmy had been standing there. Had he really been there the entire time and you’ve been in too much shock to notice?

Your cheeks flushed feeling overwhelmed by so much happening at once, nonetheless you reached out to his hand. “(Y/N) (Y/L/N), you can just call me (Y/N) though. It’s a pleasure to meet you Jimmy.” You nervously bit your lip for a second unsure what to say to Flip, and so you slightly turned towards him.

“Flip Zimmerman?” You asked, the name coming out quiet as if you shouldn’t be saying it. His eyes never left you throughout the interaction with Jimmy, and they remained locked on you now.

“You… (Y/N).” He no longer sounded casual like before when he was reading off the words from the paper in his hand. It was strained and forced. He seemed nearly angry at the sight of you and that made you want to shrivel up and disappear.

His jaw remained tight as if he was nearly grinding his teeth. He just stayed silent looking like a provoked animal who was hurt and ready to bite at the slightest thing that came his way. You picked up on how Jimmy glanced at Flip with a confused look, that was before he picked up the conversation back up in an attempt to ease the uncomfortable feeling in the air.

“How’s the station treatin’ you?”

“I can’t really complain, It’s pretty quiet in here. Anything was better than waitressing if I’m being honest with you.”

Jimmy chuckled in response. Flip snatched the folder off the desk before walking towards the door without a word to you or Jimmy. The feeling of concern creeping in your stomach and the feeling of queasiness returned. He seemed so upset to see you, flat out disgusted and angry. You’d never had that kind of reaction out of anyone… it felt awful.

“Don’t worry about him, we’re just busy with a new case.” Jimmy commented, noticing the tension left behind in place of Flip. He seemed nice for attempting to act as if this was a normal reaction.

You dryly forced out a laugh out of politeness. “I, uh, we know each other. Childhood friends.” You didn’t know how to explain his reaction because you didn’t understand it yourself, what did he want from you?

You attempted to shift the subject “Case?”

“We’re detectives.”

You hummed in response and picked up some folders that needed to be placed back in order. “You’ll have to tell me about it sometime, sounds interesting.”

Jimmy followed your hint which you were so thankful for and knocked on the counter before heading towards the door, saying over his shoulder. “Glad to. We’ve got plenty of stories to tell.”

As you listened to the door close behind Jimmy, you sat down in the desk chair trying to settle your nerves. You don’t know what reaction you hoped for but that was surely not the one. You had never seen Flip so angry; I mean sure he had fights with people at school but this was pure anger… directed at you. You knew he may have been somewhat bitter about you leaving but you assumed being an adult he wouldn’t have held onto that anger to such an extreme.

You wondered if it would be worth trying to talk this out with him. It felt wrong inside knowing that someone you cared so much about in the past nearly hated the sight of you.

Well, work just became more interesting…

Series dedicated to the person who is most supportive in my fanfics... and in my life. I love you dearly, @warrentrash​

[fallingsunflower]

BESTIES I'm so sorry - I hit my post limit waaaay earlier than expected! Some of y'all joined me on my backup account, (which I also hit the limit on lmao), but I'm back now.

I had over 400 asks to go through and I'll give you a warning that not all of them will appear (either because they were old or because they were topics we already answered). But here is a giant list of asks I compiled for you from when I wasn't allowed to post lol they don't really require my response but I found them entertaining to read. Hope you don't mind I've just put them all together in one post. It's also to save me from using up my 250 posts lol

"this is all so embarrassing like my god imagine when the promotion of the movie starts how horrible it will be for other people who made the movie too"

"SELL UR TICKETS TODAY WATCH THE MOVIE ILLEGALLY, next article we’ll be talking about these two assholes filing for bankruptcy. cheap harlots. don’t mess with your meal ticket."

"hate to say it but i defs think they‘ve got a sliver of the gp’s attention for five minutes"

"I am scanning through all these photos looking for just ONE where he looks like he's smiling and enjoying this. It's so crazy."

"I guess those are all the pics we’re getting right now. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they finish the Italy trip off with one more major Backgrid photo shoot."

"Olivia’s trending on Twitter but not Harry. Like it’s obvious who’s getting the PR gains here!"

"If they dont give us a 6 month or more break after this im gonna need them to pay for my therapy bills from now on bc of this damage no joke let me crawl back into my shit hole now 😑"

"The palce they at is referred to as “tuscanys best-kept secret”. Everyone point and laugh."

"she looks like she’s enjoying all of this. he looks like he wants to push her into the water."

"a few people said he’s keeping his shorts pulled up or covered in all the shots because of the Nike branding which they ask to not get photographed. What a setup."

"Man I knew the second those Tomdaya pics came out of them kissing and how they were trending so fast that HO were going to do something to 'top' them. Its pathetic /// FRRR. she probably hoped for the positive reactions that people gave tom & zendaya but unfortunately, miss girl got the opposite. when will they realize that nobody, but his fans, find them cute lmao can they just stop, it’s so embarrassing 😭😭😭"

"He really out here doing this with someone who almost old enough to be his mother, shiiiiiiiit. Sickening. Sick of these 2 for real now, i was fine with the good old blurry back content and whatnot but this? Crossing a line here nobody wanna see that shit and knowing how people feel goooooood damn."

"I aboslutely despise kendall for obvious reason but this one is actually worse than the hendall one bc you couldnt really see as much as now dis gos tang."

"She’s also wearing the cross necklace again. I feel like if that was so meaningful to her she wouldn’t risk loosing it in the ocean 🙄"

"guys have eyes on tmz. I Do not have tw now. they were so aggressive towards them"

"I'm sorry for Harry because you lost your damn mind bro"

"Now why the hendall pics are better ?? NO SHADE BUTT"

"I’m genuine confused like do they actually want dwd to flop or what? I just threw up in my mouth I sure as hell ain’t gonna watch their sorry ass movie. Is it supposed to flop? I’m so confused!"

"The match was not interesting enough so they cooked up something different especially since people were pointing out how they staged the PDA. And the page 6 article is out already!!!"

"Who the fuck thought this was a good idea"

"Is it just me or does harry's face looks really blank for someone out on a Romantic date with his alleged girlfriend.?"

"if thats it, harry hasn’t no game🤣🤣🤣🤣"

"so this is why the tabloids weren’t talking about the match pics! they didn’t have any value on their own. now with the yacht pics? my oh my they’re gonna get the clicks of their lives. her team was prob like “wait a sec we got something for y’all”"

"If they were models hired to act like a couple they wouldn't get the job......"

"Not them starring right at the camera in some of them help make it less obvious will you"

"HENDALL🤣🤣🤣is that uuuu"

"Harry’s ass crack thought it should make an appearance too."

"What a great day for team PR, happy Monday you guys! Let's pop the champagne 🍾🍾🍾🍾 P. S. They both need acting lessons, tbh"

"It’s quite interesting how everything that’s happened before I’ve seen predicted weeks/and in advance on blogs or fan accounts. Like his life has always been so predictable but damn"

"He was hiding the Nike check. That’s why his swim trucks are rolled up to an absurd degree even for him. He knew he was gonna get photographed."

"What I’m noticing is wether people like them together or not, everyone’s saying they’re aren’t a hot couple…there was more chemistry in the Kendall pics by far"

"i also find it weird that he’s not smiling in any of the pictures and it would be one thing if there were five pics from ten minutes of time but there are like 70 from an obvious extended period of time"

"It's interesting everyone involved is being Team Try Hard. Yet the universe says no. The last set of pics, Tom and Zendaya overshadowed. People even paid more attention to Angelina and the Weekend (even if business possibly). Fast forward to today and all this fakery only for Gwen/Blake to tie the knot. His team needs to get a clue. She needs to go. Harry needs to clean this up fast."

"Ok i looked at one hugging pic and one kidding pic and they could not look more stagged. It looks unatural ,strange and weird from all angles. You can clearly see from their body posture they are posing for a photographer from backgrid."

"Like I said in my ask a couple days ago the day we get kissing pics is the day that I believe this is all a stunt and I was right. They took a page out of hendall 2016 and it’s looks so forced and awkward. Hendall did it better cause at prater they had chemistry. They must be scared this movie is going to tank because they are pushing this way too hard"

"Real, PR, or whatever relationship it is, they’re fucking boring. You are on a yacht in Italy, can’t you have a little bit of fun? I can’t believe how boring they are, I just can’t. Even if it is just PR, can’t you make a fucking dumb joke so you can laugh or something? Do they have anything in common like to talk about or discuss or make fun of? I’d literally killed myself if I looked like that in a relationship. They are not communicating in any photos we’ve got. They are just walking, or sitting. Even when they hold hands or kiss or hug, they never communicate."

"okay but did ya’ll see the pic of her diving in?? i can’t stop laughing 😭😭😭😭"

"they look horrifically awkward i cannot believe what harry is doing"

"“HEY PAPS COME GET A PIC OF US KISSING TO MAKE OUR RELATIONSHIP MORE BELIEVABLE!!!!!”"

"his ass is hanging out and her bra is almost off what in the hell"

"Hqs on a yacht like that? Mhmhmhm hmmmmm / I bloody well hope that’s not the extend of their acting. That’s dire! 🤦‍♀️"

"this is literally the most predictable “couple” to exist. first, people talked about them showing up the game, and they did. second, people were just talking about kissing pics... AND THEY JUST CAME OUT LMAOOOOOO"

"annnnnnnnnnnnnd there it is. YOU KNOW THEY KNEW THERE WAS A CAMERA."

"ok but where’s the pda or did that get made up? cause these have to be the most awkward pics i’ve ever seen which makes me feel better 😂 also i can feel the meme’s coming with the one of her diving off the boat"

"I call it how I see it they are both assholes and full of shit. Like do your fake kiss somewhere else I do not want to see it!"

"Can they at least act like they’re having a good time?"

"hahahaha I can't stop laughing with that photo of O it's literally her knowing she's being photographed and diving into a professional swimmer style😭"

"the pics are so organic that Olivia is looking straight at the pap before kissing Harry."

"he looked a lot happier with kendall in their yacht pics compared to today’s. i know that was PR too, but he was very smiley and seemed talkative. with this girl it’s like the complete opposite lmao."

[ellaenchanting]

Yet Another Prompt Story

Original prompt by @darrfall: “A an attractive but arrogant supermarket shopper refuses to wear a mask. A nearby hypnotist decides to take a stand for public health.” I didn’t do exactly this because the plotbunny hopped another way- I hope you still like!

"Holy fuck I need a drink," said Massy, collapsing back in her plastic chair. She had arrived early that morning to set up their table outside the grocery store with the other volunteers. Deb, their group leader, had sewn a huge “World Hypnotism Day: Hypnotist Community Service!” banner that hung in front of them. (There was even Deb’s favorite large, ostentatious eagle decal sewn onto the side.) Now the sun was slowly setting and only she and Theo were left.

"One more hour," replied Theo. "Then we can go home." They took a long drag off their cigarette.

