#what this means for my gf fics has not yet been determined

[jacky-rubou]

uuyghh I just found a clone wars fic that's literally the same premise as one I've always imagined scenarios for and it's killing me already....

[script-nef]

Busted | Tsukishima Kei

Request: Hello!! Can I please request a scenario/short fic where Tsukishima has to go pick up his girlfriend from “Girl’s Night” at the karaoke bar? When he gets there his gf is drunk, dur, BUT turns out she can sing like really really good. For a moment he’s utterly speechless but he takes really good care of her and asks about her singing the next day? Maybe she can play dumb about it saying she really can’t but too late he knows the power she holds. Sorry if that was a weird req but tysm in advance!!

Okay so first things first, this is a very cute request and not weird at all! Second thing is that I actually have no idea what a karaoke bar is so I searched it up. And it turns out to be a regular bar with like a little stage so people to sing on? Like that scene from The Good Place? I don’t know if you meant that one but I wrote it based on that, hope that’s fine! :) Third, uhhhh you asked for a short fic and I uh well it’s not really all that short so sorry about that.

Category: crack, fluff

1.4k words; Tsukishima never knew you could sing so well

Tsukishima doesn’t really like it when you go out for “Girls’ Night”s all that much. He’s glad you have quality time with your friends and burn off the stress from your work, but he often wonders if bars are the best place. 

It’s probably because of his aversion to alcohol. And drunk people. If you also add in the fact that your favourite venue just so happens to be a karaoke bar, of all things, he would never fathom the idea of stepping a foot into it unless his life was on the line.

And yet, here he is, slipping into the godforsaken place at 11:30 pm on a work night.

His brows immediately crease as a drunk couple makes out right next to the entrance and expertly swerves past them. The place is filled with groups and couples in similar positions, just climbing over each other in their inebriated states without a care for others’ gazes. It’s amazing what alcohol can do and he sincerely hopes you’re being smart about your intake for the night.

That hope is swiftly crushed as you teeter onto the small karaoke stage with the melody of your favourite song blaring in the background. Your face is what could only be described as crimson to the point he can’t tell where your dress ends and your skin starts. You sway a bit on stage like you’re trying to balance yourself on a ship while there’s a tidal wave happening and Tsukishima can practically predict what’s going to happen next.

So he makes his way to you as fast as he can so that you won’t have an embarrassing memory to wake up to tomorrow morning. He doesn’t even understand why you insist on this karaoke bar when there’s a very high chance of you getting drunk and singing in front of literal strangers—and some friends—when you don’t even like singing in front of him. You occasionally hum while lazing around the house but never sang, claiming that your voice was horrible and also unfortunately tone-deaf. There was a stare-down when you said that because if you were actually tone-deaf, then you wouldn’t be nailing every note in your hums. But he let it go because you turned red and pattered off. 

He’s just about there when you finally open your mouth to start singing, and he can’t help to freeze completely on the spot.

Your voice is beyond amazing. 

It rings out loud and clear throughout the room, forcing everyone to direct their attention to you. It’s like they’re entranced at the performance, and they have a very good reason to. It sounds like you’re pouring your heart and soul into this one song, determined to broadcast it to the best of your abilities. And the quality of it means you’ve practised this before. A lot. 

He stands there, speechless and dumbstruck, eyes trained on you until the song slowly fades away. The room explodes with cheers and applauds, and someone chants for an encore. You give a shaky bow with a bright smile and stumble off the stage right into Tsukishima’s awaiting arms. You mutter an apology and try to free yourself from his grasp, but stop struggling as soon as you see his face.

“Tsukki! Wha… watchu you doin’ here? You have the—the thing with the weird bones tomorrow!”

“Yes, I have my work with my museum tomorrow and yet I’m here for you. Come on, let’s go home.”

“Home! Yes, yes, fwoof. Pushy bed. It’s going to eat me!”

“I have literally no idea what you’re saying but I hope you remember this tomorrow so I can have something to embarrass you with. Say goodbye to your friends.” Your arms sway pathetically in the air as you mumble out something which sounds like but is dubiously related to “Bye now! The beddie are waiting me!” You never make sense when you’re drunk.

He holds you steady while you walk back home, careful of your stumbling steps. Just as he’s about to question you about the singing and why you’ve never sung in front of him, you slump onto his side, eyes closed and off to dreamland. Tsukishima sighs in soft exasperation and carries you home, glad that the venue is relatively close to your shared house.

Regaining some semblance of consciousness when he’s unlocking the house, you flail out of his grip and stomp into the house. It seems like you’re going straight to bed but he stops you to remind you of your shoes, makeup, clothes, brushing your teeth and drinking at least five cups of water to avoid a hangover. Thankfully you finish the first four, not without pouting and whispering nonsense the entire time, but tap out after 2 glasses.

Once in bed, you poke your head out from the blanket burrito you constructed yourself and give him a peck on the lips. “Thank you… pointy-nose. I have the bestest giraffe in the world. Nighty night Mr Moon.”

“Yes well, I wish I can say the same if my girlfriend wasn’t drunk half out of her mind, calling me weird nicknames and keeping things from me. Why didn’t you tell me you could sing so well?” You would normally have blushed and squeaked out an explanation, but you’re knocked out again. Tsukishima sighs once more and cages you in his arm, filing the interrogation away in his head for tomorrow morning. He assumes the headache of combined with the embarrassing memories of this night will make it easy for you to tell the truth.

“My head hurts…” This is the first thing that greets Tsukishima when he wakes up. A small whining voice from his chest squiggling around and complaining. “Tsukki… ‘m dying…”

“Humans don’t die that easily. You’re annoyingly tenacious.” That earns a weak slap on the arm. “Fine, let’s wake up. You need to drink some more water and eat something.” You don’t budge at all, so he has to carry you again to the kitchen while you whine about being stolen from warmth and comfort.

After forcing two cups of water and a banana down your throat, Tsukishima focuses on making himself a breakfast at the ungodly time of 5 am. Another annoying habit you have is waking up early after a drink-fest even though literally every other drunk sleeps in.

“Mmm… Thanks. You’re the best…” You mumble out while chewing on another banana, eyes drooping down like you’re about to fall asleep again. “I won’t ever drink that much again, I promise…”

“Oh no, but then how will you gain the confidence to sing in front of strangers when you haven’t ever sung in front of me, your boyfriend? Under the pretence of a ‘bad voice’?” You’re the one that freezes now, like a deer caught in headlights. Your eyes are wide and quaking slightly, to his intense amusement, no doubt trying to remember the events of last night. 

He stares right back, an eyebrow raised as if to say “what kind of an excuse are you going to give?” but in the most unimpressed way possible. Your eyes bounce around to corners of the house while expertly avoiding him, until you finally settle on a decision.

Silence takes over the house. The chair you were sitting on makes a horrible screeching noise as you bolt out of it, hightailing to the bedroom in order to find a hole to crawl into and die in. Just as you’re about to enter, an arm slams right in front of you and effectively cuts you off from escaping this situation. 

Tsukishima traps you in his arms, head leaning down to lightly bump his forehead against yours. “Why didn’t you tell me you could sing so well?” This position is the best when trying to pry information out of you because apparently, being surrounded by his form makes you weak and susceptible. Sure enough, red takes over your face again and stutters spill out.

“I just— I’m just really embarrassed singing in front of you because you told me you don’t like it when people sing along to songs and I— I thought it would bother you! It’s not like I was hiding the fact, it’s more li—” Your further ramblings are cut off as Tsukishima presses his lips to yours for a quick peck.

“It’s fine if it’s you. At least you don’t sound like a monkey howling in the dead of the night, unlike some people.” That earns a laugh out of you and he pulls you back into the kitchen. “Now, let’s see what else you’ve been keeping a secret from me.”

[laprincesaelena]

EOA Ship Appreciation Week Day 5: Meeting/Farewell

a/n: hi guys! thank you all so much for the positive feedback on my day 4 poem, i’m so glad everyone liked it!! as i said, i know every ship wasn’t included, i ended up having enough time to only do the ones that were requested! but, i’d definitely consider making a part 2, so if your ship wasn’t included this time, it may be another time..

anyways, on to day 5! you may notice i included both prompts here instead of just one..you’ll find out why ;) this story is inspired by an au @procrastinateland (s/o for the beautiful art once again!!!) i came up with together, based on the sound of music! but, this fic in particular doesn’t have much to do with the musical you probably know. my obsession besides elena this summer was researching the lives of the real von trapps who inspired the movie and musical, and through it, i found the adorable love story of the parents of the seven children (georg and agathe, maria wasn’t in the picture yet!) that i knew would be so sweet for gabelena. so that’s what this fic is inspired by! quick historical note, the events that this fic portrays happened in real life in 1910 and 1922, but the years have been switched to 1912 and 1930 for the au, since we decided to place our au closer to the movie’s timeline than the real story. also hi please talk to me about the von trapps i’ve been driving my gf crazy with my useless knowledge lmaooo

and that’s about it! hope you all enjoy this, and let me know what you think!

fic is below the cut!

February 10th, 1912

Lieutenant Gabriel Núñez was amazed as he entered the venue of tonight's celebratory ball, Villa Castillo. He had never been inside a home so grand before, he almost felt as if he didn't deserve to be there. But, regardless, he was invited to attend, along with all of his friends from the navy. He couldn't wait to get away from the structure and seriousness of the military for a night, and to just have fun.

This was the first ball Gabe had been invited to since he became a lieutenant, or ever for that matter, and he was loving it. It was hosted by the Castillo Flores family, a rich family whose inventions had earned them quite the fortune over the past century. As more guests began to make their arrivals, Gabe and his friends hung around together, mingling with other guests or testing out a drink or two. Then, the ball was to officially begin with a musical performance by the hosts.

Now, Gabe wasn't much of a believer of love at first sight, but with one glance, his mind was instantly changed. Standing beside her mother and grandparents, ready to perform their opening song, stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and Gabe knew he was in love. Sure, he knew he had no chance with her, as he was just a lieutenant from a humble family of bakers. She was the daughter of a rich family, and most likely the heir to their fortunes. But, there was no harm in trying, right? He knew that at some point tonight, he just had to talk to this beautiful girl.

Elena Castillo Flores, however, was different. She wholeheartedly believed in chance of falling in love at first sight, but she never thought it would happen to her. She had grown up around these balls, her family had been hosting them for as long as she could remember. And being 17, she had met plenty of men who hoped to marry into her family's fortune, but none of them seemed quite right. That was, until she was about to perform with her family.

She looked out into the crowd, and caught the eye of a handsome naval officer. She smiled softly in his direction, but didn't have time to do anything else, before she picked up her guitar, and began to perform alongside her mother and grandparents.

Gabe couldn't help but keep his eye on this girl the entire time she performed. She was a beautiful singer and guitarist, and Gabe loved hearing every word she sang, and each note she strummed. Before he could snap out of his romantic trance, the performance had ended. Gabe looked up to the stage to see if he could approach the girl, but she her family had left the stage, and were out of sight. So, it was back to just talking with his friends for now. Maybe a good laugh or two could keep his mind off of this girl. In between their backgrounds and the chances that she would choose him out of many much more qualified suitors, Gabe had a feeling this crush was bound to end in disappointment. 

Eventually, Gabe stepped away to go and get his mind off things, but as he was walking, he accidentally bumped into someone. He was about to apologize, but when the person he had bumped into turned to look at him, he realized who he had bumped into: the host's daughter.

Finding his voice again, he said, "I-I'm so sorry for bumping into you, I should have been watching where I was going."

Every once in a while, as she sang and played her guitar, Elena would look out at the man she had seen earlier. He was quite handsome, and she couldn't help but notice the way he smiled at her. But, once the performance was over, she wasn't going to go looking for him. She knew it'd probably be hard to find him in such a big group. Besides, he was probably going to turn out to be like any other man she'd met, and would only take interest in the prospect of inheriting her family's money. So, she carried on with her night, accepting that she'd probably never see him again. That was, until someone bumped into her. When she looked at the person she bumped into, she couldn't help but freeze, it was the lieutenant she had seen earlier. He was the one to speak first, which snapped her back into reality.

“Oh no, no, it's okay! You're fine!" she assured him.

"Oh, alright" Gabe said. He mentally hit himself for not saying more than he did, but whenever he looked at her, he was at a loss for words. He could at least introduce himself, he thought, but every time he did, the words would be at the edge of his tongue, and he'd end up saying nothing. But, he was determined not to blow the only chance he'd ever have with her, so, he gathered up his courage to speak to her once again.

Elena too, would be so, so close to saying something, even just introducing herself, but before the words could come out, she'd freeze. She so desperately wanted to get to know him better, and she knew the only way to do so was to just say something. But, luckily for her, he said something first.

"This has been a wonderful ball so far." Gabe finally said.

"Oh, well, thank you.." Elena replied with a smile. "I'm glad you're enjoying it so far."

"I am" Gabe said, returning the smile. Finally, he decided, he was actually going to introduce himself. "I'm Lieutenant Gabriel Núñez," he said. "but you can call me Gabe."

Elena quietly sighed with relief, she was glad he introduced himself first, it gave her the confidence to do the same. "I'm Elena Castillo Flores," she introduced. "but you can just call me Elena."

"It's very nice to meet you, miss Elena," Gabe replied, with a bow of his head to her.

"It's very nice to meet you too, lieutenant," Elena responded. "Oh, I mean Gabe, it's nice to meet you too, Gabe." she added, and shook her head at herself. Hopefully she didn't blow her chance with him right then and there.

Gabe smiled and laughed softly, he couldn't help but fall deeper in love with the girl the longer he talked to her. He had managed to find her, talk to her, and introduce himself, but there was one more step with her he wanted to take.

"I hope this isn't too soon, but would you like to dance?" he asked.

Elena's face now lit up with a smile, it most certainly wasn't too soon, she was so excited he asked her to dance with him! She nodded, and held out her hand to him. "I would love to dance," she said.

Gabe took her hand with a smile, and lead her to the center of the ballroom. With one of his hands tightly in the grasp of hers, his other hand wrapped around her waist, the two began their first dance.

As the pair glided effortlessly across the floor, Elena still couldn't believe that this was happening. How did she ever get so lucky? But, she also knew that there was a possibility that he might have happened to only attend this ball, and she may never see him again. She truly hoped this wasn't the case, she wanted to get to know him better and spend more time with him, because she knew for a fact she was falling in love.

Gabe could barely believe this was happening either. This beautiful girl had really said agreed to dance with him, and now they were actually dancing? Gabe truly hoped that he wasn't dreaming, for he never wanted to wake up. He wanted this dance to last forever, so he would never have to say goodbye to Elena, and go back to living his life without her in it. There was hardly a chance he would see her again after the ball ended, but he kept a glimmer of hope that tonight was not their final encounter.

Elena wasn't paying attention to anything else around her, for all that mattered to her now was that she was actually dancing with Gabe! She planned to dance with him for the entire night, if it meant she'd be able to spend as much time as possible with him. She knew that once the ball ended, there was a high possibility of her never seeing him again. So, she was going to make sure to spend as much time with him as she possibly could, while she had the opportunity.

After a couple of hours of guests talking, eating, drinking, and dancing the night away, the ballroom began to empty out a bit. Elena brought Gabe outside to a balcony, so she'd be able to talk with him and get to know him better without any sort of distraction.

