#we have to be able to mail things to you if you dont return one of our books 🤷‍♂️

[lynnthefrenchtoast]

The Tragedy of Qijiu; Analysis

aka: reason why Yue Qingyuan and Shen Jiu make me ugly sob

1. the things left unsaid

the most poignant part of the novel for this ship is this line: "Too late. It was already too late! Shen Jiu was no longer here. He would never again be able to hear Yue Qingyuan’s words, never ever.”

and again, in the character notes: "He (sy) is no longer the intended recipient of this favor. Yue Qingyuan will have to find his own closure, as the person he looks for behind the new Shen Qingqiu’s eyes will no longer return.”

READ THAT SHIT. READ IT. ISNT IT TRAGIC???

ygy and sj spent their whole lives since they were little kids with unspoken words between them, longing glances, misunderstandings and hidden affections. you know who else does that? THE MAIN COUPLE OF SCUMS VILLAIN: luo binghe and shen yuan.


EXCEPT

we get to watch them fix their misunderstanding. we get to watch binghe realize he was never hated for his heritage. we get to watch shen yuan realize he is saved from retribution for sins he never committed. this is a privilege qijiu never gets.

the worst part? they almost get it.

because yue qingyuan does, in (what he believes are) his final moments, try to communicate. it's the beautiful cliche "im dying so ill tell you everything" except its not beautiful because the person he needs to tell is GONE. he was gone the whole time and YUE QINGYUAN DOESNT EVEN KNOW:

2. YUE QINGYUAN'S SOULMATE IS DEAD AND HE DOESNT KNOW

is that not like INSANE???

like yeah, the person you love dying is tragic. but its even more tragic that they were so distant he cannot even tell shen jiu and shen yuan apart. he will never know his beloved is gone from the world; he is not even awarded the privilege to mourn

and he can NEVER know. sy is literally prohibited by the system from telling him. so happens is:

3. YUE QINGYUAN MUST FALSELY BELIEVE HIS SOULMATE REJECTED HIM FOR ANOTHER GUY

+

4. yue qingyuan fails shen jiu at each and every opportunity

can you IMAGINE? he got into cultivation to save his xiao jiu from the qiu manor. he failed. he became the leader of the sect to be a man shen jiu could one day respect. shen never respects him (even shen yuan canonically is like "dude wtf? this is the sect leader; shen jiu treats him so disrespectfullt?") . yue qingyuan tries to protect shen jiu from luo binghe - fails. tried to save him after receiving his two legs in the mail but failed and died trying. tries to save shen yuan - shows up too late and shen yuan gets poisoned without a cure. tries to take on debt for shen yuan - shen yuan wins the spirit stones. tries to fight mobei jun - fails and shen jiu falls into depression because he lost binghe due to his failure. tried to lock up a heavenly demon - succeeded! but that ultimately led to the birth of the even stronger heavenly demon who goes on to torture his beloved for a decade.

yue qingyuan is a man in power without the power to succeed at the one thing he needs to.

conversely, shen jiu, a little slave with no name or power changed his live. when yqy needed him, shen jiu selflessly stepped in danger's way and saved him successfully. yqy never repays his debt even though he tries so hard.

and then his xiao jiu falls in love with the young demon boy who wreaks havoc and kidnaps him and kinda treats him like shit. he fails at earning shen jiu's love too.

5. yue qingyuan never finds out that shen jiu loved him.

shen yuan likely believed yue qingyuan abhorred him. what shen yuan feels for yue qingyuan is likely a mix of "you betrayed me so i must hate you + you hate me so in return i must hate you. but in reality if you were to look close i dont hate you at all. but ill act like i do because i must hate you."

yue qingyuan though? there was no question. his feelings for shen jiu were always love and shen jiu will never know that, so there will never be a chance for shen jiu to change his mind, to not think "you do not hate me so i do not have to hate you, you love me so i can love you"

this kinda ties into the "words left unsaid" point EXCEPT at least shen jiu gets one time where he finds out how yqy feels. yqy never ever in any universe finds out. he thinks shen jiu is determined to never call him qi-ge again.

6. but even when shen jiu gets to find out yue qingyuan loves him, it is the most tragic way of doing so

i want you to imagine:

you love this person. you trusted them and they betrayed you. you hate that they make you feel weak so you place distance between you two. they look down on you so you respond in turn, with harsh words and harsher actions.

and then they die a horrific death- stabbed by ten thousand arrows- to come save you.

you realize they never meant to betray you, never looked down on you.

you were so mean and distant for nothing.

you cannot say sorry. they are dead. it is your fault.

shen jiu so eagerly wrote that letter to yqy, not because he wanted to escape torture but because he was so confident yqy wouldnt come.

he didnt come last time, so why did he come now!?

EXTRA

they are the epitome of the childhood friends to lovers & "i loved you all along" trope. they have seen each other in every stage of their loves and still, in their convoluted way, loved each other even with all the tension between them

golden retriever x black cat

yue qingyuan totally spoils shen qingqiu. if he tolerates that level of disrespect? yk damn well qing jing peak is never short of funding

shen jiu really is in desperate need of being loved. he like, is a character that claims he doesnt care to be liked but we all know its human nature to want to be appreciated and loved. "i dont need you to love me" "i love you" "oh"

the potential for a: "i dont need your pity" "its not pity i just care about you" or a "why do you even care?" "because i love you" or a (as catra and adora say) "i know you all hate me!" "i never hated you" dialogue drop

the potential for a deku -> izuku moment. i mean yue qingyuan literally canonically foreshadows it: "are you so determined to never call me qi-ge again?"

misunderstood x "i see past your mask" (ive written more about this dynamic in my lynaether post tumblr wont let me link but the in summary: blablabla human desire to be understood and human tendency to self sabotage and hide your flaws yada yada "i hold the ugliest parts of you up to the lie and dont even flinch")

FEEL FREE TO ADD UR EXTRA BULLET POINTS IN THE COMMENTS

[sighthounds-and-sketches]

Let's talk about flying to pick up a puppy by yourself

And some ways to make it easier on you.

Your prep starts honestly, about a week before baby actually comes home. Maybe 2 weeks.

For my pre-flight prep, I first picked out a flight carrier. I went with the one my breeder recommended.

It has expandable sides, and a little storage pocket. And it's resistant to chewing. I'm really glad I didn't buy a cheaper one, and I can't stress enough that it's cheaper to buy a quality one the first time than have a zipper break or a tear in the middle of your trip. My trip in total was 4 flights and 4 hours in the car, with him being with me for half of it and having the longest layover of my day. I could only really let him out a couple times, so this next part was incredibly helpful.

I mailed the carrier to my breeder,

at her behest. This was *huge* because the siblings got their scent on it and he was acclimated to being in it before I got to him. It acted as a secure place for him to ride in the car and for his first few nights here, he slept in there through the night.

And now that he's in his crate, the removable pad with scents on it has been instrumental in establishing the crate as a safe place for him.

Video of why I'm really glad I got the durable carrier.

Please consider what you're wearing that day.

Wear clothes you don't need to fuss with *at all* that's normal airport protocol- but I can't stress this enough, you're carrying the puppy in your arms through the TSA checkpoint and other people will be fussing over him. Make sure your appearance and personal bag is no fuss.

See: jeans, hoodie, puppy treat and potty bag that can be shoved into my personal Item, and a no fuss backpack.

In my personal travel bag I kept:

Pee pads, his food from the breeder, a change of clothes in case of incidents, a portable battery to charge my phone, collapsible food and water bowls, collar and leash incase one wasn't provided, and SEVERAL toys in there.

The toys were great for waiting in the terminal. I'd expand the sides of the crate and introduce a new toy to him to help him run a bit of energy out before we had to board.

Peepads: Even though airports have animal relief areas, chances are they're either kind of gross or your dog may be a little too young for it to be safe. I was traveling through one of the busiest airports in the world, and nobody was checking jack shit so I opted for potty breaks to occur in bathrooms with pee pads. He didn't end up going but it's better to be prepared.

I flew Delta and used Skymiles accumulated from our credit card with them that we pay off monthly, so the only thing I paid for out of pocket was 95.00 to bring Argos on board. My flight only costed 20k miles total, and that was only a small portion of what we'd accumulated over the 6 months we've been using the card. I think it's worth considering if you're planning to fly to a breeder. It enabled me to go anywhere in the country that Delta flies and not worry about costs.

Day of hack: double check your flights on the airlines app and switch your seat if possible. I swapped one of my return flight seats to an empty row for 15.00, which meant I could have my carryon and him with me at the same time and that was very nice for readjusting where my stuff was and taking a damn nap. Because at this point, I'd been up for about 18 hours and still had 7 hours of traveling before I'd get home.

I think my last thing is that if you're like me and you do have an invisible disability- ask if you can preboard. Dont be afraid to say "hey, i have this problem and standing in the heat while carrying a bunch of stuff is potentially going to cause an episode. " The employees were extremely nice, and willing to work with me. Ultimately, I went through all of this because he's a service dog prospect and will hopefully help.

Small things for me specifically prior: ate in the morning and right before I picked him up, he was able to chill in his carrier while I ate dinner at a restaurant in the airport- didn't make any sounds. He slept the whole time. I don't think I couldve eaten in the food court, too much to carry between him and my main bag.

I think that's it. I may add to this if I remember anything I forgot.

Edited to add: for my besties with miscellaneous illnesses-

A baggie with your medicines is IMPORTANT. Do not forget some dramamine, advil, Tylenol, whatever, pack it if there's a small chance you'll need it!

I ended up getting migraine symptoms like 5 hours into travel, and that was not a day I could afford to have blurred vision. <3 remember to take care of YOU on the journey.

[seeingteacupsindragons]

hi, im the person whos sent you those rude asks trying to get a reaction, but after thinking about it, id like to apologise for my behaviour. i realise now how immature and ridiculous it was, and that i was just trying to get negative attention because i was bored and too miserable to be able to have any better form of interaction with anyone. but whatever immature reason, i know taking out my personal issues on a stranger i found mildy annoying is really bad behaviour and i shouldnt have done it. im really sorry if i caused any genuine offence when i criticised your writing of which i know nothing about, and im sorry for all those rude and immature and completely random asks i kept spamming you with just because i was bored. it wasnt personal or anything it was sort of random and i dont even know why i did it, it sounds nuts when i think about it. ill stop doing all this rubbish and leave you alone from now on, i wont even do it to anyone else. i just wanted to say that i recognise now that im in the wrong and was acting really rubbishly

Anon...

Honestly, it became apparent almost immediately that you were trying to goad me into giving you attention because you weren't getting any and you were likely jealous I have figured out how to get attention, and...honestly...

That made it easier to keep ignoring you. Because it was so incredibly apparent that what you were doing was entirely about you being upset and jealous and not having the emotional maturity to admit that or do anything productive about it. It wasn't interesting, or relevant to me.

I've never sent anonymous hate mail to anyone (or signed hate mail), but I definitely had a lot of very unstable years where I reacted very badly in social interactions and behaved honestly embarrassingly for the same reasons. You said that you find actually admitting things and liking attention is embarrassing...but I would rather be embarrassed by that than embarrassed about lying to myself.

It's social media! We all want interaction and attention!

But the thing is, making friends and getting attention is often rooted in being positive and loving and affectionate about things. I have so many followers on here because I talk about the things they love with ardent passion. I had a huge surge of followers recently for making a positivity post for original fiction writers encouraging people.

One of your first messages to me told me I don't respond to hate mail "normally" because I actually express genuine hurt when people are mean to me. But that is a normal human reaction. And you know that. I have always been a very open, genuine, and earnest person, so I cannot relate to wrapping yourself in hate, but I spent many years wrapped in anger and jealousy, and the thing that got me out of it was therapy.

Seriously. Therapy, and psychiatric medication. Because my personal brain chemistry means I need that.

And I encourage you to also seek out some kind of professional medical help, because you seem so genuinely miserable and directionless in your life that you need help finding a direction to pursue.

So I genuinely hope you do do that and it helps make you a happier person who hopefully doesn't go into social spaces intentionally poisoning things and making other people miserable because you are miserable. That's what you're doing right now.

But you can also choose to make social spaces more heartfelt and welcoming and warm and kind by adding that to the environment instead. It's a lot of work, sometimes, but it's worth it to me and to people in general.

And you did still hurt my feelings, even though I knew it had nothing to do with me. That's the cost of how you're behaving: you hurt people, and they don't like you very much or want to interact with you, and then you end up lonely and ignored because you're not acting like the kind of person anyone wants to pay attention to.

I'm glad my inbox will return to normal. I hope you find a great hobby that has absolutely nothing to do with me whatsoever.

[penofnelle]

Dear -

I miss you.

I haven't heard from you in almost three years, I think. The last time we spoke was through text around December of '21. You said you sent your letter, and I responded with excitement and a link to a song I thought you might like.

After that, only a few days later my next text of another link just said delivered.

I never did receive that letter.

At first, I didn't worry. It wasn't the first time we went radio silent. After all, we had spoken mostly through letters in the first place ever since you moved. And the last time you had gone silent, you had been going through some stuff. I understand.

But as it became the new year and now my text messages didn't even say delivered and no other letter did appear I grew worried. That last text mentioned you were sick. I hoped you were okay.

I still sent links to new songs and a picture of a bracelet you mailed to me a few years ago.

I wished you a happy birthday and hope you were keeping warm when the weather got cold where you lived.

I told you that I made a friend when I had been nervous and things were going well in school.

Thanksgiving and Christmas came-a year since I last heard from you. The clock struck 12 and it was the new year. I thought I should send you a letter.

I wrote a lot in that letter, since it had been so long and a lot happened. I experienced loss and grief that made me feel hollow inside for months. I hoped it would reach you like all the others.

But the text was still unread, and I never got a letter in return. I started to look up obituaries in your city, and it killed me. I didn't actually know your parents' full names or their phone numbers. All these years and I didn't know something as simple as that, but we were young. We saw each other in school for years every day. You had only been to my house one time before you moved. I never actually went to your house when you lived so close, but once I went to dinner with your family. You sat next to me at the table.

If you had died, would your parents have let me know? You had my number, my email, my address. They were sure to have seen the letters we exchanged over the years, each decorated and sent with love. If you had died, they could have easily called to let me know. Sent a letter. But I never got any of that.

I know it's a big leap to assume someone was dead, but you were never a person to just ghost someone. When we talked it was always genuine. We never fought. Too much alike and nonconfrontational. But we were always upfront towards each other.

I wrote to you about a dream where I kissed a girl and then about when I actually had my first kiss with a boy. You wrote to me about a crush you had and how my previous letter made you flustered with how I wrote it. I didn't hide things from you. You know things my family doesn't.

I never hesitated to share with you what I wrote down in ink and my attempt at cursive. I didn't see it either in your words in blue ink that you sent back on folded small sheets of paper.

I texted a common friend we had to see when they last heard from you. It had been the September I last heard from you. I asked them to send you a message, but I dont ever think they did. Maybe you told them not to share if you responded, I don't know.

Did you not want to write to me anymore? Did I do something wrong? Did you grow tired of me? Forget?

Why wouldn't you tell me?

It made me sick to think about it. Either one of my closest friends died or decided to cut me off from their life.

The worst part is I don't know.

I've actually had dreams where I saw you again. Where I ran into you and finally got to know you were okay or we just talked like old times. Where I've gotten to hug you again. Where I've actually been able to ask you the question of 'what happened?'. I wake up, and it hurts to remember that it was just a dream and not a memory.

Not knowing is killing me. I've actually called you and gotten a voice-mail. It was an automated message, so I don't even know if you have that same number. I can't even hear your voice. I've left a few messages. Even saying that if this was someone else to just text me and let me know.

Please just let me know.

Love, -

[crimsonophelia]

hi! could i request for an imagine involving childe and a gn reader? the reader is childe’s longtime childhood friend who’s more or less been in love with him since they were young—and they document the extent of their feelings in a diary (complete with embarrassingly detailed paragraphs planning out theirs and childe’s wedding, gushing over every little thing about him, incidents where they felt petty and jealous over childe showing interest in someone else, etc etc.) that they accidentally end up mailing to childe in liyue thinking it was the book they bought him as a gift.

when they realize the mix-up, they try to make a run for the post office to stop it from being sent to him, but it’s no use—it’s already been shipped out and sent off. how childe ends up responding, doing, or reacting is completely up to you! (i apologize if this request was a little long aha; i hope you have a wonderful day!)

featuring: childe x gn!reader

warnings: none

published: april 22 2021

form: imagine

a/n: thank you for requesting!! this is so cute~~ i love wholesome, bashful childe www

you couldn’t believe it. oh my god, you were such a huge, fucking idiot. how could you have gotten the letters mixed up with the bank documents??? the whole point of keeping your ridiculously embarrassing letters to tartaglia separate from the rest of your documents was just so something like THIS could never happen! 

the eleventh fatui harbinger had requested a few copies of official documents from northland bank to help zhongli with some funeral parlor legal paperwork, and you happily obliged, jumping at the opportunity to be of help to the boy you’ve admired for so long.

but for some reason, you were feeling particularly airheaded today. the night before, you had written yet another “letter” to tartaglia in your diary, much like the countless other sheets of paper clipped together, filled with endless words of yearning that will never be read by their intended recipient. you wrote:

“my dearest ajax,

i hope life as a harbinger is going well. i quite miss when we were back in snezhnaya as children, but i suppose i should thank celestia that fate brought us back together in liyue. i still cant help but to miss you each and every day, though. it feels like its been so long since we last got together and talked. i remember last time we had an actual conversation was at wangshu inn— was it three, no, four months ago? i cant quite recall. you looked so lovely, as usual. your smile never fails to make me laugh, especially with that one crooked tooth. i still love to bully you about that, you know. hopefully we can meet again soon, sincerely. im tired of being just friends, tartaglia. not when you look at me like that, and not when you always love to put your arm around my shoulder and pull me in to you every time we meet. i dont know how you feel about me—sometimes it appears as if you might feel the same, though i can never be sure. but i digress. life is rather lonely without you, and yet i manage to get by, somehow.

always yours,

[y/n]”

you tucked the letter amidst the stack of all the others, confident that they would never see the light of day. but somehow, somehow, your foolish, sleep-deprived brain mixed the letters in between the documents from the bank, and now tartaglia would know everything. all your foolish musings over the years, fawning over his rogueish charm like a child, yearning for your friend with such humiliating naïveté. this cannot happen. you have to get to him before the mail can, somehow. he was currently staying at an inn nearby the funeral parlor—there’s gotta be a way to be quicker than the mail deliverer.

you hurried out of your office and hailed the first rickshaw you see lined up on the street, and ordered him to drive you to the inn, as soon as humanly possible.

upon arrival, you leapt out of the seat, tossing an indiscriminately large fare at the driver before stumbling onto the sidewalk, almost dropping your things. slamming open the door to the inn, you reach the front counter. asking breathlessly, “which room is mr. tartaglia staying in?”, you hurry to the room the doorman indicates to be the fatui’s residence.

but before you get the chance to even look for the room, you turn the corner and slam into a taller body. to your dismay, you look up and see the face of a shocked tartaglia looking down at you, a stack of papers tucked under his arm. shit.

shit shit shit. this cannot be happening right now. maybe he hasn’t read the letters yet? slim chance, though—he’s always been nosy.