"That last guy was really hard, T. I must have talked to him for 30 minutes. I showed him the fake 'Trump Supports Wearing Masks to Cuck the Libs' flyer. I told him about  pro-mask Bible passages. I even described his mother getting sick and dying as vividly as I could! Nothing.”

“What finally worked?” asked Theo.

“I had to convince him he was too important to do his own grocery shopping. I helped him sign up for deliveries from his phone." She took a swig from her water bottle. “This would be a lot easier if we didn’t have to stay 6 feet apart from them.”

Theo chuckled. "That’s a good tactic, though. You should have done that one first."

"Yeah, wish I had thought about it this morning. At least I'm getting really good at my quick inductions. I've never really used those in my practice but- they're kind of fun once you get the hang of them! It reminds me of when we were kids, playing around with hypnosis and figuring out new things. I'm definitely a better street hypnotist than I thought I’d be. How about you? How have your last few people been?"

Theo smiled. "You know Ms. Wilshire, our old school librarian?"

"The one who almost got us banned when she caught us making out in the library after school? Yeah I remember her." She wrinkled her nose.

"She came by earlier while you were dealing with that wiry guy. She was completely maskless. She even had a little bullshit card that said she had a religious exemption to wearing one."

"Oh, Those are the WORST." groaned Massy. 

"Anyway, I was going to try something else but then I had a hunch. One I’ve had sine school, really. I told her that the free mask we gave her smelled just like pussy."

Massy laughed. "WHAT?! You didn't!""

Theo nodded, also laughing. "I might have implied it smelled like Ms. Smith’s pussy. Not so directly but- her brain seemed to get the hint. She turned beet red I was afraid she would collapse! But-  she wore the mask all through the store.”

“This is why we’re friends,” said Massy.

“Even better,” said Theo. “ She dropped her receipt when she left. It looks like she bought a ‘back massager’ in there too.” They smiled widely. 

"Bless her cold, withered heart!" exclaimed Massy, still laughing. "Hopefully it will do her some good."

"Here's hoping," said Theo.

Massy scanned the parking lot. Everyone had masks on. Good. She needed a break. "So has this new girl Heather discovered what a good hypnotist you are? Shown her any tricks?” She waggled her eyebrows. 

Theo smiled. "She’s been begging me for stories about when we were dating. She’s WAAAAY into it. She was reluctant to try being hypnotized for a while and I didn’t want to pressure her into anything but- remember the first week of senior year? I showed her that one two months ago. She couldn’t stop talking about it for WEEKS.  "

Massy remembered it particularly well. "Mmm that was good. l’m glad she’s appreciating you.” She was glad Theo had someone she connected with, even if they hadn’t really worked out as a couple.

Theo must have noticed something in her gaze. (”Hypnotists,” Massy thought later.) "You know, I've been telling her ALL about us and how we  both learned hypnosis together and all the things we would do. Heather mentioned she'd be interested in seeing some of your tricks too. She also told me something about having two voices in her ears" Their hand was just lightly tracing Massy's.

"Oh," Massy blushed. "I don’t want to make things awkward for either of you...” 

“She might have given me explicit permission to ask. If, y’know, it was something you’d be into. Want me to tell her you’re coming over for dinner tonight? It would make us both really happy.” 

Massy looked at Theo and felt her words spill out. “Well, absolutely, Heather’s beautiful. I..uhh.. wonder if after we co-topped her she might be interested in bottoming with someone else too? Because it’s been a WHILE and...”

"That can be arranged," Theo said confidently. Then she started slowly leaning in to Massy, her eyes shining. "In fact, I wonder what it's like for you to know that all of those old triggers still work and you can drop for me any moment no.."

And with the kiss, Massy felt herself drop. and sink. and let go.  There were words in her ear reminding her how good this felt and how well she was responding and she just drifted  on those words until she heard a SNAP

And she came back to herself.

Theo was smirking at her, entirely self-satisfied. "Happy World Hypnotism Day, babe."

Massy struggled to collect her thoughts when they both saw a maskless man in a MAGA hat across the parking lot. "Don't worry, I'll get this one," Theo said, walking off. "You should recover We’ll talk more.”  They winked.

Massy checked her watch. 

Only 45 minutes left.

[mytrashs-blog]

Movie Star- part 2!

Pairing: BFF! Tom Holland x Reader

Warnings: She’s a fluffy one... but also not straight away

Summary: You’re trying to save your friendship but the plan changes

Word Count: 3,071 words so buckle up

A/N: This is the last part I will be writing on this and that’s final, cause I had THE hardest time trying to write fluff... I’m an angst author, what can I say? I did love the final result of this, so I hope you enjoy! (Please if you do like it, reblog it so it can be read by more and more people).

Part one is here!!!, and here is my masterlist in case you want to read something else

(Gif isn’t mine, credits go to the owner!)

You’re sitting on the couch, two popcorn bowls sitting on the coffee table, because you like spicy sauce on yours and he finds soggy popcorn disgusting, there’s also two bottles one coke and one water, because you can’t stand fizzy drinks, but it’s his cheat day so he’ll take advantage. You’re both on the same couch, but you’re in your side, he’s in his, there’s two blankets and there’s no touching, not even accidentally, not even casually, none at all.

Frankly you’re even surprised you agreed to see him again after that one time you went out for coffee with him to come up with a peace treaty. It’s not that you don’t want things to go back to normal, it’s just that you don’t know what “normal” is for both of you anymore, you’re very sure there is no such thing after all the drama you went through a year ago. But you’re willing to try.

The movie has been going on for a while and you haven’t exchanged a word for the whole time, you intentionally decided to play a good movie so that you wouldn’t get the chance to start talking, so Pulp Fiction is playing, funny enough it’s your first time watching it and you’ve never been a big fan of Tarantino’s films, but you haven’t let Tom (your former best friend) see you yawning under your blanket. Thank Lord your thoughts drift away unitl the movie ends, but then you start getting anxious, you’ve been dreading this moment because you just know he’s gonna tell you something. And he does.

“What’s wrong? You didn’t say a word in like two hours and that’s not very you from you” he offers in an insecure manner, and that’s not very Tom from Tom.

“There’s… nothing wrong, Tom… I just don’t know what to say to you anymore. I don’t know who you are, we’ve been out of each other’s lives for a year. Last time we actually spent time together we destroyed our friendship. And then we attacked each other for the months that followed. We haven’t had a proper conversation in more than a year, A YEAR. And I’m not saying I don’t want us to be friends anymore, I just don’t know how to start.”

He stares at you for a few seconds, you can see he’s calculating his next dialogue, he really doesn’t want to fuck up the babies steps you’ve taken to fix things, and you don’t either so you wait for him.

“We…” he starts but soon stops again, thinking once more of an apropriate way to say things “We can’t really go back to the way things were before, because we were doing a lot of things wrong to begin with. I don’t want to have what we had before… I want to start fresh. You don’t know the new me and I don’t know the new you. So let’s get to know each other.”

That was the corniest speech you’ve ever heard. If you weren’t so moved by it, you’d be laughing at his face, but instead of doing that, you tried to follow along with the corny theme, so you reached your hand out for him to strech it and said “Hi, my name’s (Y/N), nice to meet you”.

He did chuckle at that but he took your hand regardless, offering one of those relaxed smiles you haven’t seen in over a year “I’m Tom, nice to meet you too”.

You kept hanging out a lot more often since that day, things were picking up a nice pace and you were getting more and more comfortable around him everyday. Sure, things changed, but they changed for the better. He made sure to take you to a lot of the fun things he did sometimes and you even invited him to the recital of the dance academy where you teach, which was a mistake because he had to smile and take pictures all afternoon with little girls and a bunch of moms… and the ocassional dad who actually cared about his role on spider-man and not only his beautiful biceps. Not that you were paying attention to the fact that he was getting buff again to reprise his role, no, he’s your friend, you don’t look at those things. You noticed because the moms noticed.

It was nice to fall back into your habit of late night phone calls to tell each other the latest gossip around your lives, you also missed sending him the most random, wackyest gifs at the most inconvenient of times and you missed him offering to drive you to places, maybe even go buy your groceries together.

Soon enough the press found out you were hanging out again and you were not safe from paparazzi for a solid amount of two weeks until it stopped being interesting, but of course half of the stories were written along the lines of “From bff to enemies to lovers? Is Tom Holland dating long time bestie (Y/N)?” and just like you did all those years ago when he was just becoming Hollywood’s newest hearthrobe you got together to laugh about what the tabloids were writing.

There was only one problem. You kinda were catching feelings.

It’s just that he had changed so much. He wasn’t mean aymore, to anyone and it’s not even that he went back to being the nice guy he was before the fame, he was even better, because he had matured so much and he knew just how much he meant to the people around him, so he made sure to let them know how grateful he was of having them around and it was so nice to see him become such a well rounded man. Regardless of all that, you know that it is a very stupid idea to come up like “Yo, I have a big fat crush on you” right now, because… you just got back to being friends! so you resolve to keep your mouth shut and your feelings at bay.

This one day Tom texted you asking if you wanna grab a bite, he’s at a table reading nearby so you accept and you get sushi because you’re basic like that, but he’s acting all weird today. He’s been staring at you for a little too long now and his gaze has been falling to your lips a few times now, which would be less weird if you weren’t currently stuffing your face with a salmon sushi roll.

You’ve been trying to get him to be less weird, asking about the script, his cast mates and all, but he’s just not cooperating and just keeps doing this thing that he does when he’s nervous where he justs sits there all stiff and plays with whatever he has in his hands, which right now it’s chopsticks and that makes it way too annoying, because it makes a lot of noise, so you decide enough is enough and just go straight against him. “Thomas “some middle name that you hate me calling you” Holland, what on earth is going on with you today?”

He abruptly stops with the chopsticks and you’re so grateful for a second, but then his attention shifts to his watch and it’s pressing your buttons pretty terribly, but then he decides he can actually talk. “Sorry uh… I’ve just been thinking… about… life?”

“What the hell do you mean? And don’t give me any bullshit answer cause you know I’ll know.”

You see him get visibly flustered, but he takes a deep breath to talk, “I’m just… I have been thinking…”

“Oh really? first time I take it” you laugh to lighten the mood that suddenly got terribly heavy.

“Oh, shut up… No, but really. It’s just that we’ve come such a long way, not only recently but overall in the course of the, what? 17 years? that we’ve known each other, you know? and I have been thinking that these past months our relationship has changed so much…”

Is he…?

“And I just think that we’re at a place where we could just try…”

Shit, he is.

“To go somewhere new, you know?”

Holy fuck… he most definetely is!

He falls silent and is looking at you waiting for your reaction, but you’re so shocked that you just haven’t even thought about what you’re going to say to him!

“When you say ‘somewhere new’ what does that mean?” you go for a question, just to get things clear as water before totally reacting.

“I just mean that.. I’ve realized just how much I like you, for real. No safety net here. I want to be with you and I can’t go for another 17 years pretending that I don’t”

For all you know you might just have choked on your sushi, but you haven’t so you decide to swallow whatever is still in your mouth and it’s hard, but mainly because air has just left your lungs. “I… don’t know, I mean… I can’t deny that I have felt that way, but I’m scared. Like what if it doesn’t work out? It’s been hard enough to go back to being friends after a ‘friend break up’ imagine if it was a real, real break up? Would we be able to recover?”

