#what you got such big sad eyes for eh? tis not fair

[motherfuckinbatman]

Thinking about him(...his tits)

[bastillewolf]

Kinda Sketchy (II)

Pairing: Corpse Husband / Reader

Request: “Can you do a part two of kinda sketchy where they slowly fall in love?”

Notes: Sorry this took me so long, but I had zero inspiration as the request left a lot of questions hahaha. Still fun to write, I hope you like it!

Tag list closed.

Chapter II

You’d fallen into a routine for a while. You’d do groceries, he’d do the dishes. You switched cooking, though it was also fine if neither of you felt like it, which is when you’d just order takeout or eat leftovers. But what seemed like the normal thing for two roommates to do on a spoken terms of agreement, it actually appeared you did those things for each other because you wanted to. You’d find some left over dishes in his room which you’d clean, and the next morning you’d find the forgotten tea on your nightstand already back in the cupboard. If you fell asleep working, reading, or watching something on TV, you’d somehow always end up in your bed even though you couldn’t remember getting up to get there yourself.

It had grown into this wonderful friendship between two people who had found it convenient to live together. You knew he could just as well live on his own now, knowing how big his YouTube channel had gotten within the time you’d first seen it up until now- in only a few months, at that. You’d asked him about it, but he’d simply brushed it off, saying it was easier for him this way. He wasn’t sure if he would ever do a face reveal, and having you go outside so he didn’t have to was a great bonus to the shared rent and company. It had hurt you slightly to hear him talk about it so plainly when you had already realized you were starting to feel more for him than you were supposed to.

It had started gradually, to be honest. You hadn’t noticed it at first. You simply took for granted all the times he jokingly bumped his shoulder into yours, or when he hugged you tight when he saw you needed it, or when he even kissed you on the cheek while having a debate with you on what a ‘chef’s kiss’ meant when you’d cooked a – if you may say so yourself – sublime meal.

But now, you had to miss all of those things. It seemed, when you agreed to his basic explanation of how easy it was for him with you living here in order to hide your disappointment, he’d seen it as a sign to stop doing all of those things for granted.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, please. But it’s just easier. I’ve gotten recognized before in a drive-through and I don’t want to go through that ever again,” he said.

You shook your head, even though your heart was plummeting down a set of stairs. “No, I completely get it. We’re roommates and it’s what we agreed upon. That’s it.”

“That’s it,” he repeated.

And that was it. The cups of leftover tea on your nightstand had started to form a fort, and you suddenly found yourself waking up on the couch in the middle of the night, feeling cold and grouchy as you realized you had to walk back to your bed. If you did sleep there until morning, you’d wake up from the sound of the coffee machine with a mumbled ‘sorry’ from your roommate, but other than that, he never said anything about it.

You’d wondered if he was angry with you. You’d even made a peace offering by cleaning up the mess in his room. Even that he didn’t mention.

So, one night while you were waiting on him at the table to show up for dinner, he didn’t come. He wasn’t in the apartment, he hadn’t texted you, he hadn’t left a note. He was nowhere to be found. Of course, you’d think something happened to him. You called Sykkuno first, and luckily you’d chosen exactly the right person.

“Oh, yeah! We’re playing Mario Kart, and he’s staying over. I thought he’d told you?” he said.

“Eh, no, he didn’t,” you replied, rubbing your eyes. “It’s fine. You guys have fun.”

“Thanks! You should come next time too, if you’re not too busy. Corpse told me how much work keeps you up.”

“He did?” you ask, sounding as monotone as could be.

“Yeah, but I think it’s just because he doesn’t want you to meet us yet. We kinda make a crazy first impression on everyone, and I’m pretty sure he wants us to be on our best behaviour when you come over… He- He does talk about you, a lot.”

“He… what?”

“Rae started teasing him about it, but then he brushed it off saying he’d never cheat on me, which is kind of weird considering we aren’t-“

“What did he say about me?” For a moment you felt guilty cutting him off, but your curiosity and heart got the better of you and Thomas didn’t really seem to mind.

“Oh, you know, how you’ve been taking care of him more than he’s ever taken care of himself. I thought it was kind of sad, but he talked about it pretty fondly. Rae caught a hint of that and started asking very personal questions, like what’s going on between the two of you, and then he stopped. I think he just doesn’t want to throw things out there, you know? I think he- Oh, here he is now! Do you want to me to hand you over?”

“No. Thanks, Thomas.” You’d quickly ended the call, but it seemed to late when you’d still heard him ask with that raspy voice of his, “Who are you talking to?”.

So, you ended up eating your dinner alone. He didn’t come home until after midnight, when you were still sitting at the same table, this time with your laptop in front of you doing some last bits of work so you wouldn’t end up falling asleep on the couch again.

You didn’t even turn around when you heard him walk in. He seemed to even hesitate for a moment, judging by his footsteps, before he said ‘hey’. You muttered it back, pretending to be engrossed in your work.

He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, before leaning back against the counter, his face turned to you. “You know, maybe you should just work in bed. I highly doubt falling asleep with your face smashed against the keyboard is very comfortable.”

You suddenly stopped typing, leaned your elbows against the table and linked your fingers together, looking him dead in the eye. “Maybe I want to feel the pain in my back as a punishment knowing I fell asleep like this again.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed.

You let a silence linger just a bit longer, before you continued typing and said, “You could’ve told me where you were.”

He was probably staring at you, but you still pointedly ignored him. “I didn’t know that was in our arrangement.”

“Well, I didn’t know our arrangement was that unpersonal to you. Seems like all I am is someone who just gets your groceries for you.” It was a low blow. But you just needed to make him feel the stabbing, the way he stabbed you.

“Jesus, I told you not to take that personally. That’s not what I meant at all,” he said.

“I didn’t take it personally until you thought that conversation was enough to start ignoring me,” you lied.

“I think you know just as well as I do why I’m keeping my distance.”

You met his eyes. Nothing you could see in there, besides the frustration, gave you any answers. You couldn’t help it, you were glaring back at him just as hard even though all you could feel right now was confusion. He shook his head and sighed.

“Maybe it’s time this agreement ends.”

The thought had crossed both your minds, but he was the one who had said it out loud. And probably stung harder for you than it would have for him if you’d cut the cord. He left you sitting there, with tears now blurring your vision, slamming the door behind him for good measure.

***

He wasn’t home again. It gave you the perfect opportunity to quickly pack the rest of your shit up and leave, quietly. A cowardly move, perhaps, but you knew you didn’t have it in you to face him for this. You still hadn’t found a new place yet, since everything in Cali was way too fucking expensive and most ads looking for a roommate even sketchier than the one from Corpse you’d replied to. One of your friends had come to your aid, however, so you had at least a temporary place to say without having to suffer in this tension any longer.

You were just shoving the last of your books in a cardboard box when your phone rang. It was Thomas.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Uh… well, I was wondering if you could tell us that…” Sykkuno hesitantly asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh- give me the phone-“ “Hey!” there was an evident struggle, before Rae was suddenly talking to you, clearly having ripped the device from Thomas’ hands.

“Corpse is acting all weird! We know something happened between the two of you, but he doesn’t wanna talk about it! It’s like he’s gone back to his brooding old self and I’m worried! So you better start talking!”

“Unless it wasn’t your fault-“ you heard Thomas call out. He was quickly shushed by Rae.

“There’s nothing to say. He made it very clear that our living arrangement was just that; an arrangement, and he stopped talking to me. I confronted him about it, he started saying vague shit and asked me to move out.”

“Wait, what did he say?! I need specifics!” “Rae talks Corpse language, apparently,” you heard Toast mumble in the background.

“He said ‘I think you know just as well as I do why I’m keeping my distance’,” you imitated, your voice not nearly going as low as his.

“Wait, what?”

“I think he just figured out I have feelings for him. I understand how he wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Oh my god, you’re both such idio-!“

The call ended before you could hear the rest of Rae’s frustration. You shrugged it off, understanding why she would be mad at you by upsetting Corpse. He was her friend first and foremost, after all.

You stuffed your clothes in garbage bags, tied them up and pushed all of it into the living room. You’d dusted, vacuumed, and taken the bedsheets off. While balling all of the laundry up in your arms, you heard the door open. You immediately froze.

Footsteps were coming closer. Maybe if you didn’t move he would think you weren’t here. You didn’t want to do this. You didn’t want to see that he didn’t care. Your heart was pounding in your chest and your hands were wringing the fabric of the bedsheets. God, you should’ve packed quicker. You shouldn’t have been so organized, you should’ve just shoved everything in a few boxes altogether and made a break for it. You should’ve.

He was at your door opening. The footsteps had stopped. You still had your back turned to him.

Just keep walking. Please, just keep walking, you pleaded, closing your eyes. Waiting for the final blow.

However, it didn’t seem to land. Not anywhere near you, at least.

You simply heard his breathing, which seemed more erratic than usual, but perhaps you were just imagining things. Please, just keep walking. Please, I can’t-

“Please don’t go,” he rasped.

Your brows furrowed. If anything, your eyes squeezed shut even tighter. He had to be joking with you.

But then he said your name, pleadingly. He stepped behind you, and you could feel his warm breath against your neck. “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go.”

“I think you do,” you tried to convince him, as well as yourself.

His hands found his way around your waist and across your stomach until his chest was flush against your back. “No, I don’t.”

Your hands felt numb, so numb you barely noticed them dropping the bedsheets. He turned you around slowly, and you opened your eyes.

“I… heard what you said to Rae.”

“Oh.”

You watched as he leaned in, the tip of his nose brushing against yours. You didn’t stop him- of course you didn’t want him to. His lips pressed against yours gently, in a question, which you responded to. It was still laced with a certain hesitance, but not one strong enough to make either of you want to pull back. It was tingly, warm, and comfortable as the stress of the past few days came washing over you.

He smiled shyly as he pulled back. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew about how I felt.”

“I’m sorry too. I think we need to set up some things in our agreement about communication.”

“Please, no more fucking agreements. I think Rae would definitely kill us.” You both laughed.

TAG LIST CLOSED!

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[animeangsteng]

Children’s promises

▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▃ ▂

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Children’s promises

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⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎… ⋙

Warnings: innuendo (wedding night - not explicit), marriage, forbidden love (demon-angel), bully (not depicted - demon on angel), canon violence (non-graphic)

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female demon reader (she/her - Y/n (Nicknamed “Pixie” like... 2 times))

Pairings: x fem reader (romantic)

Aged up! Luke

Mention of Solomon and exchange student

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Childhood sweethearts trope

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█ █ █ █ █ 100% *Tuning complete*

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«-Once I’m older I’ll marry you!- she smiled.

-Huh? No!- he protested, surprising the little girl with his sudden opposition: -I’ll marry you!-.

-Eh? Isn’t it the same thing?-

-Well... if it is then let ME marry you!-

-Okay! Don’t forget about our promise, though-»

.

-Sir!- called a man.

-The Archangel Michael called for you- he continued.

Smiling Luke turned to him and dismissed him with a nod: -Thanks! I’ll go now!-.

Freeing his mind from the memory of the demon girl he met during the student exchange in Devildom he greeted Michael, the same admiration he had for him as a child sparkling behind his eyes.

-Luke... I’d like you to go back to Devildom as guide for the angels who’ll take part of the second student exchange- the Archangel said.

Hearing those words Luke was a bit confused: he was overjoyed with such an honour but, at the same time he wanted to avoid Devildom and demons as much as possible.

“Still, I’ll be able to see her again!” He thought, though he chased that thought as soon as he could.

At the time he had forgotten, in his childish innocence, about that girl’s nature but now that he knew that he risked to fall for such feelings he was very careful not to show his partiality.

He loved her, despite not having seen her for centuries, and he often wished to fulfill his promise.

He knew, though, that he could never act on his love and so decided to simply go and meet her, see what had changed.

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« -I’m Y/n. They call me Pixie because I’m small but believe me, I can get things done no matter how big the problem is!- she smiled welcoming.

-I’m Luke- he answered, pink dusting his cheeks.

Barbatos appeared behind them and tapped her shoulder: -It’s time to leave, Young Miss-.

Nodding she left, grinning even more: -Okay! See you around Luke!-.»

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-You’re going to see Pixie again, aren’t you glad?- asked him Simeon.

He looked at him, red in face, and ignored the question: -They’re Micheal’s orders. Of course I’m glad-.

“Of course” giggled Simeon “Luke would never admit it, especially if there’s the risk he could get caught. I wonder, though...”

-I’ll go!- waved him goodbye Luke, leaving his house to go at the portal that would bring him back to Devildom.

-Here goes nothing- he encouraged himself before going.

“I’m just going to meet the forbidden love of my life after centuries”

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«-Remember, Luke: she has friendly ties with the Demon Brothers, the Demon Prince and many other demons so you can be their friend but nothing more, alright?- reprimanded him Simeon, trying to avoid desperately his pupil’s fall.

Yet the warning came too late for the seeds of love were already in the hearts of both kids»

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Nothing.

For weeks he heard nothing from her, nor did he see her.

He wasn’t sure whether he was mad, sad or relieved.

Looking back at the way between Purgatory Hall and the House of Lamentation he felt a bit nostalgic, he admitted that.

It felt like the day before he had to go visit her.

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«-We’re late!- shouted Luke, pulling Simeon.

-Don’t worry I’m sure she’ll wait- smiled the latter -I’m glad you got over your grudge with demons-.

Hearing that Luke stopped on his tracks: -It’s just that she’d never participated in the war. It’s not fair! She should be able to be an angel like us!-.

Saying that he sniffed, tears threatening to come out.

-I kinda like being here in Devildom, though- said the one they were talking about from behind the blond kid.

-But... it’s Devildom and there’s all these demons!- tried to reason with her Luke.

-Yeah but at least I can do what I want. Like visit the Human World freely, at least much more than you! You have no idea how many great people I met!- she continued.

-But... we could have met before- he whined a bit tearfully Luke.

-Yeah. We could have- she agreed, hugging her friend.

-Let’s go now, though!- she giggled, pulling Luke away from Simeon and bringing him along the way to the House of Lamentation.

-Otherwise Beel will eat all the raw ingredients for our desserts!-»

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While he was going home, although he never thought he’d call somewhere but the Celestial Realm home, he felt someone throw themselves on his back and fall on him.

As he turned he saw a very familiar demon standing on top of him, a big smile on her face.

.

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«-Look! The angel chihuahua is on his own!- teased him some lesser demons.

-I’m not a chihuahua!- he replied, huffing.

-Then we’ll beat you up with no regrets!- said them, nearing him dangerously.

-S-Stay there!- he warned them.

-Scared? Where’s your bravery?- some mocked him.

-Let him go!- said another’s voice, a little girl’s.

Behind the demons a little girl in her demon form threw them a stone, hitting one in their forehead and getting in front on the angel, trying to shield them.

-I’ll protect you, don’t worry!- she smiled at him.

And Luke could have sworn he was back in the Celestial Realm because her smile looked like an angel’s.»

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Once back from Memory Lane, suddenly noticing their compromising position and closeness, he reddened: -Get off me!-.

Giggling she did as he asked and smiled, brightening his world once again.

-It’s been a long time, hasn’t it Luke?-

-Yes, it has- he said, smiling involuntarily and getting the dust off his clothes.

-Where have you been? Didn’t notice you being at RAD- he asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.

-I was in the Human Realm. I met Solomon again- she replied.

An awkward silence filled the air.

-I’ll be going then- she said cheerfully, a bit awkwardly -See you around!-

-Yeah. Bye- he answered, looking forward to meeting her again.

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Did the centuries spent apart change the feelings they had for each other?

Not at all.

Day after day they fell for each other more and more and the more it happened the worst it hurt.

Until one day, they weren’t sure why, they kissed.

They shared a tiny innocent kiss before leaving in a hurry, murmuring excuses.

It was obvious to the both of them that they didn’t regret it at all but they were supposed to be enemies, or at least rivals, so how could they do it?

They talked and talked about it until one day they came to an agreement.

They’d keep their relationship a secret until they found a way to openly be together.

And so they did.

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-I love you- he said.

-I love you too, silly- she laughed a bit.

Cuddling and leaning a bit more in Luke’s embrace she sighed.

-We still haven’t found a way yet and the year is almost over- she sighed, worried.

-I was thinking... what if we asked Simeon? Simeon came here and I’m sure he’d give us a hand and stay silent about it- he smiled shyly.

-I’m in but... can we really trust him?- she asked.

-Yeah. And if something goes wrong I’ll take care of it.- replied Luke.

-Yeah. We’ll get through this-

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And that’s how they sneaked into Purgatory Hall together.

She was prepared for any scenario.

Any scenario but this.

The Hall beautifully decorated, the Demon Brothers, Diavolo, Barbatos, Solomon and Simeon waiting for them.

And Luke on one knee asking her to marry him.

-Will you marry me?- he asked, eyes full of hope and face as red as it could be.

-You’d really like to marry me?- she asked for confirmation.

-Yeah, well... I love you and I promised, didn’t I?- he chuckled.

-Then YES!!!- she accepted happily, making him cry in joy.

As the vows were taken he whispered in her ear, tears of happiness still rolling off his cheeks: -Good thing you accepted. It would have been embarrassing to get rejected like this-.