"So, being a lieutenant, I'm assuming you're in the military, the... navy, correct?" she asked him, to start some conversation.

"Yes," Gabe answered. "I joined as soon as I was able, I've always wanted to be a part of the navy. My parents, especially my father, aren't too happy I chose this path instead of joining their baking business, but this is what I really wanted to do."

"Oh, your parents have a baking business?" Elena asked him. "Not too much of a baker, are you?" she joked.

"No," Gabe replied. "and I'm not much of an olaball player either, to the dismay of my father."

"It certainly seems as if your father isn't too thrilled with your life choices... but do you love what you do?" Elena asked.

"Yes, I do." Gabe responded with a smile. "Besides, if I hadn't made the decision to go against his wishes and join the navy, I probably wouldn't be talking to you right now."

Elena smiled as she felt her cheeks warm up at his sweet response. She was so, so glad that Gabe decided to follow his own path in life instead of listening to his father, because if he didn't, they may have never met.

"Well, I guess you're right," she said. "and I'm glad that you're doing something that you love, that's what should really matter."

Gabe nodded in agreement. "What's your family like?" he asked.

"Well, there's me, my mother, my younger sister, my grandparents," Elena answered. "we're all pretty close, and we love to make music together."

"I can tell, you and your family sounded amazing tonight," Gabe said. "and not to be biased, but I think I liked your singing the most."

Elena smiled, and put a hand to her cheek, she was definitely blushing now. "Thank you," she said. "but I wouldn't say I'm the best of them, they're all very talented.."

"I would," Gabe responded, and reached down to take her hand in his own.

"Well, thank you.." Elena replied, holding Gabe's hand tightly back. "and I may be biased, but I'd say you're my favorite lieutenant, because I totally know all the others." she said.

Elena laughed nervously for a moment after that attempt at flirting. 'what was that, Elena?' she asked herself.

"Thank you," Gabe said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Elena responded, a similar smile never leaving her face.

"So, what do you like to do other than make music?" Gabe asked her.

"I love just getting out with my family most times, of course. We'll go on hikes, go sailing, go to one of our vacation homes or visit someone else in our family's home, we're always somewhere or doing something." Elena told him. "How about you?" she asked.

"I like fencing," Gabe replied. "We sometimes have competitions between my friends and I, and not to brag, but I usually win."

"I'm sure you do," Elena responded, definitely believing him. "and I'd love to learn to fence sometime, it actually looks pretty fun!"

"Well, I'd be happy to teach you," Gabe offered. "I'm sure it'd be considered "unladylike," but if it was just us, it wouldn't really matter."

"What my mother and grandparents don't know won't kill them," Elena replied with a wink. "I'd love for you to teach me sometime!"

"I'd be more than happy to teach you," Gabe responded.

"And hopefully you can sometime," Elena said, before sighing as she remembered the reason why she was so hesitant to find him in the first place. The chances of the two reuniting were slim to none. "I hope we see each other again..."

"Me too..." Gabe replied, looking down with a sigh as well. "Maybe we could write to each other? To keep in contact?" he suggested.

"I'd love that." Elena said, smiling once again at the thought of it. "We definitely should."

Gabe smiled. "Alright," he said. "I'll give you my address."

"And I'll give you mine as well, which is right here, but I'll still write it down so you'll always have it" Elena said.

"Thank you," Gabe replied. "I look forward to writing to you, and seeing you again, Miss Elena."

"And I look forward to writing and seeing you again as well, Lieutenant Núñez." Elena responded with a smile.

Gabe laughed a bit and rolled his eyes, but still smiled. "Please, you can just call me Gabe," he said.

"And you can just call me Elena," Elena insisted. "No 'miss' necessary"

"Alright then, Elena it is." Gabe said, smiling over at her.

"And Gabe it is." Elena replied, sharing the same, loving smile.

At that moment, the both of them knew that they had met the love of their life. Though they'd have a difficult road ahead, in between having to communicate with letters for a while or with Gabe often traveling with the navy, they were determined to make it work. Gabe was not going to let his beautiful Elena go, and Elena knew that tonight she had met the man she was going to marry. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together, no matter what.

September 3rd, 1930

On Christmas night of 1929, Gabe and Elena's oldest daughter began to feel unwell. It was simply strep throat, they were told, she should recover in a matter of days. But, by the time eleven year old Catalina had recovered, five of her seven siblings had fallen ill as well. The sudden illness turned out not to be a simple case of strep throat, but the highly contagious scarlet fever, which was currently spreading through the city.

Of course, Elena was always there to care for her children, even if she was risking contracting the illness herself. For the next few weeks, she was constantly visiting her children and checking in on them, while still trying to stay healthy herself. But, when her youngest daughter, Martina, who wasn't even a year old yet, came down with a severe case, Elena had no choice but to step in and care for her, twenty four-seven.

By the end of January, Elena's caring and motherly nature had led her to catching scarlet fever herself. In children, the illness tended to be fairly mild, but in adults, it could often leave behind serious side effects. Gabe knew this, and insisted that his wife take the time to rest in order to recover. But, Elena insisted that her children came first, wanting to be there for each and every one of them as they recovered.

But, even when all seven children were happy and healthy once again, Elena's symptoms had not subsided. Now, she could rest and recover with a sound mind, knowing that her children would be alright without her for a couple of days. Those couple of days turned into weeks, those weeks into months, and by the end of August, Elena still had a long road to recovery. She was now bound to a wheelchair, she would have to learn to walk all over again due to the toll the illness had taken on her body. She still tried to spend as much time as possible with her children, and be the happy, loving, and healthy mamí they had always known. But, deep down, she knew if scarlet fever had already taken so much from her, it could continue to do so.

Over the next week, Elena's condition quickly deteriorated, and it seemed as if only a miracle could heal her. Gabe had visited his wife each and every day for the duration of her sickness, but for the past day or two, he hadn't left her side at all. He knew that at any time, her condition could take a turn for the absolute worst, and he didn't want to take the chance of not having a chance to say goodbye. While Gabe tried his best to stay somewhat positive, and hope that his wife would miraculously recover, he knew Elena's time left was short.

Gabe's eyes were heavy as he sat at his wife's bedside, having stayed awake the entire night with her. He held Elena's hand tightly in his, even though Elena barely had the strength left to hold his. It broke his heart to see his wife in this condition, he would do absolutely anything to bring back the bright light of his life that was Elena.

Gabe's heart would sink as he noticed his wife's breathing become labored. He had been mentally preparing himself for the worst, just in case, but he knew that no matter how much he had prepared, he would never be ready if that moment arrived. He felt the slightest bit of relief when he noticed Elena slowly turn her head to look over at him, using all of her strength to do so.

"Elena.." he began to say, even saying her name brought tears to his eyes. But before he could say anything else, his wife managed to speak up.

"Gabe.." she said, her voice in a whisper. "Please..tell our children how much I love them.."

"Elena, no..no, don't talk like that.." Gabe said to her. Though he was trying to preserve his wife's positivity, he was also in denial about all this.

"Tell each and every one of them..each and every day..how much I love them.." Elena said. "And that I'll always be with them.."

Gabe held Elena's hand tight as he fought to hold back his tears, but even then, a tear or two would manage to fall down his cheek. He looked over at his wife, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, even with a scarlet red rash covering her cheeks, and her hair sticking to her fevered forehead. If it were possible, he would do anything to end all of her pain and suffering, but he knew that at this point, there was only one option for that.

Trying to clear his mind of these thoughts, Gabe nodded. "Of course I will.. I promise.." he said.

Elena smiled as best as she could, but to Gabe, it was the brightest smile he had seen out of her in a while. "Thank you.." she said. "A-and I love you..so, so much.."

"I love you too.." Gabe replied, and leaned down to kiss his wife. Thankfully, Elena was no longer contagious, but even if she was, Gabe would take that chance if it meant kissing his beloved Elena one last time.

Then, it looked as if Elena were about to speak, but she was unable to get any word out. Finally, a moment later, she managed to say, "And.."

Gabe patiently waited as his wife struggled to say a second word. He would wait for as long as it took her, he'd take any opportunity to hear the voice he loved so much.

"I'm..a-always.." Elena said, now needing to take multiple labored breaths between each word. Though it was a struggle, Elena managed to complete her sentence.

"I'm always with you.."

A moment later, after months and months of fighting to recover, Elena's body gave in, and her eyes slowly closed.

Gabe could feel his wife's grip on his hand loosen, and his heart immediately dropped. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose her.

"Elena? Elena! Elena, no! Mi amor, please!" Gabe desperately cried, hoping that his wife's beautiful brown eyes would open again. But no matter how many times he called her name, they remained peacefully closed, as her body grew paler.

Now, Gabe's denial began to truly set in. He lightly shook her, he held her hand tight, he kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her lips, all in an effort to wake her, even though deep down, he knew that his efforts were in vain. Finally, it all became too much for him, and Gabe just broke down. he couldn't picture his life without Elena, he never thought everything would end this way.

He thought of his wife, she had so much more to live for. she was a loving wife, a caring mother, his best friend. Then he pictured their seven children, who would now be growing up without their mother. He thought of their identical twins, though they were already quite different, they shared a similarity, devotion to their family. Catalina and Carolina absolutely adored their mother, and looked up to her, along with being her best friends. He thought of Luis, their oldest son, he was a mamí's boy. He loved cuddling up with his mother and listen to her play guitar, he wanted to learn from her one day. He thought of their youngest son, Marcelo, their bundle of energy, who sometimes even Elena couldn't keep up with. He thought of Luciana and Adelina, aged only five and two, who would be too little to understand why their mamí had suddenly disappeared. And finally, he thought of Martina, their baby girl who would grow up without a mother. She would never get know her mamí, or even remember her. In fact, he didn't know if any of their younger children would be able to remember their mother.

Gabe found himself growing a bit dizzy, since this all seemed like he was living a nightmare. His hands shook as he held Elena's tightly in his own, and his vision was blurred from his tears.

As his final moments with Elena played over and over in his head, he was reminded of his wife's dying wish. To remind each and every one of their children each and every day how much their mamí loves them. If Elena could see him now, she'd hate to see him this distraught. She'd encourage him to keep his head up and stay strong, but how could he ever move on in life without his Elena? His children. He knew he needed to stay strong and carry on for them. Though, of course, carrying on could take weeks, months, or even years, Elena would want him to be happy. But most of all, she'd want her children to be happy and loved as well.

So, then and there, Gabe dedicated himself to fulfilling Elena's wish. For the rest of his life, he would make sure his children are happy, healthy, and loved, just as Elena would do. Though it would be difficult to carry on without her, the Núñez Castillos still had each other, and that's what matters most.

[may-shepard]

Supernatural and Me, Painting With What I Hope Will Be Gradually Increasing Skill 1x01: The Pilot

In celebration of This Thing That Is Happening I’m watching Supernatural from the beginning. I’m a bit of a completist when it comes to media so I will very probably watch every episode, which means it’ll be sometime next year before I get to the glorious ending but heyyyyyy tv shows are forever. 

Remember when, unless something went into syndication or ended up in reruns, you could never see it again? Remember enjoying stuff and having no ability to rewatch, and never, ever, being able to obsessively rewatch or start anytime or decide what time of day was convenient for you to watch? When the only things on at 4pm were Sesame Street and Oprah?

Me neither.

This is going to seem like a total nonsequitur but recently I’ve become aware that (1) I have too many home projects to do and (2) I have been skimping of self care and R&R and (3) one of those projects involves teaching myself how to paint petrykivka, because I’ve always wanted a kitchen that looks like this:

Okay, not exactly like this because I have modern appliances and my city bylaws wouldn’t support the use of a woodstove no matter how aesthetically awesome it is but I totally have ambitions to paint my kitchen cupboards in a much less accomplished version of this style.

I have no artistic training but there are loads of tutorials on this online and I’m willing to paint my way through as many episodes of Supernatural as I need to in order to feel like I’m not going to totally fuck up this fun project so WHEEE and also fair warning: if you don’t want to watch a non-artist struggle with basic concepts for a longass time, maybe look away. Also if you don’t want to watch a previous not-viewer of Supernatural watch it from the beginning, well, you’d best also look away.

Also fair warning: I’m a horror fan, and since we’re in horror territory I’ll probably talk about horror tropes a bit. I’ve got an academic background that includes writing about Victorian horror lit so I’ve got a high tolerance for the representation of masculinity in pop culture and I also think it’s hilarious, so I might make some fun of the show, but just know that it’s all in the name of enjoying it. If that perspective isn’t your cup of tea, you know what to do.

Anyway here’s Supernatural s1e1: The Pilot. For painting, I’m going work on the brush loading and stroke technique from the first five minutes of this handy tutorial which won’t embed for some reason.

THE PILOT

I have many favourite moments so far but I think my absolute fav is the high male doofery of John hearing Mary scream, run upstairs to see what is up, find baby boy child Sam comfortably tucked away in his crib, and forget completely about Mary or whatever is up with her (HA! see what I did there?) until her blood literally starts dripping onto their son. Lol 100% realistic in my opinion, this is what happens in the male brain when a woman has a genuine problem.

I’m fine, by the way.

12 minutes in: oho! a highway that eats men. I approve.

15 minutes: oho! a Victorian ghost lady in her Victorian ghost underwear who eats men. I APPROVE. [Later note she’s not Victorian but her underwear kind of it? I continue to be confused by this.] I love that she glitches like a bad VCR tape and this driver dude doesn’t blink, hahahaha.

Something I really enjoy--and I mean genuinely enjoy--about horror-esque media made by and for men is that male sexual anxiety as a driver for monsters of the week makes for incredibly powerful female monsters, like, I know this one will probably be defeated but I am all for her apparently enormous sexual appetite, demand for compliments, perfect mid-2000s eyeliner, and relentlessness. also like lolol don’t be led by your dick bro, I once knew a guy who got a bird thrown at his face and then ghost-eaten is a message for the ages.

Can I say I am really looking forward to watching this whole deal become increasingly gay, like, what a treat.

Also ayyyy non-recurring goth gf:

And non-recurring goth gf gf:

Can someone please point me to the fic where these two solve supernatural occurrences through vaguely Satanic practices? I headcanon that they’ll exorcise your house by infesting it with a larger, more powerful, but somewhat more polite demonic entity than the one you’ve already got. Problem solved!

Today’s palette has been determined by the abundance of mismatched colours I have left over from various stencil projects, most of which I have yet to complete. In any case I’ve got some nice acrylic paint but for practicing brush strokes this old chalk paint will maybe do (spoiler: it smelled bad and it did not do, but I got at least one hilarious piece of art from it, see below). Today I’m working in indigo, pepto bismol, and gold. 

Petrykivka paint strokes are charmingly simple until you try to do them. Today I’m practicing with one colour at a time, and then mixing. (This video explains the different strokes.)

To be fair, this paint is very thick and crappy, so the struggle is real, lol.

I mean the victims are all men, this is quite a fantasy yeah? like, WhAt if thErE wAs a GHost wHo eNDANGered the MenS??? 

Like, Dean searches for this:

And he gets this:

Hahaha ao3 tags: extreme AU, on what planet? not this one

“Sooner or later you’re going to have to face up to who you really are” oh Dean.

