#which is a zone i do not like myself either because like. c'mon. the 'get good' attitude is dumb and stupid

[fooligandan]

kingdom heart post 2 idea: "this one just has a bunch of gameplay tips"

[meenah-chan]

Requested by: @zimelu-eloni-nova-lycan (hope you see this since I can't tag you ಥ‿ಥ)

My apologies in advance if Malleus is OOC. Other than wanting to play TW and doing a bit of research of him, I know nothing 😂 I never thought of taking requests coz I'm a slow writer but it was quite interesting so I did it anyways. (And took daaays to finish 😂)

To Thine Own Self Be True

An OM! Brothers x GN! Dark Fae MC (slight OM! X Twisted Wonderland crossover)

5.47k words

Genre: flangst

Trigger warnings: self harm, violence, self depreciation? (cringe jk) Read at your own discretion.

"You're an incomplete puzzle... I hope you find your missing pieces." And thus, they were sent to someplace they didn't know...

They... have always been alone. But Y/N is not lonely. They have Malleus, a powerful yet caring brother. They have their grandmother, that even as busy as she is, tries to show her love as much as possible.

They are the only one they need. As long as they have them, they needn't anything else. Or atleast they think so.

"As a part of royal family, you have to broaden your horizon." But they think otherwise.

Before Malleus' departure for Night Raven College, he left Y/N a word, "You're an incomplete puzzle, Y/N. I hope you find your missing pieces." and that was months ago, and they were still confused by it.

Incomplete puzzle... It doesn't feel like they are. They are content of what they have. They capable of doing most tasks perfectly. They fulfill their responsibilities impeccably. It's not like they can't live on their own either. Having no friends and acquaintances but they're two family members is also fine. They don't need any more. No one who could stand their presence anyways.

The intimidating dark energy far more destructive than a fae possessed, in which Y/N could never control. Those menacing, sharp green eyes. Their skin as pale as the dead corpse, and lips charred black. But most of all, those pair of disgustingly sharp, black horns that keeps on growing back no matter how hard they try to get rid of it.

Y/N is the epitome of fear. They knew it more than anyone. If they were to be reckoned that way, it is better to maintain distance from everyone.

But I should fulfill my duty, atleast. They thought, fortifying their resolve as they stood before the future King of Devildom and his butler. "Welcome to Devildom, Y/N Draconia."

"It's an honor to be of your acquaintance, Prince Diavolo." Placing a palm on their chest, Y/N bowed.

As per the two Kingdom's agreement, they were to live in a safe place different from a lavish lifestyle they have been used to inside their gold plated walls. And thus they were led by the Future king's shadow, Barbatos, to their new home. The House of Lamentation.

House of Lamentation. What a gloomy and dreadful place, befitting a sinister being like me. they scoff.

But the sight the dark fae witnessed within that walls was not within their expectations.

"Beel! Don't eat the my wallet! H–Hey, I said let go! My goldie'll snap! B–Belphie, help me!" A white-haired man is pulling a leather wallet from the teeth of a bulky orange-haired one.

"Smells chicken mushroom oil." While the orange head kept their teeth sunk into the wallet almost ripped into two. "It's just a drop, stop going crazy over it!"

"Belphie, wake up! You promised you'll help me with clearing dungeons today! The raid will start anytime now!!" A violet haired male violently shakes an asleep man in blue but the man is far from dazed at all.

"Hrmm... Five more minutes—" "We have no more time!! I can't play with a missing player!"

A feminine faced guy appeared right in front of them, instantly invading their comfort zone and kept locking eyes with them. "Ohh? Who is this with you Barbatos? Ahh, The one moving in! You're quite early, darling. Ignore those bunch in the back and play with me?"

"Behave, you fools!!" A booming voice reverberates and in an instant, the rowdy bunch is silenced. "Such a disgrace..."

Except for one, who didn't make any ruckus until that very moment.

A bucket came flitting up in the air and in the next second, all of its contents all poured on the man who controlled the ruckus a while ago.

"SAAAAATAN!!" It was an utter chaos. This place far from the gloomy place they have in their imagination. It is filled with rabid demons that could obliterate them were they to join forces, and now Y/N have to adjust in this new environment.

"I see it's not a great time to introduce myself." Said Y/N, yet the only one who probably heard them is the butler beside them. "If you'll excuse me, I would like to know where my room is."

"As you wish, your Excellency. Allow me to lead you the way." The butler responded to them. They left the common room, where the rowdy ones moments ago, were trying to suppress the supposedly-most decent of the seven, from destroying the mansion.

Y/N usually do not receive a normal greetings on the events they've been into or more like, forced to come by either their grandmother or by Malleus. It could be the fairies either— gives them space with no one dare shorten the distance; reluctantly greet them before leaving them as fast as they could or; flat out ignore them.

Yet so far, the experience I have today is by all odds, the most insulting way I have ever been greeted. Y/N clasps their trembling hands as they sat on the bed.

I wish this will end sooner. This will be a hell for me...

Almost everyday is a crazy, eventful day. Far different than their everyday life in the Valley of Thorns, their homeland. First impression doesn't really matter to Y/N, but for some reason, they couldn't stand them since day 1. Sure, they haven't done anymore distasteful things like the rude way of welcoming them. Still, the members of the family are crazily weird in their own ways. And they hate it.

Lucifer is the eldest of the brothers. The one who leads the brothers and manage everything in place.

"As your family have wished, you were to live differently than you have thus far. So I won't exempt you with the cooking and housework."

"As a part of Royal family, I expect great things from you. I won't tolerate screw ups."

"Remember to complete your tasks. I am assigned by Diavolo to take care of you, so I will check on your activities throughout your stay here." He is an ass. A bossy and dominating dictator who think he could order a royalty like them.

But one time, when they entered his study, they saw a scene they never thought they'll ever perceive.

*Tak* A fountain pen falling from his gripless hand.

He was splayed on his desk filled with tall stacks of paper, out cold. Y/N didn't know they would witness such vulnerable side of such condescending demon.

So they chose to put off their business for tomorrow, placing his coat over him and letting him rest.

But the event didn't occur only once. Atleast twice a week of exact time before midnight, he's always been unconscious on his desk. That's when Y/N realized: he is not strict and short tempered for no reason.

As the eldest, he took it to himself to be the father figure to the brothers, all while perfectly doing his job as Diavolo's right-hand man. He fulfills his job with perfection. But perfection doesn't come without hardwork nor sacrifices. For the sake of his great responsibility he sacrifice himself, working so hard until he drop on his desk.

With thoughts of him made Y/N ponder over something.

Does having a father feels like having a Lucifer in my life? Maybe it is, they never knew since they never remember their's. He isn't as bad as they thought he were if they think it that way. That is praiseworthy, as they think so themself and deserve some respect.

No more stern expressions whenever speaking to him. Being more compliant if his instruction is reasonable. Thanking him even for a simple thing he does for them.

Soon, they noticed he doesn't nitpick them either and praise them for every job well done. The dark fae may still be annoyed with him but that's not a bad outcome at all.

And then there's Mammon, the second eldest, who is supposed to assist the eldest.

"Ye're a royalty right? So ye're loaded. I'm in a pinch right now so let me borrow from you." He leans on their shoulder, with his smug grin.

"Don't listen to that fool. It's past 200 years and he still haven't paid his debts to me yet."

"Shut up, you otaku!"

Behind violet-haired appears the black haired demon. "MAMMON..."

"EEK— W–Wait!! Lucifer, this is not wha–ACK—!!" Mammon is a scum. A rude demon who could care less of his words and language. Trouble is where he is. Even so, in his tough exterior, Y/N took note of a soft side.

Y/N saw him one time, poking at the mopping otaku demon outside his room. "Yo Levi. What you doin' there?"

"Just let me be... I lose my raid last time because I couldn't play... Now I can't even bear looking at my PC... No one would want to play to a no-show gamer like me..."

"Hmm... Then, it can't be helped. C'mon, your big brother Mammon will play with you!"

"R–Really..?"

"Yeah, Yeah. Let's play to your heart's content" He pulled him up and push him inside his room.

Consoling a sad brother, lending a helping hand when they need it. He may not look like it, but Mammon is also taking good care of his brothers. All the emotional support Lucifer fails to give his brothers, Mammon provides.

So before Mammon entered the room, the dark fae decided to tap his shoulder, earning his attention. "You really love your brothers."

"W–Wha... Where does... who loves—"

"That's really admirable." They promptly reach out a bottle of a jet-black faerie dust only they could concoct. Mammon gingerly took it from them and scanned the inside. "That may help you settle some of your debts. Then..." After giving the bottle, they went on their way.

"AAAAHHHH!! THIS IS ULTRA RARE!" As expected to a man who could appraise goods.

They remember Malleus from his caring side, they couldn't help but smile and commend the yellow demon. I miss my brother...

Leviathan on the other hand, has a different case. He is the third-born of that household. A timid person... At first glance, atleast.

They just can't understand him. He spoke in language they couldn't wrap their head around like, "LOL! ROFLMAO!", "Tss, normie..."

It is tolerable, at least. What they can't tolerate is the fact that,

"UUWAAH!! MY RURI-CHAN LIMITED EDITION COBALT PIN AND FIGURINE IS HERE!!" He is, by far, the loudest. His sudden and unexpected outbursts kept on triggering every jumpy cells in their system.

Leviathan is too hyped he seemed to enter his own dimension. He skipped through the corridor, he sung a Ruri-whatever song that is, until, "Ahh—" he made a misstep in the stairs, a few steps away from them.

Y/N dashed and caught them barely in time, with firm hold between his shoulder blades and another to his package, which should be flying right now but was pressed secured to his chest.

"You should be more careful or you'll hurt yourself. Your treasured package almost fell." They sighed.

"... An angel has descended." He stared at them in awe. As he move his hand to the box, he touched their hand. That's when their position fianally sinks in to him. His face flared beet red and in a few seconds blew a fuse, passing out right on the spot.

"... What a troublesome demon..." With no other choice but to bring him themself, he carried the unconscious Leviathan up to their room. After opening the door, what welcomed them is a messy room.

No, not messy. The room is filled with items and materials of all sorts. Tons of CDs, figurines and posters on shelves and walls. Stuff toys and pillows of all shapes and sizes. Hanged intricate costumes and clothes, which in just a glance, they knew is made with effort. Even pins, threads and needle atop a... Sewing machine? Did he made all of this?

Y/N took another glance on the other side of the room. There he saw three monitors with various programs registered. A game, video editor and a Photoshop... I wonder what else can this man do?

Is this what they call a hobby? Such passion and dedication in pursuit of doing what he loves... An unfamiliar feeling for this dark fae.

They... can't really understand this man. Not at all... But I can now see him in another light, I guess...

The one who sought Y/N first were Beelzebub, the sixth-born. A bulky, tall demon who loves to eat. They were having a snack on the balcony when the older twin sniffs his way in. Such action that freaked the dark fae out internally, considering the sight they witnessed when they first moved in. The fact that they saw a few times 'accidentally' eating inedible things doesn't helped at all either.

"I followed the smell from the kitchen. Your cake smells delicious!" The drooling giant stood by them, and they couldn't take another sip from their tea.

"Hmm... Help yourself." Or you may help yourself with my flesh if I didn't satisfy your hunger.

"Really?!" He sat oposite to them and within minutes, all the plates on the table were wiped clean. "That was delicious!... Ahh that's right. Y/N, why aren't you eating with us during meals?"

"I'm used to eating by myself."

"But why? Eating with someone make the food taste better." Y/N doubt that'll be the case if that someone is him, who could definitely eat them if his appetite cries its needs.

Beelzebub touched his chin, thinking. "Hmm... How about I eat with you during snacks time? I'll bring food you'll definitely like!"

"Ah—" And they lost their timing. His eyes sparkles like stars and the pure happiness in his voice made it impossible for them to refuse. They wouldn't know what he could do were they to decline what he desire.

Since then he would appear without fail during Y/N's snack time, sharing both of their food with each other.

They tried to slowly end such dangerous activity yet, the enthusiasm in his eyes whenever he eat held them back. In the end, Y/N conceded, increasing their baked goods everyday to sate the needs of the ball of sunshine before them– who could bring warmth or burn them. As a response he will also eat it all like it's his first time eating their goods.

He is a man of few words yet, also quite easy to read, especially when eating the sweets they made themself. A straight forward person who means just as he say.

He would even sometimes bring his other twin, who will eat a few bites before snoozing.

"Beel really likes you, you know..." They glanced from their teacup to the youngest, seating beside them as the gobbling twin is busy with his food.

Belphegor stares in an ever-drowsy eyes. He is the man they least interacted with. How can they? Whenever they see him, he is always asleep. And it's not like Y/N is interested in communicating with him or anyone at all. "He even does his research for everything he brings you here. I don't know if you knew, but he really want to convince you to eat meals with everyone."

"...Ehh? Why? We're not even..." Y/N raised an eyebrow.

"Because he loves everything you make. He wants to talk to you ever since the first time you cook, but you're too antisocial to even eat with us."

"Says the demon who is always sleeping whenever I see him." Y/N snorts before taking a bite from the cupcake Beel brought. Hmm... this is good...

"...You, are you getting enough sleep?" Belphegor peers at their face.

"...None of your business."

"Whatever..." He frowns before burrying his face on his pillow.

What a keen observant. Y/N thought.

They've also been observing him since the first day. They share a lot of classes together and the dark fae knew, he is someone who rarely attend his classes, and whenever he does, he is always asleep. They also never saw him hold a book, much more read it. Yet, when they have exams, he finishes halfway the alloted time, almost the same time as them and sleeps after. The worst thing is that he could pass them easily.

He... is a dormant monstrosity. They conclude as they unlock the door to their room the day after. But before they do so, they noticed something.

Beside the door is an unfamiliar paper bag and inside... is a pillow, a bit caved it to the top center—similar to the one they use back to their home to be able to sleep well. It also comes with a note:

'The caneles and the stew is passable. You can throw away the pillow if you don't want it. Just know that it took me a great deal of effort to buy that.'

Really, what a frightening observant.

And there is Satan, the fourth-born, a pretty decent guy who craves for nothing but knowledge. If Y/N may say, he is the one they spend the most time with, though it's not that much.

"What are you reading?" Voicing not a word, they faced him the book cover.

"L’intelletto e Il Cuore... Hmm, that's a good choice." With at least 3 meters away from him, and few to no words exchange between them inside the library, it's not really that much.

He is a rational and intelligent man who respects personal space. Though, from time to time he would snicker eerily between the silence they have, holding either a cursed or homicide book. Creepy.

"What did you say...? The books you borrowed from me... Fell in the river? And it was washed away...?" And when he is angry, all his rationality is thrown out of the window.

"I–I will replace it I promise–" Pleads the peach-haired demon, kneeling before him.

"Replace, you say...? Didn't you know they were a Century membership gift to me from the Bibliomagicus Guild? Do you think that's replaceable...? Ha... Haha...HAHAHAHA!! THEN WHY DON'T YOU REPLACE THEM WITH YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE, HUH?!"

His wrath makes Y/N tremble, like all the bookshelves and books present in the library. Right, the books, the bookshelves. He'll destroy everything if this continues.

"Somnus Enim a Dum." So in a snap they cast a spell, amplified by their own dark pixie dust, and render him unconscious.

"Y/N!" That night he showed up in the library, frantically and still disheveled clothes and hair.

"Thank you. I don't know what would've happen if you're not there. And I also apologize you get to see that side of me." It's the first time they ever saw him smile without looking at the book. A smile similar to their brother.

"You're weird. You got so angry because of books that you'll ruin all the other irreplaceable books here."

"..."

"Don't mind it. I'd feel bad if the books are ruined."

"...Right." He chuckled, brushing his hair with his fingers and fixing his clothes to place. He then picked up the book he's reading, pulling the other sofa to sit beside them.

Now that's annoying. Nevertheless they let him. For they're a mere guest.

The fifth-born, Asmodeus, is not a problem back then. Having only a few occasional invitations for salon and parties, they could decline politely. But after the book incident, everything about his approach changes.

Since then, there was Asmodeus, everywhere!

In the classroom, in the library, in the music room, in the planetarium, in the balcony, in the bed, even the bathroom! He won't give them a break!

"Y/N~ I noticed you're always with Satan in the library. Are you getting along well? Beel too, you always bake and eat with him. That's so unfair! And you invite Belphie without me? Don't tell me you already like one of them?"

"If you'll choose one of us, shouldn't you choose me, the most beautiful demon of them all? I swear I can love you thousandfold than any of them, but... of course you can only be my second~~"

"What's with you and Lucifer? You always went to him every night. Is it a nightly endeavor? Hey~? Y/N, don't ignore me~!" He is a complete chatterbox. A motormouthed demon who don't know when to shut up.

But being with him comes with a few merits. Despite not looking like it, Asmodeus is a real gentleman. He maybe not as keen as Belphegor's capability to observe, but Asmodeus is an attentive and thoughtful demon. He does his everything to provide every small help he could give to them.

Whilst not needing help, it's much better than him being a clingy, dead weight. Y/N tries to look at the bright side.

"But this is tiring..." Y/N sighed, closing the book they are holding.

"Are you tired of reading? C'mon, let's go out and breathe fresh air!" I'm tired of you, you idiot.

"If you want to go out, you can go." The dark fae massaged their temple. It's been throbbing from time to time after that incident with Satan and Asmodeus bugged them.

"No! You've always been cooping yourself here or your room since coming here. You have to go out from time to time or you'll wither away!"

"You're so noisy Asmo. Y/N said they don't want to go." Asmodeus pout at Satan sitting beside Y/N, before pulling the dark fae out of the library and House of Lamentation.

"I'm telling you, I don't need this." Asmodeus holds 5 hangers of clothes, pondering which one fit them best.

"But~ It's such a waste for a beautiful person like you if you don't try dolling yourself up..." They stare at Asmodeus as if he just said the most ridiculous thing he could ever say.

"Don't tell me..." Asmodeus stared at them in disbelief, gasping dramatically like he always does,t "Y/N, YOU'RE GORGEOUS! DON'T EVER THINK YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE A DROP DEAD BEAUTY AND—" They covered his lips before he could even shout louder in such a public place.

He then pulled their hands off after a few moments. "And look! A bit of blush suits you! And black lipstick—" Y/N let him dressed them up— in exchange of shutting up. He chose meticulously, accenting every parts that they consider an abomination. A dizzying position they were in.

But the real deal has yet to come. What's worse than being bothered by a bug? More bugs...

"Asmo, are you nuts! You're hogging them all to yourself!" Mammon barged in their room as Asmo is applying makeup to them who gave up on him for a while now.

"Y/N couldn't come to our snack time because of you." Beel and Belphegor followed close behind, clearly unamused of Asmo's action.

"I haven't even got a chance to introduce them to the wonders of anime and games!" So do is Leviathan.

"They prefer reading in the library more, right Y/N?" Satan rest his back on the door frame, crossed arms.

"Excuse me? If I may say, Satan, Beel and Belphie are the one who took their time more than I!"

"YOU—" And their greatest fear since living in Devildom occurs. All hell broke loose. An all out brawl of the short tempered demons before them with all the six brothers, a thread away from transforming and blasting everything they touch. No... That's not it. Without transforming, they're already smashing everything into pieces.

The dressers. The desk. The chairs and mirrors. Everything but the bed they are sitting on.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE!" The last and the strongest of the brothers made his appearance, yelling in his most intimidating voice.

And they...finally snapped.

"Each and everyone of you... GET. OUT!!!" Such horror reflected on their eyes, with their whole being trembling uncontrollably. Tears poured down one after another. All of the emotions the brothers have never seen them make all spilled before them. As if a predator threatened to the end of their life.

On their hands...

were horns severed from their own head. The seven demons were so taken aback their bodies moved on their own to comply to Y/N's order... or more like, plead.

And the doors were completely closed.

They never left their ransacked room. They wouldn't open their doors to anything. No food, gifts nor even apologies. All but the brothers' words received a single response: "Malleus... I want my brother."

Hence the brothers and future king have no choice but to call him as soon as possible, or they will perish inside such place, alone like they've always been.

"Thank you for taking good care of my sibling. I hope you will continue so in the future."

"We also hoped we could. Yet considering the circumstances, I doubt they would want to stay here a second longer."

"Let—" but before Malleus could even finished his sentence, Y/N came flying down on him.

The distressed fae buried their face in their safe haven's chest. He then proceed carrying them in his arms, assuring them they are safe.

Lucifer led them to the music room, giving them privacy in their conversation.

"You've become so light, Y/N. And what happened to your horns?"

"...I wanna go home."

"Why? Do you hate this place?"

"I'm scared of them since the first day."

"That's understandable... But is that all?" Y/N stare at him in disbelief, while Malleus smiling softly at them.