“[y/n]...” Childe looked at you with a pained glint in his eyes. he reached out for your arm with his free hand.

ah. so he knew.

you tried to jerk away, feeling your cheeks heat up with embarassment and the pressure that always comes before tears. things are never going to be the same again. all because of my stupidity.

you felt yourself colliding with the wall of tartaglia’s chest again, as he abruptly dropped all he was holding. a pair of arms wrapped themselves assuredly around your waist, so familiar, yet so foreign. not able to hold yourself together for any longer, you let yourself go, crying into tartaglia’s chest, your voice racked with harsh, humiliating, childish sobs.

“why did you hide it from me for so long?” you felt tartaglia whisper into your hair, his breath grazing your scalp. his warmth was so delicious, something youve been craving for so long finally being satiated.

looking up, his usual charming smirk was much more sad, almost guilt-ridden. “i care about you so much [y/n]. you know you can tell me anything, right?”

gasping for air, you felt so ashamed for making such a scene in front of him. “i was so scared, ajax. scared that i would drag you down, or scared you would leave me behind.” you couldn’t bear to meet the pained gaze of the boy yoy so hopelessly fell in love with.

his rough hand smoothed over your hair, comforting you like he used to, back when you two were children in snezhnaya. drawing you effortlessly closer towards him, until you felt his lips plant a chaste kiss upon your forehead.

“you know i love you, [y/n], don’t you? i always have and i always will.”

you clung on to him tighter, fearing what the world might return to if you ever let go. you couldn’t let him slip through your fingers, not again.

“i don’t want you to suffer because of me anymore, my dear.”

a/n: to clarify YES THIS IS A HAPPY ENDING READER AND CHILDE GET TOGETHER i just didnt wanna go any further and do a complete 180 on the tone lolol i hope this is okay!!

[dream0holder]

I hate talking about my experience because there are definitely people who've had worse situations. Also when I talk about my qualms there's a chance that I come off as spoiled or complaining for nothing but I'm just tired at this point and I wanna rant.

I dont have a great relationship with my parents but my situation with my mom is miles better than the semblance of one I have with my dad. During COVID in an attempt for a change of pace from the situation, my aunt offered to buy me a ticket and move me from California back to my hometown to live. She helped me get a job where I make four dollars an hour less than what I was making in California.

I ended up staying with my dad who was mean and apprehensive about the idea in the first place but he ultimately agreed. Here I've endured constant berating about what and how I do things. He's called me a slut before, berated my weight, etc. Like one of the most notable petty situations where he's yelled at me was when I left the coupon mail on the coffee table and he said I lacked common sense. Then another situation where we both had a family event to go to and he told me my behavior made no sense because I didn't sweep properly after spotlessly cleaning the entire kitchen and trying to rush to make it somewhere.

My parents aren't rich and sure as hell aren't "comfortable" either. My mom spent most of my life doing what she could to make sure I had things that I needed. I got a few things that I really wanted but it was never about that. I just learned to drive this year (hesitant due to anxiety) and of course I needed a car to drive. My grandfather offered his old car but it broke down.

I asked my dad if he could help me buy a nicer used car because I only had so much from saving for work. And he said no because he didn't think I was saving and said "maybe if I didn't spend all money on Amazon and stuffing my face I'd be able to afford it." That sparked another argument because at that point I had well over $3200 there just weren't a lot of used cars in that range and I only wanted about $500 to go towards what I already had. My aunt ended up finding a car that was 1400 more than what I had and she helped me pay the rest and I'm paying her back (like I was planning to do with my dad).

That was in June and three weeks ago, I got a flat tire, into a car accident that destroyed my drivers and back doors, I'm starting university in January, and I have to still pay my aunt back for the money I owe her. Amidst all of this, my father kicked me out, he took it back two days later claiming he did it because I was disrespectful and aggressive. But I'm gonna leave anyway because this is the third time that threat has happened.

I spent a lot of my life adoring my father and revering him. All I was met back in return was disdain, disrespect, and watching him father other children. It's been super frustrating since being back and I just wanna scream every time. And all its ever being seen as is me being a brat to my dad but no one ever sees what happens before I get bratty.

Like his brother even acknowledged "before you got to *this age* you were so respectful and helpful and now you're acting bad" people don't suddenly change in a few days or years out of no where. This is after him ignoring my phone calls, outing me to my family as his reasons for him not to want to contact me, etc. But I'm meant to ignore all of that and treat him as though his status as my father is worth gold.

I will physically carry my car back on my back to California if I have to because I'm tired of being here with someone who couldn't care less about what I do or what happens to me. The excuse majority of my paternal family uses is our ethnicity saying "well we are Haitian!🇭����🇭🇹" like that's such bullshit.

These are the kinds of parents that wonder why they end up alone in nursing homes. Especially since I have no siblings biological or otherwise on my father's side.

But I'm gonna persevere. If not out of will then out of spite.

[anakinthetrashking]

BnHA One-Shot Fic Recs (pt1)

Making some fic-rec posts has been on my to-do list for a while and I’m finally doing it, yay! Currently I have 6 word doc pages full of just BnHA recs. So I’m splitting them up by length and completion, so first up is (part one of) one-shots! Let’s go!!!

Lets start with some classic Izuku and DadMight!

Pictures, Posters and Tender Beauty by ProPinkist (tumblr: @dazais-guardian-angel ) Rating: G    Category: Gen   ~4,400 words Summary: Izuku has virtually every All Might-themed item out there, and prides himself on all of it, as Toshinori is well aware. However, somehow, the boy still decided that there was something vital missing. This is fluffy and very cute. No one truly appreciates All Might as much as Izuku does, but 1A comes close. All Might deserves all the love, and this fic truly provides!!!

Dear Mr. All Might by QuizzicalCrow (tumblr: @quizzicalcrow​ ) Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~5,000 words Summary: As the #1 hero for decades, All Might has collected a lot of fan mail over the years. Toshinori tracks down a series of letters that only now, years later, does he appreciate for their significance.  I always love the thought of All Might looking through his fan mail, even if he can’t get to all of it. This was a wonderful glimpse into that AND it was made to be so, so personal and sweet. Go have some heart-healing fluff.

Growing Pains by LordofLies (tumblr: @theangelofchildren ) Rating: G   Category: Gen    ~5,900 words Summary: Izuku finds himself changed by his encounter with the Hero Killer, but changes of a more physical kind are in store for him as he begins to truly accept One for All as his own. Once, he would have been thrilled to look more like All Might, but now those connections are as much a source of anxiety as they are of pride.Or, Izuku wakes up one morning and sees the world through different eyes. Izuku having anxiety and Toshi being there to help him through it and calm him down? Sign me UP. Its also a pretty cool take on how One for All is able to change things about it’s holder. Could this happen in cannon? Who knows.... Regardless, it was a great read!

I’ll Carry You Home by Renesvetta Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~2,700 words Summary: While training with All Might, it wasn’t uncommon for Izuku to be so exhausted at the end of the day that he unwittingly fell asleep without regard for where he was. It consequently became part of All Might’s routine to help his young protégé home. During that time, Izuku may have let loose more than one sleepy confession towards his mentor.  Yes, it is as adorable as it sounds. Its tagged with “self indulgent Dad Might fluff” which is both accurate and appreciated. In other words: Superb you funky little writer!

Simple Gifts by QuizzicalCrow Rating: G    Category: Gen   ~6,700 words Summary: One year ago, Izuku received the greatest gift he could ever imagine. Now he’s determined to return the favor for the one responsible for it all with a gift of his own.  First off, I love the idea of Izuku and Toshi quietly celebrating the anniversary of passing on OfA from All Might to Izuku. Even just taking the day to hang out with each other. It’s a really precious idea. But there’s not just fluff! Izuku finds himself in a fight, again. (cool villain quirk, too!) I love all of the small details that are in this fic (and in Crow’s other works, too!) anyway its exciting AND very heartwarming, so go read it!!!

Affectionate by Sevi007 (tumblr: @sevi007 ) Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~2,600 words Summary: Toshinori starts to show affection very easily around his students. The  reactions he gets for that are not quite the ones he had anticipated - well, not all of them, at least.  Toshi is LOVED, APPRECIATED, and 1A feels like HOME. how many times can i say “cute” and “heartwarming” on this post?? bc these are some amazing writers, whom I adore, and their writing makes my heart WARM. AND. FUZZY. i mean, even just the first few paragraphs of this one just, really sets the scene of what i like to believe the 1A dorm is (on a good day, lol). its a really nice read, so go treat yo’ self by reading it.

paint me in trust by dinomight Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~6,400 words Summary: The first mark Izuku gets is a slight brush of green across his temple. It’s the soft touch of a mother holding her son for the first time. Inko has one to match, the same shade of green staining the tips of her fingers. Hers is more noticeable; Izuku’s tends to blend into his hairline. He loves it anyways. He has to. It’s the only soulmate mark he has. (Or: how Izuku goes from just green to a rainbow, UA-style.)  Ok, so this fic sort of plays off the idea of soulmates, and does not fit in with soulmates in the usual form of the trope. First off its completely platonic. Its categorized as Gen and sticks to that. Also it doesn’t seem to be as obligatory and permanent as you would think it would be. It seems to be more of the universe telling you who has the possibility of being important in your life. I really really loved this, it was so adorable and gives you that sweet, sweet Izuku angst, before healing your heart with the power of friendship and found family!!!

The Die Has Been Cast by ChiwiTheKiwi (tumblr: @chiwithekiwi​ ) Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~5,400 words Summary: “There’s something about that kid you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”When no answer meets him, Shouta tries again.“You know something about Midoriya’s quirk that you haven’t shared with me. Is that right?”(Or: A canon "What If" surrounding the latest manga events and focusing on Aizawa finally making a connection.) First off, this fic has spoilers for the manga, so dont read unless you’re past chp212! I loooooooove OfA reveal fics, especially when it’s Aizawa that finds out. He deserves to know!!! its kind of important!!!! This fic chooses a great moment to work off of, and does a great job with Aizawa’s character. I really enjoyed it and couldn’t keep myself from going back and reading it just now LOL

These last two are actually two-shots, but it makes it an even 10! also Izuku and dadmight, so we can continue the theme here...

Some Unspoken Thing by LittleKy Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~7,900 words (2chps) Green, Toshinori has always thought, is the color of life anew.(Or: It's time for Yagi Toshinori to finally accept that he has a son, now, in all but blood. It's time for Midoriya Hisashi to accept that as well.) YES ALL MIGHT! ADMIT THAT IZUKU IS YOUR SON! great portrayal of the characters and really hits the nail on the head for DadMight. and Izuku in this story is just the smallest green floof that you wish to give a hug. NEVER MIND ALL MIGHT, YOU TOOK TOO LONG SO IZUKU IS MY SON NOW AND IM NOT GIVING HIM BACK ( no but seriously i want to hug this fic its so cute TTuTT )

LAST BUT NOT LEAST! I See You by BirdAntlers (tumblr: @aarymk )

Rating: G   Category: Gen   ~15,400 words (2chps) Midoriya Izuku is a quirkless child, blind from birth. Yagi Toshinori is the most powerful man in the world, loved by millions. They could not be more different, and yet their loneliness is the same.   (From a pair of AU posts on Tumblr that got way out of hand; I wanted to put it here because it turned into more of a fic than a "what-if." Basically a vessel for me to vomit as much Dadmight as I can.) Hey, you! Yeah! You! Do you want to cry? Do you want to start sobbing in a public space?? Do you just want to be destroyed with words and be left there kneeling at the feet of a writer who has torn out your heart and stomped on it before they gently wipe the tears from your face? Yeah?? y oU Wan NA D IE??? READ THIS AND GET REKT.  you’ll thank me later

(under the cut is just me rambling, i kept all the important stuff up here, ur welcome)

Now that the actual recs are over I can rant here- look i really tried to slim my recs down, but i have almost 300 bnha fics bookmarked,some of them are “to read” or theyre in progress, etc but i managed to get this list sorta slimmed down? a little?(to only 58!!!) but as i was gathering this post together it felt like i dont have very many Dadmight recs on that list??? but i havent rechecked all the other fics i was just going through the oneshots. i... kinda read a lot more fics with AIzawa in it instead. it be that way. DadMight content is SO GOOD. but my fav is aizawa im sorryyyyy anyway i have another SEVENteeN oneshots to put in rec posts and that does NOT include the mulitchapter and friikin series and stuff... and like i said this is aaaaaaallllllllllllllll BnHA. batfam fic posts will come after, and then star wars, and then maybe star trek? we’ll see. i have a very specific taste in ST fics and that is Tarsus IV whump. which. i have not read in a while. when they say “that trope came from ST” for sooooooo many tropes, you WISH other fandoms had tarsus as a trope, holy crap it is TOP TIER angst fodder. if you love to write/read whump, angst, and h/c i would HIGHLY recommend that you take a bit of time and explore the content and stories there. heck maybe i will make a ficrec post for just tarsus angst. ok.

my INTENTION is to edit these posts later with little links to the other fic rec lists so that itll be easier to find. but., its me, so itll either happen in painful detail or not at all

asdjkdgh its 2:30am and i need to sleep and not be rambling incoherently again I WILL SAVE THIS AS A DRAFT. 

[twenty-nothing]

OneHundredSeventyFour

Lasts

Who

Who was the last person you got into an argument with? What was it about? - I don’t even remember!

Who was the last person you spoke on the phone with? What was the call regarding? - Elaine, just telling me when we are going to leave

Who was the last person that slept in your bed? Are they a lover or a friend? - No one has actually slept in my bed besides me since I bought it 5 years ago lol

Who was the last person to give you a hug or a kiss? Did you return the sentiment?

- I think Elaine was the last to hug me, obviously I hugged back lol

Who was the last person to give you a gift? What was the gift? What holiday was it for, or was it “just because”? - Kayla gave me a galantines gift. A turtle towel, scunchies, car coasters and chocolate!

Who is the person that you last went to for advice? - My mom

Who was the last person to say “I love you” to you? What significance does this person have in your life? - My mom, she is obviously a big part of my life

Who was the last person that you spoke with, in person? - Elaine

Who was the last person to request you on a social media network - and did you accept? - Some person I don’t know from England

Who was the last person you texted or messaged, and what was it in regards to? - Texted my mom about some jobs I’m thinking of applying to

Who was the last person’s vehicle that you rode in? - Elaine

Who was the last person to make you laugh or smile, and why? - Elaine lol We just hung out so her name is all over this section. It was just a really fun day, our last laugh was about making fun of our old boss.

Who was the last person that you took a photo with? - Kayla

Who is the last person that you flirted with? Were you successful? - I don’t know, haven’t flirted in a while

Who was the last person to pay you a compliment, and what did they say? - My godmother said I’m a great person and I’ll have no problem finding a new job

Who’s the last person that you visited in the hospital? - I dont remember, it’s been a while

Who is the last person that you lent money to? - I’ve never lent anyone money

What

What was the last food that you ate? - Taco Bell chipotle melt

What was the last beverage that you drank? - Cherry Pepsi

What did the last pair of footwear that you wore look like? - Black sparkly slip on sneakers

What was the last color of pen that you used? - Black

What was your last thought before falling sleep last night? - Excited about hanging out with Elaine today

What was the last television show you watched? - Degrassi

What was the last board or card game that you played? - Phase 10

What was the last kind of bread that you ate? - Italian

What color is the last shirt you wore? - Burgundy

What was the last electronic that you plugged in to charge? - Phone

What’s is the last thing that you Googled? - Local hospital jobs

What’s the last concert you attended? - Luke Bryan

What’s the last sporting event that you attended/watched? - Local AHL hockey game

What was the last app that you downloaded to your phone? - Motivation app

What was the last video game that you played? - No idea, it’s been a while

What’s the last computer game that you played? - Sims

What’s the last injury you had? - I haven’t had a serious one in a while. My last serious injury was a hole in my lip I bit after having Novocain

What’s the last holiday or event (baby shower, graduation, etc) that just passed? - New Years

When

When was the last time that you took a painkiller, and what did you take it for?