Like though the ghost lady supposedly died in 1981...maybe her whalebone corset killed her? Anyway she drives the Impala for a bit, so like, steals the symbolic penis of the male protagonists, lol. Good times, you go ghost lady.

38 mins? Rapey ghost is rapey. Uncool, lady ghost. Very uncool. Also I think you might have a plumbing problem. Okay a pretty serious plumbing problem. I like the effects as the ghost kids flush her (and themselves, I guess) down the spiritual toilet. Nice work.

44m from a previous viewing attempt I have a vague recollection of being somewhat attached to Jessica, and Jessica in her smurf pjs, and then being just a little disappointed by the end of the pilot and here we are...hooboy

Is it Sam? Is it Sam’s psychic Need for Adventure that is slashing the midriffs of these women and sticking them to the ceiling? Was it so intense that it manifested practically the moment he popped from the womb?

Please enjoy my half arsed brush stroke techniques that I practiced on this terrible portrait of Jessica and / or maybe Mary but probably Jessica. I didn’t want to use as much orange and yellow as I would have needed to do flames around her so I did a bunch of flowers instead lol.

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - How A Star Is Born. ch.VI

A Hercules AU, founded by @evaroze, whom this fic is a gift for. I hope y’all like it!

ch.V - ch.VII

AO3 link

~~~~~~~~~~

The little sailboat gently glided along the river that would eventually pool into the sea. There, just as the river touched the vast salty body of water, there was a harbor that began the huge troublesome town of Thebes.

“Wow,” Dipper awed as he tied up the boat. “Is that all one town?”

“One town, a million troubles.” Stan quipped as he walked along the dock and his student hurried to catch up. “The Big Olive herself: Thebes. They say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”

“Cool!” Dipper said as they entered the city. Never before had the farmboy seen so many temples and buildings clumped together, so many people in one place, so many speeding carts and horses and stray cats and the occasional mice that kept the cats fat and happy.

“Stick with me, kid,” Stan warned as they stopped with a group of people waiting to cross the street. “This place is dangerous.”

The horse-pulled carts came to a stop and some guy turned a red-hand vase so it showed a green walking man. They began to cross, but one cart sped by them and Stan had to dive on top of Dipper to push them both out of the way in time.

“Watch where you’re doing!”

“HEY I’M WALKING HERE!” Stan screamed back and made a rude gesture and he got up from Dipper, somehow miraculously getting a slight hint of a Latin accent. “See what I mean? Knuckleheads, all of them.”

“Then you should feel right at home.” Dipper sneered playfully, earning him a firm punch on the shoulder as they walked on.

A few minutes into town, after passing a shady conman that Stan saw right-through, a cute lady at a corner asking if anyone was wanting a good time, and a naked guy singing about accepting yourself, loving yourself, while waving around a dead chicken, the two men walked up to a fountain, taking notice of a group of people talking woefully.

“It was horrible.” A whiny troll-looking guy said as he rinsed his cap into the fountain, trying to get the soot off his clothes. “I lost everything in the fire. All of my beautiful vases and stone tablets.”

“Now were the fires before or after the earthquakes?” A big red-haired guy asked.

“They were after the fires.” A red-haired girl a few years older than Dipper answered with. “But before the flood.”

“Not to mention the crime-rate.” A skinny guy with a small mustache added in. “Seems every time I turn around, there’s some new monster running havoc!”

“1220 has got to be the worst year I’ve ever heard of.” The red-haired woman said as she kicked a rock harshly and crossed her arms over her chest. “Can’t we just move to Sparta, Dad?”

The entire time the locals were complaining, Stan was elbowing Dipper encouragingly and gesturing for him to go ahead. Dipper cleared his throat and said, “Excuse me.” When all the eyes were on him, he felt a little nervous, but he went ahead. “It seems to me that what you need is a hero.” He said confidently and puffed his chest out with his hands on his hips.

The crowd did not look impressed. “Yeah,” The big guy snorted. “And who are you?”

“Um, I’m Dipper.” The young man said, trying to keep his confidence up, but was failing. “But I happen to be a hero, and…”

The four laughed at him and Stan narrowed his eyes as the townsfolk had their doubts if this young man could possibly help them.

“Have you ever saved a town before?” The small troll-like man asked.

“Uh… n-no, not yet…”

“Or reversed a natural disaster?” The big guy asked.

“Uh… n-n-no, but…”

“Ugh,” The red-haired woman groaned. “He’s just another chariot chaser.”

“Don’t you knuckleheads get it!” Stan yelled, placing a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “This kid’s the genuine article!”

The little ugly man narrowed his eyes and adjusted his thick glasses to get a good look at the old man. “Hey… isn’t that the fallen god that trained Achelles?”

Stan’s whole face turned red and he began to shake with anger. “Watch it, pal.” He growled like an angry dog.

“Stan…”

“Hey, you’re right, Toby.” The big guy said and laughed harshly. “Oh boy! I needed this! Some amateur hero trained by the worst god of existence!”

Stan let go of Dipper and began cracking his knuckles. “You wanna go, buddy, c’mon…”

“Stan, Stan!” Dipper had to use his god-like strength to hold his teacher back as it looked like he was going to pounce on the big guy who looked like he could rip a tree out from the ground if he wanted to. “He’s not worth it, let’s just go.”

Stan, still growing, allowed Dipper to lead him to a large set of stairs while the four walked away. Soon Stan swatted Dipper’s hands off of him and they sat to try to think.

Dipper, meanwhile, was thinking about what that guy had said. A fallen god? That may very well have only been a cheap insult for the Trainer of Heroes, but Dipper had first-hand experience in the matter. Gods can fall. Was it possible that someone who had practically raised him and trained him to be a hero so he could be a god again knew exactly what it felt like to be someone you’re not?

“Stan, wh-what those guys were saying…”

“Listen, kid,” Stan said tiredly and held his head. ���You’re gonna hear some really bad stuff about me in this town, and some of it is true, but I need you to trust that everything I’ve ever done has been so that family sticks together, okay? I’m gonna get you to your twin, okay? I’m gonna help you become a true hero if it’s the last thing I do, okay? All I ask is that you trust me. Please.” And he looked up at the teenager heavily.

Dipper swallowed as he saw a million and one emotions in his eyes. After everything this guy has done for him and planned to do for him, Dipper decided that trusting him was the least he could do, so the younger of the two nodded, but their moment was interrupted by a cry for help.

“Help! Help, please! Help!”

“Pacifica?” Dipper muttered as he saw a lush amount of blonde hair try to make its way through the crowd. “Pacifica!” He stood and hurried to her as her eyes lit up at the sight of him and hurried.

“Wonderboy… Dipper, thank goodness! Outside of town, by the sea, this little boy was playing and there was a horrible rockslide! He’s trapped!”

“Quick, show me where he’s at!”

Pacifica grabbed Dipper’s hand, making his whole face turn red, and she led the way through town back towards the sea, north of the harbor and just below a mountain that led to Thebes’ Temple of the Gods. Stan quickly followed behind them and a few townsfolk decided to keep an eye for entertainment purposes mostly.

On the damp sand there was a rocky wall side from where the tide often comes in and forms a wall, separating the town from the ocean. Dipper could hear a boy’s cries coming from behind a rock and he hurried across the beach, leaving Pacifica, Stan, and the townsfolk on the sidewalk.

“Help! I can’t breathe!” The boy coughed and desperately pleaded, “Somebody call I-X-I-I!”

Dipper stood by the big boulder and said calmly, “Don’t worry, I’m gonna get you out.”

“Hurry, please!”

Dipper looked up at the giant boulder and took in a deep breath. This rock was huge, one of the biggest things he had ever had to lift, but if he could accidentally destroy half of his hometown, he can lift a boulder. Right?

He grabbed on from the bottom and struggled for a moment, but with gritted, deep breaths, and sheer determination (Stan’s calls of encouragement also helped tremendously), Dipper was able to slowly lift the boulder up from the tiny cave in which the white haired boy was trapped behind.

The boy ran out quickly and Dipper asked in a strained voice, “Y-You okay?”

“Yeah… J-Jeepers, mister.” The boy awed. “You’re really strong!”

Dipper smiled and said after he threw the boulder into the ocean, “Just try to be a little more careful, okay?”

“I sure will!” The boy replied as he ran off into the town.

Stan cheered and hollered, only stopping when he was coughing and he bent over a little to cough sharply into his fist. The townsfolk gave a small applause for him, only a little impressed, as the boy climbed up the side of the mountain and went into the mouth of a large cave, where he was met with Bill in his throne, sipping on live worms, and Pacifica, who sat with her legs dangling over the edge.

“Jeepers? Mister?” Pacifica sneered.

“I was going for innocence.” Gideon said as she changed back into his older self and sat next to Pacifica to watch the show.

“You both did good.” Bill said coldly. “I was really moved by your performances. Great opening act.”

Meanwhile, Stan was at Dipper’s side and patted him hardly on the back. “Great job, kid! They even applauded! Sorta, but still!”

Dipper heard something and turned to look out at the dark and dreary sea. Bubbles. “I-I don’t think that’s applause, Stan.”

Stan looked out at the ocean and saw a shadow form under the bubbles, and soon they were shocked to find a big green head emerge from the water with sharp teeth and small eyes, followed by a long neck and a fat body, the monster roaring like a horrible siren.

“St-Stan! What the heck is that!?” Dipper asked his mentor.

“The Gobblewonker!” Stan yelled as he pointed at the monster. He pulled out Dipper’s sword from his scabbard, put it in his hand, and ran back to the screaming crowd for safety.

“Let’s get ready to rumble!” Gideon cheered and Bill snapped his fingers to make a ringing bell appeared.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ford and Mabel were sitting on the front steps of their temple, having tea, as the young muse happily chatted and the aged god happily listened, but they were interrupted by Fiddleford’s wind-breaking running as he hurried up to his dearest friends and was short of breath.

“St-St-Stanford! It’s Mason! He’s battlin’ the Gobblewonker on the beach o’Thebes!”

Ford choked on his tea and had to spit it out. “WHAT?!”

Mabel punched the air. “Alright! He can take down that big dummy! I wanna see him do it!” And the young muse got up and started to run out of Olympus.

“Wait!” Ford called as he and his best friend ran after her. “Mabel, wait!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper slowly watched as the Gobblewonker’s neck positioned itself for attack, like an angry snake. This was no different than those garden snakes at the orphanage, right? The monster attempted to strike, but Dipper dodged swiftly on the beach. Again, and another dodge. Again, another dodge.

“That’s it,” Stan coached. “That’s it, kid, dance around, look for an opening.”

The Gobblewonker struck again, digging it’s sharp teeth into the sand, and Dipper was almost hit, but managed to spit out some sand and stand strong, unfortunately realizing a second too late that his sword was no longer in his hand, but lying behind him. Now having to multitask running the opposite direction and dodging a monster, as if this battle wasn’t difficult enough.

To distract it and buy some time, Dipper used his super strength and threw a huge rock at the Gobblewonker, who crushed it in his jaws while Dipper retrieved his weapon. He stood proud and ready to strike, but in one instant the monster engulfed the hero in it’s mouth and held its head up high to swallow Dipper like he was a pill.

Pacifica held her throat and cringed as the Gobblewonker licked his chops, but soon it was wincing, like it was in pain, and a gruesome scene of Dipper cutting the monster’s neck from the inside appeared before the audience and the Gobblewonker’s head and half its neck flew into the ocean, leaving red in the water and on his body.

“YES! THAT’S MY BOY, THAT’S MY BOY!” Stan cheered as the Gobblewonker’s body fell onto the beach with a loud splash and the dizzy hero fell to his knees. Stan was right by Dipper’s side and helped him up, lightly tapping his face. “Good job, kid, good job. C’mon, let’s getcha cleaned up.” And the old man helped his student get on his feet and shake away his dizziness from the acid that had been in the neck.

Up in the cave, Bill was turning red and shaking. Pacifica smiled, ready to see Gideon be burned to a crisp, but the young man was still, miraculously, perfectly calm.

“Gideon, your plan…”

“Bill, Bill buddy, relax.” Gideon rested his hands behind his neck as rain started to trickle down on the mortal world. “It’s only half time.”

The Gobblewonker’s body twitched behind the two men. They both turned and were very disturbed to find it standing up on its own and suddenly three heads emerged from the opened neck, ready to attack the hero again.

“HOLY HERA!” Stan yelled and ran aside to give the hero his chance.

Dipper backed away until his back was against the rocks, smiling. “Ha! You’re trapped in water, huh?”

The three-headed-Gobblewonker must have understood the young man and decided to prove him wrong, because the sea monsters climbed up out of the water and onto the same to better attack the human.

“Oh, jeez.” Dipper groaned before letting instincts take over and he chopped an incoming head off to dodge and get out of being cornered against the rocky wall.

Dipper allowed his adrenaline to take over and soon he was swinging at anything that came towards him. This, of course, was a bad idea and soon Dipper stood with his back to the sea at a thirty-headed-Gobblewonker, bigger and meaner and more powerful than ever before.

“WILL YOU FORGET THE HEAD-SLICING THING?!” Stan yelled from the sidelines.

Dipper swallowed as a clawed-flipper scooped him up and pinned him against the mountain side, all thirty heads getting closer and closer and ready to rip him apart limb from limb.

“C’mon, kid!” Stan cheered. “Use that big head of yours! C’mon!”

Dipper did some quick thinking, looking up at the mountain, and without a second to lose, he pounded his combined fists against the mountain on his left side, causing an avalanche. One by one the heads were crushed and more red stained the rainy beach, leaving only a fisted-up claw in the clear, unnoticed by the audience.

“NO!” Stan screamed and hurried to the rockpile. “C’mon, c’mon kid, stay with me. Stay with me!” The old man fell to his knees and started to move rocks out of the way, trying to find his student. “No, no, no! Please!”

Meanwhile, Gideon and Bill were smiling twisted smiles. “Hm, nice job, kiddo.” Bill said to Gideon. “You’ve redeemed yourself.”

“Told you it would work.” Gideon said calmly.

Pacifica looked down at the old man trying to get the young hero back with sad blue eyes.

“I… I can’t…” Stan panted under his breath. “I can’t lose…” But then he heard something that made him stop digging.

The fist was wiggling, finally noticed. The townsfolk were worried it was the Gobblewonker, still alive, and Stan stood ready to die trying to kill the monster that took his kid away, but everyone who was watching was beyond surprised to find Dipper priding the monster’s dead fingers off of him and standing tiredly with his clothes in rags.

Cheer erupted, everyone deaf to the yells of anger from Bill and the yells of pain from Gideon, or the dark cloud that appeared by the small cave as the three vanished.

The townsfolk yelled and celebrated and ran down to Dipper and Stan, but Stan was the first to congratulate the new hero, holding him in his arms and giving him noogies and yelling to the top of his lungs. “YOU DID IT, KID! YOU WON BY A LANDSLIDE! HAHA!”

And there, up in the dark rainy clouds, Fiddleford danced with Mabel cheerfully for Dipper’s first victory, leaving Ford standing there, mouth open, speechless with pride. “I… I can’t believe it… my boy… he…”

“I told you!” Mabel cheered and punched her uncle on the shoulder. “I was right, you were wrong! Looks like somebody has to sing the Ford Was Wrong Song!”

Ford chuckled and smiled down proudly at his nephew, who was now being carried away by the other humans. To congratulate him, Ford threw down joyous lightning bolts to dance among the jubilant rain.

Dipper caught the lightning striking the ocean and he smiled to himself, daring to believe that his family might be proud of him.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the Underworld, Gideon was on his hands and knees, weak from pain and whimpering. This was the fifth time he was being punished, and Bill wasn’t done. The young white-haired man looked up at his boss and pleaded. “Bill, I…”

With a snap of the triangle’s fingers, Gideon’s tongue burst into flame and the teenager cried out and clawed at his mouth. Bill glared maliciously as he snapped his fingers again and Gideon’s whole body was suffocated in flames. Again.

Soon a sad pile of burning flesh was at Bill’s feet slowly healing again. “First you couldn’t even turn both twins into mortals. Then the one left mortal you let live. And now he lives and kills off one of my most powerful allies for taking this dimension!” Bill snapped his fingers again, burning Gideon alive again, sentencing him to pain that would kill a mortal.

Halfway through healing again, Gideon whimpered through tears, “I can still kill him. He’s still mortal. He got lucky.”

“You better.” Bill said coldly. “You’ve got one year to kill Pinetree, and every time you fail, I’ll kill you again until either he’s dead or you wish you could stay dead.” And the triangle left his minion alone to cry on the floor and think of how he was going to kill the man destined to defeat Bill.

[skywalkerbc]

Mads’ massive bellarke rec (pt.1)

So I’ve been asked a couple times to make a bellarke fanfiction rec list so here it is! (Okay so I realised that I had way too many bc our fandom is filled with so many talented authors so even though this is actually massive, there will be several parts)

(Also- I don’t know everyone’s tumblrs so if you know any of these author’s tumblr accounts, please lmk so I can link them properly!)

In no particular order, here are some of my all time fav blarke fics:

~

MODERN-VERSE AUS

I dreamed you a sin (and a lie) by monroeslittle

“If I do this,” Blake said, “how are you imagining it’s going to work? I can’t just knock on his door, and say I want in again. It’s been eleven years. And even before I left, I never cared about the business. Do you have a plan? You say you want me to open the door for an agent. How? What’s that mean?”

“You’re going to get in touch with your grandfather again at your wedding,” Clarke said.

He stared.

“I hope you don’t have a girlfriend, Mr. Blake.”

fake!married AU. Clarke's in the FBI, Bellamy's the grandson of a mobster, and they've got to work together.

~

Lines in the Sand by @fen-ha-fuck-you

“You looked like you were gonna hurl when you got up,” Raven said, pausing for a moment. “I’m not sure this is better.”

Clarke shook her head minutely, finally looking up at herself in the mirror. She quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen. She hadn’t even noticed. “I’m fine.”

“No,” Raven replied, her eyebrows scrunching together. “You’re not.”

“I just… had a little too much to drink. That’s all.”

“That why you’re strangling that poor sink?”

~

i’m not asking much of you by emmylou

When Clarke gets invited to her ex's wedding- her CHEATING ex's wedding- she knows she can't go alone. She's not dating anyone, so she has to find a boyfriend, real or fake, fast. Luckily, Octavia knows just the guy.

~

I’d Promise You Everything (But I’m Not Sure How Much Good There Is In That) by @talistheintrovert

Bellamy has never been a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but Clarke outright hates it. Her father died at the start of February when she was in high school, she found out her first boyfriend was cheating on her two weeks later, and then almost exactly a year after that, her girlfriend dumped her to travel around Asia.

But now they're in their 20s and Bellamy finally admitted that he loved her a few months ago. He knows this is the real thing and he absolutely knows that she feels the same way, but he also knows how miserable Clarke gets around Valentine's, and he's determined to cheer her up this time.

~

hold me in your beating heart by amberwoods

He’d got out of bed and walked to the nursery to console his youngest child. When he’d been shushing and cradling her for about twenty minutes, he noticed a silhouette hovering in the door opening. Clarke.

“I’ve got her,” he’d said softly, his voice rough with sleep, “Go back to bed.”

She just stood there. When he took a closer look, he noticed she had a strange expression on her face. She was looking at Madi.

“Clarke?” he asked carefully.

~

And There’s a Hand My Trusty Friend by Who_Needs_Reality

He sighs dramatically. “Can’t believe you’re not gonna let me kiss you until next year.” That sends a sudden, sharp jolt of sadness through Clarke, the realisation that they’re going to be spending another day spent pretending that she’s not his; it means ushering in their first year together… by, well, not being together.

Or, {NYE fluff where Bellamy and Clarke are together, but since they're keeping it a secret from their friends, they run into an unforeseen complication.}

~

A Little Bit of Something (God, It’s Better Than Nothing) by @grumpybell

“-Clarke.” He sounds alarmed, suddenly, none of the casual, arrogant, amusement that had been in his voice moments before. “What?” “Why is your mom calling me?” “Shit. Don't answer that. Listen, okay. She and I kind of got into an argument today-” “-what else is new?” “Shut up. Anyway, she told me she's getting married and there was just so much subtext about my failure at relationships and my lack of love life, and I might have told her I'm engaged too.” There's silence on the other end of the phone. “To you,” Clarke prompts.

~

I Don’t Need Your Love (I Just Need You Now) by @talistheintrovert

“What was the worst part?” Raven asked.

“Probably when he shoved me against a wall and stuck his tongue down my throat,” Clarke admitted, sipping her hot chocolate, which she quickly realised was spiked with rum. God, her friends were perfect.

Octavia and Raven both gasped, but it was Bellamy’s reaction that she found the most interesting. He didn’t say anything, didn’t look up from his book, or even alter his expression, but his hand balled into a fist on the arm of his chair.

OR: The AU where Clarke and Bellamy hate each other until Bellamy realises she's being mistreated, and does his best to protect her.

~

Come Close (And Then Even Closer) by sheryl_sems

Clarke thinks about Octavia and how her best friend had stormed out of the house earlier that day, furious at Clarke for taking her brother's side in their argument. She thinks about Raven, and Monty, and Jasper, and Wells, and Lincoln but in the end, she really only wants one person by her side and it's fruitless to fight herself on this one.

"Could you call Bellamy?" She finally says in a soft, hoarse whisper.

Or the one where Clarke is attacked and the only person she wants by her side in the aftermath is Bellamy Blake.

~

You Look Like a Movie. You Sound Like a Song. by lordmxrphy

She knows shouldn’t care. She and Bellamy were never together. They never dated. But for as long as Clarke can remember, Bellamy’s held her heart. Even if he’ll never know it.

(a modern au inspired by when we were young by adele)

~

What We Do to Each Other by marauders_groupie

A Bellarke AU in which Bellamy and Clarke are childhood best friends, separated by life and trying to relearn each other again.

~

A Symbol of Goodwill And Love by LayALioness

“So when you said we need a good tree, you meant,” he hedges, and she huffs, little clouds of steam escaping her mouth.

“One that needs a good home,” she says, like it’s obvious. “Shopping for a Christmas tree is like going to the pound—you don’t look for a purebred at the pound, Bellamy. You look for the puppy with a missing eye, or mange. One that needs us.”

“If this is code for wanting us to get a puppy,” Bellamy muses, reaching out to tug on the tassels of her hat. “I think we should probably live together, first.”

~

We Have to Stop Meeting Like This by @goldenheadfreckledheart

Tumblr prompt: “We both have friends who party too hard and we keep running into each other in the bathroom while we hold their hair back.”

Aka, the three times Bellamy and Clarke meet each other while taking care of their friends + the one time they don’t.

~

Christmas Sweaters by lightyears

Clarke's upset that she won't fit into her Christmas sweater this year. Bellamy surprises her with a new one.

~

Ladylike by Who_Needs_Reality

Bellamy stares at her. "You want me to make out with you. Platonically."

Clarke very resolutely does not panic. "Do it for the views, Bellamy."

(Or, an AU in which Clarke works for a Buzzfeed-esque company, and has to kiss someone in order to test lipstick durability for a new video. Feelings and decidedly non-platonic nonsense ensue.)

~

Love Is Not a Victory March by @asroarke

“You could have been here four years ago,” she reminded, raising her eyebrows at him.

“No, I couldn’t have. I needed to be here with you,” he replied, and Clarke felt like the breath had been knocked out of her. It wasn’t the first time he said something like that, of course. But it caught her off guard every damn time.

“Was it worth the wait?”

“Yes, you were,” he replied, and how could Clarke not kiss him after that?

Olympics AU where a knee injury kept Bellamy and Clarke from making it to the Olympics... the first time around.

~

the tie that binds me to you by glowinghorizons

“we’ve been pen pals for like hella months and we finally decided to meet up and damn you’re cute, also did you break up with your jerk bf/gf yet?” au

or:

bellamy and clarke finally meet after months and months of hand-written letters, phone calls and text messages.

~

you bring me honeysuckle by caramelle

It suddenly strikes Bellamy, one day, that his girlfriend is in possession of what has to be the best hair in the entire cosmos.

Or, the one where Bellamy's fixation with Clarke's hair is totally normal and healthy.

~

Walk With Me by arysa13

Bellamy is pretty sure you aren't supposed to hit on the people you're supposed to be getting home safely, but he kind of wants to anyway.

Prompt: Bellamy works at safe walk and Clarke keeps falling asleep studying. And is the last one to leave the library every night!

~

Sugar, Spice, and All Things Nice by Who_Needs_Reality

Clarke just really wants a peppermint mocha. Breaking into the apartment of her ex, with whom she may-or-may-not still kind of be madly in love, is an unplanned side effect. Mostly.

Based on the prompt "listen i know i can’t just show up at your apartment at six in the morning but i need coffee and no one makes it like you do”

~

time flies but you’re the pilot by @onemanbellarmy

“Wait a minute, your new art teacher is Clarke Griffin?”

Gus paused to consider. “I think so?”

A huff of a surprised laugh escaped Bellamy. He hadn’t talked to Clarke since college.

(or, single parent x child's teacher AU)

~

the girl next door by funfanfin

The first time he hears her, he’s making his grandmother’s afritada recipe, a dish that reminds him of long, lazy, hot summers in the Philippines.

The first time he learns her name is on a Tuesday so ordinary and average he wouldn’t have remembered it otherwise.

The first time he realizes he loves her is during the early hours of a cool morning, with her curled into his side.

-OR-Bellamy hears singing from the apartment next door. It isn't long before he meets the girl behind the smoky, haunted voice, and it isn't long before he learns the reasons for her sorrow-filled singing.

~

only fools rush in by @chants-de-lune

based on the tumblr prompt:

"just drove a guy home from a bar and for the whole 15 minutes he talked about how excited he was to see his wife"

~

the fuzziest of woodland creatures by tempestaurora

“it’s 2 in the morning and i was just trying to get home but i left my sunroof open all day and now there’s a squirrel in my car and it scared me and i drove into a pole – would you please stop laughing you’re a cop. you’re supposed to be helping”

~

Settling Debts by indygoh

"Um. Thank you. You didn't have to," she peeked up at him, suddenly shy for some reason. "I can pay you back."

Bellamy just chuckled, already shaking his head before she could finish her sentence.

"I've got a little sister. She probably would have kicked my ass if she found out I didn't do something to help you out back there."

Clarke raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Do you always rescue strange girls in desperate need of tampons?"

"Only the really cute ones with crowns on their butts."

~

when love hits (better make it worth the fall) by kay_emm_gee

Summary: Four times Clarke gets hit on the head (+1 time she doesn't) during her last semester of high school, and every single time, Bellamy Blake is somehow involved.

~

Turn the tide on my losing side by Lalalli

Clarke doesn’t know why Thelonius Jaha keeps posting really random shit to her Facebook wall, but whatever. It’s fine. It was weird at first, but she’s used to it now.

And then Bellamy gets involved and it gets weird again.

~

My Soft Place to Land by Who_Needs_Reality

Bellamy's happy to be back. He's even happier to see who's waiting for him.

{Or, soldier!Bellamy comes back home after being deployed and meets someone special}

~

We Keep it a Secret (You Leave Me Dying to Know) by @ringsabellamy

Bellamy doesn’t claim to be the greatest at dating, especially considering he’s been quietly in love with his best friend for the past six years, but hey, at least he’s been /trying/ to get over her. Not, of course, that this current situation is helping.

Or: Bellamy just asked Clarke to fake being his girlfriend for one date, honest. But then things got a little...out of hand.

~

If You Like Your Coffee Hot by marauders_groupie

They haven't been friends for a very long time but Bellamy still can't ignore Clarke acting out and getting into fights when she was a model student just a few months ago. They might’ve kept each other at distance for years but she is still his first best friend.

~

Calm my tears, Kill these fears by @goldenheadfreckledheart

Prompt: I somehow always get you as a cashier at Walmart and it's always when I’m buying the weirdest shit at the weirdest time. “A head of lettuce at 3am?” "It's a long story”

~

bit of a disaster, aren’t we? by katsumi

Clarke breaks her ankle and really would prefer that Bellamy not find out about it. She has a feeling he's going to get mad. (She's right.)