-Did you plan to guilt trip me otherwise?-

-N-no!- he denied.

-Yeah. A bit- he then surrendered looking at her smirk.

-It’s just... I love you. Despite all that told me to not fall for you I couldn’t help it. I love you with all my heart. You might be a demon but in my eyes you’re an angel, or even more: a goddess-

-Careful! You might fall- she jokingly smiled.

-Yeah, well. It would be a pity but I suppose it wouldn’t be that bad if I get to stay with you forever-

-You know... I can’t wait for tonight.-

-T-tonight? W-why?- he stuttered, knowing well what she meant.

With a mischievous smile she giggled, a bit seductively and a bit jokingly: -To get to the fun part-.

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Made by @ME

The base I used (because I can only trace and color) is from a screenshot of Chitoge Kirisaki & Raku Ichijou (Nisekoi by Naoshi Komi).

I needed to make it because I wasn’t sure whether the description of their position was understandable.

I made a shadow to let anyone identify with it (in particular big black shadows)

[januaryisnotanartist]

KanSang Week Day 07 Victory

Pairing: Kan Jian/Liu Sang (future), Pangzi/Piaopiao (background/established)

Genre: fluff, school festival (canon ish universe) Tropes: getting together, (background?) found family, school festivals, Liu Chang and Waer Liu Sang and Kan Jian: Babysitters extraordinaire  Special spotlight thief Guest Star: Xiao Mei Word Count: 1,400 ish

-

Kan Jian and Liu Sang looked at the mountain of clay before them. Clay was no stranger to either of them, over many years and various dig sites, they'd both become familiar with clay. Digging it, crawling through it, clambering over it.

But this... this was not their expertise.

“It's okay if you aren't any good at making pots,” Xiao Mei said, but even Kan Jian could hear the sadness in her voice.

Three tables over, halfway across the room, another girl looked over at them, a smirk on her face.

“Oh, A-Mei, haven't you started yet?” The tone was saccharine and mocking. “My parents and I are making great progress, you don't want to fall behind and not make the judging.”

Kan Jian leaned down, turning a little to hide his mouth and whispered, “I can totally wreck their pots if you need me to, no one will be able to prove it.”

Xiao Mei shook her head, fists clenching.

“Even if we lose to her, we'll do it fair and square.”

Liu Sang scoffed quietly, “I'm pretty sure that damn Fa- uh, that your dad would be with Kan Jian on this one.” Xiao Mei looked up at him in consideration, but nodded in agreement.

“Mum wouldn't, not over a school festival,” she said at last, “we'll just have to try our best.”

“Right,” Kan Jian agreed readily, but like Xiao Mei, he didn't move to start shaping the clay.

“You know, when Pangzi asked us to go with you today, he only did it because we were the ones available,” Liu Sang said while he rolled up his sleeves and began getting ready to deal with the clay. “But you actually got a bit lucky, I use listening urns in my work, and my teacher actually taught me the art of making them. Allegedly to better appreciate them as well as to know how to find good quality ones... or replace them if I was clumsy enough to break one.”

Xiao Mei looked at Liu Sang with new hope.

“Let me show you what to do?” Liu Sang asked the pair.

-

Xiao Mei hadn't been sure about her dad's friends, she'd been hoping her mum and dad (her awesome new one, not her mean old one) would be able to come with her to the school festival, so they could take part in the family competitions together, but so far her new big brothers were really cool.

They hadn't really come first at anything yet, and she could tell it was annoying Sang-ge, but they were placing second and third in most of the events, so technically they were 'overall' winning.

Xiao Mei wasn't really looking for first place, any placement was fine... as long as it was better than Feifei's. Feifei was the worst, she'd teased Xiao Mei about not having a 'normal family unit' since, well, for as long as they'd known one another.

So beating Feifei wasn't just a personal mission, it was justice, for all non-nuclear families out there.

Also it would be so satisfying.

-

“- which is how you figure out the best angle for the balloons on the fly,” Kan Jian finished, looking away from the special slingshots they were to use as water balloon launchers, to make sure Xiao Mei and Liu Sang understood.

It was the last event of the day, the water balloon fight. Each family unit was to be hidden in an identical cardboard base with a supply of water balloons. The goal was to wreck someone else's base before theirs was destroyed.

It was also their last chance for an Event based First Place.

Xiao Mei looked determined, a fire in her eyes. Liu Sang was watching Kan Jian with approval in his eyes.

“We have ten minutes left to decorate our bases,” Xiao Mei reminded her big brothers, “and to reinforce the cardboard if we want. Should we get started?”

“How are they reinforcing the cardboard?” Kan Jian asked, looking around at the other nearby families.

“By gluing on additional cardboard layers,” Liu Sang told him, a smirk growing on his face, “with wet glue.”

Kan Jian grinned back, “we have wax crayons to colour don't we?” He looked at Xiao Mei, “orders laoban?”

Xiao Mei looked back and forth between the two men, confused at first, then she joined their smiling as she realised what their words meant.

“Colour everything, start with the weakest points, no glue allowed.”

-

Two minutes to go, Liu Sang leaned in close to Xiao Mei.

“Young girl with the blue hair ties,” he murmured, “doesn't like that girl you want to crush, what do you think about an alliance?”

Xiao Mei nodded, “I'll be back in a minute.”

-

The battlefield was a circle of cardboard bases, and theirs was the most colourful one on the field. That was fine, because theirs was also the driest. The wet glue hadn't dried as quickly as people thought it would.

More importantly, Feifei was directly across the circle from Xiao Mei and her brothers. Feifei would be the first to fall.

The starting whistle blew and the air filled with flying waterballoons.

Three flew from their base across the way to Feifei's. Xiao Mei's first shot fell short of the target, dashing across the concrete. She didn't miss her second.

-

Receiving the first place ribbons for the Water balloon fight and the Overall scores, was actually the second best feeling of the day for Xiao Mei. The best was hearing her dad's loud applauding and cheers along side her mum's slightly quieter cheering as Xiao Mei closed her hands around the ribbons.

She waited long enough to be polite before leaving the award area and flinging herself at her dad for a hug. Her mother was still sore from her accident and recover, even after two months.

“We won,” she told her parents, aware they'd seen the award ceremony.

“Good job,” her mum told her, pressing a kiss to Xiao Mei's hair.

“Glad those two didn't hold you back,” her dad said cheekily.

Liu Sang scoffed from nearby and proceeded to ignore Pangzi.

Xiao Mei started telling her parents all about the day, several sentences in she paused and turned to call her brothers over to help, but stopped at the sight of them.

They both looked nervous and on edge. Xiao Mei and her parents, when they noticed what had caught her attention, shamelessly eavesdropped.

“-and I was just wondering if you wanted to get ice cream with me, later,” Liu Sang asked, his hands worrying the hem of his shirt.

Kan Jian looked devastated, a slow dawning of grief emerging across his face.

Liu Sang didn't move much, but somehow he looked like a turtle retreating into its shell, “it's fine if you don't want t-”

“I'm lactose intolerant,” Kan Jian cut Liu Sang off.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Liu Sang's brows scrunched, “they have dairy free at the place I wanted to go, if that...” Liu Sang looked tentative, too scared to be hopeful, but Kan Jian smiled and nodded.

“Awesome, I'd be happy to go with you, I just have to be careful cause not all the ice cream places do dairy free.”

Liu Sang steeled himself.

“Just to be clear, I'm asking you out on a date. With me.”

Kan Jian laughed and reached out to take Liu Sang's hand, “oh good, I was hoping that was what was going on here.”

Quietly Pangzi cheered and told his girlfriend and daughter, “just won a bet with Xiazi, he reckoned it would take them another few months to work it all out... just lost a bet with Xiao Bai, I thought it would be Kan Jian to make the first move.”

“You bet on us?!”

“Don't use your hearing to eavesdrop on good and decent people!”

“Eh? Who's decent? Not you!”

Kan Jian used Liu Sang's distraction to thread his and Liu Sang's fingers together.

“My boyfriend,” Kan Jian said, barely audible, just to test it out. Liu Sang heard it of course and flushed bright red.

Piaopiao laughed, leaning against Pangzi, “alright, how about you boys come with us for a victory dinner? To celebrate your win, and as thanks for being here on our behalf.”

Xiao Mei and Kan Jian cheered, Liu Sang... continued to blush.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

BTHB: Forced to Watch

That’s right, it’s that time again! @muffinworry​ requested: @badthingshappenbingo​:  forced to watch with my girl ashley

As always: puppy stickers equals fulfilled, blood stains are requested

Tagging: @bleeding-demon-teeth, @spiffythespook, @finder-of-rings, @whumpywhumper​ @special-spicy-chicken​

CW: Stabbing, blood, referenced/implied noncon and abuse

“Ora, if you don’t start paying attention, this story is going to take a really long time to tell.” 

When Ora didn’t look up - a flash of the green hair on their head, dirty and clumped together by now, all they gave Ashley to look at -  Ashley sighed heavily, wondering why she put up with this. Sure, she didn’t know how to drive and Ora Collins at least appeared to have the car mostly under control (totally under control at the moment, as they were not even in the car, they were tied to a chair), but they were three days in and they should feel bonded by now.

Right? Shouldn’t they?

How long did it take Bram to start getting his boys to bond with him? Oh, but Bram had the eyes, and Ashley was never going to have the eyes. Not unless they met another like themselves and Bram helped her cut that one’s eyes out. 

“Ora. Come on, this place is a shithole and I do not have all day to walk you through this.” Ora sniffed, and Ashley paused while licking a bit of red off one fingernail. “What? What’s that noise for?”

Sometimes - if she was truly honest with herself - Ashley envied the other vampires. It would have been nice to live on blood, copper-salt-sweet and sparking with life in it. She could have been a great vampire like that. Instead, here she was, buzzing off the conflicting miseries of relief and hate and - strongest of all - fear that came from the poor little thing she carried along with her.

Well, and nice and full already from the meal currently slumped hard to one side and tied to a chair across the table from Ora.

“Ora, I am talking to you, and you remember the rules-”

“I’m sorry!” Ora jerked their head back up this time, meeting Ashley’s gaze with wide, frightened hazel eyes. Honestly, Ora’s eyes were their best feature, and Ashley never got tired of how they looked ringed in white from fear. “I’m s-sorry, Ashley, it’s just-... it’s just, it’s really h-h-hard to watch, to watch you...”

“What? To watch me cut him up?” Ashley blinked, looked at the man tied to the chair next to where she stood, then back to Ora. She gestured with the large chef’s knife she held in one hand, already smeared with the man’s blood. “He died like two hours ago, Ora, what’s the problem?”

“H-he… I kn, I know he’s d-dead, Ashley, but you k-keep cutting h-h-him…” Ora’s voice hiccupped, finally, into sobs and their head dropped once more as they began to cry, tears wetting little droplets onto the fabric of their jeans. They were still wearing the ones she had met them in, although Ashley had been nice enough to steal a bunch of different shirts and underwear somewhere in Iowa.

She was pretty sure they were in Nebraska now? It was flat and pointless, in any case, and Ashley had vague memories of the center of this stupid baby country being flat and pointless. Harder people lived out here, but fewer of them. 

No one like her could live long without a nice big population center to feed on, and Nebraska… Nebraska wasn’t it.

Ashley sighed and raked a hand back through her hair, frowning as she remembered she had a lot of blood on that hand. Oh, well. She’d have to shower before they left anyway. Brammie would take Ora into the shower with him, if he were here, start that whole mess back up, but Ashley valued her private time more than her Brammie ever had.

She missed her baby brother.

Baby by a few minutes, anyway.

But they’d find him soon enough in that prison in California, and then Ashley would set him free. It wasn’t fair to lock up something so beautifully wild as her brother. Do you blame a wolf for eating deer? Do you lock up a raccoon for digging through trash cans?

“Ora. I’m going to get rid of this whole…” She waved the knife around in a lazy circle, gesturing to the man who’d had the bad luck to piss Ashley off. “... mess. But I’m not going to do it until you have finished listening to me, and you have to look or the whole visual aid part of this just isn’t going to work.”

“B-But I don’t want to see the visual aid!” Ora wailed, and the sound of their sweet sad voice echoed off the walls. Ashley shivered, pleasantly, felt electricity light up her nerve endings and flood her veins. Moments like this were why Brammie kept Nate around, weren’t they? That little buzz in your fingertips, behind your eyes, the way Ashley felt like any moment now her hair might stand on end from the pure perfection of Ora Collins and their precious little fear.

“Ora. Darling. Light of my life, love of my heart. My absolute goddamn treasure.” Ashley leaned over, pointing the blade right at Ora’s little face. 

She watched their head slowly rise, eyes nearly crossing as they focused with new panic on the point of the knife so close to them. Ashley licked her lips, slowly, and tilted her head to take in more fully the sudden quick rise and fall of Ora’s chest under their baggy shirt. 

“Watch. The visual. Aid. Or I will cut your eyelids off so you can’t blink any longer. Am I understood?”

Ora’s throat moved in a sudden a swallow and they nodded quickly, hair falling into their face, and Ashley used the chef’s knife to gently - ever so gently - push it back to the side. She loved watching the wide hazel eyes following every movement.

“So. As I was saying. Brammie’s little boyfriend and I - he’d been living with us for three years by then, give or take - were alone in the house. Brammie still had to hunt, because he wasn’t doing enough to Nate to just, to just really eat him by then. It’s that whole nonsense thing about love, you know? We’ve been around for so, so long, and Brammie’s boys are a dime a dozen for forever and then we run into this pretty little prince of his and bam!” Ashley slammed her free hand down on the table and Ora jumped, letting out a scared little cry.

Ashley felt the reverberation of that cry right down her spine, like the lick of a lover’s tongue.

“Bam,” She repeated but gently this time. “He’s in love. He’s in love, Ora Collins, and you know what my Brammie and I don’t do?” Ora swallowed again - they swallow so much when they’re talking to Ashley, don’t they? - and ventured, in a trembling voice, “You, you don’t… fall in love?”

“Right. Absolutely right, Ora-who-I-adore-ah. We don’t fall in love. Why would we? Everyone dies in the end but us. What’s the goddamn point?” She sighed and rested her free hand on Ora’s shoulder, giving it a little reassuring squeeze, leaning over to look right at them. Ora stared back, their eyes shifting back and forth, as though trying to find some softness or give on Ashley’s.

There was none to find. 

Ashley knew her eyes were empty, reflection of light off the ice of a vast, lifeless lake. Bram had all the life in his. Ashley was nothing but walking death.

“So, anyway. Nate came to live with us - and at first we had to lock him in, and my Brammie… oh, the things my Brammie did to him.” Ashley breathed out, the happy memories flooding her system, and moved slowly away, circling the chair Ora was tied to, turning to look at the dead man on the other side of this small, sad little Formica table in some stupid shit town in stupid fucking Nebraska in this absolutely pointless fucking country.

“Wh-what things?” Ora asked, voice still shaky, but a little steadier now. “I r-read a little about the trial…”

“Hmmm, I doubt much of that came into play. Nate liked the things my Brammie did. You don’t talk about the parts you like in court, in my experience.” 

“Have you… eh-ever been to court?”

Ashley paused, tapping her chin with the blunt side of the knife. “I guess I haven’t. Well, unimportant to my story so shut your fucking face for five seconds while I set up the visual aid.”

Ora nodded, biting down on their lower lip. Ashley watched them stretch their wrists against the strength of the rope and find just enough give to add a little comfort, not enough to escape. Ashley was being nice to Ora, but she wasn’t going to be that nice… or that stupid.

Brammie had been stupid, once. 

Ashley would never be dumb enough to give another body the chance.

“So. In any case, after three years, you know, we were pretty used to each other.” Ashley started walking again, looking down to watch her own toes spread out against the dingy tile floor, yellowed with time. She stopped behind the man’s body, grabbing it by the short black hair on its head and yanking back, lifting the empty horrified green eyes to stare right at Ora. “We had our routine. Nate did all the cooking and cleaning like the good little housewife Brammie kept him to be, they fucked a lot-”

Ora winced.

“Oh, what, you’ve never fucked someone? What about Penny? I mean, it seemed like you did-”

“N-no, it’s just… it’s not that, Ashley, I swear, it’s just-” Ora’s gaze went to the fridge - wide open with only a jug of expired milk and a half-empty box of baking soda inside - and then it danced everywhere but at Ashley. “Can you not make me look at his, um, his eyes?”

“Oh, this is the problem? Yeah, sure.” Ashley dropped the head and it flopped hard back down, chin on its chest. “Sorry about that.”

“Th-thank you, Ashley,” Ora whispered. Oh, they learned the rules fast, and they learned them well. Ashley might actually regret killing Ora once they made it to her destination.

“Anyway. My story. So we had a good thing going, the three of us. Nate was a dartboard, he was a footstool for me one time, I cut the shit out of him, he and Brammie had some weird fucked up sex thing going… it was just a really good life, trust me. Then… then Brammie goes out hunting one day because he couldn’t hurt Nate anymore, he was in love the absolute dumbass, and while he was out…”

Ashley sighed, resting one arm on the shoulder of the corpse, looking down at it a little fondly. “While Brammie was out hunting, Nate picked up a knife. I didn’t expect it anymore. I thought… I was an idiot. He fooled us both, that son of a bitch. He shouldn’t have been able to but he did. He was cooking for me, and I came in to check on the progress, and…” Ashley’s grip tightened on the handle of the chef’s knife.