"...Then what else... should I feel? I know I'm a monster... But that doesn't mean I could live with such monstrous demons! I'm just a monster with a weak heart!"

"Then you can blame it all on me. I'm the one who chose this place for you after all." All words were blown off Y/N's mind. The furrow between their eyebrows disappears as their face relaxes.

"Brother... But why?"

"I want you to realize your own self."

"..."

"Now answer me. You said you're scared of them, but do you hate them? Do you want to leave this place so badly? Is that really everything you've felt in this place?"

"Of course! I... I..." Y/N already knew the answer to his question, way before he even asked.

"They were annoying, noisy and self-centered bunch who does things as they pleased. They keep dragging me on their antics, I never had a peace of mind... I hated it, I despise it. I..." They bit their lips.

"I felt so frustrated! Why do they look so lively and happy despite being so unruly? They're always on each others neck yet they were having fun? Why?! And hobbies? How can they have such thing? I have nothing of sort! I just wake up day after day, desperately searching for something and fill this empty void inside me!"

"I fulfill my responsibilities without fail, on what cause? I have no purpose! Seeing that demons made me feel so miserable with my existence!"

They looked on their lap, holding back the tears on verge of falling. "What do they have that I don't? They're also the strongest, incredibly so that even I shook when they unleash their power! So why aren't they isolated like I am? How can they live a normal life unlike me?!"

"I think you already know the answer."

"...Because... They rely on each other. I never relied on anyone nor let anyone rely on me..." Malleus' smile widens when they hit the nail on the head.

"You're a strong person, Y/N. You won't even depend on us, not until today. You're capable of anything. You're just afraid of any more rejection, of being left behind." He paused and lift their face to meet his eyes, "Diavolo and others explained to me what happened. They said the incident frightened you. Yet knowing you, I doubt it is fear. Will you tell me why you blew off?"

"...I was overwhelmed. They were fighting over me. It never happened to me before so don't know what to feel. The attention was too much that I hated it. And I don't know how to respond to them..."

"So you brushed them off and isolated yourself." They nod weakly.

"And you snapped your horns to show them you're not who they think you are; to scare them off."

"Something like that..." Malleus smiled at them as he pet their head. "See? It's not bad being honest to yourself. Do you still want to leave, now that you let it all off your chest?"

Y/N shooked their head. "I want to stay."

"My Y/N is amazing... To surpass all the beings who estranged them. You're all grown up now." He held them in his arms, Y/N nuzzling onto his chest.

"Come on, they've been waiting for you for the longest time. You know what to do, right?"

"Yes." They left the room, Y/N clinging to him like never before. As childish as it seems, Malleus knew they grew a lot in just a few months of living in Devildom. It is indeed a great decision to choose the brothers to take care of them. They were no longer the incomplete puzzle he saw before he left for his studies.

"Y–Y/N..." Waiting in the common room are the seven brothers with Diavolo and Barbatos.

"W–We understand if you really want to l–leave." Mammon looked down as he clenched his fist.

"It was our fault." Leviathan followed.

"We've been insensitive, pressuring you despite knowing you're not accustomed interacting with a lot of people." Satan said with a serious frown.

"We even destroyed your belongings." Asmodeus glanced away, holding onto Satan's jacket.

"We'll make it up to you in any form."

"Y/N, sorry." Belphegor and Beel voiced respectively.

"It was due to my negligence you have to experience such incident. I also want to apologize." Lucifer held his palm to his chest for a slight bow.

"N–No!" Y/N strongly shook their head, "I should be the one to apologize! I'm so sorry!!" before bowing deeply.

"Y/N!? No, please raise your head—" Diavolo held Lucifer's shoulder to stop him like Malleus cued to let his sibling continue.

"It was all my fault! I've been a coward all this time. I was wrong for trying to push you all away when you don't mean harm. It was all my fault for venting all my frustrations to you. Please, if you would still allow it, I want to stay a bit longer."

"Y/N you are more than welcome here so please raise your head now. We don't deserve your apologies." Satan was the first one who walked towards them to raise their head.

"Y/N?!!" But as he did so, a crying Y/N appears in the brothers' view.

"This is the first time I will ever ask someone but," they sob and sniff, "will you guys be my friends?"

"Y–Yes, so please stop crying!" As conflicted as the brothers are, being asked such question that could hinder their future plans with them, they were forced to agree to their wish instantly.

Let's leave it for another day... The same phrase runs in the thoughts of the brothers, a very rare occurence to happen once in a millenium.

With Asmodeus' lead—he, Mammon, Leviathan, and Beel wrapped their arms around them to console the crying faerie. Lucifer, Satan and Belphegor stood a feet away from them, watching the five in the middle.

As things calms down, they decided to sit on the same dinner table for the very first time. Food were served by Barbatos, who prepares who knows when. He could actually have predicted such outcome for all they know.

The place were so warm, and lively. "This tastes wonderful." That's an understatement. The food have the richest taste than everything Y/N ate in their entire life. "You're right, Beel. Food were best eaten with someone." Beel have them a toothy grin. "I'm glad you get me."

After the meal, Y/N fell asleep on the spot. "Hehe, they're so carefree now." Belphegor played with their fringe. They didn't woke them up and instead carry them in a new room, letting them have the deep sleep they couldn't have for days.

"Congratulations, for being Y/N's first friends. I'll leave them in your care." Malleus bid his farewell to everyone, not bothering of waiting for Y/N to wake up. "I also hope this incident will be the last one."

"Yes, we won't let such thing happen again, and ensure a comfortable life for Y/N throughout their stay here." Diavolo answers in stead of everyone. The brothers are not in the shape to reply as they absorb Malleus' first sentence.

First friend. Such a bitter-sweet word. Whether the word stings them or not, it doesn't matter. It won't stop the brothers from trying to achieve the same goal as subtle as possible.

And so, a not-so-obvious scramble goes on.

This took longer than I expect 🤣😂 In all honesty, it was quite challenging, making a blatant All Brothers x MC. I also don't have a plot and flow until I actually wrote it sksksk dunno if that's a good or bad thing 😂🤣 and this was the longest one I wrote for the past half a year.

Masterlist

[charspnp]

minecraft boyfriend

「 streamer! kaminari denki x g/n!streamer! reader 」

warnings: none

masterlist

part one

ever since interacting with kaminari via streams, the only thing talked about in your discord or in your mentions was that. there have been gifs of kaminari blushing and smiling as well as of your amusement as you watched the first clip of him.

scrolling through your twitter or instagram, there are already so many prices of fanart and theories as to what'll happen between the two of you. there's even already a hashtag between you guys: #kamiy/n.

all of it made you smile so much as you watched people become so engrossed in a little interaction from two big streamers.

as you were switching from the two social medias, you got a dm from someone on twitter. looking at it, you noticed it was from kaminari himself. you quickly opened the text and immediately you aren't following him. so, you followed him and exited back to his message.

@/ chargeboltofficial: hey! it's kaminari from the stream. i just wanted to ask if you were serious about collabing?

@/ynstreams: hello!! and of course i was! when's a good time for you?

@/chargeboltofficial: how about tomorrow? around 5pm?

@/ynstreams: assuming we're in the same time zone, yeah!! what do you wanna stream?

@/chargeboltofficial: how about minecraft?

@/ynstreams: awesome!!

you two continued to talk and make plans for the stream.

this is gonna be fun

-----

spinning in your chair slightly, you looked at your chat as people spammed greetings. smiling at them, you spoke, "okay, guys, we have a special stream today."

your chat was filled with pogchamp's and your smile only grew.

"today, i am going to play minecraft with kaminari, aka chargebolt."

somehow, more pogchamp's were spammed as well as people exclaiming their excitement. chuckling, you elaborated, "we're gonna be playing with mediashare on that's, like, shared between us. that basically means that no matter which one of us you send a video to, it'll show up on both of our streams. also all the money made from today's stream goes to charity." moving your attention to your discord group that had only you and kaminari, you see that he was already in the voice chat and ready to go. you took a deep breath before joining the vc and catching the end of his sentence.

"so hopefully w- oh! hey!" he said upon hearing you join.

"hey, king," you smiled. almost immediately your chat was filled with people saying that he was blushing. you giggled at how easily you could fluster him.

"you ready to play some minecraft?"

"uh, y-yeah," he breathed out.

giggling again, you switched your screen to minecraft and made sure your stream could see it as well. you went to create a world and pausing, you asked, "what should we name the world?"

"date night," he spoke bravely. you could practically hear the flirty smirk in his voice.

you shook your head with a soft smile but typed it in anyway with a mumble, "date night it is... oh!" you gasped, "should we make this a hardcore world? where, like, if one of us dies we have to restart?"

"ooh, challenging. hell yeah!"

"okay, it's loading."

-----

"kaminari! kaminari, stop, you're gonna get us killed!!" you panicked as your stupid friend was provoking a creeper multiple times. "just kill it!"

"oh, c'mon, what's the fun in- woah!" he cut himself off when the creeper suddenly exploded. luckily, you both made it out with half hearts.

"dude! you're so dumb!" you snickered.

"at least we're not dead!" he retaliated.

"whatever, let's just go back home."

honestly, the amount of times you've shaken your head with a smile because of kaminari should be in the world record book.

"okay! oh shit, wait, wait! i got something to show you!" he stopped you before you could get close to your shared house the two of you spent so long building.

"you have something to show me?" you quirked your eyebrow.

"yeah! honestly i'm surprised no one's spoiled it yet."

you took your hands off your keyboard and mouse as you waited. while you were sitting there, a mediashare came onto your screen. it was the infamous video of twomad saying, "oh-! oh, hey, i was just boutta go to bed. i know we couldn't skype tonight but, das aight. goodnight, girl, i see you tomorrow," before falling down.

both you and kaminari said every word with him before the video ended and you two shared a laugh.

"did you know that when he fell, to make that noise, he pulled out his whole junk drawer?" kaminari informed you.

"really?"

"yeah dude. now that's dedication."

you chuckled, "yeah."

after a minute, kaminari was finally finished.

"okay!! come here!" his character came bunny-hopping from around your house to where you stood. you put your hands back on your controls and followed him to where he was previously.

kaminari took a deep breath before leading you around to the back of your guys' house.

"how do you like it?" he asked anxiously.

in front of you was a decently sized garden with a path leading to a row of signs, each one block away from each other. you couldn't read any of them from where you were standing, though. around the signs there were different colored roses and two dogs on either side of the first sign. one's collar was colored yellow while the other one's was f/c. you smiled in surprise at the sight before stepping closer to the row.

meanwhile, during your elongated silence, kaminari was busy biting his fingernails and wondering if you liked it or if he had overstepped.

the signs were just a series of different cheesy pick up lines, each one cheesier than the next (pick up lines such as, "did you sit in sugar? cause your ass is sweet", or, "is that a mirror in your pants? cause i can see myself in them"). sign after sign, your face got redder and your smile grew at kaminari's dorkiness (as well as dedication).

though, the last sign just said, "there's no pick up line. we should date."

your eyes widened slightly as you tried to figure out if he was joking or not.

"are you serious about this last one?" you asked carefully.

thinking you didn't like them, kaminari tried to cover up his feeling of rejection with a flirty joke, "i'm serious about all of them, baby."

you laughed, "well, in that case, i'd love to date you."

the feeling of empty hope and sadness quickly faded from kaminari at your words. did he hear you correctly?

"r-really?" he breathed out as if he had been holding his breath this entire time.

"of course."

"oh, thank god. you really had me scared there for a sec," he spoke with a nervous smile and a hand behind his head, rubbing his neck- a habit he picked up from his fellow purple-haired streamer friend.

"you, kaminari denki, being scared? just not too long ago you were facing death in the eyes and daring him to blow up."

he laughed at your callback before going silent.

"so, uh, are we dating now?"

"as long as i can call you my minecraft boyfriend."

"of course!"

----------

requests: open, 7-14-20

this didn't turn out as bad as i thought it would tbh

[septicbro1005]

Paint Me How You See Me

A/N: Okay, you have no idea how excited I was to see that I had permission to write this. I literally am so happy I could scream. Will I? Not out loud. This actually made me so excited that I got up and started walking around my room and smiling holy shit. Alright. Enough of that. I was inspired to write this story by a comic made by the fantastic @venadorosas​ and I just am so damn excited to write this! I am not an art student myself, but I will do my best to replicate it with what I know. I hope I do the comic justice! Just a few more things before this thing starts: I'm gonna do myself and make this a Quirkless AU as well as make Yuuei a university instead of a high school. This is unedited, so if there are sentences or misspellings, that is why, and I apologize. Anyway, let's get rolling!

Kirishima's POV

One stroke after the other.

Small, swift.

One stroke makes a world of a difference.

So don't… mess… up.

I only have one canvas left after this one, but I'm saving it for something important. Something special. Just need to figure out what.

I mean, yeah, I have others on back order, and Mr. Miyoshi is usually pretty cool with giving me some, but I still need to think about what to do with the 106 cm by 106 cm canvas.

A canvas that big needs something worth being put on there.

"Psst, Kiri--" "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhut," I hissed out through clenched teeth.

"You nee--" "I said shut,"

"B--" "No. Shut. Lemme finish,"

The person who proceeded to pester me, even after I told him to be quiet, was none other than Hanta Sero.

He was an art student, along with myself and several others I know by name.

One of which was Katsuki Bakugou.

And damn, was he confusing.

He was this aloof dude who talked to maybe two people by his own volition.

Some random girl who I see him talk to ever now and again. I think we've spoken twice? All I remember is she told me to call her Tsu.

And then me.

Sure, he'd talk to the professors and people like that, but if he didn't have to speak, he wouldn't.

Yet, he spoke to me.

Not only did he barely talk to people, but he also is probably one of the best looking people on campus.

I kid you not, the first time I saw this dude, I was totally sure I'd met Adonis in human form.

His ash blond hair was styled into a fluffy undercut that I would pay money for to be able to run my hands through, even once. His gauges and helix piercings gave him a bit of an edge, but that's what made him more alluring. He came into class one day, wearing a wife beater, which put a tattoo on full display, resting on his right shoulder.

It isn't just his looks that are attractive either. The way he holds himself, presents himself, just his whole aura is indescribable, to keep it brief.

And he was the person I was painting this for.

This wasn't his first commission. Not by a long shot. And this one was fairly simple as well. Still, I poured my heart and soul into it, just like every piece.

But with his commissions, I feel the need to work that much harder. To push myself that much farther. To make it perfect, in a word.

Now, I know that perfection is impossible, but I still want to achieve it.

I mean, if Bakugou could, I could too, right?

"Kirishima, I've been talking to you for the past couple of seconds and you haven't shushed me. Don't zone out on me right now, man,"

Sero's voice managed to pull me out of this trance, but only a bit.

The ash blond with the scarlet glare was still in the back of my mind.

"What?"

"You need lunch, man," Sero said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Listen, I thank you for your concern, but I had a protein shake maybe six hours ago. I'm dandy," I mumbled, doing a few more soft strokes before standing up. "Plus, I'm not even hungry," 

"Dunno what kind of protein shake you're drinking, but you still need sustenance. C'mon," Sero attempted to persuade me as I walked to the sink to clean the small brush.

"I'm cool, dude. I have a granola bar or two in my bag. I'll eat when I'm hungry," I chuckled lightly, turning on the water and cleaning the brush.

Sero sighed in defeat, as this marked the second week in a row where I substituted breakfast with a protein drink and lunch with a granola bar.

"Alright, fine. Make sure you eat dinner tonight, or Mr. Miyoshi is gonna kick you out again," Sero said, beginning to walk to the door.

"I know, I know,"

"I'll be off, then,"

"Peace out, dude,"

I heard the door to the studio shut, and it was just me in here.

Just me and the paint.

"Hey, Siri,"

My phone lit up, hearing its name.

"Play Rex Orange County on Spotify,"

As I began to finish up some touches on the snow covered forests surrounding a bright red cardinal, the song Uno filled my ears.

The song had no real relevance, but I love that song so much. I dunno if its just because it sounds so simple and sweet, but I just think the song's pretty great.

I'd say after maybe forty-five minutes of doing seemingly pointless touch-ups, I stood back, admiring my work.

Not much needed to be done, but I needed this to be phenomenal.

"I'll just use a simple varnish once everything is dry, then I can move it into the back," I muttered to myself, as if someone was there and I had to be quiet. "Can I finish it today? I could tell him where it is, and wait for the money to come in, I guess,"

A few seconds pause later, and I continued.

"Wow, great job, Eijirou. You sound like a dickwad who just wants money,"

A short sigh, a granola bar and maybe a half an hour or so later, everything seemed dry.

"Let's varnish this motherfucker, and I'll text him when that's done," I mumbled, going into the cabinets, looking for the varnish.

No other assignments at the moment… okay! Cool! I can probably head back to my dorm, chill there, and text Bakugou when it's done!

When I finally found it, I got to work on the varnish.

***

"And sent," I whispered as I approached the dormitories.

I just sent Bakugou a short text, telling him where to find it, how to send me the money (although he probably knows the process by heart at this point) and all that jazz.

My dorm building was in sight when my phone buzzed once.

It was a different buzzing pattern than all the others.

"Oh, Bakugou responded this quickly?" I thought aloud.

Opening my phone, I checked the message.

Sent the ¥321.7K 

My eyes widened at the number.

"I sure as hell didn't tell him to send me that much, what the hell?"

                                                   What!? The commission was only ¥48.2K?!

His response was immediate.

Left a tip.

Get yourself something nice.

"Whoa," I murmured.

Now, I knew Bakugou was on the higher end of the economic spectrum, but hot damn! 

He did usually give me more money than I told him to, but that fact that he gave me that much more this time just seemed to solidify the thought of him being rich.

So manly.

Heading into my dorm building, I looked to the elevators, only to see an out of order sign on them both.

"Are you kidding me?" I whispered. "Fine, guess I'm just gonna take the damn stairs,"

I got a notification, seeing the ¥321.7K was successfully put into my account, and I knew this commission was over.

But at this point, I knew what to expect from Bakugou. Next time I see him, he's gonna ask me about another one.

Not that I mind, not one damn bit. I'm cool with any excuse to talk to him, and I'm happy to please him with my art.

I just gotta brace myself for the next time I see him.

Trudging up the stairs, I began pondering what he would want next.

He seems to really like requesting animals, mainly birds such as crows and cardinals, but will he do something different? Ooh, maybe a peacock! Or maybe he'd want some other winged creature… like maybe an insect? Or possibly he'll switch it up on me.

As I ended up on the next staircase, I heard someone else's footsteps approaching.

Looking up, my eyes were met with a familiar scarlet pair of eyes.

"Oh, hey, Bakugou!" I said with a wave.

"Hey," he replied with a simple nod.

Fuck, he was just as gorgeous as always.

A grey turtleneck hugged his torso, with a black and white pinstripe button up on over it. The shirt was tucked into a pair of black jeans, a wallet chain dangling on his right side. A pair of black converse and a dog tag finished his look, alongside my composure.

"Thanks again for the great work," he said, his husky voice hypnotizing me further.

"You haven't already picked it up, have you?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. "I don't think I saw you walk past me to get to the parking lot,"

"Nah, but I know it's gonna look good," his compliment was accompanied by a smirk.

Short-lived, yes. But a smirk nonetheless.

"Aw, thanks dude! Always happy to make something for my best customer!" I felt myself beam at him. 

"See you around, Red," he said, continuing down the stairs.

"Bye," I waved with a small smile on my face as he disappeared down the stairs.

I quickly hauled ass up to my floor, speed walked to my door and slammed the keys in.

Gay panic in private, dude.

Opening the door, I pulled my key out and shut the door.

"I'm back, Omi!" I shouted into the apartment to see if my roommate was here.

"Hey," my roommate responded from his bed.

"Is it cool if I hop in the shower real quick?" I asked, jerking a thumb toward the bathroom.

"Sure thing. Keep it brief," Omi said, making me roll my eyes.

"Okay, dad," I sighed, but I gave a smile to show it was all in jest.

After locking myself in the bathroom and stripping myself down to absolutely nothing, I got in the shower and had a gay crisis.

Because that's the only place you can have those, y'know?

But a good ol' Panic! In The Shower was enough to calm my nerves.

As I stepped out of the bathroom to grab clothing, I heard Omi laughing.

"What?"

"That Bakugou guy really messes you up, huh?" his laughter was thrown in between words, but I knew exactly what he was referencing.

"If I'm being too loud, just knock on the door, dude! Tell me to shut it, I don't care," I flushed, looking at the ground, my hand tightening around the towel that hung on my waist.

Omi just kept laughing at me as I grabbed my clothes; a simple crimson riot shirt, boxers, black shorts and my wave socks.

It isn't like I'm going anywhere tonight, right?

…

Is what I originally thought until I was dressed and realized I left my motherfucking cardigan at the studio.

"Ugh, fuck," I groaned, rubbing a towel on my head.