~~~

CANON-VERSE AUS

Meet Me in the Morning by monroeslittle

“I guess one of us is messed up,” he said, “and it’s part of our hallucination that the other is, too.” He paused. “Seems appropriately hellish that my mind sticks me with you.”

She pursed her lips. “Likewise.”

AU. Clarke is trapped in a stupid time loop, and guess who's trapped with her?

~

I Miss Our Little Talks by @chants-de-lune

“Wow,” she breathed out. “I thought that one would have done me in.”

Bellamy didn’t smile, shaking his head and taking the slightest edge of coldness off his glare.

“You took a bullet for me.” he said through gritted teeth. “Don’t ever do that again.”

~

Today is Dying by theprincessandtheking

“Look, sorry, but it’s an emergency,” Harper said, eyes firmly fixed on the wall ahead of her.

The tea he’d downed at the bar was still in his system, as evidenced by the way the room spun when he reached for his shirt a few feet away and struggled to pull it over his head.

“So much of an emergency that you couldn’t knock?”

“It’s Clarke.”

~

That I Will Never Escape by @talistheintrovert

“Execute me; I poisoned you. Let Clarke live."

“Very well,” Octavia raised a hand and a soldier with a gun pointed it down at him. He steeled himself for the bullet that would end his life, but before it left the chamber, Clarke yelled out.

“No!”

He jumped, surprised, when she moved suddenly, and he registered in his periphery as she snatched the sword from the floor and spun it in her hand deftly.

“Clarke, what are you doing?” Bellamy frowned, his gaze switching to her, but a part of him already knew. His body was reacting to it before his brain could catch up – he felt his breath catch in his throat, and his heart-rate speed up.

~

we were nothing more than stardust by cresswell

"I'm going to kill that bastard," he says quietly, bent close to Clarke's ear. "He's not going to touch you again, and I'm going to kill him."

Her pinkie finger extends, brushing the waistband of his jeans, and he carefully pushes their palms together, lacing their fingers. He thinks she smiles in her sleep.

~

Love is Not a Whisper (or a weakness) by monroeslittle

"There was a strange, muffled snap, and the tentacle around her middle was retracted. The hold on her ankle was gone, and Bellamy was pulling her up through the water. She began to pump her arms, and they broke the surface; she gasped, and coughed.

