#we're not gonna talk about how long ago you sent me this

[owedfavors]

⤷ ✧ @prcspcr said, ❝ good to see you made it back safe . ❞

her eyebrow quirks in challenge, and she smooths the quirk of a smile before she replies, ❛ did you doubt that we would? ❜ her question is less justified than she makes out, considering the complications that had plagued what ought to have been an easy mission. it conceals her fatigue, the tension of the past day. ❛ such confidence, spock. ❜ she does after all, she consider reminding him, have a much better track record when it comes to returning to the ship unscathed than certain members of the crew, their captain included.

[girlcrushau]

[w2soneshots]

Announcement -W2S

words: 0.6k+

warnings: pregnancy.

summary: you and Harry announce your exiting news to the sidemen in an interesting way.

notes: hello my babies! I haven’t done a dad!bog fic in forever and this brought back all my baby fever🥹. Here’s the request. Enjoy!!🧸💓🫶🏼

Today me and Harry are announcing our pregnancy to the boys. We've been keeping it our little secret for just over four months and it has been difficult but we've loved it. I'm not an official member of the sidemen but I'm always in their videos so morning sickness and the crazy hormones have been hard to hide, along with the fact I now have a bump. I haven't worn anything tight fitting in weeks. We wanted to do something funny and casual with the boys so when we found out that they were filming a photo roulette for more sidemen we knew that was our chance.

"You nervous?" I asked Harry as we drove. "Not really, I'm just excited to finally tell everyone." He replied with a smile. We told our families a few days ago and they were all ecstatic. "I feel the same. Also we're gonna need to tell Faith ASAP because we both know Ethan can't keep any secrets from her." Harry chuckled, knowing I was definitely right.

When we arrived outside of the building and Harry parked we made our way upstairs. "Hey! Feeling better?" Tobi asked as we walked into the studio. Last week I had to leave a side plus shoot early because I started to feel nauseous. The boys were concerned but Harry reassured them that I was fine, since he knew that it was just because I'm pregnant. "Yeah." I smiled with a light nod of my head.

Once we sat down to film we began with a few other videos then finally after around two hours it was time. "Hello and welcome to 'sidemen photo roulette', with y/n!" Simon announced to the camera. "Everyone has sent in a random amount of pictures from their camera rolls and you'll all have to guess who sent it in." He explained. Simon was going to be able to see the pictures so I was just hoping he would stay silent.

We got started and we saw some really funny and random photos. As the game went on my hands were fidgeting as I anticipated what was going to happen. "Ok and the final pic." The picture me and Harry had taken of our dog with the baby's first ultrasound in his mouth popped up on the tv. The room went silent. "Is that? Oh my god!" Ethan jumped from his seat, looking straight at me and Harry. Everyone quickly began to catch on and cheers filled the room.

Once everyone said congratulations we sat back down. "How many months are you?" JJ asked. "Five." I replied. "Twenty weeks?!" Vik exclaimed. Harry chuckled. "Uh yeah. We kept putting off telling everyone. Before last week only me and y/n knew." He explained. "So you-" Ethan pointed down to my stomach, which was covered by one of Harry's oversized hoodies. I nodded then slowly lifted it over my bump. All six of their eyes flickered from my stomach, to me and then to Harry. "So the other week you-" Tobi began. "I smelt something weird and it made me feel nauseous." I laughed.

Later that night I sat between Harry's legs, my back leaning on his chest. He ran his fingers over my bump as we sat in a comfortable silence. "I think they were a bit shocked that we waited so long to tell everyone." I whispered. Harry smiled, even though I couldn't see him. "I like that we kept it a secret. But it feels good to be able to talk to people about it, since it's like the biggest and best thing that's ever happened to me." He replied quietly. I hummed as my hands traveled to land on top of his. "Want me to run you a warm bath?" He asked. "Only if you join me." I smiled. "I was already planning on it."

[homerforsure]

Saw the episode. Ascended to a higher plane. Wrote a small Coda that is as messy as my brain is right now. Bone Apple Tea.

"Heyyyyyy Buck!" Eddie answers the phone with a drawn out salutation that proves Tommy was not lying about him being sent away from the hospital with the good drugs. Or, not lying about the prescription, but about Eddie actually taking them. It wasn't so long ago that Eddie would take enough medicine to avoid being in agony, but never quite enough to actually feel relief. He wouldn't do that for Tommy, however close they are. It's something that Eddie's doing for himself. Buck's stomach was a swarm of butterflies three seconds ago, but that and the floaty happy way Eddie still says his name, has him smiling again in his kitchen.

"Hey Eddie. I, um, I'm sorry to call so late. I just wanted to see how- how you were doing."

"Eh, I'll miss a shift or two. But Doc says I'll be ready to go for playoffs," Eddie answers.

Guilt twists through him, harsh and acidic and Buck says, "Well I'm glad to hear that. They say the team doesn't have a chance without you and your, um, sky dunk." Eddie laughs, giggles really, in reply and Buck says, "I'm sorry, Eddie. I don't know why I did that. I mean- I- I know why. I was jealous of you and- and Tommy-" Buck's heart flips as he says his name and he's afraid the kiss is going to come flying out of his mouth and down the phone line- "But I never wanted you to get hurt like that."

"You wanted me to get hurt different?" Eddie asks, still laughing, but Buck feels stricken.

"No! I- maybe. I don't know what I wanted. I lost my mind for a little bit."

"You were jealous," Eddie repeats.

"Yeah, I was."

A long sigh and Eddie says, "I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. I was the asshole. I could have- I knocked you out of your shoe."

"Do you have my shoe?" Eddie asks, more focused than he has been the rest of the conversation. Buck can hear him sitting up on the couch.

"Uh, no. No, I gave it to Chim. He's gonna give it to you when he sees you. And probably make about 50 Cinderella jokes."

"Right. He texted me. I remember."

"I'm sure he'll bring it by sooner if you need it. Or he could give it to Tommy." The flush is there again, hot down the back of his neck. Buck doesn't know how he's supposed to do this. Where is he supposed to keep all of this heat and possibility while he waits for Saturday.

"You don't like him."

"Who? Chim? He's growing on me."

"Tommy," Eddie answers in a tone that says duh. "You can't even say his name normal."

Of course Eddie can hear that. Of course he assumes that's the problem after the way Buck has acted since the moment they met the man. He thanks god that he decided to call instead of driving across town and checking on Eddie in person. His cheeks and his ears are burning like fire.

"He can tell, you know. We both can. He said he's going to come talk to you. Gave him your address. Wants to apologize." Eddie must have settled back down on the couch. He sounds sleepier, his sentences getting shorter and more breathy.

"He did. He um. He came by. We talked it out. I told him you guys didn't have anything to apologize for. I was the one who made it weird."

"So weird," Eddie agrees and Buck laughs. "You guys should be friends. He's awesome and you're awesome and we can all hang out together and it would be..."

"Awesome," Buck finishes. He thinks it might be.

"I forgot you don't know that."

"Know what?" Buck asks, when Eddie's mumble doesn't come with any additional clarification. "Eddie?"

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. Hey, you should get up and go to your bed. Sleeping on that couch is not going to help your ankle heal any faster."

"Tommy said that."

"Tommy's right. Come on."

Eddie groans as he sits up, cursing at Buck in what he thinks is under his breath, and asks, "You talked to Tommy?"

"Yeah, he just left."

"And we're okay? You like him now?"

Buck's blood roars through his ears and he wants to throw up and start laughing all at the same time. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Good."

He breathes through the sudden headrush as Eddie grumbles and hops his way off the couch and down the hall. Buck knows where he's finding his handholds by the echo off the walls and he winces when Eddie takes a misstep and swears again. He thinks for a second that he should be there, that he should help Eddie to bed, but Eddie would never let him. Buck wonders if Tommy would let him. He's wondering about so much now and he never did before.

"Hey, Eds?" The question is out before Buck realizes he's asking it, small and vulnerable, and he wants to claw it back and swallow it down before Eddie notices, but he doesn't have a chance.

"Yeah?"

Tommy kissed me. I want him to do it again.

"No, nothing. Just. I'm sorry. I was out of line."

"You were," Eddie answers. "And I forgive you."

Something settles in Buck then. A piece that had still been sitting off kilter and jamming painfully under his ribs. He takes a deep breath, and joy washes fully over him, calming and centering. He doesn't ask the question again though. He thinks he wants to keep this tiny, glowing treasure to himself. At least for a little while.

"Bring me my shoe back and we'll call it even."

Buck laughs, letting the sound ring out through his apartment and he can hear Eddie smiling on the other end of the phone.

[0oolookitsme]

i really really loved baby it's cold outside. the blushiness had me squealing can we has more pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee<3

Burning Up

You sent this request in long, long ago, bestie anon, and I just hope that you'll see and enjoy reading this fic!! I'm sorry for taking so long! I just wanna tell you that this fic has equal amounts of blushiness as 'baby it's cold outside', so it only felt right to attach your ask to this!

Verse - Dwd!Harry x Dwd!Y/n

Word Count - 2.0k

Warnings - Mentions of puke, fever, and passing out.

Harry is sick, and Y/n is panicking because she isn't quite sure how one takes care of a sick person, plus, she can't even cook well enough! But, as she takes care of him, it's like time slows down, and then speeds back up -- just like her heart each time that he lazily smiles at her.

"Harry!" Shrieking, Y/n rushed forward. Heart thudding, she crouched beside his slumped figure and turned him so his head was in her lap. He had been puking, she realised.

"Oh my god, Harry," her voice wavered, trying to get up and bring him with her. "You're burning up," she said to no one in particular, sweat breaking on her forehead as she felt some slip down her back as well.

She took in deep breaths, telling herself that it wasn't anything as bad as the conclusion her frantic mind had jumped to upon first sight. It was just a fever, a very high one at that.

Had she not woken up to use the bathroom, she wouldn’t even have realised that he was out of bed, and passed out on the bathroom floor!

With one hand, she flushed the toilet before clutching his wrist, hanging his arm across her shoulders. His head, on the other side, had slumped off her shoulder and was now brushing against her chest – but she couldn’t have been less bothered about that.

"This is bad, oh this is so bad," she shook her head, face palming herself in her head for not realising earlier that he was running a fever. For accepting his plee and sleeping before he had arrived home, because he was going to work a little later.

"Oh lord," she breathed, staggering forward but making sure that neither of them fell. "It's alright, we're gonna get you to bed," she reassured, not sure if him or herself.

Dropping him on the bed, she cursed when she realised that he had slumped over top of the blanket. Oh, she wasn’t strong enough for all of this!

Still, somehow, she managed to thank the heavens above that he had changed his clothes while raising his legs to get the blanket out from beneath him, proceeding to drape it over his lower half.

His torsos was almost in place, he just needed to move a little up in order to fit his legs.

“Please lord, just make sure he doesn't open his eyes for this one.” She muttered under her breath before crossing one of her legs over his lap.

Getting up on her knees she climbed a little higher so she was now hovering over his stomach, and then raised his shoulders through his armpits and pushed him up, cussing again when he stirred awake.

Of course, he woke up during this. Her breasts were in his face right now and he woke up!

"Y/n?" He croaked out, and Y/n almost flinched due to how hoarse his voice had gotten.

"Yes, yes," she rushed, getting off of him, onto the other side of the bed. "I'm right here."

She watched him heave a breath, before a smile pulled up on his mouth.

"You know, that was a nice view," he chuckled, face scrunching when a fit of cough followed.

With narrowed eyes, "you're hot," she stated.

"I know, love, but now's not the time," he managed to say.

Gasping loudly, Y/n covered her face. "I'm talking about your temperature, oh my god!"

Harry laughed at that, painfully coughing afterwards and closing his eyes due to the pure exhaustion, mumbling something.

"What was that, again?" Y/n asked, leaning in to hear him properly.

He mumbled again, something incoherent but Y/n could tell he had spoken something different from what he'd said earlier.

"I know I should've made you wear a coat," she shook her head, sighing with a slump of her frame.

But then, it was as if her senses knocked back into her. "God, what am even I doing," she smacked herself on the forehead before scurrying off of the bed and rushing to the kitchen.

She wet a towel there, throwing all of the ice they had left in the freezer into a large bowl before filling it with water. She dipped the small towel in it, squeezed out the water and walked back to the room carefully.

He seemed to have fallen asleep, so Y/n quickly folded the towel and put it on his head before rushing back to the kitchen to make a soup out of the little grocery they had at home.

It wasn't really her fault, it was the weekend, so, of course they were running out on fruits and vegetables.

So, almost on an autopilot brain, she took the frozen Kale from the fridge. Then, began collecting the ingredients. An onion, a garlic, some beans and potatos -- wait, he doesn't like potatoes in his soup, she remembered and put the two she'd picked out, back. A few Thyme Sprigs caught her eye and she snatched them, before adding a lemon into the small makeshift bowl her palm was right now.

And lastly, with a scrunched-up nose, she picked up the packaged chicken tenders from the freezer. Because whilst she did love herself some chicken, she couldn't, for the love of god, cook some herself because the feel of it made her sick to her stomach.

Once she had all of the ingredients set out, she rushed back to the room to check on Harry. He looked asleep, but she knew better. So, taking the towel off his forehead, she refreshed it in the ice bowl and put it back.

She got up afterwards and before she could've walked farther, Harry caught ahold of her hand. She turned to look, and his eyes were barely open but still set on her with a lazy smile on his mouth.