"Left your cardigan again?"

"Perhaps," 

"You might as well just wrap it around your waist," Omi suggested.

"And risk getting paint on it?" I looked at Omi like he was a motherfucking psychopath. "Hell no. The cardigan was my grandmother's, so I ain't doing shit to it,"

"Clearly, if you're leaving it in the studio again," Omi mumbled.

"Shush!" I whined, grabbing my keys and slipping on my red sneakers. "I'll be back,"

"Okay,"

Leaving my dorm, I began going down the stairs when I ran into someone.

It was Bakugou, again.

And just when I thought my gay panic was over for the day.

"Oh, hey," I said as casually as possible.

Which probably sounded forces as fuck, because it felt like my heart was just about ready to implode.

"Red," Bakugou was looking me up and down.

I don't think I've ever felt more self-conscious about my appearance in my life.

"I've got another request, if it isn't too much,"

"O-oh, okay!" 

Why did I stutter?! That was so unmanly!

"So, what is it?"

I looked into his gorgeous eyes, trying to see further into him, but I was only met with his right hand slamming into the wall next to my head.

Oh shit, oh fuck. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna collapse, right here. Right now. I can't handle this.

"Uh, dude? You--" "Paint me how you see me, Kirishima,"

Uh, what?

I was stuck between saying "Got it," and "What?" so my dumbass just responded with this:

"Gweh?"

We sat there, in silence, staring at each other.

My face was flushing bright red, and I wanted to look away, but I didn't. I couldn't. His eyes just drew me in.

He moved his arm to his side, and began to head up the stairs.

Quick, say something coherent!

"O-on it!"

I swear, I saw him smile a bit before he was completely gone.

What was I doing again?

***

It's been around three weeks.

It's been three weeks of planning, sketching, and small, swift strokes.

And plenty of panic, but that's irrelevant. There was a bit of disco, so it balances out anyway.

Mr. Miyoshi did end up setting a curfew on me, to make sure I didn't pass out at the studio, but it wasn't set until it had already happened.

But, since I wanted to work on it after the curfew, I brought it to the dorm, keeping it on newspaper and buying the paint I needed.

I had the picture in my mind, which I did my best to replicate without him genuinely modelling for me.

It was a ¾ shot of his shirtless back, with him looking over his right shoulder, giving a perfect view of his side profile. I also made sure I replicated his tattoo to the best of my abilities, and I think it came out okay.

But that isn't all!

Monarch butterflies lined his back, as a fiery looking echo was placed slightly to the left. 

Those warm colors contrasted like hell, compared to the blues and navy of the background.

Just to fuck around with more color, flecks of brighter colors adorned the background, giving it sort of galaxy look.

I thought it looked gorgeous.

And not just because it's Bakugou.

You know how when you make something, and you worked so damn hard on it, and when it's done, you're just filled with pride?

This is one of those works for me.

"Omi!" I yelled about before cringing.

It's 01:35.

"Yeah?" 

Why the fuck does he sound like he's been awake?

"First of all, have you been awake this whole time? Second of all, could you grab me my phone?" I said a little quieter.

"It's done?" Omi asked, coming over with my phone.

"I'm happy with it," I said with a huge grin.

"Looks fantastic," Omi pat my shoulder before walking off.

Using my nose, I unlocked my phone and took a picture before putting my phone down.

I just looked at the painting, with Bakugou's slight pout catching my eyes.

I have absolutely zero clue what came over me, but I lifted my forefinger to my mouth, and pressed a small peck to it.

My forefinger rested against the painting's lips, and I just felt warm.

And that was probably the best feeling ever.

I gotta give this to him in person. It's about time I told him.

***

What floor are you on again?

                                                                                    Number two. Room 204.

Okay, I'm coming over.

I let out a shuddery breath, looking at the canvas, which I covered with a blanket.

I need to tell him.

It's time.

I kept opening my phone, making sure I had the song ready to play at the click of a button.

He needs to know.

A loud knock landed on my door, and I jumped.

I walked over to the door, playing the song as I opened it.

"Hey, Bakugou! Come in!"

The ash blond entered, wearing a button up and jeans again, just no turtleneck this time.

"So, I wanted to give this one to you in person… because I…" I was stumbling over my words.

Calm down, Eijirou. You got this.

"Because this could very well be the last commission you want from me,"

This made Bakugou's usual deadpan change ever so slightly. His left brow rose up as his head tilted to the side.

"And why might that be?"

"I…"

Fucking say it.

Spit it out.

"I like you," I barely got out before throwing my gaze at the ground. "I like you a lot. You're just so cool and collected, and from what I know about you, I like it. And I want to know more. I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but I just had to get that out," 

Before I even looked at him, I walked over to the painting, still looking at the ground, and pulled the blanket off.

Everything was silent, except for the music in the background. But even the song was at a quieter part than the rest of it.

I felt Bakugou's eyes on me and not the painting, which terrified me to no end.

Should I have even said anything?

"You don't have to pay if you don't want to or if you don't like it. And…" I took in a shaky breath, looking at the ground, lazily gesturing to the painting and then myself. "If you don't want to be friends anymore, if you even thought of us as friends, then you can ignore me,"

His footsteps were soft, but I knew they were coming. So when his black converse appeared in my vision, I looked off to the side as my vision blurred with tears that threatened to spill. 

A finger went under my chin, turning my face to him.

His eyes met mine, and he was smiling.

"You really are oblivious, huh?"

"Gweh?"

Fucking, again?

Bakugou laughed before leaning in a bit, his head turning to the left.

"Can I kiss you as a tip?"

My whole brain has short-circuited, but I turned my head to the right and leaned in closer.

My eyes slowly closed, and when his lips met mine, I was immediately thrown into a state of euphoria.

Holy shit, this is happening.

This is actually happening!

I couldn't help the smile that bloomed on my face as I draped my arms over his shoulders, and I couldn't stop laughing either.

It was so fucking amazing.

Small blazes of tears made tracks down my cheeks, but I didn't care. Unless my nose starts running, I'm not gonna let some tears mess up this kiss.

But, all good things must come to an end, as Bakugou pulled back.

His eyes were on mine, and for once, they were soft. A small grin was pasted on his features, his hands on my face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked as his thumb rubbed at my dampened cheek.

I just felt myself giggle in response. 

"Well, I was originally gonna cry because I thought you wouldn't be cool with my confession, but these tears quickly turned sweet," I just couldn't stop laughing. "Shit, I'm so happy,"

We just stood there for a few moments of content silence before Bakugou spoke up.

"So, how the hell am I supposed to bring this painting to my dorm?" 

"I can help you bring it up there!" I offered.

"I get to bring two masterpieces to my dorm? Great!" Bakugou oozed confidence as he said that.

"Dear christ," I began giggling again, since that was unexpected.

We grabbed the painting, and I made sure Bakugou was careful with it, but was also holding it properly.

"Hey, Omi! Could you get the door?"

"Sure,"

"Your roommate was here?" Bakugou asked.

"Well, it's his dorm too." I pointed out as Omi got the door for me. "Plus, it isn't like I wasn't so obviously crushing on you,"

"It really wasn't," Omi said, patting my back carefully. "But congratulations to the both of you,"

"Thanks, Omi,"

Bakugou just gave a small murmur to thank Omi.

"Alright, Bakugou, you go through the door first, then we can keep walking," I said, turning us so Bakugou could walk out the door properly.

"Okay,"

After a quick minute of maneuvering, we managed to get the painting up the stairs without damaging it.

"So you're which dorm?"

"302," Bakugou said as we got to his door.

"Coolio!" I grinned.

"Dork," Bakugou snickered at me. "How d'you want this to be put down?"

"We can just rest it against the wall," I said, propping the painting up on the wall.

"Give me a quick sec," Bakugou mumbled, unlocking the door.

He swung the door open and made sure it stayed open. 

"Alright,"

"At this point, I'm gonna follow you. You know where you wanna put this?" I asked him.

"Uhm… I think Misumi wouldn't mind if I placed this on his side of the room until I know exactly where to hang it," Bakugou said as we walked into the room.

***

My paintings were all on the wall. The snow surrounded cardinal, the murder of crows, all of them.

Except one.

The other paintings sort of made a frame, with a 106 cm x 106 cm square in the middle.

"Hey, honey?" I called out.

"What's up, Rourou?" Katsuki asked from the other room.

"Could you grab me the step ladder?"

"Shorty," I heard Katsuki laugh.

"I heard that, Katsu! You aren't as quiet as you think!"

"Says you, of all people!" Katsuki chuckled, coming on with the step ladder.

"Thank you, baby," I said, pecking his cheek.

"Of course. Putting up the last one?" He asked.

"Yep!" I said, grabbing the painting I made all those years back.

The monarch butterflies dotting his spine, his scarlet glare, gorgeous fluffy hair, all of it brought together, and hung up on our wall.

I got off the step ladder, and looked at the paintings. Every single one of them.

A hand snaked around my waist and pulled me in close.

"I love you so much, baby," Katsuki whispered, kissing my forehead.

"I love you too,"

His hand rubbed against my waist, but I could feel one thing that was inconsistent with the feeling of the rest of his hand.

A golden band sat on his left ring finger, practically identical to the one that sat on my left ring finger.

A/N: And that's all! Honestly, I'm very pleased with this, and think this came out well! I hope that those of you who see this like it too! I want to thank @venadorosas for allowing me to write a story based off of their comic and for making such fantastic art. If you like my writing, I'm also on Wattpad, so check me out there, if you're up for it. Same username and profile picture. I do believe that this is it! I apologize for the ending, as it feels a little odd to me, I just don't have any idea how to end it properly. I sincerely hope that I did the comic justice. Love y'all! Stay safe and healthy! - Septic

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About “Enchanted Grom Fright”

Salutations random people of the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Shmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I started doing reviews, I told myself to stay limited to specials, movies, seasons, and even entire T.V. shows. I didn't want to do reviews for regular episodes of a show, mostly because there wouldn't be enough to talk about in a single post. For me, an episode has to either be astounding enough or important enough to warrant a review. And low and behold, The Owl House did just that with the episode "Enchanting Grom Fright." Keep in mind that I am going to be spoiling everything that happens in this episode. So if you somehow haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do so. And if you haven't seen The Owl House yet...what the hell is wrong with you?

With that out of the way, let's get started with-

WHAT I LIKE

Luz independently looking for new glyphs: This scene is excellent for two reasons. Reason number one: It shows how dedicated Luz is to learning magic. So far, we have yet to see Hexide teach Luz anything regarding her unique way of doing magic. This is why it's great to see Luz try to find glyphs on her own so she can at least attempt to catch up with everyone else. There's also the implication that it's not an easy task for her, given the multiple crumpled up pieces of paper, which must have been failed attempts to make the plant glyph. This scene adds continuity from "Adventures of the Elements" as well, proving that Luz had learned her lesson in said episode. As for reason number two for why this scene is excellent: It sets up how Luz and Amity defeat Grom. Luz could have used her other two glyphs to destroy Grom, but doing so would take away some neat symbolism with the tree that was grown (more on that later). Therefore, Luz finding the plant glyph was a great set up with a proper pay off. Which is what I love about The Owl House. It takes things you wouldn't think twice about and actually makes something beautiful. Case in point: A 'Grom Night' poster was shown in a previous episode, hinting to the glory that is this episode.

Luz barely texting her mom back: I like this because it finally addresses Luz's conflictions for lying to her mom (Something I may or may not have toyed around with https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321692/chapters/55864000). These scenes present moments of how Luz isn't always the happy go lucky teen that she is. And I like that because it adds layers to a character who is already engaging enough.

That Gromposal: I made a post of all the things Disney has approved of before approving Lumity. I guess you can add to the list a character presenting an anatomically correctly drawn heart with the word 'Grom' written in what I can only assume is blood!

(Jokes aside, I legitimately like the dark humor in this scene, as well as Skara saying yes to the poor boy. It was adorable, damn it!)

Amity’s hostility swapped with being friendly: Here's a nice bit of character development for ya! It's just a few seconds, but those seconds show how far Amity has come since episode FIVE! Which is why Amity is one of the best characters in the show. Her development is so impressive that it's legitimately jarring to compare the Amity who was angry to see Luz, to the Amity who immediately apologizes, to Luz. But she still has years of conditioning from her parents to deal with, so of course, Amity's first instinct is to bare her fangs. And I'm more than positive that that instinct is going to leave her pretty soon.

Eda: While we're on the topic of great characters, let's take a moment to talk about Eda in this episode, shall we? Eda, throughout "Enchanted Grom Fright," has fully embraced her role as a maternal figure for Luz. The way Eda attempts to warn Luz about the dangers of Grom is a testament to how much Eda truly cares about 'her human.' And it's not like Eda doesn't acknowledge Luz's efforts at survival. She knows Luz can take care of herself, but that won't stop Eda from drawing the line when she knows Luz is in over her head. The best part is that when Luz admits that she was wrong, Eda doesn't respond with anger or even with a smug "I told you so." Instead, Eda's reaction is calm and nurturing. A response that Luz needed at that moment. It's sweet and genuinely heartwarming to see.

(And I love how Eda constantly admires her own beauty throughout the episode. Which is something I'm sure most fans can relate to.)

Luz and Amity’s talk in the forest: There is a lot to love about this exchange, due to how adorable it is. So here's a quick list: The clearly romantic music playing in the background. The way Amity slipped in the mud and was inches away from accidentally kissing Luz when getting pulled up. The fact that Luz sits down into the mud so as not to make Amity feel self-conscious about being filthy. Luz's sweet, sincere, and instant "I would" when responding to Amity wondering who would take her place as Grom Queen. The fact that Amity was surprised that someone would be willing to take her place in the first place. The payoff to Luz learning that she really did have a spider on the back of her head (Alright, that one wasn’t adorable, but it was definitely hilarious!).

Amity “destroying” Hooty: While I do enjoy seeing Amity act all sweet and gushy, I will admit that feisty Amity is still best Amity. Plus, this scene was remarkably funny.

Training Luz for Grom: This scene was a fantastic showcase for each of the Blight siblings. Now, because I've talked a lot about Amity (and will continue to do so), I want to start talking about Edric and Emira first. When first introduced to Ed and Em, my initial reaction was that they were meanspirited versions of the Weasley Twins from Harry Potter. Sure, Fred and George are known to cause mischief, but they do realize that there's a line you don't cross when it comes to family. That is something that Ed and Em ignored during their debut episode, where they tried to reveal Amity's diary to the world. Luckily, the writers picked up on this quick and made a subtle detour in terms of Ed and Em's personalities. They're actually decent supporting characters, and it's legitimately sweet with how they willingly help Luz. As for Amity, it's great to see that she still takes things seriously despite crushing on Luz. Most shows fall into the trap of making characters a nervous wreck when around their crushes. And while Amity does have those moments, there are still scenes like this that prove she isn't just some smitten kitten-and I hate myself for saying that. Amity is the voice of reason to her and Luz's relationship. And I'm glad that the writers mostly focus on that aspect of her personality rather than write her off as a flustered girl with a crush.

Those boys dancing together: While it's nice to see Luz and Amity's relationship blossom, that doesn't mean we should sleep on great representation such as this. While it's great to see so many romantic pairings between females in the last few years, it's rare to see two boys liking each other, especially in animation. Sure, male pairings exist, but I haven't seen them as celebrated as often as female ones. This is why it's nice to see that The Owl House crew sprinkled in these two boys dancing with each other. Representation matters for everyone, and this little acknowledgment is something worth mentioning, even if it isn't the main ship.

The hallway scene: But let's face it, this is what we came to see. Now when you think about it, there's nothing all that special with this scene. It's a typical romantic moment with a heart to heart discussion followed with witty banter, all while a romantic melody is playing in the background. You see this in multiple types of media, especially in Disney cartoons. The only difference is that this scene features a same-sex pairing and that what makes it amazing. It's essentially normalizing something that has been seen as inappropriate for years. And the fact that Disney of all companies is the one that greenlit a scene like this? That just makes this moment all the more impressive. Plus, I mean, c'mon. You have to have a will of iron not to think these dorks are adorable with this little exchange.

Splash zone: There's not much to talk about or analyze here. I just think the dark humor of a kid waiting in the 'splash zone' is funny. Because what does the splash zone get used for? Grom? The fighter? I don't know, but the fact that a splash zone exists for either of those reasons is what gets a chuckle out of me.

Skara and her date getting hyped for Grom fight: That's it. Skara is officially the best background character. I'm sorry, but a character earns that title when they immediately switch from wanting to kiss their date to "WHOO! BRING ON THE GORE!" 

I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.

Luz’s greatest fear: This is something fans could have seen coming due to rewatching and reanalyzing the promo that dropped a little over a month ago. But for fans who ignored the promo, the episode did a great job of setting up this reveal. From the two times that Luz practically ignored her mother's texts, it can be pretty clear that Luz's fear would be something involving Camilia. However, before the episode premiered, everyone jumped on the idea that Luz's greatest fear would be Camilia forcing Luz to come back home. Instead, the scene portrays Luz's greatest fear as her mother's negative response to Luz lying for weeks. That idea is much more interesting to me because it reveals how much Luz cares so much about what her mother thinks of Luz. And unlike Amity with her parents, Luz's fears are much more justified due to Camilia actually being a good mother. A mother who planned to send her daughter away to summer camp, sure, but still a mother who would do that type of thing out of love rather than to protect an image. Which makes me hope to see more of Camilia in the future, just to witness the mother/daughter relationship she has with Luz. Because honestly, it feels like I've been working triple time with portraying that relationship myself.

Amity’s greatest fear: Ah yes, the one thing none of us could have predicted...ok, that's not true. Some of us did predict this, but most of us didn't take those predictions seriously. And BOY, were we wrong to do so. Because the idea that Amity's greatest fear is being rejected by Luz is both sad, yet kind of adorable. It proves just how much Amity has come to care for the same human she nearly got dissected, in episode THREE. It's a nice bit of character growth that I just can't help but gush over how sweet it is. But again, it's also depressing knowing that Amity is afraid by being rejected by Luz of all people. Luz! The girl who's sweeter than honey and would absolutely let Amity down gently if Luz didn't feel the same way (Which she does. She just doesn't realize it yet.). What's even more interesting is that it makes so much sense as to why Amity is more afraid of showing her fear to the school. Not only would Grom reveal that Amity has feelings for Luz, but it also has the problem of outing Amity as a lesbian, presumably long before she's ready. And seeing how her parents reacted to Amity's friendship with Willow, imagine what would happen if word got out that Amity had a crush on a human girl. Yeah, let's just say that Amity must be really grateful that Grom morphed into a vague, shadowy figure.

(Speaking of, can we PLEASE calling Luz oblivious for not knowing that Grom morphed into her? Yes, to us, it's painfully apparent who Grom was supposed to be. But it also looks vague enough to the point where it isn't unbelievable for Luz to not know it was her. Because from where Luz is standing, the only similarity is the height and body shape. If the crew stuck to using Luz's more apparent traits, then I'd say it's fine to say Luz is oblivious. But as is, it's not too far of a stretch for Luz not to know it was her.)

That dance scene!: Remember how some fans have been hoping for a slow dance between Luz and Amity? This is better.

From the choreography to the smooth animation, to their expressions, to even pure epicness of this scene. Everything about this dance is just so astonishing that I am convinced that several fans have watched it over and over and over again since the episode's release. And you want to know the best part? This scene has so many problems that I don't care about due to how great it is. Why does Eda just stand there and do nothing? I don't know, and I don't care. Why does Grom stand there and do nothing? I don't know, and I don't care. How did Luz and Amity come up with this perfect plan without communicating? I don't know, and I don't care. How did Luz catch Amity, even though it looked like they jumped off of the abomination at the same height, and would've landed at the same time? I don't-Ok, you get the point by now.

Don't get me wrong, these are all valid criticisms. But that's the testament of good writing to me. Because if a scene can make me forget/ignore the problems within it, then it's ok in my book!

The cherry blossom: And now we get to that symbolism that I've mentioned before. Because according to a five-second Google search: The Chinese describe the cherry blossom as a symbol for feminine dominance and, of course, a symbol for love. Now the feminine dominance part is clear, but I'm confident that The Owl House staff concentrated more on the whole "symbol of love" thing. Because how else are they supposed to hint that Amity and Luz are meant to be the endgame relationship? Reveal that Amity's gromposal was meant for Luz? C'mon. That would be-

It’s revealed that Amity’s gromposal was meant for Luz: ...You know those moments that are so awesome, iconic, and downright perfect that you just can't help but give a grand old cheer to it? That's this moment right here. Speaking of which: WAH-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!