- Extra strength Tylenol, for a serious headache

When was the last time you went to the bathroom? - A few minutes ago

When was the last time that you listened to music? Do you remember what the most recent song was? - About 15 minutes ago, W.A.P lol

When was your last work shift? - Feb 12th, I got fired lol

When is the last time that you had trouble falling asleep? - Maybe a week or so ago

When is the last time you saw your parents? - Saw my dad a few hours ago and my mom like a week ago

When was the last time you saw a significant other? - I’m single

When was your last year of schooling/education? - 2015

When was the last time you took a shower? - This morning

When was the last time you did anything sexual that went beyond kissing? - Holy fuck, it’s been a few years

When was the last time that you did your laundry? - When  I was in college, my mom still does it now lol

When was the last time you had to use public transportation, and what form was it? - I took a plane back in 2018

When’s the last time that you were sick? What was wrong? - I had a sinus infection before Christmas

When was the last time that you hung out with friends/acquaintances? - Just got done hanging out with one about half an hour ago

When was the last funeral you attended? Who passed away? - My uncle, a year or so ago

When was the last wedding that you attended? Who got married? - Oh my god its been so long I don’t even remember

When’s the last time that you took a risk? What was the risk? - I don’t know, I don’t usually take risks

When’s the last time you mailed something handwritten? - YEARS ago

When’s the last time you got a haircut? - Back when the salons were able to reopen, getting another one in a few weeks

When’s the last time that you went swimming? - Been a few years

Where

Where was the last place you drove to, and what did you do there?

- Drove to Chili’s and Target. Got dinner and Lisa had to go shopping

Where was the last place that you went on vacation to? - Niagara Falls

Where was the last restaurant you ordered food from? - Chili’s

Where was the last place that you went on a date? - Local Mexican restaurant

Where was the last place that you went shopping at? - Target

Where was the last place you got lost? - Local hiking place

Where’s the last place that you walked to? - I just take walks around the neighborhood

Where did you last have sex? - My bed

Where was the last place you left your keys? - In my key holder in the kitchen

Where’s the last place you got drunk? - My house

Where’s the last place you embarrassed yourself in public? How did you do this? - I don’t know, it has been a while

Why

Why did you last cry?

- I was sad

Why did your last relationship fail? - He cheated on me

Why did you leave your last job? - I didn’t leave, I was fired because my boss was a dick

How

How long has it been since you last visited a doctor? How about a dentist?

- Been about a year. Dentist 6 months ago, I have a dentist appt next week actually.

How long does gum usually last when you chew it? - An hour or so

How long can you last in bed? - Pretty long lol

How long did your food last get microwaved for? - Like a minute 

How many pages was the last book that you read? - About 250

How big was the last fish you caught? - It was average I’d say

How long was the last movie you watched? - An hour and a half

How long was your last relationship? - 9 months

How much did your last grocery bill come to? - $45

How difficult was your last exam? - I don’t remember. It has been years since I was in school

Randoms

Did you always get picked last in gym class?

- No

Do you believe that nice guys finish last? - No, they get to the front of the line with me

Can true love really last forever? - Yes

Give me the first initial of your last name? - S

Something you wait until the last minute to do? - Clean lol

Have you made your last will and testament? - No. I don’t own anything to have to make one

Something in your home that’s on its last leg(s)? - My laptop has been really laggy

Give us some famous last words! Yikes 

[alitaimagines]

request: “angst with my boy Ryou!! i’ve been in a daiya mood the last few weeks and I actually forgot how much I loved ryou and harada. this has a lot of timeskips so bare with me here. ”

character: ryousuke kominato, harada masatoshi. 

fandom: ace of diamond / daiya no ace

song recommendation: i dont fuck with you - big sean. 

it was the end of your third year and you looked at Ryou with loving expression. it wasn’t a mystery to see you looking at him with love eyes. the two of you got together at the begging of both of your second year. you managed to fight your way through his heart and at first, he thought you were just going to be some high school girlfriend but once Ryou realize that he actually loved you, it all changed.

the two of you would sneak off at night to enjoy an impromptu date night. there was a few times where Kataoka seen you but he minded his business and turned the other way. he knew that outside distractions did benefit a player as it kept them from over working themselves.  

it wasn’t until the end of the year when everything took a turn for the worst. you had applied for a few universities in Japan but the one you were aiming to attend was Hokkaido University. You didn’t think you were actually going to get in but when you checked your mail and seen the acceptance letter, you let out a scream of happiness. 

“FUJIWARA GUESS WHAT!” you screamed as you slammed the door to your shared dorm wide open, “what are you screaming for?” she asked as she noticed your excitement. 

you slammed the letter on the desk as she smiled, “me too!” she screamed showing you the same letter she received. you gave her a smile before tackling her into a hug, “roomies?” you screamed as she laughed before agreeing. 

“I can’t believe we actually got in!” you exclaimed, “I wonder if Ryou got in. having my boyfriend and my best friend attending the same school would be a dream!” you flopped down on your bed, holding your letter to your chest. 

-

“what do you mean you’re not going to Hokkaido?” you asked as you looked at Ryou with tears pricking your eyes, “did you not get accepted? or are you just denying it?” 

Ryou showed you the plethora of acceptance letters he received and although he did receive an acceptance to Hokkaido, he was denying it to go to Osaka. 

“we’re not attending the same school.” you whispered, “Ryou, you do realize that, right?” he nodded as he grabbed all your acceptance letters and seen that Osaka was not one of your choices. 

he sighed, “did you even apply to Osaka?” you shook your head no, “you knew I wasn’t. I told you that my top choices were the Hokkaido, Kyoto, and the University of Southern California.” 

you jokingly took an entrance test for a school in America and once you got your results back in, you realized that you did get in. your parents pushed you to attend it but after looking at the tuition, all of you agreed it was too much. 

“what are we going to do?” you asked as he mentioned long distance. you knew you could do long distance but that was more work for a relationship that wasn’t promised, “no, I don’t think that would work.” 

Ryou gave you a look, he sensed what you were going to tell him. taking a break or worse, completely breaking up. 

“our only choice is breaking up.” 

you muttered the words he feared the most. he didn’t want to break up with you but you had dreams in Hokkaido and his baseball dreams relied in Osaka.  

“are you serious?” he asked. you gave him a dumbfounded look, “I told you since the beginning of our third year all my choices and all the schools I took entrance exams for. it’s your fault for not telling me you were attending Osaka.” 

Ryou scoffed, “my fault?” he asked rhetorically, “how is this all my fault?” you rubbed your temples, “I just told you why. I told you my choices and you didn’t tell me any of yours. how were we supposed to coordinate schools when you didn’t tell me?” 

Ryou knew you were right but his damn pride didn’t want him to lose the argument, “you could’ve asked, you know?” you let out a sarcastic laugh, “we’re not children, Kominato!” shit, you were pissed. Ryou knew that you when you called him by his last name, you were serious. 

“you knew this was going to come up and if you knew that you weren’t giving Hokkaido an option, I wouldn’t have applied. I’m not the one at fault here, you are.” 

you wanted to cry, you really did, but when it came down to it, you realized how ridiculous it was to feel upset about this. it wasn’t your fault and you weren’t going to cry about a relationship that Ryousuke, in a sense, threw away. 

“so this is it? we’re done?” 

“you’re attending Osaka and I’m going to Hokkaido so yeah we are.” 

-

moving out of Seidou and instantly going to Hokkaido was a relief in one hand but stress in another. both you and Fujiwara found a cheap apartment in the Hokkaido area and moved in only a few weeks after graduating. 

after the break up with Ryou, you returned all of his things except his baseball sweater. not really out of memories but because the sweater was extremely comfortable and that was the only Seidou merch you kept. 

Fujiwara wanted nothing more than you kick Ryou’s ass after finding out what happened but you realized that everything happened for a reason and there was no point in dwelling on a relationship that Ryou seemingly didn’t care about. 

once you settled into the apartment and managed to find jobs that fit around your class schedules, you both knew it was time to get out on the town and explore Hokkaido. 

“hey, there’s a baseball game tonight. want to do that?” you asked. Fujiwara thought about it, “sure, I don’t mind. as long as it doesn’t end too late. I work tomorrow morning.” 

you nodded as you purchased a two front row tickets for the seven o’clock game. outside of being with Ryou, you didn’t care too much about baseball. you did find the game interesting but you didn’t actively seek to watch it. both you and Fujiwara knew going to a game only gave you a reason to leave the house and actually do something. 

the both of you purchased a Hokkaido jersey as soon as you arrived to the stadium but you had completely forgotten was that Harada had gotten drafted to the team at the beginning of the summer. 

“hey, I’m going to buy us some drinks before the game, once you find our seats, text me so I can go ahead and find you.” 

Fujiwara nodded as you went up to one of the stands and bought the both of you coffee. being that it was already August, most days were extremely hot but today, there was a slight breeze in the air. 

after ordering the coffee, you hadn’t realized you weren’t watching where you were walking and ran into someone. 

“oh my god, I am so sorry!” you exclaimed. although it was your fault, you were the one who ended up on the ground, “oh Harada, I didn’t realize it was you!” you exclaimed. 

Harada chuckled before giving you his hand and helping you back on your feet, “what are you doing in Hokkaido?” he asked. you scratched your head nervously, “oh, I go to university here. both Fujiwara and I just wanted to come to a game just so we wouldn’t be trapped inside the house all day.”

 Harada hummed, “where are you sitting?” you showed him your ticket, “players get to have family members sit in the box seats. do you guys want to take the seats tonight?” Harada asked. 

you immediately denied, “no we couldn’t. we wouldn’t even know how to repay you.” Harada chuckled, “no need to repay me. it’s my pleasure hosting you.” your face immediately went warm as you ultimately agreed on taking his seats. 

once you texted Fujiwara and told her everything with Harada, she couldn’t help but smack you on the arm, “I haven’t seen you with a smile like that since you were still with Ryou.” you didn’t say anything back but you knew she was right. 

the seats that Harada had given you were amazing. you were able to see everything from the top and Harada even gave you a discreet wink all the way from the bottom before the game started. 

from the game that Seidou had against Inashiro, you never remembered Harada being so confident but you guessed personalities changed when it came to on and off the field. 

halfway through the game, someone came in with plates of food, “box members get dinner on the behalf of Hokkaido players.” was all the person said before setting the plates down on the counter and leaving. 

you grabbed the small note that was on the tray as Fujiwara grabbed her plate and ran back to the seat to continue watching the game. 

“I figured a way you could repay me. here’s my number, call me so I can properly take you out.” 

you hid the paper in your pocket, deciding not to show Fujiwara until the game was over. you put his number into your cell before grabbing your plate of food and sitting back down. 

“harada❤︎” 

-

once you finally fessed up to Fujiwara about Harada giving you his number, it was the same day Harada planned on taking you out. he picked a cute restaurant in a neighboring city and was on his way to pick you up. 

Fujiwara didn’t take no for an answer and put you in some of the cutest clothes she owned. it was a black skirt that reached your knees, a plain white blouse, and left you to do your own hair. 

“you look great! are you excited?” 

you gave her a nervous smile, “I’m fucking nervous! I’m going on a date with Hokkaido’s catcher! do you know how many girls would kill to be in my spot?” you exclaimed. Fujiwara laughed, “yeah but you’re the one in that position so fucking be excited about it!” 

you nodded as you heard a knock on your door, “I’ll answer it!” Fujiwara screamed as she ran to the door. you ran to the bathroom to make sure you looked okay before going back out. 

“ah, Harada! how are you! she’ll be out in a minute. she just had to use the bathroom.” 

Harada nodded as he sat down on your couch, “would you like some tea or anything?” Harada shook his head no as he gripped the flowers he brought you. 

you took one final breath before leaving the bathroom and walking outside to your living room. Harada’s mouth dropped as he felt himself blushing, “you look beautiful.” you smiled as he handed you the flowers, “they’re beautiful, Harada.” 

Fujiwara squealed, “if there’s any single players on your team, she has my number so you can give it to them.” Harada laughed as you set your flowers on your kitchen table. 

“leave, you don’t want to be late! have fun! make sure everything is consensual!” 

you felt embarrassment rush over your face at what Fujiwara said, “we will,” Harada responded before taking your hand and walking out of your apartment. 

-

after a few months of dating Harada, you felt like everything was back to normal in your life. you had an amazing boyfriend, your education was going great, and Fujiwara managed to get find someone who played for Hokkaido to take her out. 

Harada was everything Ryou wasn’t. Ryou tended to hide his affection in front of everyone while Harada didn’t mind showing you off to the team. you understood that Harada traveled a lot but some how, the two of you made it work.

the off season finally came and you were in your apartment with Fujiwara and her boyfriend. being that her boyfriend was few years older than the two of you, he managed to buy a few cases of beer and two bottles of wine. 

“where’s Masa? he should be here by now.” you asked Daiki. he shrugged, “I think he was rearranging his apartment. at least that’s what he told me.” Daiki brushed off your comment before continuing the coversation he was having with Fujiwara. 

they both knew what he was saying was true but there was more to the story than that. Harada was planning on asking you to move in with him and he was making space to make room for your things. Harada was a traditionalist and he felt it was right in his heart to ask you to move in with him before things got even more serious. 

it had been a few days after that day when you were with Harada in his apartment. you were laying on top of him, adorning one of his shirts as he rubbed your sides. 

“you know I love you, right?” 

you nodded as you gave Harada a peck, “of course. what makes you say that?” you asked. Harada twiddled his fingers as readjusted yourself. you wrapped your legs around his waist as he huffed, “well, we’ve dating for a while and you know with my line of work, I was wondering if you wanted to move in. it would make everything a lot easier.” 

you could tell how nervous Harada was, “of course. is that why Daiki told me you were rearranging your apartment a few days ago?” Harada nodded. you smiled before giving him a kiss, “we can start moving my things in tomorrow.” 

Harada nodded as he seen a smirk play on your face, “we should celebrate tonight. lets call Fujiwara and Daiki and go to a club!” you asked, “but before that, we should celebrate another way first.” 

Harada knew what you meant by that as you took your shirt off and pushed him back on the couch. 

-

it had been a few months since that night. Ryousuke didn’t really pay attention to the news surrounding players as a lot of the news was mostly rumors. or he hoped they were rumors. 

Tetsu had messaged Ryou with a video that Fujiwara had sent him. it was of all four of you singing to “I Dont Fuck With You” by Big Sean. Ryou seen how Harada was holding you as you sang to the camera. he could tell you were a bit drunk as your words were slurred a bit. 

“I guess it’s time for you to move on.” was all Tetsu said in the message. there was a part of him that hoped he could rekindle what the two of you had. he didn’t believe the video and just hoped that the next time he seen you, you were as single as the day you left Seidou. 

-

“Masa, Seidou is holding a gathering and they want alumni to attend. you should come with me!” you exclaimed. he gave you a look, “I don’t think it’s safe for a retired Inashiro player to attend that.” 

you pouted as you wrapped your arms around his neck, “please? I want to show my fiance off!” Harada couldn’t deny your puppy eyes, “fine!” you smiled before giving him a kiss, “it’s this Friday so we could make it a trip to see our families!” 

-

you arrived to Seidou and looked at the campus. it was exactly the same way you left it. you squeezed Harada’s arm as you ushered him inside the gym. you gave the person at the front door the invitation and seen all of your old schoolmates. 

“Jun! Masuko! Tanba!” you exclaimed as you ran to them. they turned around in surprise as they seen you running towards them, “it’s felt like forever!” you whispered as you gave them a hug. 

they returned it before pointing behind you, “uh, is he with you?” Tanba asked. you nodded, “Masatoshi? of course, why wouldn’t my fiance be here?” they all gave you a bewildered look. 

“you’re engaged?” Jun screamed. you nodded happily as you them your ring. they gawked at how huge it was, “my god. congrats!” they all said awkwardly before congratulating Harada. 

they all held your hand to see the ring up close, “it’s fucking huge!” Jun muttered as you laughed, “I know. he’s the best, isn’t he?” you joked as you held Harada’s hand. 

“I know I’m the best.” 

you felt yourself stiffen Ryou’s voice. you turned and seen Tetsu, Ryou, and Chris standing behind you. Ryou with a smirk playing on his face as Tetsu and Chris gave you smiles. 

“hey guys! how are you!” you tried to say as unawkward as possible, “great, how are you?” Tetsu said, “I see the rumors about you and Harada being together are true,” Chris muttered. 

you nodded as you seen your favorite running towards you, “Haruno! Yui!” you screamed pushing everyone out of the way. they tackled you into a hug as you tried to remain standing. 

“you made it!” Yui screamed as she let you go, “of course. I really came here only to see the two of you!” you said as you hugged them again. they smiled as they let you go and noticed the rock on your hand. 

“you’re actually engaged! that’s awesome!” Haruno exclaimed as she held your hand up to see the ring, “holy shit, it’s huge! is that him?” Yui asked as she pointed at Harada. you nodded as they brought you over to the rest of the group, “did you guys see? she’s engaged!” Yui exclaimed as she showed all the boys your hand. 

you felt a blush rise as you tried to take your hand back, “we see that! that’s awesome!” Tetsu muttered as he looked at Ryou. everyone knew that you were engaged but they were all hoping that it didn’t get brought up. 

“well, Fujiwara and her boyfriend Daiki should be here soon. we’re going to find a table for us to sit at. we’re here all weekend so we should all meet up if we can and have dinner tomorrow.” 

they nodded as you waved them goodbye and grabbed Harada by the hand, “well, how awkward was that?” you exclaimed before the two of you let out a belting laugh. 

Ryou felt his eye twitch as he watched the two of you laugh. Ryou got the confirmation he needed. you were in fact engaged and he knew he couldn’t compare to Harada. no matter how hard he tried. 

“sorry bro, maybe it’s better this way.” 