“I know. I’m aware that this is not a simple thing to do, I don’t expect you to just say yes and jump right into my arms. That’s just not your style. Do you want to maybe sleep on it?”

And you do. It’s the worst night of your life though. You’re restless all night, just can’t get your brain to shut up. How are you supposed to “sleep on it” if there is no sleep involved? You roll on you side for what feels like the millionth time and you see the time… it’s almost three in the morning and you haven’t been able to even blink. It’s just… You want to be with Tom so bad, you do! But you also know that you’ve never been good at relationships, they just never last, and then there’s the fact that you have extreme trust issues because almost every guy you’ve ever been with has cheated on you, and you don’t want be paranoid and crazy around Tom, but you just know at some point you won’t be able to hold it in. And for fucks sake! He’s an actor! He will have to kiss other girls for work and… you just don’t want to even think about it… but also, those girls are waaaay prettier than you are.

But on the good side, no one knows Tom like you do, he has never cheated on any girl ever, he’s a real gentleman, and you already have your fingerprint stored in his phone and you do know all his social media passwords which he doesn’t even know how to use so there’s no way he notices the thousands of girls sliding into his dm’s, you also have already met all his friends and family so you can skip all that awkward part of new relationships. How weird would it be to kiss Tom?

He does have very nice lips and he’s constantly using chapstick so they must be very soft, and you’ve seen him kissing actresses before and they’ve never complained about him being a bad kisser, and it’s not like you never thought about that. To be completely honest you’ve imagined how it would be to do way more than just kissing your best friend, which is normal… right? everyone fantazises about their best friend at least once in their life. Difference being that you spent about seven years doing so, if not more.

So if you’ve been in love with him for so long now, and you were able to forgive him for being an asshole and then he changed for the better after thinking he’d lose you then why not give it a shot? It can’t go wrong. You’ve already proved you’d rather die than not have each other in your lives, so even if it’s doesn’t work as a romantic thing you may still be able to save your friendship, right?

You were finally able to fall asleep at 4 a.m. and unsurprisingly, you did dream about you and Tom during your normal movie night, only you’re all curled up on each other, one of his hands is soothingly running through your hair and the other one is on your waist but slipping dangerously low, he ocassionally places a kiss on top of your head and you just feel extremely relaxed, it’s such a bliss of a dream, but then you wake up.

You want to text him the second you wake up, but you still want to keep thinking about it, just because you don’t want to say yes based on a really nice and domestic dream you had, so you make yourself a really nice breakfast and head to work which involves chill dancing around all day, and dance was always a nice way to analize things, at least to you. Also, not thinking is the perfect way of deciding wether you want something or not. By the time you’re done for the day, you’re ready to text Tom.

You ask him to meet you at yours as soon as he has some free time, and around an hour later, the doorbell rings and it’s him. God, you haven’t been this nervous over a guy since middle school, it is borderline ridiculous, but you gotta keep it together. It’s just Tom. Tommy, the guy that wears Hello Kitty pajamas and ties his hair in tiny pony tails when it starts getting too long, he’s the same guy that will regularly asks you how to spell “though” correctly. Just Tom.

You open the door and he looks just as nervous as you are, but you let him in and, as if he’s never been here before, he just stands there by the front door until you ask him to go to the living room. He plays with his hands and tries to clean off the sweat that he probably has all over his hands in his trousers, and you do the same. Just to be safe.

You’re sitting on oposite ends of the room, both of you visibly giddy and jumpy, but you’re so silent that a needle falling would be audible in the whole room. So you try to speak.

“H-how was your day, Tom? Everything okay?”

“Yeah… all normal, pretty chill. You?”

“Normal, just the regular.”

And you fell back into silence for a bit over a minute that felt like years. Unitl you decided you needed to speak again.

“So.. about the thing you told me yesterday…”

“Yes, tell me. Did you think about it?”

“Yeah, I did. You know, we’ve been through a lot together and you know that. I am extremely afraid of losing you forever and I need to tell you that being in good terms with you is my number one priority.”

Tom’s face stays serious as he listens to you, his hands are clasped together to avoid fidgeting, but he hasn’t noticed that his leg is rapidly bouncing up and down to compensate  on that field.

“But even with all that I just keep thinking that it just makes sense, you know? You and me together.”

He looks up at you and his eyes are glowing with hope.

“I… have been in love with you for such a long time and I feel like the longer that time goes by, the harder it is to bear it. So I want to jump in full force. Who cares if it doesn’t work?”

He smiles bright now, he even tries to bite his lip to contain it from looking so absurdly stupid, but he doesn’t. He looks just as excited and ready to do this as you do.

“We’ve already been through the worst case scenario and we managed to salvage and make it even better, so I think that even if this doesn’t end up being a bad idea… we’ll be able to stay together anyway.”

And the room falls back into silence, but this one it not overwhelming, the atmosphere feels a lot more hopeful and excited. Tom is just looking at you with a smile on his face and you are looking straight back, feeling anxious about the uncertainty of what is supossed to happen now.

At that moment, Tom stands up and walks towards you, never breaking the eye contact. He extends his hand for you to take it and stand up, so now you’re facing each other, mere inches away, you’re so close you can see the little freckles that decorate the bridge of his nose, and looking in his eyes you can see that he has tiny speckles of darker brown around in his irises.

“I’m gonna kiss you now, is that okay?” he tells you, voice barely audible, you doubt anyone else would’ve been able to hear it, but that makes it so indulgently intimate, so insead of nodding, you decide to say yes in an equally low volume even though you’re the only two people in the house, you want this moment to be yours and for it to stay only in your own tiny bubble.

He smiles before slowly leaning in, time goes painfully slow, but you’re almost unbothered about that, you want to cherish the moment as much as you can. He stops when his lips are barely brushing yours, so you take that last step and lean to seal the remaining space between you two.

You had been holding hands until now that his hands want to move to your waist, but you need something to keep you leveled, cause everything is spining so you place yours on his forearms. Kissing Tom made you feel so stupid. Why did it take you so long to do this? This is clearly where you had to be all this time. His lips feel like coming back home after a long and miserable day, he feels like home. This moment feels like putting in the finishing piece in the puzzle and feeling like all that you went through was worth it, because it gave you this. and that is all that matters.

...

Tagging some people to avoid the flop: @caeruleum-in-caritate-lupus, @softstarkk, @peterparkerbabyy, @dottirose, @legit-fandom-trash, @carostar2020, @appreciating-chase-brody, @mvmakki @madmadmilk @hollandrecs @starksparker @sunshinehollandd, @thatswhaticallfanfiction​, @rachaeldonnaspiteri1​, @writing-appreciation​, @allieandcoffee​, @ladythena​, 

[kissjane]

OH NO THEY WERE ROOMMATES / Very much unshort fic

#14 from this prompt list (I had to scroll waaaay down to get this link...)

Listen, for some reason these last few prompts from the list don’t wanna play nice. I have no idea whether this is any good, but at least it’s finished. I’ll settle for it at this point. Five to go!

We’re roommates but we’re falling for each other

It had started as a quick white lie, to get the boys off his back. They kept pushing him to go talk to any boy who looked at him a bit too long, or to give his number to basically any barista or waiter ever, or to go on a blind date with Basile’s cousin.

So Lucas had told them he had a thing going with his roommate.

Which was definitely not true.

But not because Lucas didn’t want to.

He’d had a crush on the handsome boy since he met him when he first came to look at the apartment with Manon. It wasn’t the biggest one he’d seen, nor the cheapest, but it had, well, other advantages, so to speak, so Lucas had been quick to co-sign the lease. If Manon suspected his reasons, she hadn’t said anything – but she had smiled when Lucas had come up with his fib.

Sadly, his fantasies of cooking together with his roommate, watching movies cuddled up on the couch, and slowly falling in love, had turned out to be a pipe dream. Eliott was mostly in his room. On occasions, he liked to blast dubstep. Lucas had soon figured out that the dubstep meant that Eliott was, uh, entertaining. The number of girls Lucas had walked in on early in the morning, before his first coffee, was staggering, and had quickly led to him putting up all his vague romantic ideas of his roommate.

But by the time Lucas was forced to come to the sad conclusion that the cutest boys were always straight, he’d already kinda committed to the story he’d told his friends, and so now he was stuck with it.

So every time he fantasized about another domestic moment of fluff with Eliott, he told himself it was for a good purpose. The girls were always bugging him for details about what he and his roommate were up to. They had declared them to be made for each other, and the discussions about their ship name were still in full vigor with no hint of them losing interest any time soon.

So Lucas provided.

He and Eliott had cooked pizza from scratch together, getting covered in flour, and accidentally setting off the smoke alarm because they were too busy making out to pay attention to the oven. Lucas ignored Emma’s eager question as to whether they had showered together to get rid of the flour dust.

Another time, he and Eliott had gone grocery shopping together, and Eliott had spun the cart on which Lucas had been standing so fast Lucas had fallen off, luckily into a pile of cardboard boxes. He’d still made Eliott kiss it better on each and every faint bruise as soon as they’d gotten home.

Or the time when they had held a Star Wars marathon, arguing about who was sexier, the young Han Solo or Dameron Poe, when Eliott had turned off the tv and complained Lucas was forcing him to compare a bunch of actors, when Eliott clearly had the sexiest boy of all in his arms.

The girls cooed at every concoction he fed them. In all honesty, it became hard for Lucas to remember none of this had actually happened – until the next scantily clad girl tiptoed through the hall on the way to the bathroom, bleary faced from the lack of sleep.

So after a few months of happy bliss, Lucas felt he had no choice but to break things off with Eliott. It became pretty painful to come up with lovey-dovey tales, and his fantasies were more and more often getting into… less family-friendly territory, which he wasn’t about to share with everybody.

His friends were a bit astonished at the news, and Lucas supposed it was weird, since he never even hinted at any trouble in paradise, but he shrugged it off, saying it was amicable, a joint decision, and he wasn’t even going to move out.

The downside was obviously that, after a few wonderful weeks of peace and quiet when everybody was coming around to the end of Lucas’ first relationship, Basile’s cousin came back into the picture.

Lucas tried to hold off, but he had no excuses left. And anyway, Eliott was playing dubstep almost every night, although Lucas hadn’t really encountered any pretty girls lately, and it grated Lucas’ nerves. It was time to admit he would never have Eliott, all his beautiful daydreams notwithstanding, so he might as well give somebody else a chance.

So he went out with Marc a few times. He was kind, and he had grey eyes, which Lucas recently discovered he had a thing for, so that was a plus. He was also a bit boring, and he tutted at Lucas disapprovingly when the latter tried to ride the bus without validating his ticket, but other than that, he was pretty okay.