Seriously, some of you have no idea how big this scene is. It would have been so easy to cut the scene short at Amity throwing her half of the note, and leaving it up to interpretation for who the whole thing was for. But the fact that we get to see that it was meant for Luz, thus confirming that Amity has a crush on her, is absolute perfection. Not only is it because this is a big step for Disney in terms of representation, but to me, it seems like a normalization of gay culture. This type of reveal is something that would be done for several heterosexual relationships. So to confirm that Amity has a crush on Luz as if it was nothing...that's...that's just awesome. It's awesome, and I am so happy that Disney even greenlit this decision. And I'm not even gay! So I can not comprehend how some of you are feeling about this moment!

(Also, this does not mean that Lumity is canon. But it does at least mean that Lumity is going to be canon. Only now it's a question of when rather than if.)

Luz’s Text to Home: This was just a sweet moment. You get a better understanding of the love Luz has for her mother within these few seconds, then you did throughout the entire series so far. I also like that this implies that Luz is going to try being more honest with her mom about being in a whole new dimension. Which is again, is something I've been playing with.

Speaking of my aforementioned fanfic, during this entire scene, I was thinking to myself: "Man. Maybe I don't have to write a chapter based on this episode, after all. It pretty much did the job for me. I'm just glad that show didn't do anything that would make what I wrote completely worthless. Because that would just-"

Camilia is getting LETTERS?!: “...Well shit.”

Ok, gags and goofs aside, I honestly love this reveal. Because this presents a whole lot of questions. Like, how is Camilia getting these letters? When did she start getting them? And more importantly: Who the hell is sending them?! This is another thing that I enjoy about The Owl House. Just when you think you're satisfied with the episode you're given, the writers throw in something you could have never expected in a million years. This is why lately, it's a toss-up between The Owl House and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts for the best show of 2020 for me.

(BTW, WATCH KIPO AND THE AGE OF WONDERBEASTS! It's SO GOOD!)

Those Grom pictures: These were just cute. Especially the last one.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

...Uh...Oh! I know!

King’s B-plot: A small complaint that I have for The Owl House is that most of the b-plots in several episodes just feel unnecessary. Episodes like "The First Day," and "Adventures in the Elements" had b-plots that were pointless and not as engaging as the a-plot. What's worse is that they seem like padding for time, when most of that time could be used for significant moments in the main plot. And honestly, King's story in this episode is the worst one yet. It's filler that is poorly paced and wasn't really all that funny (aside from the other b-plots which at least offered a few good jokes in them). I don't know. Maybe it's because I have Lumity brain rot and wanted more moments between those two, but I just could not get engaged in King's story.

And...yeah, that’s about it.

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

This episode deserves a well earned A+! Sure it has its fair share of problems, but the many, MANY, things it does right outweighs what it does wrong. On top of that, its one of the few episodes of any show I've seen that kept me up at night. Why? Because I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it was. "Enchanted Grom Fright" is a worthy contender for the best episode of the season, and probably the entire series. It was heartwarming, engaging, and quite possibly the most important thing Disney has made in years. What else could you call it other than Enchanting.

(And no, this doesn’t mean I’m reviewing episodes of The Owl House from now on. Just the ones that are worth talking about.)

[hemaris]

Hello I love your penumbra art and I showed some to my friend who finally started listening to Juno Steel and she said that she's been enjoying penumbra fanart but keeps on seeing fantastic Peter designs and then having to ask where his pockets are. This is not at all a criticism I just needed to share the thought because now I'm wondering too

OKAY THAT IS A GREAT QUESTION so here’s a trio of highly unlikely options for your consideration (put into fic format by someone who has little to no experience writing fic and is, to be completely honest, miles outside of their comfort zone):

nureyev’s pockets contain a - for the lack of a better word - pocket dimension

“You’re full of shit, Steel,” Vespa says. “If you wanna brag about sticking your hands down the thief’s pants, go find someone else to do it to.”

And really, Juno has been at the business end of Vespa’s blade before, but twice in one morning is probably a new record. He bristles. “Okay, first of all, would it really kill you to not wave your knife at me every single time we’re in a room together? Can’t we have one conversation where this doesn’t happen?”

“You started it! You got your finger all up in my face!”

“Yeah, well, my finger doesn’t have a long and celebrated history of gutting people when-”

“Keep it civil, sweethearts,” Buddy says from the other side from their makeshift recreation room, where she and Jet are playing a game Juno has never heard of involving a set of oddly shaped dice, some old Uno cards, and, inexplicably, a pineapple. Vespa moves to sheathe the knife, but makes a whole show out of doing it without averting her icy stare for even a split second. Juno has to suppress the fleeting urge to do something petty and potentially life-threatening, like sticking out his tongue at her.

“Second of all,” he continues, his voice only slightly lowered, “you asked! You asked me about Ransom’s - about his pocket situation, I’m just telling you what I know. And for the record, I never said anything about anyone’s pants. Or where I’m sticking my hands. Or, you know, whatever. Shut up.”

Vespa still hasn’t broken eye contact. “No, Steel,” she says, “I asked you how the thief managed to get an entire cupboard worth of Ming dynasty porcelain off of Titan and onto our ship. What you’re telling me is that he has magical mega pockets that are bigger on the inside, which isn’t a thing.”

“That’s what I used to think about teleportation, and mind reading, but here we are.” The truth is that the porcelain thing is a mystery to Juno as well. He has asked Nureyev, of course, but all he got in response was a that’s for me to know and for you to figure out, isn’t it, detective, which is more than a little annoying. “All I’m saying is that it could be an option. Don’t rule it out just yet.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Vespa says. “Ask him to pull, I don’t know, a live rabbit out of his breast pocket, and maybe I’ll buy into it.”

Juno has to roll his eye at that, and immediatey realizes he’s lost their little staring match. Not that it matters - the odds were stacked against him from the get-go anyway, with Vespa having a whole extra eye to look pissed off with. “Fine, whatever. But just for the record - have you seen a rabbit lately? Because I can guarantee you those things won’t go down or come out of anyone’s pocket willingly, regardless of pocket size.”

It might be a trick of the light, but for a brief moment, he thinks he sees the corner of Vespa’s mouth quirk up just a little.

a strategy once used by juno himself: Just Put It In Your Mouth! it’s mother nature’s built-in pocket!

“Uh oh,” Nureyev says once Rita has successfully hacked the giant metal door to slam shut behind them and they’ve skidded to a halt. He tentatively presses a hand to his throat.

“What- are you-“ Juno wheezes from where he’s doubled over, "Are you okay? They didn’t hit you, right?”

Nureyev makes a dismissive fluttery motion with his free hand. “Nothing of the sort.”

Juno squints at him, giving him a once-over, and seems to sag with relief once he sees Nureyev is not actively bleeding. It’s a little bit endearing, Nureyev thinks. “Okay, whew, good,” he says. “So then - what’s the ‘uh oh’ for? We got the blueprints, we-”

“Let’s say,” Nureyev interrupts him, “hypothetically speaking, that there was some ancient and priceless treasure in the vault we took the blueprints from.”

“That’s not really a hypothetical,” Juno says. “There was enough old Earth monarchy junk in there to bedazzle the entire Carte Blanche with.”

"Right. And now let’s say, once again purely hypothetically,” Nureyev continues, “that someone with only the noblest of intentions noticed the Koh-I-Noor diamond among that treasure, and that that someone decided to free it from the monstrously tacky diadem contraption it was stuck onto, because it’s a waste for something like that to be gathering dust in a vault.”

“You know,” Juno says warily, “I’m not sure I like where this is going.”

“The problem is that this outfit, while very stealthy, does not provide a great amount of secure pocket space, so i had to improvise.”

“Oh no,” Juno says.

“So I put it in my mouth, but then the guards arrived and while we were running I-”

“Oh no,” Juno repeats, a little louder this time. “Ransom, you - did you eat the Koh-I-Noor?”

“I accidentally swallowed the Koh-I-Noor, there’s a difference-”

“You ate it. You- Ransom, who would even-”

“Who would even what, Juno” Nureyev interrupts him, “There’s this old saying, something about a pot and a kettle, I believe.”

Juno’s comms crackle to life. “RIGHT,” Rita chirps loudly, “I know the both of you are very busy talkin’ about who ate a conifer and why - and i’m not judgin’, mista Ransom, you eat your greens however you wanna! That’s what my mom told me that time I dipped my green beans in marshmallow fluff - which I wouldn’t recommend, by the way, at least not with the beans, it was a WHOLE mess. Maybe with some broccoli, though, or baby carrots, or - anyway, what I was gonna say is they’re about to crack this door open, so I’m just thinkin’, maybe now isn’t the best time for this conversation?”

“He didn’t eat a conifer, Rita, it’s - actually, don’t worry about it,” Juno says. “Let’s get moving. I’m sure Vespa can figure something out to make you hurl the thing up again. But for the record, Ransom, don’t expect me to ever let you hear the end of this.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Nureyev replies. Juno grins a little, crooked and pretty, and Nureyev’s stomach almost somersaults enough to throw the stupid diamond out.

and lastly - why use your own pockets when you can use someone else’s?

“Nureyev,” Juno says against his neck, “can I ask you something?”

They’ve folded themselves onto Nureyev’s cot, neither of them up for more than just lazing around. Nureyev has been trying to study some floor plans for the last twenty minutes, but if he’s being honest with himself, he has no idea what building, owned by what person, built on which planet in whatever system he’s been looking at. He’s mostly been lost in thought, only grounded by the weight and warmth of Juno pressed against his side. He had thought the lady asleep until now.

It’s a little ridiculous, the effect his own name being spoken by Juno Steel has on him. He’s fairly sure that with Juno this close, he should be able to feel the shiver it sends down his spine, pick up on the stutter in his pulse. It’s okay if he does, he tries to tell himself, it’s okay, it’s only Juno - but at the same time Juno is infinitely, immeasurably more than 'only Juno’ to him.

“Of course,” he replies. “Anything, anytime.”

Juno hums. “Earlier, when we got back from the media bigwig backstabbing competition-”

“It was an award show, dear Juno.”

“I said what I said. Anyway, when we got back, there was something in my pocket that I definitely didn’t put there myself.”

Oh.

“A flash drive,” Juno continues, “that had the name ’M. Valderrama’ engraved into it. And a crazy amount of plastic rhinestones glued to it, but that’s not the point. I didn’t wanna risk it containing a virus and blowing up the ship, so I didn’t plug it into anything. But I did do my research, so I know Mignon Valderrama was at the backstabbing- I mean, the award show, and is the acclaimed director of titles such as ’The Notebook Part 44: This Time They’re All Ancient Mercurians’, the entire ’Ultra Magma Tsunami’ franchise, and the upcoming-”

“The upcoming blockbuster ’Cerebral Cephalopods: Rise of the Mathematician Octopi’,” Nureyev finishes.

Juno shifts against him. "Yeah, that’s the one. Didn’t know you were a fan.”

“Oh, I’m not,” Nureyev replies airily.

“Still,” Juno says, propping himself up on an elbow. “I have to wonder. How and why did mx. Valderrama’s flash drive, rhinestones and all, end up in my pocket?”

“Hmm. Would you believe me if I told you mx. Valderrama tripped, and the drive flew out of their pocket and into yours?”

Juno shakes his head. “C'mon, Nureyev.”

And for a moment, he hesitates. It’s not the best of stories. There’s no real noble, for-the-greater-good, Robin Hood-esque reason for him stealing the drive. He didn’t do it for the challenge, either - Valderrama might as well have presented it to him on a silver platter. Sure, he could make something up, spin a tale, make it sound big and impressive and sensible. But despite the alarm bells going off in his mind, he also thinks it might not be so bad to tell the truth, to bare his throat to Juno just a little. Of course, his own voice echoes, anything, anytime.

He sighs. “I might not be a fan, but I believe your secretary is. She’s been talking about those Magma Tsunami movies for days. They are horrible, by the way - she made me sit through two of them and I can’t believe I’m never getting those four hours of my life back. Valderrama should be liable for damages to my psyche. The drive, as you probably guessed, contains what I’m pretty sure is the final cut for whatever that octopus movie is supposed to be, so I snatched it up for her. My dress didn’t have any pockets, so I slipped it into one of yours. I must have forgotten to slip it out again.”

Juno frowns. “Wait - Rita? Did she ask you to? Because at this point i’m pretty sure she could hack into the studio’s servers in a heartbeat, and rip the whole thing-”

“She didn’t ask,” Nureyev says. “It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. But she wouldn’t have been able to get her hands on this by hacking. Valderrama is famously paranoid about leaks. All of their works-in-progress are stored on only a handful of physical drives until the day of release. One of the drives goes into a vault with a nightmarishly difficult analogue lock, one goes to the executive producer, and Valderrama keeps one of them on their person at all times. I saw my chance, so I took it.”

“Huh,” Juno says, “that's… that’s kind of sweet of you, actually.” He prods Nureyev in the chest with a finger. “And very illegal, and you shouldn’t do it again. But still. That's… yeah. That’s sweet. She’s gonna be over the moon.”

That’s what he’d been hoping for. He smiles, shrugging a little. “We’re space pirates, Juno. Most of what we do is illegal. We got into the award party illegally, and for illegal reasons. Valderramma will make their billions with or without that drive. It’s just-” he sighs again, raking a hand through his hair. “Rita is very important to you, which - which makes her very important to me. She’s been there for you all these years, and she’s never been anything but kind to me either. I’m not trying to buy her friendship or her appreciation, I suppose I just… think she deserves something nice, especially if that something is within arm’s reach anyway. Even if that something is a movie about hyperintelligent squids taking over Mars’ moons.” He lets his head fall back into the pillows. “I know that might sound a little foolish.”

Juno leans into him a little more, cupping Nureyev’s jaw in his warm hand, looking a little bit puzzled and a lot fond. “I’m pretty sure you already know that I love your particular brand of foolish,” he says after a second.

And before Nureyev has the chance to think about what that means for too long, Juno is kissing him, wiping any semblance of thought from his mind.

[tinyanimelover]

No Regrets

Thank you for waiting patiently 😭 hope you enjoy this one!

Requested Anonymously!

[Ichigo Kurosaki ; #13 "It's midnight, what do you want?" ]

"..he's late..." The girl sighed as she got up from the chair, disappointment weighing her down as she left the cafe. She could feel a lump settling in hee throat, the tears begging to fall, the sorrow wanting to be released. "How..rude.." She sighed shakily as she walked, wiping her eyes. Of all days, Ichigo was late to their anniversary. She wouldn't have minded so much if it'd been any other day since he was often out and about fighting Hollows or saving Soul Society or saving someone on general. She understood what it meant to him, so she tried not to let it get to her that much. But this was the third time he's blown her off, the other two times were just dates he'd wanted to go on since they couldn't hang out all that much. He apologized, she understood but today was their two year anniversary, the first one they couldn't celebrate because she had gotten really sick and she spent it being taken care of. Did he forget? Did he get held up in something? She halted momentarily in her walk of sadness, "..is he..okay?". Did he get hurt?  She closed her eyes, "..he always comes back hurt". No matter how much she tried to get him to understand, he seemed to always return to her battered and bruised. She tried to understand him, tried to be understanding. But sometimes she couldn't help it, she was allowed to feel this way, right? She was allowed to worry and care for her boyfriend, right? She sighed deeply, "..whatever...I'll see him tomorrow anyways".

She did see him the next day in school, calm and cheery, as if he hadn't forgotten something. She had hoped it was because he'd gotten caught up with fighting hollows and he ended up running late, but it seemed that was only half the case. He was caught up with fighting Hollows, but he'd also forgotten all about their anniversary. Which pissed her off even more. So when his eyes brightened as he walked into the classroom, waving and calling her name, she couldn't help but turn away, ignoring him. He deadpanned, "...what..was that?". "Maybe she didn't hear you" Chad let out beside him. "We're in a classroom, not outside" Uryu said as he fixed his glasses "She just ignored you, Kurosaki". "...yeah, I saw that" he deadpanned even more "Thanks for stating the obvious". "Anytime" the Quincy said as he walked away. "..but why is she ignoring me?" Ichigo asked as he sat down, eyes glued to the girl as she stared out of the window. Was he forgetting something? His eyes widened, was it her birthday?! No. He calmed down, her birthday was last month. Oh! He forgot to call her last night! That's what it was! She was probably so worried about him that she couldn't sleep. He sighed with a smile, "I'll apologize after school". And so he did. He was able to catch up to her as she was on her way home, a grin on his lip "Y/n-chan! Sorry about last night, I was going to call you but I passed out as soon as I got home". Her hope rose, he hadn't forgotten then! He was just tired! "It's okay! I'm just glad you didn't forget..I waited at the cafe all night, but I'm glad you're okay at least. No wounds this time" she smiled. "Huh?..." He let out, confused "Cafe?..". She blinked a few times, "Yeah..you..were supposed to meet me there yesterday..wait--you thought I was mad because you didn't call me?". He raised an eyebrow, "..I always call you before bed, so I thought...wait, were we supposed to go on a date?!". He bowed, "I'm so sorry! I forgot!". "..no, it wasn't a date" she said softy as tears welled up in her eyes. He stood up straight, eyes wide as he noticed the tears "...Y/n-chan..". "I'm going home" she said, turning on the heels of her shoes and walking away "I can walk myself home, don't worry". He reached his hand out, "W-wait, Y/n-chan?". But she didn't stop, he sighed sadly "...what was that...". What did he forget?

When he got home, he plopped down on the bed with a loud sigh. "..if she wasn't mad because I didn't call her..what was she mad about? Why was she at the ...cafe?". He shot up in bed, eyes wide as he jumped off the bed and went straight to the calendar on his desk. He deadpanned, "No..way...it was yesterday?! Ughh!". He tugged on his hair, "How could I forget our anniversary!!". He plopped back down on the bed, no wonder she was ignoring him. How could how make it up to her? Flowers? He'd need more than that, so some chocolates too? Big flowers and a big box of chocolates! No, that wouldn't work either. She was a simple girl, so he didn't want to make it seem like he was trying to buy her over. Ah, he really messed up this time. He sighed, "...what do I do...".

He ended up tossing and turning all night, sighing in frustration by the time it was midnight. He couldn't let things continue to fester like this until tomorrow, he didn't want to end up losing her! She'd done so much for him, she never tried to get him to stop being a Soul Reaper, she always supported him despite the wounds he'd greet her with. So what kind of a boyfriend would he be if he left thing like this? He owed her so much, he didn't want to ever take her for granted! Before he knew it, his feet had done what he was too cowardly to do: show up at Y/n's place. At midnight, when she was probably already asleep and comfy in her own bed. Still, he balled his fists, he couldn't go on like this. He wanted things to be okay between them, because when shit goes sideways, she's always there. She was his safe zone, and with her being angry, he was afraid she'd decide to leave him. He scowled lightly, he couldn't let that happen! He knocked on the door, breathing slowly to calm down. What would he say. Maybe he should've brought flowers? Or food? He deadpanned, what if she got more angry that he showed up at this time? What if she broke up with him! His mini freak-out session had been interrupted when the door opened, revealing a half-awake Y/n in her pj's. She raised an eyebrow, "Ichigo?...what..what are you doing here?". "I-I came to see you" he let out, looking away with a nervous grin as she scratched the back of his head "..sorry, it's kinda late...". "Kinda?" She deadpanned, "It's past midnight, what do you want? Did you really just want to see me? You could've waited till tomorrow..". "But you're angry with me" he pointed out "You would've ignored me like today..and I don't blame you either". Her eyes widened, "Did you..remember?". "I'm so, so, so sorry that I forgot about our anniversary" he bowed deeply "I don't have an excuse, I should've remembered since I was the one who picked that place for our anniversary. I'll make it up to you, Y/n! I promise! No matter how long it takes! I really like you a lot..and I don't want you to leave..". She sighed, a smile on her lips "Just hang out with me and I'll forgive you". "R-really?" He said wide eyed as he stood up "Of course! I'll give you all the cuddles you want too!". He pushed past her, grabbing her hand "C'mon! I'll start now!". "Huuh?!" She deadpanned as she struggled to close the door "W-wait! This can wait until tomorrow, Ichigo!". "Oh! Right!" He suddenly said, turning around and placing a quick yet passionate kiss on her forehead, leaving her in shock. "I haven't been a good boyfriend to you and yet..you don't let it bother you as much as it should! From now on, I'll become better! I'll make up for all of it and become a good boyfriend so that you don't regret sticking by me! So please! I know its selfish of me to ask but...please let me stay beside you too, Y/n-chan!" He grinned. Her eyes widened, brimming with tears "Ichi..go....you moron!". She wrapped her arms around him "Of course I'll stay beside you! I love you, idiot!". He smiled, wrapping his arms around her as well "Good! Lets cuddle now!".

[ma-gic-gay]

Finally, the legal proceedings begin again, with testimony from rather dull people, if he's being honest. The jury, it's clear to him at least, is fairly calm at the moment, but there's not a chance in hell that Cyrus is getting off. Not this time. And that terrifies him.