"Thank you," he rasped out.

An embarrassed smile grew on her lips. "Of course," she whispered before taking off towards the kitchen again, this time, burning up herself.

This was going to take longer than she wanted, so she began to move through the recipe as quickly as she could. Which was how, ten minutes into cooking, she cut herself a little on the finger while dicing the onions.

Hissing, she hurriedly wrapped a bandage around it and got back to work, hoping and praying that Harry was asleep and not in utter need of her. Although that would be flattering, it still wouldn't be practical.

Cooking wasn't her best skill. So many things, Harry had taught her how to cook when he'd married her about eight months ago. But she knew that something was better than nothing -- so what if the soup ended up tasting disgusting, at least she'd have something hot and healthy to feed him!

And as she was stirring the Kale into the soup to wilt and soften it, she wished nothing more than for her past self to buy a freaking booklet on how to take care of a sick person, because she was decently convinced that abandoning them for more than thirty minutes was not a part of it.

A creaking sound went to her ears, and she shrieked, jumping around only to see her half-asleep husband walking with all his might.

"What are you doing out of bed!" She panicked, walking over to support his heavy frame in some way.

"Oh, for the love of god, I need to pee," Harry grumbled, letting her drape his arm on her shoulder and walk him to the bathroom.

"Could've called me, you!"

Harry only mumbled some incoherent nonsense at that, waving her off before he seemed to realise how rude he was being.

So, just as incoherently, he uttered an apology to her and remembered nothing more than her laying him down on bed and falling on top of him because he laid down before she could've removed her arm.

That, felt nice. Almost every waking second that he spent near her, he just wished he could be a little bit nearer, hold her, maybe. Their marriage still felt so new, and he could tell that she wanted to take things slow.

And while he understood and respected that, he could also tell that he was falling for her as they grew closer and closer each day. He could see the frequency of the smaller and way more vulnerable gestures that sent shockwaves through him, increasing rapidly, like a wildfire. 

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," she blabbered, rushing to get off of him and pulling her shirt down, face utterly flushed and breathing suddenly heavy.

She got flustered so easily, and so often, that he worried her heart was going to fall out of her chest some day. 

And as she was walking out of the room, she heard a small chuckle pass his throat, causing her to smack herself on the forehead.

Rushing the last couple steps to turn off the stove, she leaned on the kitchen counter to catch herself a breather. This man was going to be the death of her.

She took out some of the soup in a small bowl and put it down before taking some ibuprofen in her other palm. Then, still blushing, she walked back to the bedroom they shared.

"You hadn't taken any medicine before, had you?" She asked, and when he just mumbled something, she knew it was going to be hell of a work to get the soup into his system. She just wished she could inject it in, because she would need to be way too close to him to feed him in a normal way.

Placing the soup on the bedside table, she sat beside him and placed her hands behind his back as he began to get up. Shifting so she was sat facing him, she picked back up the bowl and began stirring it with the spoon.

"Here," she muttered, blowing on the spoon before bringing it to his mouth, her eyes unable to remain still.

He swallowed the soup, and a smile came up on his face. "Feels nice," he whispered, before opening his mouth for the next spoonful.

The same thing kept repeating and slowly, Y/n's eyes settled on his blissful face. She needed to wipe off the sweat on his face, she realised.

"Is it any good?" She asked softly, wiping the soup slipping down his chin with her fingers.

He nodded at that, looking at her in a way she couldn't quite describe. And she hated it when he did that because it made her feel things. Something erupted inside her chest, blood rushed to her face, and it felt funny in her in her stomach.

His head was tilted to the side, and he was looking at her without a blink of an eye. He was staring. Didn't he know staring was bad? She wondered, her eyes looking anywhere but at him.

Upon the last bit, she got up and passed the pill to him, helping him with drinking water. She walked off to the kitchen again, putting the dish in the sink before she went back to him with another towel, this time gently wiping his face.

"Can I have another blanket?" She heard him ask when she was squeezing his previous towel rid of the excessive water.

A chuckle passed her mouth then, making him smile with his eyes closed. "Do you really think that's a good idea, darling?"

Immediately, her eyes widened at the realisation of what she'd just called him.

"Darling, hm?" Of course, he heard it. "I like that," he chuckled, falling into a fit of coughs soon after.

Placing the cold towel on his forehead, she raised his head – placing it in her lap when she sat down. Slowly, she began to press his head, hoping that it felt more relaxing than annoying to him.

And when he groaned, she knew she was doing a good job.

They didn't talk after that, and when he began to snore, she changed his towel one last time before slipping into the bed beside him. Usually, she'd be on the very edge to make sure she didn't get too close to him. But only because he was sick, she slipped closer to him to keep him warm for the night.

And her breathing stilled while her heart began thudding inside her chest when he took her hand and softly intertwined their fingers – before then bringing her arm to slip over his torso and pressing a chaste kiss to her knuckles.

[mikaleialt]

Ride It!| Bada Lee

Bada Lee x Reader

Fluff, suggestive, smut, drabble

Synopsis: In a random instagram live, your newly found fans after SWF 2, started asking you random questions about what do you think of each team leaders. For a quick background, you are one of the team leaders in SWF 2, but sadly your team got eliminated after the Crew Battle Mission, after getting defeated by Mannequeen on the elimination round along with Wolf'lo and Lady Bounce.

C/w: based off of this post by @westwoodsvivi. Honestly I just wrote this to finally end my writer's block as I have been gone for more than a month now.

Street Woman Fighter 2 is finally over and although your team didn't make it to the top 4, you still continued to support the other teams until the end, especially when the winner of SWF 2 is the team leaded by your girlfriend.

And now here you are, preparing for the On the Stage concert. All of the teams are in one place again, practicing the dance routines they've performed during SWF 2.

You were finally on break and some of the dancers of each team started goofing around with each other, filming tiktok dances together with Redy who seem to just stand in the background of every video. You laugh at how Redy looks like a lost child standing behind Che Che, Debby, and Yoonji as the trio dance.

Bored in your own world you decided to set up your phone as you sat in the corner of the studio, and finally hit the 'Go live' button after getting permission from the staffs who told you that it is fine as long as you don't spoil anything about the concert.

Viewers immediately flooded the comments and you tried your best to greet everyone. The viewer count goes up by the second.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii 🤎"

"OMG Y/NNNNN 🥹"

"Hi from 🇦🇱"

"Ano ba tayo, Y/n 😩 (what are we, Y/n)"

You read each comments from fans greeting you, to trying to make you say a phrase in their language, to asking you how you have been.

"I'm doing good, as you all know, we're preparing for the upcoming concert. We're actually on a break right now and everyone is doing their own thing. And here I am, in my own space." You picked up your camera as you show the empty dance practice room that you are in right now.

"Honestly, I got bored during our break so I went live" you chuckled. "Everyone has been really busy these days, and I miss talking to you guys." You sent the viewers a flying kiss, which made the comment section go wild.

"AAAAAAHHHH"

"EXCUSE ME⁉️⁉️"

"THAT KISS WAS DEFINITELY FOR ME"

You immediately got embarrassed as you are not used to giving out fan service or acting cute for other people. You give it a few seconds for the fans to finally calm down once again.

"Hmm, there's still much time until we go back to practicing again, what should I do? What do you guys think?" You read the comments once again as each viewers suggest something for you to do. After a few more minutes you finally settled to do a Q and A.

"What is today's TMI?" You read one of the comments as you ponder to yourself what could you share to your viewers . "Hmm, today I arrived at the studio crying because I was watching that one video of that kid from My Golden Kid." You giggled. "It was a very sad clip, I was crying the whole time while I was on my way here."

A few more question pops up after that and you tried your best to answer each one. "Who do you find attractive among the SWF 2 leaders?" You read another question.

"Me, of course" you flip your hair sassily before laughing to yourself. "No, in all honesty, it's gotta be Kirsten or Bada. They're both really charismatic." You answered.

"What part of them do you find attractive?" You read the follow up question.

"For Kirsten, it's probably her hips. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw Kirsten dance for the first time, my whole attention was on her hips..." you shyly admit to your viewers.

"...as for Bada... I really like her nose" you said without any explanation as memories from a few nights ago came back to you.

♡⑅*˖•. ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .•˖*⑅♡

"A-ahh Bada" your breath staggers as you move your hips, grinding your wet core on your girlfriend's face.

It was the night after BEBE won SWF 2 and you told Bada that you'll do whatever she asks for if they win, which leads you to the situation that you are in right now.

Bada's only wish from you as a reward is for you to sit on her face as she eats you out, which you did without any hesitation.

"That's it ride my face, baby" Bada speak against your pussy as she continues to eat it like a starved man.

You couldn't help but moan louder as your clit presses on the tip of Bada's nose. You continue to grind your puffy clit against it, each movement makes you shiver, as your girlfriend's tongue fucks your cunt relentlessly.

"I-I'm gonna—hah" your eyes roll to the back of your head as the pleasure in your stomach builds up. "Yeah that's it, come for me baby" Bada said as she continues to eat you out.

Soon, a loud moan escapes from your lips as you finally had your release. Your legs were shaking as Bada continues to lap up your juices, each movement of her head under you, the tip of her nose touches your clit.

"So good to me baby, can you give me one more?" Bada sucks on your clit before diving back again into fucking your cunt with her tongue...

♡⑅*˖•. ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .•˖*⑅♡

"Ok let's get back to work" Funky Y announces as she enters the room which snaps you back to reality.

"So yeah anyway, that would be all. See you at the On the Stage concert everyone. Byeeee" You immediately pressed the 'End live' button, before putting down your phone.

"Oh Y/n, so you're here all along" The rest of the dancers enter the room one by one.

"Unnie, why is your face so red?" Sowoen pointed out your face. To which made you turn red even more. The whole time you are reminiscing about that night, you were blushing like crazy.

"It's nothing, I was just feeling hot." You excused yourself, but little do you know, a certain someone was actually watching your live earlier.

Bada approached you as she whispers something to your ears.

"So you like me nose huh, why don't you ride my face again once we got home?"

A/n: it's been a while omg, I missed writing. I'm slowly regaining my motivation to write again finally!!! I hope you like it, sorry if its not as good as you guys thought it would be. This is just a quick drabble to finally break my writer's block, I did not proofread this.

[sebscore]

TWITCH WAR

pairing: lando norris x driver!reader (brief cameos of charles and russell george)

warnings: swearing. rumplestiltskin. mention of george being a war criminal. wetting pants.

author’s note: not my best work, but this has been sitting in my drafts for too long. anyway, enjoy 💖

• • • • • • •

''Do I play with Y/N?'' Lando read the question out loud, seeing it in his comment section. ''Well, she always told me she was very good at like any kind of game and that she would kick my ass, but then I played with her and… let's say she's definitely not as good as me.'' The Brit bragged about his own skills, a smirk forming on his face.

He glanced at the incoming replies from the fans, enjoying their reactions. ''She asked to play together a few weeks ago and we did, but ever since then I haven't dared to play with her again,'' he grinned, ''whenever she asks me now, I just go offline.''

''Oh, she's gonna kill me when she sees this.'' He giggled like a schoolgirl.

She did in fact kill him when the clip of him talking shit was sent to her by fans and even other drivers. Not literally, that wouldn't be a good career move, but she took to Twitter to indirectly respond to Lando's ''claims''.

YourUsername: people, don't take the words of twinks seriously 😫

Y/N's clapbacks didn't stop there as she went live on Instagram not too long after Lando's Twitch stream. Fans obviously couldn't help but ask about the British driver.

''Do I still want to play with Lando? Nooo~ I don't want to stream with him anymore, I really don't.'' The grin on her face was a dead giveaway she was only teasing him. ''He's super bad, that Rumplestiltskin.''

''She called me Rumplestiltskin?'' Lando read the comment out loud, his eyebrows furrowed. ''What does that even mean?'' He couldn't really remember where the name came from, so he decided to look it up and was met with the character from Shrek.

He gave the camera an unimpressed look before moving on. ''You guys want to know a fun story about Y/N from our karting days?'' A smirk already appeared on his face.

''She was pushed off track by someone and she pissed her pants because of it.''

''It was water! I didn't wet my pants, oh my god!'' The driver exclaimed on stream, not believing that Lando actually told that story. ''We were like 9 years-old.''

''You know, Y/N, I think I also remember that.'' George chimed in, he had been amused by their little Twitch war ever since they started it.

She rolled her eyes upon George's words. ''Hey! It was probably you who pushed me off the track in the first place, you war criminal!'' Y/N clapped back at him.

''Anyway, Lando shouldn't be speaking at all when he still looks and talks like a 9 year-old.''

''Lando, should we invite Y/N to play with us?'' Charles asked the McLaren driver after seeing countless comments in his chat asking about the female driver.

The Brit loudly sighed, causing the Monégasque to burst out laughing. ''What's wrong, Lando?''

''Because of her, people keep asking me if I've hit puberty yet.'' He said, frustration audible in his voice, much to the entertainment of Charles and everyone else watching him.

Their ''beef'' came to an end when the media had started to pick up on their back-and-forths and tried to make it seem like the two close friends hated each other and that they would become a danger to each other on track.

''Are you worried that the words you and Y/N have exchanged over social media will have an effect on how the two of you perform on track?'' One reporter asked Lando in a press conference.