And that’s how he found himself on the couch in his flat one evening. Marc and he had watched a movie – Lucas had nixed Marc’s suggestion of Star Wars vehemently – to the soft background music of dubstep coming out of Eliott’s room. It had been weird at first, but it had grounded Lucas somehow – Eliott was never going to be interested, and it was best if he remembered that and didn’t forget that Marc was here, and rather into him if the heated make-out session they were currently engaged in was to be believed.

Neither he nor Marc noticed the sudden appearance of Eliott in the living room, until the later coughed apologetically.

“Uh, sorry… I didn’t realize you had, uh, company, Lucas,” he stammered.

Lucas immediately let go of Marc, and blushed, then mentally berated himself. Eliott himself probably had a girl in his bed, so why would Lucas not be allowed to bring anybody over?

“Uh, y-yeah, no big deal,” he said, as soon as his vocal cords functioned again. “Uh, Marc, this is Eliott, my roommate. Eliott, this is Marc, my – uh…”

“Lucas’ boyfriend,” Marc cut in, a bit smugly. They’d never discussed their status, but Lucas supposed Marc had just made it clear where he was standing. He didn’t know how he felt about it.

Eliott stared at the two of them, his eyes wide. Lucas didn’t know what was going on.

“Uh, is this – is this a problem? We could go to my room, if you want…”

He hoped the problem wasn’t that he had brought home a boy. He realized he’d never talked with Eliott about his sexuality.

Eliott seemed to be slapped out of whatever daze he’d been in.

“Oh! Oh, no,” he quickly replied. “Please, it’s no problem at all. I’ll just… grab a drink and leave you guys, then… Bye, uh, Martin?”

“Marc,” Marc answered pleasantly, pulling Lucas close.

Lucas watched Eliott retreat into the kitchen – he whipped his eyes away as soon as he realized they were trained on the other boy’s ass in his tight jeans – and then returned his close-lipped smile when he passed them again on the way back to his room. The volume of the dubstep was turned on fractionally, and Marc wanted to continue the heavy petting, but somehow, Lucas wasn’t really into it, and though Marc clearly was angling for an invitation to spend the night, Lucas didn’t extend one.

He said goodnight to Marc, and went to his room. He sat still on his bed, his knees pulled up, his arms around himself, wondering how on earth he had gotten himself in this situation. Maybe he needed to move out anyway. It was clear his crush on Eliott, stupid and one-sided as it was, hadn’t died, and maybe it wouldn’t as long as he lived here.

A knock on the door brought him back into the here and now.

At his “Yes?”, the door opened, and Eliott stood right at the threshold, his hands wrung together.

“Uh, Lucas, I was wondering… Uhm, please don’t take this the wrong way, but, uh… I thought about earlier, and maybe, if it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle, I would indeed prefer it if you went to your room with your, uh, boyfriend in the future.”

The last words came out in a rush, and Lucas wondered if he heard them right.

“Excuse me?”, he uttered, painfully polite.

Eliott mumbled the same sentence as before, this time so low Lucas had to strain to hear it, but there was no doubt Eliott was actually saying what he thought he had been saying.

“Are you saying I can’t bring a guy over to my own flat, that I pay rent for, unless I go to my room with him? What the actual fuck?”

Eliott blushed.

“It’s just… You don’t have to, obviously, but maybe it would be easier for both of us…”

Lucas glared.

“Easier for both of us? How do you figure that, exactly?”

“I mean, you wouldn’t have to worry about me walking in on you…”

“I wouldn’t have to worry about that?” Lucas really was upset. Just because Eliott wasn’t interested in him, didn’t mean he had to be such a douchebag about other guys maybe being so. “Are you sure it’s not just about you? Your straight innocent eyes can’t handle two guys making out, is that it?”

A blush appeared on Eliott’s cheeks, and Lucas deflated. So Eliott was indeed uncomfortable with the idea. The moving out plan became more and more alluring by the minute.

It was silent for a long beat, and then Eliott spoke up, enunciating clearly.

“I’m not straight.”

“Huh? Don’t give me crap. I’ve seen most of your one-night stands. Very female, the lot of them.”

“Yeah, I know…” Eliott chuckled a bit self-deprecatingly. “I’m pan, though. I’ve been with guys too, just not…recently.”

In all honesty, the Lucas of a few months ago would have been elated to hear this. Right now, however, it was more a question of adding insult to injury. So Eliott was into other boys, just not into Lucas. It was this epiphany that drove him to bitterness.

“Yeah, well. At least girls have been doing it for you, then.”

“What? What do you mean?” Eliott sounded genuinely confused.

“All the dubstep. Have you even spent one night alone this month?”

When Eliott froze, Lucas almost wanted to take back his words. Eliott didn’t owe him any accountability.

“Uh, I’m sorry about the dubstep. I haven’t been seeing anybody for a while, but I… I kinda kept playing the music. I don’t know why.”

He was not looking at Lucas as he spoke, and he fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt.

“Oh. Well, it’s none of my business anyway, so, uh –”

“What if I wanted it to be?”

Silence.

“What?”

“What if I wanted it to be your business?”, Eliott repeated. He sounded unsure, but he stared straight at Lucas.

Lucas didn’t answer, sitting on his bed open-mouthed. What was Eliott trying to say? The other boy took a deep breath, and gingerly sat down next to Lucas, far enough not to touch him, but close enough to feel his warmth.

“I, uh, I brought over only girls recently because there was this one boy I was trying to get out of my head. And when that didn’t work, I didn’t want him to suspect anything so I kept playing music. It’s stupid, I know.”

Whoa. Lucas tried to unpack all of that in a logical manner, but he failed spectacularly.

“You played dubstep so I would think you had a girl over?”

Eliott nodded.

“And you brought only girls home because…”

“Because boys weren’t doing it for me, not when they weren’t you. Not that the girls were working out, either.”

There was honesty and vulnerability in his voice, and in his eyes.

“But why… why didn’t you just talk to me? You avoided me all the time… We hardly ever even spoke before now…”

“I know. I just, I crushed so hard on you, from the moment you came to see the flat. But I had no idea you were into guys… I thought the girl you were with was your girlfriend. You two seemed so affectionate.”

“Oh, uh, no, she’s one of my best friends, and an ex-roommate, actually. But I’m gay, so, uh…”

Eliott sighed.

“Yeah, I figured that out now. And it sucks, because maybe, if I had just made a move sooner… But it doesn’t matter. You have a boyfriend, and I’ll have to learn to live with that.”

Oh crap. Lucas had forgotten all about Marc.

“I wouldn’t call it that… We went out a couple of times… Mostly because it seems I was applying your tactic to try to get over a certain somebody I was crushing on… Somebody I too thought was straight, what with all the girls he was bringing home…”

He let his words die off, looking at Eliott.

It took him a few seconds, but then he turned towards Lucas, shifting slightly closer. Their legs touched, and it burned Lucas through Eliott’s jeans and his sweatpants.

“So, uh, if that guy promised not to bring over any girls anymore, could you be persuaded not to see Marc anymore?”

Lucas pretended to mull it over.

“Maybe if he also promised he won’t play dubstep if I ever end up in his bed, I think I could be, yes.”

Eliott laughed.

“I won’t have to play anything if we stay in your bed.”

And that sounded like a perfect compromise, so Lucas toppled Eliott and pressed their lips together.

[nellaesarts]

Fairy Tail & The Paragande Kingdom - Chapter 2

FIRST CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

X795, the following day - General headquarters of the Fairy Tail Guild

When Gray Fullbuster crosses the Guild’s principal entrance, he expected everything except to see so many serious faces. All the guilds members seemed absorbed in their discussions, so much so that nobody had seemed to notice his arrival.

“Well… I was away for only a week, and everybody looks in distress or what ?” he thrown to the assembly with a compelled smile.

His own comment, which was a little bit acerbic considering his own mind state at this moment, totally failed. Nobody turned to look at him. The Ice mage, a little bit disappointed, shrugged his shoulders and moved forward into the restaurant’s room, looking for his friends. The memory which forced their way into his thoughts every place he looked at were still so painful… It was going to take a while before he could totally accept the disappearance of his loved one but… He couldn’t run away for more time. 

Gray move forward a little more in the principal room of the Guild Building but he doesn’t sees any of the Natsu’s team members. Pretty unsettling, as they were supposed to be back from their mission the night before. He then goes to Levy and Gajeel, who were sitting to a table with the Shadow Gears and Lily.

“Hey, what’s up, guys ? he says without belief. For God’s sake, he had the feeling to have been gone for months… Levy was the first one who turned to him.

– … Gray ! Oh my goodness ! How are you ?! she shouted, not without a bit of surprise in her voice. Oh, sorry ! I mean…

– That’s OK, that’s OK, said Gray to reassure her with a soothing gesture of his hand. There’s nothing wrong, don't worry Levy. 

– Ya look in a good shape, buddy, said Gajeel with just a kind smile, which was neither full of pity, nor excessively happy, a thing which Gray liked very much. 

– That could be better, we’ll say. Heh, did you know where are Natsu and the others ?

– Oh, right ! You wasn’t here yesterday evening ! said Jett, So you don’t know what happened !

– I don’t know about what ? Anyway, considering your faces, that wasn’t cool I guess… They bring a cursed thing or what ? asked the ice mage, very curious. 

– Ah… That’s a thing we’ll know when she’d wake up. commented Gajeel.

– She ? But who are you talking about ? 

Finally, that was Levy who gives him an answer.

–  Yesterday evening, Lucy, Natsu and the team showed up with a girl, who was entirely out of her magic energy, and a funny creature, a “Chosen’, a kind of magical fox. The girl was almost dead. She has been taken to the infirmary of the guild right away and the Master has called Porlyusica. She’s still on the girl’s side with Mirajane. I imagine that what happened to her is really serious. About the rest of the team, they returned home to rest after spending a lot of time in the Master’s office. They went out late at night, so I guess they will come back here in a few minutes. 

– I see… But why does everybody seem so concerned about this event ? 

– Because we don’t know who she is and according to Happy, the mage and the chosen are pursued by enemies. We are just asking ourselves what exactly going on here, Droy answered to him. Nobody dared to get to the infirmary to learn more about. Porlyusica is waaaay too scary.

– Bah, personally, I don’t worry, said Gajeel. The Master have say that he will make a speech about it this afternoon. It shouldn’t be too long now, by the way.

– Well, what a story. I’ll let you here, I climb to see if the old man is in his office to tell him that I’m back.” Delacred Gray before moving away from the group.

The mage headed for the stairs and climbed to the first floor. He passed the hallways, surprisingly quiet, to Makarov’s office. He traveled around ten meters before stopping in front of a slightly opened door. The infirmary… I looked in and saw Mirajane with a pretty worried look and the famous magic fox which Levy spoke about in her arms. Then, he saw Porlyusica, who was turning her back to him near a young unconscious woman in a bed. So, that was her, the famous mage bringed back by Natsu and the others… She seemed to suffer despite the fact that she was clearly in a deep coma. It was quite clear that Porlyusica and Mirajane where talking about her. The young man decided to stop for a few seconds to listen to their conversation. He knew that this wasn’t correct at all, but he wanted to know more about this girl. He just have the time to look a little more that Mirajane turned herself to him. She had felt his presence for sure… She smiled to him and invited him to enter in silence before turning back to the healing wizard, showing a worried look again. Gray leaned against the infirmary door frame, discreetly. 