“And… and what?” Ora looked up slowly, nervously.

Ashley smiled, and there was blood smeared on her teeth. “Then he fucking stabbed me to death, Ora.” 

Her arm moved with inhuman speed to jam the blade right through the corpse’s chest, and Ora let out a startled breathy scream, jerking at their restraints. “Like this. And this. And fucking this. Get your fucking eyes back on me!” Ora started to cry, again, tears racing down their face on either side like gorgeous little raindrops, and Ashley laughed, a high-pitched half-shattered sound, at the sight. 

Ashley kept stabbing, making new wounds in a dead body over and over and over again, checking to see if Ora was looking, and they were, they were. The horror and disgust, the way Ora’s face went white and then green, it all fed Ashley, settled deep inside her bones and she felt the most ancient parts of her shift in happiness, in every single second being exactly what she was made to be.

She counted up the wounds - she thought maybe 37, it was hard to remember when you were being fucking stabbed to death by your brother’s boyfriend - and when she was done the knife clattered back to the ground, and Ashley stood, breathing hard, a snarl pulling lips back from her pinkish-stained teeth. “He killed me, Ora. Brammie’s little boyfriend killed me. Then he got up, and he left while I was still choking on my own fucking blood, and when I woke up it was five years later and you and your little asshole girlfriend were in my fucking house and my brother’s in fucking prison!”

Ora cringed back into their seat, into the restraints, trying to choke back their sobs and failing, failing miserably, failing beautifully. The sound of their tears bounced off the walls in this dirty little kitchen and everything seemed, in that moment, just a little bit brighter.

Pl-please,” Ora half-whispered, trembling and beautiful. “Please don’t, don’t do th-th-this anymore, please…”

Ashley sighed, nudging the corpse with her foot. Blood leaked from wounds as an afterthought, the motherfucker was too dead to be worth much of a show. Ashley looked down at her own hands, ran them over her chest and torso, reminding herself that her wounds were gone. They had healed, while she waited to come back. 

They had healed.

She was healed.

And she had a fucking job to do.

“That was the end of the visual aid, Ora. But my point is, Nate Vandrum is a piece of shit who didn’t know how good he had it, he murdered me, and I would very much like to find his dumb ass and murder him right back. But I have a feeling my brother won’t let me. So you - and I - are going to do the next best thing.”

“We… w-we are?” Ora raised their head one more, and Ashley moved to them swiftly, leaning over to take that softly rounded little chin in her hand. They did not flinch or pull away from her touch - they knew so many rules now, they were such a good little friend. “What’s the next best th-thing, Ashley?”

“Please,” Ashley said gently, lovingly, petting at Ora’s face, leaving little red stripes there that would dry and turn brown and flake away. “Please call me Ash, Ora, we’re friends now, aren’t we?”

“R-Right. F-F-Friends, Ash.” Ora nodded quickly, swallowing hard again. “We’re friends, right. Wh, whatever you say, is, is right.”

“That’s my… well. That’s my little Ora. See, this is why you got to be the one that lived. Lucky, lucky little thing.” Ashley kissed them once on each cheek, then petted one hand gently through Ora’s hair. After holding themselves stiffly still, Ashley felt Ora slowly force themselves to relax, and smiled with delight when Ora pushed their head a little harder into the touch of Ashley’s hand.

“Oh, you’re so good,” Ashley murmured, nearly purred the words, and Ora let out a shaking, audible breath of relief. “You’re such a good Oracle. We’re going to find my brother, we’ll let him out, and he will lead us to Nate Vandrum and that redheaded mop he tried to kill him for.”

“And, and then we’ll k-k-kill them?” Ora asked, keeping their voice low, whispering right back to her. “Then they’ll d-d-die?”

“Hm.” Ashley cradled Ora’s head in her hands for a moment longer, then let go and stood, stretching her arms high over her head, until the knobs of her spine cracked, until she felt the stretch of every single muscle in her body.

You should never take those living muscles for granted, after all. They could die any day, and not everyone would die with the coins to pay their debt.

“I d-d-don’t want to help you kill anyone,” Ora said, low and pleading. “I don’t want to be a murderer, Ash.”

“Don’t worry, darling, you won’t.” Ashley smiled. 

“B-but… you’re going to kill them?”

Ashley kicked the bloody knife until it banged hard into a wall across the little room. “Probably not.” Ora looked up, hope in their pretty hazel eyes, and Ashley licked her lips against how it was about to feel when she drained all that hope away. “They tried to kill my brother, after all. Killing them is going to be his job. But you and I… well. Have you ever heard about how the people who lived here before the colonists fucked it all up used to trap buffalo?”

Ora blinked, and slowly shook their head. Hair fell back over their eyes, but this time Ashley left it there. “N-No, Ash, I haven’t.”

“They would find the buffalo, and set up a trap. And a few would wave blankets and shout and maybe shoot an arrow or two, but the buffalo would stampede away from what they saw at the threat and run right into the trap. They’d get caught there, milling around, and then they just waited to die. So we’re going to set my brother free. We’re going to find his pretty little buffalo roaming the open range.” Ashley slid her hands into the back pockets of her own jeans, licking a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. “Then you and I are going to wave some blankets and yell.”

“And… and y-y-your brother does the, um, the killing?” Ora’s voice was low, but after a second they nodded, thoughtfully. “I can… I can do that. If I don’t d-d-do the killing, Ash, I can, I can do that.”

“Wonderful. I knew I liked you for a reason. Now stay here and watch over our little buddy while I go take a shower. Once I’m clean, you can have yours and we’ll see if we can’t find you some fucking sweatpants or something in this house.” Ashley paused, then clapped her hands together in sudden delight. “I’m pretty sure I saw a KFC when we came in through town, let’s have fried chicken for dinner!”

Ora stared at the dead man who had once owned this house, and who had made the mistake of catcalling Ashley and calling Ora some kind of slur while they were getting gas. He was a dick to Ashley, and now he was dead.

To Ashley, it all made absolutely perfect sense.

Finally, Ora said softly, “Fried, um, fried chicken sounds pretty g-g-good…”

“And what do we say when someone offers to give us a gift, Oracle Collins?”

Ora smiled up at her - it was watery, and frightened, but it was a smile. “We s-s-say thank you, Ash. Thank you for offering to get me fried chicken for dinner.”

“You’re so welcome, love.” Ashley ruffled Ora’s pretty green hair and then turned to walk away. As she stomped up the stairs, she called out, “I’ll buy you some new hair dye, too, let’s get you all bright and fun again before we head west tomorrow!”

Oracle Collins, wearing week-old dirty jeans and tied down to a chair three feet from a corpse still leaking blood from too many stab wounds to count, let their eyes go slowly unfocused so they wouldn’t have to see anything at all any longer.

Somewhere nearby a police siren started up, but Ora didn’t raise their head. 

They knew those sirens weren’t coming to help.

[justkending]

Starstruck. Chapter 1.

Summary: Bucky Barnes works at a hospital in NYC as an E.R. doctor. Him and his a group of his friends all plan a trip to Texas to attend ACL music festival. It’s not really Bucky’s scene, but one particular artist that is performing there is his celebrity crush, Y/N Blaire. Y/N is a country pop singer who is on the up and coming rise in the music industry. What’s to come of the two? Well, that’s for them to explore and you to find out...

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N Blaire (Reader)

Word count: 4300+

A/N: This idea was one of those ones that once it came, there was no getting it out of my head. SO here we are actually putting it in writing. Hopefully I can give it the justice it deserves! Also, fair note to make, I recently went to ACL this year and this is where the idea kinda blossomed. I watched an amazing selection of all kinds of artist I already knew and some that I grew to love. I say this because Kacey Musgrave was one of those individuals and I haven’t stopped listening to her albums since I went, and I love her type of music as well as voice. So, each chapter will have a song that goes with it from her. In other words, the reader is based off of Kacey. Her type of music and voice are going to be what the reader characterizes as. Enjoy and let me know what you think!!!

NEW SERIES FOR A NEW YEAR!! HAPYY NEW YEAR!!!

Songs: 

Enough- Alex Roe 

Dime Store Cowgirl- Kacey Musgraves

Chapter 1:

“Come on! We have to hurry if we’re going to make it to the Honda stage!” Bucky grunted, maneuvering his way through 75,000 people that were also trying to get around the crowd.

He had taken the lead of the group with Clint, Wanda, Nat, and Steve following single filed.

“Bucky, slow down! The girls can’t push past as fast,” Steve shouted on the tail end of the line.

“I can hold my own, Steve.” Nat sassed sending him a playful glare.

He just chuckled, placing a hand on her back as he moved to the side for yet another person as they continued to sneak through everyone else. 

Once they got to the middle of the park, where it was a lot more spacious, they all scoped out the stage they were looking for, seeing it was already filling up. The concert goers already standing to the back of the field. Clearly there were about 2-3 thousand people waiting for the next performer to go on.

“Damn it. We’re too late. We can’t get close to the stage,” Bucky mumbled upset that the one singer he wanted to see was going to have to be from a good distance. 

“Who even is this girl and why is Barnes having a full on fangirl moment?” Clint chuckled getting an elbow to the ribs from Nat.

“She’s a really good artist,” Bucky rolled his eyes as they moved as close to the stage as possible. 

“She’s an up and coming country pop singer,” Wanda spoke up. 

“Country? Since when is Bucky into anything country? I thought he was into the old classics,” Clint scoffed. 

“She’s the one exception. When he figured out she existed, that’s all that played in our apartment for 4 months,” Steve laughed. “I’m sure it didn’t stop though after he moved out.”

“Hey. You loved it and you know it,” Bucky pointed a finger at his best friend. 

“She’s good. I’ll give you that.” Steve held out his hands up in surrender. “Clint, I’m sure you’ll like her.”

“Hey, I’m all for a little country music,” Clint replied.

“It’s a subtle country twinge to it though. Nothing overbearing,” Wanda added. 

“Wanda, you a fan too?” Nat asked. 

“Maybe not as much as Barnes here, but yes. I’ve listened to her for a while,” Wanda nodded. 

“How much longer until she’s on?” Nat asked, turning to the stage.

“About 23 minutes,” Bucky said looking over everyone's heads as they got as close as they could without being squashed. 

“It’s a good thing Sam couldn’t come. He would definitely be making some comments and jokes about your little obsession,” Clint chuckled under his breath.

“Shut up!” Bucky groaned. “She’s just really good and a good person.” 

“Oh, so you’ve met her?” Steve nudged his arm with Bucky’s.

“No, but she isn't in any of the bad media,” Bucky answered. “Unlike her stupid boyfriend.”

“She has a boyfriend.” Wanda asked.

“Yeah, Quentin Beck. He’s an actor, but did a few albums a while back. He has a bad rap from the past. Big time party goer, manipulative, and always messed with peoples head making them think he was a good guy when he wasn’t. Complete dick from what I’ve heard.” Bucky crossed his arms looking ahead at the stage. “Apparently, he went through this whole life changing stage, and now he’s all sweet and generous. Of course, everyone thinks it’s cause Y/N had that effect on him.”

“Ok, has Barnes been internet stalking this girl forever or…” Clint said eyebrows raised. 

“Shut up. I just keep up with the news and read, punk,” Bucky sent daggers Clint’s way. 

“Whatever you want to call it man. I personally call it stalking.” Clint shrugged getting a shove from the dark haired man. 

“Boys, cut it out.” Nat said stepping between the two. “If it wasn’t for this girl, we wouldn’t have got Bucky to come. So I say we enjoy her show, and stop teasing Barnes on his obvious crush.”

“It’s not a crush!” Bucky groaned.

“Sure cowboy. Sure thing,” Wanda patted his back with a wink getting a chuckle out of him before he wrapped an arm over her shoulder and gave her a squeeze.

“You’re the only one who gets me,” he smiled.

“Eh, what are friends for? Plus us Y/N Blaire fans got to stick together,” she winked at him. 

Sure enough 23 minutes later, music began to play, and the crowd went crazy. Wanda squeezed Bucky’s waist looking up seeing him staring trying to find the singer he had come almost 2000 miles to see. 

When they heard the crowd get even louder, they saw she had walked on in an outfit that screamed her, and her guitar thrown over her shoulder. 

She was smiling and waving at the crowd with a giant genuine grin. Even though the group of friends were a really good distance away, the giant stadium sized screens on both sides of the stage showed her perfectly.

She was wearing a green leaf textured top that was short yet modest. Her skirt was what looked like an old renaissance painting in fabric form. She had bracelets up her arm, and necklaces hanging from her neck. Her hair thrown into a messy yet intricate braided style with a custom cowboy hat with a flat rim around it sew in with detailed embroidery.

“Her outfit is so cute.” Nat said leaning to look past Bucky and talk to Wanda. 

“Her style is literally the best. It’s ranges from hippy/hipster with a twinge of country to itl. She done some fun things that you think would never work, but somehow look amazing on her!” Wanda agreed. 

“Is that where you get your inspiration?” Nat laughed motioning to Wanda's witchy-hipster-vibe.  

“I’d be proud to be compared to her,” she winked before turning back to the stage.

“Oh, my! Look at all you lovely people!” Y/N said into her mic that stood in a stand in front of her as she scanned the sea of individuals. “I would have never guessed to see this many people. Holy shit!” she laughed stepping back and putting her hand on her cheek as she listened to them scream.

“Ok, she’s pretty cute. I’ll give you that, Barnes,” Clint laughed getting a nod of agreement from Steve. 

“Back off, Barton,” Bucky laughed back sending a teasing look. 

“Sure... No crush at all...” Clint rolled his eyes playfully.

“As most of you probably know, Austin is one of my favorite places here in Texas beside my hometown,” Y/N continued and paused as the crowd screamed again making her laugh in the mic and making Bucky’s heart skip a beat at the sound. “And it’s crazy to think that a little over 5 years back, I was just a struggling artist doing small gigs in cafes and bars, and playing on the street for a little extra cash.” She let out a breath and held her hand to her heart. “It’s a dream to be asked to play here along with some AMAZING artist,” she emphasized. “Like. I honestly don’t know if this is real or if I’m going to wake up in a few minutes.” More cheers. “Anyway, you guys didn’t come here to hear me gawk at what my life is now, so let’s get a move on!” she said pumping her hand getting the loudest screams so far. 

She turned to the rest of the band before counting down and starting to strum her guitar.

Everyone took in the performance with awe. Bucky especially, he sang along with Wanda on a few songs, but mainly just took in the moment listening to her and her voice. 

He literally had never seen someone perform live so well and so gracefully. She was a great stage presence and got the crowd all riled up as the songs changed. She interacted with them stopping in between songs to talk to the crowd before leading to the next song. She was amazing. Absolutely stunning and Bucky’s stomach was overwhelmed with butterflies just having an experience with his friends like this. 

“Ok, for this last song-” the crowd booed and let out sad shouts. “I know, I know. I don’t want it to end either, but someone else needs this stage,” she laughed taking off the guitar and grabbing her mic. “But I promise you’ll love me for this next part. I have a special guest that you may all know, that’s going to duet with me on this last song.” The crowd chanted waiting for the surprise. “Want to come out?” she turned to the side stage. 

Everyone turned immediately shouting seeing who it was. 

The crowd going crazy seeing Quintin Beck wave coming out with his own mic. Bucky not too enthused by him. Annoyed? Yeah for sure. But it was because this guy had a bad reputation and he didn’t quite understand someone like Y/N who was known for her kindness being with a gaslighter. 

“Hey everyone!” he smiled coming out and moving straight to Y/N taking her in a long hug. He turned back to the crowd with his arm still around her waist and smiled. “How’s everyone doing tonight?” Screams. “I would be too if you get to hear this angel sing,” he winked at her getting a loud awe from the people. 

“How do you feel about giving them a special duet?” she giggled leaning her head on his shoulders.

Though a simple action, something in Bucky’s body cringed. 

“I’d say they shouted enough for it,” he smiled at her before she nodded to the band and they started back up. 

They began singing one of Beck’s songs together. It was a slower love song called Enough. He had recorded it a while back, but when they started dating, they re-did it making it top of the charts for a while. 

Her voice always seemed to be so smooth and easy going. Bucky hated to admit it, but Quintin voice mixed well into the song. Especially when she came in and harmonized. He didn’t think it was possible for it to sound more perfect, but the harmony smacked him in the face. Probably doing the same to everyone else. 

When they finished they did a small bow, and the crowd began chanting for them to kiss. Making Bucky let out a groan and look away.

“Jealous, Buck?” Steve leaned in with a chuckle.

“Shut up, punk.” he said looking back up and seeing Quintin just land a subtle kiss to her cheek making the concert goers whoop and holler. 

“Whatever, Jerk,” Steve laughed.

“You’ve all be amazing! I hope you all enjoy the rest of the concerts! I heard my friend Kacey Musgraves is here, so I may need to join you in watching her!” she winked at one of the camera. “I love you ya’ll! Have a great and safe night! Thank you!” she waved walking back and disappearing with Quintin already waiting on the side for her.