He shook his head. ''We're just joking around, honestly. We've been friends for a long time and we've always joked around with each other like this, so, no, it won't have an effect on track.'' He politely answered, slightly ticked off by the seriousness of it all.

Y/N had been placed into a different group for the press conference, where she was asked about their ''war''. ''There have been some harsh word exchanges between yourself and Lando Norris, are you two on good terms or is there some sort of bad blood?''

''Yeah, we hate each other,'' her sarcastic tone sticking out, ''that's why we voluntarily spent all that time together when we're not racing.'' Her answer gathered laughs from her fellow drivers and even some reporters.

''Also, when we're on the topic,'' she stated, ''just because Lando hasn't hit puberty, doesn't mean that I haven't.''

[writeandsurvive]

Author's note: just a little Gibbs idea I've had in mind. Maybe I'll get back to writing for him more... :) maybe it's because I'm binging NCIS from the beginning again. I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible, hope I did well. Also, it's not proofread and I'm not a native English speaker.

Summary: you're babysitting your brother's twins by yourself and ends up calling for help.

Warnings: age gap, I guess?, talk of near death experience, taking care of babies, reader not wanting kids, siblings banter

Babysitting ~ Leroy Jethro Gibbs

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Seriously? It's the fourth time you're asking. We're gonna be just fine!" You reassured your brother, as you're sitting on the play mat your ten months old nephew and niece. If you were completely honest, you were a bit anxious about babysitting the twins all by yourself as it was the first time. But you couldn't let your brother know that, as he was already struggling to leave.

"All you have to do is feed them, change their diapers at some point and put them to bed." He got down to pick up his daughter, finally saying goodbye.

"I promise they will be alive and in one piece when you come back. Hopefully, tomorrow morning." You grinned at him before grabbing your nephew and gentle holding him on his feet. "Now go daddy, have fun." You said with a baby voice, like it was your little dude saying it. After one more kiss to his girl, he put her down and did the same with his son.

"It's just a work thing." He told you for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, but the beautiful single mom from your office will be there."

"She left just a month ago. I'm so not ready to jump into anything." He couldn't bring himself to say the name of his wife and mother of his children. One day, she just decided that being a mom and a wife wasn't for her and she took off. Which is why you were babysitting that night.

"Don't jump into anything, just jump on her."

"On those elegant words, I'm out. Bye babies, I love you!" He sent them kisses as he was walking towards the door. "What are you doing?" He asked when he noticed you were following.

"Going to a party of course!"

"Don't leave them out of your sight! Even for one second!" He scolded.

"They are on their mat, playing!"

"And your niece is starting to crawl!"

"Just leave and bang someone."

"And you wonder why you're still single..."

He finally left but not without holding his shoulder after you punched him.

"Okay babies! We can do this, right?"

Turned out, you couldn't. Or at least, it wasn't going as smoothly as you thought it would. Shortly after your brother left, your niece started to cry her heart out, wondering why daddy wasn't there, for sure. Then, your nephew decided that he wasn't going to eat. The food didn't seem yucky to you but it was to him, and he thought throwing around and at you was funny. So did your niece. By this time, your brother had already texted you twice and you obviously lied. The little boy being covered in soft food, you decided to give them both a bath, hoping it'd tired them a bit. But they both were very much against the baby shower gel, and your niece pooped in the tub. Which made everyone almost throw up.

After a (very) long struggle, they were finally in their PJs, clean and ready for bed. You thought a break was coming, but your niece had a meltdown. Which caused your nephew to have one too. You didn't know what was wrong, you tried everything you could to calm them both but nothing was working. You contemplated calling your brother several times, but it was his first night out since she left and you didn't want to ruin it for him. After over an hour of struggle, you did call someone.

"Gibbs," he answered.

"How much do you love me?" You immediately asked over the crying. You barely heard him chuckle.

"I'm on my way."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you one!"

You didn't know how long it took your team leader to show up at your brother's house. But somehow, as you were trying to soothe the twins on your brother's bed, you felt a presence behind you. "How did you get in? You know what, I don't care. Help me, please, I don't know what to do."

Whether or not the twins noticed that there was someone else in the room, they weren't stopping. Gibbs got closer to you, look down at the twins. "First, you're gonna take a deep breath."

"They are crying bloody murder!" You exclaimed.

"The more frustrated and anxious you get, the more they'll cry." You felt his hand on your shoulder and his gentle squeeze. You closed your eyes, tried to block the noises and took a deep breath.

"Now, are they fed? Changed?"

You wanted to give him a snarky comment as you always do, but didn't have the patience for it. So you just said yes.

He grabbed your niece into his arms, "Grab this little guy and do what I'm doing." You followed his instructions. Holding and bouncing your little man a certain way. After the eventful evening, you almost missed how incredible Gibbs looked with a baby in his arms, how gentle and soft he was. Such a natural. You nearly stopped everything when you heard him starting to sing a lullaby. It was quiet and you could barely hear him above the crying. That's when you realized that only your nephew was still crying. "You stopped." He warned you. "Don't get frustrated, hon. Sing to him."

You took another deep breath and did as told. Slowly, your nephew was calming down. It was magic.

"Lead the way to their bedroom." He whispered.

He put down in the little girl in her crib, and helped you putting down the baby boy, as he noticed you were too scared of waking him up. You stayed there for a moment, silently looking down at them, Gibbs right next to you.

"It's official, I do not want kids."

Gibbs chuckled and slid his hand in the back of your neck, bringing you to him so he could kiss your hair. You took the opportunity to go for a hug and he gently returned it. It suddenly became much easier to breathe.

"Is the baby monitor on?"

You checked, and grabbed the part you were supposed to keep with you.

"I need to change." You said after leaving the bedroom.

"You can take a shower."

"Do I look that bad?"

"You look like you need to relax."

"True. Will you be there when I get out?"

"Yes, give me the monitor." You did and felt shivers all over your body as his long fingers brushed against yours.

"Grab anything you want from the fridge. I'll be quick."

"No rush."

It was one of the most amazing shower you've ever had.

You knew you didn't want to have children most of your adult life, but it just got confirmed. You didn't want this to be your daily life. You loved kids, and you loved the twins more than anything in the world, but you didn't need one of your own.

When you reached the kitchen, it was sparkling clean. The big mess from dinner was gone. The toys were put away. Gibbs had his back turned to you as he was doing the dishes. "I don't know if I want to scold you or kiss you." You regretted the last words as soon as they got out.

Gibbs looked at you over his shoulder with a smile. "You're welcome."

"Seriously, you didn't have to!"

"No problem! You accepted to babysit twins after the crappy days we've had at work."

"Yeah," you sighed, remembering the awful case the team dealt with and only closed a few hours ago.

"How you feeling?" He asked, turning off the water and drying off his hands.

"How you feeling?" You retorted, earning a shy smirk from Gibbs.

"I'm fine." He reassured you, or at least, tried.

You got closer to him, grabbing the hand towel for him to put it away, and locked eyes with this man you've been in love with for a very long time. "You almost got killed, Gibbs." You said barely above a whisper.

"It comes with the job." He just said.

"Doesn't make it okay when it's such a close call." You could see the scene again. The bullet rushing so close to his head. A few centimeters to the left and Gibbs wouldn't be anymore. That thought hurt. It scared you more than anything else. And you couldn't control the tears forming in your eyes.

"I'm okay." He said one more time, knowing that you needed to hear it. So did he.

You felt his arms slowly wrapping around you, and before you knew it, your face was buried in his neck, as you inhaled his unique scent deeply. You held onto him tightly. "I can't lose you. Not you. Ever."

But you would, one day. Him being older than you, you knew that and Gibbs definitely knew it too. Which is why he never acted on his attraction and feelings for you. He knew you were feeling the same, he knew you were in love with him - even though he couldn't understand why or how. He could easily have given in, and enjoy whatever moments with you. But he refused. He couldn't do that to you, nor to himself. Everyday in this job, he could lose you too. That bullet could've been for you and not miss. Losing Shannon - and Kelly - was the hardest thing he's ever had to go through, and he couldn't bare the idea of losing another partner, especially you.

Which was why he tried to get you to leave NCIS several in the past few years. At first, it was pointing out how this job sucks - he loves it but he's a bit of masochist -, how you'd be better off doing something safe. Then it was introducing you to someone who had move on from this job and never felt better. And lately, it was asking Vance to find you a desk job you would actually enjoy. But nothing worked. You were still there, by his side, in harm's way.

Would it hurt to give in just this once? He wondered as he felt you clutching onto him. You fitted so perfectly in his arms, you smelled so good. You were showing your vulnerability, which you rarely do, with anyone and Gibbs found it very appealing.

He was looking down at you, you were looking up. He could lean in a few inches and his lips would reach yours. He started to, very slowly. But before it happened, your phone went off. You rushed to it, not to answer but mostly to shut it down, after it would wake up the twins, despite them being upstairs.

"Seriously!" You said after picking up.

"Just wanted to check in. Are they safely in bed?" You rolled your eyes.

"Of course not, I told you we were having a party. Can't you hear the music? Do they prefer scotch or bourbon?" You saw Gibbs smiling.

"You suck."

"So do you. Go back, and enjoy your night out, idiot."

"Hey, wait. Are you--sure it's not too soon for me?"

"She left, bro. Screw her. Whether it's a one time thing or more, as long as you're happy with it, just go for it. You deserve some fun."

"Says you, who can't move on from her boss, even though nothing ever happened. I mean, I tried to introduce you to some nice pe--" you hung up before he could finish. You knew Gibbs hear the entire thing.

"I'm, uh, gonna check on the twins."

But he held you back. "They are fine." He whispered.

"You already knew, didn't you?" You could look into his magnificent blue eyes. "That's why you've been trying to get rid of me?"

He sighed and brought you closer. His nose in your hair, his lips against your forehead. "I can't lose you either." He whispered, returning the vulnerability you showed earlier.

Hearing those words, you didn't think twice. You lifted your head up and crashed your lips on his. Gibbs didn't have the strength nor will to fight it. He intensified the kiss quickly, backing you up against the wall, where it happened for the very first time.

First of many.

[jovial-thunder]

Pre-alpha Lancer Tactics changelog

(cross-posting the full gif changelog here because folks seemed to like it last time I did)

We're aiming for getting the first public alpha for backers by the end of this month! Carpenter and I scoped out mechanics that can wait until after the alpha (e.g. grappling, hiding) in favor of tying up the hundred loose threads that are needed for something that approaches a playable game. So this is mostly a big ol changelog of an update from doing that.

But I also gave a talent talk at a local Portland Indie Game Squad event about engine architecture! It'll sound familiar if you've been reading these updates; I laid out the basic idea for this talk almost a year ago, back in the June 2023 update.

We've also signed contracts & had a kickoff meeting with our writers to start on the campaigns. While I've enjoyed like a year of engine-work, it'll be so so nice to start getting to tell stories. Data structures don't mean anything beyond how they affect humans & other life.

New Content

Implemented flying as a status; unit counts as +3 spaces above the current ground level and ignores terrain and elevation extra movement costs. Added hover + takeoff/land animations.

Gave deployables the ability to have 3D meshes instead of 2D sprites; we'll probably use this mostly when the deployable in question is climbable.

Related, I fixed a bug where after terrain destruction, all units recheck the ground height under them so they'll move down if the ground is shot out from under them. When the Jerichos do that, they say "oh heck, the ground is taller! I better move up to stand on it!" — not realizing that the taller ground they're seeing came from themselves.

Fixed by locking some units' rendering to the ground level; this means no stacking climbable things, which is a call I'm comfortable making. We ain't making minecraft here (I whisper to myself, gazing at the bottom of my tea mug). 

Block sizes are currently 1x1x0.5 — half as tall as they are wide. Since that was a size I pulled out of nowhere for convenience, we did some art tests for different block heights and camera angles. TLDR that size works great and we're leaving it.

Added Cone AOE pattern, courtesy of an algorithm NMcCoy sent me that guarantees the correct number of tiles are picked at the correct distance from the origin.

pick your aim angle

for each distance step N of your cone, make a list ("ring") of all the cells at that distance from your origin

sort those cells by angular distance from your aim angle, and include the N closest cells in that ring in the cone's area

Here's a gif they made of it in Bitsy:

Units face where you're planning on moving/targeting them.

Got Walking Armory's Shock option working. Added subtle (too subtle, now that I look at it) electricity effect.

Other things we've added but I don't have gifs for or failed to upload. You'll have to trust me. :)

disengage action

overcharge action

Improved Armament core bonus

basic mine explosion fx

explosion fx on character dying

Increase map elevation cap to 10. It's nice but definitely is risky with increasing the voxel space, gonna have to keep an eye on performance.

Added Structured + Stress event and the associated popups. Also added meltdown status (and hidden countdown), but there's not animation for this yet so your guy just abruptly disappears and leaves huge crater.

UI Improvements

Rearranged the portrait maker. Auto-expand the color picker so you don't have to keep clicking into a submenu.

Added topdown camera mode by pressing R for handling getting mechs out of tight spaces.

The action tooltips have been bothering me for a while; they extend up and cover prime play-area real estate in the center of the screen. So I redesigned them to be shorter and have a max height by putting long descriptions in a scrollable box. This sounds simple, but the redesign, pulling in all the correct data for the tags, and wiring up the tooltips took like seven hours. Game dev is hard, yo.

Put the unit inspect popups in lockable tooltips + added a bunch of tooltips to them.