Ryou gave Tetsu a look before turning around to look at you. he seen you give Harada kiss before going back to talk to Yui and Haruno. maybe Tetsu was right. maybe it was better this way. 

ALITA

[barrebard]

Hey just and FYI that USPS post you made is kind of outdated. Those presorted envelopes are ALREADY 100% PAID FOR WHETHER ITS USED OR NOT and by encouraging people to send “hate mail” you’re really just encouraging people to bog down a man-managed system that is already SERIOUSLY under scrutiny for losing people’s mail right now. Unless the envelope has “please affix proper postage” in the corner where a stamp goes, it’s pre-paid (if it does, then YOURE the one paying to send that letter, in which case, thank you for your support!!!). It’s called mass-flats (or mass-whatever, really. There’s not one set name, it varies from post office to post office, state to state lol) and they’re 100% paid for when the organization comes in and requests that service. We, the postal service, get that money whether you send tht reply mail or not, so please DONT SEND THE REPLY MAIL! It bogs us down in our trucks, gives us useless junk to keep track of, and god forbid we lose “hate mail” (or someone’s holiday or birthday letter to their grandkids while trying to keep track of your junk mail, because unfortunately we are all only human and mistakes happen) and someone finds it on the street and reports us for mail tampering. In that case, even if it’s 100% a genuine mistake, they WILL FIRE THAT EMPLOYEE and the union will not be able to represent, and they (the carrier) will never be able to get another federal job EVER again for any field. Can you imagine losing your job over junk mail like that? Can you imagine causing someone to lose a carrier over your petty junk mail? Plus, nine times out of ten, if you reply to those things you get put on a new mailing list called “active mailer” and they will send you, mercilessly, adds and flats and junk that are just addressed to you or your “current resident” so not only will YOU have to deal with lots and lots and LOTS of buisness mail (junk) moving forward, you’re dooming the next resident to it as well, AND it will follow you when you put a forward request in if/when you move!

Thank you for your perspective. I’ve worked in direct mail at nonprofits for several years. At one place, we did prepay for reply envelope postage, but our account was only charged when someone sent back the reply envelope. So if it was unused, we didn’t pay postage.

Where I am now, our volume is high enough that we don’t pay for postage and the recipient has to affix postage if they return our envelopes with a donation.

[mistymark]

the one with all the ajax.

na jaemin x reader // 4.5k words // masterlist // send requests here

summary; in which y/n needs to clean her apartment and she finds a lot more than cleaning products in the apartment above her own

warnings: none its just fluff, they swear like twice

requested; no but u all requested jaemin so here's some jaemin !!

notes; this is a recreation of a Jimin fic I wrote,, so dont freak out if u recognise it,, I didn't steal it

“Yes, Mom, I know,” you spun in your chair mindlessly as you listened to your mother over the phone, the face of Ryan Reynolds frozen rather unattractively on your TV screen and your current course assignment staring blankly at you from your laptop. “Yes, of course I remembered! You wrote it on my calendar the last time you visited! Okay, Mom, I’ll see you tomorrow… tell Dad I said hi, okay? Okay, okay, yes, okay, uhuh, I know, okay, bye! I love you!”

Hanging up, you groaned, tossing your phone to the empty couch and glancing at your apartment. The sink was overflowing with dirty dishes, the oven and stove looked as if they had been set on fire at least twice, the couch was littered in crumbs of food you’d ordered from takeout stores, and their wrappers, boxes and containers lay empty on the coffee table. Movies and video games were sprawled across the floor, your desk was buried in paper, and your bedroom floor was barely visible beneath the catastrophe that was your current wardrobe and the boxes you hadn’t bothered to unpack since your parents had last visited you. Generally, you considered yourself a rather clean and tidy person, but in the past few weeks leading up to exams and your assignments, you may have prioritized other things over your apartment’s cleanliness.

You glanced at the clock, calculating how much time you had to get your place in order before your parents visited. You had just under 22 hours, but subtracting time to sleep, eat, your afternoon class and your evening work shift… you had about two hours. You clapped your hands together, walking to your kitchen sink and opening the cupboard doors underneath it, planning on using all your cleaning supplies to make the job as easy as possible.

As you bent down and peered under the sink, you groaned in annoyance at the meagre remains of your cleaning supplies; a few tile wipes and a mostly empty bottle of dish soap, which, when you tipped it up, seemed solidly attached to the base of the bottle.

You grabbed your phone from the couch, praying your best friend loved you enough to help you in this time of distress, and dialled his number. After three rings and Yangyang’s voice letting out a cheery “leave me a message!”, you sighed and put your phone back down. It was at times like these that you wished you lived in one of the college’s normal dormitories, rather than a random apartment block two streets away; your neighbours were mostly disapproving elderly women or drunk, potbellied men in their 30s who would flirt with you in the elevator.

You grabbed your keys in preparation to make a quick dash to the store, before realising that there was one other option. The two boys who lived above you, from whom you had the honour of receiving brief smiles and polite ‘hello’s on the way to and from your apartment, sounded like they were home. Taking the stairs two at a time, you knocked eagerly on the door of the apartment above your own, smiling at the little fish-eyed hole in the door. You prayed your innocent, smiling figure would be taken pity on.

“It’s probably the pizza!” A muffled voice could be heard through the door, and you weren’t sure if it was from the thick door or from food being stuffed into the boy’s mouth that made it so difficult to understand.

The door opened abruptly, and a boy around your age blinked at you in surprise, before a lazy smile stretched across his face at the sight of you.

“Um, hi, I’m Y/n,” you hastily stated, waving awkwardly, “We haven’t officially met. I live in the apartment below you and I was wondering if I could borrow some cleaning supplies? It’s kind of an emergency.”

“Jaems! Who is it?” A deep voice called from within the apartment, and you recognised it as the boy who had yelled about the pizza delivery beforehand.

The boy in front of you – Jaems – raised his eyebrows in surprise, but nodded as he stepped aside slightly. “Yeah, um, okay,” he quickly turned to face his apartment, gesturing to the inside, where two other boys were situated on the couch in front of the TV. “I’m, uh, Jaemin. Come in, come in. This is Jeno and Donghyuck; Jeno’s my roommate and Donghyuck doesn’t actually live here, but he’s the one that makes the most noise.”

“Hey!” One of the boys on the couch, presumably Donghyuck, threw a potato chip at Jaemin, and you could hear Jeno scolding him as you shifted your attention back to the boy in front of you.

Jaemin walked towards the kitchen and you followed, noticing, rather abruptly, that the apartment you were standing in was pretty much exactly like your own. The layout was the same, and though the decorations and the furniture were different to yours, they were arranged very similarly. The boys on the couch, Jeno and Donghyuck, were so focussed on their game that they didn’t even look at you, shouting to Jaemin to bring them more snacks.

“So… if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the emergency that requires all these cleaning supplies?” Jaemin opens a cupboard in the kitchen, revealing a much more sensible-looking collection of spray bottles, wipes, paper towels and bottles. Jaemin gestures to them dismissively, in a take-whatever-you-need way.

You smile gratefully at him as you squat down and begin to rummage through the collection. “Well,” you speak into the cupboard as he leans against the kitchen counter casually, “my parents are coming to visit me tomorrow morning, and, um, I guess you could say my apartment doesn’t exactly entice guests at the moment.” You look over your shoulder at him, and you can see that he has a very amused smirk on his face, and the way he looks at you suddenly makes you feel as though you’ve been friends for a while, or at least properly met before.

“I’ve seen you around,” he states, as if he’s just been able to place you. “Mail room and stuff.”

“You were at the New Year’s Eve Party next door, right?” You ask, remembering seeing him on the roof of the building next door, where the residents threw parties on the roof at every opportunity. You were almost certain he was there.

He laughed, “Oh yeah! Didn’t someone try to jump into the pool?”

“Nah, they got him down in the end. He was way too drunk to think straight.” You look back at him briefly, and you notice the way his eyebrows are furrowed slightly in thought.

Satisfied, you stand up, your arms filled with the equipment you’re positive you’ll need and smile at him thankfully, “Again, thank you so much for this, I feel like our first proper meeting should have been a little bit more traditional and I promise I don’t normally ask strangers for favours.” You laugh and you’re glad he does, too, before he raises an eyebrow at the number of things you’re holding.

“Okay, I have to see how messy your apartment is for you to need two – wait, no, three bottles of Ajax,” he snorts, counting out loud the number of other things you have in your arms.

Without realising he’s teasing you, you reassure him, “I promise I’ll replace everything in a few days, I just really needed these before tomorrow and I didn’t want to waste time running - literally running, I don’t have a car - to the store.”

He waves his hand at you, smiling good-naturedly. His smile felt reassuring and you felt yourself smiling back, “No, no, don’t worry about it. The only payment I require is seeing this apartment.” He pushes past you into the hallway, outstretching his arm to hold the door open for you.

As you both trot down the stairs, you nudge him with your elbow, “So, why do you have so many cleaning supplies, anyway? Who’s the neat freak?”

Instantly, his smile drops slightly and you realise your mistake. Hurriedly, you try to cover yourself, “I just mean, who’s the one that clea-”

His laugh cuts you off and you realise he was only teasing you, “You should’ve seen your face, oh, God,” he continues to laugh. “No, one of the counsellors, like those ‘big-brother’ students at our college - do you have one? - his name is Taeyong, he’s a real… neat freak, as you put it.” He glances at you from the corner of his eye to watch as you make yourself smaller, blushing, ashamed. The tiniest of smiles crosses his face as he shoves his hands into his pockets and continues, “Anyway, after our first year was over, and the program ended, he made us buy like ten bottles of everything so we wouldn’t run out and just never buy them again.”

You laughed, “Aw, that’s sweet.” As you arrived at your doorstep, you turned on him, lowering your voice in what you hoped to be a morbidly warning voice, “Okay, I’m warning you, what you’re about to see will most likely disturb you. Enter at your own risk.” You unlocked the door and walked into your apartment, dumping your weapons on the table and turning around slowly, attempting to figure out the most strategic attack.

You heard Jaemin gasp in shock and then begin to laugh so hard that he fell to the floor, “Y-you said that it was r-really bad but I,” he laughed between most of his words and what he said came out in gasps, “I didn’t think it would be this bad! Y/n, you’re really screwed.” He walked to the kitchen and picked up a half-eaten apple and what looked to be a hairy potato on a paper plate, “Forget cleaning supplies, you need a dump truck, holy shit.”

You pouted at him, “Hey, I have over an hour to make this place spotless! I’ll be fine!” You began to put on a pair of rubber gloves you had taken from Jaemin’s apartment and remove all the filthy dishes from the sink to fill it with hot water. “I really do appreciate you letting me borrow all this, and I promise to return and replace everything.”

You heard rubber gloves snapping behind you and you turned around to see Jaemin pulling another pair on, grabbing the dishwasher fluid and tossing it to you. “There is no way that you are going to be able to clean this mess in an hour, so I’m going to help you. But, I need to arm myself first.” You let out a laugh as he grabbed an apron from beside your fridge that read ‘kiss the cook’ in pink stitching, tugging the rubber gloves further down his hands and placing a mask over his nose and mouth, before quickly ditching the latter.

“Do you want a shower cap, too?” You teased, pointing a clean knife at him from your spot by the sink.

“Do you have one?” He answered, his eyes wide in mock hope, pausing what he was doing: trying to get the apron’s straps to loosen around his neck, before tying it behind his slim waist. With his waist accentuated, you couldn’t help but notice the perfect shape of his body, that you had gone unnoticed as it was hidden by the white t-shirt he was wearing.

In response, you stuck your tongue out at him in an all-too-mature way, before straightening, “Seriously, you don’t have to do this. I mean, we did just meet like… ten minutes ago.”

He shrugged as he pulled out a bin bag from your haul on the counter, “What better way to get to know the cute next door neighbour?” You stopped washing for a moment and you were glad that you weren’t facing him, for you were fairly sure the blush on your cheeks was rather obvious. Besides, he could be talking about you getting to know him, not the other way round.

He began to walk around your apartment, firstly binning your apple, furry potato and plate, then the takeout boxes, and the leftover banana peel on your desk. He hung the bag off a chair for future use and then appeared beside you again, mindlessly tapping on the counter as he spoke, “So what’re your parents like?”

As you continued to clean, he grabbed a rag from somewhere in the kitchen and began drying your dishes. “Well, you know, they’re parents,” you shrugged, “I guess we’ve always been kind of close, I miss them like crazy now that I’ve moved out, even if I hated living with them. They’re kind of strict, real neat freaks,” you glanced sideways at him and caught the left side of his mouth hitching up in a smile, “but, I mean, they’re my parents and I love them. They worry about me sometimes,” you gestured around the room, “but I guess it’s warranted.”

You laughed with him, and he looked at you quickly before focusing back down on the plate, asking about what you were studying and the conversation quickly drifting to your hobbies, places you’d visited, things you still wanted to do… Conversation with Jaemin was easy and simple, and you hoped this wasn’t going to be the last time you saw him.

You passed him a bowl and turned to him, grinning, as you allowed the dirty water to run from the sink down the drain, having finally finished the dishes, “We should put on music. Make this a little more fun, you know?”

He pouted jokingly as he dried the bowl, “You’re not having fun?”

You laughed as you hit his chest lightly and walked over to the small speaker buried under piles of paper and bills on the small side table by your front door, and then dancing over to Jaemin in the kitchen. He laughed at your dorky dance moves, throwing his head back as he put the bowl down and joined you, swivelling his hips and squatting awkwardly as he danced.

You continued dancing as you finished the job; he danced as he wiped down your counter, you danced as you put the freshly dried dishes away, he danced as he vacuumed your couch of all the crumbs, and you danced as you put all the movies away underneath the TV. You learned he was actually a really good dancer, and it made you feel a little bit more nervous and self-conscious, until he started to bust out his own choreography, making you laugh until your insides hurt.

You made him take a break and offered him a drink, telling him to help himself to anything in the fridge as you quickly tidied your bathroom.

“Oh my God, Y/n!”

You quickly rushed into the main room and found Jaemin staring into your fridge, “What? What is it?”

He turned to face you, a look of amused bewilderment on his face, “You have nothing in your fridge but mustard, pickles and coconut water! How are you even alive right now?” His eyes were wide as he looked at you teasingly.

You rolled your eyes and retreated back into the bathroom to wipe down the now almost empty counter, making a comment about how you were doing perfectly fine surviving off of ramen and takeout, before Jaemin appeared in the doorway, “Seriously, though, if your parents see that, they’re really going to worry about you. Come on, we’ve got half an hour left, we’ll go to the supermarket, get a bunch of food to stock your fridge and then you can go to class.”

You sighed as you looked around at your bathroom, “I still have to wipe down all the windows and the shower, and my room is still a bit of a mess…”

He looked around, “If we’re quick, we’ll have enough time to wipe everything down. Your room… you can probably get away with that if everything else is tidy. I mean, your parents wont be going in there anyway, right? Come on.” He held out his hand and smiled as you pulled off your gloves to grab it.

He tugged your arm, attempting to pull you out of the bathroom, but he miscalculated where exactly the wall was and ended up slamming his back into the wall and pulling you into him, causing you to stumble and crash against him. You felt blood rush to your cheeks as you looked at his shocked face; his eyes were wide in surprise but you didn’t miss the small smile he had tugging at the left side of his mouth.

You couldn’t move as he held your gaze, and you watched as his eyes briefly glanced down to your lips before he turned his head to the sink mirror, “Um, should we get going?”

You felt your free hand clench into a fist in an invisible cringe and you looked down, noticing how close your bodies were, “Y-yeah, we probably should.”

You stepped back and went to grab your keys and purse, purposely keeping your back to him. You scolded yourself for even thinking about kissing him. Despite his attractiveness, intelligence, kindness and humour, you couldn’t let yourself get involved with someone you had just met, though it felt like you’d grown quite fond of each other in the past two hours.

He walked by your side to the store a few streets away and grabbed a trolley, guiding you to the fruits and vegetables section. You groaned and followed him. As he was picking from the apples, he glanced upwards to look at you, standing on the other side of the fruit boxes, puffing your cheeks out in boredom. He quickly returned his gaze to the fruit, his face a darker shade of pink, his ears burning a bright red.

You began walking around the vegetables section, before noticing the cookies in the aisle beside them. I mean, who was going to pass up the opportunity to buy cookies? Certainly not you.

From between the shelves, you had a perfect view of Jaemin, and for the first time since you’d been introduced, you allowed yourself to stare. Am I being really creepy right now?you thought, holding a box of Oreos. It’s warranted, you assured yourself. I mean, look at him.You watched him look up from the next box of fruit, pears, and a look of surprise crossed his face as he realised you weren’t standing across from him.

He turned around, scanning the area for you, before placing the pears into the trolley, and then pushing it towards your aisle. You quickly ducked and walked speedily to the other end of the aisle, laughing to yourself as you childishly ran from him.

Jaemin immediately recognised your coat disappearing behind the corner of the shelves, and a grin instantly broke out on his face as he ran down the aisle, pushing himself up and over the trolley in pursuit, gliding easily down the aisle. You thought he hadn’t seen you, and you stood at the end of the aisle, carefully leaning forward to peer into the fresh produce section, assuming he’d come from that direction. You jumped in surprise as a trolley rolled up to you, “Hey, stranger, you need help looking for something?”

You turned around, a smile covering your face shyly and you briefly recognised how attractive he looked at that moment, an eyebrow lifted in playful challenge and a beautiful smirk, his eyes slightly creasing at the corners and the black jacket he’d grabbed from his apartment before you’d left. You weren’t going to lie, that jacket was a very nice jacket; it made his shoulders look broad and accentuated his slightly thinner-than-expected waist.