“Ok, let’s head to The Cure before heading back to the hotel. They’re one of the last acts tonight.” Nat said pushing the boys to the next stage in hopes of getting there a little bit sooner than others. 

“So, what’d you think Clint? Still going to make fun of me for liking her?” Buck asked, smacking his friends back.

“I’ll give it to you, Barnes. She’s cute, talented, and seems like a sweet person. You’ve got good taste,” Clinton laughed. 

“Told ya.” 

“I think you just added to her fan club, Buck.” Steve winked. 

They all laughed as they worked their way through the crowd for the last concert of the night. Only one more day to go then it was back to work for all of them.

_______

The last day of ACL had been exhausting to say the least. They were planning on leaving before the festival ended, so they had taken the first half of the day to venture downtown Austin. They had just finished lunch at a pizza place, and the girls said they wanted to do a little shopping down the strip before heading back to the concerts. 

“How long does it take to look through one tiny shop?” Bucky groaned as they stood outside another boutique.

“You don’t shop with girls very often, do you?” Steve laughed. 

“I’m sorry I don’t have a girlfriend. I have a pretty demanding job and haven't fully settled with it enough to get a girlfriend,” Bucky sassed. 

“You’ve been an ER doctor for over 7 years. I would hope by now you have some kind of grasp on the job,” Clint snorted. 

“You’re a cop, Barton. It’s not as easy as the people on TV make it look,” Bucky retorted. 

“I’m Captain of a precinct. It’s a little more work than a cop.” Clint rolled his eyes. “Plus, I still make time for Laura, don’t I?”

“You were high school sweethearts.” 

“You’re point?”

“Come on Buck. When’s the last time you even went out on a date?” Steve nudged him. “Peggy has friends she can set you up with.”

“We’ve tried that already, remember? The girl had the color scheme of our wedding, and the name of our imaginary kids already picked out by the second rounds of drink.” Buck huffed. 

“Yeah, she was a little intense,” Steve pursed his lips as he rocked on his heels. “That may have been one of the new girls at Peggy’s office that she was just trying to introduce to new friends. She ended up being a little too clingy for all of us.”

“You think?” Bucky snorted. 

“What about-”

“What about I go into this quiet and empty bookstore, and as soon as the girls are done, you can come and get me?” he didn’t wait for an answer since he was over them trying to set him up once again. “You know Nat’s single too! Why don’t you try setting her up with someone?”

He huffed as he walked into the close-to-empty small book store. Only about 3 people in there. He let out a sigh as he ran his hand over his face, and walked to the back of the store. 

Just as he was rounding the corner, he hit a smaller body turning the same corner. 

“Oh god! I’m so sorry!” the woman said moving to grab the books in her hand and keep them from falling. 

Bucky reacted quickly and put his hands on the same book making it to where his larger hands were covering the woman’s smaller ones in support. 

“No, no! That’s my fault, doll.” he awkwardly chuckled as he tried looking at her face, but she was wearing a felt floppy hat covering her features. “You ok?”

She finally looked up once the books were steady in her hands, and smiled up at him. His heart stopped instantly. 

No. Way.

“Doll? Cute little pet name, Sweetheart,” she replied back with a sweet and soft southern accent. 

“Y-You’re- Y-” he began stuttering and her face slightly dropped from smiling, to nervous. 

“Oh, please don’t shout or something,” she whispered adjusting the books in her hand and the hat on her head. “I take it you’re a fan,” she smiled softly at him.

Holy shit, she was more beautiful up close. Even all those album covers with her hair and makeup all done, and the little photoshoots from the magazines didn’t do her justice in person. 

“Uh, yeah,” he let out a chuckle. “But don’t worry. I won’t cause a scene,” he said turning back to see the store was still vacant practically. Somehow his voice not staggering now. 

“I appreciate it,” she smiled looking over his shoulder. “Us ‘famous people’ still do normal human stuff too. Believe it or not,” she winked at him making his heart actually flutter. 

“No, no, Ha. I believe it. But, uh this is a pretty popular part of town. Why here?” he asked moving to where he was blocking anyone from behind them to see her. She caught the gesture and her smile grew at it knowing his kind intentions. “I mean especially during ACL. More people souvenir shopping.”

“Very true,” she giggled. “But uh, I don’t get to come back to Austin very often, and this my favorite little bookstore. Thought while I was in town…” she shrugged. 

“I see,” he chuckled. 

“That plus, most people skip the book store and go straight for the overpriced boutiques,” she joked. 

“Shame too. Who wouldn’t want a book from a new city?” he said crossing his arms. 

How was he so calm around her? He had been a fan of hers for years. Shouldn’t he be a nervous, sweating, stuttering wreck. I mean sure his heart was beating about 100x more than it should of, but he was having easy conversation somehow.

“Right?” she breathed out a soft laugh. “God. Someone who gets it,” she grinned.

“I’m, uh, I’m Bucky,” he said putting a hand out and offering it to her. 

“Y/N. But I’m sure you already knew that,” she chuckled again before taking his hand with her free one. “You from around here, Bucky?”

“No actually. My friends and I came down from New York,” he said regretfully taking his hand back, but it would be weird to hold onto it longer. Right?

“New York? That’s quite the trip. Tell me you flew, and didn’t drive the whole way.” she said raising an eyebrow.

“No, flying was definitely the only way my friends would have got me here. I don’t think they could handle 26 hours in the car ride here,” he laughed making her join him. God, he wanted to make her make that sound about 5687 more times. 

“Not a big road trip person?” she asked. 

“No, I’m a big road trip fan. I think a little too much sometimes. They probably would have been annoyed of me halfway here.”

“Same here. I can be a little too cheery in a tight car,” she said. 

“Blaire!” Someone from behind yelled. “We gotta get moving. We got a busy schedule today, and we have to drop Quin off at the airport.” 

She looked over Bucky’s shoulder seeing a man in jeans and a t-shirt, but fancy sunglasses and a phone to his ear.

“Ok, be right there,” she nodded. She turned back to Bucky and sent him an apologetic smile. “It was nice talking to you Bucky, but the superstar life doesn’t rest unfortunately.” she shrugged. 

“No, no. Go ahead. I’m sure you have better things to do than talk to a stranger in a bookstore,” he chuckled awkwardly. 

“I don’t know. This was turning out to be an interesting little conversation Bucky,” she grinned, and he about burst at her saying his name again. “You going to the last day of ACL?” she said, moving around him but still looking to him. 

“Uh, yeah. My friends and I are going to head that way soon,” he nodded. 

“Well, little tip. If you have a chance, go check out Kacey Musgrave’s stage if you can. I heard there’s going to be a little surprise,” she winked before turning and walking back to the desk. 

Bucky watched as she checked out and talked to the man that had called on her earlier. Just as she was leaving though, she turned back looking for him and sent him a small wave. He returned it and she smiled one more time making him actually melt into his spot before disappearing. 

“Dude, we called you like 5x times. What took you so long? I was about to go in there and hunt you down,” Steve said seeing Bucky in a dazed face with a stupid grin on his face. “Buck, what’s going on with you?”

_____

They went ahead and headed to the music festival for the last few concerts before flying back home. Bucky explained to them what had happened and how he had had a full conversation with the Y/N Blaire, but no one believed him but Wanda. Either that or they were just messing with him to irritate him. They just kept teasing him about how he was daydreaming and thinking up scenarios he just WANTED to happen. 

“Ok, so Kacey Musgrave next?” Nat asked as they were walking around.

“Yeah, I think that’s the last one we have time for before heading out,” Steve nodded. 

“Y/N said there was going to be a big surprise at her show too. I think it’s a good note to end on,” Bucky spoke up.

“Sureeee thing, Barnes. Y/N probably did say that,” Clint winked elbowing his friend. 

“Barton, I swear if you keep joking around about not believing me, I’ll punch you so hard and leave you passed out on the grass for some drunk person to throw up on you,” Bucky groaned over the teasing. 

“Give him a break guys. The man met the love of his life. You can’t blame him for being so awestruck he forgot to get proof of it,” Wanda patted his back reassuring him. 

“Thanks Wanda,” he smiled at the one person who didn’t annoy him to no end. “Wait-” 

“Let’s go guys. If we want a good spot at least,” Nat laughed waving them on. 

They ended up getting a good spot pretty close to the gate. Sure it was about 40-50ft away from it, but that was good for ACL’s crowds. 

Kacey came out eventually and did an amazing performance. Her stage lit up with pastels and whimsical colors. 

“Okay everyone! As you know, I grew up in a small town in Texas, and I’m not the only artist performing here this week who did,” she smiled on the big screen getting the crowd to scream.

“No fucking way,” Bucky muttered to himself, but Steve heard and turned to him.

“What?” Steve said watching his friends mouth drop and Wanda’s doing the same. “Wanda, what am I missing?”

“This girl and I actually grew up just a few towns away from each other. Little did we know, that we hung out with each other through mutual friends a few times. But who would’ve thought we would be here together?” Kacey laughed. “So without further ado. I have a little guest star that’s going to sing an older song of mine. Y/N/N, you wanna come out here and say hi?” she motioned to the side stage like Y/N had with Quintin. 

The crowd going nuts once more. 

“Hey!” she waved in a new attire. “How are y'all doing?” Again more shouts and screams of excitement. 

“Well, would you look at that? Maybe Bucky did meet her,” Steve chuckled lightly, picking up on the surprise that she had supposedly told him about. 

“I told you, punk!” Bucky said pointing a finger. “Take that asshole,” he said turning to Clint who was just laughing hysterically. 

“If there is one song that I can fully relate to that Miss. Kacey has created, it’s Dime Store Cowgirl. Small town southern girls, am I right?” Y/N grinned. 

“Shall we then?” Kacey asked. 

“Oh. We shall,” Y/N smiled giving her a side hug before they both pulled back and waved to the band signaling the song. 

Everyone screaming and shouting the song with the two. Then just as fast as it happened, Y/N and Kacey were bowing and saying their final goodbyes with a few blown kisses to the crowd.

“Goodnight Austin! I love you!” Kacey screamed as they left side by side. Y/N blowing kisses as they walked. 

The crew packed up and left that night. Heading back to the real world unfortunately. All Bucky could think about was how he would probably never see Y/N again. Not like he did in the bookstore at least.

Nope. That was a one time thing, and quite honestly he wondered if it was all a dream. Maybe she would come to NYC soon, and he could see her in concert again. It wouldn’t be the same, but it would be better than never seeing her in person again. Right?

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[dc41896]

Cotton Candy Carousel

Hi guys!! So the fair is currently going on in my hometown and I got inspired to write a little quick imagine, so I hope you guys like it:)!

Pairing: Lewis Tan x Black Reader

Warnings: None (nothing but fluff!)

Word Count: 1,558

“Pop the balloon, get a prize! Give it your wife or girlfriend and maybe she’ll share her fries!,” yelled the older man as he stood beside the carnival game, waving his hand back and forth holding a few darts. The annual state fair had finally come to town and knowing how much you loved it, Lewis thought it would be a nice date for you two. Plus with him leaving soon to shoot his next movie, both of you were actively searching for fun things you could do together.

“Ha! That’s debatable,” laughed Lewis as you both walked by making you dramatically gasp. “Um I do share with you sir! When have I not offered you my food?,” you ask, looking up at him with arms crossed.

“What happened literally 10 minutes ago babe?,” he countered mocking your stance with a smirk.

“Ok that was different I asked you three times if you wanted something to eat and what did you say? ‘No I’m good, I really shouldn’t eat this stuff anyway’,” you answer, trying your best to imitate his voice, but of course failing and making him laugh. “Then you had the audacity to try to take some of my fries!”

“You didn’t have to smack my hand away though,” Lewis responds, peering down at you with puppy dog eyes as he pokes out his bottom lip.

“Uh uh nope, the sad stray routine won’t work. You know you were wrong,” you dismiss turning your back to him, feigning you were angry. The act didn’t last long though, from Lewis making you giggle as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and repeatedly pecked your cheek and down the side of your neck.

“You know what makes a great make up gift? A teddy bear won by showing exceptional skill in a game of darts!,” interrupted the older man. “C’mon love birds you know you want to.”

Seeing that you guys were still near his stand, he heard your lover’s spat, which he couldn’t help but quietly laugh at from how much it reminded him of himself and his wife when they were younger. Looking from the booth to you, Lewis takes your hand as he walks you over to the counter and retrieves his wallet from his pocket. “Alright you got me, how much?,” he asks, dimples showing from his bright smile.

“$5 for five darts,” the old man, who was called Jim according to his nametag, answered. “Babe I wasn’t really mad I was just kidding, you don’t have to try to win me anything,” you add just as money and darts are exchanged from hands.

“I know, and it sounds like you’re doubting my throwing skills ma’am,” he responds with a smirk flexing his biceps and making you roll your eyes in return.

“I’m not, I’ve seen you with throwing stars I know your aim is great. But is it better than mine though?,” you retort as you hand Jim the money to get your own set of darts. “Ohh we’ve got a competition on our hands ladies and gentleman! Alright lovebirds on your mark, get set, throw!,” Jim announces as if he were the host of a game show.

Laughing, you and your boyfriend both begin throwing darts towards the colorful balloons in front of you. At first, you started off tied with each of you easily hitting two balloons. The tie soon broke though with you missing your third and fourth throw while he made both, automatically making him the winner.

“And the winner is the young man in the white tee!,” Jim shouted as Lewis raised his arms in the air, clearly excited. “Since you got all of them, you can choose anything from this wall, and for you little lady you get to choose from this wall.”

“Can I get the small Nemo?,” you ask to which Jim immediately hands to you with a smile. “And can I get the penguin?,” Lewis requests before being handed his prize.

“Babe how are we gonna get on any rides with that giant penguin?,” you ask with a laugh. While yours could easily be put in your small black, leather backpack, the penguin would need its own seat from it being about three feet tall.

“You guys can leave it here if you want? I’ll keep it off to the side so no one can get to it, and when you guys get done just come back by,” Jim suggests pointing to a far off spot away from the other prizes. “Thank you sir, we’d really appreciate it,” Lewis answers with a smile as he hands over the plush toy.

“No problem, you guys have fun!,” he responds, waving as you guys leave to explore what else the fair had to offer.

Hand in hand, you passed by more vendors who tried to get you guys to play games, or buy what they were selling, and fans who asked for an autograph or picture with Lewis to which he happily said yes. You also rode some rides, including Pharaoh’s Fury, which you screamed on for a good portion of the ride. Seating what had to be about 50 people in what looked like a boat with Pharaoh heads at each end, the ride would swing back and forth until it became high enough that it would do a full turn.

Being the thrill seeker he was, Lewis begged you to ride it with him and somehow convinced you it wasn’t as bad as it looked. You definitely did not agree, and was glad to have both feet back on the ground when it was all over.

You also went through the Fun House, a personal favorite of yours, where Lewis somehow managed to bump his head twice making you clutch your side in laughter. “I could be concussed and you’re laughing at me,” he joked with his hand on his head as he chuckled with you.

“And I could’ve gotten whiplash from the Pharaoh ride, so I guess we’re even now,” you countered reaching on your tip toes to kiss the sensitive spot on his head.

The final ride of the night was of course the Ferris wheel so you guys could see the night sky and the lights of the city buildings. There was a momentary silence as you gazed out to the people below, reminding you ants scattered about, as well as the lights from all the other rides and booths. You thought Lewis was doing the same, but your phone buzzing would show you otherwise.

Clicking on the notification from Instagram, you are directed to a picture of the side of your face with you looking content and glowing from the surrounding lights of the side of the Ferris wheel.

lewistanofficial: When she’s looking out and admiring the beauty around her, but you’re more focused on the beauty herself @(your IG name). Really gonna miss these moments (even when you smack me for stealing your fries lol) when I leave to shoot

Looking up from your screen, you meet Lewis’ soft brown eyes and dimpled smile as you slide to get closer to him. “You’re such a big softie you know that?,” you ask pushing a bit of his hair back at the top of his head.

Shrugging, he lets out a small chuckle before closing the remaining space between you to kiss your lips, sending what felt like electric butterflies through every inch of your body all at once.

Seeing that it was close time for the fair to close, you guys made your way back towards the parking lot hand in hand. You made sure to get the penguin, whom you both decided to name Dino and would act as your shared son, before you left and thanked Jim again for holding him.

Passing through the gate you both were approached by a woman around your age with a young girl following close beside her, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry to bother you, but have you seen a brown teddy bear? My daughter and I were literally about to leave, but she realized she lost her bear and refuses to go without it.”

“No I’m sorry we didn’t, but here,” you answer as you remove your backpack to take out the small Nemo toy you won. “I know it’s not your teddy, but you can have Nemo if you want?”

Slowly removing the plush fish from your hand, the little girl smiles softly before hugging it to her chest. “Thank you,” she squeaks grabbing her mom’s hand. “Mommy if we can’t find Skuffles it’s okay.”

“Okay, we’re still gonna check the lost and found though to see if he might be there,” she responds before looking up at you two. “Thank you so much, that was really kind of you.”