Implemented the rest of Carpenter's cool hex-y action and end turn readout. I'm a big fan of whenever we can make the game look more like a game and less like a website (though he balances out my impulse for that for the sake of legibility).

Added a JANKY talent/frame picker. I swear we have designs for a better one, but sometimes you gotta just get it working. Also seen briefly here are basic level up/down and HASE buttons.

Other no-picture things:

Negated the map-scaling effect that happens when the window resizes to prevent bad pixel scaling of mechs at different resolutions; making the window bigger now just lets you see more play area instead of making things bigger.

WIP Objectives Bullets panel to give the current sitrep info

Wired up a buncha tooltips throughout the character sheet.

Under the Hood

Serialization: can save/load games! This is the payoff for sticking with that engine architecture I've been going on about. I had to add a serialization function to everything in the center layer which took a while, but it was fairly straightforward work with few curveballs.

Finished replacement of the kit/unit/reinforcement group/sitrep pickers with a new standardized system that can pull from stock data and user-saved data.

Updated to Godot 4.2.2; the game (and editor) has been crashing on exit for a LONG time and for the life of me I couldn't track down why, but this minor update in Godot completely fixed the bug. I still have no idea what was happening, but it's so cool to be working in an engine that's this active bugfixing-wise! 

Other Bugfixes

Pulled straight from the internal changelog, no edits for public parseability:

calculate cover for fliers correctly

no overwatch when outside of vertical threat

fixed skirmisher triggering for each attack in an AOE

fixed jumpjets boost-available detection

fixed mines not triggering when you step right on top of them // at a different elevation but still adjacent

weapon mods not a valid target for destruction

made camera pan less jumpy and adjust to the terrain height

better Buff name/desc localization

Fixed compcon planner letting you both boost and attack with one quick action.

Fix displayed movement points not updating

Prevent wrecks from going prone

fix berserkers not moving if they were exactly one tile away

hex mine uses deployer's save target instead of 0

restrict weapon mod selection if you don't have the SP to pay

fix deployable previews not going away

fix impaired not showing up in the unit inspector (its status code is 0 so there was a check that was like "looks like there's no status here")

fix skirmisher letting you move to a tile that should cost two movement if it's only one space away

fix hit percent calculation

fix rangefinder grid shader corner issues (this was like a full day to rewrite the shader to be better)

Teleporting costs the max(spaces traveled, elevation change) instead of always 1

So um, yeah, that's my talk, any questions? (I had a professor once tell us to never end a talk like this, so now of course it's the phrase that first comes to mind whenever I end a talk)

[novafics]

l Taken Pt 1 l

Wandanat x Reader

Warnings: Kidnapping/Torture/Talk of dying/angst

Summary: When [Y/N] is taken and tortured can Wanda and Natasha get her back?

Word Count: 740

Masterlist

---

You don't know what happened, one minute you were successfully completing your mission and the next you were waking up with your head throbbing in a cold and dark cell with your wrists and ankles restrained keeping you glued to the floor.

You weren't alone on your mission, you were accompanied by your two girlfriends Wanda and Natasha, it was supposed to be a quick recon mission with you all splitting up and trying to find out everything you could. It was all going great, you had all found out so much useful information and were all on your way back to the jet.

 It felt like only a moment ago you could hear your girlfriends laughing and joking through the comms all counting down the seconds until you could all snuggle up in your shared bed soaking up all the love you all could get, however now you were here; cold, alone and hurting. Your once slow throbbing in your head had now turned into a loud banging feeling like your head was going to explode with all the pain coursing through it. Your captors had also been very vicious with your restraints, the heavy metal slowly but surely piercing through the flesh of your wrists and ankles with the blood from them slowly accumulating underneath you.

It wasn't long before you could hear your captors approaching your cell, the heavy metal door swinging open with a loud bang as they entered. You realised as they approached that they were hydra soldiers, the exact ones that you were getting recon on and by the looks on their faces they were going to enjoy whatever they had in store for you.

At your comms abruptly cutting off both Wanda and Natasha were sent into a worried frenzy, no longer were they thinking about getting home, they were now only focused on one thing and that was getting you back. 

“Oh my god Wanda there's so much blood” when hearing Natashas fearful voice she had managed to catch up and catch a glimpse of what Nat had been looking at, a pool of blood, your blood, lying on the floor where you had been taken. “Hey, hey look at me, we're going to get her back!” with this statement she pulled Nat into her arms before they both set off following the steady trail of blood leading them to where you are.

Slowly but surely you were losing hope, it's not that you didn't have faith that Wanda and Natasha would find you, you were just unsure of how long you could hold on. You had lost count of how many hours you had been tortured for. It felt like every second you were being hurt in some way, you had been beaten, burned, cut and had just been stabbed in the thigh. Knowing that you were losing blood and fast should have been enough for you to jump into action and to try and hold as much pressure as you could to stop the bleeding however you were so tired. You were no longer fighting or screaming or doing anything, you simply were lying on the cold concrete floor. Your body was freezing, exhausted and was crying out for sleep. You knew you should stay awake but it was becoming so hard, all you wanted was your girls.

As you were drifting in and out of consciousness you could faintly hear a commotion in the hall, there was screaming and fighting and your only hope was for Wanda and Natasha to walk through the door. Luckily for you your hopes came true as only moments later the door was thrown open and your girls were standing in front of you.

Not long after the door had been open and your injured form came into view your restraints were released and your body was scooped up into the arms of Natasha. “Oh baby, we're here now, we're so sorry” As you looked up you could see tears in her eyes. “Just stay awake for us sweetheart, we're gonna get you out of here” Hearing this you slowly turned your head and caught sight of Wanda who was slowly stroking your bloodied hair out of your face. 

In this moment you couldn't bring yourself to feel any fear anymore, your girls were here and you could only think of saying one thing as your consciousness slowly faded out, “I love you guys”.

[pink-princess-pussy-pop]

SPEAK NOW - Foolish One

Rafe Cameron x Reader Taylor Swift AU

My cards are on the table, yours are in your hand. Chances are, tonight, you've already got plans. And chances are, I will talk myself to sleep again.

Sofia's text kept you up all night. You had sent Rafe a text this morning and were still awaiting his reply.

Hi! What are you doing today? I need to talk to you.

You give me just enough attention to keep my hopes too high. Wishful thoughts forget to mention when something's really not right.

He had read the message 23 minutes ago and the waiting was making you sick. Did he know what Sofia has said to you? Had she told him not to talk to you? You had typed out several follow-ups but hadn't sent any of them, too afraid of overstepping.

And I will block out these voices of reason in my head. And the voices say, "You are not the exception. You will never learn your lesson."

Your nerves were getting the best of you, the thoughts in your head growing increasingly meaner.

Why in the world would he choose you over her? She's literally his girlfriend.

What if he knows you like him and doesn't want to speak to you anymore?

Do you really think he would leave her for you?

Foolish one. Stop checking your mailbox for confessions of love that ain't never gonna come. You will take the long way, you will take the long way down.

Deep down, you knew you would never be with Rafe. You just always were a hopeless romantic. You knew it was stupid to think he'd love you back but it was nice to dream, even if you broke your own heart along the way.

You know how to keep me waiting, I know how to act like I'm fine. Don't know what to call this situation, but I know I can't call you mine. And it's delicate, but I will do my best to seem bulletproof.

Rafe still hadn't replied the next day. You had a feeling he wasn't going to pick you up like usual so you asked your mom to take you.

"Why isn't Rafe getting you?"

Your acting skills pulled through the lie.

"He had to be early this week for football stuff."

When you got to school, you did your best to seem like everything was ok to your other friends. They thought it was weird you weren't walking in with Rafe but didn't say anything. Your only class with Rafe was your 5th period but it was after lunch. You took a deep breath before walking into the cafeteria, holding your lunch to your chest.

Rafe's eyes were on you the second you walked into the cafeteria. But you didn't glance at him once. He knew he was being a jerk.

'Cause when my head is on your shoulder, it starts thinking you'll come around, and maybe someday when we're older, this is something we'll laugh about over coffee every morning while you're watching the news.

As you sat with your friends, you thought about the weeks before Rafe had started talking to Sofia. There seemed to be some sort of more-than-friends vibe you were getting but you had been wrong in the end. You'd go get some drive-through junk food and eat it in the bed of his truck, the night ending with you falling asleep with your head in his lap. On other nights you'd watch a movie at Tannyhill or Rafe would come to eat dinner with your family. It felt so right, so domesticated.

But then the voices say, "You are not the exception. You will never learn your lesson."

Your eyes traveled to the table Rafe was at. He wasn't watching you anymore, eyes on Sofia, who was obviously flirting with Kelce. You rolled your eyes and shifted your eyes back to your friends.

Foolish one. Stop checking your mailbox for confessions of love that ain't never gonna come. You will take the long way, you will take the long way down. Foolish one. Stop checking your mailbox for confessions of love that ain't never gonna come. You will learn the hard way, instead of just walkin' out.

"Is everything ok with you and Rafe? I saw your mom drop you off today." Your best friend keeps her voice quiet.

"Yeah." You lie through your teeth. "I think Sofia was getting a little uncomfortable with us hanging out so much so I'm just giving them some space."

Now I'm slidin' down the wall with my head in my hands sayin', "How could I not see the signs?" Oh, you haven't written me or called, but goodbye screamin' in the silence and the voices in my head are tellin' me why.

You had been checking your phone non-stop throughout the day, just waiting to see if Rafe had texted you. But nothing. You knew you were just hurting yourself but you just couldn't stop yourself with Rafe.

"Cause you got her on your arm, and me in the wings. I'll get your longing glances, but she'll get your ring, and you will say you had the best of intentions. And maybe I will finally learn my lesson.

You look back at Rafe's table again, letting your gaze linger for a moment longer. Your breath catches in your throat as Rafe's eyes lock on yours. His smile falters. You surprise yourself by holding your ground, not blinking. Topper hits Rafe's arm to get his attention and he looks away.

Foolish one. The day is gonna come for your confessions of love. When all is said and done, he just wasn't the one.

You could laugh. Years of friendship down the drain for what? For a stereotypical high school mean girl who could care less about him? You rolled your eyes.

If Rafe was willing to move on from your thirteen years of friendship, so could you.

No, he just wasn't the one.

"Did you hear about the party this weekend?"

"Yes! I'm so excited, I've been needing a break."

"Y/N, are you gonna go?"

You knew the party was at Tannyhill, Rafe had told you about it weeks ago. Sarah was hosting it and Rafe was bound to be there.

"Sure. Why not?"

As lunch ended, you got a text.

Can I drive you home today?

You look back to Rafe's table, his eyes already on yours.

!!

[whatifitookalilnap]

Three's Company, Four's a Crowd!

(Korra x Fem!Reader x Asami)

Prologue: Yuma Gives Birth to Half of the Airbending Population

(A/N: Hey hey! Wanted to give a lil intro to my reader insert fic here sorry it's so long. So this story will be Korra x Fem!Airbender!Reader x Asami they will end up a throuple. I will be covering over half of the show so it's gonna be a few chapters. I will be mostly focusing on season one and three. I won't cover season four at all and season two will probably be like three or four chapters at the most. Most chapters will be second POV but a few will be third person like this one. Also I named reader's mom Yuma because it's easier for me lol. There will be more entertainment in the next chapter rest assured! This will also be posted on my ao3 account I'll post that link right after this!)

"It's time to wake up, Turtle Duck!" Yuma whispered while gently rubbing her child's arm.

(Y/n) groaned and slowly sat up. Yuma's poor girl is not a morning person in any sense of the word. Her (h/c) hair was an utter disaster as it always is after a good night's rest. The five year old little girl yawned and rubbed her bleary (e/c) eyes in an attempt to get the sleepiness away.

"Can't I have five more minutes?" (Y/n) pouted.

"Not today, my love. We're visiting Gran Gran today, remember?" Yuma smiled.

At once, the five year old girl perked up at the mention of her grandmother. Honestly, that woman is the only reason why Yuma stayed in the Southern Water Tribe once the divorce from her ex-husband, Taro, was finalized. Zoh was an angel sent from above in Yuma's eyes. Always happily taking in (Y/n) whenever there was an emergency and helping around Yuma's home when she desperately needed a break.

Zoh has absolutely zero contact with her son after the divorce. Something about cheating on his wife and abadonding his child really pissed Zoh off. Honestly, Yuma can't even remember the last time someone was so loyal to her. It means the world to her that her ex-mother-in-law has her back. After all these years, Yuma felt as though she had a mother again.

"Yes! I can't wait to show you and Gran Gran my magic trick! I'm going to blow you guys away!" (Y/n) enthusiastically exclaimed.

"And I can't wait to see it! But before you blow us away, we have to fix this," Yuma grinned while patting her daughter's head.

(Y/n) gave her a cute little pout as Yuma began combing her hair. Once that was completed after much wincing from both parties, Yuma put her daughter's hair in two little buns atop her head. The Fire Nation woman then went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast while her daughter changed clothes.

Honestly, Yuma really couldn't wait to see what this little 'magic trick' is. (Y/n)'s been talking about it since last week and it has been driving Yuma mad. The Fire Nation woman has never been...how does one say...patient. Obviously, Yuma has all the patience in the world for her daughter, but literally anything else? That's going to be a hard no. She's also a very curious woman by nature. Yuma is just itching to know what the magic trick is.