“You says that she is out of danger, Porlyusica ? asked the sweet mage to the healer.

– Yes. She’ll stay unconscious for a long time, as she have to fully recharge her energy, but she will not die, answered Porlyusica with her usual strict voice. 

– Oh, you see, Pog ! No reasons to worry anymore !

– *Yes what a relief !*

Gray jumped when he heard the voice in his head. What was this little fox who had spoken ? He looked at him a little more. That was him, without any doubt. That noticing done, he shrugged his shoulders and lowered his eyes again, just to remain discreet. 

– With good reason, she was near to pass away. You have been lucky, Chosen, to found some mages of our guild, said the healer. 

Pog nodded his head.

– *Yes and I am more lucky about the fact that you are not harmful at all.*

– Indeed, but as I know, there is really a few harmful mages near Magnolia, thanks to us ! added Mirajane with a smooth laugh. And I’m pretty convinced that your instinct had a lot of influence in it, Pog. Didn’t we say that the kindness attracts kindness ? 

– *You are too sweet with me, Mira, you know nothing about me and you already categorize me as “kind”. Maybe I’m a horrible and evil person !*

– Let me have a serious doubt about it, Little Being. commented Porlyusica. By the way, Gray, can we do something for you ? Did you need another little bit of help ?

The ice mage jumped again and pick his eyes up. The wizard turned herself to him, with a welcoming smile on her lips - a thing rare enough to be highlighted.

– No, I… The thing you gave me the last time worked nicely, I feel better, he mumbled because of the surprise. A few weeks ago, she gave him a potion to help him to find sleep easily. Thing which he was missing… Since this day.

– Good. So, what are you doing here ? 

– Originally, I climbed to see the Master, but the colleagues told me about this young woman and her magical fox, and I admit that it piqued my curiosity. When I saw the door open, I wanted to know. That was rude, please accept my apologies. 

– That’s rude, indeed. But I accept your apologies for this intrusion. Porlyusica looked at the Chosen. Pog, let me introduce you to Gray Fullbuster. This is another mage of the team who saved you yesterday. 

The magical creature jumped off Mirajane’s arms to come closer to Gray. The mage looked at the small being with curiosity. It was so human and so animal at the same time, but in a totally different way than Exceed were.  

– *Nice to meet you, Gray. My name’s Pog, and the young woman over there is called Alexandria. We come from the Paragande Kingdom.*

– The Paragande Kingdom ? Never heard of it before… 

– *That’s normal, our country is located on the other side of the ocean, from several months of sailing, on a continent which is not know and with which there are not much contact because of the distance. So, that’s not astonishing that you never heard about this country before.*

– I see… answered the mage, But what are you doing here, so far from your country ?

– You will know why soon, Gray !

Gray looked at the door to see who was just talking. Makarov smiled to the ice mage and moved into the room near to the Chosen. 

– Pog, I think it’s time to go tell your story to our guild members as Alexandria is in a better condition, don’t you think ? 

– *Right, Master. Let’s go !* approved Pog, preceding the old man in the main room direction. 

– Let’s follow him, Mirajane, you’ll announce the ongoing speech like that, added Porlyusica.

The beautiful mage nodded in approbation and the both women goes out of the infirmary too. Just before joining them, Makarov turned himself to Gray for a last time.

– I’m glad to see you back, Gray. You know, that’s an unfair and difficult ordeal to cross. Only time will heal the wounds of your soul… Believe-me, I cross it too.

Gray nodded his head.

– I know. I am less negative than before, that’s a start.

The master smiled to him before following their partners. Before going out, Gray looked at Alex. She seemed to have fever, because she was sweated a lot… He approached her and with the help of his magic, put a little bit of ice on her forehead.

– Hey. We didn’t know each others, but come back hurry. Pog is worried about you.”

To these words, the woman seemed to be more peaceful. Gray smiled. This girl was a damned warrior, for sure ! With this thought in mind, he leaded himself to the central room of the guild. He was really impatient to learn more about this young woman and her story, now. 

——————————————————————————–

Sooo, here’s the following of my Fairy Tail fiction ! :D

Well, I hope you’ll enjoy it, as I have enjoyed writing this chapter. I like the vision of Gray I give here, more attentional and less rude than usual. 

 Please excuse my english, as this is not my native language, I have certainly do a lot of errors in the text. I just hope that will not ruin the reading ! :/

See you soon for the next chapter ! :D

[kaydeefalls]

Tagged by @andrea-lyn​ , who is the most astonishingly productive writer I've ever known, which means I've got waaaay slimmer pickings than she did for this one. XD

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

My lofty goal this year was to post 100k words of fic, and I did! I managed just shy of 125k words (and wrote another 40k on my TOG Mini Bang, which won't be posted until Saturday, so I guess it'll jump start my 2021 total instead). That only wound up breaking down into 7 fics + 1 vid, but hey, a few of those fics were on the longer end. So picking of top 5 is more like...side-eyeing my bottom 3. WHATEVER.

1. Travellers from an Antique Land (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky + Andy/Quynh + ensemble)

Canon-divergent AU. Five hundred years ago, they lost Andromache to the sea. Now Quỳnh leads the team, a new immortal just woke up, and some pharmaceutical company is getting a little too interested in their business.

I nattered on about this one in a different askmeme, but look, I love canon-divergent AUs, and I love long plotty fics, and I really, really enjoyed writing this one.

2. life is very long (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky + team)

Andromache tells him: "The Greeks used to have seven different words for love. Well. More, probably. But I remember seven." She shrugs. "There are many ways to love one another, and life is long. We've time enough for them all. It's the only thing that makes it worthwhile." Nicky and his immortal family, over the centuries.

My first foray into TOG fandom, and MAN did I luck out. I hit the sweet spot of posting this a week after the movie hit and JUST as the fandom was taking off, and it got a truly stupid (for me) amount of kudos. But also, I am genuinely fond of this one, and it helped me wrap my head around Nicky as a character (which has served me well since).

3. We'll Show Them All (X-Men, Charles/Erik + Raven)

Pacific Rim AU. Ten years later, the monsters are back, and newly-instated Marshall Charles Xavier needs to pull a team together to prepare for the coming war. That means finding his talented sister a Drift-compatible copilot -- even if that turns out to be his old flame Erik.

It would be wrong for me to not include this, because X-Men is by far my personal longest-running fandom (I'm pretty sure I first posted fic for it in 2002?), and even if I've kind of let it drop off recently, I'm sure it'll pull me back in eventually. Also, I will always be a sucker for an X-Men fusion AU, and Drifting is fun. And the art by @irelise is GORGEOUS.

4. though it was not my task to watch (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky)

"Death always matters. It is not a game, it is not casual, it is real and it is painful and it is not a thing to be chased, not ever!" After Merrick, Nicky can't stand seeing any of them die. It takes Joe a while to put it together.

Wrote this to help myself process personal grief, when a close friend was unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal illness this summer. Kind of hard to go back to it now that he's passed. But still. I'm glad I wrote it. All our gays should be immortal.

5. When It Alteration Finds (Star Wars, Poe/Finn, WIP)

Poe is nine years old when his mark first appears, in an alien script he can't even read. When he's twelve, it…blurs. Like someone took an eraser to an old chalkboard, but couldn't quite scrub it out. That's not the end of their story. (Soulmark!AU. Sometimes it takes a while.)

Look. Did I finish it? No. Do I intend to? Yes, as soon as all these damn challenge deadlines have passed. But I'm still glad I started posting it as a WIP, because I honestly think I would have dropped it entirely if I hadn't forced the external motivation, and I am FOND of this dumb 'verse, okay? Poe and Finn are great and deserved better and I need to figure out how the hell to wrap this fic up without actively rewriting the entirety of TRoS.

Tagging @lindstrom2020, @turtletotem, @ladynox, @kianspo and whoever else wants to celebrate the fact that this year is OVER and you SURVIVED IT and you deserve to brag about the stuff you're proud of!

[quicksilversquared]

Cookies and Croissants (chapter 1 of 3)

As a superhero, saving the world is standard fare. It's practically expected. But saving one's civilian friend from her best friend's off-target assumptions?

Somehow, that's almost harder.

links in the reblog

Ladybug could only wonder at how in the world she had ended up in this situation, standing on the rooftops of Paris surrounded by a strange combination of surveillance equipment and bakery leftovers, and watching Rena Rouge fangirl in front of a cringing Chat Noir with all of the queasy fascination of someone watching a car crash in slow motion- she didn't want to see it, but she couldn't look away.

How she had gotten here... well, that was something that had been several months in the making, and on a path that had taken more than a few unlikely turns. Maybe not all of them had been well thought-out, but she wouldn't have changed them for anything.

And it had all started with her dad. Her dad, his need to feed everyone who was hungry ... and maybe a bit of a lingering fixation on Marinette's 'confession' to Chat Noir.

If you feed a cat, you'll never get them to leave.

As Marinette had found out several months prior, that applied to cat-themed superheroes, too.

After an evening akuma attack that ended in front of the bakery, Mr. Dupain had offered the exhausted superheroes bakery leftovers. Ladybug had accepted a couple cookies- all the better for not having to sneak them for Tikki later- but Chat Noir had been entranced by the options. Eating everything would have made him sick, though- there was a lot of chocolate and sugar and butter, even for a teenaged boy- and so he had dithered, indecisive.

And then Mr. Dupain had suggested that maybe Chat Noir could come around a couple times a week in the evening and sample from the leftover bakery wares and perhaps even hang out with the family. Ladybug had thought that her partner would gently turn down that second part- after all, every minute they spent in their superhero forms meant another minute taken away from their civilian lives, another minute where they could be found missing, another minute of unexplained absence.

But Chat Noir seemed delighted by the invitation. Twice a week, he showed up and hung out for pastries and Mecha Strike or a movie. That inched up to three times a week after a month and a half, and Marinette started doing her homework with him, too. She had to be careful not to slip up- after all, he was her partner and so she knew more about him than a normal civilian would- but once she got used to it (and once she made sure that the Miracle Box was very thoroughly hidden), everything went smoothly.

Well. Mostly.

Three akuma attacks in oddly close succession that ended up affecting the bakery put both Marinette and Tikki- and the rest of the kwamis under her guard- on high alert. The next time that Chat Noir came over, he seemed twitchy, too, and confessed after ten minutes that he was getting concerned that somehow, Hawkmoth had heard about him coming to the bakery. Maybe it was just a coincidence, of course- after all, the bakery was located in the area of Paris that got hit with the most attacks- but it was just putting them all on edge.

So one evening, they set aside their video games and sat down as a family to come up with a plan that would let the superheroes find Hawkmoth and end the threat for once and for all.