A man with nothing to lose is a very dangerous man. A mobster with nothing to lose? Absolutely fucking terrifying.

A few hours and legal spats between Diane and Helstrom later, court is adjourned until tomorrow, at 8 am. Which, he calculates, leaves Cyrus with a fifteen hour period to cause havoc before the next day.

He sighs, "C'mon, let's get you home," to an unresponsive Carly. "Carly?"

"What?" She asks, snapping back into reality.

"What are you thinking about?" Jason asks, mind running with concern. After all, normally when she's zoning out while thinking, she's making a plan.

And the last plan she made landed them in this courtroom.

"The testimony. I mean, they're genuinely trying to make it seem like you or I would concoct some plan and lure Cyrus into raping and kidnapping me. What the hell do they think of us?" Carly asks, a single tear dripping down her face. "I mean, neither of us are perfect, I know, but to think that I'd do that- that you would do that, it's insulting!"

"They're trying to get under our skin, okay? There's proof they're lying through their teeth right now, Carly. Cyrus is a sick bastard and he's going to jail for the rest of his miserable life. You and I get to walk free while he rots. We will win this." He says, sitting back down in his chair to hug her.

Carly lets out a sad laugh, "God, I hate this."

"I do too."

"I need to get out of here," she sighs, standing up. "You coming?"

"I'm the one who's driving, of course I'm coming," he smiles, holding up the keys just above where she can reach. "Ha, very funny. You're in no shape to drive. Let's go."

"You know, if you would just let me drive, I would be a lot happier right now because I'd have something much better to do than-" Carly starts, stopping her statement suddenly as they leave the courthouse.

He surveys the area immediately, seeing not one, not two, but three armed guys who don't exactly look like cops aiming right at the pair. Fuck. His fingers play at his belt loops, but he doesn't have a gun on him today; it's a court day, why the hell would he bring a gun to a courtroom? That's just plain stupid and it's practically asking to be arrested.

His instincts kick in and he realizes they're gonna make the shot. Unlike the other (relatively shitty) gunmen, assassin's, whatever Cyrus calls them that he's sent after Jason, these ones actually look like they're capable of firing a gun correctly. And they're getting paid hinges on whether or not they hit Carly and him.

Bullets fly out of all three guns at the same time and he shoves Carly out of the way, yelling, "Run!" and ducking down himself but it's too late.

He's been shot, he can feel it as he stumbles onto the ground. His head pounds in his skull and he swears for a minute he can feel his brain. Ow. "Jason!" Carly screams and he can hear her footsteps as he tries to figure out where he's bleeding. "Get back here you sick fucks!" She screams even louder at the gunmen, which probably means they're gone. "I'm going to shoot you myself the second I lay eyes on any of you I swear to god."

Turns out they were just getting paid to shoot him. Carly was just the way they'd manage it.

That knowledge is somewhat comforting as the pain of the bullet continues to hit him in waves, coupled with that of banging his head on the ground when he fell from it. It's a very painful situation for the assassin, who can hear himself moaning in pain.

He's enveloped by a haze of blonde as she cries, pulling out her phone. "I need an ambulance immediately at the courthouse. My best friend was shot in the chest and he's got a head wound." That explains the pain; a chest bullet hurts pretty damn bad. It's not a fun thing. Hence why he doesn't normally shoot in the chest, but rather either a non lethal area or something like the head or the heart. The head wound, though, that doesn't make sense. If he's got a head wound, shouldn't he be unconscious by now? "Well I'm not exactly sure why he got shot, lady, but you better get an ambulance here before I sue this goddamn town for negligence of a shot person!"

A chuckle leaves his throat through the pain as the world starts to get fuzzy around the edges, despite his best efforts to have it not happen like that. "Jason, no, keep your eyes open! Look at me!" A frantic Carly screams, pulling what looks like a really ugly scarf out of her bag and putting it over where he assumes the bullet is. "Just keep your eyes open. Focus on me."

In the distance, he can hear an ambulance's siren. "Of course I'm doing everything I can to keep him conscious, what the hell do you take me for?" She snaps at the lady on the phone through tears. Even when she's witnessing him get shot (and possibly dying, though this isn't exactly the way he planned on dying), of course she's still fighting random people.

"Carly, stop harassing the operator," he says, though he can feel it use quite a bit of his strength as the fuzziness intensifies.

"You do not die on me, Jason Morgan, do you hear me? I am not letting you die because of me, I will not be able to live with myself if you die like this and I have to witness it. Keep your eyes open and just focus on me," Carly practically begs as the sound of the sirens intensifies. They're probably getting closer to being here, maybe even pulled into the parking lot. He can't tell.

As Carly's rambling about something, he can't hear her very coherently anymore, the world turns black around him. Vaguely, he can distinguish the sound of her sobs and the pressure of the scarf around his chest.

"Jason, please, please, please, open your eyes," Carly begs, sobs overtaking her pleas as the ambulance approaches. This isn't happening, this is a nightmare, he's not actually shot and possibly dying. Right? He's fine, right?

"Ma'am, we're going to need you to step away from him so we can do our jobs and help him live," a random paramedic instructs her, earning a scoff as she backs away a few feet.

Who the hell does he think he is, ordering her around like that? Acting like he knows a damn thing about either of them, or like he's got any authority. He could be dying right now for all she knows! "I'm riding with you in the ambulance," she declares. "And you won't be able to keep me out so don't even try to."

"You'll just be taking up space-"

"I've been in these plenty of times before. There's more than enough space and," her voice breaks, a quiet sob leaving her lips before she continues, "he has the keys."

Shaking his head at her, the paramedic signals her to get in and she does just that as Jason's loaded into the ambulance her. "Don't die," she begs quietly to the unconscious man. "Please, god, don't die. This can't be the bullet that kills you."

"Say a prayer in your head," the paramedic says to her and she snaps.

"Stop acting like you know what I'm going through. I don't care if you don't understand what's going on here but let me explain it to you: your job is to make sure my friend here doesn't die. Got it? You can give up on ordering me around any minute now because I'm not in the goddamn mood to listen to it." Carly snaps, tears of rage streaming down her face.

The rest of the ride is mainly silent, save for a few sniffles and sobs from the blonde. With her luck, someone will be at the hospital and this'll be front page news tomorrow.

When they arrive at the hospital, Portia immediately takes Jason's gurney and brings it to a trauma room with a slew of nurses behind her. At least he's getting five star treatment, she thinks, sitting down slowly in a chair.

He got shot protecting her. And now he could die because of it.

"Carly, what's going on here?" Sam asks, storming over.

"Jason," she starts, voice breaking and unsteady as she continues, "got shot outside the courthouse. They're, uh, taking a look at him right now."

"What?" Sam asks, disbelief evident in her tone. "How did he get shot?"

"We were leaving the courthouse and I was fighting with him over driving home and I noticed these three guys, they had guns aimed at us. He noticed and I was stuck there, wondering what the hell they were doing outside of the courthouse and he shoved me out of the way. But," she continues, feeling shame and dread crawl into her veins as she watches it unfold again mentally, "he was too late in saving himself. He got shot in the chest and he fell to the ground. I kept thinking to myself, I've got to save him, I've got to save him for one of the million times he's saved me, so I call an ambulance and wrap his chest in a scarf. And I was begging him to live and bickering with the operator when, suddenly, he stopped showing any response. I don't know if he's dead or alive."

Near silent sobs are all that's heard for a few minutes by either of them, both trying their best not to scream. "He could die," Sam notes, "because of you. Because he has this need to protect you, Jason could die."

"What?" Michael asks, heartbreak evident on his face and killing Carly's heart even more. "What happened to Jason?" When he's met with silence, he asks his question again, "what happened to Jason, Mom, that Sam's blaming on you?" She meets his eyes and sees that he's begging for the truth.

"He got shot." The words seem to echo more than she expects, the full weight of them only now hitting her as she sobs loudly in the middle of the hospital, not caring who hears.

To be continued later in this life.

e

[babeyvenus]

Revival(BNHA OC)

Chapter 4: Something Bad's About To Happen

Keeping herself hidden from her villainous father, and studying to be a hero for the sake of her and her deceased mother, Sunako Homura pushes her way through countless challenges in her highschool years. Will she lose it all, or lose herself?

Story Genre: Fluff, Angst, Romance, Family/Comfort

Tags/Trigger Warnings: Gore/Blood, Suicidal attempts, Alcohol, Language, Panic Attacks

_______________________________________________

Everyone was silent, but looked at me with wide eyes.

"I KNEW IT! I knew you had to be something!", the smaller boy yelled, pointing at me.

"Something....?", I asked, sweatdropping.

"You're a girl....?", Kaminari asked surprised.

"Why are you wearing the male uniform?", Midoriya asked.

"Because, I've learned to hate skirts and dresses and frilly, unnecessary things like that.", I explain.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with what you like. If you don't like skirts and dresses, trust me, I don't either, but it's nothing wrong with that.", Jirou said.

I gave her a small smile. "Thanks."

"Well, why did you come dressing up as a guy in the first place...?", Kirishima asked.

I sighed, rubbing behind my neck. ��Its...confidential. Let’s just say, I have Daddy Issues.”

I looked at everyone and some of them looked concerned, some of them even looked shocked.

Everyone got up at the sound of the lunch bell and Mina gave me a look as if to tell me, 'we'll talk about this later.'

I started to follow the rest of the girls until I got pulled back by Bakugou.

"Somehow you cease to surprise me so far.", he says with a glare.

"Should I take that as a bad thing?", I ask.

"Damn straight.", he says, letting me go and walks out.

I sighed and left for the cafeteria too.

As I got something from the vending machine, I thought back to everyone's faces.

I didn't mean to make them feel down... What a good way to start the year…

Right about the time I was gonna go see Mina, the alarm went off and panic rang out in the cafeteria.

What now....?

I headed out toward the exit, which led me to be practically drowning in a crowd of panicked teenagers.

It wasn’t long before I found myself partially pinned against a wall and being jerked around.

Right before I was gonna explode on someone's ass for thrashing me, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me hard through the crowd to a less dense area.

"You okay?", a familiar redhead asks.

He blocked me against the wall in a protective gesture, grunting every time someone bumped into him.

"Do you know what's going on?", I asked throughout all the yelling.

"It's just the press! Someone must've gotten in!", he yells.

I nodded. No wonder.

Iida somehow managed to get everyone to calm down and stop moving.

"Its over with....", I say. Kirishima backs away with a smile. "Yeah. Have you eaten yet?"

I shrug. "Just a bit before all the commotion." That made him frown a little. "Well a bit won't do. Gotta eat before training. Let's go.", he says, leading me to the cafeteria.

After the commotion with the press, I started to get a bad feeling...

"Hey, Kirishima....", I say walking behind him.

"Yeah?", he answered, looking back at me.

"What if it was actually a real villain using the press as a cover-up to get in...?"

He rubbed behind his neck. "Nah, I don't think they'd let us walk around if that happened."

"I guess so. I just got this weird feeling something's gonna happen.", I say. "Well don't jinx it", he jokes.

A few days later, we were assigned to go to USJ for a training exercise.

"Line up accordingly to your class seats. Fill them up in an orderly fashion." Iida waved in a weird way.

"Dude, chill.", I say. This class rep role is really serious to him...

He turned to the inside of the bus, much to his disappointment. "No...! It's that type!"

We all looked inside the bus and snickered at his disappointment. The front part of the bus had seats on both sides of it facing each other like two sofas.

I sat next to Kaminari as everyone else followed through.

I tuned in and out as Mina, Tsuyu, Kirishima, and Midoriya started talking about their quirks.

"I generally say what's on my mind, though... Midoriya," Tsuyu announces, making us all look at her.

"Your quirk reminds me of All Might.", she says and he flinches. Huh...now that I think about it...

"Now, hold on Tsu.", Kirishima says. "All Might doesn't get hurt by his quirk."

"Yeah, that's right.", Midoriya says.

"You got a flashy quirk, Midoriya. Mine on the other hand," Kirishima raises his arm and hardens it. "Not so much."

"Aw, don't say that Kiri. It's plenty useful. I like it because it makes you seem unbreakable!", I say with a smile.

He gives me a wide sharp tooth grin. Guess he's over the issue from yesterday.

"Now if you wanna talk flashy,", he points toward Bakugou and Todoroki. "Those guys are the best bet.", he turns to me. "I've yet to see your full quirk, Homura."

I looked out the window. "And it's gonna stay that way."

"Aw, c'mon! I wanna see how you work it.", he muses.

"Yeah!", Kaminari cheers on the side of me.

I shook my head fast. "Nope!"

"Well Bakugou could never be popular, not with that temper of his.", Tsuyu chimes in.

"What the fuck!? I'll kick your ass!", Bakugou yells.

"See?", she says pointing and making me laugh.

"Well, it makes sense. We just met you and we can already tell you got the personality of burned trash filled with sewage.", Kaminari says.

"Oh wow.", I snickered.

"Fuck you! I'm gonna make your life a living hell, you little shit!!", Bakugou yells, scaring Jirou.

"Bakugou, calm down!", I say laughing.

"I'll give you something to laugh at, you Spawn!", he threatens.

We all laughed until the bus came to a stop.

We stopped right in front of the USJ as Aizawa-sensei started to speak.

"This is a different part of training. Rescue.", he looked at all of us. "It's nothing serious compared to real natural disasters, just scenarios of what could happen. Uh, 13 explain."

Uraraka and Midoriya gasp in astonishment. "13....!"

The short astronaut suit came walking up to us. "Hey, you guys! 14, 15, 18, 19....21! Okay! So, welcome USJ!"

"In our super powered society, the use of quirks are heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that our system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it takes only one wrong move and someone's dead.", he says.

With that, he led us inside.

"Holy crap, this is like an amusement park!", Kirishima exclaimed.

"As you may know, my power is Black Hole. I can suck up anything and it turns into dust.", 13 explains. "Just like your quirks, they do not exist to hurt people."

I grimaced. "Don't worry about it, Sunako.", I hear Tomohiro say, turning my head to see him by my side. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”, I say, making him chuckle.

"With that being said, be careful and have fun!"

Aizawa-sensei looked at us. "Alright, go in there and-"

I shivered. I got a bad feeling....

"Uh...is this part of the practice....?", Kirishima asks looking down, making everyone do the same.

"Villains...!", 13 yelled. I looked down to see multiple portals opening, giving a passageway to let them in.

I saw Aizawa pull out his goggles and put them over his head.

"Aizawa-sensei, you're gonna attack!? What about your quirk limit!?", Midoriya asks.

"A hero always has more than one trick up their sleeve. Huddle up and stay back! 13, protect the kids!", Aizawa yells, putting on his goggles and launches into action.

I looked down at a certain figure who stayed by the purple portal. He had hands all over him and even on his face.

"What's his problem....?", I whispered. "They're here for something. Keep your guard up.", Tomohiro says.

"We, the Villains Alliance, have only come for one person. The symbol of peace.", the blue haired figure said. "I wonder if he'll come if we just....kill these kids..."

"These guys are idiots...", I said.

Aizawa jumped to the villains and fought like they weren't nothing.

"We gotta go!!", Kaminari yelled.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that."

I got a shiver again as a black purple mist appeared in front of us.

I knew something was gonna happen...

"I am Kurogiri...I apologize for the short notice. We took it upon ourselves to enter UA, the base of heroes."

We all stare up at the mist hearing the voice. "Was Mr. All Might not able to attend...?"

It moved and sighed. "That aside, this is my role.", I looked up to see Kirishima and Bakugou rushing toward the mist and attacked it.

"Bet you didn't expect us to do you in before you got the chance!", Kirishima exclaims.

"To be expected. The hero world's golden eggs."

"Run you two!", 13 shouts as the mist expanded and surrounded us.

I got pushed back and lit my hand on fire to see. What did we get ourselves into...!?

"Demon Brat!!", I heard Bakugou's voice and saw him reaching for me. I reached for him but ended up transporting somewhere.

I woke up in front of the Ruins Zone to hear chuckles behind me.

"Fresh meat....", countless villains muttered.

My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. I bared my fangs, changing my form into an Oni.

"If anyone's meat, it's you idiots. I'll give you a 5 second head start to leave before I kick your asses.", I snarled, my knees wobbling as I stood.

Some of them back up but they still stay.

"Brave motherfuckers, aren't you? Fine.", I say, smirking but it quickly falls into a glare, the atmosphere grew tense. "That was your mistake."

I stomped the ground making large layers of platforms rise and fall on to them. Thank god, we were around an area where I could use dirt.

I stalked toward the rest, they backed away in fear. "Aw, don't run now...we're just getting started."

They all paled and ran away. "Punks.", I slipped out of the form, turning back. I looked around for any of my classmates nearby but no one was.

"I gotta find someone....", I muttered. Then I hear rumbles and blasts from above and I sweatdropped.

"That's gotta be Bakugou.", I say and fly up the stairs.

"SAY GOODBYE!!", I ducked out of the way of a villain being thrown my way and looked at Bakugou and Kirishima panting heavily with many villains surrounded around their feet.

"You guys okay?", I asked, walking toward them.

"Homura!", Kirishima notices me with a smile, knocking a goon out.

"You don't have a single scratch on you, Demon Brat.", Bakugou says.

"They all ran.", I say, shrugging and touching his arm, letting the heat on my hand heal his scratches and did the same for Kirishima.

"Your power's amazing, Homura. It doesn't even burn.", Kirishima grins widely, making me smile.

"Thanks.", I say, looking around at all the goons.

"We gotta have a plan to get out of here.", Kirishima says.

"You idiots can do whatever you want, I'm going after that warpy bastard.", Bakugou says, walking away.

"Huh...!? Our attacks didn't do nothing against that guy!", Kirishima says.

"And you're going alone? I think you're the only idiot here, Bakagou.", I say.

He looked over his shoulder to glare at me. "What was that...?"

"I said you're an idiot. Do I need to say it a little slower? If you go by yourself, you'll get yourself killed.", I say.

"That's the thing!", he says turning to me. "That bastard was their way in and out. So, I'm taking him down first before anything."

I felt someone's presence behind him and felt off. "Uh..."

Before I could say anything, he sent a blast downwards and revealed a knocked out enemy.

"If they're sending in weak shits like this, there's no way we can lose.", he says.

He looks so calm... "He's reliable despite being a little shit." , Tatsuo says in approval.

"So, that's what you meant. Also, when'd you become so calm and rational....? Usually you're all," Kirishima made an impression of Bakugou. "Die! Die! Die!!"

"I'm always calm and rational, you shitty haired punk!!", Bakugou yelled.

"There he is.", I say smiling.

"Both of you, fuck off!", Bakugou says.

"Okay, so, what you're saying is you believe in our classmates. That's good thinking, and that's thinking like a man, Bakugou. I'm with you.", Kirishima says excitedly.

I sigh and smile. "I guess I am too. I just hope you know what you're doing, please."

I looked outside to the rest of the USJ area to see a big creature holding a bloody Aizawa down.

I tensed and gasped softly as Kirishima put his hand on my shoulder. "You okay...?"

I just pointed down to the sight. "These sick sonuvabitches are gonna die....!", I hear Tatsuo growl.

They widened their eyes and backed away from the window.

I backed away and walked out the area and back to the middle of USJ.

"You got a plan...?", Bakugou asked.

I turned to him. "Just do what you normally do."

He just grinned widely, but that expression dropped as soon as we looked up to the entrance. And in the entrance stood All Might. He's... frowning? "Have no fear. Because I am here."

"I had a bad feeling in my stomach while I rested, but to think it was this bad....", he says coming down the stairs.

"I heard from young Iida that there were villains. But, it's all right now. Because I am here."

He rips off his tie and it flutters to the ground.

He came toward the fallen Aizawa and picked him up, carrying Midoriya, Tsuyu and Mineta away from the villains.

After ordering them to get Aizawa, All Might attacks the creature, doing a German suplex on it.

I saw how bad All Might was getting hurt and how Midoriya was rushing towards him.

"Get ready to fly.", I say to the two in front of me.

"Uh, what?"

I stomped the ground, launching them both toward the fight but they went in different ways.

I saw Midoriya reaching for the blue haired villain, but missed as Bakugou got in his way.

"Get the hell out of my way, Deku!!"

Bakugou attacked Kurogiri when Kirishima missed.

"Damn you!!", the hand villain exclaimed and I glared at him.

"I almost had him!", Kirishima yells after missing the villain.

I saw that part of that creature's body was covered in ice and I looked to my right seeing Todoroki.

"Fancy seeing you here.", I say.

"Likewise," he replied and looked toward the villain. "I heard about you bastards' plan and each of your roles. Also a scheme to kill All Might. The symbol of peace won't go down as easy as you fools."

"You guys made a big mistake.", I say smiling.

"Let's just kill them!", Tatsuo says. Let's not do that.

That being said, All Might pried himself out of the creature's hold and dashed away.

"You pinned down our revolving door..."