You shrugged playfully, “I don’t know, where do they keep all the… what’re they called? Oh, that’s right, notfruitandvegetables?”

He laughed, his head dropping down in mock disappointment as he walked down the aisle with you, dismissing all the things your parents were more likely to disapprove of, or just any parents really. “Really, Y/n, I don’t think they’d be ecstatic over seven boxes of Oreos.”

“BUT THEY’RE ALL DIFFERENT FLAVOURS,” you protested, before mumbling, “and besides, shouldn’t I at least be buying food I can actually eat?”

He cracked a grin at that, throwing an arm around your shoulders as you took over the trolley, “Aw, poor Y/n, can’t buy all the flavours.” He pouted at you and he poked your cheek with a grin. “But…” he began, “I’m sure one box couldnt hurt, right?”

The next day you were bombarded with your parents an hour earlier than expected, but luckily you were only making a few final adjustments to the cleanliness of your bedroom when they arrived.

You spent the day with your parents, showcasing your apartment, assuring them you were eating and washing When you left for lunch, you realised you forgot to bring your father’s birthday gift with you, and quickly ducked back upstairs to retrieve it. On your way down the stairs, rushing to catch up with your parents, you passed Jaemin and Jeno on their way up, bags of groceries in their arms, determination on their faces as they tried to carry all their groceries at once in order to not waste another trip up and down the multiple flights of stairs.

Jaemin winked at you as you passed, and you managed to catch up to your parents quickly. “I didn’t know there were other students living in your building, Y/n,” you mother commented, sliding her sunglasses up her nose as you stepped onto the sidewalk.

“They’re new,” you stated. “They’ve only been here for a couple of months, I think.”

“The tall one is pretty cute,” she nudged you with her elbow, teasing you.

“Sure, Mom. Jeno is ‘pretty cute’,” you rolled your eyes at her, sliding into the Uber you’d ordered.

She looked surprised at your tone, “What? You don’t agree.” She hesitated, before a wry smile made its way onto her face, “Ah, I see. You like the other one. What’s his name?”

“Jaemin,” you mumbled, suddenly feeling like you were twelve years old and not an adult, currently living away from home.

You waved to your parents from the door to your apartment block as they got in the taxi. You crossed your arms in front of yourself and watched as the car disappeared behind a corner.

After checking you had your wallet in your pocket, you made your way to the supermarket, a small smile on your face as you remembered walking the same way just the day before, but with Jaemin. Quickly grabbing a few products you remember having stolen and used from the boys’ apartment, you paid and made your way back home.

You ran up the stairs to your apartment, stopping briefly at your apartment to return your purse and wallet, before turning back to the staircase and moving to the floor above, grocery bag filled with cleaning supplies. You knocked on the door quietly, wondering if he even expected you to repay him for his things.

You prepared yourself, feeling your heart beating heavily against your chest, and heard the identifiable click of the lock on the door sliding out from its cradle on the doorframe. The door opened about halfway and you tried not to let your breath escape defeatedly. Jeno stood in the doorway, smiling in welcome.

“Hey, Y/n,” he greeted happily, controller in hand. “Jaemin’s in his room.” He nodded his head in the direction of the younger boy’s bedroom and opened the door a little wider to allow you in. He went back to the couch in the living room, where Donghyuck and another boy sat, patiently waiting for Jeno’s return with their controllers, whatever game they had been playing was paused. Donghyuck raised his hand in greeting and the other boy shot you a smile as you passed. “Thanks for those, by the way,” Jeno jutted his chin out at the bag of cleaning supplies that you haphazardly placed on the kitchen counter as he sat down on the couch again, reaching for the remote on the table in front of him.

You nodded at them and walked to Jaemin’s room, the only door that was closed in the tiny hallway. You knocked, sucking in a breath.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll be out in a sec! Just start without me,” Jaemin called from behind the door.

You coughed awkwardly, “Um, no, it’s, uh, me. Y/n.” In your mind, you were facepalming yourself, but part of you began to panic because what the fuck were you going to say to him? Why didn’t you just dump the products and leave? Or send a note? Why were you showing up at his bedroom door?

The door opened abruptly and you stood face-to-chest with Jaemin. Your eyes widened as you were met with his bare chest and you quickly shifted your gaze up to look at his face, which proved to be a feat a lot more difficult than it sounds.

“Hey,” he breathed, his arm still holding the door open. He stared at you and it was if he could see inside you, scrutinising every little part of your face, reading your mind.

You rocked back and forth on your heels, your smile rather awkward, “Hi.” You watched in slight awe as the corners of his mouth lifted up. A mere reaction that had your heart thrumming loudly against your ribcage.

“Um-,” you were immediately cut off as his head ducked down to kiss you, his lips pressing against yours suddenly. His hands found their to your sides as your arms lifted up to rest on his shoulders. You prayed he couldn’t hear your heart hammering in your chest as you smiled into the kiss.

When he pulled back, you didn’t take your arms away from around his neck, but he didn’t seem to mind, grinning back at you and then dropping his head to laugh to himself. For a moment, you were worried that this had all been some kind of joke and you felt your stomach drop in shame and embarrassment. You began to retract your arms, but his hands caught yours and placed them back on his shoulders, smiling at you widely, “I’ve wanted to do that since New Year’s.”

You cocked your head in confusion, so he cleared his throat, clarifying, “We bumped into each other on the roof, right when the countdown had just begun, and we’d been talking for a bit, so I kind of wanted to kiss you.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. But you were a little drunk, so obviously I-“

“No,” you grabbed his hand in yours, trying to get his attention and make him look at you. “Were you really going to kiss me? I think you should prove it.” You cocked an eyebrow at him challengingly.

“Oh, really?” He teased, pulling his head back a bit to look at you fully. You noticed him look over your head at something behind you, before rolling his eyes, grabbing your hand and tugging you into his room, shutting the door behind you.

[you-kinda-smell-like-christmas]

Rehab (pt.2)

¡Hola bellos! This is my entry for @pretendcnco 300(?) followers challenge! Congrats babes on hitting that milestone! I hope you guys enjoy this!❤

**********************************************

Pairing: criminal!Chris x reader

Warnings: swearing, angst?, mentions of jail, mentions of marijuana, feels, drugs

Word Count: 8.1k

“Forget all we said that night, no, it doesn't even matter, 'cause we both got split in two, If you could spare an hour or so we'll go for lunch down by the river, we can really talk it through.”

**********************************************

Christopher's POV

The pouring rain outside foreshadowed the mood for me all day. I've been stuck in jail for 15 days. 2 weeks and 1 day. It's been 15 days since I was dropped off here, and 15 days since the break up. I've been feeling nothing but pain, sorrow, hurt, and regret. Regret for my past, my actions, my self. But most importantly, I felt regret for letting her go so easy. Then again, there's not much you can do to contact someone when they arent on your visitors list, or just dont want to see you at all. All I know is that I need to apologize and explain myself to her. I cant let her go that easy.

Walking out of my cell, I approached the makeshift cafeteria and was given my breakfast. Breakfast today consisted of pancakes, blueberries, and a carton of milk. Just like Y/N used to make. Only much more edible. Nevertheless, I ate the slop. The meal had reminded me to much of her that I didnt realize I started to cry until a tear landed on the plastic tray. God I miss her.

Sulkingly, I finished the breakfast and stood up from the metal table, throwing my trash away, and returning the plastic tray to the men who were working the cafeteria. Heading towards my cell, I had some major thinking to do.

Arriving at C153, I entered, and was locked back in the tiny cubicle. As I looked around the room, my eyes landed on a picture. Inmates were able to keep some form of personal life with them during their stay here. Mine just so happened to be a picture. A picture that held a thousand words. In the picture, Y/N and I were on our couch laughing at god knows what and just having a good time. Though, my ass was high as fuck that night, I still remember the lecture she gave me. The lecture that ultimately landed me here. The lecture that tore us apart.

"Christopher stop! That's too much."

Christopher had arrived home high as hell, and you weren't letting him off easy this time. You and him say om the couch. Your legs intertwined with his, holding hands, with your head on his chest. What started off sweet would soon turn into something you may regret.

"Chris, babe, you're high again. You need to drink some water." You tried to help him recover.

"I'm fine Y/N." His words slipped up, and he definitely was not fine.

"Chris stop! No you arent. You need to get some rest, and drink some water too." You tried negotiating with him.

"I'm fine Y/N. I promise." Christopher slurridly said.

Sighing, you take a step back. He wasn't going to listen to you. He never does when hes high. You always told yourself you knew what you were getting into, when you started dating a drug dealer. You thought he had changed. You helped him stop his drug addiction. You were there for him. And you always would be. However all good things come to an end. Once an addict, always an addict. Right? Halfway into your relationship, he went back to his old ways. Recieving yet another addiction to marijuana. You couldn't handle this anymore. You needed to stop this once and for all.

You tore the blunt he held in his hand away from him. "What the hell Y/N?" Chris had shouted at you.

"Chris, this needs to stop. Once and for all."

"Why? I feel fine. I'm telling you that I'm perfectly okay right now." Chris fired back.

"No you're not. Just stop." You nagged him on.

"Just shut the fuck up Y/N. I said I'm fine and I mean it. Sometimes you just annoy me. I wish I didnt date you sometimes." He muttered the last part to himself, but you still heard it.

With tears brimming your eyes, you shakingly look up, hoping what he didnt mean what he said. "You dont mean that, do you?"

"Of course I do. You nag me all the time about stupid shit, when you know damn well that I'm perfectly fine of handling it myself."

Ouch. That stung. But then you remembered that he was high and most likely wouldn't remember most of the things he said tomorrow.

So with all the courage you had, you mustered up two words. "Fuck you." You sneered at him, walking to your room and locking yourself in it to hopefully try to get some sleep.

The next morning you woke up, and went to check up on Chris. When you got downstairs, he made breakfast for you. Pancakes, blueberries and coffee just the way you liked it: four sugars with five creams.

He seemed stable today. You needed to talk about last night though. "How was your night?" Chris interrupted your thoughts.

"Good. Pero, we need to talk about last night."

Chris remembers what happened last night, and hes scared to talk about it. Of course he didnt mean to hurt you and say what he said, it just slipped out and was a heat of the moment type thing.

"Mira princesa, lo siento. Nothing I said last night was true. I love you and I love having you as my girlfriend. You've helped me through so much, and I can't thank you enough. I dont know what I would do without you. Tú eres mi vida, mi mundo."

The speech was heartfelt. But you wouldn't let it get to you this time. You needed to make sure Chris was understanding this as much as you were. "Chris, I love you, tú eres mi luz, but this needs to stop. You can't continue to do drugs. It needs to stop. Once and for all."

Chris was silent for a while. Realizing he may lose his love to marijuana. "Princesa, I promise to stop doing drugs. Pinky promise."

Trusting him, you intertwined pinkies, though you didnt trust him fully.

Coming back to reality, I realized I was crying. Sobbing even. I didnt realize how much of an effect Y/N could have on me. I said some stuff I regretted that night, and I broke a promise I made. A promise that led me here. In jail. For what cost? Nothing, because I lost something so great to me. All of a sudden, I remembered one final way I could contact her. I would have to write a note. Grabbing some paper and a pen from my cellmate, I began to write the letter. It would all be coming from my heart.

Querido Y/N,

Dios, where do I start? First off, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for breaking a promise I know was so important to you. I'm sorry for being such a terrible boyfriend. I'm sorry for not being there for you, when you were always there for me. I'm sorry for the countless times I've left you sitting at home alone, wondering where I was, when I was out doing drug business. I'm sorry for all the fights I've caused. I'm sorry for what I've said during those fights. Pero, I want you to know that I love you. Te amo mucho. Being in jail, without you gave me some time to think. Think about all that we've gone through, and how lucky I am to even have you in my life. I promise you, after this, no more drugs will be involved. I'll go to rehab, a halfway house, and do anything to get me back to where I need to be. With you. I'm sitting here, writing this note with full regret for my words and actions. Pero, actions speak louder than words, and my actions led us away from eachother. I just wanted to say gracias. Gracias por everything you've given me, and supported me with. I dont know where I'd be if I didnt meet you. You continue to make me want to get better and change for better. One day, we will be together again. I'll always be waiting for you. Whether you're on the other side of the world, or I have to wait a lifetime, my arms are always open for you. Te amo mucho. Forget all we said that night, no, it doesn't even matter, cause we both got split in two, If you could spare an hour or so we'll go for lunch down by the river, we can really talk it through. I love you.

Tú amor,

Christopher

Tears rid the letter. It was a very heartfelt one. Tears littered my face as well. I cant afford to lose her. Sealing it in an envelope with her name and information on it, I quickly say a prayer to God hoping he'll answer me.

Walking out of my cell with the envelope on my hand, I put it in the box labeled "outgoing mail."

Now all we can do is wait.

Taglist:

@smoljoelito, @estoy-enamorado-de-ti, @cncobby, @ericksmamita ,@ellos-me-vuelven-loca

[ghost-nabbers-imagines]

Larry x florist reader

I turned our closed sign over to where the Open side was facing the street. The sunshine felt warm and happy as it shone down on me bringing our store sign out front. I wasnt sure if it was the warm sun, the fresh air, or being surrounded by flowers but today felt like a good day. Afterall I did get to spend my Friday caring to beautiful flowers at Miss. Nancy's Flower Shop. I had started working here at the age of 16 and just stuck with it, so when Miss. Nancy retired she left me as head florist.

It had just turned ten and the shop was fully ready for customers, and the flowers had been tended to. Once I got the radio flipped on I took a seat at the register and opened up my book. A few older ladies came in to buy some flowers but that was it so far. By the time three fifteen had rolled around I was so lost in a particularly interesting part of my book that I had completely missed the bell ringing as a customer entered the store.

"Uh hello?" A deep almost stone sounding voice asked making me jump from shock. I looked up to see a tall muscular man with long brown hair, big brown eyes, a longer nose, and dressed in a torn up SF tank top with ripped skinny jeans on. I recognized the man for two reasons, one of which was because he lived in my building I think just a floor above mine, and the second being he was in a local band that had gotten pretty popular. "Sorry for scaring you dude but I need help picking out some flowers." He chuckled smirking at me. I blushed standing up and brushing down the apron I wore over my clothes. "Of course sorry about that." I said with a smile. "Its no problem my friend Todd is the same way if he's reading a good book." He shrugged. The two of walked over to where the flowers were kept.

"So what kind of flowers are we looking for?" I asked while adjusting the pot of a sunflower. "Well I'm visiting my mom tonight and she's been a bit under the weather. What flowers are good for like a get well soon kinda thing?" He asked observing the large floral collection. "Gerbera daisies are perfect for a get well soon bouquet. You have the option of normal white dasies which is just as lovely or we have several prepared bouquets of multicolored ones. The morning sun bouquet is probably my personal favorite." I informed him grabbing the bouquet I had made that morning.

"Its perfect!" He said his eyes lighting up excitedly. I couldn't help but giggle at his excitement. "This one is fifty dollars but of course we do have other options depending on your budget. I said walking with him back to the register counter. "No these are perfect no amount of money is too much for my mom. She deserves something nice." He said genuinely. "Wow your mom's lucky to have someone so sweet." I beamed carefully wrapping up the flowers in the paper placing them gently in a big case. "Shes the coolest man she makes my friends feel like family, she feeds me all the time when I'm there, and she even supports my crazy rockstar job." He said with an appreciative smile. "This box should keep them safe till you see her tonight just make sure they dont get too smushed or anything." I said handing him the flowers.

He paid for the bouquet and left happily. Although I was happy he found such a nice boquet I was kinda disappointed to see him leave. The next week went by pretty quickly and soon it was another beautiful Saturday afternoon and I had done all my shopping for the day. When i returned to my apartment there was a bouquet of flowers in front of my door. Setting down my bags I picked up the package admiring it.

I recognized the boquet from the shop, it was the lavendar garden boquet that had white Roses, lavender daisy poms, Peruvian lilies, and lavender carnations. Smiling I looked around the hallway seeing no sign of who would have left me such a thoughtful gift. I picked up the card seeing there was a handwritten message.

Dear (y/n), sorry you probably recognize the flowers but I wanted to get you a beautiful gift and your shop has the best in state. I know this probably seems random but I see you in the lobby and in the halls all the time and your beauty has completely captured me. To quote some chick named Claudia Adrienne Grandi “If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.” sincerely, your secret admirer.

I smiled my face warming with a blush. Who could possibly think such sweet thoughts of me? Picking up the rest of my stuff I entered the apartment putting the beautiful flowers in a vase of water. I couldn't help but keep returning my stare to them. Picking up the card I reread the message again and again smiling like a fool the while time. The handwriting had a sense of familiarity to it but I couldn't place who. The way it was written almost reminded me of Larry and the way he spoke but it was impossible that a man who travelled the world with more female groupies than the Beatles had would ever want a florist from his hometown.

That next Wednesday I was sitting at the register tapping my pen against the counter. It had been a pretty slow day and my mind kept going back to my secret admirer. That's when a thought popped into my head. The flowers had been purchase here, so if the person used a credit card there information would be on the receipt. Jumping up from my chair I began flipping through our receipts from this month till I found the one for my flowers. Sure enough the person had paid with a card. I read through the receipt my eyed landing on the name Larry Johnson at the bottom.

When I entered my apartment building I was still smiling like crazy and the thought of Larry Johnson having a crush on me. I couldn't help but keep thinking of it all day. I wanted to say something to him but wasnt sure what. I mean he didn't even know that I figured it out yet. After dinner I remembered that I still had to go down and get my mail since thinking about Larry had distracted me. When I got to the lobby I noticed Larry grabbing his own mail. We exchanged smiles as i made my way to my mailbox.