It was simple, really, and in all honesty, the police force should have come up with it ages ago. All they needed was a grid of cameras set up across the city, allowing them to track where the akumas were coming from. Then they could figure out where the lair was, figure out who Hawkmoth was, and finish everything for once and for all. It would be a lot of work, though, and not something that the two main superheroes could feasibly pull off on their own, at least not without sacrificing a lot of sleep.

So they had tapped Carapace and Rena Rouge to help them, since the two of them had the most experience out of their array of superheroes. They were setting themselves up to a long night even with the two extra members of their team, but with every extra person they added to the mission, the possibility of someone talking and Hawkmoth finding out about it and adjusting his strategy rose.

...in retrospect, perhaps it hadn't been the smartest move to tap Rena Rouge if the goal was the information not leaking at all, but they couldn't call in Carapace and not Rena, since Nino would no doubt mention the outing to Alya and she might be sore about not being included. Hopefully Alya could appreciate the importance of the information not getting out at all until Hawkmoth was defeated.

In all honesty, Ladybug admitted to herself as she glanced around at her assembled team and the bags and bags of cameras they had to set up, she probably shouldn't be using her old backup teammates at all. After all, Hawkmoth knew their identities now, and even if this wasn't a battle- even if they were doing their best to not be spotted- having them out and about could result in their families getting targeted. It was fully possible that Hawkmoth hadn't immediately and completely exploited his knowledge of Chloe's identity to go after her family just because they were so famous and well-connected. Alya and Nino's families didn't have that protection.

But Ladybug and Chat Noir had needed more helpers, and she didn't want to put new people on patrol on their own. So they had to stick with their identity-compromised team for now, and just hope against hope that Hawkmoth wouldn't spot them and wouldn't attack Nino and Alya's families.

"Okay, so I made a grid of the part of the city Chat Noir and I decided should be covered," Ladybug told the others, handing out both set-up instructions for the cameras and the maps she had made. It had taken a bit of work to find and download a maps program that she liked and then figure out how it worked to get the grid placed over it, but it had been worth it. "This covers Hawkmoth's usual akumatization range, and shows which direction I thought the cameras should point. This will be the initial set-up, and then once we get a couple weeks of footage, that should be enough to shrink the grid down a bit and hone in on Hawkmoth's lair."

Rena Rouge accepted the paper and glanced over it with a groan. "This is so spread out! We're going to be going all night, and I'm gonna be exhausted. And I have my sisters to babysit tomorrow, too," she added to Carapace with another small groan. "They'll run me over, I know. But I'm happy to help!" she added quickly. "It's just going to be a long night."

Carapace nodded. "Yeah. Getting all of the cameras set up, and making sure that they all work- that's, like, what? Ten, twenty minutes per camera, probably, if you count in travel time between spots, which- well, I'm no math whiz, but with all of the cameras we have..."

"I would have spread things out over a couple nights, but I thought it would be best if we could get this off of the ground right away," Ladybug told them, glancing towards her partner. Her partner, who was digging behind the chimney for something. Ladybug continued regardless. They didn't exactly have much time to waste. "We'll split up in teams and work our way around the city. Hopefully after the first couple cameras, we'll have things down to a science."

Chat Noir nodded, popping out from behind the chimney with a bag in hand. "Yeah! And to help the night go faster, I brought pastries!"

…for some reason, Ladybug was starting to feel the faintest tendril of dread curling in her gut.

"Oh, sweet!" Carapace was up at once, a grin on his face. "Butter and sugar, the best late-night companions! I can buy next time. I know pastries can get expensive really fast."

"Oh, it's no problem," Chat Noir assured him with a grin. "I got these for free, actually, because I have this, uh, friend, and I told her dad that we were doing a stakeout all night, and so he gave me the leftovers from their shop." His smile turned smaller, entirely fond. "She- they're fantastic, really."

In the split second of silence that followed, Ladybug's brain picked up on Chat Noir's wording, that smile, pieced together exactly what conclusion Rena Rouge would draw from that, and strongly considered turning around and banging her head against the nearby chimney because really, what had she done to deserve this?

"She's actually your girlfriend, isn't she?" Rena Rouge demanded, a wide grin spreading across her face. She pointed at Chat Noir. "I can tell from your expression! She totally is!"

"No!" Chat Noir protested, but Ladybug could see the red seeping out from under his mask even in the dim moonlight and she muffled a sigh. Alya wasn't going to let this go, she just knew it. Her friend had convinced herself that the pastries were from Chat Noir's secret girlfriend, based on the world's flimsiest evidence, and now that he had blushed, she wasn't going to be convinced otherwise. "No, we're- we're just friends!"

"Denial!" Rena Rouge sang, trying to snatch the bag out of his fingers. "How very classic. Just 'fess up, you've got a girlfriend and you're trying to hide it!"

"I don't- I don't even understand how you even came to that conclusion!" Chat Noir protested, holding the bag up higher reflexively. "No, she's just a friend that I made in the mask, and we realized that it would be dangerous for me to keep visiting with Hawkmoth still at large after her house got targeted a few times. That's all!"

"You know, you're protesting waaaay too much," Rena Rouge said smugly, leaning right up into Chat Noir's space. "And don't think that I didn't notice that blush, Mr. Just-Friends, and- got it!"

Chat Noir yelped, scrabbling after Rena Rouge as she danced away with the bag. "No, wait-"

"It's from the Tom and Sabine bakery- wait!" Rena stopped dead in her tracks, jabbing a finger into the air. "That means- that means that Chat Noir's mystery girlfriend is Marinette! Oh, that girl has been holding out on me! She didn't tell me a thing! Oh my god I cannot believe this I've been trying to set her up with Adrien for forever and she's been dating you and- I can't believe that she didn't say anything! I'm going to end her-"

Ladybug wondered if it would be possible for her to move to, say, Antarctica. She was going to kill Alya. Could she not have spilled that particular secret to Chat Noir? Sure, maybe Marinette wasn't exactly the most subtle person in the world about her crush, but she had taken down most of her Adrien-focused posters after he had seemed to be more interested in Kagami, so it was possible that he hadn't figured it out on his own.

Also, it was so not cool that Alya was telling someone else about Marinette's crush when she had promised not to.

Next to her, Chat Noir had blanched, wincing as Rena Rouge ranted on. He knew as well as she did who was behind Rena Rouge's mask now, after Chloe's little expedition to the dark side, so he knew exactly what his little flub had gotten Marinette into.

Well. Time for some damage control, it seemed.

"And how are you going to explain knowing about anything in the first place in order to interrogate her?" Ladybug asked Rena Rouge, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the nearby chimney. "Because as I see it, there's no way to explain that away. If there's anything going on in the first place, which Chat Noir has already said there's not."

"Well, maybe her parents-" Rena Rouge started, ignoring the last bit of Ladybug's comment, but Carapace shook his head.

"Her parents would never tell anyone if she asked them not to, you know that," Carapace told her. "Admit it, there's no way to ask her about it unless you want her to figure out that you're Rena, because I just know that this dude is going to tell her that he told us." He jutted a finger at Chat Noir, who was still spluttering.

"Well now he will, because you said that!"

"I'm still not dating her!" Chat Noir insisted, properly red now. "I'm not, she is seriously just a friend-"

Rena Rouge just wagged a finger at him. "Deny all you want, but I saw the clues there and you can't fool me! I'm a reporter, remember? I catch clues that other people don't, even if you're trying to hide them!"

Ladybug hastily stopped herself from choking on her laughter. Right, Alya was totally super-observant. That was why she hadn't picked up on everything that was wrong with Lila and her stories yet. Or caught on to the fact that her best friend was Ladybug.

"No, seriously-"

"Okay, let's divide up the pastries then, one bag for each pair," Ladybug said loudly over Chat Noir. As much as she really didn't want Alya thinking that she- well, Marinette- was dating Chat Noir, arguing with Alya wasn't going to get them anywhere. It would probably make Alya even more convinced, actually, if Marinette's experience with trying to convince Alya that Lila was a big fat liar was anything to go by. Ignoring her entirely in favor of not reacting to her comments was far more likely to get results. "Rena, hand over the bag, please."

Smirking widely, Rena Rouge did just that. Chat Noir pulled a second bag out from inside of the larger one- apparently he had come prepared, smart kitty- and handed it over, then retreated to Ladybug's side with the larger bag.

"Okay, so I've color-coded which spots each team will take," Ladybug told her teammates, gesturing to the map in her hand. "One person installs, the other keeps watch. I know we want to go fast, but we can't take any risks. No drawing attention to yourself, either- keep hidden, no pictures. We can't have Hawkmoth catch on and adjust his location."

Rena Rouge saluted, cheeky smile in place. "Got it, boss!"

Ladybug sent her a Look. Carapace sighed and stepped in. "Right, we'll be careful. No tricks or showing off, I promise."

"Thank you."

"Marinette is absolutely going to kill me," Chat Noir groaned as Rena Rouge and Carapace dashed off with their bag. "Rena's her best friend, and when she thinks she has a scoop she never lets go. Never."

Ladybug winced, nodding. She could just see it now, her best friend leaning over into her space whenever the teachers weren't looking, dropping heavy-handed hints about dates and dating in a not-so-subtle attempt to get Marinette to slip up and admit that she was dating someone, since Alya wouldn't be able to accuse her of keeping her 'relationship' with Chat Noir secret without admitting to how she got the idea in her head in the first place. After that hypothetical slip, Alya would be relentless as she tried to get Marinette to then tell her who the secret boyfriend was, at which point she could then interrogate Marinette about what Chat Noir was like outside of battle, if she knew his secret identity, if Alya could interview him.

Even though Marinette wasn't dating Chat Noir, it was still going to be absolutely infuriating to have to deal with. She would have to do some damage control on her end, too, letting her parents know about Alya's assumption and making sure that her dad knew that he was not, under any circumstances, to make any jokes or say anything that would egg Alya along. How she would explain the whole situation and how she knew about it without giving away any secret identities, she didn't know, but if nothing else her time as a superhero had made her better at coming up with excuses.

Well. Sometimes she was better. Sometimes panic took over her common sense and she ended up blurting the first thing that came to mind, the rest of her brain already focused on something else.

"I don't even understand how she got girlfriend out of that," Chat Noir complained as he scooped up their share of the camera bags so that they could head for their first point. "Like, all I was doing was talking about how I got pastries from a friend's family and how nice it was for them to give us their leftovers, and the next thing I know, Rena's off with her theory."

"It was the way you said 'friend'," Ladybug informed him. "She was reading too far into your hesitation, and then you were smiling at the thought of your friend, and you mentioned the friend was a she."

Chat Noir whined. "But that's nothing, though! Doesn't everyone smile when they think about their friends? Unless they're fighting, I suppose, but the rest of the time?"

Ladybug shrugged the best she could as they swung through the air. "I didn't say that it had to make sense, just that that's how she was thinking."

"I thought that Alya wanted to be an investigative reporter, not a tabloid reporter," Chat Noir grumbled. "That kind of thinking seems more in line with the latter, not the former."