“You’re welcome, I hope you find Skuffles,” you respond with a smile before exchanging goodbyes. Finally in the car and ready to leave, you feel eyes on you as you turn to see Lewis smiling at you in awe.

“What?,” you giggle fidgeting with your seatbelt. “Nothing you big softie, just that you’re amazing you know that?,” he answers brushing your cheek with his thumb.

“Eh I’ve been told,” you shrug, softly laughing along with the love of your life before pulling out of the parking lot and heading back home.

Taglist: @honeychicana @melinda-january @themyscxiras @lady-olive-oil @fumbling-fanfics @crushed-pink-petals @lovelymari4 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @nina-sj @itshinothey @wildfirecracker

If anybody else wants to be added to the taglist, only wants to be tagged for certain people I write about, or have asked to be tagged and don’t see your name, don’t hesitate to let me know! :)

[aurorastellarum]

Tongue Tied (Momoshiro/OC)

(This is me, making fanfictions again due to the current lockdown. I have to get my creative juices working. This is inspired from Candy Hearts’ song ‘Tongue Tied’. You might want to check it out.)

“It's not like I ignore you on purpose. I'm afraid that I'll miss some of the words.”  

This is my sacred place. This lone large tree near the tennis courts of Seigaku. Why’d you asked? It is because I always see him smile and play with his teammates. I always take a good break from all the people from the school here, and then there he was, playfully interacting with his teammates. 

My classmates are always asking me why I do like Momoshiro Takeshi. He is not as good as Tezuka-senpai and not as good-looking as Fuji-senpai but there was something about him. There is something about him that my mind can’t seem to capture and make my heart skip a beat. All my thoughts collide whenever he is near me or even when I see a sight of his shadow. 

Seigaku’s School Fair is about to begin and sophomores are assigned to manage designated booths. The committee announced that the partners will be decided via lottery and the results will be posted this morning. I decided to check it out after the class.  I was busy skimming my homework for Math when my seatmate tugged my pigtails. 

“What was that for, Misaki-chan?” I asked. “Hehehe. I know who is your partner in the school fair.” She grinned in delight. “I actually don’t like that tone of your voice.” I stood up slowly from my seat and went outside the classroom to check what she was saying.

I saw that huge crowd hovering over the board where the announcement was posted. I tried my best to squeeze myself inside the crowd to move closer to the board. Being petite and lean has its own advantage after all. 

After being squished and pushed away and to the announcement board, I was able to pass through the crowd. I carefully scanned the rows and columns of the table that was pasted on the board. After a couple of seconds, I saw my name under the column that will manage the takoyaki booth and then… 

….. I saw Momoshiro Takeshi’s name beside my name. 

What on seven hells is going on?? 

-------------------------------------------------------------

It was the first meeting for the school fair and the thought that Momoshiro will be sitting beside is giving me a massive heart attack. 

I can hear my own heartbeat getting louder and louder as the time comes closer. Then, I heard this voice that was music to my ears. “Hello there, Eri-chan!” He was waving at me as he entered the room. I gulped. Did he know me? I smiled shyly and gave him a small wave. His eyes were sparkling and it’s blinding me. His smile was so beautiful that it keeps my head above the clouds. His voice was so angelic that my mind is at peace. 

Oh shit. What am I thinking? I was looking at him for a long time when I heard a loud snap in front of my face. “Eh, Eri-chan? Are you okay?” Momoshiro-asked. 

“Ah, y-yes Momoshiro-san. Sorry.” He flashed that big smile again. 

“Our food booth will be number one, right?” I nodded. I can feel my cheeks burning red. 

Oh boy, how am I going to survive this year’s school fair without looking like an idiot? 

-------------------------------------------------------------

After the long week of the school fair, I found myself sitting alone again at that lone large tree near the tennis court. As I reminisced the week, being with Momoshiro wasn’t bad at all. He helped me through the tasks and was all up for doing so many things that we should accomplish. He even volunteered to do the egress despite his busy schedule. Kanto Regionals are coming up and I know how important that was for him. Thus, I volunteer to do all the paperworks for him instead. But I noticed that Momoshiro was frustrated all the time during school fair. I don’t know why but it was very obvious that something was bothering him. I wanted to ask, but I don’t know how to approach him. 

I looked at the tennis court with the hopes that I could get a glimpse of him. It might light up some motivation to me since doing all these paperworks requires a lot of my brain cells and doing it after class was a very bad idea. I was about to place my earphones when I felt a weight beside me. I looked up and saw Momoshiro sitting next to me. My eyes widened in awe as he flashed a grin. 

“Why are you here, Eri-chan? You can go to the tennis court bleachers so you can sit properly. I always see you here.” He said. 

“I’m f-fine. Uh, really. Uhm...” Gosh, why am I stuttering again?

Momoshiro titled his head and looked at me closely. He looked so frustrated. I was trying my best to avoid his gaze because I know it’ll get me in trouble (like how I clumsily tripped over his feet during school fair.). Then he sighed. A very long sigh. 

“Eri-chan, are you ignoring me?” 

I gaped as my ears caught his words. Ignoring? Oh no, you got it all wrong. “Of c-course not.” I replied shyly. “Then why do you always become so quiet when I am around? I’ve noticed that you are always quiet whenever we are together in the booth last week. But you are so talkative with your classmates. It makes me feel…” 

I saw that glint of sadness in his eyes. I bit my lip as I felt guilt slowly shredding my heart in pieces. 

“Ah, Momoshiro-san,” I slowly adjusted my sitting position to where we can see each other eye to eye. I was trying my best to gather up all of my confidence and strength to look at him. “...it's just that, I always…” I looked up to him slowly as I saw his face. His eyes were all on me and I felt like I was going to melt any time. He was anticipating a good explanation for my very very weird behavior. He looked like a puppy eager to eat his food. 

So, he did notice. How could he be so dense but cute at the same time?

He noticed the difference in my behavior whenever he was around and when he was not. Yes, I’m talkative. I like being around with people. I may not be the smartest student in our class, but I’m good at approaching people. It was only when he was around. I lost my sense of social cleverness and his presence was restricting me in a very good way. “...I always get tongue tied whenever you are around.” I replied shyly. 

Momoshiro smiled and scratched the nape of his neck. He sighed. But that was a sigh of relief. 

“I guess I was not the only one.” Then he laughed lightly.

My eyes widened. I looked at him and he was starting at the tennis courts with a slight glint of red in his cheeks. 

“You also make me tongue tied, Eri-chan. It seems like it’s not but I always don’t know what to say whenever you're around. It was frustrating, really. It’s like... “ 

Like? Come on, don’t hang up on me like that. “...It’s like my heart always beats faster whenever you are near me.” 

I saw Momoshiro’s ears go red in an instant. His cheeks were blushing and he was trying to hide it from me. Then he looked at me with that earnest gleam on his face.

“I was so excited when I learned that we will be partners during the school fair. I was ready to get to know you better but I just don’t know how to ask the right questions.” 

Oh my. My heart beat faster like 100 beats per minute. My brain can’t even digest what he was saying. All this time he was trying to build up a good talk but we always ended up going for small talks. 

“You are such a good conversationalist that I’m afraid I’ll end up as a very bad talker. I like the way you talk and I wish we can talk the way you usually do. I’m sorry if I make you feel that way.” 

I waved my hand as a sign of no. I cupped my cheeks to make sure that I’m not heating up and then gave out a huge exhale of relief. 

“You are a good talker actually. And, I’m thankful that my stuttering didn’t annoy you. Maybe we can start all over again?” I asked. Momoshiro smiled sweetly. He reached out his hand for a handshake. 

“Momoshiro Takeshi, 2nd year and I love to play tennis and I would love to talk with you more. Maybe I can take you out after our tennis practice?” 

I reached out to his large hand and smiled. I gave him a firm handshake. 

“I’m Ishida Eri, 2nd year. I love speech and literature and would love to go out with you.” 

[recurring-polynya]

I drabbled.

It’s half-inspired by @nono6thebleachfan​‘s role-reversal challenge, although it’s not a reversal of a canon scene, it’s a reversal of this ~amazing~ piece of art by @acompletenonentity​ that I have been thinking about all weekend.

It’s full of blood and cussing, because Inuzuri, but on the bright side, this is the first story I’ve managed to write without Renji dropping the f-bomb, so that’s something.

Edit: It’s on AO3 now

~

Adding Injury to Insult

~

It was generally acknowledged by the indigent youth populating the 78th district of South Rukongai that Abarai Renji did not know when he was licked.

This was not true. Renji knew very well when he was licked. He just also knew that even if a guy licked you, he might think twice about licking you again, providing you caused him enough hurt on the way down.

Renji wasn’t the biggest guy in Inuzuri, he sure wasn’t the strongest or the toughest, and he wasn’t a contender for the meanest by any stretch, but most people knew that messing with him wasn’t worth it, by and large.

Kozuki Kohei wasn’t most guys.

He was kinda big and somewhat tough and strong, but mostly he was just mean.

Last Tuesday, Oyama, the blacksmith got a load of pig iron ingots and agreed to pay Renji and Gorou 500 kan each to unpack and stack them.  Kozuki had been hanging around, allegedly perusing the knives, but mostly just bothering Oyama’s pretty daughter working the counter. She had been ignoring him, but then Gorou said something that made her laugh, and Kojima blew his stack. Renji was a few years younger than Kozuki, but he was a few inches taller, and he also knew how joints worked. He locked the dirtbag in a full nelson and frog-marched him out the door, just as all 6 feet and 280 pounds of Oyama was coming in. Kozuki slunk off and Renji got an extra 500 kan for his efforts.

Then, yesterday, when Renji was standing outside the lumber yard, trying to look like a guy who’s good at moving heavy stuff for cheap, Kozuki caught him from behind, smashed his head into a wall, and kicked him in the stomach while he lay on the ground seeing stars. Then he kicked Renji in the kidneys a few times for good measure.

Renji had gotten licked, and he knew it.

So, he was staying home today. The rest of the gang was respecting his privacy in this difficult time, and had made themselves scarce. Renji assumed they were probably trying to steal rotgut from the cellar of Old Man Tada’s bar again. There was a big rotted-out portion on one wall of the squat, or at least there used to be before Renji had spent all morning ripping it out. He had a big piece of thatched reeds that Rukia had made (she was clever at things like that), and was trying to figure out the best way to join it in, when Tsubaki stuck his curly-haired head in the doorway.

“Heeeeeeeeyyyy, Renji, what’s going on?”

“Made a hole in the wall. Fixin’ it.”

“Let’s go down to the river!”

“Right now? I’m busy.”

“It’s so hot, you should take a break.”

“It’s not that hot, and if I don’t get this done, with my luck, it’ll rain tomorrow.”

Tsubaki glanced nervously behind him. “Do we have anything for dinner? We could try to get some fish.”

“Go ahead, man. I told you, I’m busy.”

“I! Am! The! Strongest! Girl! In! The! World!”

Renji’s gaze drilled into Tsubaki.

“It was her idea,” he stammered.

Rukia stumbled into the squat, supported on either side by Gorou and Tasuke.

Renji made a choked sound in his throat.

Her entire face was covered in blood, except for one stripe down the side of her nose where a matted chunk of her hair had diverted its flow. One of her eyes was swollen shut. Bruises darkened her arms and legs, and she didn’t seem to be putting any weight on her left foot.

“What have you done?” he managed.

“I kicked Kozuki Kohei in the nards, just for you!”

Renji pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “And what were you clowns doing?” he demanded of the others.

“Witnessing her glory,” the other boys echoed dutifully.

Rukia’s grin was large and white against the bloody mask of her face.

“Doesn’t look like he got the worst of it,” Renji observed, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Oh, he did! I also blew out his knee, punched him in the throat and gave him a good poke in the eye.” She held up a rather large hank of brown hair. “And I got this.” She rubbed the back of her neck in a very Renji-like gesture. “The guys kicked him a bunch once I downed him, too.”

“How did you manage this feat?”

“Got the drop on him when he was taking a piss in the alley.”

Renji squeezed his eyes shut and started counting.

“Renji?” Gorou asked timidly. “Are you gonna yell at Rukia?”

“Of course I am! Now you assholes clear out unless you want some, too!”

Gorou and Tsubaki am-scrayed immediately. Tasuke desperately wanted to join them, but realized that Rukia would fall over if he let go of her. “Uh, uh,” he stammered. Then, Gorou ran back in with a large stick, which he propped up under Rukia’s arm, grabbed Tasuke, and departed again in a cloud of dust.

Renji tapped his foot impatiently.

The triumphant look immediately dropped from Rukia’s face. She swallowed. “Renji,” she said, very, very quietly.

He stepped close to her, glowering.

“Every part of my body hurts so bad,” she said in the same tiny voice.

“I can tell,” he replied, his voice just as small and soaked with sympathy.

“I don’t want the other guys to know.”

“I know. I’ll get rid of ‘em.”

Renji then proceeded to stomp around the squat, yelling at the top of his lungs. “You careless blockhead! You deranged numbskull!” For every insult, he made a silly face at her so she would know he didn’t mean it. “What were you thinking? Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused for us? You harebrained loon!”

When he was running low on insults, he stuck his head out the door, where the three boys were very obviously enjoying his tirade. “Look, you cowardly knobs, can’t you tell I’m havin’ an intimate moment with Rukia here? Be useful for once in your shithole lives! I’m probably gonna use up all the clean water cleaning her up, can you dogturds go get some more from the river and start a fire so we can boil it?”

Tsubaki and Gorou hightailed it toward the river, but Tasuke hung back for a minute. “Don’t go too hard on her, Renji, she did it for you.”

“I know,” he replied softly.

Tasuke gave a small smile, and dashed off after the others.

Renji sighed and headed back inside.

Rukia was looking very sad, indeed.

He piled up all their blankets, his own on top, and helped her sit down on it, putting her crutch off to the side. She might need it for the next few days.

Next, he surveyed their rag pile. It was not exactly overflowing. Well, Gorou could use a new tunic, and if they could snag one, they could use his old one to replenish the pile. Renji picked out a half dozen and dampened a few of them in the water bucket.

Rukia winced as he started dabbing at the blood on her face. He started around her good eye.

“You think your foot’s broken?”

“Naw, just twisted real bad.” She stared up at the ceiling casually. “Two of my fingers might be, though.”

Renji probed her hairline gently, looking for the source of all the blood. It was a long, shallow trench that started at the edge of her left eyebrow and crossed upward toward the crown of her head. “He caught me with the edge of those stupid brass knuckles he wears,” she scowled.

“Oh, Rukia,” he sighed. “You’re the only one of us without a hideous face, you should be more careful with yours.”

“Maybe I was just tryin’ to fit in.”

He smiled fondly at her. “Why’d you go after that loser? He got his revenge on me, he woulda left us alone.”

“Well, he’s definitely gonna leave us alone now,” Rukia snorted. “I saw his dick while he was pissing, and when I left him bleeding in the dirt, I told him if he touched any of us again, I’d tell everyone how small it was.”

Renji took a deep, cleansing breath through his nose, and thanked providence, once again, that Rukia was on his side.

Rukia sighed. “It’s not fair. OW!”

“Sorry, sorry! No, nothing’s fair. You wanna talk about the sky being blue or water being wet next?”

“It’s always you.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re always the one who gets trashed like this. Any one of us starts a fight, you’re always the one who finishes it.”

Renji made a pained face. “I’m the biggest. It’s only fair.”

“You just said nothin’s fair! And it’s not like you did anything special to get that tall, it just happened.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Right?”

“You keep asking me that. No, I didn’t do anything special to get this tall, I swear.” He paused. “Also, you know you an’ me heal faster than the other guys.” He sucked his teeth. “I’m pretty sure I’ve taken some hits that coulda killed one of them.”

Rukia nodded gravely. “Yeah. I thought you were a goner that time you took a brick in the kisser, but here you are, your one brain cell still apparently still working.” She blew some air out through her nose. “I’m strong, too, though. I might be small, but I can take a lot.”

“I know,” he agreed, surveying her face. It was pretty clean now, except for that bloody, matted chunk of hair. Rukia would probably just tell him to lop it off. “I just… don’t want you to.”

She scoffed. “Well, I don’t like seein’ you take hits for me any better!”

“What’re we gonna do about it?”

Rukia was quiet for a long time as Renji started winding his biggest rag tightly around her ankle. “You’re starting to get a reputation, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Maybe I’ll get one, too. Inuzuri Rukia: Mean as hell. Finds you in the night if you mess with her friends.”

“It’s accurate, anyway.”

“You’re big and I’m mean, we make a pretty good team. Scarier together.”

“I don’t think either of us is real scary lookin’ right now.”

She wiggled her fingers experimentally and winced. “Eh, we lived. We can be scary again tomorrow.”

He tied off the bandage. “But speakin’ of scaring people, tell me about every last squeal that came out of that shit-stain while you were givin’ him the business.”

“Boy, howdy,” replied Rukia. “You’re gonna love this.”

As it turned out, he did.