He pressed a gun into her hand. “If you see a ripple, shoot,” he ordered."

AU. The dropship doesn't land on land. The next seven years are a little bit different.

~

Astraphobia by @chants-de-lune

The fear of thunder and lightning. In other words, rainy day cuddling with a bit of angst.

~

Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat by islabbe

There was blood everywhere; some of it red, but most of it was black. Bellamy wrinkled his nose at the metallic smell as it filled his nose. Pushing down the reflex to gag, he quickly made his way over to the tent.

“Clarke, stay with me,” he said gruffly, his voice straining as bent down to enter hers and Madi’s tent. She was drifting in and out of consciousness and Bellamy knew the longer he dawdled, the less time she had.

~

We Can’t Leave Us Behind by @ringsabellamy

"I don’t blame you for that, not anymore. I understand why you had to leave. But it still hurt, Clarke. And I guess...I think your goodbye reminds me of how I felt. Of what it was like to lose you.”

“The kiss,” she says, eyes full of sudden realization. “You think when I kiss you, it means I’m going to leave you.”

Or: Bellamy has a lot of healing to do, one try at a time.

~

Set The Dark On Fire by @talistheintrovert​

Clarke isn't coping well with peacetime on the Eligius ship, and while Bellamy has woken some of the others (mainly spacekru) and tries to organise a trip to the ground, making decisions and considering all the variables, Clarke makes a choice of her own:

She'll take herself out of the equation.

OR: the post season 5 idea I had to write because all of the unresolved emotional turmoil this season is actually killing me and someone needs to notice that Clarke is in pain, for the love of god.

~ 

for everything unsaid (there is a flourish of my pride) by theprincessandtheking

“I don’t know,” he says. “I guess I just didn’t really care either way anymore.”

She pauses, and from the corner of his eye he can see the odd expression on her face.

“So in the middle of wartime, when everything is going to hell around us, shaving is still a priority. But you spend six years with all the free time in the world for it, and suddenly you don’t care?”

He tries to smile at the joke, but he thinks it comes out as more of a grimace.

“I guess down here it was more of a sense of normalcy,” he explains. “But with you gone—”

He pauses, clears his throat in an attempt to keep his voice steady.

“Without you there, nothing really felt normal.”

~

I can never be alone when all gods keep calling me out by angel_deux

Raven fixes the radio after a few years, and Clarke can talk to them again.

~

they will see my strength (in this love i’ve found) by glowinghorizons 

“If you’re married they won’t let you go alone.”

The silence is deafening. Bellamy braces himself for the slap he knows is going to come his way any second, but it never happens.

“You--” she sounds breathless. “You don’t even know me.”

Bellamy shrugs. “Look. I-- this is crazy. I know. I just know that I can’t let my sister go to the ground without me.”

OR, Clarke finds out she's being sent to the Ground only days after her Dad dies. Bellamy is determined to go to the Ground with his sister. They need to fool everyone to make it work.

~

Like a Second Heart by Who_Needs_Reality

She’s hardly surprised, the first few times it happens. The hallucinations are vivid, but not long, not much, just short, staccato bursts of him, tiny pieces to keep her going -- his hand extended out to her to help her up from the rubble, his voice a soothing murmur in her ear telling her she’ll be alright until she finds water… of course she sees him, of course she hears him. It’s Bellamy -- who else would her mind conjure up to help her survive? There are worse symptoms praimfaya has left her with than a few too-real imaginings of her best friend after all.

{Clarke's not worried when she starts to hallucinate Bellamy. It's only when the dreams continue to haunt her even after the real Bellamy comes back that she's concerned}

~

We Sure Know How to Run by winterwaters

While attempting to get Jaha farther from the AI and the nuclear warhead, Clarke, Murphy and Emori run into trouble from another tribe and Clarke is injured. Bellamy and his group happen to be following that tribe and help take care of her. On the way home, she confronts her feelings for Bellamy - with a bit of help from Emori.

~

darling, just hold my hand by killianslonghaul

“I know you don’t like public displays of affection, but… you’re really not going to kiss me goodbye?”

or

Bellamy doesn't really do PDA, but he might make an exception.

~

baby on board by katebishop 

As a soon-to-be father, Bellamy thinks he's feeling the appropriate amount of worry and concern for his pregnant wife.

Clarke thinks he's utterly ridiculous.

~~~

Other AUS

Forbidden Words by onceuponahundred 

we’re in between classes, and we both hear a fourth year calling a first year a mudblood, and neither of us are having any of that prejudiced bullshit. unfortunately, my impulse was to hex them, and yours was to punch them in the face, and my jelly-legs curse hit you instead, i’m really sorry, and we both are probably getting detention now, but hey, plus side, you’re kind of cute

{Bellarke in Harry Potter}

~

Name One Hero Who Was Happy by Who_Needs_Reality

Clarke huffs again, and he glances at her.

“The Curse of Achilles, Bellamy? Do you know how risky that was?”

“I got the idea when I felt my soul being torn from my body.”

She sniffs, imperious. “How did you do it?”

“Huh?” Her voice is smaller when she speaks again. “How did you...not get your soul...y’know?”

“Oh,” he swallows. “I had some help.”

{Bellarke in a Percy Jackson/The Last Olympian AU}

~

Don’t Think I Want What I Used to Want by arysa13 

Bellamy has a compass that points to what his heart most desires, which, as a pirate, must be treasure, obviously.

~

can’t control my feelings, can’t control my thoughts by katsumi

When Jasper accidentally gifts Clarke a love potion, everyone she interacts with starts acting...weird. Everyone, that is, except Bellamy. [Hogwarts AU]

~~~

[kattimariias]

jasmine flowers

so yknow what snorkmaiden deserves? a gf. i made her one! enjoy a fic about pining.

mobile link

Dear Diary,

Today I found someplace new during my travels. It felt like a different experience than what I've seen so far, most of it's residents didn't feel as-how should I put it-rude? They didn't feel like they were judging me for being a bit distant, infact they respected it. I think I'm thankful for that.

The weather was warmer, so I didn't get much practice with my powers. But I could at least admire the scenery for once, which was okay and all-I prefer the winter, obviously. There was something comfortable about my surroundings; the soft green grass, the light beaming towards a field of flowers, and the rivers that quaintly flowed.

Something about that flower field attracted me. I didn't get to see a varied amount of plantlife often, usually being in colder areas and all, so this was almost a new thing to me. Well-more like a revisit of sorts.

I happened to pick a flower with someone else by complete accident. A round troll like creature she was, with hazel eyes and a blonde fringe. Her fur was fluffy and yellowish, and I was stuck looking at her for several minutes; my paw practically stuck on hers and the flower.

We broke our trance and awkwardly apologized, neither of us seemed to know why that happened. I think it's because I personally have never seen anyone like her. She just looked so nice and friendly, like she would never harm me. And I think I'm right in thinking that, because she never did. 

She introduced me to this land, told me it was called Moominvalley, and showed me some of it's famous landmarks and her friends. Throughout it all, I couldn't help but be entranced by her cheerfulness. I mainly feel don't feel in place whenever I'm around people that are definitely more spirited in me, but something about her felt...different. Gentle and sweet, and a little bit firey.

I don't know, it was weird. And I want to see more of it, so maybe the next day will bring something new. I think I'll stay here longer than intended. ~ Vietal

-

Dear Diary,

It's been awhile. It isn't even travel related, but I needed to write this down. It's been a month since I've decided to reside in Moominvalley for awhile, and that likely won't change. I'm not giving up on traveling, that's for sure, but this feels like a main source of comfort. Maybe it's home? I don't think I even know what that truly is.

Anyways, something I SOMEHOW forgot to write last time was the girl's name. Curse my mind sometimes-it's Snorkmaiden. Writing that down feels nice, it's a pretty name. 

But she's why I have to talk about something so off topic. I have spent sometime with her during my stay here, whether that'd be relaxing in the forest, going on little adventures, and flower picking. She made me a flower crown to wear on my hat, and I definitely wear it on occasion. Sunflowers aren't exactly my thing, but I'd do it for her.

I don't know why though-with anyone else, I wouldn't be sure what to do with a gift like that. They put so much work into it, they should keep it! Yet this time I want to keep it with me, even when I leave? Do I even want to leave?

...Okay, maybe I'm rushing this too much. Point is, I think I really like her. I like mostly everyone here, but she seems to be a special case. Even when I go to sleep in my little tent, my thoughts rush towards our conversations. Her (barely visibly, but still) smile, her laughs, her hums, her attention to detail when making things for me. And for me only.

I really love that sort of attention. I think I'll write a letter to thank her.

~ Vietal - Dear Diary,

I won't fill this journal with updates about my weird feelings towards Snorkmaiden, I promise. It's just a huge focus for me at the moment.

Today we held paws. By accident, of course. We were just relaxing by the river, laying under the trees shade together. I've never sat so close to someone before in my life, usually I wouldn't let myself. But of course, things have changed ever since I've been in this valley. Still don't want to leave, I'm not radically different.

Anyways-we were so close, I could feel a bit of her fur brush up on me, and while I couldn't exactly feel it due to wearing long clothing, I felt the urge to touch it. Pet it. Feel it sink into my paws and softly breeze through, taking out a few stray hairs-

-no, no, that's weird. I knew I shouldn't do that. So I just forgot about it, but I had already raised my left paw due to the strong urge. And when I placed it down on the ground, I felt hers. Hers on mine.

And for some reason, I blushed. Heavily. I had to use my hat to hide my face just to hide it, but my tail started to thump. And I could already tell she was looking at me weirdly, wondering why I was suddenly acting so strange, until she noticed what was happening. I felt so screwed in that moment and I didn't even know why-I wanted to let go but I couldn't-and then-

-nothing happened much, really. She asked if I enjoyed it, but I didn't know how to respond. But in that sweet voice of hers, sugarlike to me, she asked if I was okay. I still had no idea what to say, other than look at her completely embarrassed.

She told me there wasn't any issue in holding hands. Even if it was considered a romantic gesture, friends could still do it. Close friends usually did, infact. Friends. We were friends. Close friends. I rarely had friends for very long.

This time I hope it sticks.

~ Vietal (and yes, she got the letter, and sent me one in reply. It's one of the few things I think I'll keep with me.)

-

Dear Diary, Things keep getting weirder. Much weirder.

So I do have more friends than Snorkmaiden, though they aren't as close. One of them is Moomintroll, who I think is in a relationship with her. And that seems to be a problem?

I don't know why, but everytime I see her leaning so close to him, I wish that were me instead. We already keep holding hands with each other while on nature walks, is that not enough? That in itself almost sent me into panic!

She talks about him sometimes while we're together. About how kind and brave he is, and how much he loves him. I sit and listen and don't say much, but there's so much I want to say in return. That maybe I could do they same things he does? I mean, yes, maybe. But why would I want to? Just to impress her? 

She's my best friend, I don't need to make impressions.

But I still want to. That's why I climbed ontop of a large mountain a day after, spending most of my time just doing that. I wanted to tell her about this, just so she could hear about it, and be amazed by my efforts. She held both of my hands with that smile of hers, wonder in her eyes. I wanna do it again and again just to see that.

It feels too selfish, though. So I won't.

Sometimes, she rants to me, feeling like Moomintroll's mind just wanders elsewhere when the time is supposed to focus on both of them. Her ears are down, frustration is in greatly in her voice, and she seems kinda lost. Perhaps like I am.

I don't know how to comfort, but I try my hardest during these times. It feels like a part of me breaks whenever she is upset, and that I would wither away if I continued to see her heartbroken. 

Of course, I don't say anything, but instead I give her hugs and feel that fur I deep down wanted to feel more of, but that didn't matter then. It sort of matters now, still.

Somedays we don't spend time with each other, and that's fine. But I can't help but feel odd seeing her do our usual thing, walk around the woods holding hands, with him instead of me. It also shouldn't matter, but it does.

And I hate it. I don't want her to have to constantly pay attention to me, she has a life outside of our friendship! But why do I just wanna do the things they do all the time? Why do I want what Moomintroll has so much when what I have is already good?

Maybe this valley is doing something to me.

~ Vietal -

Dear Diary, It's been a long while, again. I just didn't have the strength to write about things. I've taken a break from Moominvalley, and it's probably for the best. I'm not used to interacting with people a lot, and plus, my feelings towards my own friend was getting weird.

If I stay away from her for awhile, then perhaps those feelings will go away.

~ Vietal - Dear Diary, I'm still in the woods, it's a bit of a long trek.

But I had a dream that shows I just can't get over her. I was in one of Moominvalley's flower fields, similar to the one where I met Snorkmaiden. She was there, as beautiful as ever, and it seems like she was glowing as brightly as the sun.

I ran towards her, but it seemed like I couldn't get to her. The field just kept stretching further and further-even if I was close-she was far from my sight again. But I was determined to get to her, even saying this to myself, and I sprinted full force while outright screaming her name.

I reached a hand towards her, and she reached a hand towards me. But then I was gone, and Moomintroll was there instead.

I woke up, repeatedly saying her name.

Something is wrong with me.

~ Vietal -

Dear Diary, I don't even think this is for travel anymore. I've gotten a separate journal for that, this is just filled with a little bit too much emotional venting right now. I'm still far away from the valley, now in the colder areas I'm used to. But I feel so alone. 

The solitude feels familiar, yet it's what I would rather not have at the moment. I miss waking up and hearing the birds sing, the sense of Moominmama's cooking not too far away, and Snufkin's music on occasion. And of course, even if I act so strange towards her, I miss Snorkmaiden.

It feels like a part of me is missing, even though I wasn't in Moominvalley for extremely long. I guess that's what I get for staying there for an extended amount of time in the first place? I think I should go back.

Hopefully, they won't be angry about my abrupt absence.

~ Vital

-

Dear Diary, After a long journey, I've finally returned, just in time for spring. And what a reunion, it was.

No one was mad at me, thankfully, they were a little concerned about why I left so abruptly, but they presumed it was just because of my nature as a Mumrik. I never explained why I actually left, just went with their assumptions, since I didn't want anyone to know about my weird feelings.

I was a bit hesitant to spend time with Snorkmaiden again, but my mind instantly changed when I heard her outright crying. Our conversations never really delved into that point, but it definitely crushed me. I couldn't bear to hear it upon arriving at her home.

I thought it was my fault, because I just decided to leave her with no explanation. And that just made me feel worse, almost on the verge of tears myself. How could I just do that, and not even think about how she felt about me just up and going? I was so stupid. So shortsighted and stupid-

-it wasn't even about me. She reassured me about that fact more than one time. She was really worried when I left, of course, but she understood that sometimes I just needed to be alone, and explore the world. Understandably so, she was still a bit angry that I didn't say goodbye first, but the fact that she didn't hate me relieved a bit of tension on my end.

Not entirely. The true reason why she was upset is because of Moomintroll being so focused on Snufkin returning, to the point where he didn't really care about what she had to say. She was wondering whether if he actually loved her or not, and my heart was cracked again.

I couldn't tell her if he did or not, I didn't know much about romantic love and how it worked, but for once I spoke. I told her that this time, I would stay. I would continue to be with her, and make sure she's happy. If I got the chance, I'd ask him about why he acted like that, hopefully getting an answer.