"This prick was never that sharp! That metal clasp you got on your body, you used to get all misty and shit just got sealed, you sneaky fuck!" Bakugou exclaims with a grin.

"That attack was never dangerous, was it? You just used that as a decoy to hide the real body!"

Kurogiri moves a little but stops as Bakugou uses small explosions on him.

"Don't you move!", Bakugou chuckles glaring down at Kurogiri. "You move so much as a twitch and I'll blow your ass up so bad that they'll be piecing you back together for weeks."

"Not very heroic, bro.", Kirishima grinned nervously.

"You've got us cornered....I have to hand it to these kids nowadays. At this point, the Villains Alliance will be a laughing stock.", the villain turns to the broken creature.

"Nomu, take care of Explosion Boy for me...."

I widened my eyes as Nomu regenerates its own body and goes after Bakugou.

"Bakugou!!", I yell, running towards it but I ended up right next to Bakugou who was also on the ground.

"You're okay...wait, how'd you get here?", I asked.

"I don't fuckin' know.", he says still on the ground, probably in shock.

I look back to see All Might had taken a hit from Nomu.

"Are you crazy...? Have you no mercy...? These are children.", All Might says.

"Mercy....?", the hand villain looks over to us and points at Midoriya. "That plain looking boy almost killed me but I need to give mercy!? Who gets to decide what's right or wrong...? Society! And that's what irritates me. You're the symbol of peace....? You gotta be kidding me. You're just the same. You’re only here for your kicks."

"That's enough.", I say.

"It's a 6 vs. 3.", Todoroki says.

"No! You all need to leave.", All Might says.

"No can do, All Might. Can't be heroes if we just left you here.", I say.

"Yeah and you're bleeding!", Midoriya said.

"If I hadn't froze that monster, you would've most likely died.", Todoroki interjected.

"It's fine.", All Might insisted.

"Fine, let's settle this! Nomu, you go after All Might. I've got the children.", the hand villain says running towards us.

I started walking toward the hand villain but Bakugou pulled me back.

Dammit, Bakugou!

My eyes illuminated a bright scarlet color and I shot a fiery blast toward the villain.

"Dammit, Brat!!", Bakugou shouted at me avoiding the heat.

"You're the boss, right?", I ask looking at the villain. "I'll just take you down first!!", I yell running towards him, feeling myself change into a form of an Oni.

I sent a roundhouse kick toward the hand villain's face, making it collide with the hand on his face. He fell to the ground and touched my leg.

I yelled in pain after seeing the aftermath of what remained of my leg.

My pant leg torn and my calf broken and bleeding out.

I got knocked over by the sudden blast of air because of how hard All Might and Nomu were fighting.

I pulled two metal rods from the ground and threw it at the villain but missed due to All Might's fighting.

With all this air and wind going everywhere, there's no telling where my blasts could go....

"Plus....ULTRA!!!", All Might yells, finally getting rid of Nomu.

"Alright!!", I exclaimed but felt a burning sensation on my shoulder and hip.

"I told you to keep your guard up!", Tomohiro yells in my head.

I saw that the villain had his hands on me and my skin broken, leaving muscle showing. I felt an overwhelming feeling of numbness as I fell to the ground.

"You bastard!!!", I heard Bakugou's voice and gunshots before passing out from the numbing pain.

I woke up to loud, slow beeping and looked around to see that I was in a different area.

I'm in the hospital....? No... Its the nurse's office...

I looked over to my right to see Kirishima asleep in two chairs, slumped over.

"You're finally awake.", I see Tomohiro walk over to my bed.

"Yeah....", I say, startling Recovery Girl.

"You're awake."

"How long have I been out...?"

I sounded so hoarse, it hurt to even try to talk.

"6 hours. Your wounds closed up quickly." she said.

I nodded and looked over to see the sleeping duo.

"He carried you in here.", the elder woman said, pointing to a sleeping Kirishima.

"Really...?", I asked.

As expected of Kirishima to do that, but why...?

That was kinda hard to believe. "The boy's... chivalrous...", Tatsuo says, appearing at my side.

Just then, the said boy stirred and woke up.

Kirishima jumps awake and looks at me. "How're you feeling!?"

"Like I've been walking in a desert for hours. I'm dying.", I hoarse.

Recovery Girl brings me water and I sit up to down it dry.

"What about you? Is All Might okay? Is everyone okay?", I asked.

"Everyone's doing fine. Well, Midoriya still has to let his legs heal and Aizawa-sensei... he's still healing too but everyone's fine.", Kirishima says.

"Good...", I rasp, staring up at the ceiling.

He frowned a bit in worry. "Do you think you can move?"

I winced and looked at my hip that had a small scar on it.

Still sensitive... "That villain wasn't any ordinary villain.", Tatsuo says.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry I worried you."

You guys too, I should've been more careful.

"Don't worry about it.", Tomohiro says as Tatsuo grunts in agreement.

"No biggie. Just get better so we can train again!", Kirishima says with a sharp tooth smile.

I smiled back at him and got out of the bed, wincing again and gripping on to the bed sheets.

"My leg...my shoulder and hip hurts. Great.", I mutter.

"Hm...", Kirishima hums. He turns around, crouching in front of my feet. "Get on."

"Kirishima-"

"No complaints. It wouldn't be very manly of me if I let you walk home hurt, so get on.", he says.

I sighed and got on his back, careful to not hurt his back.

I held on tight as he got me right and took my bag, carrying it under me as he walked me out of the nurse's office, getting me home.

_______________________________________________

A/N: plenty of dumb mistakes were made, oh well¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Taglist: @xartisticmdx @dakotacecily @moonfairy-h @weird-dere @afuckingunicornn @dee-madwriter

[storytime-hoe]

Tough Love Ch.13

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x O/C

Summary: Story picks up during season three as the group goes into Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie from the Governor. However, they pick up another prisoner of Woodbury, Emma (O/C). She is a thief who fears friendships after her hard losses. She stays on the move, studying communities from afar and then robbing them blind. She has stayed alive this way for a while until the Governor catches her in the act. Now she finds herself with the group from the prison in a mission to kill the Governor for what he has done to her. She plans on stealing supplies from the prison group after the Governor is killed, but she might be growing a little too close to the groups members, especially one man in particular: Daryl Dixon.

Warnings: Slow burn, language, usual twd violence, mentions of abuse/rape

Authors Note: Woah. I did not expect to be away for this long but if you do care about my excuse this time it was that I was going through some shit. I moved to college extremely far from home and it was a lot for me to take in. It’s a new environment and I don’t have any friends as of right now so I was in a dark state of mind. I still am struggling, but I am trying to force myself to get into routine again and to be a normal human being who knows how to smile and act like an adult. It’s rough.

Anyway, I am so sorry to leave that last chapter off on a cliffhanger like that. I am going to have the next few chapters up within the week (probably three days apart from one another) so do not worry about me disappearing again. But I live in a different time zone so it’ll be a little different from when I usually post, just a heads up.

That all being said, this chapter is a hot mess per usual, and I am sorry if some of it is contradictory or a confusing. I wrote it very rushed and I am not proud of that but please stay with me it’ll all get good soon. 

Previously: Ch.1       Ch.2       Ch.3       Ch.4     Ch.5      Ch.6     Ch.7       Ch.8       Ch.9       Ch.10          Ch.11        Ch.12

Tears had started to rim the edges of my eyes. The dead were clawing at the balcony's supports, but I couldn't do anything about it, despite Sasha and Glenn screaming at me to get inside the building and off of the collapsing platform. Their words were muffled out by the screams of the dead. 

I stared out in front of me like a statue, my world crashing down around me much like the first half of the balcony went crashing down.

My feet flew out from under me from the collision, but I was able to grasp the windowsill and clutch onto the building before the rest of the balcony went down on top on the Walkers. My chest heaved with the grief that was swirling around inside of me. With my mind a jumbled mess and motivation to live now out the door, my arms were quick to start aching as I held on to the window. They wouldn't be able to hold my dangling body forever and it didn't look like there was any other option except down into the filthy hands that would tear me limb from limb.

I wanted to open up the window, but it only opened from inside so I would have to shatter it, which is a lot harder than they make it look in the movies. A window is one tough bitch. No amount of pounding on it with the butt of my gun was breaking it; it didn't even leave a scratch.

With every swing I took at the window I felt my hopes dwindling away. I gasped out a desperate cry and the tears came flowing. This was the end. I not only made it my end, but Daryl's too, and possibly Sasha's and Glenn's if they couldn't get out of this mess.

A dark sadness washed over me. My arms were giving out. I felt my fingers sliding down the windowsill, the hungry cries of the Walkers getting louder, lulling me to them like sirens of the sea. It wouldn't be the peaceful death that I dreamed for at night. I didn't earn a peaceful death. I deserved to be ripped apart, just like Daryl had been, just like my brother had been.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, readying myself to let go of the window and have the fate that everyone I loved always ended with. This was it. My time had come. After all the shit I went through; after surviving months at Woodbury. This was how I went down. I really was pathetic.

Before my fingers could slip from the ledge, a hand shot out from the window and grabbed my wrist so tightly that I yelped at the pain. When the collar of my shirt started to be pulled on, my first instinct was to fight whoever this was. My eyes shot open, and I writhed in the grasp of whoever had me. I figured it couldn't be anyone good, considering I thought my group mates were either dead or no where near me to be of any help, but I froze when I was yanked up high enough to lock eyes with a pair of squinted blue ones.

"C'mon! Le's go!" Daryl gravelly yelled at me, trying to shake me from my shocked state, his glare on me was the same one that he’d given me ever since our last argument. "Stop fuckin' aroun'," he growled at me while clutching at my form still half dangling out the window.

In any other circumstance I would have rolled my eyes. Stop fucking around? Really? Like I wanted to be in this situation for the shits and giggles? However, I refrained from saying anything, I was honestly too relieved to see him alive to form sentences. My brain was turning to putty at the sight of him and all human functions were shutting down in me.

Daryl yanked me the rest of the way inside the building with much effort, considering I wasn't being much help. I looked like an idiot gawking at him from the floor as he wrapped his arms around me to lift me to my feet. I held onto his arms like a lifeline, trying desperately to swallow down all the emotions that were itching to burst out of me.

I couldn't fucking believe he was back. He was here, in front of me, breathing and alive. I was so undoubtedly joyful to see him here again that I wanted to hug onto him and never let go, despite how mean and pushy he had been towards me the past few days. 

I ran my hands up his arms to his shoulders and eventually down his chest, trying to convince myself that he was actually here and not some sick dream or hallucination.

"Emma," he started, trying to get my attention, but my eyes darted wildly to every part of him. "Em," he said more urgently, grabbing my hands in his with a rough shake and forcing me to look into his eyes again. He was still a little cold towards me, but his eyes held a much softer look now as he spoke. "I'm 'ere, it's me. Okay? We gotta get outta 'ere."

I stared at him with watery eyes. He was right. I needed to get my shit together before I did get us killed, but my mind was just so cloudy that I couldn't think straight if I tried.

Daryl obviously didn't have time for me to snap back to reality as he gripped my wrist in his coarse hand  and pulled me down a flight of stairs and out the back door.

I wasn't the type of person to freeze up in situations, but right now I was acting like a fucking child. My mind was in a haze; panic about Sasha and Glenn and Daryl and me hit me like a brick wall and it was all too much. I couldn't think to help Daryl figure out how the hell we were going to get out of this. I couldn't force myself to be the strong leader that I always tried being. It was like I was turning into a complete fucking different person all because I was spooked by Daryl's short disappearance.

Damn, did I have it bad for him or what?

"Get on." Daryl tugged on my arm roughly and pushed me to get on his motorcycle that he had hidden under some brush. Once I was seated on the bike he took my hands and placed them on the handlebars. "Listen," he commanded, making my eyes shoot to his at the urgency in his voice. If I couldn’t form my own thoughts right now then I would gladly do whatever he wanted me to do. "Ya gotta lead half of 'em that a'way. I gotta get Sasha and Glenn out, can't take em all at once."

My eyes widened as his words registered in my head. He expected me to ride this thing by myself? And with a hoard of Walkers on my tail at that?

 "I don't know how to fucking ride this thing," I shouted at him, feeling a part of my usual stubborn self returning.

He rolled his eyes and started it up for me. "Of course you fucking don't," he grumbled to himself. "This is the break. This makes it go."

I furrowed my brow at his condescending tone.

"Em, you'll be fine. It's like riding a bicycle with less work. I'll meet ya at the main road where we left the car. Loose 'em 'fore then."

Before I could even argue that there was no way in hell this was going to be as easy as riding a bicycle, he was running off in the opposite direction, leaving me alone with a herd charging at me.

How did he have so much confidence that I could succeed in this? He saw how I was right now, I could barely make my own two feet work let alone drive a fucking vehicle. Maybe he just didn’t care if I got overwhelmed by the Walkers, because either way it would be the distraction he needed.  

My grip tightened on the handles and I gulped as the Walkers were nearing me. I was going to do this because everyone was depending on me. And I was going to live out of spite, because Daryl fucking Dixon was not getting rid of me that easily.

Sure, Daryl might be trying to hate my guts after our last screaming match at the prison, but we both knew he can’t stay that way forever. Most of the time, Daryl and I can't fucking stand each other, even before the night that he declared he was going to stop giving a shit about me, but we are attracted like magnets and there was nothing we could do to fix that. I would always come back to him, no matter how shitty he might make me feel after an argument. And I had a feeling it was the same for him.

Ever since I met him we were arguing and fighting against the intimate tension we have around each other. I think that might be why we are always disagreeing, because we just don't want to be on the same page. It scared me, that was for sure, knowing that there was someone that I was so compatible with. I have been pushing all the feelings that I had away and was in such denial that there was any kind of spark between us. But after thinking that I had lost Daryl forever? There could be no denying it anymore. I was falling hard for the stupid redneck. And I was done denying that, whether he was or not. 

I had been driving the motorcycle shakily for a while as I thought out everything. My hands were so sweaty on the bars that I would have to wipe them on my jeans every now and again. My heart rate was sky high the entire time I was on the damn bike, my legs shaking. I couldn't wait to get off of the fucking thing, so I lead my half of the herd away rather quickly and ditched them in no time.

Coming down the road in a zigzag because I could barely driving the fucking motorcycle, I caught sight of Daryl sitting on the side of the road with Glenn and Sash by his side. I praised whatever God would hear me. This nightmare was coming to an end and we could go back to the prison all in one piece.

Daryl stood up as I shakily drove the motorcycle up to him and hopped off of it. I more like fell off the bike, but Daryl's hands were there supporting me in a second. Seeing him alive made me so happy that I could have kissed him right then and there. But me being me I did the opposite.

I pulled my arm out of his steadying hold and reeled it back. I swung my fist at him, coming in solid contact with his arm. Hard.

He was startled and confused, taking a step back from me while he rubbed at his arm. I saw him getting ready to open his mouth and rip me a new one for hitting him, but I didn't give him the chance to speak. 

"Don't you ever tell me to drive that fucking deathtrap again," I yelled.

He blinked at me before realizing that I was talking about his motorcycle, then the biggest fucking grin slowly spread across his face. 

I wanted to stay mad, but if I’m honest I was just glad to see him with an expression that wasn’t full of hate for me. And maybe finally he had moved passed being angry at me and even if he didn’t like me the way that I liked him, we could at least go back to being normal fucking friend again. 

Yeah, that wouldn’t be so bad. 

***

Taglist:

@daryldixonandfrogs @jodiereedus22 @xchrisxevansx

[takadasaiko]

Second Chances: Chapter Seven

FFN II AO3

Summary: Steve has every intention of returning the Infinity Stones to their correct place in the timeline and heading back to his own. His problems start when he makes an impulse decision to jump over to 1946 and Peggy decides to go back home with him. It only gets more complicated from there when Howard tags along with them to 2023. Tony lives fix-it fic. Pepperony.

Chapter Summary: Tony struggles to process what's going on.

Just a quick warning: this chapter may should be rated a bit higher for Tony's meltdown language. Very brief and I think it still ranges in the scope of PG-13, but better safe to warn than not.

Chapter Seven

Tony couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He stretched out his left hand, checking to make sure he wasn't having a heart attack where he stood. Nope. Feeling there. Maybe a stroke. That was an increasing possibility. Anything made more sense than the man standing in Cap's hallway that was a distinctly younger version of the man he'd know growing up. A man with jet black hair and mustache, curious dark eyes, and a grin that just wouldn't stop.

He was dreaming. That was it. This whole thing had to be a dream.

"Is this Tony?" Howard demanded, half bounding forward and suddenly he was shaking Tony's hand. "I saw your work with the stabiliser and I gotta say - and I'm not easily impressed - but that that was elegant, my friend. You are talented. The way you solved the time-jump issue was…."

He was still shaking Tony's hand and the other man couldn't find the words. Any moment he was going to wake up, right? Right. Any moment now.

"Tony?" Cap called quietly and dark brown eyes flickered over to meet blue.

He didn't get a chance to respond, though. Another figure rounded the corner. "Everything okay out here?"

From terrible to catastrophic in point five seconds. That was his morning in a nutshell. Tony felt his mood shift from shock to boiling anger at the sight of James Barnes coming to stand next to his too-young and far too oblivious someday-to-be father. Tony turned the rage on Steve. "What the ever-loving fuck were you thinking?!" he all but screamed. Any other time he would have been rather proud at the shade or two Steve paled. With the way he stiffened and may have even take the smallest steps back from the shorter man. Not now though. At just that moment he was too pissed.

"Tony, I never meant for —"

"Well ya did, and then this?!" He motioned back at Barnes. "Are you trying to break the timeline?"

"Hey, you don't have the full story," Barnes growled.

Tony spun on him. "Pipe down, Jamie Lannister. You don't get a say in this. And get away from him." He motioned to a very confused Howard.

Steve reached out and blocked Barnes' advance even as Tony squared his shoulders, still several inches shorter than either Super Soldier.

"Mr Stark," Peggy Carter snapped, pulling every eye over to her, but her eyes were focused on Tony. "It is Stark, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Tony managed.

"Wait…. you're-"

"Peggy, how did you-?"

She cut both Howard and Steve off mid-question. "Is it really that hard to deduce? Look at him. He looks just like Howard. A bit a bit older, but there's no question. Otherwise why would you have worked so hard to hide it?"

There was a silence that settled over the room and she huffed a long-suffering sigh. "We didn't intend for Howard to come with us. It was a fluke in the design he hastily pulled together."

Tony followed her quick glance over to Howard and how he clenched his jaw just a little, like he was swallowing what could have been a swipe at his attempt to replicate the tech. Of course Steve had gone to his father for that. Of course he had. "He's going back," Tony said tightly.

"Yes." Steve's answer was instant.

"You used up the Pym Particles getting them here, didn't you? We'll need to —"

"Get ahold of Hank Pym," Steve cut in. "I've been trying for days. He's a hard man to reach."

Tony snorted. "Yeah, he's an asshole, but you tell him Howard Stark is here and he'll throw them at you to make him go away."

"So we've heard," Barnes said and Tony had to resist the urge to tell him to zip it again. "Sam's looking for Lang now."

So Steve had been back long enough to get home, talk all of this over with Wilson and Barnes, try to reach out to Pym enough to scratch the direct approach, and sent Wilson for Lang. A week? Maybe a week and a half. Long enough to have at least dropped him a line.

"Tony," the blond called softly and the younger man's attention snapped to him again. He looked like he felt guilty. Good. "Listen, I um…." He looked over to the crowd that lingered. "Give is a second?"

Howard looked like he might argue, but Peggy ushered him out of the hall, Barnes following behind. Tony watched the crowd retreat into whatever part of the apartment they were heading for and pulled in a steadying breath. "Okay," he said, his voice tight and controlled. "Start from the beginning."

                                            _______________

He didn't hold back. From the moment he left the hospital to the different stopping points with the stones, and through to what had become an impulse stop off in 1946. Tony didn't say a word, which rarely boded well, but Steve kept going right up to the point that Howard had hitched a ride with them. "Peggy knew he was up to something. I should have —"

"You said time travel and you sealed the deal, Cap," Tony huffed, sliding down the wall he had been leaning against to take a seat. Steve took a hesitant step towards him and was waved off. "I'm good. Just processing."

At least they'd moved into that phase. In his experience, bringing Tony out of a rage could be nearly impossible. That was all on him to do. He'd been willing to listen, though, and that seemed like a good sign.

Steve shifted where he stood, letting his gaze drift over the other man. Last he'd seen him he had been in the hospital attached to machines by more wires than he'd bothered to count. He hadn't been able to lift his right arm, much less wave it around in an angry rant. The scars were still there, deep and dark all along the side of his face, down his neck so that they disappeared under his shirt, and reappeared at the end of his sleeve to wind down the tan skin to fingers that still shook just a little. He looked tired, frustrated, but more whole than Steve had dared hope for. He wondered if that soft blue glow under his t-shirt has anything to do with it.