~end

(hey, if you liked this, you should read my other fic on AO3)

[randomwordprompts]

If It’s Magic | Chapter 2

A/N: This is a bit longer than the first chapter, I’m not mad at it but I’m working towards something. No warnings...yet lol

Taglist: @great-neckpectations @wakandas-vibranium @bartierbakarimobisson @wakandan-flowerz @yaachtynoboat711 @oceanscorazon @babygirlofwakanda @storibambino @reaperdeldrunk Lucy huffed as she stood in line in the cafe, giving the barista a pleasant smile once she finally reached the front.

“Hi, I ordered a macchiato on the app under the name Lucille Owens. Is it ready?”

“I’m sorry but there’s no order here under that name,” the young man said with a bored expression on his face, signaling her to move over so he could help the person behind her. Lucy gaped at him and refused to leave the spot, much to the chagrin of the people behind her.

“Excuse me?! I’m gonna need you to check again because I know what I ordered!”

“I understand, but I don’t have your order here and there are others waiting. Either put in a new order or step aside, please.”

Lucy was about to rip into him before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at Amira, who’d been quietly watching the two of them, and moved to make room for her in front of the barista.

“Listen, we have an Intro to Psych class to get to and it’s the first day. Could you put in two mocha macchiatos for me and my roommate, lease? She already paid and it’s only right.”

The male’s eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as Amira spoke, looking a bit dumbfounded. When she finished speaking he nodded and put the order in, letting the ladies know that they’d be called when they were ready. While waiting Lucy looked at Amira warily, unsure of what just happened.

Amira noticed and returned the look. “What?”

“You know damn well what. How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

Lucy glared at her and huffed. “Mira...the thing with the barista!! What was that?!”

“Oh, that. It’s a long story that I’ll explain later, when we’re alone. Please ask me something else.”

Seeming satisfied for the moment, Lucy decided to ask something that had been on her mind since their first night together.

“Fine, fine. Tell me about that fine ass dude that came to our place the other night! He was all tall dark and handsome. You said he was your friend?”

Amira silently wished she’d just answered the first question, she thought with a chuckle.

“Xavier is a lot of things. My best friend, business partner, ex-boyfriend, almost fiance-”

“Almost what now?! You not gone just speed past that like you didn’t just say he was almost your fiance. Explain, Canadian.”

“He proposed, I said no.”

Lucy’s eyes nearly bugged out through her glasses at that.

“Why the hell would you say no to that? He fine as hell, probably smart cause he goes here, and he look like he got money! Did he hit you?”

“Girl, no! It just wasn’t the right time. After some talking, we agreed to wait until after graduation.”

Lucy sat back and ended her interrogation for now, just when their orders were ready. With a wink to the barista, they left the cafe and headed to class, speed walking a bit so they wouldn’t be late.

“So you telling me she said no...and y’all are still friends? You’re better than me, dawg.”

Xavier and his roommate Daniel were in the gym exercising between classes. Currently, the latter was spotting the former in a bench press as they spoke.

“We’ve been friends since middle school, dude. Besides, it’s more of a not yet than a no. We talked and decided together that it would be better to wait until after graduation.”

As they continued to speak, Xavier finished his set and got up to switch places with Daniel, spotting him through his own bench press.

“Okay, that’s fair. But why not still be together while in school? From what I’ve seen you two still have chemistry.”

“Man, stop worrying so much about my love life and focus on yours. What happened with that cutie you took out last night? I didn’t expect to see you again until this morning.”

Daniel huffed a bit and rolled his eyes as he paused to meet Xavier’s gaze, “Dude, her friend ended up calling her crying right when we got back to her place. I feel like it was a set up but either way we said goodnight early.”

Xavier barked out a laugh as they continued their workout before hitting the showers and grabbing some food.

Amira sat cross-legged on her bed surrounded by notes and her laptop, hair pulled up into a loose top bun with a pen behind her ear as she typed away. She barely registered the front door opening and closing before Lucy was at her room’s threshold with an excited look on her face and a flyer in her hand.

“Mira, you would not believe what happened today!”

Without looking away from her laptop, Amira raised a brow as she spoke.

“You finally asked that dude out from psych?”

“What? No! I was heading back from buying my brushes and there were these women on 20th Street talking about something called ‘reproductive justice’. You ever heard of it?”

“Yeah, we learned a little bit about it in high school. Women taking charge of what happens to their bodies and shit. Why?”

“Apparently there’s going to be an event next week where they go more into detail on what it is. Would my roommate care to join?”

Amira paused her work and gestured for Lucy to give her the paper so she could look it over, shrugging a bit before she finally answered, “I don’t see why not, I like learning sometimes. Speaking of, I almost got kicked out of my Culture & Society class today.”

“It’s the second week, how the hell did you manage that?”

“I might have told the professor that he didn’t have any culture because he’s white...unless you count inbreeding, theft, murder, and beastiality.”

Lucy damn near fell over she laughed so hard, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes as Amira shrugged once more with a laugh.

“I mean, you weren’t wrong. But you know you can’t say that to these professors! They already think they’re “aware” because they went backpacking in Denver on their parent’s dime, or decided to stop washing their hair.”

“White people wash their hair?”

“Ya know...probably not.”

They laughed once more until Amira’s phone rang, the contact name “Peachy Kins” over a picture of Jonathan popping up and not going unnoticed by Lucy.

“Wooooow. So you can talk about white people but you got one saved in your phone looking all yummy with a pet name?! Ma’am.”

“Eh, cut that shit out. That’s my brother, he’s basically off black.”

Lucy snorted as Amira answered the phone and ushered her out of the room. “Well introduce me to the black side cause he fine. Heyyyy big brother!”

“Who the fuck was that?” Jonathan’s voice hit her ear as she closed the door, shaking her head.

“My roommate. She thinks you’re cute, ignore her.”

“I mean...I like dick, so I will. Anywhore, are you by your laptop?”

“Yeah I am, why?”

“Oh, just got something you might wanna see. Call me on Skype.”

Amira made a face but hung up her phone as she pulled up Skype on her laptop, calling him right away. When he answered it was clear he was in the basement of their office building, his usual dress shirt’s sleeves rolled up before he turned the camera to face what he wanted her to see. It turned out to be one of her workers, tied to a chair and barely conscious as if he’d been drugged. She was prepared to ask what was going on but Jonathan spoke first as he walked towards the male.

“So it seems we have a mole in our midst. I had Kenneth here followed and apparently he’s been meeting with the Chief of Police when he’s not working. But apparently, he doesn’t work with you guys anymore?”

The man in question was slowly coming to, looking dazed and confused as to where he was currently. Amira leaned back slightly and shook her head, running a hand over her face.

“Oh, Kenny. Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. Nah, he doesn’t work for us anymore because he was stealing.”

“A snitch and a thief? Heavy stuff. How do you wanna handle this?”

“Given that he has nothing the cops can actually use...just put him in the hospital. I think that’s a fair punishment.”

“Alright, will do. Later babe.”

“Oh Jon, wait! Make sure he can’t have any kids? No one needs to have that burden in their lives.”

At those words, Kenneth came to slightly, struggling to get out of the chair he was tied to with increasing strength. Jonathan snorted at his attempts before looking back to his sister.

“I can see why you’d say that. On it though, I’ll keep you updated on the other shit.”

After exchanging ‘love yous’ and ending the call, Amira grabbed her phone and texted Xavier the situation to keep him in the loop. She was surprised when he opted to call instead of replying, but answered the phone regardless.

“You know I don’t like texting.”

“I know, but I figured you were busy. Actually, what is that sound?”

The sound in question was what slurping and gagging, but Amira thought she might be mistaken.

“It’s nothing important honestly,” Xavier began, prompting the girl sitting between his legs to pull her mouth from his semi-hard dick, irritation clear on her face as she inquired who the fuck he was talking to. He raised a brow at her and smirked before putting the phone on speaker and replying so that both women could hear him.

“I was talking to someone that actually knows how to suck a dick, you might wanna ask her for some pointers because your mouth is pretty sad.”

Amira’s voice floated from the phone laced with pure amusement.

“Damn, you called me while she sucked you off? That’s sad as hell. Do better, Mr. Rose.”

At this point the girl was fuming, standing and going on about how she didn’t need this shit and Xavier wasn’t that cute anyways before she let herself out. Xavier simply pulled his sweats back up as Amira cackled on the other end of the phone, no doubt wiping tears from her eyes.

“She was trying to be cute, who does that?”

“People that don’t know how to suck dick, but I digress. Did you read my text?”

“I did. Jon’s handling it right?”

“Of course. I just didn’t want to leave you out of the loop of information.”

“Mighty white of you, beautiful. Since I have you on the phone though, you got plans next week? Daniel and I are going to stage a sit-in on administration about having a BSU and it would mean a lot if you showed up. You can even bring your loud roommate.”

Amira chuckled and stood from her bed, stretching her legs and letting out a small groan.

“Lucy’s just passionate, give her a break. But let me see what my week is looking like and I’ll get back to you?”

“No problem. In the meantime, go eat.”

“How do you know I haven’t eaten?”

“Because you sound hungry. Now go eat or I’ll come over there and feed you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time unless you plan to follow through. But fine, I’ll eat...you can still come to feed me though,” she said with a smirk as she left her room to head towards the kitchenette.

“The hell he can! I got an early class tomorrow...” Lucy interjected as Amira grabbed some ingredients for a quick stir fry.

Daniel tried not to laugh in Xavier’s face when he relayed how he was basically shut down by Amira’s roommate, but he quickly failed.

“I’m sorry dude, but it’s funny. Why don’t you do something cute, like ask her out?”

“Because she’s my girl and I don’t have to do that? She knows how I feel.”

“And? Nigga, the same shit you did for her to be your girl, you now have to do to keep her that way. Fuck around and be single by your sophmore year.”

Xavier looked at him for a moment before shaking his head, “Nah, it’s not like that with us. We’ve always been friends first since we were kids.”

“Key word there? Kids, my nigga. Y’all grown now, and she’s gonna want to know that you don’t see that same little girl anymore.”

“...you give a lot of advice for somebody that ain’t got nobody.”

“You don’t listen and you won’t have nobody either.”

Xavier thought about Daniel’s words but brushed them off, sure that Amira knew how he felt about her already. Besides that, they’re bonded. They can’t be in love with anyone else...right?

___________________________________

Daaamn, Daniel! Did he have a point though? Tell me what you think!

[tricks-up-my-sleeve]

((okay so spoilers for s8 ep 18 aka on the road to friendship under the cut w/ a bunch of spoiler tags just in case))

So uhhh this episode was everything I wanted? A lot of it’s subtle things, but, I’m ghkjlhgfd I’m not crying you are. I don’t do horse analysis or reviews or anything like that I grew tired of those types of things ages ago bc it personally gets to a point where it sucks out the fun for me but I’m just gonna make bullet points of all of my thoughts. Mainly involving Trixie and how this episode ties into my portrayal of her. Probably others too, though.

The little magic show at the beginning? Wonderful. I love these two performing together.. and together in general. Twi & Caddy even agree on how they’re such a good duo.

Speaking of which, Twi complimenting Trixie with a huge smile? HERE. FOR. IT.

Flurry Heart watching the show was adorable. Also the inclusion of Granny Smith was of course great.

“Doing a show with you is almost as much fun as counseling students at Twilight’s school.” Almost? I’m disappointed. It’s not the first time I’ll be disappointed in Glim this episode, but we’ll get there. She’s still loved.. but it gets rough.

Loved how Hoo’far called Trixie “Miss Powerful” and her reaction to it. Just cute and silly.

TRIXIE’S. LOVE. FOR. HER. WAGON. I didn’t expect this to be a big plot point in the ep or really ever brought up, but I was so thrilled because that’s always been a small part of my Trixie. She loves her wagon. It may be small and cramped (and also, it apparently has a pretty fucked up doorknob) but it has sentimental value. It means a lot to her. I loved this so much. Not once did she stop and consider trading it for something that a lot would look at and assume was superior.

Moonwalking Trixie.

Trixie bringing up how traveling gets pretty lonely a few times in this ep. Pretty much something that’s easy to guess or assume, but that’s also something my Trixie hasn’t been too shy of admitting, either.

Trixie!!! Levitating!!! Herself!!! She obviously learned that from Starlight. Although we didn’t see it much, I’m so fucking thrilled that we see that Trixie’s been improving her magic. An issue I had with To Change A Changeling (which is just a nitpick) is that they really don’t bring that up. Personally, ever since All Bottled Up, I’ve definitely been convinced that Trixie actually has strong potential for magic, given the right teacher. Glim Glam succeeds there. I could go more into detail to why I think this is but I’ll spare you.

Trixie on the couch in Starlight’s office. I don’t even have to say anything. Just perfect.

I love how Trixie painstakingly made room for the both of them in the wagon. To it’s credit, looking at it paused, it at least isn’t as small on the inside as it is the outside. It has an entire cannon in there. It seemed like she set up two beds for them? Perhaps at least one of them was makeshift? It’s hard to tell, since Star brought stuff and then she set up hammocks. It did look slightly cozier in there before the extra luggage, though. What I guess I’m getting at, is that although it’s a tight squeeze, it’s good to see that it can at least fit two ponies, although it’s not entirely ideal. 

Seeing the inside of the wagon’s been a thing I’ve wanted for ages. I could sit and look at every little thing in there and just smile for a while. Super cute.

Trixie really is sweet and considerate, you know. Seriously. Asking if Starlight is sure she doesn’t want to ride instead of walking with her, and giving her more than one chance to back out on the trip if she wants to.

THE SONG. Tell me I’m biased, I don’t care. This is my favorite horse song. I’ve waited patiently for pony Trix to sing... and it’s just.. all so fucking cute. Too much to take in.

More of Trixie’s magic shown in her shielding Starlight. Love it.

“For untold seasons yet to come, our friendship will be here!” “For nine, at least.” FUCKING. WOW. That’s clever but it also hurt my heart. Especially since my favorite friendship duo has only known each other for three of those seasons thus far, and ultimately it’ll only be four. Too soon, Glimmy.

Trixie talking about how she learned the hard way about life on the road and saving bits and all that. I like that. It shows her more mature side, and that she’s a little street smart from experience. Usually she’s kinda shown as less mature than Starlight, and this episode shows the flip side, which I really like.

I love how she’s adamant on buying hay cakes (Haycakes? They’ve used the word pancake before, though. What’s the difference?) from her preferred stand. Like.. me too, Trix. Clearly there’s a higher quality in the line that’s actually got ponies in it.

This is where Trixie and Starlight really start to argue like a married couple. Here I thought Applejack and Rainbow Dash took the prize for that. This is so domestic tho.

The first argument, at least, is short lived. I really liked that. Trixie sighs, presumably not wanting to push farther to where she hurts Starlight’s feelings. Love how she says “No, of course not.” and continues to apologize for getting snippy. She’s really improved on being.. to put it lightly, less bitchy. It’s what I love about watching her, and while To Change A Changeling was hilarious, that was my other nitpick. She had an attitude almost the entire time.. but it was funny, and I wouldn’t go as far as to call it OOC, so I wasn’t mad. The reason Trixie appeals to me so much is that she’s definitely a much nicer pony, but she’s still her. She hasn’t seemingly changed overnight from the first time we saw her, but she’s definitely made an effort. She’s quite the sweetheart when she wants to be.

I love how Trixie states that it’s taken her years to collect all of her magical items. I just think it’s neat. Also, rightfully getting offended when her stuff is called junk.

Coward Trixie returns. This is definitely me looking too deep into it but personally I’d like to think that yeah, after the Ursa event, I’d be scared of animals outside, too.

Starlight snoring and Trixie outright performing in her sleep. Lmfao. I’ve said this like fifteen times already about other things but I love it.

I relate to these tired and grumpy girls, but even I would have made sure to save some food / juice for my pal. Well.. maybe the juice was definitely out of spite. Wish I could scold her, but I would’ve done the same thing.

The grouchy magic show hurt me to watch. It was still funny though. Again, definitely arguing like a married couple. Two tired, angry friends trying to work together is just never gonna turn out right.

I love their voices in the “Practice makes perfect.” “Not today it didn’t.” exchange. So sassy. So higher pitched. Those faces, too. Lol.

Starlight throwing all of Trixie’s shit out followed by Trix yelling “You can HAVE IT ALL!” Oof. Almost like I’m watching a breakup right before my very eyes. Also the way she runs off. These poor hopeless gays.

STARLIGHT GLIMMER CONFIRMED WORST GIRLFRIEND. I’mjustkidding. Naturally I saw this coming from a mile away, but still. Wow. Ouch. I do like though how it seems to be consistent that she can be defensive of her bad decisions. Not really realizing that what she’s doing is wrong.

TRIXIE FREAKING OUT, THEN BEING BROUGHT TO TEARS BECAUSE STARLIGHT TRADED HER WAGON. This hurt me more than you could imagine, but what hurt me even more is that Starlight didn’t even flinch, and was completely insensitive about it for a while. Yikes. I already went into how much I love Trixie’s attachment to her wagon, but this killed me.

Also, pretty sure that selling or trading somebody else’s stuff is illegal, Star. Trixie shouldn’t have beef with Hoo’far. She should just be planning a lawsuit against Glimmer instead.