Despite my shaking hands I was able to unlock my mailbox and get out the contents. "(Y/n)?" A voice asked that I knew didnt belong to Larry. I turned to see my ex Derek and his girlfriend Lylah. "Hi Derek." I sighed facing them both. "This is Lylah although I'm sure you remember her from the office parties you went to. We just got back in town from a beauty competition Lylah won." He informed me both of them giving me an obnoxious smile. I listened to them "catching up" with me for an agonizingly long half hour before I escaped to my apartment. Basically he just kept talking about how beautiful Lylah was compared to how I looked. I stared in my mirror poking at every flaw I saw frowning.

I still felt just as bad the next morning opting for a hoodie and some paint stained leggings. Work was tortureously long and slow due to the rain but I made it through and got home. When I made it to my door another boquet was sitting at my doorstep. This time it was a gorgeous sunflower pink rose bouquet. Gently picking it up I grabbed the card.

Dear (Y/n), trying to find bouquets even close to as beautiful as you are is impossible. As beautiful as the bouquets that you make are you are too beautiful for even words or flowers to even compare. This was the most beautiful in the shop so I bought it. I'm sure you're confused but I got them from the other sales associate when you went on break. “A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose. All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like people too.” never forget you're beautiful. Despite what any asshole might say. Sincerely, your secret admirer.

I felt tears fall down my cheeks reading his kind words. I wanted so badly to run to him and thank him and kiss him I knew I couldn't. He wanted to remain anonymous for a reason. That and I had no idea what apartment he was in.

The next week went by and I was feeling much better emotionally but unfortunately on Friday I woke up feeling extremely ill. I knew it wasnt anything serious just bad (headache/cramps). I suffered through Thursday relying on medicine but on Friday I was in no state to be working. I decided to spend the day in my baggy Sanitys Fall shirt with underwear underneath and no pants. Curled up with a blanket I turned on Netflix and fell asleep on the couch.

About two hours later I woke up parched and hungry. Wrapping the blanket around my shoulders I stumbled into the kitchen pouring some water. There was some shuffling coming from my door telling me someone was on the other side. It had to be Larry with more flowers so I decided to brave and open the door. When I opened the door he looked up at me embarrassed a blush on his face. "Oh (y/n) h-hey. I was just bringing these by um because you're sick and you said daisies were get well soon flowers and and-" he paused letting out a chuckle. "You knew didnt you?" He asked seeing the smile on my face. I nodded happily before speaking up. "Kiss me." I whispered in a hoarse voice. He smiled widely leaning down and pressing a gentle soft kiss to my lips. I kissed back wrapping my arms around him. When we pulled apart he handed me the flowers following me into the house. He made sure he spent the rest of the day taking care of me.

~Lex💛

[juhlcho15-blog]

Top Guidelines Of Marvel

The supplies to up grade the gears to twenty five may be received through actively playing Yet another freshly extra attribute termed "Best Planet Boss" which displays the past entire world bosses (Thanos as well as the Black Get) wearing their costumes for the Avengers Infinity War. By getting tier 3, figures get a 6th Lively skill, which calls for charging to 100% so as to use. Players can buy extra upgrades, equipment, comedian playing cards, and consumables via retailers. Gamers can rank up devoid of getting additional practical experience with Rank-Up Tickets. The group think that it's the Ultimates Doing the job to solve the challenge of the scale collapsing. If they get there at the Ultimates HQ - The Triskellion, They are really confronted from the defense techniques drones and also a skeptical Black Panther who believes They can be from Yet another dimension. Following overpowering Black Panther and assuring him of their identification they progress on to satisfy Blue Marvel who's focusing on the device to seal the dimension rifts. Blue Marvel apologizes with the hostile stability drones and Black Panther informs them the implies to shut them down lies within the lab at the guts of your Triskelion. Arriving in the lab They're attacked by The usa Chavez who again believes the heroes are from A different dimension. They control to influence her but quickly come to understand that the Triskelion has gone in comprehensive lock down. The heroes rescue Jemma from Goal. Jemma tells them that they took their analysis in Proportions. Shortly thereafter, in seeking to Track down MODOK, the heroes come upon alternate Proportions of varied heroes and villains and recognize that Purpose has created a tool to mail people today between dimensions. The Marvel brand had been made use of over the years, but solidified as the business's only brand name within a number of many years. "[a hundred thirty] Joe afterwards elaborated that when each movie's Imaginative group "come up with conceptually what we want to do" for a film, then We are going to request questions about whether This is able to interfere which has a storyline in One more movie. Or, what is going on on in that movie, can we pull a number of that into this movie? Which is wherever you start on the lookout for the interconnectedness, however it's important early on that the idea be made within a bubble because It's important to safeguard The theory, it needs to be pushed by storytelling. Kevin's ... often while in the mindset of "let us just make this Film now and be concerned about the next Motion picture when it will come."[128] Look at Image · Marvel @marvelapp Apr 29 “Our principal query right now is how do we enhance the caliber of research so that the influence we’re obtaining as functions is really precious?” In November 2013, Feige stated that "in a really perfect environment" releases each and every year would come with one particular movie dependant on an existing character and one showcasing a whole new character, stating It truly is "a good rhythm" in that structure. Although marvel fight , as evident by the 2013 releases of Iron Gentleman 3 and Thor: The Dark Earth, he said it's "definitely a little something to goal for".[thirteen] Feige expanded on this in July 2014, expressing, "I don't realize that we will keep to [that model] every year, but we're performing that in 2014 and 2015, so I feel it would be exciting to carry on that kind of thing".[fourteen] In February 2014, Feige said that Marvel Studios would like to mimic the "rhythm" that the comedian publications have produced, by having the figures surface in their own movies, then come together, much like "a huge celebration or crossover collection,"[fifteen] with Avengers films acting as "big, large linchpins". The player may have a maximum of 5 teams arrange. There are also workforce bonuses, for specified sets of character crew combinations. People are unlocked and rated up by getting Biometrics, which can be found in specified missions plus the Video game retail outlet. People can get well improve options at bigger concentrations and may be leveled up as a result of character XP. Gamers can easily personalize heroes to their Engage in design as a result of updates, like upgrading expertise, equipment, and equipping ISO-eight. In August 2016, Marvel announced that Marvel's Runaways had received a pilot get from Hulu,[85] eventually receiving a ten episode purchase the following Could.[86] That July, Loeb confirmed the series would occur inside the MCU saying, "It all life in a similar globe, the way it's related and where by It is really connected and what it should be linked to stays to become noticed. - Make a choice from numerous Uniforms to boost your character’s powers and perfect your hero's glance. With our marvel future fight hack, you might recruit and unlock every one of the playable people in the game. Quite possibly the most basic way I could place it really is Marvel won't come to the filmmakers and say, "This is what the following Film is." They come to the filmmakers and say, "Exactly what is the up coming movie?" That's very much the process. This post could contain content discouraged through the handbook of fashion for video clip video game subjects. Make sure you support by eliminating articles which include lists of minutiae or an in depth description of tips on how to Participate in a game, and rewriting the short article within an encyclopedic type. (December 2018) I downloaded the mod, but Not any figures unlocked And no crystals either. You should convey to how to address this issue?

A Review Of Marvel Future Fight

In April 2017, in addition to his announcement that he was returning to write and direct Guardians in the Galaxy Vol. three, James Gunn disclosed he can be dealing with Marvel "that will help style in which these tales go, and ensure the future in the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as Distinctive and reliable and magical as what We've got produced to this point". Your not too long ago viewed things and featured tips › Check out or edit your searching historical past Almost all of Marvel's fictional figures function in only one truth often called the Marvel Universe, with most areas mirroring real-lifetime destinations; a lot of key people are based in New York City.[3] Now, its time to search out many of the available superheroes to face collectively to stop the villains from destroying the planet. Marvel Future Fights Mod APK September 2018 do i just tap on my hero group 5 time for the 5X and Def to operate and my cellphone is not really rooted and want to know if this get the job done also my account is auto login to google? Check out photo · Marvel @marvelapp Apr 24 Replying to @steffenbogeholm If you select an iPad task, it will eventually perform comprehensive-display on the iPad itself but Provide you use of the swipe location so for the end consumer there isn't any variation :) When the studio employed Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston to immediate Thor and Captain The us: The very first Avenger, respectively, it created guaranteed both administrators ended up open to the thought of a shared universe and which include Avengers established-up scenes inside their movies.[six] Joe Russo said, "That is the thrilling component of [incorporating references to your much larger universe]. 'What can we put in place to the future?' You might be consistently pitching out Thoughts that not simply impact your movie, but could possibly have a ripple influence that affects other movies ... It is a Bizarre sort of tapestry of writers and directors Performing collectively to generate this universe that is form of organic. In August 2011, Marvel introduced a number of direct-to-video clip shorter films referred to as Marvel 1-Shots,[117] the identify derived from your label utilized by Marvel Comics for his or her one particular-shot comics.[118] Co-producer Brad Winderbaum mentioned, "It is a fun technique to experiment with new people and ideas, but far more importantly it's a way for us to broaden the Marvel Cinematic Universe and notify stories that live outside the house the plot of our characteristics."[117] Every single brief movie is designed to be considered a self-contained story that provides far more backstory for people or activities released while in the films. 1Apkmod is completely dedicated towards Modding of Video games, Android Purposes and lots of much more things. marvel game at 1Apkmod offer the best at school Doing work mods of each of the video games. Subscribe to our E-newsletter for modern updates. Dont know the place to tap 5x. Ive attempted tapping everywhere you go. As an alternative to a video are you able to publish screenshots on exactly where to faucet? A few of these have been published in larger sized-format black and white Journals, less than its Curtis Magazines imprint. @deanblacc who developed his own pixel artwork iOS game in his spare time! Go seize it! twitter.com/AdvOfKidd/stat… … As Marvel Future Fight Mod APK Latest Version Download of DC Comics, this man definitely knew many of the product sales figures and was in the most beneficial situation to inform this tidbit to Goodman. … Needless to say, Goodman would wish to be playing golf using this type of fellow and be in his superior graces. … Sol worked carefully with Impartial Information' major management more than the a long time and might have gotten this story straight from the horse's mouth. Loeb talked further on the topic in July 2016, reiterating The problem of scheduling by declaring "if I'm taking pictures a tv series and that is intending to go on over a 6-month or eight-thirty day period interval, how am I gonna get [a television collection actor] to have the ability to go be inside of a Motion picture?" He noted that This might not be as much of a problem if people were being building really minimal cameo appearances, but explained that Marvel was not thinking about cameos and easter eggs just for the sake of lover provider, which could detract in the story getting explained to; "As I often get reported by you folks for stating #ItsAllConnected, our feeling would be that the connection isn't just whether somebody is going for walks into a Film or walking from a tv present.

[sockablock]

Something New for Me and You

• (start) (AO3) (prev) (next) •

Chapter 5: Ribbons of Green Silk

TUSK LOVE 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Today 8:22 AM

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: hey assholes whos excited for saturdaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy??!!!!! NottSoBrave: caleb says ‘what is she going on about’ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: rude (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: im not going to elaborate until he apologizes Babebarian: caleb please say sorry NottSoBrave: he says “i dont understand why but i am sorry” (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: i forgive him (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: anyways im talking about the 25th anniversary!! Its going to be so fun molly told me all the juicy details Seaman: and wouldn’t tell ME anything about it NottSoBrave: what a dick (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ANYWAYS, will we all be able to meet at some point? I know molly is performing (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: and fjord and beau and yasha have to work that night Babebarian: perhaps after the show when things have calmed down we can all meet Seaman: yeah sure

Nott swung her feet off the side of the counter as Caleb finished washing their dishes. “Nobody’s replying now,” she narrated. “Did you have something you wanted me to send?”

Caleb shut the faucet off. “No, I am fine,” he said. “Tell me instead, have you and Jester decided on a time yet? Is your plan worked out?”

Nott nodded grudgingly. “She’s picking me up after her classes end. You’re super lucky that you’ve already got a suit, you know,” she sighed. “I really don’t want to do this.”

Caleb gave her a sympathetic smile. “I am sure it will be fine. Jester wouldn’t subject you to too much, of that I am certain.”

Nott sagged against the cupboards. “But this is going to suck,” she groaned. “People are gonna be looking at me, touching me, what if they realize I’m a goblin? The gnome disguise is only an illusion, what if they accidentally feel my ears or my hands, or what if the spell ends before I remember to cast it again? What then?”

“There are definitely risks,” Caleb conceded. “But that should not stop you. You can set a reminder on your cell every hour, and I am sure Jester would be more than happy to make sure nobody gets too close. She is our friend, ja?”

“Yeah,” Nott muttered. “Gods, I didn’t think going to a fancy party would be this much trouble. I still don’t see why I couldn’t have just magicked a fake dress for myself and saved a us a whole lot of trouble.”

“Jester wanted to treat you,” he reminded her. “And this is an experience you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? Even more, you deserve something nice. It is not every day one of us gets to be fancy, you should enjoy it. That is what you said when Jester dragged me out to the Tri Spires for dinner, ja?”

Nott raised an eyebrow. “Is this revenge, then? Are you getting back at me for that?”

Caleb grinned. “Not at all,” he said. “This is me giving you moral support and wishing that all goes well. Ich drücke dir die Daumen. Fingers crossed.”

•

Molly awoke to Fjord standing next to his bed, poking him in the arm. The half-orc was saying something, garbled and completely intelligible, and Molly had to sluggishly shove his hand away and pull the blankets over his head and ignore Fjord’s impatient sighs for a solid thirty seconds before he felt awake enough to reemerge and attempt communication.

“Gods, what?” he muttered. “What’s it?”

“I need you to stop by Crute’s apartment before you go to work and give him my letter,” Fjord said. “It’s on the kitchen table. Can you do that?”

“Letter?” Molly mumbled. “What letter?”

Fjord rolled his eyes. “My notice of leave letter, remember? Because I’m moving out next month? Like I told you last night?”

“Oh. That letter.”

“Yes, Molly. Can you do that?”

He rolled over and sighed dramatically. “I suppose so,” he said, “but I can’t say I’m thrilled about it. Am I not a good roommate, Fjord Tough? Have I not been more than wonderful? Are you abandoning me now, in this, my time of greatest need?”

Fjord shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Molly, you know I’m sorry, I really am, it’s not you. Jester ‘n I have been looking forward to this for a long time, yeah? And when we found the perfect apartment we knew it was the time and I know it leaves you out by yourself, but—”

Molly rolled back over and took Fjord’s hand. “I’m kidding, dear.” His tone was still sleepy, but now light and laced with warmth. “Of course I’m very happy for you both, I’ll give Crute the letter. Besides, when you’re gone then there won’t be any pushy half-orcs to prod me awake every morning.”

Fjord smiled. “Thanks, Molly.”

“Don’t mention it. Now get out, go to school, or whatever. I still have two hours before I need to be at the Moondrop.”

Fjord laughed. “Alright, alright, I’m going.”

And just as he was about to walk through the doorway, he paused and turned and said, “I’m gonna miss this, Mol.”

Molly pulled the blankets up again. “No,” he said. “Too early for emotions. Go away, try again later.”

Fjord snorted and left. A few seconds later, the front door clicked shut.

Eventually, Molly managed to close his eyes.

•

Shortly after Jester waltzed out of their apartment, pink backpack hanging loosely off one shoulder and humming cheerfully to herself all the way, Beau got up.

She slowly got out of bed and trudged into the kitchen, leaned against the counter and started sorting through mail as she waited for the coffeemaker to get its shit together.

“Boring…boring…boring,” she mumbled, tossing letters aside. She made a mental note to make sure Jester saw the one from Sieversii’s Office of the Bursar, immediately ignored a card saying she was overdue at the dentist, and then flipped to the next message and froze.

This envelope, brown and plain, was almost completely blank. Almost, except for “Beauregard” scrawled across the front in lazy, looping script.

She bit her lip. She thought for a moment. She walked over to the sink, held the envelope over it just in case, and carefully tore it open from the bottom.

A single piece of paper slid out.

She stared at it, lying motionless in the basin for a good minute. Then she gingerly picked it up and began to read.

Her eyes narrowed. Her teeth clenched, and her mouth curled into a scowl. Her anger grew, swelled, expanded until it burst in a thunderous explosion and she screamed with rage, kicked the dishwasher, crumpled the letter into a tight ball and whirled around and chucked it across the room. She pounded a fist against the side of the sink and stared furiously into the drain.

The coffeemaker dinged. She glowered at it, and then sighed.

She reached for the dishrack and found her mug, light blue ceramic.

She poured herself a cup.

•

“Okay, Nott!” Jester grinned as she climbed out of the car. “Welcome to the Tri-Spires! That tower over there, that one’s the Triumph Chime, where Caleb and Fjord and Molly and I had dinner on Monday. That one’s the Zauber Spire, it’s got fancy wizards in it and stuff, and that’s the Constellation Bridge. We’re going to one of the smaller boutiques, though,” she continued, gesturing to the bustling shops and storefronts around them. “I’ve been there a couple times before, they’re super nice. And you’re in gnome disguise, so it should be fine!”

Nott tugged uneasily on her coat. “But the illusion will cover everything up,” she said. “What if the people working there want to see me try something on, or what if they touch me and their hands disappear? That wouldn’t end well, Jester.”

She gave Nott a pat on the arm. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. Trust me?”

Nott looked conflicted for only a moment. She exhaled and nodded slowly. “Alright, Jester. I trust you.”

•

“So,” said Yasha as she leaned against the costume rack and watched Mollymauk apply a generous layer of sparkling powder to his eyelids. “How was the, er...the coffee time?”

Molly snorted, launching a cloud of glitter into the air. “The coffee time?” he asked.