Yuma highly suspects that (Y/n) might be a waterbender like Taro. She took (Y/n) to a waterbending show a few months ago and her daughter claimed it to be magic, which just furthers her suspicions. Yuma herself didn't have the ability to bend, so it made the most logical sense.

Then again, it could just be something like a picture or sleight of hand magic. Kids did have a tendency to exaggerate or bend the truth. There are plenty of possibilities which is greatly irritating because again, Yuma is painfully impatient and horribly curious.

Ah, well, it will be revealed today when they visit Zoh. (Y/n) rushed up to their little table and practically shoveled her food into her mouth.

"Careful now, we don't want to have to see the healers now do we?" Yuma reminded her.

(Y/n) didn't respond verbally but ate considerably slower. Her sweet daughter always got so excited to see her Gran Gran even though it's a pretty frequent occurrence. It really does take a village and even though Yuma's village is truly just one other person, she couldn't be more grateful for it.

Once Yuma finished her breakfast (Y/n) was shoving her out the door. The trek to Zoh's hut was only about ten minutes on foot so it wouldn't be long until Yuma got to see that magic trick.

(Y/n) talked on and on about how this trick is just the coolest thing ever and that Yuma will be so impressed. To be fair, practically everything about (Y/n) impresses Yuma. It must be a mom thing.

In what felt like no time at all, the mother daughter duo reached Zoh's hut. (Y/n) excitedly knocked on the door. It only took two knocks before the door swung open.

"Oh hello Yuma. Didn't you say (Y/n) was coming with you? I can't find her anywhere!" Zoh exclaimed while purposefully looking upwards.

"Oh you know how five year old girls are these days, she just wanted to stay home and listen to her radio," Yuma joked.

"Gran Gran! I'm right here!" (Y/n) laughed.

Zoh looked down and feigned a gasp of surprise. The older woman quickly scooped her granddaughter up and peppered kisses all over her face. (Y/n) giggled in pure delight as her grandmother smothered her with affection.

"And how's my favorite granddaughter doing?" Zoh smiled.

"I'm your only granddaughter, silly! I'm doing good! I'll be even better when I get to show you my awesome magic trick!" (Y/n) exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh? A magic trick you say? I didn't know I was getting good company and a show! We better all get inside to enjoy such a performance," Zoh smiled.

The older woman stepped aside to let Yuma inside and gently placed (Y/n) on the ground. Yuma smiled and gave Zoh a quick but firm hug.

"Thanks for having us, Zoh," Yuma said.

"I'm sorry, who is this Zoh you speak of?" Zoh grinned.

"Apologies. Thank you for having us, Mom," Yuma laughed.

"That's more like it. Besides, I'd have you guys around all the time if I could," Zoh chuckled as she locked the door behind them.

"Before I can show you my magic trick, I must grab my materials! Please, have a seat ladies," (Y/n) dramatically stated while gesturing to the couch in the living room.

Her daughter is just too cute. The adults shot each other an amused look before sitting on the couch. Once (Y/n) saw that they were seated, she rushed off to the kitchen to grab these 'materials'.

"You don't happen to know what this magic trick is, do you?" the Water Tribe woman asked her.

"No, not quite. She's been talking about it since last week but insisted that she would only do it with both of us present," Yuma explained.

"That must have driven you mad," Zoh smirked, well aware of Yuma's patience level.

"Oh, you have no idea. I really should work on that," Yuma sighed.

"All I'm saying is that this is about the age where children start to discover their bending abilities," Zoh said in a sing song voice.

"That was my first thought when she said magic trick. The waterbending genes do run strong in your family," the Fire Nation woman admitted.

"That they do. We're very strong benders, too. One might say, some of the greatest benders of all time?" Zoh asked smugly.

Yuma immediately rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what the older woman was implying. And it's all because of that alleged 'seer' Zoh dragged Yuma to.

Back when she was still pregnant with (Y/n), Zoh and Yuma were attending a festival in one of the main cities in the Southern Water Tribe. Zoh found a seer and insisted they get a reading of (Y/n)'s future. Yuma didn't exactly love the idea of a strange woman touching her belly to get a reading she didn't actually believe in, but figured it would be harmless.

Long story short, the seer told them three things. One is that (Y/n) will face great challenges in her life but will inevitably be victorious as long as she trusts in herself and her loved ones. The second thing is that (Y/n) will be one of the most powerful benders of all time and help create balance in the world. The final tidbit of information they got was that (Y/n) would be blessed to experience twice the amount of romantic love than most people got in their entire lives and will end up happily married with healthy children.

What a load of shit.

Seriously? Her daughter needs to believe in herself in order to overcome great trials and tribulations? That is the most unoriginal reading Yuma had ever heard. Could have gotten that from half of the fortune cookies in creation.

As for the bending, that seer probably says that to every person that crosses her path. It's not like benders are a dying breed, it's a pretty good guess that (Y/n) would end up one. The damn seer didn't even specify what kind of bender she would be! And that balance part? What a joke. Probably wanted to make it seem like she's meant for some great purpose.

The romantic aspect of (Y/n)'s life confused the hell out of Yuma. What did the seer even mean by twice as much love? Doesn't matter, because it's total bogus. Yuma is pretty sure that the whole happily married with children part is yet another thing that the seer says to everyone that gets a reading from her.

In other words, that con artist merely told them exactly what they wanted to hear. Zoh claims Yuma is just a pessimist and Yuma claims Zoh wasted her money.

"Relax, Mom. I highly doubt today is the start of (Y/n)'s 'destiny'," Yuma scoffed.

"Ye of little faith," Zoh said with a dramatic shake of her head.

At that precise moment, (Y/n) came back into the room with the biggest grin Yuma had ever seen on her. To both her and Zoh's surprise, (Y/n) did not come into the room with a glass of water. Instead, there were two little marbles resting on the palm of her left hand.

Okay, now Yuma's confused. Obviously, there would be no waterbending today. Maybe her magic trick is sleight of hand magic? But what kind of magic trick only involves two marbles?

The Fire Nation woman looked at Zoh from the corner of her eyes and saw she was just as confused as Yuma is. What is this girl planning?

"As you can see, here in my hand there are two marbles! No string, no magnet, just some boring old marbles! Now feast your eyes upon me!" (Y/n) excitedly yelled.

Both women looked on intently as (Y/n) hovered her right hand about two inches above her left. Both palms were facing the marbles. For a split second, nothing happened.

Then, the marbles moved. (Y/n)'s hands didn't tilt at all, they were completely still as the marbles levitated right in between both her palms. Then, the two marbles started to spin rapidly around each other in a circle.

Yuma's seen an exact picture of this once. But he is long gone and only one other person could pull this off.

There's no way. It's not possible. She can't be an-

"Airbender. Yuma, she is an airbender," Zoh hissed in her ear.

"But that's impossible! The only living airbender is Master Tenzin and we know for a fact (Y/n)'s not his!" Yuma hissed back.

First of all, unlike her ex-husband, Yuma's not a cheating whore. Second of all, during the divorce, Yuma wanted child support because it was the least Taro could do. He had tried to contest it by claiming (Y/n) wasn't actually his. Yuma went out of her way to be petty and gave the court four separate DNA tests. Each and every one of them confirmed Taro was the father.

Long story short, Yuma got her money.

Plus, Yuma's never even been in the same room as Master Tenzin. This means that (Y/n) has no biological relation to the previous Avatar or his family. Yuma knows her daughter can't be the current Avatar because she was already discovered about one year ago. This shouldn't be real. She shouldn't be able to airbend.

"Uhm, excuse you, it is very rude to talk while I perform," (Y/n) huffed as the marbles plopped back onto her hand.

"We're sorry, my love, we're just surprised. It's just, you're an airbender! It's incredible!" Yuma sincerely told her while struggling to get over her own shock.

"I see! So you're in awe of my super cool skills!" (Y/n) beamed. "But I thought there was only one airbender and you can only be an airbender if you're related to him."

(Y/n) has a very vague concept of bending. The only bending she's actually seen in person is waterbending and most of it is from Zoh to keep her entertained. She knows that people can bend both earth and fire as well as the fact that the only living airbender is Tenzin, Avatar Aang's son.

Yuma's daughter also enjoys listening to the pro bending matches on the radio but this is about the extent of her knowledge. How is Yuma supposed to fully explain this situation when she didn't understand it herself?

"Well I promise you are not related to Tenzin. But honestly, who cares how you can be an airbender?! This is phenomenal! Say, why don't we see what else you can do?" Zoh enthusiastically exclaimed.

(Y/n)'s entire face lit up, quickly forgetting about the technicalities of her airbending abilities.

"Like what?" (Y/n) asked curiously.

"I've got a stack of papers on my desk. Let's see if you can move them with your bending," Zoh told her.

"You're thinking big, Gran Gran! I like it!" (Y/n) cheered.

"That's my girl!" Zoh grinned as she rushed off to grab those papers.

Yuma took the opportunity to make sure all the doors and windows in Zoh's home were sealed shut. Of course they were, they lived in the South Pole for spirits sake! Even if they weren't shut, it still wouldn't have been able to explain the marbles rapidly circling each other in between the palms of (Y/n)'s hands.

The Fire Nation woman is pretty sure she's still in shock. Who wouldn't be? Her daughter has an ability that's practically extinct. It is nothing short of a miracle.

Zoh rushed back into the living room and plopped a small stack of papers on the table. She put her hand on (Y/n)'s shoulders and took a couple steps back.

"See if you can move the papers using your bending. I've obviously never taught an airbender, so it may be a little difficult. Feel the air in this room. Allow yourself to work with it to achieve your desired result," Zoh wisely told her.

Zoh's been teaching young children waterbending for years. Yuma doesn't understand how she's able to keep her voice steady enough to give off that confident instructor appearance under these circumstances.

(Y/n) narrowed her eyes in pure concentration and slowly lifted her arms. Yuma's jaw dropped seeing the papers slowly rise into the air. The young girl gasped in pure happiness at her accomplishment. Seeming to be testing the waters, (Y/n) began slowly swaying her arms from side to side to see if the papers would follow. They did.

Zoh and Yuma merely looked on in pure fascination as (Y/n) began to spin ever so slowly, taking the papers with her. The papers seemed as though they were dancing as they followed (Y/n)'s command, swishing in whatever direction she wanted them to. Her cute little face began scrunching up before dropping her likely tired arms. The papers, now no longer being controlled by airbending, began to slowly fall to the ground.

There is truly no denying it now. This isn't some small trick or accidental fluke, this is real.

(Y/n) is an airbender.

Yuma picked up (Y/n) and looked her dead in the eyes.

"I have to be honest with you, Turtle Duck. That was the coolest thing I've ever seen," Yuma grinned.

(Y/n) shot back what might be an even bigger smile.

"Thanks, Mommy! It was a lot of fun! I wonder what else I can do," (Y/n) smiled.

Yuma ended up zoning out as Zoh and (Y/n) chatted about how awesome the airbending is. It's certainly a fun thing to think about, what else could her little girl do? What is the extent of her abilities? She would certainly need proper training to-

Damn it. Damn it all. Reality's now hitting her like a train. This girl needs to learn to bend! And there's only one person in all four nations that could provide such services!

Oh for the love of spirits, (Y/n) is now one of two living airbenders! There's no doubt in Yuma's mind someone is going to want to hurt her daughter because of her extraordinary abilities! Not to mention the fact that Yuma has a pathological need to know how it's even possible that (Y/n) can airbend! There's so much that needs to be done and so much potential dangers-

"(Y/n)? My love? Gran Gran and I need to have a big kid talk. Why don't you curl up in your room and turn on the radio. I believe one of the pro bending matches just started in Republic City," Yuma told her daughter.

"Really? Awesome!" (Y/n) stated.

Zoh raised an eyebrow but ultimately didn't say anything as Yuma led (Y/n) to the guest bedroom she stays in for sleepovers. Once she got her daughter situated with her radio, Yuma walked back out and closed the door behind her. Then she dragged Zoh to the bathroom farthest away from the room (Y/n) was in and locked the door.

"Zoh, I need you to talk me down from a really high ledge because I am freaking the fuck out right now," Yuma hissed.

"Yeah, I had a feeling this might happen," the older woman sighed.

"What do I do? She's absolutely remarkable, Mom! She can airbend! The second person alive to do so! I just know some sick freak out there is going to want to wish harm upon my daughter! People always want to hurt the ones that stand out, good or bad! Oh spirits, what if someone kidnaps her and sells her on the black market-" the Fire Nation woman exclaimed, very clearly spiraling out.

"Breathe, dear. No one is getting sold in any markets. The answer is simple. We contact Tenzin so that (Y/n) will train with him and-" Zoh began.

"What if we didn't?" Yuma asked breathlessly. "What if we just leave now, change our names, and relocate to the Fire Nation? No one has to know. If no one knows about her, they can't hurt her."

Zoh gave her a look. Yuma knew that look. It was a look that said 'you're going off the deep end, kid'. Yuma did not like that look.

"And how do you think (Y/n)'s going to feel a few years from now, knowing you are purposefully trying to hide a part of who she is? How exactly do you expect her to control and conceal an ability she never got any training for?" Zoh asked.

Shit. Zoh's got her there. But that's why she's talking to the other woman. It's to prevent Yuma from doing something she'll regret.