"What?"

Blue eyes blinked hard, meeting brown. "You look better."

"Hope so. It's been a while."

The blond cringed. "Yeah, but when I left…"

Tony tapped at the light, a familiar clinking sounding from the movement. "Made some upgrades to give myself a fighting chance. So far so good. How long have you been back?"

"Little over a week," he admitted softly. "I knew your plate was full. I didn't want to add to it if I could help it."

"Because keeping secrets to protect me have worked out so well in the past."

"Yeah," Steve huffed, memories flickering across his mind. Tony's look of utter betrayal and the no win situation that he had been in between two friends. He couldn't relive that.

Tony stood, his movements slow and he still leaned just a little heavier to his left. He straightened, shoulders squared and chin tilted up. "I need to know I can trust you, Cap. This… him here like this…"

"You can," Steve swore.

"Good." The younger man's lips twitched up at the corners and he reached out, patting Steve's arm in a playful manner he'd never thought he would miss as much as he had. "So, lets go get my dad's future murderer away from him so that he can survive long enough to get back to the past."

Steve quirked a blond eyebrow "You know they were friends, right?"

"Huh?"

"In the war. Your dad flew us when no one else would go into certain zones. The Howling Commandos loved him. Said he was the only civilian crazy as them."

"He must have left that one out of the endless stories," Tony grumbled.

"Probably didn't want you getting any ideas of hopping in a pilot's seat and flying straight into combat when you got older," Steve chuckled. Or a suit. There were more similarities between the two men than Tony likely knew.

"Doubt it ever crossed his mind that I'd be willing to." He turned, starting forward.

Steve reached out and caught him by the wrist. "Tony, listen. Howard's…. You and I knew very different Howard Starks, I get that, but the man in there… he's not the jaded one you've described. He's a good guy. Don't blame him for things he hasn't even done yet."

"If you say so, Cap. Let's just get him back to where he came from."

                                           _______________

It wasn't a surprise that his friend was upset. There was a lot of history there. Good, bad, and over the past week Steve had admitted that his own actions hadn't helped with Tony's trust issues along the way. He had struggled with if he should reach out to him or not, but Peggy knew that his heart was in the right place. If the quieter conversation was anything to go by, maybe Tony saw that too.

It was difficult to find a way to discreetly listen when Howard hadn't stopped talking since they'd been shuffled off to let Steve smooth things over. He was ecstatic. He took a seat next to Sergeant Barnes, laughing and joking, slipping questions in about Tony here and there like everyone in the room didn't know what he was trying to do.

"Even if I wanted to bust your future wide open, Howard, I couldn't tell you. Stark and I aren't what you'd call close."

He flashed that charming grin of his and gave the larger man a playful punch to the arm. "C'mon. You've got to know something. Anything."

Peggy's lips tugged down at the way Sergeant Barnes' shoulders sagged just a little and the strange glint of guilt in his eyes. "I wish I could, Howard. More than anything."

"You people are all so nervous. Where's your sense of adventure, huh? I'm not gonna break the universe."

"When you mess with time it tends to mess back," Tony's voice pulled their attentions back to the hall as he and Steve rounded in from it. Dark brown eyes, a little mischief in them just like Howard's came to rest on her. "And we're screwing with it pretty hard."

"Are you saying I should go home?"

"Nah. I'm saying he should."

Howard's mustache drooped. "Way to single me out, kiddo," he chuckled, much more pleased with the irony of their age difference than Tony seemed to be.

"Don't call me that."

"Tony then. Short for Anthony? That was my uncle's name. You probably know that, though." Howard stood from his spot, a little more serious now, even if the excitement still rolled off of him in waves. "Who'da thought I'd be a father, muchless raise the man that cracked time travel." His grin returned. "Definitely a Stark. Are you —"

"The less you know about me the better." He turned his attention over to Peggy, offering Sergeant Barnes only a brief glance. "Cap and I are going to go see Pym."

Peggy tilted her head. "I thought no one could reach him?"

"Like the man said, I'm a Stark. That opens up doors. Manchurian Candidate, keep your distance." He finally turned, possibly meeting Howard's gaze directly for the first time since he'd seen him there. "We should have you home by dinner time."

Tony turned in his heel, heading for the door and Peggy caught Steve's sleeve before he could follow. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. She saw the stress there, the pleading for understanding and patience. There was more to this than she knew, but he couldn't explain in front of Howard. So she nodded, the acknowledgment of trust between them and they were gone.

She waited until the door closed behind them and locked before she turned back to Howard. He looked like every ounce of excitement had been crushed out of him. "He hates me."

"He knows you have to go," she tried, but Howard shook his head.

"I know that look. Same one I gave my ol' man. I just…. guess I'd hoped if I ever had kids I'd be better than him."

Sergeant Barnes stood quietly, making his way into the kitchen to give them some privacy. Peggy reached out. "Let's not jump to conclusions, shall we?"

He tried for a smile that didn't reach his eyes and Peggy patted his shoulder. If nothing else, she hoped perhaps his fear could be proven wrong.

                                           _______________

TBC

Notes: Well this chapter just sort of fell together and then Howard kicked me in the feels hard. Honestly, I thought it'd take him a lot longer to catch onto Tony's daddy issues, but my guess is that they probably share a lot of the same ones, just in different ways. Howard's father sold fruit on the Lower East Side, according to S1 of Agent Carter, so my guess is that even if Howard Sr was clever he didn't get a chance for the education that his son did. I could see a lot of strife, especially looking at the time period.  I'm really excited to get to this point in the story where Tony and Howard are going to be coming head-to-head quite a bit. Don't worry. Tony's calculations on when he's sending his dad home might be a little off :P

Next Time: Things don't go as planned when Tony and Steve visit Hank Pym.

[atopearth]

Chocolate Temptation Part 3 - Mitsuki Aoi Route

Omggg I dislike Mitsuki’s music gahh, it’s annoying lol. Anyway, it’s kinda cute how he gets embarrassed at people watching him work so closely when he’s decorating chocolate. I guess he’s similar with Jin in that he doesn’t seem very nice hahaha, except they don’t seem like it for different reasons. For Jin, he’s just disinterested in anything aside from chocolate, whereas Mitsuki’s very shy so he doesn’t like it when people focus on him. I’m not sure how old Mitsuki is supposed to be but he’s a man huh?! He looks rather childish so I kinda forget lmao. He just kinda reminded me when he told the heroine that she’ll be cooking for four grown men since it’s her turn to cook dinner tonight and Mitsuki went grocery shopping with her.

Why are crazy fangirls always so.. crazy? Sigh. Look at what they did! Pushed the heroine on to the road, making Mitsuki have to save her from the car but then twist his ankle or whatever and break his bone instead! Are you happy now that you injured the guy you like?! Sigh, these fangirls in all these games and stories really need to get their act together on what their priorities are. I’m surprised Mitsuki is so popular with all the girls everywhere lol. I guess it’s because he’s cute. And him being shy just makes people love him even more lol. I think Mitsuki is so adorable to have this “chocolate zone” where he goes into a trance and talks about what kind of chocolates he wants to make after an idea comes to him, it’s nice listening to his ideas since they sound interesting and he’s so serious about it, so you can really see how cool he is too!

Mitsuki’s starting to warm up to the heroine, he even rushed out to help her when she forgot the prices of some chocolates even though he absolutely hates facing customers! Mitsuki’s chocolates lack the strength in not caring about what other people think about his products huh? Tbh, I think I have a similar problem. Although I try my best to stop other people’s thoughts and opinions to sway or hinder what I choose to do, it ends up affecting me either way. I think I also lack the experience to be confident in myself at work, I guess I gotta try and improve myself along with Mitsuki haha! Just as Mitsuki is not really making the kind of chocolates he really wants to make, I’m also in the same position where the fear of what others will think stops me from doing things the way I want and should. Life is difficult😅😅

Lmao at Mitsuki saying the heroine does so much work for her mook but doesn’t do much at the shop🤣 He made up for being rude by telling her he knows that because he’s always looking at her when he’s making chocolate, so cute☺️ After he bonded with her talking about his reasons for designing whatever chocolates, Mitsuki has been so bold by talking to her first and even saying such adorable things like he’s happy to see her first thing in the morning! Kyaa, so cuteee~ I think, just like the heroine, even though Mitsuki is younger, your heart can’t help but flutter when he’s so innocent and sweet like he is now.

Ohh so Mitsuki is 19, wonder if the heroine is like 24 or something then. I guess yeah, that would be a big hurdle to overcome, he’s like young and just starting to blossom and find his ground in society and as a chocolatier so she doesn’t want to like “prey” on him haha. But he’s so cuteeeee, he immediately said yes when she asked him if he was free tonight before she even said what she wanted him for lolll. Then he says he’s happy as long as he can spend time with her? C'mon Mitsuki, don’t play with her heart like this hahaha. Aww she dressed up and he called her pretty and cute, then played with her hair saying it was fluffy🤣🤣 He’s so innocent, I’m dying🤣

Aww the dinner went so well until the heroine sneakily paid the bill without telling him~ Bills always kill the mood lmao. I can understand how both Mitsuki and the heroine feels though, Mitsuki earns money and is capable so having someone else pay for him makes it seem like she’s treating him like a kid, and he wanted to go along as well, so she shouldn’t have to pay for his half. Whereas, for her, it’s true that the company will cover for it anyway, and she did spontaneously get him to come out and didn’t even tell him what place it was and took him there so she probably felt rude if she didn’t pay for his share. But yeah, it’s a problem that isn’t really about the bill but more about how they view their age difference in the end, so they’ll have to solve it either way, the bill just happened to trigger it haha.

So cute how Mitsuki wanted to pay her back by shouting her for like another date and got her to meet up with him at the park so that Jun wouldn’t be able to tease them hahahah. Hearing a guy say that seeing you motivates him to push himself and work harder and that it brightens up his day is like omg, so sweet, how does Mitsuki even say these things out loud so easily?! It’s kinda cute how all the brothers can tell that Mitsuki really likes the heroine and are very protective of him haha, it’s so nice to see them care about him so much. And it’s funny how the heroine can’t tell at all lmaoo. Mitsuki and Ibuki competing on TV?! Guess Mitsuki’s gonna try his best to beat him now since he thinks that the heroine might get stolen away by Ibuki so he wouldn’t want to lose, he’s already losing in terms of age so I’m sure he doesn’t want to lose in other aspects he can control haha.

Omg, they’re making a piece montee for the competition and the time limit is 10 hours! How do people even concentrate for that long… Dang, Mitsuki is so straightforward, it’s hard to believe he used to be so shy that he couldn’t even talk to the heroine. He’s practically declared that he likes her by saying he doesn’t want her to be stolen by Ibuki haha. Young people these days🤣 But I guess it does help for the heroine to talk to her friend at work about Mitsuki, since she really helped her understand how she really felt and how even though the heroine is worried about the age gap, the friend can tell that she really likes him and that’s much more important than the age gap. I mean, Mitsuki is pretty level headed and even though he may be inexperienced, he can be mature as well so they’ll be fine together! I always find it so amazing how someone just being there beside you can put you so at ease, it’s pretty cool.

Mitsuki is so bold to actually kiss the heroine! He’s younger but he’s really forward! Legit just kept going once she was like, it’s okay, she doesn’t not like it😆 Mitsuki is so stubborn about only asking her to be his girlfriend after he wins the competition even though he wants to keep kissing her lmao. It was obvious that Mitsuki was making a piece montee of the flower bouquet the heroine gave him in the beginning when he was in the hospital that inspired him and made him know her better, but seeing the heroine realise the depth of his feelings and his thoughts behind the piece was really sweet. The happy ending was good but omg the super happy ending seems so nice and fun since Mitsuki and the heroine are home alone together for the whole week~~ honestly though, if Jin and Ibuki always do these last minute going to weddings etc for work, I still think they should hire someone to help out, like seriously, what would they have done if the heroine wasn’t there?? It would have been just Mitsuki working and how could he handle making chocolate and the customer service?? Anywho, now they can bond alone without anyone interrupting them I guess lol.

Lol, they’ve kissed so many times already and yet they’re still so embarrassed over an accidental kiss lolll. Mitsuki smelling of vanilla and cocoa sounds so good, I bet it smells so delicious and comforting 🤣 Hmmmm I feel like the heroine was much stronger before they started dating. Now, all she does is pretty much cry and be a big baby so that it can show how mature Mitsuki is… Really, two mature people can be together you know… One of them doesn’t need to be inferior or be like a baby for the relationship to work… Sigh. But now that they’re finally together, lol I thought they were together ages ago and knew their feelings but maybe I was getting the happy and super happy ending mixed up lol. Anyway!!! The chocolate making lessons are such a great idea! The chocolates of happiness can only be made by people who care about each other and stuff so teaching people the skills to do it together would create that happiness. I totally would join if there was one here! The ending nicely rounded everything up with them thinking of different ways people could make these chocolates of happiness together😊

Season 2

Back to the competition story as usual, let’s see how it goes~~ I guess since both Mitsuki and Tokita are Dino’s apprentices, they’re going to be rivals in chocolate and love too? Loll. Since they both seem to care a lot about the heroine. I guess a nice difference in this story is that Mitsuki is teamed up with another girl for the competition haha. Otherwise, the heroine and Mitsuki are frustrating me to no end with their lack of communication, coming to pointless conclusions and acting like children gahhh. They were so much more level headed in the first story like seriously…

Anyway, the heroine and Mitsuki continue to be irritating with them doing what they think is best without properly communicating because they’re scared of facing the other and other crap like that, which is very annoying. I also hateee that in every route, all the guys have to love the heroine and create some sort of rivalry. Like, you can kinda see why Tokita is interested in her, but seriously guys, she’s Mitsuki’s girlfriend, hands off, okay?!?! Like, c'mon. It’s just unnecessary love drama trying to push the relationship forward when really, the problem isn’t whether they love each other, it’s that they’re not talking to each other properly. Also, honestly don’t know why the heroine took so long to reject Tokita when she was obviously not interested. Not wanting to hurt him is such a shitty reason since unless she’s really considering him (which she wasn’t!), then she’s going to hurt him either way, might as well make it clear to him asap so that Mitsuki won’t feel so insecure, like dude, you can’t blame Mitsuki for thinking she’ll get stolen when she can’t even reject a guy when she’s already in a relationship. Know your priorities, woman! I also don’t understand what is with these games etc where guys don’t give up on trying to get the attention of someone else’s girlfriend, like seriously? Is that romantic? Do people like this shit? It’s not even like the boyfriend is trash and a jerk or whatever, they’re good people trying to progress their relationship and like they’re all friends too like wtf? Go somewhere else, ugh, I hate these stupid love triangles and fruitless unrequited loves that are ridiculous.

Anyway, the usual Eleanor stuff and chocolate competition happens but wow, didn’t expect Mitsuki to practically propose to her already lol, so young and committed! Didn’t realise that they had a mother, it might have been mentioned somewhere but yeah wow, she really hasn’t been watching over her children and their shop lol. I liked Mitsuki’s perspective for the tournament though, because really, it didn’t show anything about the the chocolate making and then they won, so it was nice to see that Mitsuki understood what his qualities were and remembered why he likes to make chocolate, which is to make people smile, and that’s why he won. I liked that. Anyway, Mitsuki giving her the matching rings was actually the ending! I didn’t even realise lolol! Didn’t get to see Dino’s reactions etc to the competition so I didn’t expect that, now it feels kinda incomplete lol.

Overall, as usual, the first season is great but the second just doesn’t deliver. I feel like for all the first seasons, although they had their similarities, it was mostly different, whereas the second season was literally the same thing for all three brothers, just a change in perspective depending on the brother and some changes in the love rivals and relationships, but otherwise, there wasn’t much of a difference, and the guys were stuck with the same problem e.g. Mitsuki not feeling mature enough for the heroine and trying to block the other guys from courting her. Things randomly resolve because it’s ending but nothing substantial really happens, so yeah, really can’t recommend the second part, maybe except Jin’s one, I didn’t mind that. Otherwise, it was pretty frustrating, why’s it such a common thing in these stories for the guy’s friends to go after the guy’s girlfriend aka the heroine?! Like seriously, ugh.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this game. I probably like it just as much as Princess Closet if we’re just talking about the first seasons since I feel like the relationships, the romance and the stories developed very nicely and at a good pace, the guys were all sweet and romantic in their individual ways, definitely recommend it~

[ultiwrites]

October writting challenge

I’m going to be participating on the October Writting challenge from today on, the fics will be posted at the same time here on Tumblr and on Ao3. I chose to do this because i want to try and learn to write shorter chapters, and try to get out of my comfort zone and improvise. 

I also added the bonus that i would write the short stories with the first idea that came to mind, no matter how stupid it was, as a sort of challenge to myself. You’ll notice that when you read the first story lmao.

So, that said, the promt list i’ll be following can be found here, done by @horrificmemes ,and i leave you the first prompt down here. Enjoy! And do leave a comment if you feel like it :D

OCTOBER WRITTING CHALLENGE

DAY 1: REVENGE (TASTES SWEET)

Lance narrowed his eyes as he looked in the fridge, roaming over the expanse of the shelves as he looked for the thing. You know? The thing he'd been saving for weeks for when he had a bad day™ , the thing that he was craving right now, but was nowhere in sight.

Maybe it was behind the mayonnaise? Nope, not there.

Uhh...maybe he put it under the bowl of oranges? Nah, not there either. It wasn't on the veggie drawer, neither on the egg shelf or covered by the huge lettuce on the top corner. He knew for a fact that he'd stored it safely and carefully on their fridge, awaiting the day he'd need it, so for it to have suddenly disappeared it could only mean one thing...

"Keith, babe, did you eat a small chocolate cake that was on the fridge?" It was swiss chocolate sponge cake with a creamy mousse-like filling and topped with a coffee glaze. In other words, heaven on earth. It had costed him fifteen bucks, bought from one of the best patisseries in town, and he'd been really excited to taste it, so he was a teensy bit pissed right now.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Keith raise a brow from the sofa, humming softly before answering him. "No, i didn't. I don't remember anything like that on our fridge, are you sure you didn't eat it already?" He gasped dramatically, turning around with a hand above his heart, feigning hurt -which wasn't difficult because he was exhausted and now disappointed- as he rose his finger to point at Keith.

"How can you say that!? I would know if i ate something so delicious. I left it on the top right, like, three days ago, i was waiting for a hellish day like today to eat it so i would feel better, and now it's gone." He pouted, crossing his arms as his boyfriend looked at him with an amused expression, which, rude.

"Sorry Lance, but i really don't know what happened to it, maybe we threw it out without noticing? There was a lot of trash and spoiled food that we had to take care of  two days ago, right? Maybe we didn't see it?" It was a possibility. They discovered, as soon as they began living together, that they were horrible at managing their food.

Sometimes they bought too much and it ended up spoiled, or they forgot it was there and didn't eat it, passing the due date and having to ponder if it was still fit for human consumption when they finally found it. (It wasn't.)

Other times, they bought ingredients to make dinner themselves, but would miscalculate the amount, and the veggies and fruit would go bad, leaving a stench that wasn't at all pleasant and a whole lot of mold no one wanted to clean but had to. And then there were the times when they bought too little, and ate so much junk food the leftovers piled inside the fridge and became a mishmash of burger and fries that looked to have gained sentience.

Which was what happened two days ago. So maybe the cake had been caught in the crossfire and ended in the trashcan. The mere thought just made him want to weep.

It had looked so good, with such a shiny glaze, and the sponge cake seemed really fluffy too....Ugh, he cursed his back luck.

"I'm sorry about your cake, Lance. Wanna tell me about your day?" Keith laid down on the couch and opened his arms, and he immediately threw himself at him, knowing his boyfriend wouldn't even flinch, since he was ripped, and also a personal trainer at the local gym.

He took a second to feel Keith's arms around him, the warmth of his body and the smell of his shampoo, the dips and creases of his chest and the toned muscles that cradled him and made him feel safe. " Ugh, it's been the worst. So, i was just going around doing my thing, you know? Putting things on shelves like normal, when this douche of a dude comes out of nowhere and begins harassing me-" He babbled and seethed and didn't stop speaking for a long, long while.

But Keith never interrupted unless it was to ask a question in concern or add his own input about the absolutely annoying and unbelievable people in Lance's line of work.

Retail.

By the time he finished his tale, he was breathing hard, hands clenched on Keith's sweater as he struggled not to cry. He hated his job, and the people there -except Hunk, Hunk was an angel sent by god to keep him sane- but he didn't have a choice until he saved enough money to pay for the damages done to his car in a small accident a few months ago.

And then he still had to pay for his degree after, he owed a lot of money still.

Working in retail was actually just a temporary job, he was waiting to finally work on what he really loved, the career he had worked hard for and studied to get a degree on.