Am I just crazy or stupid? When Trixie tells Starlight that at least the wagon wouldn’t have traded her away, I was like, yEAH, you’re valid. Tell her. It made total sense to me. Then Starlight just responds with “That’s ridiculous.” Like?? It wasn’t to me? I sound silly now bc I get the joke, it’s an inanimate object, but what I’m trying to get at is that Trixie was pretty much trying to say that if Starlight really was her best friend she wouldn’t have done that.

I love how Trixie doesn’t accept the flattery from Hoo’far like she normally would bc she’s real pissed. To be fair, though, it’s really not his fault. I mean.. okay, a little, considering he should have known that it didn’t belong to Starlight, and that the trade needed to be given the okay by Trixie. He’s not a bad guy, though.

TRIXIE LYING IN FRONT OF THE CART FOR HOURS BC NO WAY IN HELL IS SHE LETTING THIS GUY TAKE IT. AMAZING. Give it up for his patience, too.

Starlight finds out that you win some and you lose some with the bigger caravan. Also, I love how she didn’t realize how fucked up stuff was when she was with Trixie and having a good time. Her regret sinking in seems about right. You can see her start to miss her.

“Sometimes travelling together is hard.” “But you reminded us that you can also make it fun!” Definite lesson that these two needed. Obviously Starlight was breaking before hearing that, but those big sad eyes she gets after. Regret.

“What are you two doing?” “Taking a stand! By lying down!” Lmao. Never change, Trixie.

“Best friends who share a deep bond but weren’t prepared for the emotional challenges of traveling.” Oh, definitely. Really feel like their first trip should have been a short one. Possibly with more planning ahead of time.

Best. Friendship. Chant.

“Only true friends would be willing to act so ridiculous for one another.” Aww. True.

“At a certain point, I don’t even like travelling with myself.” Line I really liked. Also Starlight saying that it’s harder than she thought.

Despite their exchange about knowing not to do it again, eh, still not wanting to completely rule out the thought of them travelling together in the future. Like I said, with more precautions taken, pretty sure they could’ve been just fine. Mainly reserving a room at an inn, since the big issue really just seemed to be them getting crabby sleeping in the wagon. Would’ve preferred it if it kinda gave that lesson and had Trixie say that they’ll know how to handle it next time, with both of them saying yeah, but let’s not make that anytime soon.

Trixie and Starlight almost killed an old man.

That’s it, if anyone even read through all of that. Can’t really say much more. This may or may not be my favorite Trixie episode. I’ll have to give it some time, but I loved almost everything about it. (No Second Prances is my current favorite I suppose, due to it also validating a lot of how I viewed Trixie at the time, and still do.)

Like I said.. it’s just really refreshing to see her take on a more mature stance than Starlight for the most part, since other episodes usually show the exact opposite. Not that Starlight is incredibly mature in her own right, but she does usually take that role when it comes to her dynamic with Trixie. I love any chance we get to see Trixie, but in episodes like To Change A Changeling, sometimes I worry that they don’t give her enough credit. She’s not a complete incompetent bitch, and to be fair, I don’t think she ever really has been. I won’t go into how I personally view her flaws, though. Guess that could be another post.

Until next time. Hopefully there is another next time. Starlight’s line in the song about nine seasons still has me all fucked up and I need help. Maybe one day I could go back and do these for past Trix episodes.

[qforqazaq]

Black Dial: The Drama

You've probably heard the latest news from the Q-pop world: L and Teddy are no longer in Black Dial.

Hmm, where shall I start?

***Disclaimer: For the convenience of the foreign fans who aren't sure what has actually happened, I tried to recreate the sequence of events to get some exposition first. I've missed some details here and there, because this was already getting too long.***

It all began when the producers of YB Entertainment posted the announcement saying that the official Instagram accounts of L, Teddy, Ray and Black Dial were hacked, so from now on everything that's going to be posted on those pages has nothing to do with YB. "Okay, the pages got hacked, whatever, it happens, no big deal", I thought. BUT! After awhile I've noticed (first ever) IG stories posted on L's and Teddy's accounts with the actual L and Teddy recording each other while giddily saying something like "Did you know that we were hacked?" - "Lol, no, did we?" - "Yeah, they say we were hacked. I am hacked, you are hacked, comeback is hacked too, hahaha".

Obviously, everyone got even more confused, like, why the hell would the producers call the accounts hacked if they were obviously not. I mean those were real L and Teddy, right?

Meanwhile, I started to read some comments about L and Teddy and something about leaving the group, which got me a huge "Wait WHAT. WTF??? Are you bloody kidding me??" moment.

I obviously couldn't believe my eyes, because, what the hell, first Newton, now Black Dial, are you for real?? When I was about to start doubting these rumours while frantically looking for more info, there came interviews from the official press conference by YB Entertainment.

There, Yesbolat Bedelkhan with Bayan and Bota Yerimbet have formally announced that Yeskeldi Quandyq, formerly known as L, and Samat Kazmaganbet, formerly known as Teddy, were no longer the members of Black Dial, that the company had terminated their contracts, the main reason being consistent violation of the contractual terms by the former members. Moreover, according to the producers, the stage names "L" and "Teddy" and all the social media accounts belong to YB Entertainment and they cannot be used by the members should the contract be terminated.

To say I was shocked is to say nothing. Because, apparently, L and Teddy have not just left the group - they were kicked out. Not only that, they basically kicked themselves out by consistently showing insubordination, disobedience, and violation of terms in many occasions. Without feeling much remorse about it too, it seems, as they didn't look very sad on those Instagram stories - that's for sure.

To make the matter worse, they had no rights to use those Instagram accounts anymore, which explained the earlier announcement about "hacking".

Frankly, that was a lot to take in, and while I was desperately trying to make sense out of whatever was happening out there, all hell let loose. Interestingly - on the producers. Because a horde or rather a flock of angry fangirls or "Ravens" started to shout accusations at the producers, blaming them in all deadly sins. According to them, it was all producers' fault, because they intentionally kicked their "biases" out; how did they dare to be so unfairly strict with them; they were shitty producers in the first place; they should have made their comeback sooner instead of postponing it; the whole "hacking" incident was made to sabotage the members' reputations, and their beloved L and Teddy did the right thing leaving this horrible company.

As for me, these accusations sounded too heated and not very convincing especially when I took a step back and started to actually think about it.

Well, let's break it down, shall we?

First of all, the question of fairness seems super childish, because we're talking about actual legal binding contracts, not some sandbox tantrums that can be resolved by shoving lollipops in kids' mouths. If one signed a contract, it is assumed that both of the parties were aware of and agreed to all of the terms in the first place. In other words, if you in a sober mind signed a legal document, complaining about stuff that you can't eventually commit to afterwards won't work. Why the hell one would even sign a contract in the first place then?

Secondly, do you really think the contract was that strict? Okay, stricter than, idk, a contract signed by the guys from 91? I do very much doubt it. I'm more than sure Yerbolat isn't that chill and understanding compared to his younger brother.

Thirdly, Black Dial is the only active project of YB Entertainment (Darrem doesn't really count) aka literally the company's only flagship product that was supposed to get its long-awaited comeback. Think about it: who the hell in their right minds, in such a crucial moment, would kick out members from the only existing group without a legitimate reason? No one. And there was one reason, a few actually, wasn't there? Moreover, according to Yesbolat Bedelkhan, they've tried very hard to keep the group intact, to smooth out those cases of disobedience and insubordination, closing their eyes to most of them. But I guess, the situation got completely out of control, so terminating the contracts was the last resort.

Fourthly, haven't you thought that the comeback was being postponed over the course of, what, 9 months? exactly because of the internal problems and conflicts inside BD and YB? What if the producers weren't sure if they could proceed should have the said members continued to "misbehave". Which they apparently did, so better cut ties earlier than later, with only one MV, and one more released song.

Next, the "hacking" incident. According to Yesbolat Bedelkhan, sometime around February 14, when BD was supposed to record a video to mark the date, L and Teddy have completely disappeared from radar, not answering anyone's calls and/or messages. The producers even tried to reach their parents at some point, to ask if everything was alright with the boys. Strangely, the parents were not reachable as well, because apparently they have changed their contacts too. Later, the producers discovered that they couldn't access official IG accounts of L, Teddy, Ray and Black Dial, because someone changed their passwords. I suppose it was then they guessed it was L and Teddy's doings, which I assume was the final blow.

Finally, Yesbolat believes that someone from outside have persuaded the boys to sabotage their own places at YB Entertainment. A certain someone with a personal grudge against YB producers. I have my guesses and I won't be surprised if this someone will collaborate with those two at some point in the future too.

Show business sucks, doesn't it.

_________________________________

Don't get me wrong, by making a case for YB Entertainment, I don't want to imply that Yeskeldi and Samat are inherently bad people or anything. Okay, I must admit I had my problems with Teddy and tbh wasn't very sad to know he has left the group (yeah, I'm crude), but I did respect L very much, coming to admire his capacity for songwriting when I took on that challenge at translating their songs (Bul Soni Yemes is a lyrical masterpiece. Period.), regarding him as a very thoughtful young man. Despite personal preferences, I didn't want anyone to leave the group in any circumstances, always hoping and betting on them to settle at least on the second place in Q-pop.

In other words, waking up to a news like this has brought me no pleasure. Further unfolding only left a bitter taste in the mouth and the feeling that you were viciously played.

However, I do still think that it was, pardon my French, totally a dick move to leave everyone and everything just like that, without a decent explanation, a formal apology to the fans at the very least. Leaving by making a public drama out of it, while openly gloating in the social media, abandoning the company, the producers and the other members who counted on them so much.

Was it fair? I think not.

I do wish them luck in whatever they're planning to do though, just to see if it was actually worth the drama, huh.

And I do certainly wish the best of luck to YB Entertainment, to the producers and the remaining vocalists in remedying the whole situation, so to speak.

And what now? Yes, YB is having their casting in search for their new rappers and everything, but what does it tell about the whole "Q-pop movement"?

It's impaled, sick and haven't even grown out legs to stand upright and move properly. People are leaving the groups whenever they want, groups changing the label companies however they want, the entertainment centres are opening and closing at flick of the fingers, and we only have about eh.. 3.5 groups who are actually doing something now? With Black Dial on the resting bed, those would be Ninety One, Mad Men, Moonlight and sort of Newton~. Considering that I'm already very cautious with the latter, skeptical with the second, and Moonlight just doesn't excite me very much, we're coming to the default settings of just clinging to the founders for now while just observing everyone else from the distance.

Nice.

What do you think though? What was the reason for BD having so many problems with its former rappers?

Is Q-pop actually going to crumble to pieces even before it becomes anything substantial?

Feel free to comment and share, and please do leave a like at least. I've been writing this for ages after all.

[simplyshelbs16xoxo]

‘Of Assumptions and Snogging’ Chapter 5

A sweet gesture, solving a murder and a disguise? Read on to find out what Sherlock is up to now.

-Catty-Cornered (adverb/adjective): means, diagonally.  (sorry for my southern slang lol)

give me your thoughts! Are y'all ready for the big date? Will Molly ever say those three words again? Will Shelby ever stop asking you questions? lol

Molly arrived at Bart's early Thursday morning. Arriving at her locker, she opened it to stuff her bag away only to find a coffee and a paper bag on the top shelf with a note stapled to it.

Thought I'd bring you breakfast. I know how you like to have more of a dessert item. I would've waited for you but I've just gotten a case. I hope you have a better day, darling.

With all my love,

Sherlock

She took the bag down and opened it to see its contents. In the plastic takeaway container, there was a warm slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Molly smiled to herself over the sweet gesture. She tossed her bag in the locker, took the coffee in hand along with her breakfast and went to eat at her desk. Slipping her phone out of her pants pocket, she typed out a quick text.

I'm already having a better day. Thank you for breakfast, Sherlock. MH

A moment later, her phone pinged.

I'm glad. You're very welcome. Will see you in the morgue later. SH

Go solve a murder for me :) MH

Molly decided it was already looking to be a much better day than before.

"And so the nearly unidentifiable toxin still remains in his bloodstream," Molly explained.

"A fascinating and rare toxin that is only indigenous to Asia. It was obviously Mr. Kingston as he has ties to the company's Asian partners and was threatened by the now deceased man before us," Sherlock continued. Greg Lestrade and John Watson just looked between their two friends as they continued to solve the crime together.

"There was an altercation as well, judging by the nail marks on his left arm," Molly informed them, "suggesting that Mr. Kingston grabbed him forcefully to keep him from reporting the –"

"Embezzlement," Sherlock and Molly said in unison. They gave each other small, encouraging smiles before getting back to business again. John and Greg's faces showed their amusement at the scene that played out before them.

"What? What is it?" Sherlock asked them as Molly began to fill out paperwork.

"Nothing, mate, just uh, brilliant," John smiled.

"Quite," Sherlock agreed arrogantly. He noticed the slight glare Molly gave him. "I mean, thank you, John." Greg stepped out into the hall and John followed on his heels.

"Eh, those two," Greg began, "do they seem a bit—"

"Married? Oh, definitely," John laughed.

"Thought it was just me," Greg chuckled. It was then Sherlock joined them in the hall.

"Don't you have a killer to catch, Lestrade?" the consulting detective snapped in annoyance.

"I was waiting on you," Lestrade countered.

"Go without me, I've got another pressing matter," Sherlock told him. Greg and John shared a look of confusion before the detective inspector went on his way.

"And what pressing matter is this?" John asked. "It wouldn't happen to have to do with Molly, would it?" Sherlock only smirked in response.

Molly sat at an outdoor table with Meena at a little café for lunch. Her friend was attempting to pry details about the date tomorrow night.

Sherlock Holmes was seated at a table catty-cornered from them, wearing a simple disguise of dark sunglasses, an actual pair of jeans with a white cotton t-shirt and a black flat cap. He was just close enough to hear their conversation, hoping to get inside her head a bit; to see what she's like when he's not around.

"Do you even know where he's taking you?" Meena asked before promptly taking a sip of her tea.

"No idea," Molly shrugged, "but that's one of the things I find endearing about him."

"The fact he doesn't communicate?" Meena joked.

"No," Molly laughed, "it's the spontaneity of it all. Well, it's spontaneous to me anyway. I just love the adventurous feeling of not knowing." Her eyes flicked over to his table, and much to Sherlock's relief, they held no recognition of him.

"What did he tell you then?" Meena questioned.

"He just told me to wear that purple dress in the back of my closet," Molly replied, taking a bite of her salad. A moment of silence passed over them before Molly stood. "Excuse me a moment." Meena's eyes followed the direction Molly was walking.

"Sherlock," Molly said through her teeth, preparing to chastise him. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ah, so she did recognize me, Sherlock thought.

"Having lunch," he answered nonchalantly. "I thought it was fairly obvious." His smirk almost made her crack. Almost.

"I meant why are you eavesdropping? I know that you are, so don't deny it," Molly huffed, narrowing her eyes.

"I wanted to get to know you better," Sherlock told her.

"We've known each other for years and you've deduced practically everything about me," Molly argued. "What more could you possibly need to know?"

"I was curious to see what you were like when you thought I wasn't around; the quirks you might hide from me but not from others. You always continue to surprise me, Molly Hooper," Sherlock explained. "Though, it's also possible that I felt I might have been doing something wrong and figured you would discuss such things with your friend."

"You could've just talked to me," Molly said calmly. "You haven't done anything wrong." She paused. "Well, except maybe this, but in your own strange way, it's kind of sweet."

"Sorry," Sherlock said guiltily.

"It's alright," Molly assured him, her fingers brushing his. She slipped off his glasses and hat, setting his pretty eyes and curly hair free. From afar, Meena's jaw dropped in disbelief at the sight of Sherlock Holmes.

"It wasn't the best disguise," Sherlock chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know, the casual look works for you just as much as your usual style," Molly flirted. Her face was now a mere two inches from his. Unable to resist the natural pull she had on him, Sherlock leaned in for a kiss only for Molly to pull away.

"That's not fair," Sherlock whined.

"All's fair in love and war, Sherlock," Molly laughed. "Don't be sad. Here." She left a longer than normal, lingering kiss on his cheek. "I've got to get back to work. I'll see you tomorrow."

He watched as Molly left with Meena, amazed by the fact she found his particular brand of affection to be charming.

Fanfiction.Net | Ao3

[oodlyenough]

fic: tall flat white

~2k, coffee shop AU (really). Rhys, Fiona & Sasha, gen with a lil bit of one-sided Rhys/Sasha because that’s who I am as a person. also on AO3

entirely the result of a joke conversation with @shinyopals about how to transport a character like handsome jack into something as mundane as a coffee shop and now here we are, 2k words later. also shoutout to this monstrosity.

Fiona was, without a doubt, the worst customer Rhys had ever known.

“Hey,” she announced, a bit too familiar for someone who was, inevitably, about to do something that would jeopardize his job.

He sighed.

“Can I get a….” She leaned heavily across the counter to scan the menu, legs stretched out straight behind her, balanced on the tips of her boots. “Grande vanilla bean frappucino with heavy cream, no ice, no water, no whip, matcha powder, extra caramel drizzle, extra chocolate chips with two shots espresso in a venti cup?”

Rhys narrowed his eyes. “Come on. You don’t actually want that.”