Yasha shrugged. She saw Molly reach for a tiny brush that was indistinguishable from an army of tiny brushes on the makeup table and press it to his eyelashes. “The event with Caleb?” she tried. “I don’t know, I would have said ‘date’ but he seemed adamant yesterday that I did not use that label.”

Molly frowned at Yasha in the mirror. “Really?” he asked. “Did he say why?”

Yasha shrugged again. “I left his home in a hurry. If he did, I did not catch it.”

There was a soft chuckle at that. “I’ve never seen you late for something before,” Molly quipped, “especially when you were harping on me for being on time. I’m ashamed for you, Yasha.”

She snorted and threw a stray sequin at his head, which hit his chair and vanished under the dresser. “Hush,” she said. “And tell me about your not-date, already. How was it? Did you have a good time? Was it everything you hoped?”

Molly sighed and leaned back to examine his eyeshadow. “Sort of,” he said. “It’s definitely confirmed that I am, in fact, head-over-heels for him. But I know it’s much too soon, and I’m fairly certain he harbors no such feelings in return.”

“Perhaps then you just need more time,” Yasha suggested. “Or maybe you should turn your affections elsewhere. I like him but he is a strange one, that Caleb. And that is coming from me.”

“I can’t just stop my emotions like that, Yasha. And besides, I wouldn’t want to. Even if he doesn’t ‘like me back’ it wouldn’t matter. Any suffering I face now is nothing in comparison to the darkness of not being able to love him.”

There was a brief pause.

“That was from Tusk Love, dear.”

“I know. I can’t tell if I want to punch you or clap.”

“I think I make a pretty good Guinevere.”

“You have nothing on Jester.”

There was another pause.

“Yeah, alright, that’s fair,” Molly conceded, and went back to studying his reflection. “Anyways, I do believe that. I’m just going to keep doing my best, and so long as it doesn’t make him uncomfortable, or ruin anything, I don’t see what the harm is. Let me feel, Yasha. Let me love.”

“You should listen to him,” said Mona from the mirror next to them. “If you don’t he’ll just keep complaining.”

“Endlessly,” agreed Yuli, standing behind Mona and doing her sister’s hair. “Hey, when are we going to meet this mystery man of yours, anyways?”

“He seems a much better sort than the kind you usually end up with,” added Mona.

“Soon,” said Molly. “Actually, he’s coming to the anniversary tomorrow. Maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of him then?”

“Not good enough,” said Yuli. “I want to meet him.”

“We should invite him backstage,” Yasha suggested. “He knows us both already as is, we can offset any awkwardness, yes?”

Molly blinked a few times. “Mm...maybe,” he said. “We’ll see. It’s a bit early to introduce him to the family, isn’t it?”

“He’s the love of your life,” Yasha teased. “Doesn’t that help?”

“Oh it helps,” said Molly. He leaned into the mirror, and studied his expression. He liked to think his eyes made him hard to read, but right now the fear and worry painted across his face was painfully obvious to him, at least.

He sighed, and lifted his brush. “We’ll just have to see if that’s enough.”

•

“Okay,” said Jester as she pulled the curtain closed. “You can drop the illusion now! It’s just us.”

Nott breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly, the appearance of a small gnome girl with curly red hair and bright blue eyes melted away. Now there was a little goblin in a ratty hoodie standing in the middle of the large fitting room.

“Thank the gods,” she said. “I got really worried when that half-elf tried to touch my illusion-dress. Thanks for distracting her, by the way.”

Jester beamed. “Of course! I promised I would protect you, yes? Now come on. Which one do you want to try on first?”

Nott surveyed their haul, which barely fit on the available hooks.

“We can start with the pink one?” she suggested. “I don’t know, I’ve never done this before. And I still don’t see the point in getting a dress, Jester, especially when nobody will actually see the real thing.”

Jester shook her head. “I want you to have something nice!” she said. “You’re a pretty girl, you need something pretty of your own to go with it. Not Caleb’s old clothes.”

Nott scoffed. “I’m not a pretty girl,” she said. “I’m a goblin.”

Jester raised an eyebrow. “So what? What difference does that make?”

Nott gave an incredulous laugh. “It makes the whole difference!” she said. “Goblins can’t be pretty, that’s ridiculous. They’re horrible, nasty, awful creatures that live in caves and eat children, everybody knows that. A goblin is, is, is disgusting.”

“No way,” said Jester. “That’s not true at all. You aren’t disgusting, and you’re not nasty or terrible either!”

“But I’m still a goblin,” Nott argued. “And there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ll always be a goblin.”

“Maybe so,” Jester said, and here she put a hand on Nott’s shoulder. “Maybe that’s the case. But you’re not only a goblin. You’re also Nott! And Nott is kind, and funny, and lovable. And if she gives it a chance, I think she’d see that she can be pretty too.”

Nott bit her lip. She looked up, met Jester’s pleading expression, and for the second time today, relented.

“Okay,” she sighed. “I’m not completely convinced, but I’ll try.” She slowly reached for one of the dresses, and turned back to Jester with a hesitant smile. “Help me with the zipper?”

•

Caleb looked up from his book—a particularly promising history detailing the rise of the Age of Arcanum—as a green, sheepish-looking man in a bright pink scarf walked up to his counter and tapped lightly on the bell.

It gave a faint, twinkling ding.

“Er...hi, Caleb,” said Fjord, putting the yarn out of his mouth. “How’re you today?"

He blinked. He stared at Fjord for a few silent, awkward seconds.

“Do not take this the wrong way,” Caleb said eventually, sliding a bookmark between the pages and putting the volume aside, “but what are you doing here? Doesn’t Sieversii have a much better library than this? One exclusive to students?” he added with only mild resentment.

“I’m, uh, I’m not actually here for books,” Fjord said. “I was actually meanin’ to ask you for your rates. Sorry I’m buggin’ you for such a small thing, I would’ve texted but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten a response.”

Caleb blinked again. “Excuse me, back up a second,” he said. “Rates?”

Fjord raised an eyebrow. “Uh...yeah? Sorry, are you not taking on more at the moment, or…?”

Caleb leaned forward. He wore a thoroughly bewildered expression on his face. “Fjord,” he said slowly, “I have no idea what you are talking about. Is Jester involved somehow?”

Fjord nodded. Now he looked just as confused as the wizard.

“Okay then,” Caleb said. “In that case, you should start again slowly. What is it you are here for?”

Fjord reached into his bag and produced a thick spiral notebook. He placed it onto the counter between them both.

“I need your help with classes,” he said. “I have a hard time understandin’ arithmetic and magical theory, and I was hoping you’d have some spare time in your weekly schedule to take me on as a student.”

“Oh,” said Caleb. “Oh, tutoring, ja sure, that is absolutely doable. But what did you mean before, asking for ‘rates’?”

Fjord frowned. “How much you charge, Caleb. I might not be able to match what Jes pays you, but—”

Caleb held up a hand. He met Fjord’s eyes. “Jester does not pay me,” he said evenly. “I never asked her to.”

Fjord blinked. He stared at Caleb. He took in the dark circles under the man’s eyes, the tattered nature of his coat. He thought about his own apartment, where he lived with Mollymauk, and then about Caleb and Nott’s home. He thought about his job at Fletch, and he thought about his salary.

“I’m paying you,” he said, and watched Caleb’s eyes go wide. “Seriously,” he added. “Whatever you ask. Name the price.”

•

Nott arrived through the front door that evening, which almost scared Caleb out of his mind as he stood in the kitchen, trying to light the stove with a gentle application of Burning Hands.

“Scheiss, spatz,” he said, extinguishing his fingers. “I thought you were a robber.”

“Sorry, sorry,” said Nott. She wore a wide and giddy grin. “I just didn’t want to rumple my dress coming through the window.”

Caleb’s face lit up. “Your dress? You got one?”

Nott proudly thrust forward a fabric bag almost as tall as she was. “I did!” she beamed. “And I really have to say...it was a lot of fun. I felt like a real girl, for the first time, you know?”

Caleb gave her a soft smile. “You’ve always been a real girl, Nott. But I am happy that you had that feeling. Can I see it?

She quickly shook her head. “Nope. You’re not allowed yet. Not ‘till after Jester does my hair and makeup. It’s a whole look.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow, but the grin stayed warmly in place. “If you say so,” he conceded. “Color me excited for tomorrow, then.”

“I’m really excited too,” Nott said. “Thank you for inviting me along.”

He chuckled. “Of course,” he said. “You are my family, Nott. I would want nobody else at my side.”

•

Jester arrived home to the smell of Marquesian takeout. Beau was seated at the dinner table, shoveling curried chicken into her mouth.

“Oh, Jester,” she said, muffled. “Welcome back.”

Jester shook the snow off her boots and hung her coat up. “I’m starving,” she said. “Scoot, let me at that bread.”

After Jester skipped over and began to eat, Beau stared into her bowl, seemingly thinking hard about something. After a moment, she suddenly looked up and said quickly, as if trying to prevent herself from stalling, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

Jester raised an eyebrow. “Sure. What’s up?”

Beau hesitated. “Do you...uh...do you like your mom?”

Jester laughed. “Uh...yeah?” She raised an eyebrow. “Of course I do, she’s my mom! And she loves me very much.”

“How, uh, how do you know?”

Jester put her fork down. “I dunno,” she mused. “I guess ‘cause she pays attention to me, and talks to me whenever she has time, and gives me lots of cool stuff and cares about me. She wouldn’t have sent me away if she didn’t love me, right? I could have been in super bad trouble if I had stayed home, after all.”

Beau contemplated this. She took a slow bite of chicken.

“I guess,” she said eventually. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Why’re you asking?” Jester leaned in. “Is there something going on?”

“No, no,” Beau shook her head quickly. “No, not at all. Just curious, I guess. Hey, pass me that bread, you can’t eat all of it!”

Jester giggled. “I bet I could,” she said, but handed it over. Then she met Beau's gaze with a soft expression. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" she asked. "We’re besties, that’s what they do.”

“Is it?”

“Absolutely.”

Beau nodded, and gave Jester a small smile. “Good to know, then,” she said. “I guess I’ll keep that in mind.”

•

Today 9:25 PM

Molly Tealeaf: hey there mister caleb! Molly Tealeaf: ive been told now that you never actually will read these Molly Tealeaf: but i figured id stop by just in case you do! Molly Tealeaf: i just wanted to let you know how excited i am that you’ll be seeing me sing Molly Tealeaf: for real I mean, not just karaoke while im drunk Molly Tealeaf: and yesterday Molly Tealeaf: it was a ton of fun! Molly Tealeaf: thank you again so much for agreeing to get coffee with me Molly Tealeaf: and lending me your coat Molly Tealeaf: i can’t wait for next time!!

•

Caleb adjusted his tie and sighed.

Now it was Saturday afternoon, a few hours before the performance. He was seated on Jester’ bed, glancing slack-jawed at the room around him, all high windows and thick curtains, plush carpeting under his feet and towering bookshelves to his left, gold leaf on the doors and dresser drawers. It would have been something out of a TV program on millionaire’s homes and lifestyles, if not for the pile of stuffed animals on the bed, the sea of beanbag chairs and cushions on the floor, and the dozens upon dozens of drawings and posters taped along the walls.

“I just got two more,” Jester had said cheerfully before shoving Nott into the bathroom. “One for Shallow Breaths and one for Scent of the Sea. Plus I added some more drawings, feel free to look! I’m very proud.”

And then she had closed the door behind her, leaving Caleb in his tan tweed jacket alone on the bed.

He could hear the girls giggling in the distance, the sound of a blow-dryer occasionally drowning them out.

He fidgeted with his sleeve. He stared at the windows. He put his head in his hands and leaned his elbows against his thighs. He groaned and rubbed his temples.

“What are you doing?” he whispered, staring at the red carpet beneath him. “Why on earth are you here? What made you think this would be a good idea? Gottsverdamnt, this is a high-class party you are about to attend, for the city’s elite!” He rubbed his chin and groaned. “And look at you now, with your shaved face, your neat hair and fancy attire. You are going to get recognized, you imbecile. What if somebody you know is there? Fuck, what if they are there? You don’t know? You were too stupid to ask what kind of people would attend. What if they are in town? What if they decide come? What then?”

He gestured blindly around. “And look at all this,” he continued. “Look at all this. You were supposed to leave this behind. You are garbage, you do not deserve such well-to-do and kind friends, who let you into their homes and, and, and buy you clothing! How could you let Jester do that? You do not deserve this! You should be in your filthy apartment, alone, doing nothing but research. This is a waste of time and a terrible risk.”

There was a sound, muffled by the bathroom door. He glanced up in a panic, half-expecting the girls to be standing there and staring at him. But the room was empty. He heard them giggle, and relaxed.

“Listen to that,” he muttered. “Hear how happy they are? Not for you, Widogast. Not for you. You should have encouraged Nott to come alone. Why even bother with this? You should just go home, now, while you still have the chance.”

He flopped backwards onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, a high arch far above, reminding him again of how small and insignificant he was.

“You are a fool,” he murmured, and ran his fingers through his hair. He stretched his arm out and stared at the back of his hand. “Why are you here?” he asked nobody. “What made you do this? What is the point—”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something slip out of his jacket pocket and fall onto the bed. His brow furrowed. He felt around on the covers and his palm brushed a folded-up piece of paper.

He gently brought it closer; he held it up. He read:

Thank you again, Mister Caleb! A bit of warmth in the cold is all we need sometimes, eh?

This handwriting was more of a scrawl, as if formed by a grip unused to writing but determined nonetheless. It was actually almost intelligible, and took Caleb a few moments to properly understand.

When he did, he realized that it—along with the Mister Caleb—was completely, undeniably, Mollymauk.

He let his hand drop onto the blankets, and brought his other arm around to cover his eyes.

“You are a fool,” he muttered again. “A damn fool.”

This time, it lacked venom. If anything it sounded more resigned than angry.

•

Molly stared at his reflection in the mirror.

The rest of the group milled about behind him in various states of preparation for the big evening—Gustav fretting over his top hat, Desmond carefully tuning the instruments, Ornna opening and closing her fan, Bosun helping Kylre into his costume and the Knot Sisters braiding Toya’s hair.

Molly looked down at his costume, a flowing red cloak adorned with alchemical symbols and gaudy colored shapes. It had taken days, weeks, months to complete, and he was rather proud. He’d never played a powerful sorcerer before; usually he didn’t act at all. But rehearsals had gone well, and he couldn’t wait to show it all off tonight.

Still, something fluttered uneasily in his chest.

Molly would be the first person to admit he was a peacock that adored showing off for posh crowds. But Caleb would be here tonight. This would be the first time he’d watch Molly perform. Would he like it? Would he be impressed? Entertained? Or would he think Molly was shallow, too flamboyant, too flashy, too dramatic?

Molly ran a hand through his hair. Then he kicked himself mentally and reached for the hair gel. As he squeezed the pale blue substance into his palm and rubbed his hands together, he looked back at his reflection and paused.

What did he want? He’d told Yasha he would be happy just being allowed to stand by Caleb as a friend. Was that true? Was that right? Was that okay?

He sighed and pushed the gel into his hair.

What did he want?

He didn’t know. And somehow, that was the worst part.

•

Jester burst out of the bathroom, swinging an anxious-looking Nott behind her by the hand.

“We’re ready!” she declared loudly. “Caleb, get up and tell us that we are pretty!”

He pushed himself up. His eyes softened, and a smile crept across his face.

Jester was wearing a long, pale pink dress that seemed to shimmer as she moved. There were no sleeves, and the neckline curved down, stopping just short of indecency, ending at playful with a refined edge. She wore long white gloves, and a necklace of pearls, and a delighted grin.

Nott stood next to her in a bright yellow sundress with a cream-colored sash around the middle. It ended just below her knees, fanning out and twirling slightly as she fidgeted. Her eyes were expectant, and nervous.

“You both look wonderful,” Caleb said. “Absolutely spectacular.”

Nott glowed under his praise. “Thanks, Caleb.” Her hesitant smiled turned giddy. “I feel pretty spectacular too.”

Jester pumped a fist into the air. “I knew it would be amazing!” she beamed. “And now it’s time to party!"

•

Today 5:51 PM

Jester Lavore: mission accomplished molly Jester Lavore: caleb and nott are in some choice fashions Jester Lavore: we’ll head over soon Molly Tealeaf: youre a doll, dear Jester Lavore: im not a doll im a chic god Molly Tealeaf: right of course Molly Tealeaf: thank you so much again for doing this Jester Lavore: HA! any excuse to shop Jester Lavore: nott would NEVER let me put her in a dress if she didn’t have to anyway Jester Lavore: so really its perfect Molly Tealeaf: it truly is, thank you again Molly Tealeaf: hey can I ask you one more favor? Jester Lavore: of course! anything for you Molly Tealeaf: excellent

•

Caleb wasn’t sure whether or not to be relieved. Upon arrival, Jester had immediately dragged them past Yasha at the front entrance and up the carpeted stairs, away from the bar and between the tables and around the stage so quickly that none of the guests had even seen them for more than a few seconds. No chance of being recognized, that way, or any need for socialization.

But she had done so because they were going to the performer’s lounge to see Molly and his coworkers before the show. Quite a need for socialization, in that department.

“Relax,” she whispered, pausing just outside the door. “They’re all super-duper nice, and he’s already told them all about you both. Even you,” she added with a grin to Nott. “They know you’re a goblin, but it’s alright. And they won’t say a word.”

“Good,” Nott sighed. “The less we talk about it, the better.”

Caleb gave her a pat on the head. “I am sure they would have loved you on sight, disguise or no. It is me that I am worried about, Jester, I don’t know how to speak to these people! I have never even met them before, how am I supposed to behave? Will they try and make light conversation or should I not speak unless spoken to, or—"

She snorted. “What kind of dumb rule is that? Just be yourself! C’mon, it’ll be fun. Molly’s dying for you to meet them.”