Ladybug hastily hid another grin. A lot of Alya's questions could fit better into tabloid thinking, honestly, and even more of her posts on the Ladyblog. Otherwise, there would be a whole lot fewer speculative posts about Ladybug and Chat Noir as civilians and a lot more posts looking into whatever clues they might have about Hawkmoth's identity. Still, they were still young, and so it was perhaps a little unfair to judge too much. "Don't let her hear you say that. She will end you."

"Oh, I know she will." They landed in tandem, Chat Noir starting to set up their first camera while Ladybug kept watch. The rooftop was quiet, just like she had hoped- their grid had gotten disrupted by the Grand Paris, because the chance of someone seeing them was way too high unless they waited until crazy late- and it wasn't too hard to find a spot to attach the camera, something that would have a good vantage point without being overly easy to spot in case a security guard came up.

Hopefully Rena Rouge and Carapace would take all of that into consideration. It was entirely possible that Rena would be too distracted by her 'scoop' to really give as much thought as usual to what she was doing.

"I did have a thought about the whole picking new holders thing," Chat Noir told her as he set up the camera, his fingers flying, and Ladybug jolted out of her thoughts to give him her full attention. "Hawkmoth knows who our current people are because they transformed into their normal outfits when they were under Miracle Queen's spell. But what if they just mixed up their transformations? It would have to be big changes, because otherwise that could tip them off, and maybe they would have to change hair color or something, too, but…"

"It could work," Ladybug agreed at once, happy with both the change of subject and the suggestion. She really liked that idea, actually. There were only so many people that she knew and thought could be good fighters, and about the last thing that she wanted to do right now was pick out and train in completely new superheroes, especially with Mayura showing up to fights more and more often. "New transformations, new names. We might want to re-introduce the 'new' superheroes gradually, though, or Hawkmoth could get suspicious. After all, it should be hard to find and screen new superheroes that we can trust, so having a bunch of 'new' holders all at once could be really unrealistic."

"Like keep some of the old ones for a bit, then have then 'swap out' for the 'new' ones," Chat Noir filled in. He grinned at her. "Nice thought."

"But definitely no more Chloe," Ladybug finished. Then she made a face. "And no Lila, either. I heard that Alya was talking about how good of a holder Lila might be, and…"

Chat Noir's face screwed up in disgust. "Oh god no."

"We might have to do a team briefing at some point and say no helping Lila at all, because she fakes injuries all the time to get help and take our attention away from the fight," Ladybug offered after a pause. She watched Chat Noir tweak one last wire, then check the camera before giving her a thumbs-up. They gathered up their bags, then made a beeline for the next spot before picking up the conversation right where they left off. "It'll sound bad, probably, but I don't want to risk Lila trying to steal a newbie's Miraculous."

Chat Noir looked startled. "You think she would?- actually, no, don't answer that, she would totally jump at the chance to get magic powers," he corrected himself before Ladybug could say anything. "And I don't want her anywhere near magic powers. She already gets akumatized enough, and the thought of her always having access to superpowers..."

Both of them shuddered.

"Well, with any luck, we'll take Hawkmoth down soon and Lila won't have access to any powers," Ladybug said after another minute. Chat Noir was finishing up with this camera, doing one more test to make sure it was running before they moved again. "Her or any other bully in the city."

Chat Noir grinned. "Yeah. I honestly can't wait."

  A week and a half later, Ladybug and Chat Noir got word from the police chief that the cameras had picked up enough butterflies to tighten their camera grid, which meant another late-night stakeout. Once again, Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng insisted on sending bakery leftovers with Chat Noir, and he accepted the bag and went on his way with a wince.

This really wasn't going to do anything to convince Rena Rouge that he wasn't dating Marinette.

"I owe Marinette so many apologies already for this past week," Chat Noir told Ladybug when they met up. Behind her, he could see Rena Rouge and Carapace, plus Ryuko, a new Snake, and Chiron, who had joined them in a battle earlier that week. Clearly Ladybug had realized that there would be more work involved during this patrol, since they first had to gather up all of the cameras in order to be able to set them up in the slightly tighter grid. "Alya's been dropping hints nonstop to try to get her to admit that she's been secretly dating me. And now I have treats again, and she's going to take that as confirmation that I am dating Marinette and her parents are just trying to spoil her boyfriend, because that's just how her parents are."

Ladybug nodded, glancing over her shoulder. "Yeah, honestly? That's the least of your concerns. Alya spotted you running over to Marinette's house one evening with a giant blanket under your arm, so now she thinks that you were staying over."

Chat Noir spluttered, feeling himself turning even redder. How had Alya seen that?! "No! No, no, we were having movie night and I love curling up in a huge pile of blankets, so I brought one of my own and then one as a gift because I like taking naps over there in a huge blanket pile and I just wanted to expand Marinette's collection, I wasn't-"

Ladybug was giggling.

"Stop laughing," Chat Noir whined. "I swear, you're just as bad as Mari is. She'll offer up her blankets and pillows so that I can have a 'cat-nap in the sun', as if I'm an actual cat and not just a cat-themed superhero, and then offer me catnip tea-"

"But do you take the blankets and the naps and the tea?"

Chat Noir sighed. Something told him that Ladybug somehow already knew the answer. "...yes."

"Ah-hah, Chat Noir! Guess what I saw this week?"

Chat Noir cast a save-me look at Ladybug, then threw in some kitten eyes for good measure. His partner was unmoved.

...that was probably for good reason, honestly. He had gotten himself into this whole thing with his stomach- after all, while he tended to go to the Dupain-Cheng bakery mostly for the company now, since they gave him far more attention than his own father, he had started coming over largely because of the promise of leftover bakery treats- and now he had to get himself out.

Rena Rouge was oozing smugness as she sauntered towards him, the rest of the group watching as she did. "I saw someone visiting his girlfriend late in the evening. And that someone was carrying blankets with him- did you have a sleepover?"

"No!" Chat Noir denied at once, because that wasn't what had gone on, not at all, and seriously, how had Alya even seen that? "We were having movie night and I wanted to be comfortable!"

….from the way Rena lit up, that hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Oooh, he admits to having a date night!" Rena Rouge exclaimed, clearly delighted. "That's so cute!"

"No, it was a family movie night that I got invited to join and her parents were there!" Chat Noir protested, but he could already feel the conversation spiraling out of his control. Alya- Rena- was only going to hear what she wanted to hear, that much was obvious.

Also, the chortling kind of gave away the fact that his protests meant nothing to her.

"Oh, I know how that goes," Rena Rouge told him wisely, and Chat Noir only just managed to avoid her familiar elbow to his ribs. "The parents were there to keep things from getting too spicy!"

"No!" Chat Noir insisted, even though it was completely futile. He understood now what Marinette had muttered earlier in the week, about how Alya had a bulldozer personality. She just didn't stop.

"Your blush says otherwise!" Rena Rouge crowed, and Chat Noir cursed his burning cheeks. "Hah, I knew it-"

"He's blushing because you're insinuating that he's getting intimate with someone he's told you he's just friends with," Ladybug cut in with a long-suffering sigh, and Chat Noir almost melted with relief. If Rena had kept talking, he wasn't sure how he would be able to look Marinette in the eye when he went in for his regular visit tomorrow, or even at school on Monday. "And if you keep pestering him about it when he's already told you that there isn't a relationship beyond a friendship there, then maybe I'll tap someone else to help out in your place."

Rena went very, very still at that, and then took one careful step back away from Chat Noir. Behind her, Carapace's eyes were huge, and the other three superheroes had paused in their conversation to look over, too.

….well. Clearly all of them would think twice now about crossing Ladybug.

"Now, let's not waste any more time talking, since I know some people here can't sleep in tomorrow morning and we don't want to stay out forever," Ladybug continued, her flat tone vanishing in an instant and immediately getting replaced by something far more cheery. The difference was jarring, and Chat Noir couldn't blame all of the temporary heroes for taking a wary step back. "I've already given out maps of which teams have to collect which cameras and where you'll put them. A couple cameras will stay in place, but they have to be checked to make sure that they aren't running low on battery or anything."

Everyone nodded.

"And I have pastries," Chat Noir offered, because he really couldn't eat all of them on his own. "I just need to sort them so that we have three bags instead of two, because I didn't know that we would have more people."

"I'll help!" the Snake offered, pushing jet-black hair out of his face. Luka had apparently gone for non-colored hair and a completely different hairstyle with his new transformation, and it was a little unsettling. "Uh, do we need a third bag too, or…?"

With Cobra's help, it took no time at all for them to divvy up the treats, and then Rena Rouge and Carapace were off like a shot. The others lingered, and Ladybug raised an eyebrow at them. "Do you have a question?"

"Yeah, uh- what was that earlier?" Cobra asked, clearly nervous about asking. "If you don't mind us asking."

"Rena Rouge was making a mountain out of a molehill and wouldn't drop the topic," Ladybug told them with a sigh. "If she tries telling you anything about Chat Noir having a girlfriend, it's not true. She just took some stuff out of context and won't listen to anything we say to the contrary."

Ryuko let out a sigh. "I know people like that in my normal life. Exhausting, aren't they?"

"It can be frustrating," Ladybug agreed. "Hopefully she'll learn to be better soon, though, and I think I got her to drop it for now. So let's get going, team! Those cameras won't move themselves!"

As their group scattered, Chat Noir could only hope that Ladybug was right.

[thegreenfairy13]

A Mother’s Truth

A veeery belated birthday present for the incredible @mexican-texican. I do know you deserve better and I definitely fiddled waaaay too long with this fic. I’m sorry, dear! But I do love you! I hope you’ll like it <3.

Plot: Gertrud reflects upon her son’s rise to power, his infatuation with Jim, and her own delusions. 

Read it here on Ao3. Or here: 

Gertrud Kapelput is in denial. Nobody in their right mind would argue on that. Not even Gertrud - if she was in her right mind.

Sadly, or luckily for her, she left the shores of reason decades ago and set sail for the faraway land of delusion. It’s not like she had ever intentionally lied, she only liked to bend reality to her will. On some days, that would work out in her favor, on others, she would have to dive deeper into her own mind to achieve the intended goal.

So no, Gertrud wasn’t lying for her son Oswald when police showed up for the first of many times to follow. She was simply telling her very own truth. One that didn’t necessarily overlap with reality.

At this point, the frail woman is already used to being frowned upon. Despite the skeptical look on the agents’ faces, she opens her door widely, allows for them to step inside, and to judge the few belongings she managed to save over to this new life she’s living now. She shepherds those condescending officials into her living-room, pretends not to note how they wrinkle their noses at the cobwebs and the dust covering once invaluable furniture. If they only had the slightest idea what castle her decor had once graced, what family she belonged to, they wouldn’t….

Instead, Gertrud tilts her head, offers them coffee, and listens to them telling her lies about her beautiful son, Oswald Cobblepot, son of Gertrud Kapelput, grandson of Imre Kapelputh, Earl of a land long lost.  She huffs out a laugh, a sound that only means to hide the offended, undignified noise she’d else make.