"You're right, of course you're right. I'm just so scared. She's my baby. If anything happens to her...," Yuma trailed off.

She wouldn't make it. She knows she wouldn't.

"Nothing will happen to her. Not as long as she is properly trained. Katara was my mentor and we've stayed in touch. We'll make the journey to her place at once. There, she can contact her son and we will figure something out," the Water Tribe woman calmly told her.

Okay, Yuma likes this plan. It's a good plan. A solid plan. A plan that likely wouldn't end in utter devastation.

"Seems sane enough. But there's still the issue of how (Y/n)'s even an airbender. You know everyone's going to assume I had an affair with Tenzin. That's what I'd think. We'll need to brding the paternity tests and try to find out why (Y/n) can airbend," Yuma reminded her.

"I agree. Okay, obviously, if she's an airbender we must be descendants of Air Nomads. One of the girls I use to teach, Miyu, works in the archives at Republic City. I'll call her to send our family records over," Zoh told her.

"That's great! Alright, this is a real game plan. I feel much better now. Thank you," Yuma sighed.

"No need to thank me for doing my job," Zoh smiled.

At that, the older woman walked to the telephone and dialed this old student's number. Yuma began to anxiously pace around the room while Zoh talked to her former student. After a few minutes, which honestly felt like hours, Zoh ended the call.

"Alright, I asked Miyu to get her hands on both of our family trees and there shouldn't be any problem getting them to us. It'll take about a week until they're here," Zoh told her.

"Really? A whole week?" Yuma asked, visibly disappointed.

"Patience is a virtue, dear," Zoh grinned.

"Boo patience! I want to know now!" the Fire Nation woman whined childishly.

"Honestly, so do I. I don't think we should contact Katara until we have as much proof as we can get. This is going to be a rather hard hit for her," Zoh sighed.

"That's true. So for the next week we're just waiting?" Yuma frowned.

"Afraid so," the older woman confirmed.

"I'm nervous, Mom. This is huge. I'm worried this will somehow get out before we can get to Katara," Yuma admitted.

"I know, but please try not to worry. It's one week. We'll just keep her inside. And close all the blinds. We can just tell her a nasty snowstorm is coming. She's not going to know the difference," Zoh suggested.

"Oh, lying to my child. Hate to say it, but I kind of love that idea,"Yuma sighed.

"It's just one week. It can't be that hectic."

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

It was, in fact, that hectic.

Zoh was gracious enough to let Yuma and (Y/n) stay at her place until they got the family tree from the archives. Yuma's pretty sure that her child has rearranged the entire house at least fifteen times.

(Y/n) was restless. Ever since she found out she could airbend, it was the only thing she wanted to do. Yuma obviously didn't know much about airbending, but it's starting to look like her daughter's a bit of a prodigy. There's just no way a five year old should be able to airbend two chairs all the way up to the ceiling at the same time.

Yuma's daughter started to get irritated that the ceiling was in the way of her bending, so (Y/n) keeps trying to convince them to take her outside. Obviously, that's so not happening, so Yuma is trying to make (Y/n) focus on bending as many objects as possible instead of seeing how high they can float.

This child needs a damn airbending teacher. Yuma really could not wait until they could contact Tenzin.

To put it bluntly, when the family records came back, both women were relieved. (Y/n) thankfully is taking a nap, so they don't have to hide the papers.

After a couple minutes of searching through the results, Yuma finally found the Air Nomad in her very extensive family history of Fire Nation family members. Her name was Ina.

Yikes.

That is the first word that comes to mind when looking at Ina's rather short life. The records give very basic information. Birth date, death date, what kind of bender they were, and cause of death. The poor woman died at the age of twenty two, three months after giving birth to her only son. Ina had been burned alive. This was right at the start of the hundred year war. A Fire Nation soldier must have found her out.

Her son ended up being a firebender, which was for the best considering the fact that he also would have been killed if he inherited her airbending. What a tragedy.

"Did you find any Air Nomads on your side?" Zoh asked, effectively breaking the silence.

"Yeah, her name was Ina. Poor thing died from getting killed by a firebender when she was twenty two. It was at the start of the hundred year war. Had one firebending child. Any on your side?" Yuma asked.

"That's just awful. And yes, I actually did. Allin was his name. He was also about twenty when the hundred year war started, but must have hid himself well. Married a waterbender and had three children. Two of them were waterbenders and one was a nonbender. Died at the ripe age of eighty seven," Zoh informed her.

"Huh. I mean, Ina was in the very nation that wanted to eradicate the airbenders. That's probably why she got caught," Yuma frowned.

"Well, we've got what we need. Are we still going to start the journey to Katara's tomorrow like we originally planned?" the Water Tribe woman asked.

"I think that's best. I'm not sure if your furniture will survive if we wait," Yuma joked.

"Who cares about stupid furniture? My granddaughter is an airbender! That's so much better than furniture. I'll call Katara, tell her it's an urgent matter and I must speak to her immediately," Zoh laughed.

"Alright, I'll go and pack for all three of us. It's going to be a long journey," Yuma noted.

"Perfect. You already grabbed the paternity tests, right?" Zoh asked.

"Who do you think I am?" Yuma snorted.

She opened the top cabinet in the kitchen and revealed all four paternity tests.

"Show off," Zoh grinned.

Yuma merely laughed and walked to the room she was staying in to start packing. A few minutes later Zoh joined her. Apparently Katara was thrilled to get a house call so there was no issue there.

All Yuma told (Y/n) was that they were going to visit Gran Gran's old friend. The little girl just seemed happy to get out of the house, so she was ready for the journey.

Before they left, Yuma made sure to tell (Y/n) that airbending was their special secret and she would get to show Gran Gran's friend when they visited. (Y/n) didn't seem to put up a fuss about it, so off they went.

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

The trio made it to Katara's hut with zero incident. That was Yuma's main worry. She finally felt like she could relax when they walked up to the waterbending master's front door.

Zoh knocked a couple times before Katara opened the door. She smiled brightly before greeting Zoh with a tight hug.

"Oh, it's wonderful to see you again. I take it that these lovely ladies must be the wonderful daughter and granddaughter I've heard so much about," Katara said with a smile.

"Yes, that's us. It's an honor to meet you, Master Katara," Yuma said with a polite smile.

And it really was. This woman is kind of a living legend, after all. Yuma then nudged her daughter to give the woman a proper greeting. In (Y/n)'s defense, it's a pretty early morning so the little girl is still incredibly sleepy.

"G'morning, Miss Katara," (Y/n) yawned.

Katara laughed at the greeting, clearly finding (Y/n) as cute as Yuma does.

"Oh please, just call me Katara. Master and Miss is just so formal. Not really my style. Now come on in, it's a particularly cold day today," Katara said as she stepped aside for them to enter.

They walked into the beautiful hut and sat down on the couch. Zoh and Katara made small talk while (Y/n) leaned on Yuma's side, probably about to fall back asleep.

"Alright, you said there was a family emergency that only I could help with. I'd love to assist you out in any way I can," Katara said once they were all settled.

"Okay, before we show you what we're about to show you, I'm gonna need you to really look at these paternity tests," Zoh said as she handed Katara (Y/n)'s tests.

Obviously, Katara was confused but did as requested.

"Alright, her father is very clearly a man named Taro. What is this about?" Katara asked.

"Time to wake up, Turtle Duck. Show Katara your awesome magic trick," Yuma smiled while gently nudging (Y/n) awake.

"Must you demand me to perform when I clearly need rest?" (Y/n) grumbled.

Yuma snorted. Where in the four nations did this child get her sass from?

"If you do it now I'll let you have dessert before dinner," the Fire Nation woman said, blatantly bribing her child.

"Okay!" (Y/n) said brightly.

"Only use the marble trick, (Y/n). This is not your grandmother's house, Katara will not appreciate you rearranging her furniture," Yuma reminded her.

"Well you're no fun," (Y/n) grumbled.

Ultimately, she grabbed the little marbles from her pocket. Katara is looking more confused by the minute. Who can blame her?

With ease, (Y/n) put two marbles in between her palms and got them to rapidly spin around in a circle. Katara's jaw immediately fell open. The marbles fell back onto (Y/n)'s palm and she smiled. Then she plopped back onto the couch and fell asleep on Yuma's lap in about three seconds.

"(Y/n)'s an airbender, Katara. She's an airbender that needs training and your son is the only person alive that can help her," Zoh stated.

Katara looked like she was having a hard time processing this information. Yuma could relate. Katara then looked back down at the paternity tests like she really couldn't believe this child isn't Tenzin's. A completely understandable reaction.

"But how?" was all the older woman could muster out.

"Well. As it would turn out, (Y/n) is a descendant of Air Nomads from both sides of her family," Zoh told her.

Zoh pulled out her's and Yuma's family tree and pointed out the Air Nomads on each side.

"I'm not all that into genetic research, but something tells me it's almost impossible for (Y/n) to be an airbender. But she is and we need to know if Tenzin would be willing to train her," Zoh told her.

"Willing? Are you kidding me? Tenzin is going to be thrilled! Oh, it's his biggest dream to revive Air Nomad culture. Another living airbender not related to him is unimaginable. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be more than happy to train you daughter," Katara insisted now that she's relatively over her shock.

"Oh, that's wonderful news," Yuma sighed, utterly relieved.

"I need to call him right now. I'll make sure he gets here as fast as possible," the waterbending master informed them.

"Are you going to tell him (Y/n) can airbend over the phone?" Zoh asked curiously.

"Over the phone? Hah! I want to see his face when he finds this out. I'll just tell him it's urgent. If he leaves right after I call, his sky bison should get him here by the end of the day," Katara told them.

Oh thank spirits, it was going to be a quick situation. To be quite frank, Yuma has gotten really sick of waiting.

After getting off the phone with her son, Katara was kind enough to make them tea. While Tenzin would get here at some point today, it would be close to sunset when he arrived.

When (Y/n) woke up from her nap, Katara was heavily encouraging her to airbend. Yeah, the furniture was rearranged yet again. Thankfully, the waterbending master didn't mind at all. If all else fails, (Y/n) has a real future at being a one woman move in service.

As the sun began to hide behind the mountains, a loud roar was heard from outside. Katara got up from her chair, already knowing Tenzin had arrived. His wife, Pema, joined him in greeting his mother and introducing themselves to Yuma's family.

Yuma made sure to show Pema specifically (Y/n)'s parentage. They were, of course, confused out of their minds.

"Alright Turtle Duck, you know what to do," Yuma nodded.

"Do I get to move the chair?" (Y/n) asked excitedly.

"I don't see why not at this point," Yuma snorted.

(Y/n) then used her airbending to push the chair to the ceiling and gently lowered it back down. Zoh began clapping as Pema and Tenzin looked at (Y/n) with dropped jaws. Huh, Tenzin actually looked exactly like Katara with that expression. Strong genes.

"I know this seems impossible, but my daughter is an airbender. An airbender who needs a teacher. Master Tenzin, please, take on (Y/n) as a student," Yuma asked him.

Then, Tenzin fainted.

"I have to say, he took that much better than I thought he would," Katara noted.

Pema looked down at her husband then proceeded to check his pulse. (Y/n) frowned and looked down at the fallen man.

"Um, is he going to be okay?" the young girl asked.

"Eh, he'll be fine. But, more importantly, this is incredible! Another airbender! I know he's a little unconscious right now, but Tenzin will be more than happy to train your daughter. It's just, there's a bit of an issue with the living situation," Pema said while trailing off.

"I'm fully prepared to move wherever you need me to in order for (Y/n) to get proper training," Yuma said with zero hesitation.

She'd do anything for her daughter. This wouldn't be the first time Yuma's uprooted her entire life for family. If she's done it twice already, what's one more move?

"Cool, when are we moving?" Zoh asked.

"Oh, that's wonderful! That's really the only concern I had. We'll hash out the finer details once my husband regains consciousness," Pema smiled.

Yuma nodded and watched on as Pema then tended to the still knocked out man. The newly realized airbender furrowed her brows and aggressively crossed her arms.

"Mommy, I don't want to move. I want to stay near Gran Gran," (Y/n) frowned.

"Well that's an easy fix. I'm moving with you two," Zoh casually stated.

She's going to what now?

"Oh, okay! We can move now," (Y/n) said with a bright smile.

"Really, Mom? But you have a life here! You have work and-" Yuma began.

"And you two. I can find young waterbenders to train anywhere, but there's only one place where my family is. Besides, (Y/n) is going to be training as a bender. You're going to need a good healer on standby when accidents happen," Zoh told her.

Yuma sighed and wrapped the other woman in a firm hug. Zoh readily embraced her back. She watched as her daughter excitedly started to jump up and down at the prospect of her grandmother moving with them.

Yuma's daughter is an airbender. One of two in all four nations. Motherhood is not for the weak.

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

(Thirteen Years Later)

Korra sighed as she took a seat on one of the benches on Air Temple Island. It's been, to put it bluntly, an insane day. Republic City certainly isn't what she thought it would be. It's not like she had much of a choice, though. As the Avatar, she needed to learn to airbend. The selection of airbending masters are slim pickings given the fact that there's literally only two.

Given Tenzin's major responsibilities in Republic City, it did make sense that he wouldn't be able to get away from it even though it was always the plan for him to move to the South to teach her. What's always stumped Korra was the other airbending master, (Y/n). Mainly because they've never even met.