“Sure I do,” said Fiona, with a voice that did nothing to convince him of her sincerity. She slapped a handful of change onto the counter. “Chop chop!”

He scooped the change into his palm. “Hey, this is twenty cents short—”

But she’d already flitted around to wait for her drink at the other side of the counter, so he sighed and dug the missing dimes out of his own pocket instead. Grabbing a cup from the stack, he Sharpied her absurd order on the side along with her name, intentionally misspelled with a Ph in the precise way he knew she hated.

Fiona rifled through the stack of CDs on display, seemingly oblivious to the way her methods left them askew and in need of rearranging.

“Oh yeah,” she called casually, “I left my umbrella here the other day.”

“No, you didn’t.” “Yes I did,” she insisted, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes belying the innocence in her voice. “Did anyone turn it in? It was black, hooked handle, button to open it—” “You’re describing the world’s most generic umbrella. I’ve seen that stupid ‘lifehack’—” “My umbrella’s not creative enough for you? Don’t insult my umbrella.” The sound of the blender drowned out his sigh. “When did you say you left it here?” “Saturday.” At least she’d done that much research. “The big rain storm. Obviously.”

“You weren’t in on Saturday.” “How would you know?” “I was working.” Fiona snorted. “What, all day?”

The truthful answer to that was yes, actually: an excruciating open-to-close shift, for which he had only been paid approximately half. The rest was an off-the-books and probably-illegal favour for the manager that Rhys was really hoping paid off in two months when the next rung on the corporate ladder finally had an opening.

But telling Fiona that didn’t feel like much of a win, so instead he said, “No one turned in any umbrellas, Fiona, better luck next rainstorm,” and plunked her drink on the counter in front of her.

Fiona wrinkled her nose in a pout, which turned to a scowl as she picked up her cup and saw the spelling of her name. Rhys smirked and used a rag to wipe the ring of condensation off the counter, looking to the door just in time to see it open.

Fiona was easily the worst customer Rhys had ever known, but without a doubt the best part of Fiona the customer was that her appearances sometimes guest-starred her younger sister, Sasha.

This, it seemed, was one such lucky visit.

Sasha was beautiful, cool, and brimming with resentment for anyone or anything that might accurately be deemed ‘The Man’, which may or may not include Rhys depending on her mood but absolutely always included his place of employment. She walked through the door, slipped the hood off her head, hooked her headphones around her neck and gravitated across the shop to her sister.

“Hey, Fi,” she said, and then, catching sight of him, added a nod of acknowledgment. “Rhys.”

“Hey,” he croaked. “Hi.”

Fiona’s eyes narrowed suspiciously in his direction.  

He cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, so, Sasha, can I get you something?”     

She shook her head, the bundle of dreads tied behind her head wobbling as she did so. “I’m good.” She held up a paper coffee cup of her own, emblazoned with the logo of the rival indie cafe down the street. “Fair trade,” she added, a little more pointedly than was probably necessary.

“We’re fair trade,” he said, reflexively and a little bit pathetically, but Sasha only raised an eyebrow.

“Mmm, I know you say that,” she said, almost on the border of pitying before she nudged Fiona with her elbow. “So, I may have committed some light vandalism.”

Fiona’s eyes lit up as much as Rhys’ heart sank.

“Tell me everything,” said Fiona.

“Please tell me it wasn’t here,” said Rhys.

Sasha’s grin turned wicked, the family resemblance between her and Fiona suddenly striking.

“In the parking lot. I may have noticed a certain expensive car with a certain bumper sticker containing a certain slogan for a certain politician, and my keys and I may have tried to redecorate. A little.”

Fiona laughed and gave Sasha an exuberant high-five; Rhys groaned and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“That’s my manager’s car,” he moaned.

Fiona laughed harder at that. “Of course it is.”

Unbothered, Sasha took a sip of her competitor-brand coffee. “Your manager seems like a dick.”

Rhys opened his mouth, considered that there was no contribution he could make to this discussion that wouldn’t jeopardize either his job or Sasha’s esteem, and shut it again.

“Oh, he is a dick,” agreed Fiona. “Like, I bet he’s killed a man.” Rhys rolled his eyes. “What?”

“Have you seen his face? That’s the face of a man who’s watched the life leave someone’s eyes.”

“That’s ridiculous.” “What happened to the guy who used to own this place, eh? Didn’t he disappear?” She wiggled her fingers mysteriously. “I’m just sayin’.” She took a slurp of her frappucino and reached across the counter, slapping Rhys’ arm with enthusiasm. “Oh, oh, tell her what he said about the pipelines.”

It was difficult to ignore Sasha’s expectant gaze.

“I… need to get back to work,” Rhys said lamely. “Yeah, hey, speaking of,” said Fiona, waving her half-finished drink, “this isn’t lactose free, is it?” “You didn’t order lactose free.”

“Sure I did.”

“No, you didn’t! And you barely even paid for the first—” “The customer is always right, Rhys,” she sing-songed. “That’s somewhere in your corporate handbook or personal bible or whatever, right?” She pulled back her half-empty drink as he reached for it. “I’ll keep this one, though. You know.” She sucked noisily on the straw. “Wouldn’t wanna waste it.”

Rhys glared at her, but grabbed an empty cup and started over anyway. “You’re going to get me fired.”

“I’d be doing you a favour,” said Fiona. She pulled the container of sugar packets towards her, arranging several into a tiny house of cards he’d have to rearrange later. “You still putting in hours for free?”

But Sasha was paying attention now, staring at him critically. “They’ve got you working for free? Why would you do that?”

“That’s not… strictly speaking, that’s not, exactly, what—”

“Because he’s a spineless kiss-ass,” Fiona explained, knocking over her sugar tower with one finger.  

Sasha put a hand on her hip. “That’s stupid. You don’t owe them anything.”

Having Sasha’s righteous fury aimed in his defense was a little rewarding, if also a little embarrassing.

Fiona, of course, was there to ruin it.

“Oh, but Sash, it’s all about playing the game!” She placed a theatrical hand over her chest. “If he works hard enough and long enough for his douchebag boss maybe one day, seven years from now, he might finally get to be assistant to the regional manager of a soulless franchised multinational coffee chain.” She screwed her face up like she was crying and wiped away an imaginary tear. “Every little boy’s dream.”

Rhys set her new drink down on the counter with enough force that some spilled out the lid. “Very funny.”

“That’s... sad,” said Sasha, looking at him with an expression closer to pity than he would have liked. “You can do better than this place. Aren’t you a techie or something?”

Rhys was not entirely sure whether or not he ought to be flattered, let alone whether or not he was.

“Hey now, easy, Sash, don’t make the delusions of grandeur any worse.” Fiona grabbed at her second drink happily, tossing the now-empty original into the garbage.

Before he could respond to the insult, or even demand she clean up the wreckage of sugar packets she’d left behind, Fiona reached into her pocket and began waving a folded piece of paper between two fingers.

“By the way,” she announced, dropping her voice to a more conspiratory volume. “I may have a copy of next week’s AI design test.”

“What? You’re not even in that class.”

Fiona shrugged elusively. “I know people.” She dangled the paper in front of his face as he tidied the sugar. “You want it?”

He did. AI Design was his hardest class, and his grades were slipping. But he looked at the paper, then looked at Sasha, and then said, “No.”

“Liar.”

“No, no, I don’t, I’m—reformed,” he insisted, unable to stop another furtive glance in Sasha’s direction. Sasha, engrossed in tapping away on her phone, her back against the counter, didn’t notice.

Fiona did. Her eyes went wide with recognition, Rhys felt the colour drain from his face, and Fiona’s eyebrows knit together in a disgusted glare.

Oblivious, Sasha broke the tension by standing up straight and tucking her phone into the pocket of her jeans. “Oh, hey, Fi, gotta run, August’s got some new gear to show me.” She slid the headphones looped around her neck back over her ears and raised a hand to wave casually at Rhys. “Good luck with your murder boss.”

Rhys managed a feeble and silent wave of his own.

Fiona cleared her throat. The angry expression of a second ago had been replaced by a look of false innocence as she sucked on the straw of her drink and waved the paper back and forth between two fingers. He reached for the paper, but Fiona snatched it away, holding out an empty palm instead.

With a defeated groan, Rhys moved to the counter, stuffed an assortment of pastries into a bag, and then thrust the bag into Fiona’s open palm.

“You’re going to get me fired and you’re going to get me expelled,” he complained, but the malice was wearing thin.

Ill-gotten food and drink in one hand, Fiona flashed a self-satisfied smile, winked, and tucked the paper into his apron pocket. “Always a pleasure doing business with you.”

[c-jacksonn]

Missing You

pairing ; lafayette x reader

summary ; the need to see your husband has not only gotten you to america, but also lost in the big new york city. 

words ; 1837

warnings ; badly translated french

masterlist

My dearest Gilbert,

I do hope that you are alive and well over in America. The sudden stop in returned letters has left me quite shaken and worried about you. As your wife, I feel as if it is my place to tell you that I have been questioning you returning home. How do I know if you’ve found another in the “Land of the Free”? Or that you now believe that we should no longer be married? But besides that, I would like to tell you that I love you, and I hope to see you very soon.

Your love,

Y/n Lafayette.

You sighed, looking around you. The area around you was riddled with people, shops, inns, everything. The road in which you traveled to get here were made of dirt, and the bottom of your dress now had a brown tinge to it, something you were sure you would be able to wring out without much trouble. But the roads here were all made of cobblestone, carefully lain to provide the image of elegance and care about one of the most beautiful towns in the up and coming America.

You had absolutely no idea where to go, and you were sure you looked like a foreigner “just passing by” with the way you were standing. You were on your tiptoes, trying to see if there was anything you were missing, though that was simply because you’d gotten used to being as short as you were.

Women were never given the nice end of the stick in the height department, sadly.

So, with a shake of your head, you ran a hand over the top of your head and stopped when the side of your fingers met the bun atop your crown. Tendrils of hair poked out, but otherwise, it felt kempt and managed-looking, especially since you had an image to keep up, being a Lafayette and all.

Taking a few steps in what you thought would be a good direction, you got lost in the view of Manhattan. Alongside the cobblestone paths were buildings of utter beauty – brown bricks, red bricks, maroon bricks, even white bricks made up the walls, the windows were all outlined in gorgeous white wood, complementing the freshly-cleaned glass it framed.

The yards were outlined with metal gates with spikes at the top, a silent message to tell people to keep off the grass and property depending on the time of day. The inns and stores were all clearly marked, their signs elegantly carved with precision.

All in all, it reminded you of the beauty of your home country, France, what, with how everything was cozily pushed together and even the buildings themselves practically floating in regality.

Snapping out of your gaze of the place, you focused back on your mission – find your husband. He had to be around here somewhere, but it would take asking people to figure out where that somewhere was.

Taking quick steps into a store, you walked up to the counter and cleared your throat, “Excusez-moi?”

The shopkeeper’s head snapped up from whatever he was doing and immediately a smile graced his face, “Bonjour. Comment puis-je vous aider?” [how may i help you?]

You were quite delighted to know that he spoke french, considering your English was very, how you say, on the rocks. “Je suis à la recherche de mon mari, Marquis de Lafayette?” [i’m looking for my husband, Marquis de Lafayette?]

“Uh,” the man cocked his head to the side, his eyes darting up to the ceiling as if in thought. “Je ne l'ai pas vu avant, miss. Je suis désolé.” [i haven’t seen him before, miss. I’m sorry.]

You looked down, sad to hear of such a thing. “Ça va. Je vous remercie.” [it’s okay, thank you.]

Bidding the man farewell, you headed back out into the streets, thinking about where else to check. Where is somewhere Gilbert would go with his friends? Or by himself?

You looked around for a pub or something, thinking that maybe he’d be out with a few American friends of his. Your e/c eyes darted around the left and right of the road you stood on, finding landing on a pub called The Inner Duckling. With a giggle to yourself, you walked over to the door and in, glancing around for any tufts of curly hair or tall, handsome men.

Due to your shortness, and the mass amount of men inside the pub, you decided to walk up to the bar and flag the bartender. “Hello? Excusez-moi?”

“Ah, hello,” a kind man came in front of you, cleaning a glass with a rag, “how may I help you?”

“Erm,” you struggled, “I’m, how you say, ah, looking for my husband?”

The man seemed to pick up on your inability to speak proper English, and although it looked as if he wanted to, it didn’t seem that he could speak French. “Well, ma’am, what’s his name, maybe I’ve seen him.”

“Marquis du Lafayette,” you said confidently, knowing at least that much.

“Oh, I know him! He’s always here with his buddies, Hamilton, I think?” He wondered for a moment before smiling and shrugging, “I believe he stays somewhere near Alexander. I can give you directions, if you like?”

It took you a second to comprehend what he’d said, but after a few moments, you got the jist and accepted his offer, “Oui, that would be magnifique.”

He nodded and jotted down a couple things on a piece of paper he’d found, also verbalizing his directions, with not only his voice, but his hands as well. Thanking him, you walked out without too many stares on you, and headed in the direction you were pointed to.

After glancing down at the napkins and getting stumped with all of the English, you found the house you were looking for, belonging to Monsieur Hamilton. Trotting up to the door, you knocked lightly, looking behind your shoulder and noticing the sun slowly drifting behind clouds that looked like cotton being strung out.

The door opening caught your attention, and you quickly whipped around to see a man about your height, if not two inches taller, standing. He had black hair tied back into a tight pony tail, a loose white shirt and dark brown eyes with multiple bags underneath them. “Hello, what can I do for you?”

“Bonjour,” you gave him a small smile, watching his eyes light up. Before you could continue, he had already beat you.

“You speak French? Is it your first language?”

“Oui,” you responded, looking over his happy facial expression. You hadn’t seen someone so happy to hear that you spoke a language other than their own, so this was more than a notable experience for you.

“Eh bien, alors que puis-je faire pour vous?” [well, then what can i do for you?]

“Je suis à la recherche de mon mari, Marquis de Lafayette?” You weren’t sure why saying the question for a third time felt extremely repetitive, but it just did. [i’m looking for my husband, marquis du lafayette?]

“Mari?” The look in Alexander’s eyes was pure shock, which confused you. “Je veux dire, ouais. Je sais où est Laf, donnez-moi une minute rapide.” [husband? I mean, yeah, i know where laf is, give a me a quick minute.]

He ducked behind the door, his voice ringing out and your husband’s name leaving his lips. “Lafayette! Someone is here to see you!”

Heavy footsteps were heard as who you presumed was Gilbert came down the stairs. Monsieur Hamilton opened the door all the way and let you in with a quick wave of the hand, shutting it softly behind you. You thanked him with a smile and smoothed down the front of your dress, the smile still faint on your lips as you saw your tall love trot into the room.

He looked absolutely amazing. He had grown scruff, and knowing him, it was precise, neatly cut scruff. His hair was tied back, like always, in a poof on the back of his head, and his brown eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked toward his friend. His clothes were much like Alexander’s, just with strings at the neck instead of just a straight v.

“Mon amie, who is it?” His voice was almost tear worthy after not hearing it for so long, and you almost couldn’t hold back the water brimming your eyelids.

“Her,” Alexander gestured to you, “she says she’s your wife.”

Gilbert’s eyes widened as he looked over to you. He looked you up and down for a second, his mouth slightly opening in shock. “Mon amour, vous êtes ici?” [my love, you’re here?]

“Oui, ma chérie,” you answered in a whisper, starting to walk toward him.

He quickly closed the gap between the two of you, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your hair. In that moment, you felt nothing but secure and loved, like he was your drug and your withdrawal had made you empty, but since he was here, you were no longer without meaning.

Warm tears began to slip down your face as you looked up at your husband, placing a soft hand on his cheek and watching as his eyes fell closed and he leaned against it. “Mon amour.” His words were whispered, but that only made it hit harder than being in his arms after two years did.

His warm hands pushed you closer until you were pressed against his chest and looking up at him. When you looked down at his lips, he immediately took the hint and ducked down, kissing you with so much passion you could’ve passed out.

Your lips molded together, and it felt so desperate, so hungry, you couldn’t stop your fingertips slipping underneath the hem of his shirt and resting against his abdomen. A quick clear of the throat brought you out of your reverie, though, and your lips slowly departed from Gilbert’s.

“As sweet as that was, I must ask,” Alexander looked up at Gil. You placed the side of your face against his chest and sighed happily, knowing this was all real. “You’re married?”

“Oui, Monsieur. Happily. I just haven’t seen her in so long,” Gil’s voice sounded sad, and you could hear the guilt laced within it.

“But you never told us?”

“It never came up. Why do you think I always declined flirting with people? I simply didn’t see ze need,” he shrugged, kissing your head as if to say “I truly stayed faithful, as I had promised.”

“Merci, mon amour,” you whispered, looking back up at him and kissing him once more. “Je t'aime.” [thank you, my love. I love you.]

“Je vous aime plus que tout, mon ange,” he responded. [i love you more than anything, my angel.]

“Hey! I’m standing right here!” Alexander called, crossing his arms.

“My statement still stands, Monsieur Hamilton,” Gilbert chuckled, hearing you giggle as well.

God, he missed you.