I wanted to help her smile again.

I comforted her closer this time, she snuggled close to me and I could feel her fur the way I always wanted to. But that didn't matter, as I closed my eyes and rubbed her back. I could hear her whimpers slow to a crawl, as we just laid there on the bed. Softly gripping onto each other. Cuddling.

It was silent, but a good silent.

~ Vietal

- Dear Diary, It took a bit, but I managed to ask Moomintroll about what happened with Snorkmaiden. He told me that sometimes-he just gets really fixated on Snufkin when waiting for him-and pushes people away, probably a bit too harshly? He doesn't intend to.

The two made up, thankfully, and things went back to normal. Least my idea of normal at this point, which was being weirdly jealous.

Something I thought about is that Snorkmaiden was also a bit fixated on waiting for me. Moomintroll also told me that on the first few days of me being gone, she would look outside her window and await my arrival, while also taking some breaks. She hoped that I would come back soon, up until realizing that I needed some space and that it would take awhile.

So-was it a best friend thing? For us to fixate so heavily on those we were bonded with on a close level? Moomintroll did it, Snorkmaiden did it, I feel like I could do it. I know that Snorks and Moomins hibernate, and since I'll stay this winter, I know I'll wait each passing day for everyone to wake up. But it's still a special case for Snorkmaiden.

I think about her a lot. I dream about her sometimes. I even talk about her to some of my other friends, and I don't think I want to stop. Moominmama and Little My always give me some weird look whenever I do too, and I don't understand it.

Is it annoying? Entertaining? Is there something I'm missing? Why do I love her so much?

...

Oh. -

Dear Diary, Couldn't finish the last one properly. I think I understand things now. From myself, to Moomintroll and Snufkin, to why I keep getting those weird faces. I think...I might feel romantic love towards Snorkmaiden. I think that's why I feel excited when I see her, why I like to hold hands with her, why I like talking and doing anything with her, why I want to be with her forever, and why I want to be like Moomintroll.

I really, really love her. Love her more than the winter, than travels-well-I still love those, but my love for her is something I can't get over. She's so lovely herself, knowing so much about romance, I bet she could really surprise me sometimes.

Am I gonna need a separate diary for this? Goodness.

~ Vietal

- Dear Diary, I'm not sure if I can just tell her. I don't even think she feels the same way, since she's with Moomintroll. But it doesn't matter, as long as she can still smile and stay happy with someone she loves.

I'll just have to learn how to deal with this.

On another note, she gave me some flowers today. One of which usually grows during the winter, she says it's a winter jasmine. I don't know what it is, but something about it felt special to me. Maybe it's because she said that one of it's meanings is love?

But she likely meant platonic love. I highly doubt she likes me back, she's still relatively close to Moomintroll. Actually, that reminds me...does he even like her? Romantically?

Whenever I see them walk together, on occasion, he looks a bit uncomfortable. His smiles look a bit forced, he looks a little distracted, and some of his subtle movements seem bothered whenever they come close to each other.

I've seen him more comfortable with Snufkin, whenever I do see them hanging out anyways. Should I do something about this?

...I don't really know how to handle it though, probably not.

~ Vietal

-

Dear Diary, Well, again, been awhile. It's just been the usual, with a bit more understanding towards my feelings. I've been a bit blue sometimes, but Snorkmaiden's presence just automatically makes things better for me. It's strange how love works.

Well, this doesn't have to do with smiles, unfortunately. Somewhat. Turns out I was right about Moomintroll's feelings, and he was starting to force romantic attraction to Snorkmaiden. Their love was geniune at first, it seems? But eventually, it dwindled. It happens.

I hope it doesn't happen to me.

Snorkmaiden told me it was for the better, and she's happy for him. She told me this on the verge of tears, not unlike what happened when I promised her to stay, and even if she tried to act as if this didn't bother her, I could obviously tell.

I did what I did last time, and gave her more physical comfort as she began to let it out. It was hard to listen to, and I wanted to block out the sound of her sobs beating against my heart, but I pushed through, sort of. I cried with her.

I just couldn't help it? But she started to comfort me, we were both trying our hardest to comfort each other, holding each other tightly. Her snout was heavily pressed against my face, and she stopped her tears for a second to blush. For once, I laughed since it looked so funny, and she did too.

The blushing didn't stop for awhile, though, and she seemed a bit awkward. I wondered why, but then I recalled that how her and Moomintroll basically kissed through pressing their snouts together...

...Oh.

I'm not making any advances, though. She needs time to breathe.

~ Vietal -

Dear Diary, Winter is arriving, and now I must say goodbye to my friends in Moominvalley. For one must travel, and the others must hibernate. I won't even be as lonely, knowing that there are winter creatures here.

Thankfully, this time I can tell Snorkmaiden goodbye and not worry her too much. I have a few flowers for her to sleep next to, as well as a letter for her to read when she wakes up. A letter intended to tell her how I feel towards her, a crush aside, and I am ready for our reunion when Spring comes back.

It's the one way I can say those words to her.

~ Vietal -

Dear Diary, On my travels again, I have kept her gifts, including one she gave me before I left. A photo of us we tried taking while lounging around in the woods. It's messy, it's funny, but it has care put into it. I love it

I love her. I wish to see her again soon.

~ Vietal -

Dear Diary, I think I won't write in this one for awhile, because...it feels like a nice way to look back on how things have progressed.

When I came back, I went to her house first and called for her name. I could faintly hear her run down the stairs as fast as she could, and then she leaped into my arms. We span around in circles, giggling, before eventually stopping to look at each other.

We stared. Like how we first met. Both of our paws were hand in hand, and it felt like it was only us.

She said these words to me.

"Vietal...I read your letter. And I am really flattered to know that's what you think of me." She paused, and gently placed the jasmine flower petal on my hat. I gasped a little, yet continued to hold on her free hand. "I think that's what I think of you, too."

I froze, but her warm smile grounded me to reality. It was true.

"I love you."

Not long after, we looked at the valley together; paw in paw, our bodies and heads close together as the sun rose.

I wouldn't have this any better in any other way.

~ Vietal

[ivebeenmade]

Aaric first meeting

(This is just a drabble, might flesh it out later but it goes with a fic on AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318555 about them getting together.)

All he meant to do was get his life together. Guess the universe had something else in mind. Or exactly the right thing.

Aaron had been emailing Mr. Raleigh for months now, planning to get his shit together and join his charitable mission. He’d been coasting for a while, and became a self fulfilling prophecy. While he’d managed to excel in college, he’d been screwing everything that moved and spent most of his days acquiring or using various party drugs.

Packing up for Africa was an attempt at a new life, a new start, and he was looking forward to the interesting man he’d been exchanging messages with.

So when he forgets to duck, hits his head on an overhead bin he’s pretty stunned to come face to face with a young man who is exactly his type.

Shit.

“M’fine. That’ll be a pattern before the end of the flight…” Aaron mumbles, letting the redhead help him into a seat with a napkin pressed to the slight trickle of blood coming from the little gash on his forehead.

“Please don’t, or if you’re determined to beat yourself up, at least avoid that gorgeous face.” Aaron doesn’t feel all that bad really, especially as he’s soothed by a pleasant voice and an intoxicating smile. “Eric.”

“Eric Raleigh?” The redhead nods.

Fuck you universe. He doesn’t need this right now, doesn’t need to find out that the man he’s going to be stuck with for months in Africa in none other the wealthy man organizing this thing. Did he have to be exactly his type? Why didn’t Aaron think to look into this, he wonders.

“I should ask you if you know your name I guess...you look dazed.”

“Aaron.”

“Then I’m a lucky man. You can help distract me from the flight. I fucking hate flying.”

***

Somehow he learns everything about this man, including that somehow he spends a lot of time near the area Aaron lives in and yet they’ve never met. Probably for the best, since Aaron had fucked and run from every attractive redhead in his area. This man seemed special.

Eric touches him a lot while they talk, and gets more out of him in a few hours seated together (Aaron suspects some shenanigans there, he’s pretty sure there’s no way it’s a coincidence) than anyone ever had.

***

Arriving at a hotel after the flight they chat about getting out on the road in a day or two. In the meantime, Aaron struggles with someone at the front desk for his key.

“Oh, I have that,” Eric interrupts, his hand on the small of Aaron’s for just a moment to lead him away.

He takes a separate elevator, looking at the number on the key as he walks down the hall, when he, again, runs right into Eric. He’s just opening the door with the same number on Aaron’s room key.

“Oh shit, I gave you the wrong key. This is my room isn’t it? Oh well, yours is the next one over, you can go through the connecting door…”

“Umm...it’s uh, the lock is uh…”

“Broken? Yeah. I know, right? It took some doing but with a letter opener and the will to make it happen...look, feel free to say no. I have to warn you, eventually I always get what I want.”

“So I guess it’s probably a good thing that I want it too?”

“Yes. That’s a plus. Not a requirement, but a plus.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking…”

“Good. I’m still making an impression. I’d like it to be a good one for as long as possible.”

For the first time, Aaron is speechless. But Eric’s tongue is in his mouth and he is so fucking pretty so really, what good are words? He’ll try to be clever later.

***

“So...cards on the table. I’ve had more than a passing interest in you since email 7 or so. And I may have lowkey stalked you online.” He says this matter-of-factly, after the first round of mind blowing sex. Fuck he can’t keep up with this guy. “And by lowkey I mean one step above getting someone at the police department to do a background check.

***

They spend hours talking, and more, and just when Aaron has literally passed out he hears Eric’s voice. As soon as his eyes open there’s a camera flash.

“Yeah, mom, that’s him. I *know*, I think I’m in love.”

This couldn’t be happening. But he could hear the sound of excited voices on the other end of Eric’s cell...and he had to admit, he’d never felt about a guy like this before. However he’d done this to him, it must be magic, or he’d put something in his drink on the plane.

“Eric?”

“Yeah...that’s him.” Aaron hears something about his voice being as lovely as the rest of him (it must be Eric’s mom), and an older gentleman with a thick Scottish accent practically screaming for Eric to ‘lock it down now!’. Aaron can feel the heat in his cheeks. He throws a blanket over his head. “Ok, alright, let’s ease him in. I think I’ve already traumatized him enough.”

(Our HC is that Eric had ridiculously rich and friendly grandparents in Scotland, who own a golf course and fuck with Donald Trump a lot. Also, when we RP...which we do live always...my gf @lflssfrghtnng does Eric. We spend more time as other people than we do ourselves) @erictwd here's the thing I was talking about

[sage-nebula]

YGO - In Plain Sight - Outline

Thanks to @brooklynhype‘s prompt (“When does Jounouchi say ‘I love you’ back?”) and also encouragement (along with @severalbakuras’ encouragement), I’ve decided to share an outline I wrote up aaaages ago (like, two years ago) for a longfic showing exactly how Yuugi and Jounouchi’s relationship progresses to the romantic stage. This fic takes place when Yuugi and Jounouchi are ~22/23, in the post-canon headcanon I have where they ended up getting an apartment together when they were ~18/19 that was close to Yuugi’s university. I’ll still write this fic someday, and I’ve already written parts of it (which will be linked within). It may take a while, but I’ll still get to it someday. Someday . . . (Though that said, if you want to draw art just based on this, by all means, please do.)

That said . . . have a very detailed outline below the cut.

Chapter 1 --- April

Yuugi has lunch with Kisugi and Shiori; Shiori assumes that Yuugi and Jounouchi are a couple, and he assures her (and Kisugi) that they are not, but this gets him thinking about how he felt when she assumed that

Yuugi and Jounouchi watch a movie cuddled up (kind of—each one has a head on an armrest, Yuugi is sprawled across/on top of Jounouchi) on the couch; it’s not romantic but Yuugi can’t stop thinking about how it looks/what it feels like; Jounouchi goes to work (it’s late) and Yuugi falls asleep playing 3DS on the couch

Yuugi does not know this, but when Jounouchi gets home and sees Yuugi sleeping on the couch, Jounouchi carries him to bed

The next morning, Yuugi realizes Jounouchi carried him to bed (maybe?), and he makes coffee for Jounouchi, which wakes Jounouchi up; Yuugi brings up plans for after graduation and mentions he might apply to Nintendo, in Kyoto; Jounouchi tells him he should do that, after saying that he (Jounouchi) doesn’t know what he wants to do, and Yuugi bails

Yuugi ponders over his own feelings, that he doesn’t want to leave Jounouchi necessarily, that he doesn’t want Jounouchi to leave him, or maybe that he’s upset because it seems like Jounouchi doesn’t care as much? He’s distracted enough that he misses his train and opts against going to class. It’s the last day of the school week so after a few hours he decides to go his grandpa’s for the weekend to clear his head

He still ends up being distracted by recurring thoughts of Jounouchi; after talking with his mom (and his mom pressuring him about do this, do that, have you found a gf yet) he decides to ask out Mina since Kisugi mentioned that she was interested in him before

Yuugi successfully asks Mina to a carnival that’s in town the following weekend; when he tells Jounouchi this Jounouchi is very congratulatory and tells Yuugi to give him all the details of their date and Yuugi doesn’t really know how to feel about this

On their date, Yuugi thinks Mina looks very pretty, but throughout the date his heart isn’t really in it and he can’t help but thinking that he and Jounouchi would be doing this-or-that instead if he’d gone (and then he wonders if he’d have liked to go with Anzu as well, thinks probably, but Jounouchi was at the forefront of his mind); at the end Mina says she had a nice time and Yuugi says he did, too . . . but he thinks probably it’s not going to work out between them. Mina is hurt but Yuugi figures it’s better if he’s honest

When he gets home, Jounouchi asks how the date went, Yuugi said it’s over and Jounouchi says he’s sorry; Yuugi points out the carnival will be in town the next day as well and asks Jounouchi if he wants to go, to which Jounouchi says yeah, sure, and Yuugi is pretty happy about it, though he is determined to see this as just any other time of them hanging out

Throughout the next night at the carnival he can’t stop comparing it to how things were with Mina the previous night; things just get more confusing when they’re walking home and Jounouchi throws an arm around his shoulders; this never bothered him before, so why does it bother him now?? Yuugi can’t figure it out, things are 100% too confusing; he resolves to ask for help

Chapter 2 --- May

Yuugi’s main experiences in the areas of romance come in the form of 1.) his crush on Anzu, and 2.) porn videos, which are not informative at all. He tries to compare what he feels to Jounouchi to what he felt for Anzu, but the feelings are different (he thinks) and he’s honestly not sure if he still has feelings for Anzu or not given that she’s lived halfway around the world for the past few years, so it’s honestly pretty confusing in that regard, too

He tries to talk to Anzu on Skype to see if he can settle whether or not he has feelings for her; whether or not he succeeds (like, if she’s available) is tbd

Yuugi tries to ask his mom what it felt like when she fell in love with his dad; this conversation goes nowhere fast because she’s more invested on who he might be in love with rather than what love feels like

His grandpa doesn’t help by very nearly bringing up the porn tapes in front of Yuugi’s mom (“I bet I can guess who it is, I know from those tapes you have a ty—” “Grandpa!!”)