Tenzin's family visits rather infrequently to see Katara and Korra while she was in the South Pole. Korra’s heard all sorts of things about (Y/n) from the whole family over the years but the airbender’s never made an actual appearance. Apparently, the reason why the (Y/n) is unable to teach Korra is because she’s the one that gets sent out when there’s trouble with sky bison poachers. Some assignments take weeks, others take months and Korra doesn’t have that kind of time.

This (Y/n) girl has a pretty impressive track record. Got her airbending tattoos at age eleven, making her the youngest airbending master in recorded history. Korra remembers reading a paper a few years ago where (Y/n) saved a bunch of people from falling to their death in some gang related incident at the age of fourteen. Poor girl also had to fight off said gang members.

Korra’s always been quite curious about this air bending master. She figured now that she’s in Republic City and ultimately lives on the same island (Y/n) does, they would meet eventually. For now, Korra just has to wait.

Korra strolled around the island, looking for something to do. Maybe she could find an open space to train or something. She had some time to kill before dinner. Then, out of the corner of her eye she saw a couple adorable baby sky bison playing together. If Korra doesn’t get to pet one she might actually die. Knowing bison are a fan of apples, Korra picked a couple from the tree and held them out to the babies.

“C’mon little buddies, I’m not going to hurt you,” Korra cooed at the sweet little animals.

One of the babies perked up at the sight of the apple in Korra’s hand and began waddling towards her. Yes! Just when the baby was nearing Korra’s hand, she seemed to have been struck by an intense gust of wind.

Korra groaned as she landed on her back. Unfortunately, the madness did not stop there. Before she could even blink, Korra was literally suspended in mid air. She could feel air rushing at her from all sides, pinning all her limbs together as if she was in a strait jacket. Damn, she could barely breathe.

Okay, now Korra's starting to panic. She can't move which means she can't bend. Plus she has zero idea who is attacking her right now.

"Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing to those bison?!" a woman's voice snapped.

At least now she can see the woman currently assaulting her. The attacker looked to be about Korra's age with (h/c) hair tied into a braid. Huh, her attacker is actually kind of pretty. But most notably, she had airbending tattoos.

Well this is not how Korra wanted to meet the other airbending master. She may not even need to deal with awkward introductions because Korra's pretty sure she's loosing consciousness.

"Korra, dinner's re- (Y/N) DROP HER RIGHT NOW THAT IS THE AVATAR!" Tenzin yelled in a frenzy.

The stern look on the airbender's face fell into a shocked one. Her arms flopped to her sides, releasing Korra from her air like prison. Korra doesn't even care that she managed to cut her arm on the fall down, she's just happy to be on solid ground again. The girl that can now certainly be identified as (Y/n) is just standing there in pure disbelief.

"She's the who now-"

[donutz]

Poppy Playtime with a twist!!

SUMMARY||So younger you meets you in the present at poopy playhouse, but like it's super cool

EVERYONE THINKS THE STAFF DISSAPPEARED 10 YEARS AGO

WE'RE STILL HERE.

FIND THE FLOWER

ꕤ

“Find the flower?” Is it a pretty flowerrr? Not really..

Playtime Co? Oh. Playtime Co. Uhm. Well everybody who worked there isn't working there, not anymore. I'm not saying they disappeared. I read the letter!!

.

.

.

Hey they spelt disappeared wrong.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I drive over to Playtime Co in my [any type of car] and end up seeing blocked off doors.

I mean this place is abandoned so what do you expect?

Another warning to not go in. But like, I'm wayyy too bored in life so I'm goin in.

Somebody's at the door?

I wonder who.

After 10 minutes, surprisingly not taking long, I managed to open the doors.

Getting a view of the colorful place that I once worked at, I also see a person.

“Hello! I was waiting for you! Somebody told me you got sent an envelope so I stood here, waiting.”

I stood there, looking at them with a bit of surprise. And being a little bit suspicious.

Are they not gonna talk?

They kind of look like me, as if they were my identical twin. Just born at different times.

.

.

.

I somehow muster the courage to speak up after a moment of awkward silence.

“... Why do you look like me, but older..” I asked with sweat slowly collecting on my face.

I take note of what they said and say, “Hm, come here for a sec”.

I walk over to them and stand there looking at them, looking away from time to time.

“Hm.” I examine the person. “Oh! Because I am you but older”!

“WH— What.” I lowered my volume, just in case something would spawn out of nowhere.

“It looks like you went to the future.” I tell the past me.

“You're me? But older? Coooll.” I drag my words with imaginary stars in my eyes.

“Follow me m'kay?” I command. Sounds kinda fancy, command.

“Kay!”

I was so gullible.

We both go to a colorful room with a few trains that have different colors per train.

“You see those trains right?” I question my younger self.

“Yea”.

“Those colors on each train are for a color code.” I stated.

“Green, pink—”

“Yellow and red”.

“Good. Now we're gonna go to that color pad thing and put in the colors”.

“Can IIIII do that..?” I ask with a smile on my face.

“Sure.”

I put in the colors and the door unlocked. I softly grabbed the handle as I slowly opened the door, observing what's inside the room.

“There's nothing spooky in the room”.

.. Stupidly, I flinched from older me talking because of how focused I was.

“Did you just flinch”?

“No”.

“I don't know what you're talking about”.

“... Sure”.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

After finishing the grabpack tutorial, we go up to the big door and I[past me] scan[scans] with my[their] blue hand.

“This might take a bit so just wait”.

“Okay”.

The door is fully open.

I see, huggy? But he's.. Oh. “Hey young me”.

“Yeeeess?” I ask with curious eyes.

“I think, I went back to the past”.

“You did”?

“Yea”.

“I'm gonna nerd out for a sec”.

“It's okay, I do that too”.

“I think that once you started coming here, maybe the factory was— restarting to the past. Like a process of it. Maybe that's why they were moving around so much. While I was at the front desk it was still happening. But when you entered it finished. Oh and y'know what? Maybe me walking around here was also me going through that time traveling process.” I explained.

I was wide-eyed. Mouth open a little bit even.

Ooo. That's.. Okay..? I mean I hate what's gonna happen but. Whatevs. “Yo, tiny baby”.

“.. Me? Are you seriously talking to me”?

“Mhm. Follow me”.

“Is that Huggy Wuggy”.

“No, it's Gojo— who do you think that is”?

“I—!” I make a click sound with my tongue and look away.

“You suck.” I claim, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Thanks. Anyways, this is my baby, Huggy. Who is going to kill us in the future. Or try to”.

“Hey, I bet you twenty bucks that once we go into a room, after like 30 seconds he'll be gone. But you gotta look away. Anddd, I bet you another 5 bucks that he can hear us, or me, talking right now”!

“That's not fair. You're in the future so you know it's going to happen”.

“Mhm, bet or no bet”?

“No bet”.

“>:/”

I go to the door with a bunch of stuff inside and try to open it.

But I end up hearing a jingle of keys..?

“Thanks Huggy.” I smiled when saying that and walked towards the electronic room. At least that's what I call it.

Unlocking it I go in—

“Don't leave me pretty please”!!!

…I expected younger me to follow but I don't need to worry right now.

Once we were in the room, the door locked. I mean that's what I heard. I'm basically going through my life, again. This is something that would be studied. Old people would kill for something like this.

“Did the door lock”?

“I don't know, try opening it”.

I wandered over to the poles and solved a puzzle while younger me was freaking out over the locked door.

“Uhmmmmm, I think Huggy's gone”!!!

“Wait weally????” I mocked, a small smile creeping up on my face.

“SHUT UP I'M SERIOUS!!!” I yelled, DO THEY.. I. Uhm. DOES OLDER ME NOT UNDERSTAND???

“I've been through this already, you baby”.

“...”

I finished the puzzle and then walked towards the kid.

“Move out the way please!!” I said, making my eyes big and sad looking, like a cartoon character.

“>:[”

The door opened, and we both walked out.

“Alright, time to move to the next area”.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[lowkeyremi]

mayaaaaa !! so your aot fluff just sent my soul back to my levi fanfic phase 😭😭 can you please please write more of levi with his younger lover ??? i need to know all about it !!! how do they cuddle? how did they get together? what’s he like in public with them????

love you lots <33

OFC!! This is such a cute concept i'm excited to write this >:3 AND ILY TOO <333

It's not required but if you haven't read the first part you might wanna do that :)

CW: None, just fluff

First encounter:

The two of you met when he was on a business trip. You and your friends were shopping for new clothes and he was at the store for a new tie, because according to his boss, "you wear that same tie all the time, Ackerman. This meeting is really important so try to look nice."

When you saw him it was game over. Funny thing is you didn't even try to hide it either, your eyes widened, your jaw was on the floor, and everything.

"That guy is so hot! You should talk to him." Your friend squeals.

"No way in hell, he's probably married! That'd be so weird." You argue in return. Your friend didn't give up though.

"Excuse me, sir! If you're looking for a tie my friend can help you look for one! She used to work in retail." Her voice is sweet when talking to him. If that super hot guy hadn't been right there you would have smacked her.

He didn't say anything at first, he looked you up and down. "He's checking you out!" She whisper-yelled. You elbowed her in the rib.

"I have a suit that looks like- you know what let me just look for a picture." He says, and what the hell... his voice is like silk.

You walk over to him. "Here it is." The suit is a dark gray, with a white undershirt. Your eyes scan his phone, it's an older outdated model and you can't help but giggle.

"Is gray a bad color for me?" He asks, with sarcasm.

"No no! It's just.. what model is your phone? It looks old." His brows furrow as he inspects his phone.

"I don't know, I got it a long time ago." He says with a shrug, "It works just fine."

"Sorry sorry. What kind of tie do you have right now? If you have one." You say trying to be inclusive.

"The one I usually wear is black but this is a special occasion so I need something else." You hum lightly while looking around.

"Okay, I'm thinking blue. Specifically dark blue." He nods and you two look around for a dark blue tie without patterns because he's basic.

Out of the corner of your eye your friends are making smooching faces and other romantic gestures. You're going to end them later.

"I found one thanks for the help." He says.

"Of course!" Fuck, too happy?

He stares at you for a moment, and you stare back before looking away. You take a step back and clear your throat.

"C-can.. I get your number?" Your foot is tapping and you're looking everywhere except for at him.

"Yeah, sorry if my calls don't go through because of my crappy phone." He says with a small.. smile?

You stare for a second in silence.

"That was my attempt at making a joke, it was bad." He says with a sigh.

"Yeah... we're gonna need to work on that. What's your name Mr. Gloomy?" You hand over your phone, you have the dial screen open so he can put in his number.

"Levi Ackerman." That small smile returns.

"I'll see you around, Levi."

In public:

Turns out you were actually the one who wasn't big on telling people about you at first. Levi is proud of everything he does. In all honesty you were slightly embarrassed by having an older boyfriend.

"What if people think you're my sugar daddy or something?" You reason.

"I'm not that old." He rolls his eyes.

"Why does it matter what other people think of our relationship anyway? They're not dating you, I am." He explains. He makes it sound like common sense, which it is, but you still think it's a little awkward.

"I mean it doesn't matter too much but-"

"I respect your decision. I'm not huge on PDA but I'd at least like people close to me to know." He explains rubbing his hand up and down your thigh. You grab his hand (which happens to be very veiny and pretty) and kiss it.

"Thanks, Levi."

-----

When you did tell everyone... you were all over him. Levi was never big on PDA but he didn't mind giving you a little kiss or holding your hand.

The only time he's really touching you in public is one someone's hitting on you. Levi gets scared that you'll find someone younger than him.

-----

"Did you want to go out sometime?" Your new co-worker asks you. He doesn't know you have a boyfriend but you've been rejecting him all week.

You check your phone to see that Levi's just arrived. Your shift ended early today and he promised to come get you and take you out.

"Um no than-"

"Are you ready to go, baby?" Levi's voice is confident and smug. The guy looks over to Levi and then to you. His face flushes and he starts to stammer.

"U-uh sorry. I... I didn't know." Levi exhales as the guy walks away in a hurry.

"You should call me that more often." You chime in with a cheeky smirk.

"I do." He offers you his hand. When you take it, he leads the way to his black cadillac.

"I mean yeah! But not outside of the house."

"I'm working on it... baby."

Meeting the parents:

To your surprise they were very accepting of Levi.

"They've always been very childish. I'm so glad they found someone to keep them in shape." Your mother was embarrassing as always.

"Take care of them." Your father had said.

Levi nodded and they stood there awkwardly.

"Um dad! Levi works for a law firm! Isn't that something? You've always wanted me to get into law school, remember?" Your attempt to change the subject worked.

"I did, but you never wanted to. Always said "Dad! I don't wanna sit at a desk all day!" What law firm do you work for Levi?" It must be a parent's job to embarrass their child.

"Oh I work for..."

That convo went on forever.

-------

"Hello, Mrs. and Mr. Ackerman." Levi nodded, which motivated you to place down the bouquet of Mrs. Ackerman's favorite flowers on her gravestone.

"You guys seemed like great people from what Levi told me. I'm taking care of him, he's not a lonely loser anymore." Tears are welling up but nothing comes out, you smile softly.

"I was never a loser." His eye roll doesn't go unnoticed by you.

"If that's what makes you feel better, then okay. Anyway, I wish I could have had the chance to meet you guys. Mrs. Ackerman I can see why your husband married you. You were fine as hell. That must be where Levi gets it from." You rant with a little giggle.