She smiles tightly as she gracefully motions for them to sit down, tunes out as they start making wild accusations how her clever, kind, compassionate, caring, precious boy is supposedly part of the mob, making his way ever so slowly up the ranks. Gertrud can’t suppress an unladylike sneer once they don’t let go of their delusions. She looks over at her boy’s photograph and shows them the door. Back home, that menial task would have been up to one of her valets, but here in America, she used to be a servant herself, a cook for a family who had only known what it means to be rich for three generations. If they had only had known the Kapelputs go back to the middle-ages!

Gertrud grits her teeth remembering how the Van-Dahl’s dismissed her, carrying the legitimate heir to lands and castles the family has no concept of beneath her heart. Despite her dire fate, Oswald had always been destined to become a King. But certainly not one of blood and terror. As if a delicate soul like his could….But then Kings come with a certain strength.

There is more to it than only rumors, things she can’t unsee even if she wants to. Gertrud would be blind not to note the bruises and hematomas covering her son’s face and chest. Her fingers tighten in her darling’s hair as she applies more shampoo, trying to wash away the horrors he must have gone through. She clings to him in a way only the truly lost and lonely cling to another human being. After all, he’s all she’s got left, isn’t he?

And he’s such a beautiful, beautiful boy, right? The women must be tripping all over themselves for a slight opportunity to bask in the sun that is her only son. It’s her greatest fear, that one day some painted hussy will waltz right in and snatch her boy away. As inexperienced as he is, she’d only take advantage of his good heart and leave it broken.

Her fingers stiffen when he suddenly turns to her, eyes shining brightly, and mentions some new friend . Gertrud purses her lips. She knows the look in her boy’s eyes, recognizes it immediately, as it mirrors the expression she used to wear on her own face almost 30 years ago perfectly. It’s the expression of a believer in front of an icon, the look of a person with faith in a greater being, in a savior.  

Her heart almost stops when he reveals the one to have stolen his heart to be a cop. It’s the worst scenario, even worse than him running off with a greedy whore. “Don’t ever trust a cop,” she mumbles as she gently lets warm water run over her child’s head. Once upon a time, it had been a corrupt cop who had dragged her from her home, pregnant, and penniless. “They are bad news,” she adds, and her kid hums in agreement, unconvinced.

She thinks about the agents visiting her mere days ago, stares at a fresh bruise covering his back, and tries imagining her boy being what they claim him to be. It’s a lie, of course, it is, has to be, yet if there’s even a slight chance, the cop is toying with her darling’s heart and life.

“He’s different than the others,” her Oswald adds, finally calming Gertrud’s racing nerves. If her boy, a boy so different from all the others, so special, so unique, says so, the cop must be. After all, wouldn’t Oswald be able to recognize one of his own? Sighing deeply, she accepts how unlikely it will be for her to ever have grandchildren carrying Oswald’s features.

One week later, she can’t find it in herself to look away any longer. Gertrud demands an explanation for the ever-increasing bruises littering Oswald’s delicate skin, for the awkward gait, the pained expression on his face whenever he as much as takes a hesitant step.

She’s appalled at those dots of black, blue, and green, can’t help but trace the outlines of the wounds covering her child’s body, doesn’t even dare to ask what those finely-knitted trousers he all of a sudden is able to afford might hide. Oswald merely smiles in response with an expression so forced it looks painted on.

“I joined a boxing club,” he explains easily, and Gertrud raises an eyebrow at her son. She can’t recall her Oswald, this slender, elegant figure, ever being interested in such barbarous activities.

Frowning worriedly, she takes Oswald up on his offer to introduce his new friends to her.

“Mother, as the owner of Gotham’s most famous nightclub, I need to be able to defend myself. As you are well aware, we’re unable to hide our successes from jealous eyes in a city like this.”

Gertrud’s face lights up. How she could have ever doubted her son is beyond her. Of course, Oswald’s words make perfect sense.

“Please, mother, allow for me to dissipate your concerns,” he tells her, head cocked to the side, looking just as innocently as he had on the day he informed her he had gotten a scholarship and she wouldn’t need to work double-shifts any longer to pay off his school fees. It had been unheard of until this moment, a fourteen-year-old receiving the Wayne-aid for gifted pupils, but her Oswald had always been remarkable. Of course, they had to be hush-hush about it, refused to honor him during an official ceremony, but it had undoubtedly lifted a great weight off both their shoulders.

Gertrud nods in return and decides to surprise her boy the other day. The party greeting her once she places a basket filled with various treats from her home-country is nothing like she would have expected. Those men are nothing like her Oswald, not well-behaved, for sure not nobility. One of them flashes a smile at her, a golden tooth shines in the dim light, and Gertrud’s frown increases. Another one gets up, offering her a stiff bow, while her son fidgets worriedly behind him.

“Mother, this is Mr. Gilzean,” he explains, clearly nervous. The bulky man grins encouragingly while taking the basket from her hands. He looks at the wonderful supplies and trips all over himself to express his gratitude. Gertrud falls silent, tries to make sense of the other figures occupying the room, and wipes her worries away once more. She can’t help admonishing them just a bit though when she decides her eyes practically hurt from all that heavy gold those men decided to wear around their necks and in their mouths.

“It isn’t dignified to put your wealth on the table as you are, gentlemen,” she tells them while the one being introduced as Gilzean offers her a glass of champagne.”

“This is America, mother,” Oswald replies gently as the other men look somewhat sheepishly at her.

Her boy’s words are almost enough to dissipate her worries again. Almost . She decides to keep an eye at his contacts and starts visiting Oswald’s club regularly. After all, it’s a beautiful place, her son is a wonderful host, she’s being treated like the royalty she is, and she’s allowed to sing again.

The men, Oswald’s ‘friends’, clap politely whenever she enters the stage, and encourage her to keep going. The traitorous voices in the back of her head keep telling her they are simply being polite, or thankful for the food she keeps bringing. But then one evening one of those cumbersome men walks up to her, tears in his eyes, tells her how thankful he is that she keeps looking out for them. Crossing himself, he stares up her, awe written clearly all over his face, and vows to protect her with his own life. “You have become a mother to all of us,” he confesses. “Us Italians honor a mother,” he adds, refilling her glass.

Gertrud smiles benevolently, but her boy gives her reason to worry again when the infamous cop shows up at the club. The man named Jim is stern. His shoulders are straight, his jaw is set tight, and her boy seems nervous whenever he is around. Oswald pulls him into a corner, whispers something into his ear, and gestures at her. Gertrud is irritated. Nobody has the right to force such a reaction from her Oswald!

For a moment, the blonde man looks confused, and then, his shoulders sag. He puts on a smile, even if only forced, and bows for Gertrud just like the rest of his men. She doesn’t know what his visit is about, but she knows when a man bends to the will of another. His tone is reserved yet respectful when addressing her, the tone of a man trying to make a good impression. She studies him intently and decides he’s not the worst company for her son. Solid. Simply, but well dressed. Not a painted whore.

Gertrud bites her lip though when his body language changes again, when he cages her Oswald against a wall. Her eyes narrow when witnessing the way he keeps manhandling her boy but she also sees other things. She notes he’s always standing a tad bit too close to her Oswald, even when they are not talking, how their bodies are almost constantly being angled toward each other. She observes the blonde grabbing Oswald’s wrist, how he bites his lip when doing so, and the genuine worry he tries to hide. The way the blonde touches her boy is forceful, yet protective, indecisive.

Stepping closer, she wants to say something but then changes her mind as Oswald locks eyes with her. “This is not what you think, mother,” he’ll tell her later, and she’ll indulge him. She’ll always indulge him.

The next time Gertrud visits the club, she tries to see the place with the cop’s eyes. The man, Jim, he has clear eyes, the kind of eyes that see everything while hers are almost constantly glossed over.

She spots a new figure, a man with black hair who obviously has no concept of buttoning his shirts properly. Putting on her biggest smile, she saunters over, toys with her hair, and leans over the table, shoving up her cleavage in the process like a common hussy. The moment she lays eyes on that man, Sal Maroni, Gertrud is worried about her son and starts flirting as if her boy’s life depends on it. And then she notes the deep, genuine fear etched into her Oswald’s features. She doesn’t want to ask, and she knows he wouldn’t want to answer, so she accepts another glass and curls her hair around her finger.

The fear eventually fades from her beautiful son’s face as does the man she once met. What remains, though, is him constantly mentioning the name Jim. At times, the name is spoken in awe, at times it’s spoken in disdain. Gertrud sees him on the TV sometimes, righteousness and determination written all over his features, and she repeats to her boy how the man will be bad news one day. Oswald shrugs her off but she catches his wrist. “My boy,” she tells him. “My love for you is blind but it also derives from devotion. Does that go for him, too?”

Oswald sputters, clearly flustered, and doesn’t reply. Once he finds his voice again, Gertrud is already busy recalling the lyrics of a song she learned when she was little.

Mere weeks later, Gertrud’s devotion is being put to the test when another one of Oswald’s acquaintances kidnaps her and forces her into a tiny cell. She scoffs when they truly think her dingy surroundings will intimidate her. She notes the camera in the corner, starts pacing the room. Of course, she’s afraid. And she’s angry. She keeps banging at the walls, yelling out to anyone who might hear her how this must all be a terrible mistake, how she’s merely the mother of a well-respected club-owner. Nothing that could happen would convince her in any way that this isn’t the truth. And now the world has proof of her conviction, too.

Her misery ends, eventually, when her Oswald shows up, an entire army in tow. Her eyes light up then when she recognizes how he really grew into the king she always knew him to be. But the snake, Galavan they call him, is sly, and it almost ends in blood and tears - but almost.

The reinforcement arrives just in time, and Gertrud can’t help but flinch and curl in on herself when a single shot echoes through the basement she had been kept in way too long. There are blood and cerebral matter now covering her face. A beautiful woman with long, black hair is staring lifelessly at the ceiling while her son and the other man start shouting.

Oswald is completely out of his mind, wants to lunge forward, knife already in hand, when a heavy hand reaches for him. It’s that cop again, Jim, grim and, unmoving as ever. He steadies her boy, grounds him with as much as a touch even when he behaves in a way she never witnessed before. This is definitely not her boy, this howling, bawling animal that consists only of pain and fear.

“She’s alive, Oswald,” the blonde growls as her son keeps forgetting himself. Gertrud reaches for her child herself, holds him close as he breaks down completely, and continues to shout out horrifying threats. He wants to escape her grasp, and she has no doubt his intentions are anything but pure when he turns towards Galavan again.

Stiff as ever, the cop merely ignores him as he cuffs Galavan, takes his price with him to another cell much like Gertrud’s.

He’ll later testify how her son, Oswald, tried to kill him. And Gertrud will face him in court, unable and unwilling to recall anything in detail. She’ll cry and argue. Where she’ll be emotional, the cop, Jim will remain bereft of emotion. With a straight face, he’ll tell his very own truth how he found Oswald and Gertrud huddled together, terrified of the man now being dragged away forever.

Gertrud will smile in relief then. When it comes to her Oswald, she now isn’t the only person with her very own truth.