Many people at university now resent Yuugi for “playing” Mina and breaking her heart; more like they’re spreading gossip about him doing just that; Yuugi has to decide on his senior overview project and what it’s going to be

While eating lunch with Shiori and Kisugi (above bullet point comes into play here), Jounouchi shows up on a surprise visit because his shift at the radio station ended early that day for whatever reason; Kisugi flirts with Jounouchi, Jounouchi shoots him down, Shiori gives many meaningful looks to Yuugi and asks him again if he’s sure when Jounouchi leaves; Yuugi is not sure of anything tbh

That night Jounouchi ends up making dinner again (okonomiyaki—so nothing too fancy, but still good), and they make cookies and play Mario Kart or some other game and it’s really, really great night and Yuugi enjoys himself a lot—but again, confusing, because this is really domestic but?? Normal???

The next day he goes to Bakura’s for advice; Bakura says he’s not the best for advice because he’s aromantic so this isn’t really his area, but they talk for awhile and eventually Yuugi comes to the conclusion that he really, really, really cares for Jounouchi, obviously he loves him . . . but love doesn’t necessarily mean IN love . . . it’s different from how he felt about Anzu, like, it’s not like he has wet dreams about Jounouchi, but he thinks maybe he would like kissing him? Or he’d like to try. But mostly it’s that yeah, he loves him . . . he’s happy being with him, and being with Jounouchi makes him feel . . . safe? Secure? Warm? Happy? Like, it’s right, like this is how things are supposed to be, and living with him has been great. And whenever he thinks about not living with him in a year or whatever if he has to move to Kyoto for work or whatever he starts to feel anxious and unhappy, but it’s worse thinking that Jounouchi is okay with that, because Yuugi doesn’t want to leave but he also doesn’t want to stay if Jounouchi doesn’t want him to. And through all this ramble one thing becomes clear: Yuugi is for defo sure in srs love with Jounouchi; the question is: what does he do about it?

Chapter 3 --- June / July

Yuugi does nothing about it at first, continues to try and sort his feelings; he has started getting job offers for when he graduates in March (Jounouchi is not surprised by this, Yuugi feels a bit overwhelmed, esp because he hasn’t even done his senior overview yet wtf), but he doesn’t know what to do with them because he doesn’t know if he wants to leave Domino or not

The Tanabata festival is coming up; there is a celebration going on at Yuugi’s university, but also a big festival going on down at the docks; Jounouchi says that he’s going to that one because station management has asked him to make a video about it (sort of like a vlog, Jounouchi says) for the website, and he asks Yuugi to go with him; Yuugi says yes because of course he does, esp because he was going to celebrate Tanabata anyway

They are both a bit uncomfortable because it’s down near the docks, near where they had their duel, but it’s easier if they’re with each other and Jounouchi is good about fooling around with the camera for the vlog

Yuugi’s wish on the tanzaku (wish tag) that he hangs on the festival tree is something to the effect of “I wish for my future to work out, and for Jounouchi-kun to be part of it”

Jounouchi also writes a wish on the tanzaku (it’s bad luck not to and he’s superstitious anyway) but Yuugi does not know what it is

KaibaCorp was hosting some of the entertainment at the festival and so they run into Mokuba, who is in charge of that sort of thing (given that he is better at PR than Seto); Shizuka is there bc she wanted to surprise Jounouchi & also Mokuba invited her; they also run into Honda and Bakura as both came down to celebrate as well

They stay and watch as the festival tree is set out to sea and lit on fire at festival’s end

Shizuka stays the night after Tanabata, and because Jounouchi does not want his baby sis having to sleep on the couch, he has her take his bed; he plans to sleep on the couch, but Yuugi casually suggests they share his bed instead, and Jounouchi sees no problem with it once he’s sure they can both fit, so Yuugi’s pretty happy (even if his heart is beating ten thousand miles a minute)

The next morning, Shizuka is rather surprised to see her brother emerging from Yuugi’s room, and she starts to ask him, “Are you---?” before she decides against it; Jounouchi asks her what she was about to ask, and she says it’s nothing, so he threatens to tickle it out of her, and they get into an impromptu wrestling / tickling match, but she still never says anything, and Yuugi (who witnessed this) wonders what she thinks, and if she’s thinking what he thinks she’s thinking, and if she is, what she thinks the chances are of Jounouchi feeling the same way as him, then

Yuugi has final exams for the spring semester, which are pretty stressful, so they distract him from things for a time after Tanabata, but Jounouchi helps him through his finals

Within a day or so of Yuugi’s finals wrapping up and summer vacay starting, Jounouchi announces that the radio station offered him a permanent position as a radio co-host—on a trial basis but w/e, point is they were impressed by his vlog and how many hits it got so like??? He’s got a real job now, provided he makes it through the trial run of August, go him

Yuugi is super happy for Jounouchi, but this also means that Jounouchi will probably absolutely have to stay in Domino, so . . . that complicates things, frick

Chapter 4 --- August

Yuugi decides on his senior overview finally: it will be a largely text based adventure game in which the protagonist has to successfully avert the end of the world, albeit the end of the world is really a metaphor for the protagonist’s own life, with multiple endings

Since it is summer break for Yuugi and Honda, they agree that they’d like to take a vacation, only that is hard given that Bakura is pretty broke, and Jounouchi has to work; they decide that they’ll take mini vacations over each weekend in August since Jounouchi doesn’t work on weekends; since none of them have a lot of money, ultimately they settle on one four day weekend trip to Hokkaido

In Hokkaido:

Failed attempts at surfing, Honda and Jounouchi try to bury each other in the sand

They can’t afford hotels so they end up camping out on the beach and brought tents for this purpose

See some bikini clad ladies, and Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Honda all find them attractive while Bakura is just like “ok, you do that, I’m going to go get some ice cream”; Yuugi finds the ladies really attractive, but it’s seeing that and knowing he doesn’t feel the urge to go flirt or anything that lets him know his feelings are legit

Spooky stories around the campfire to Jounouchi’s dismay; Bakura is devious and tells extra spooky stories because he knows that Jounouchi and Yuugi are sharing a tent

Yuugi and Jounouchi share a tent; Yuugi innocently asks if Jounouchi is okay and Jounouchi says that ofc he is, everything is cool, but strange spooky noises are heard outside of the tent and so Yuugi “sacrifices” by sleeping closer and Jounouchi says that ofc he’ll keep Yuugi safe and hugs him close—for Yuugi’s benefit ofc

The spooky sounds were Bakura, that devious lil thing

Other summer shenanigans as they crop up maybe: impromptu beach volleyball tournament? Other beach games they can’t resist playing (Yuugi and Bakura especially)? Things like that

When they get back from Hokkaido Yuugi tries to tell Jounouchi how he feels, but chickens out at the last second and they go to bed

Chapter 5 --- September

School has started again and Yuugi presents his senior overview project idea to his advisor, who thinks it is a bit cliché; Yuugi is hurt and put-out by this but resolves to try and find a new idea

People at school have heard Jounouchi on the radio and Shiori and Kisugi approach Yuugi about it, to ask him what is up; specifically Shiori wants to know if this means Jounouchi is staying in Domino, has Yuugi thought about his options, has Yuugi talked to him? And she knows that they’re not dating, she knows it, but she figures, they’re still roommates, this is still probably something they should—but Yuugi cuts her off and says no, no, but he will, soon. Probably.

Since Jounouchi lasted the entire month of August and proved to be very adept at what he does, he’s officially an official radio host now at the station, congrats, go him. They officially slot him in at the mid-morning/afternoon show, and while they considered giving him a co-host at first they’ve decided against it, ultimately, because he talks enough for two people

That night, Jounouchi and Yuugi talk Yuugi’s career options again (discuss him leaving Domino, him staying in Domino, working for KaibaCorp etc), and this segues into Yuugi finally confessing how he feels in a roundabout way, and they talk about it; Jounouchi says that he can’t return Yuugi’s feelings, but he also promises that ofc they’re still best friends even if they’re not going to start dating, Yuugi is Yuugi etc; Yuugi is relieved but he still feels deep disappointment because ultimately his feelings weren’t returned (or so he thinks)

When he wakes up the next morning Jounouchi is already gone; Yuugi tries not to read into it and goes to class; Shiori and Kisugi ask what’s up, and Yuugi kind of wants to tell them, but opts against it; it’s hard to concentrate in class and he still doesn’t have a new idea for his senior overview

At work, Jounouchi (POV switch!) has a hard time concentrating on the radio; he manages to get through the show all right, except halfway through he starts rambling about unexpected changes and what to do when you’re in a jam like that and etc etc he ends up turning it into an extended Duel Monsters metaphor and caps off the entire thing by telling his listeners that sometimes they just have to take trap cards as they come and use a luck card to pull it through, only too bad luck cards don’t’ work in real life, right? Station management does not know wtf is up with this and they send him home and tell him to pls feel better tomorrow; Jounouchi texts Honda to tell him he’s coming to visit for a time (also texts Yuugi to let him know he’s going to Honda’s and says it’s bc Honda needs help with something, but he’s vague about what that something is)

Jounouchi tells Honda that this must keep this secret under threat of pain of death, but that Yuugi told him that he loved him; they talk about this for a long while, Jounouchi ends up spending the night; the next day before he leaves he resolves he’s going to be super careful from now on because he doesn’t want to lead Yuugi on or anything

This is where things get hard.

Chapter 6 --- October

Things are awkward in the apartment; Jounouchi is often out later, and when they are at home together there isn’t the same level of comfort they had before (e.g. no cuddling on the couch during movies)

Yuugi invites Jounouchi out to the arcade (“you know, just to hang out”) on a Saturday, and they go, and as they’re walking home Jounouchi goes to sling an arm around Yuugi’s shoulders—only to quickly pull it back and apologize, which makes the whole thing super awkward but really makes Yuugi feel like the world just split in two; Yuugi makes up an excuse about something he remembers he had to do and bails

Yuugi goes to Bakura’s and is basically already crying when Bakura opens the door (“I ruined everything”) and tries to seek counsel, but it’s hard because things are different and awkward and distant now and Yuugi doesn’t know what to do

Jounouchi calls Honda because he can tell he really hurt Yuugi pretty badly and he doesn’t know what to do either, because aren’t things better this way?? He doesn’t want to lead him on or make things harder, but is this a damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t??? (“Because it’s not like we can be together—” “Why can’t you?” “Why do you think? I can’t---I’m not gonna spell it out for you right now”)

Yuugi gets home that night, things are super awkward, sort of a “I’m sorry about before” “yeah no it’s ok” kind of situation; Yuugi excuses himself to go work on his senior overview and Jounouchi goes to his room to play guitar; both doors are shut (they were always open before) and both boys are unhappy

KaibaCorp hosts a Halloween event in the city that is basically like a fear trial utilizing their virtual reality/hologram technology in a massive complex supposedly built for this purpose (really it was an old weapons facility but shh no need to let anyone know this); the station sends Jounouchi to go vlog it like before much to his dismay, and when he tells Yuugi he asks if maybe Yuugi wants to go, and Yuugi excitedly says yes before he says, well, Bakura was already going because he helped with some of the ideas (“great” Jounouchi says, even less enthused than before), so the three of them can go together

At the fear trial event thing:

Bakura speaks with Mokuba beforehand to make things extra frightening for Jounouchi (unknown if this shown or will be referenced later, we’ll see)

The entire thing is actually underground in specifically designed tunnels and the like; each tunnel is fitted with holographic technology and the holograms and such adjust as guests wander through

Mokuba is present at the event again because, again, PR

As they go through things start out OK until the jump scares start in with demons and ghosts and things; there’s a particularly bad one at a three way split, and on pure instinct Jounouchi bolts down one corridor while Yuugi went down the other (and Bakura wondered which one he should pursue)

As they’re separated, Jounouchi tries to find Yuugi again while trying to explain himself to the camera, and spends a lot of time running; he ends up finding Yuugi again at another point in the maze, and it looks like Yuugi is being harassed by a big group of dudes

Jounouchi immediately rushes in to his defense, about to whoop some serious ass, but 1.) they’re holograms and 2.) they shift to demons whenever Jounouchi gets there, so he grabs Yuugi’s wrist and takes off running again

When they reach some distance away Jounouchi makes sure Yuugi’s all right, and Yuugi reminds him that everything’s a hologram, but they lost Bakura; Jounouchi is like “oh, right” and they go to look for Bakura

Everything feels normal as they battle their way through the underground maze; at one point they’re assaulted by Duel Monsters holograms and at another they have to avoid illusions of falling CapMon capsules (like Penalty Games, eh?)

It soon becomes apparent that to escape the maze (or maybe they knew from the start) they actually have to battle and play a game that is part riddle and part logic; KaibaCorp is a gaming company after all

When the event is over and Jounouchi and Yuugi go home together, it’s in silence, and it seems like maybe, tentatively, they just . . . won’t discuss Yuugi’s feelings, or Jounouchi’s feelings, or anything like that; things are still a little awkward but before anything can be discussed Jounouchi says he needs to transfer the video to station management for editing, and Yuugi says yeah, he needs to work on his senior overview; once again they’re in their own rooms, doors shut

Chapter 7 --- November

Yuugi has another meeting with his senior overview adviser to discuss his project; he starts throwing out random ideas like “maybe something with time travel so the player can fix their mistakes” (but cuts back on that because “no, that’s too much like Braid”) and basically throws out random ideas until, wishing that he had Atem to talk to about this whole mess with Jounouchi, he says, “what if the player has an alter ego they can switch to in order to skip over hard parts in the game for them, only in so doing they make the game longer every time they do it because they’re not actually clearing the obstacles themselves” and his adviser is like “I’m listening”

Jounouchi tries to force himself to be upbeat on the air, but it’s hard; station management has a talk with him about his “depressing demeanor” and consider sticking him with a co-host again (or giving him some time off if he needs it?) but he insists that’s not necessary and that he’s fine, really

A few days later (or so) Yuugi and Jounouchi are both home in the evening and Yuugi mentions off-hand that he made a resume and that he noticed Nintendo had an opening for a game developer and he was thinking about applying; Jounouchi tells him that he should go for it, and Yuugi says that he’d have to move to Kyoto, and Jounouchi says again, in as firm a voice as he can manage, he really thinks Yuugi should go for it; Yuugi takes this the wrong way (ofc he does) and goes to his room; Jounouchi takes a walk

The next day, Jounouchi is real depressed on air, and station management ends up sending him home basically immediately after with the note of “take tomorrow off if you have to, but this has gotta stop”; as he leaves he runs into Mai, who is in town for a gig with KaibaCorp, and she sought him out because “I’ve heard happier people presiding over funerals”

Jounouchi does not tell Mai all of the details; basically just talks to her in general terms about relationships etc; Mai tells him that he needs to take chances when he has them because otherwise he won’t, and wasn’t he always the recklessly courageous one? Jounouchi says this is easier said than done; in any case they talk over dinner

When Jounouchi gets home, Yuugi is in his room with the door closed; he is working on his senior overview project, but Jounouchi figures that’s probably a hint, too . . . and closes his own door all the same

The next morning, it’s small talk over breakfast until Yuugi brings up that Anzu will be in town next month, so, he figured, they could have a holiday party or something, if that was okay, and Jounouchi says that yeah, of course it is, they can invite everyone, it’ll be awesome; it’s a tentative, tiny band-aid over the issues between them