"I look more like my father." He reminds you.

"Yeah yeah, this isn't about you. I'm trying to meet your parents." You wave him away and continue to talk to the Ackermans.

"I think they would have liked you, a little weirded out by you at first but in the end they would have loved you like you were their own." Two arms wrap around you and then those tears fall. Out of all your relationships none have ever made you feel this loved and wanted.

Chilling:

"Boop!" Levi almost bites your finger this time.

"Stop "booping" me. It's annoying." He's facing you while in bed, those dark, onyx eyes look into yours. God he's so beautiful.

"I'm bored, let's get up." That's probably the tenth time you've said that to him.

"We agreed on fifteen more minutes of cuddling." Levi is a cuddler. In previous relationships you've complained about not being cuddled enough.

Levi is all about physical affection inside of the household. You love it, but at times like right now, you just crave to move around.

He's peppering your face with kisses, your eyelids, your nose, your cheeks, everywhere. The cherry on top is that he smiles when he hears you chuckle at his actions.

"Okay now we can get up, since you're so impatient." Those snuggly arms let go of your body so you can go get ready for the day.

"I love you Levi!" He hesitates upon hearing you say that before responding, "I love you too."

In conclusion Levi is literally like a dad who has to keep one of those little kid backpack leash things on his kid (you) lol he loves you tho <3

[a-cat-in-toffee]

this doesn't feel long enough for ao3 and I don't feel like doing tags rn have civilian au Williams and Dakota being gay

"So what, you're like, a real life hero?" Dakota shouldered the bag, bouncing along next to William. "That's so cool."

He shrugged, eyes flitting from nearby person to person. "It's kinda cool, I guess. I'm not like- I mean we're still in training, but..."

"But you still go on missions! And fight stuff!" Dakota grinned widely, hopping to avoid cracks in the sidewalk.

"Eh, not much fighting stuff." Or missions, if he was being completely transparent, which he often had to be. Ha. Invisibility joke. "We're generally more stealthy than fighty."

"That's still really cool, though!" Dakota insisted. "You're still saving people."

William laughed slightly. Dakota had such a black and white view of heroism, it was sort of... refreshing? William was so constantly in his own head about morality, and if what he was doing was really worth it, that talking to Dakota about it felt like getting dunked in cold water and realizing he had been overheating.

"So do you have a super cool secret base?" The smile on Dakota's face was infectious, William found. It was hard to be too angsty around him.

"I guess, yeah. I dont think it'd be a good idea to show you, though."

Dakota sighed dramatically, leaning against William and bringing a hand to his forehead. He probably would have said something dumb, something in butchered old English maybe, but he apparently forgot to account for one thing in his theatrics. William was weak as shit.

Almost instantly William, with a yelp, stumbled backwards into the street. Dakota fell with him, and the two of them landed next to eachother. Dakota's arm was across William's chest, the contact warm and burning only for a second before Dakota sits up, looking down at William. The two are silent for a moment.

Then, Dakota bursts out laughing. "Dude-"

"Not all of us can support the weight of another, Dakota!" William laughed along, letting his head fall down onto the pavement.

"It's not even about that, though! You're a hero, don't you know anything about stance?"

William's chest hurt. It felt good. "I told you! We do stealth shit!"

"They should still teach you basic fighting!"

He lulled his head over, looking at Dakota. His hair had fallen even more out of place, and William felt an urge to fix it. Whoa, bust, calm down there. He smiled down at Will, face barely catching the light from the streetlamp.

"Maybe you can teach me sometime."

"Well clearly I have to!" He looked so pretty. "Whats gonna happen if you get in a fight?"

"I'm sure the others could take care of it."

Dakota sighed, laying down next to William, once more dramatically bringing his wrist to his forehead. "Woe is me, mine darling husband was shipped off to fight in the war, but they didn't teach him how to fight, and he caught a stray bullet whilst on a train."

William felt his face heat up. "And we got married when?"

"Why, quite a many few years ago, of course. My momma didn't approve of you, thought you were a real wrongen," William laughed at the fake accent Dakota had put on as he talked, "But you were an honest one, and you won her over. Now, what I don't know is that you've been sleepin' a little closer in your cot with your bunkmate- and I won't ever find out once the war takes you, but it's fine. I'll find solace in Ashe, who has been my darling friend since childhood."

"Dakota."

"Hm?"

"If you were my husband and I got sent off to the war, I would never cheat on you."

Dakota frowned. "Now I feel kind of bad. Ashe was going to move in with me in order to help me through my grief and tend to affairs. We wouldn't get married but all the village children would whisper."

William was laughing again. He couldnt remember a time he had laughed this much in one conversation. "It's okay- it wouldn't matter if I was dead, right?"

He hummed. "What if your bunkmate was Vyncent?"

"Okay!" He stood up, trying to ignore the burning in his cheeks. "We should get out of the road."

Dakota laughed at him, grinning as wide as before as he teetered off into giggles. Will offered out his hand, looking away when Dakota grabbed it and pulled himself up. He then made the objectively bad decision to look back, being met with Dakotas face much closer than he expected.

He had freckles. They were small and hard to notice, which William thought was odd considering how sun-kissed Dakota's skin was, but now that he saw them he couldn't unsee them.

"Sorry for suggesting you would have an affair with your bunkmate." He giggled. "I forgot you wrote the perfect husband, and would never ever cheat on me, even with cute purple haired boys."

He can hear his heartbeat in his ears. Was William dying? Was this it? Is the what a heart attack felt like?

"Dakota, we're still in the middle of the street."

Dakota sighed, not letting go of William's hand and tugging him along back to the sidewalk. "Of course, of course. And we have to worry about all this traffic!" With his free hand he gestured to the empty street.

"You never know."

William felt as Dakota's hand relaxed, but instead of letting go, laced their fingers together.

Oh god.

Oh no.

William was so fucked.

"Yeah, sure. Let's just get to the bus stop, then you can go home to your awesome and dope superhero base, okay?"

William laughed. "Yeah, okay."

"Best husband." Dakota said it like a concrete fact, grinning, and William's heart did a flip.

He was so fucked and there was nothing he could do about it.

[grapesplease]

white haired men and their homosexual tendencies

astarion x drow! bard! male! tav

an. a short fluff piece for my tav and astarion! mostly so i can write about altair in act one because that man was so not okay (alcohol withdrawal symptoms) ending is a bit rushed, but it's cute anyway

cw. mentions of blood (it's astarion, it comes with the vampire fic)

“I mean, we could’ve tried getting Gale to heal you. I don’t know if you want him of all people healing you, though.”

“Eugh, Gale? Healing? I’d rather you let me die.”

Altair rolls his eyes. “You're so dramatic."

“You love me for it.”

“Unfortunately.”

wc. 1.3k

Astarion smelled blood and thought of home. 

(If he could even count Cazador’s mansion as a “home.”)

It's a mix of his blood, some of the party’s, some of whoever they’d just killed. The scent is strong as it wafts towards him, unpleasantly combined with dirt and whatever poison he’d had on his blade. Its warmth creeps into his shirt as he bleeds out.

Strange how his blood is so warm while his body is ice cold.

His arms are as heavy as lead, his body is sore, he thinks he’s dying. Again. 

He’s dragging himself across the rough ground, blood seeping from his wounds and teeth grit. He can’t muster up the strength to push himself off the ground. 

Shadowheart is saying something unintelligible to him, and he’s vaguely aware that the fight is over. He's drifting in and out of consciousness. The last he sees is a pair of boots running towards him and his party’s concerned faces. 

-

He wakes up to the soft playing of a violin.

Altair.

“Can you stop playing? My head is killing me.”

Astarion groggily props himself up, feeling the stiffness of bandages wrapped around his arms and chest. Altair’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, a few feet away from his bedroll. How long had he been out?

“It's only been a few hours, if you want to know.” 

“I didn't ask.”

“Figured you’d want to know.” He smiles, shrugging halfheartedly. Altair had a horrible knack for being able to read Astarion perfectly. 

His smile only worsens his discomfort, his eyes shifting away from Altair. Talking to him always felt less like talking to a person and more like a cheerful brick wall. A cheerful brick wall who knew exactly what was wrong with him and would try his hardest to fix it.

At first his overeager personality and unfaltering smile made Astarion think that Altair must’ve had some kind of hero complex- but he soon realized that he was just a doormat. Always wanting to please everyone in the party, going as far as it took to keep them around him. 

He’d completely change his personality without hesitating if it meant that they stuck around him.

It unnerves him.

“I sent Karlach and Gale for a supply run a while ago, we're gonna have dinner when they get back. Unless you want to feed now?”

“I can wait until they get back.” He prods at the bandages. “Why didn't you or Shadowheart heal me?”

“Out of magic.”

“You and Shadowheart?” He scoffs. “I thought your magic came from your instrument?”

“The magic comes from the violinist, not the violin.” He retorts. “I mean, we could’ve tried getting Gale to heal you. I don’t know if you want him of all people healing you, though.”

“Eugh, Gale? Healing? I’d rather you let me die.”

Altair rolls his eyes. “You're so dramatic.”

“You love me for it.” 

“Unfortunately.”

“Love” might’ve been a strong word to use for their relationship, if he could even call it that. They had sex a few times, shared flirty banter (much to the dismay of the rest of the party), and he’d opened up begrudgingly about his past to Altair. 

Regrettably, he thinks he’s falling in love with Altair. Despite his never-faltering smile and inconsistent personality, his actions were becoming a genuine source of comfort and security. 

“Knock knock, hope I’m not interrupting?” 

They both turn to Shadowheart, who's peeking through the flap on his tent. She takes Altair’s smile as an invitation, and sits on the floor next to his bedroll. 

“Hello, Shadowheart.” Astarion starts, “What brings you to my humble abode?”

“Healing.” She curtly responds, sighing tiredly as she sits beside his bedroll. 

“Your little paramour has that sad look on his face, wouldn't leave your side ever since you got knocked out. You’re lucky that I like Altair- and that I have the energy to heal you.”

“I didn’t have a look on my face!” Altair retorts, crossing his arms. 

Astarion rolls his eyes, chuckling. Altair’s only- what, a couple decades younger than him? Certainly not young enough to act like a child! 

“You're a fully grown 200-something year old drow! Stop looking like a kicked puppy when someone gets hurt!” She starts shooing Altair away. “Gale and Karlach are back already, get some food. I’ll heal Astarion and then you can both have dinner together.”

“I’m 215, for your information!” He indignantly huffs. “Fine, I’ll go and walk my fully grown ass outside to get food. I’ll be back.”

They watch as Altair begrudgingly slips out of Astarion’s tent. What a silly man.

“He’s only like that with you, you know.” Shadowheart turns back to him, her hands hovering over his bandaged wound. 

“Whatever could you mean?”

“Clingy.”

“He’s not like that with everyone?” 

“No.” She scoffs, “I don’t know if it’s because he likes you or if it's something else. He's just much more clingy with you, constantly has that kicked puppy look whenever he’s separated from you. It’d be cuter if he wasn’t a fully grown man.”

“It's a little cute.” Don't think about this any harder, he’s not supposed to get close- he's not anything more than protection. Oh my gods- stop it. “He’s just a little romantic, isn’t he?”

“That's one way to put it, I suppose.”

Shadowheart wipes her hands, looking into Astarion’s eyes tentatively.

“I know we haven't known each other for long, but Altair is a good person. I hope you don't hurt him in the future, Astarion.”

“I’m not planning to kill him or anything!”

“You know what I meant.” She stands, “He’s a good person; better than both of us at least- you know that. Don't hurt him, alright?”

“Yes, yes” He flippantly waves his hand, “You can go now, if you're done prodding at my conscience.”

She leaves, and he sits in silence waiting for Altair to return. Great, she has him thinking about the scenario where Altair and him actually become something real. He has to make sure that it never happens. He doesn’t even know if he’s ready for something real.

He's not even sure if he can face the guilt of confessing this shit to Altair. If all goes as planned, then he won't ever have to- right?

-

It’s been a few decades since his plan miraculously failed and their relationship became something “real"

Astarion thinks it went pretty well, considering Altair didn't just ice him out on the spot when he confessed all those years ago. 

They got married about a decade after the reconstruction of Baldur’s Gate. He moved into Altair’s house (not like Astarion had a house of his own anyway), got “normal people” jobs, opened a business, and just settled down.

It was dreadfully domestic.

Not to say that he preferred his life before, living on the road was a dirty affair (not the fun kind, mind you), and he doesn't even want to mention Cazador. He just didn't expect his life to end up being so peaceful.

He sits on their couch, Altair is sprawled out next to him. It’s some time in the evening, he’s not sure. He's sad that he is once again restricted to the night, but Altair trying to match his sleep schedule had made it more than bearable. 

The fireplace crackles in front of them, and he decides that it’s about time for them to start their night. He softly bookmarks his page, shutting his book and setting it down on the coffee table. 

His hands gently shake Altair, who lets out a groan as he wakes up. He shifts as Altair sits up, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“You couldn't let me sleep for a few minutes longer?”

“I was hungry.” He replies, shrugging playfully. “Besides, it's about time we got our night started anyway.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.. Have your breakfast first and then we can go and buy stuff.”

He grins as Altair moves his hair aside, exposing the tender skin on his neck. His fangs sink in, the taste and smell of Altair’s blood is intoxicating.

“Ah, this is the smell of home.”