And then she knocked on the door and pressed her cheek against the wood and called, “Guys! It’s Jester and Caleb and Nott! Put your pants on, we’re coming in!”

She turned the handle and yanked it open.

Ten pairs of eyes at assorted heights and varying sizes immediately trained on them. There was a half-elf in a frock coat standing next to a shorter balding man surrounded by a loop of floating instruments. A woman with dark skin and fiery hair, draped in gold and crimson fabrics, lounged next to a rack of costumes. Two identical halflings in shimmering green bodysuits looked up from behind a table covered in makeup and hair products. A half-orc was seated on the carpet, adjusting a drum, and tiny flaxen-haired dwarf girl in a simple white dress was perched atop an enormous, bright green, hulking mass of a lizard-man in the corner by the window.

Mollymauk, seated on the arm of a couch, beamed.

“Jester! Caleb and Nott too, hey, you made it!” He immediately stood up and ushered them over to the sofa. “I’m so glad you guys stopped by, I really wanted to introduce you to the troupe.”

Gustav gave them a warm smile as they sat. “Lovely to see you again, Miss Lavore,” he said to Jester, tipping his hat. Then he turned to Caleb and Nott and bowed. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure yet. My name is Gustav Fletching, master of ceremonies. Come on, you lot!” He grinned, waving at the rest. “Introduce yourselves!”

“Ornna,” said the redheaded woman. “It's pleasure.”

“Bosun,” said the half-orc. “The Breaker. Call me Bo.”

“Mona,” said one of the halfling women.

“Yuli,” said the other. “We’re the Knot sisters.”

“Desmond Moondrop,” said the man surrounded by musical instruments. “I’m a bard.”

There was a tremor from the corner of the room, and then a deep, gravelly voice leaked from the mouth of the lizard-man. “Kylre,” he said.

“Toya,” whispered the dwarf sitting on top of him.

“And I’m Mollymauk,” Molly grinned cheekily. “But you knew that already. Yasha’s included in the troupe too, since she hangs around us so much, but you also knew that already too.”

Jester nudged Caleb and Nott. “Go on,” she hissed. “Introduce yourselves!”

“I’m Nott,” said Nott. “The Brave. But there’s no comma.”

There was a chorus of “hellos,” and Bosun laughed. “Perfect!” he said. “We have the same middle name.”

Then they all looked expectantly at Caleb. He managed to clear his throat and said, only slightly shakily, “Caleb. Caleb Widogast.”

“Ah,” Yuli grinned. “You’re Caleb, then?”

Ornna chuckled. “You're the mysterious man who—”

She was cut off as Molly suddenly threw his arms out and pulled her in tightly by the shoulders. “Anyways, he said loudly, "it was lovely of you three to stop by! The show’s on in half an hour and we’ll be a bit busy from now on, but maybe we can all talk some more after the show. Drinks included.”

Desmond glanced at his watch. “Actually, Molly, we could still spare a few—”

“We’re very busy!” Molly declared again, very pointedly. “After the show.”

The troupe exchanged glances. A few members tried very hard to hide their sniggering.

“Of course,” said Gustav generously. He turned back to the trio and gave another wide bow. “I’m delighted to have met you all. Do stop by again, a friend of Molly’s is a friend of ours, and I’d love to get to know you better, Ms. Nott and Mr. Caleb.”

They both nodded, and before they could say a word were swept up by Jester as she rose and started ushering them out the door. Just before leaving, she turned back and called, “Break a leg, you guys! I can’t wait to see the show!”

“You all seem really cool!” Nott added, sticking her head around Jester. “Nice meeting you!”

“Er…I as well,” Caleb said, and then kicked himself, and then tried again. “I mean, I enjoyed this.”

And then Jester slammed the door, and they all stood in the empty hallway for a few beats of silence.

“That was…peculiar,” Caleb said eventually. “They are a, a colorful lot.”

“They’re good people,” Jester said cheerily. “And they’re Molly’s family, you know?”

“I liked ‘em,” grinned Nott. “I wanna to talk to them some more.”

“I bet we can,” Jester agreed. “But after the show.” She started marching down the corridor, and the other two scrambled to follow her. “C’mon!” she declared. “Let’s go find a table with a good view, before they’re all gone.”

•

Beau dropped her elbows onto Fjord’s counter and raised an eyebrow. “Hey,” she said when he failed to notice her. “Hey, Fjord. When’re you gonna take your break?”

He turned around, wiping a glass cup, and glanced wearily at the packed crowd wedged into the bar around them, dancing to loud, bass-heavy music or playing pool to the side or occupying the booths beyond maximum capacity.

“Dunno,” he said. “There’s a lot of people here tonight.”

“Yeah,” sighed Beau, “bar discounts’ will do that. But we gotta take a break at some point, right? Everybody’s been hypin’ this thing at the Moondrop up for ages, we can’t miss it. Jes promising to illegally tape it for us ain't enough.”

Fjord nodded. “I’ll see if I can’t get someone to fill in for me later,” he said. “And you’re right, if Molly hears I never got a chance to see it he’d be crushed.”

“You think?” Beau asked.

Fjord laughed. “I know.”

The conversation went on hold for a moment, as two people approached the bar and rattled off an order. Beau idly picked at her fingernails.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” said Fjord. “Anyways, how’ve you been? Haven’t seen you in a few.”

Beau snorted. “We were at the gym together like…three days ago,” she said. “And I helped you finalize your apartment decision with Jester. Are you forgetting me in your old age already?”

Fjord rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant,” he said. “C’mon, spill. What’s up?”

Beau paused. She seemed to briefly wrestle with something, a mental debate that came and went in a flash

“Not much,” she said, and pointed to a clear bottle behind Fjord. “Hey, pour me one of those? It’s gonna be a long night and I think I need some help.”

Fjord raised an eyebrow. “You sure?” he asked. “You're on the clock and It’s like…seven-thirty. Isn’t that a bit early?”

Beau shook her head. “No way,” she said. “Alcohol will only enhance my performance right now, and seven-thirty just means that night is young. And ripe with opportunity.”

•

Jester had found a circular table near the middle of the crowd, stage-side views having already been claimed. The three of them now sat together in tall, cushioned chairs, hands neatly folded in their laps—Caleb—or fingers drumming absent-mindedly on the white cloth—Jester and Nott. Thankfully, which Caleb noted as he made furtive glances around the large hall, there was nobody here that he recognized. There had been a brief moment, when his eyes caught an older man with a wrinkled face and long beard, where he almost had a heart attack on the spot—

—until he realized the eyes and nose were different. Eventually, he calmed down.

Around the large floral centerpiece, Caleb also sized up the other couples sitting at their table. There was elf with a human, and a pair of gnomes. The closest one, a woman with pale blonde hair and rosy cheeks, gave Nott a pleasant smile when they noticed each other.

“Excited for the show?” she asked, quite kindly, in Gnomish. “My husband and I came a long ways out to come see it.”

Nott stared at her. Her eyes darted back and forth and behind her, Jester and Caleb began to panic silently.

“Uh…” she said, and under the table Jester kicked Caleb’s leg in a you’re-magic-you-have-to-do-something sort of way. He nudged her back with a I-don’t-have-any-spells-that-can-work-fast-enough-to-help-fuck.

Nott cleared her throat. “Ah…actually,” she said, “I’m real sorry, but I don’t speak Gnomish.”

The woman blinked. “Oh, shoot, I’m the one that’s sorry,” she said quickly. “It was my fault for assuming.”

“No, no,” said Nott. “It’s alright. It was a reasonable assumption, Miss. It’s just that I, uh, I was…uh…”

She quickly glanced back at Caleb and Jester, who both shrugged.

“I was raised by halflings!” Nott declared. “Yes, that’s it. Adopted. Never knew my birth parents, it’s quite sad really. But I love my halfling family, and we’re very close.”

“Is that so?” The woman smiled. “Well then, that’s nice. I lived with my adopted brother, you know. He couldn’t make it tonight, but I’m sure he would have loved to meet you, Miss…?”

“Oh!” Nott smiled and gave her a short wave. “I’m, uh, Bren,” she said. “Bren…Tough.”

“Bren Tough?” The other gnome, a man with short brown hair and glittering eyes, raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty interesting name.”

“Thanks,” said Nott. “It belongs to me. What are, uh, what are your names?”

“Oh,” the woman smiled. “Of course, where are my manners? I’m—”

The chandeliers went out. A spotlight suddenly appeared on the grand stage, illuminating a single man in a long frock coat and a tall top hat. He bowed deeply, spreading his arm aside and lowering his hat as he did.

“Esteemed Guests,” he called in a rich, musical tone. “I extend my humble gratitude for gracing us with your presence, and I welcome you to the 25th Anniversary celebration of the Fletching & Moondrop. Our performers have worked tirelessly for months to prepare a unique and spectacular exhibition of culture and music and art for you all tonight, and I firmly believe that it will be to your liking. Grant us your imaginations this eve but a trifle bit of time. Sit back, have some dinner, and enjoy the show.”

And then he bowed again, and in a sudden plume of purple, glittering smoke, he was gone.

The curtains pulled open, and revealing a single man dressed all in blue, old-fashioned minstrel’s clothing, a large feathered cap perched upon his head. He had a fiddle in his hands, and as the light moved towards him, he began to play.

Ah, came Gustav’s voice from somewhere unseen, I see you’ve already met Desmond. He’ll be part of our story tonight, so keep a wily eye for the shifting fool. But first, I will tell you the tale of two sisters of the Fey.

Desmond bowed his head, slowly moved away from the center. And as he retreated, three long ribbons of green silk unfurled from the ceiling and gently caressed the wooden stage.

Lost without form into the mazes of the underworld, there, where the body would break, they found a teacher in a mystical serpent. And the gift they received, was the ability to bend with this maze that had captured them, and slither their way back to the surface, to reclaim their place in the world.

A hand emerged just into view, along the top of the silk. It swayed gently, as if stirred by a breeze. And then another appeared, and another, and another, and then two bodies adorned in glittering emerald scales dropped down, catching themselves against the ribbons and twirling in the air. Their faces turned towards the audience, and then to each other.

May I present to you: Mona and Yuli, the Knot Sisters.

The sisters began to move slowly, bending their limbs, arching their backs and intertwining their torsos in impossible formations, dangling in the air supported by nothing but ribbons, and one another. And as the fiddle’s melody, now sourceless and swelling, building, crescendoing and accelerating in tempo and vigor, the sisters began to spin wildly, press tightly, drape their arms together and move unison, seemingly shifting into a single being of whirling, fluid scales and shimmering, verdant green.

Next to him, Caleb saw Nott wince at their display of impossible flexibility and bone-shattering dexterity. A number of patrons close to the stages were also gasping in shock, in awe, mouths agape and whispering with hushed amazement. The elf at their table gave an impressed nod, and Jester was completely entranced.

Suddenly, one of the sisters folded over and plunged downward, drawing horrified exclamations from the audience, until she stopped short barely two feet of the ground. The other twirled down as well and the two of them began to tangle and wrap like battling serpents, hissing and thrashing and violent and beautiful all at the same time. It was…off-putting, and impossible to look away.

Slowly, the lighting began to dull into a pale turquoise. And then it got darker. And darker. And the sisters fell into the underworld.

They began to tell the tale of struggle, crawling across each other limb by limb, using their snake-like forms as a ladder that extended up the ribbons, using every muscle in their bodies to climb upwards. Caleb found himself forgetting to breathe, so pulled into this wordless story of redemption, of hope, of climbing back to the surface from a dark hell to the soft glow above. And as they moved higher and higher, building off one another and stretching upwards, the lighting shifted, grew brighter, and their climbing became less fevered. The two of them, arm into arm, leg into leg, rolled upward and swirled and spun and twirled until finally they reached the apex and wrapped themselves close and pressed their foreheads together and, one again, turned back out to the audience. The extended their hands, and bowed their heads.

And with a flourish, their ribbons were pulled back up, out of sight, the sisters along with them, until the stage was empty again.

The audience erupted into applause. Caleb felt something brush his cheek, and saw Jester patting his face with her napkin.

“You were crying,” she whispered softly. “It’s okay. I got it.”

He blinked, and felt the moisture gathering under his eyes. He glanced back at Jester, who was smiling in an uncharacteristic moment of silence, and thought of something to say.

“…thank you,” he murmured.

She put the napkin down and gave him a pat on the arm. “Don’t worry. And sorry if your face is sticky, I think there was some juice on my cloth.”

And then, before he could reply, the soft green light suddenly vanished, replaced with nothing but empty darkness, and Gustav’s voice echoed around them once more.

In a flash, beyond the ash, gods all went and gone. The darkness came to grasp, reclaim, and suffocate the dawn.

Suddenly, the audience gasped again as out of the darkness, a burst of flame erupted through the room, beginning with two torch sconces just beside the stage on both sides, spreading out in a circle around the hall, shedding a low, orange light over all of their heads. Caleb couldn’t help but wonder if this was scientific, or arcane, and briefly considered a Detect Magic to find out. But then Gustav spoke again, breaking his train of thought:

But from that night, a burning light doth keep back the shadows’ bane. The strength to fight will set alight the morning sun again. Esteemed guests, I present to you: Ornna, the Fire Fairy.

From the center of the stage, a flash of silver metal. And then another, and another, and suddenly as the sharp gleam arced through the air a flame trailed after it, framing the face of that beautiful woman with blazing red hair, now surrounded by curls of fire. She spun in a hypnotic twirl, her simple dress fanning out around her and catching the warm light, flickering and giving her the visage of a warrior-goddess battling against the darkness around her. The frenzied fiddle soared again, she spun the fans in her grasp, face stoic and graceful all at the same time. The audience breathed their quiet awe, watching her strike and spin and dive across the stage, banishing the shadows from the hall. She moved with the music, drew wild as it crescendoed, leapt and lunged and flew through the air until the song climaxed and she finished one final, brilliant twirl, and as she landed on the stage, the lights all around her suddenly rocketed into a victorious luminescence.

The crowd went wild. Nott stood in her chair and pumped her fists and even in this refined, upper-class audience, she was not alone.

“This is super different from what they usually do,” Jester whispered to the human on her other side. “Usually it’s just background singing and stuff.”

“What a shame,” said the elf. “I would love to see this sort of show more often. Nice use of pyrotechnics.”

“It’s very artistic,” said Nott, sitting back down. “I like it.”

And then the torches went out, and a low drumbeat began to pulse from the stage. Gustav spoke once more:

Even as the sun would rise anew, bellowing roars will quake the lands of Xhorhas and beyond. Terrible beasts, now freed from their dark masters, scattered into our world.

And then a terrible, guttural roar shook the entire performance hall. In the dead silence that followed, came the quiet crawl of grinding, dragging chains.

A spotlight appeared, cast over the form of Bo the Breaker, dragging something onstage. Desmond came with him, chains in one hand and fiddle in the other, the bow moving itself. And then a shape emerged, massive, hulking, covered completely in slimy, swamp-green scales a stark contrast of the lithe sisters from before. This shape was enormous, corpulent, with large toad-like legs that framed a rotund torso, muscular arms manacled and pulling it in. It fought and wrestled against the chains but slowly, painfully, bitterly pulled into the center of the stage. It roared a second time, mighty and brutal. The front row of the audience pulled back in their seats, whispering urgently, fear beginning to build.

The devil-toad crawls hungrily into the land of free folk, said Gustav, steady and unwavering. It ravages the mind and lords over nightmares. But what truth lies behind the eyes of this beast? What would be learned when the guiding heart of innocence pierces the hateful soul, brings beauty for the first time?

A soft, faint voice from somewhere in the darkness began to drift slowly over their heads.

I now present to you: the vivid song of Toya.

A light shone down atop a platform against the left side of the stage. And upon the structure, feet swinging and bare, was the shape of the young dwarven girl in the flowing white dress. Her eyes were closed, hands at her side. And her voice, her voice, her voice—

—she sung with a mystifying hum, a sound that pierced the heart with unexpected, uncontrolled, unbridled joy. The crowd audibly gasped as the melody washed over them, entranced them, brought every single person into its music. Caleb felt something brush his cheek again, and when he looked down he saw Jester blow her nose into the napkin, staring at the stage with wide, tear-brimmed eyes.

And before them all, the devil-toad froze. It stopped struggling, seemingly caught by this song. Its face dropped into a soft smile and it slowly walked beneath Toya’s wooden platform. It looked up, and sat down. Bosun and Desmond both dropped their chains and walked away, leaving the creature in its awed rapture. From up above, Toya’s voice began to grow, almost summoning a chorus from the ether that once again spoke of magic that could not be. Her smile was infectious, and though tears spilled down Caleb’s face, he could not break his gaze.

Until, abruptly, a man seated at one of the tables shot to his feet. His arms were outstretched and behind his fine-tailored suit was a body wracked with age. His legs shook, and the low light caught the wetness of his cheeks.

“What’s happening?” Nott whispered as the audience's attention shifted to the man. “What’s he doing?”

“I dunno,” Jester frowned. “I think…hey, he doesn’t look so good—”

He screamed. The music instantly stopped. Other patrons began to stand up, began to move closer, to check on him, watched him collapse to the ground and clutch his chest and with another wet gurgle screamed again, vocal chords bursting and now the skin on his arms began to tear, the bones split from his flesh, the people immediately around him began screaming themselves and backing away and his body writhed and crackled and dust shook from his swelling form and the entire audience started panicking, scrambling, running for the exits and shouting and—

Chaos erupted all around them.

Instinctively, Caleb’s hands caught fire.

•

💚 ☕ ☕ 💚