Chapter 8 --- December

Jounouchi and Yuugi plan for the holiday party together, though Jounouchi does much of the food purchasing and such as Yuugi still has to work on his senior overview/other homework and also prepare for his final exams

The holiday party is really just Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu(!!!), and Bakura

Midway through the party Anzu notices the odd distance between Yuugi and Jounouchi and she pulls Jounouchi into his room to talk about it; they discuss things for few seconds but when Jounouchi says he can’t talk about things there she declares to everyone that they are taking a walk and drags him out of the apartment

Jounouchi ends up spilling everything to Anzu in the park, and they talk about what has been going on (this bullet was originally more detailed, but the entire conversation is in the link so just read that)

In the next few days/week or so(?) Anzu and Yuugi are hanging out, and it feels kind of date-ish, and as they walk Anzu brings up the idea of the two of them dating, if they ever wanted to pursue a relationship etc; Yuugi is caught very off-guard and, much like she did with Jounouchi, Anzu takes Yuugi to the park so they can talk (and note, Anzu still does not have feelings for him, but more she wanted to create an opening to talk about Yuugi’s feelings for Jounouchi); Yuugi tells Anzu about his feelings for Jounouchi and what has been going on there and Anzu assures him everything will work out just fine (though she refuses to tell him why she thinks he shouldn’t give up hope just yet, because even if she doesn’t want him to give up / wants to reassure him, she’s not going to tell him everything Jounouchi told her in specific, it’s not her place to do so)

Yuugi has to buckle down and finish his senior overview after this (as well as study for his upcoming exams etc);  after some deliberation (including some not-vague-enough deliberation ON-AIR, FFS JOUNOUCHI PLS), Jounouchi decides they for sure need to talk about this when Yuugi’s exams are over

Chapter 9 --- January

Yuugi presents his senior overview to the committee for his department and it is accepted/he gets a pass on it; he also feels that he does all right on exams so with any luck he will graduate for sure come March

Jounouchi ends up asking him again about his future prospects, job-wise, after congratulating Yuugi on things going well and Yuugi says that oh, he doesn’t know, he’s applied to some places but he’s still deciding, you know; Jounouchi tries to tell him then, tries to talk to him about things, but he ends up chickening out and going for a walk instead

Jounouchi comes back that night, and Yuugi is playing a game in the living room; Jounouchi reminds himself that he’s got balls, he can do this, he’s faced scarier things, he did Kaiba’s fear trial bullshit back in October, he can do this; he asks Yuugi to turn off the game for a sec, or at least pause it, so they can talk

Basic bottom line here is Jounouchi explains to Yuugi how much he cares about him, and does love him, and he never really thought it before because they were always bff but Yuugi is really, really, very, very important to him and he thinks that he, probably—no, he does, love Yuugi, and he thinks that it probably is like that, you know, but he freaked out and he’s sorry, but part of the reason why he’s been like this is because he doesn’t think that he’s very good for Yuugi, all things considered, Yuugi can do better and shouldn’t let himself be held back by—

Yuugi kisses him. Lightly, on the lips, just once. He pulls away, leans forward to kiss him again—and Jounouchi kisses him back, again, chaste, just testing the waters

Jounouchi stares at him, and things are tense and emotional and hearts are beating very, very, very, very fast, and Yuugi wants this, and Jounouchi wants this, and that scares him, so he says, “um, actually, I think I have to go do a . . . a thing” and bails (god DAMN it Jounouchi god DAMN IT)

Jounouchi goes to Honda’s, and Honda is not happy about being woken up at whatever time of night, but when Jounouchi blurts “I kissed Yuugi” Honda lets him in; they talk for a long, long time about things, Jounouchi finally vents all of his “BUT I’M NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND ANYWAY I JUST BAILED AFTER HE KISSED ME LIKE WTF HE’S NEVER GOING TO WANT TO SEE ME AGAIN ANYWAY I’M SO STUPID THIS IS WHY HE DESERVES BETTER” etc, but Honda insists that no, Yuugi is not like that, and anyway, the more important thing here is Honda wants both of his friends to be happy and if this makes them happy, then really the only thing standing in their way right now is Jounouchi, and goddamn he’s never seen anyone so determined to be in the way of their own happiness, honestly. Jounouchi is really quiet for a time and finally, just--- “Do you love him?” “. . . yes.” “How much?” “More than . . . god, I . . .” (Unintelligible mumbling as he buries his face in his arms) “Dude, there’s your answer, just get over yourself and be honest with him, let this happen, you guys’ll work it out somehow. Now go the hell to sleep, I still have an exam tomorrow.”

Jounouchi goes home the next morning, Yuugi isn’t there because Yuugi went to go have breakfast with Bakura. When Yuugi gets back in the afternoon Jounouchi throws the remote at the TV to turn it off (smooth—it doesn’t even work), and apologizes for bailing, Yuugi says it’s okay, Jounouchi says it’s not . . . and more calmly explains everything he’s been stressing over, how he thinks that he doesn’t want to hold Yuugi back, Yuugi could probably do better etc, BUT, he says, before Yuugi can interrupt, BUT he . . . he . . . and he kisses Yuugi, this time he initiates it, and it’s more desperate and far less chaste than before (well—less chaste when Yuugi introduces some tongue as, you know, a test), and when he pulls away Jounouchi says, “I . . . I really . . .” and he just hugs Yuugi as he finishes the, “I love you, and I’m sorry, but I mean it—” and Yuugi hugs him back because finally, FINALLY, finally everything will be all right.

Chapter 10 --- March (Epilogue)

Yuugi graduates, of course; he has his degree in game design and practically a hoard of game companies knocking down his door

Jounouchi has been much, much, much happier on air, of course, given that everything is sorted out and like it used to be (except with more physical intimacy, natch)

Yuugi accepts at a job at an indie games company (MalleaBoundary Games) in Domino; it’s on the other side of town so they do have to move, but they opt to move together esp since the commute still won’t be too bad for Jounouchi

 All in all, everything is as it should be.

[professor-abeloved]

For the shipsss: mc x maxwell and mc x sean (if it hasn't been done yet)

sorry it’s a lil late dear @allthecowslovetheleo​ !! thank you though for asking about my two fave ships mahal kita kaibigan

here’s my trr mc, eliza wong!! HAH SHE HAS AN ACTUAL NAME SUCK ON THAT PB

Send me a Ship and I’ll Break Them DOWN

How did they they meet?

as is in canon, they met when eliza was serving maxwell & friends as a waitress. maxwell thought she was gorgeous in that green dress and had a good feeling about eliza, especially when he saw the way liam looked at her. eliza thought maxwell was friendly, hilarious, maybe too impulsive, but she liked him right off the bat.

Who developed romantic feelings first?

maxwell!! he realised it early on in the competition - he just kept his feelings under wraps, not only for the sake of house beaumont and cordonia, but for eliza’s and liam’s sakes as well.

eliza slowly developed feelings for maxwell the more they spent time together, but it took her a long time to recognize what she was feeling. part of that is because she was so dead-set on winning the competition that she didn’t focus on anything else. 

this is because 

she’s competitive and wanted to prove olivia and the others wrong

she wanted to prove something to her stepmother and her childhood self since she grew up with dreams of becoming a princess - but was always told that she couldn’t and she was a fool for even dreaming

she wanted to save house beaumont so badly. at first she thought that she simply wanted to repay maxwell for his kindness, but it ran so much deeper than that

eventually, eliza grew disillusioned with courtly life and realized that she didn’t need a tiara, a fairytale prince or a billion fancy dresses. all eliza needed was something who could appreciate her inner princess (aka the kind, compassionate, driven woman she was), regardless if she was wearing a waitress outfit or a beautiful ballgown.

addtionally, her “feelings” for liam were just strong aesthetic & platonic attraction. plus, he seemed like the fairytale prince of her childhood dreams. who wouldn’t be drawn to that?

i’ve written more about eliza, her feelings for maxwell and her backstory in this fanfic

Who is their biggest “shipper?”

surprisingly, liam!! he just wants both of them to be happy. in my canon, he realised maxwell’s feelings as well as eliza’s discomfort with courtly life earlier than they did. although he couldn’t say that he wasn’t disappointed, he managed to accept and get over it before he could develop any deep feelings for eliza.

When did they have their first kiss and under what circumstances?

so i may or may not be writing this, but in my canon, eliza doesn’t get chosen to be cordonia’s queen because liam can’t bring himself to do that to her. (he doesn’t know about house beaumont’s situation.)

eliza is devastated that she couldn’t save house beaumont. maxwell thinks he should be as well… but mostly he’s relieved that eliza wasn’t chosen, and he hates himself for it.

eliza apologzes for not being enough to save house beaumont, and maxwell apologises for not being enough to make her dreams come true.

eliza smiles tearfully as she says, “maxwell, you were my new dream.” 

and then she finally gets to confess how everything she did was for him (and bertrand but he’s off drowning his sorrows somehere off-screen). maxwell confesses that everything he did (even “rejecting” her earlier confessing) was for her (and liam, bertrand and the rest of cordonia… he thinks a lot about other people)

with nothing left to lose, they finally give in to their feelings and kiss. desperately, they clutch at each other and hurriedly talk about plans for moving to new york and starting anew, of eliza seeing hope in maxwell’s eyes, and him seeing determination blazing in hers. they talk about making it work, despite all the trials and tribulations they’re going to face, but knowing that they can overcome them as long as they’ve got each other.

Who confessed their feelings first?

^ eliza HAHA. maxwell has so many reservations about confessing & the fic i linked earlier has eliza attempting to confess.

maxwell feels so bad about that though. so after they elope to new york, he “confesses” his love for her everyday in unique ways. one time he wrote eliza a poem and emailed it to her while she was at work since she was working late and he just couldn’t wait! 

another, maxwell makes her a fancy meal and served as her “waiter” for no other reason than he just wanted to tell her that he loves her at the end of it!

another time is when he arranged the refridgerator magnets to say “i love you, little blossom”

What was their first official date?

the day the future queen of cordonia was announced, maxwell immediately asked eliza out to make up for all that lost time.

he talked about splurging the last of his money to take her on an epic date around cordonia, but eliza managed to talk him down for a simple cronut run. max and eliza reminisce about the last time they went there since, once in the middle of the social season, they snuck out by themselves to de-stress and ended up talking all night in that cronut place.

How do they feel about double dates/group dates?

surprisingly, it’s the more reserved, introverted eliza who prefers group/double dates over the energetic, extraverted maxwell HAHA

but that’s because when they’re on a date, maxwell just wants to lavish all his attention on eliza and apparently thats #Rude to the other people

generally though, he’s down for double/group dates (especially with hana and her gf aka my other trr mc ashanti HAHA) as long as he gets enough “Eliza Time" at the end of the day

What do they do in their down time?

they like to read together on the couch, with maxwell’s head on eliza’s lap. (also they game together in the college au)

What was the first meeting of parents as an official couple like?

um i hc maxwell’s parents are dead, eliza’s father & biological mother are also dea. there’s no way she’s gonna let maxwell meet her step-mom so… no.

What was their first fight over and how did they get past it?

again it’s related to this fanfic where eliza tries to confess her feelings but #spoiler maxwell cuts her off and shoots her down before she can get the words out. it’s not really a fight, but eliza sort of ices him out (it’s her defense mechanism) and he went through such lengths to get her to “forgive” him, even though she says there’s nothing to forgive. they sort of go back to normal, despite the lingering tension from their feelings… until the Confession above ^ happens.

Which one is more easily made jealous?

neither? eliza isn’t really the jealous type and she finds it amusing when people flirt with maxwell ‘cause he acts like he doesn’t know and finds interesting ways to let them know that he’s only got eyes for eliza. (he’s the king of friendzoning people nO IM NOT BITTER)

maxwell isn’t the jealous type either like, he’s more likely to get sad and insecure tbh. more of the “she deserves better” altruist. sometimes he asks her why she choose him and eliza never fails to provide him with a million reasons of why she choose such a sweet, thoughtful, hilarious man to be by her side.

What is their favourite thing to get to eat?

CRONUTS BABY

other than that, eliza’s favourite is whatever food maxwell’s cooking up. i headcanon him to be a great, if experimental, chef lol

Who’s the cuddly one? What their favourite cuddling position?

they’re hella cuddly!! maxwell is big spoon and eliza is little spoon! but they also like cuddling facing each other lol

Are they hand holders?

yes!! they’re a very casually affectionate couple so if they’re not holding hands, then either maxwell has his arm around eliza’s shoulders or eliza has her arm around his waist or something. more often than not they’re touching lol

How long do they wait before sleeping together for the first time? What’s the circumstances?

oh mann so in my canon they elope right? well they sleep together the first night they touch down in new york and get their stuff in mc’s old apartment. it’s not something they planned, they were just chasing each other around (they weren’t even properly settled in tbh, it was so messy) when eliza trips over a suitcase and falls on maxwell. 

their giddy laughter trails off as they stare into each other’s eyes… and end up kissing.

they’re just both so overwhelmed with emotion that night because fuck, they finally made it, their dreams of building a future together are becoming reality that they make love that night.

Who tops?

maxwell heheh

What’s the worst fight (?) they’ve ever gotten into?

oh man i haven’t really decided but maybe in the future they have a really domestic argument with eliza chastising maxwell for being too irresponsible and maxwell getting mad at eliza for prioritizing her job over him and their kids/dogs… and they end up saying hurtful things like “i wish i’d never chosen you” and “i wish i had never brought you to cordonia in the first place” but those are just words they said to hurt each other, they don’t really mean it

they spend a day or so apart, but the distance crushes them and hurts the kids, so they reconcile the next day and just spend a long time talking things out and straightening (lol i dont hc them as straight) their issues. their marriage ends up being stronger than ever since they commit to always communication and being bettter, more patient and understanding with each other #Goals

Who does the shopping and the cooking?

eliza is more organized and efficient so she does the shopping while maxwell, though inventive af, cooks the most interesting (if not almost always delicious) foods

Which one is more organized and prone to tidiness?

elizaaaa

Who proposes?

maxwell on the urging of liam, drake and hana HAHA. eliza was happy just by being with maxwell and marriage wasn’t exactly on her mind then, but she was e c s t a t i c when maxwell proposed. it was the thing in her life she never knew she needed. just like maxwell himself.

Do they have joined Bachelor/Bacheloette parties or separate?

JOINED BOI!! he and eliza are gonna kick in on the dance floooor

Who is the best man/maid of honour? Any other groomsmen or bridesmaids?

drake’s the best man & hana’s the maid of honor! liam walked eliza down the aisle though :’) i want to say that eliza kept in touch with kiara and penelope so they’re bridesmaids too! olivia and madeleine surprisingly showed up, hand-in-hand hehe

Big Ceremony or Small?

biggg! the reception was Legendary and was featured in the news LMAO

Do they have a honeymoon? If so, where?  

pff, cordonia of course! they wanted to go back to where it all started and maybe visit bertrand (idk what he’s doing in my canon though). eliza and maxwell go all around cordonia and re-enact what they would’ve done if they were open about their feelings for each other earlier. (like ice-skate romantically in olivia’s home turf, feed each other pie at the apple blossom festival, etc)

Do they have children? How many?

they get a bunch of dogs at first HAHA but also end up adopting like 5 kids since eliza always wanted a lot & maxwell’s so good with kids !! their household is always so full of fun and activity