Teaching.

He wanted to teach children, he'd always been good with them, and it had been his dream since he could remember, he'd drained himself dry to achieve that dream, and it was about to become a reality.

He had a place already, a small school managed by Mrs.Allura, who had told him that when Coran -one of the oldest teachers there- retired, Lance would take his place and finally make his title of teacher official. But until then, he had to keep paying bills and repairs and what not, so what had he done? Look for a temporary job to keep them afloat while he got his dream job.

And it was killing him.

Thank god it was only another month.

He didn't think he'd been able to take much more of that.

"You know you could always leave that job, right? I don't mind paying for things until Allura finally employs you, she's a friend- well, more like a sister, really- and we know she won't go back on her word." He knew, of course he knew. Keith's brother, Shiro, and his husband, Adam, were friends with Allura since high school, and that, by default, made Keith her friend, and therefore Lance, too.

But Lance was stubborn and headstrong, and damned prideful while he was at it too. He felt like a leech if he wasn't contributing to keeping their household afloat, it always made him feel guilty and inadequate, like he wasn't enough for Keith, like he deserved better.

"Hey, c'mon now, stop thinking so much. It was only a suggestion, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I only want you to be happy." Lance only grumbled in response, burrowing his head on the crook of Keith's neck, curling up like a child and not caring at all that he sounded whiny.

"A chocolate cake would've made me happy..." He whispered, and felt Keith sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair, his other hand rubbing circles on his back and making him sleepy.

"I think it's time to go sleep, Lance. You have an early shift tomorrow, don't you?" He groaned and refused to get up, but his boyfriend already knew about his bad habits and picked him up effortlessly, walking to their bed and laying him down softly before dropping a chaste kiss to his lips, then leaving to brush his teeth.

Lance, meanwhile, giggled like a love-struck teenager, rolled around like a burrito, and stopped right at the edge with his arms dangling over the side of the mattress, head tilted to the left as his eyes bore on the trashcan right by Keith's desk.

He focused intently and thought he saw red, and as he narrowed his eyes and squinted, he could read the word ' Olkar-' . He gasped and got up, running to dig into the trashcan, taking out the purple-red envelope that said 'Okarion Patisserie', the exact same one that he'd bought that chocolate cake from.

So Keith had lied to him. He had eaten his cake. Wow, talk about honesty.

He wasn't even mad anymore, just...kind of sad? Disappointed maybe? It wasn't a big deal, not anymore since Keith had soothed his worries and listened to his ranting, which made him feel better. Keith's affectionate touches, comforting words and his silent support always did that to him.

But that had been a really nice cake.

A bit of revenge was in order.

McClain style.

--

The next day, as Keith left for work, Lance -who still had a few hours before he himself had to go- went out to buy some pie, the apple one that he knew his boyfriend liked so much. And just because he was already there, he took some things their fridge was missing, humming a little tune all the way, thinking about how many photos he was gonna snap that same evening.

It was going to be hilarious.

He got home and dumped the things on their respective places, and, because he was so thorough with his pranks, he took the bottle of chilly sauce out of the bag, opened the apple pie, and spilled a few drops on the filling before closing it again, then put the envelope back together like nothing had happened.

And just to be sure it worked, he left a sweet note telling Keith it was for him, even signing it with a kiss and a few hearts.

Feeling lighter and with a smirk blooming on his face, Lance left for work, giddy and eager for his shift to end so he could laugh at Keith, and then berate him for lying and ask for kisses in compensation....

As soon as his lips weren't on fire anymore, of course.

--

Six hours later, and Lance was ready to call it a day. He quickly dressed himself and said good-bye to Hunk -who left with his girlfriend- running towards the bus stop so he was sure he didn't miss it, glancing longingly at the store on the far end of the street, the one that was now closed because of repairs and wouldn't open until a few months down the line.

'Adios, my sweet cake, it's sad that i never got to taste you.' He bemoaned, brushing away an invisible tear just as the bus arrived, going to take him home to where his boyfriend would probably be screaming to the high heavens, his mouth on fire with no way to make it stop, since he couldn't drink milk.

'Just cold water for you, mister liar.' He chuckled to himself, knowing for a fact that Keith could take spicy without trouble, but it would still annoy him to no end, leaving him grumbling and pouting until Lance smoothed out his frown with a few kisses here and there.

Ah, he couldn't wait.

--

As soon as he got home and caught sight of Keith, slumped on the floor cradling his stomach while he groaned, he reassessed his previous thought; he could definitely wait.

He threw his bag unceremoniously to the floor, closing the door with his foot and running towards his boyfriend, cradling his sweaty face in his hands as he worriedly asked him what was wrong.

"I dunno....i think it's- ugh- someting i ate." Lance brushed his bangs away and tried to feel for a fever, but found nothing, and he seemed coherent and alert, just in pain, which was a relief.

"Babe, what did you eat? Did it smell bad? Was it past its due date-?" keith shook his head, pushing his hands harder against his stomach, one of them going to cover his mouth as he coughed a little. Lance was beginning to panic.

"No- just...that apple pie -Lance froze- you bought for me, did you check the label for dairy?" Lance nodded fervently, relieved, he always checked the labels on everything, it was second nature to him now. Keith was lactose intolerant, and it always made him feel like shit when he accidentally ate some, nothing that wouldn't go away the next day but- not pretty, he didn't like it when Keith suffered.

"Yeah, it didn't have any so ..." He held Keith's arms and led him to the couch.

"Ugh, my mouth burns.......i- is that...normal?" Lance stopped short, the gears inside his brain turning as he caught up to one small tiny detail; the chilly sauce. He wanted to laugh to himself, saying it was impossible, that it made no sense a chilly sauce would have lactose or anything but- but he had to check, had to make sure. "Wait here just a sec." He fled through their house and opened the drawer in the kitchen, taking out the bottle and reading the too small letters-

'Allergens notice: Contains milk.' And there it was, Lance's mistake. He was always so careful, so thorough, but he'd been too excited to exact a petty revenge on his boyfriend, and now he felt like shit because of him, with an added burn to boot. He threw the bottle inside the bin, and ran all the way to the lounge, crouching before Keith, ready to fess up.

"I'm sorry- i didn't meant to- i didn't check and- you know i always check-" Keith put a hand on his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

"Slowly, Lance, i can't understand a word you're -ugh- saying." He took a deep breath, gulping down the nausea rising in his throat, looking up into Keith's pained face and tearing up when he noticed just how pale and sick he looked.

"I- i found the wrapping of- of the cake i bought in our room and- and i was so mad because i wanted it so much but- but i was angrier at the fact that you lied to me so- so i...i wanted to get back at you." Keith groaned and doubled over, and Lance nearly fell in his haste to hold him in between his arms, rubbing his back in what he hoped were comforting motions.

"So- so you-what? Gave me milk as- as revenge?" Horrified that Keith would think he would ever do something like that to him on purpose, the tears that had been gathering in the corners of his eyes finally fell, a small steady stream down his cheeks.

"Wh- no! I would never-!" His breath hitched, and he struggled to talk through his hiccups. "I bought t-the pie you love so much a-and put some chilly s-sauce inside as a- a prank." He sniffed, trying to be silent, hoping that Keith would continue looking away. He hated crying, but he hated even more when someone saw him do it, it made him feel...weak.

"I just w-wanted a little p-payback but i f-forgot to check the label o-of the sauce....I-I'm sorry Keith..." His boyfriend finally looked up, his bout of nausea -or maybe cramps- seemingly over. He let out a sigh of relief, but his calm expression faded rapidly as he looked up at Lance, and then his face turned pained, eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"Hey, hey, c'mon  it's fine, don't cry. You know i won't die from this. It'll suck, yeah, but by tomorrow night i will be right as rain." Keith opened his arms in invitation and, although he felt guilty and undeserving of affection right now, his body knew what he wanted before his mind catched up to his thoughts, and he was throwing himself at his boyfriend, curling with him on the couch as he sniffed pathetically.

"I'm so sorry...you know i would never do this to you on purpose....i hate it when you are hurt." He felt the steady rise and fall of the other's chest, the warmth of his arms around his body, holding him tight, their legs curling together as Keith sought closeness, cuddling being something that made him feel better when he was sick.

"I know, i'm sorry too. I didn't mean it, i know you would never do something like that, and i'm...sorry about your cake, too. I was half asleep that day after classes, finished too late and was about to faint with both hunger and exhaustion. I just...opened the fridge and ate the first thing i got my hands on...i didn't even notice it was your cake until i had already finished." Lance shook his head, muttering that he didn't care about that as much as the fact that he'd lied to him about it, and, even then, he wasn't that mad about it.

He loved Keith, he wasn't about to have a fight for something as silly as food, it just so happened that that day had been a very bad one for him, and his only solace had been that small piece of heaven he had stored for emergencies.

"S'okay, was silly anyways, i was just really ticked off that day, it wasn't your fault. We share everything, i've eaten things that were yours too, sometimes, and you've never berated me for it." Keith hummed in acknowledgment, the vibrations calming his nerves and making him relax bit by bit until he was sure he was going to fall asleep right then and there.

He always said that the most comfortable place in the whole world was between Keith's arms.

He still stood by that.

"Yeah, well, i'm working on what i like, and i don't get stressed as much as you do. I know how bad your job can get, and how you're doing your best until Allura hires you officially, so i don't mind indulging you sometimes, as long as you don't make a habit out of it." He chuckled, rubbing his forehead against Keith's chest, inhaling the scent of his soap and feeling the beating of his heart, like a lullaby soothing him to sleep.

"I don't know what i did to deserve you." He said, cuddling closer against Keith.

"You were pretty persistent, that's what." He pretended to be offended, then sighed in content when Keith nuzzled against the crook of his neck, his breath ghosting over his ear and sending a shiver down his spine. "Lance..." The whisper of his name made warmth travel down the length of his body, and a shaky suspire left him before he could help it, his hands running over the expanse of Keith's back as the other leaned closer and then-

"You're going to want to move, i have to go to the bathroom like- now." Lance somersaulted over the side of the couch, watching with grief as Keith ran towards the bathroom, where he would most likely spend the rest of the night. He crawled over to the door with a pillow and a blanket, and curled into a ball as he waited for his boyfriend to come out, even if he had to wait till morning with him.

This had been his fault, after all, so he would take care of him and make sure Keith had all he needed and was as comfortable as possible until he felt better.

It was the least he could do.

--

By the time Keith stopped feeling indisposed, the sun had begun to rise, and Lance had stayed awake every minute, giving him water and medicine and supplements, blankets and soft touches and whatever he needed so he would get better.

It had been a long night, but the one who'd most suffered had been Keith, so he had no right to complain. He just carried his tired boyfriend to their bed, tucked him in like a blanket burrito, and gave him cuddles till he fell asleep, smiling softly when the crease of his brow finally disappeared and his expression smoothed out into a calm, relaxed one.

Soft breaths left Keith's lips, and, thinking he was knocked out, Lance began talking to himself, something that always helped him calm down. "I'm really sorry about this...i'm such an idiot, i shouldn't have gotten so worked up over a stupid cake or hidden it like a child...i should have just told you.." At his side, Keith turned around and nuzzled his face on Lance's chest, discarding the blankets in favour of curling against him, legs intertwined, his dark hair tickling his chin and neck.

He felt like crying again.

"I'm so stupid, you always share everything with me, i shouldn't have gotten so upset. Ugh, i feel like the worst boyfriend ever..." A faint chuckle made him freeze, and his chest shook from Keith's small laughs, his arms tightening their grip just as he leaned away, looking into his purple eyes, sleepy and half-lidded but still awake.

"Stop beating yourself over it, Lance, it was just a joke. You know i like your jokes, one of the main reasons i began dating you was because they always blew up in your face or came back to bite you in the ass, it was funny." He pretended to be outraged, his hands pushing Keith away without any real force behind the motions.

"How dare you? I thought you dated me because of my extremely good looks and astounding intelligence?" Keith raised a brow, and looked him up and down without any kind of shame whatsoever.

"Well, you definitely have the looks... -Lance lit up- ...of an idiot." He gasped, screeching like a madman.

"Okay, first of all, rude. And second of all-" His tirade was stopped by warm lips being pressed to his, and he couldn't help but melt against Keith as he hugged him close and kissed him sweetly, fiercely and full of fire like he always did. They broke away after a while, and Lance could feel his face burning, noticing that his boyfriend's cheeks were tinted a soft red that probably rivaled his, both of them breathing hard.

"Well...that's one way of shutting me up. If you wanted to kiss me so much, you only had to ask, babe." He tried to smirk, but it probably came all soft and sappy and love-sick like, an expression he had no idea how it looked like, but that Pidge -Keith's partner at the gym- always said he made when he looked at his boyfriend.

Keith smiled, dimples on the corners of his lips. "And there's the Lance i know. Stop thinking so much about it, i'm not mad, and i know you didn't do it with malice, it was just a joke gone wrong. Forget about it, and go look in the fridge, okay?" Confused, but not willing to contradict his tired boyfriend, Lance got up and walked to their fridge, opening the door and coming face to face with-

A cake.

And not just any cake, but the exact same one he'd bought.

"Keith- what-?" He left the kitchen and ran towards their bedroom, watching Keith's features soften as he crushed the pillow between his arms.

" I felt really bad about eating your cake, you know? I asked Shiro if i could get out of work a bit early, and ran to the store to buy you another. I knew the place was always packed, and that i probably wouldn't be able to get any but- they were closing that day, and i really wanted to replace the one i ate." Lance sat on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through Keith's hair, listening to him sigh and snuggle, comfortable.

"So i waited in line for two hours to buy it." Lance stopped all movement, ready for the earth to open up and swallow him whole. God, he just wasn't a bad boyfriend, he had ascended to the worst boyfriend ever, he had no redemption now. "I just...wanted to see you smile, and if a cake was what you needed to feel happy, then i didn't mind. I hate it when you're stressed." Aaand Lance was gone, dead, deceased, he didn't deserve that cake, didn't deserve to even look at it, he was trash, the worst of the worst- what did he even do-

"I still don't know what i did to deserve you." Keith hummed and looked at him, opening his arms with what he now knew -after so much time together- was an invitation to cuddle and kiss and hug, share caresses with one another until they succumbed to asleep.

"Don't be silly, you're you, and that's more than enough for me." Lance slowly crawled on the bed and wiggled around until he was between Keith's arms, enjoying the way he held him, tight without being suffocating, tender but firm.

"You're too good to me." He whispered.

"Just the right amount." Keith answered, cradling Lance closer and humming a song under his breath, a long forgotten lullaby that his mother used to sing for him. Between that and the sound of his heartbeat, Lance was out within seconds, feeling his stress and guilt ebb away, being replaced by joy and delight instead.

The next morning, when they both woke, he ate the small cake that Keith had bought, all the while with his boyfriend smiling tenderly at him from the counter.

It tasted sweet.

But Keith was sweeter.

And he would chose him over dessert anytime.

[beauticate]

Violette, Makeup Artist

With her dreamy French accent and enviable style, it’s easy to see why beauty lovers the world over are a little infatuated with makeup artist Violette Serrat right now. Violette’s makeup tutorials inspire her devoted followers to channel their inner Parisienne on the daily and school them on interpreting trends for everyday wear (with a healthy dose of Gallic chic thrown in); think metallic blue lips, poppy-hued eyes, holographic lids and smudgy liner. And as Global Beauty Director of Estée Lauder, her relaxed, effortlessly cool attitude to beauty is now reaching a wider audience. Violette shared her unconventional beginnings in the beauty industry with us, as well as the secret to her perfectly imperfect hair, and why wine and cheese will always play a key role in her diet.

“Before becoming a makeup artist, I was studying art and fashion design.

I felt passionate about both - I didn't know which one to choose. One night, I came home and my friend was getting ready to go to a costume party. She was dressing up as this French character who wears a glitter mask on her eyes. So my friend asks me, "Can you do the glitter mask on my eyes?". I tell her I've never done makeup before, and she says, "C'mon. You're a painter, it'll be fine." So I did and, indeed, I felt like it was the link between art and fashion design.

My first instinct was to move to New York to get out of my comfort zone, and to find myself as a makeup artist without doing the typical training.

I thought, if I have to assist and go to makeup school, then it's not going to be a job that interests me - I want to do makeup the way I discover it. So that's why I left for New York. And I just knocked on the doors of all the modeling agencies and said, “Hey, I'm a free makeup artist” with my very French accent. And they gave me girls to do makeup on with new photographers for their books. With that, I started to build my book and work a lot. That night with my friend created a new path for me. I was thinking, "Wow, it's like dressing up a face and painting a face. Maybe that could be my job." And I started like this - like a weird hybrid artist.

I always have Re/Done jeans, and right now I’m really obsessed with Frances de Lourdes’ cashmere t-shirts. 

I have always some lingerie that you can see - I always wear it in black so it’s visible when I wear a white t-shirt. It's from Fleur du Mal, which I love. As for shoes - it depends. It could be heels (either Sergio Rossi or Gianvito Rossi) or otherwise I have my Converse. And bags - I have so many brands I couldn't even tell you.

I love when beauty serves you and how you feel. It’s here to empower you, to soothe you. I don’t like when makeup is used to change who you are or how you look. I am all about acceptance of who we are and loving ourselves.

I am a makeup minimalist. My signature look is bare skin and intense red lips, or messy hair with glitter eyes - balance is key to me. I use concealer, always - I go for the Estée Lauder Double Wear Waterproof Concealer, because I don’t have to touch it up at all during the day. Then I apply black mascara (I love Pure Color Envy Mascara). And I like to use my lipstick as my blush as well, so it's the same kind of colour - the colour I choose depends on the day. Lastly, a little bit of highlighter - and that's my go-to look. My favourite makeup tricks? Doing makeup with my fingers and using blush as an eyeshadow.

I feel my most beautiful when I see myself through my boyfriend’s eyes.

It could be in a moment where I’m not prepared, but I can see in his eyes that he thinks I’m beautiful. Sometimes you get used to it, but there can be a moment that will strike and you realise it again.

My skincare routine is long and rigorous - I am certainly not a skincare minimalist.

I am loyal when I find a product I love. I have this very soft cleanser that I use (it's like a milk), and then I spritz my face with water. I then use Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Intense Recovery Ampoules. I'm obsessed with anything “recovery” and it preps my skin really well. I then have this light cream that I put on top, and that's it. 

Since joining Esteé Lauder, I have discovered incredible products that are now my essentials, and I think I will stick with them for a very long time: the Advanced Night Repair PowerFoil Mask and Serum, Revitalizing Supreme+ Balm and the Double Wear Eye Pencil in Burgundy Suede. And the Pure Color Envy LipColor in Poppy Sauvage from my collection, of course.

For a night out, I'll put heels on and change my bag, but I keep the jeans and the t-shirt.

Then I like to grab a very strong or dark colour, I colour my eyes and smudge it with my finger. And then always freshen up with a little bit of my Estée Lauder concealer. 

When I wash my hair, I blow dry it a little to make it shinier.

And then I just put it up in a bun while I do my makeup. And I also do something a bit funny: I have this spray from Bumble and Bumble called Thickening Dry Spun Finish, which helps keep the shape you give to your hair. I put it on the roots of my hair and I pinch it up a lot - I even have a little clip that I put on my bangs to lift them more in the centre, because it gives them more of a ‘70s vibe. I don't like when my bangs are flat and round, which looks more ‘80s. And while it's setting like this, I'll do my makeup. And then I remove my bun and little clip, and the hair has a natural, messy wave.

My beauty look is a mix of boyish and feminine.

That's why, for me, the right balance is very important. For example, for hair, I like when the texture is really beautiful, clean and shiny, but it's a bit messy. Skin needs to be super healthy and fresh, but then imperfect, or else it looks fake. Nails are always done, but then paired with messed up jeans. It's always a balance of something you didn't look after, while the other thing is perfectly done. Honestly, I think that I'm very lucky to be a woman, and when I work on other women, I'm trying to celebrate them, so it's always about the same idea of balance. It's not about being someone else, not about trying too hard - it's always about being effortless.

My biggest beauty influence is women. All women.

I don’t have one icon. I love walking in the street - New York is an incredible source of inspiration because there is so much diversity and the women here dare to try. I love to look at them and imagine a little story of how they decided to wear a particular look. It’s like every woman is showing you a little part of herself.

To relax, I do transcendental meditation.

I don’t attend yoga classes as I am not ready yet. But every morning I do five to 10 minutes of yoga stretching that my very good friend, a skincare guru and yoga teacher, forces me to do. I do Pilates almost everyday - I just bought a reformer machine for my house, since I have such a crazy schedule, so now I can do it at home - no excuses. I used to paint, but that’s pretty rare now. But I garden - this is my current passion and it totally relaxes and grounds me.

I've recently started to understand how difficult ageing must be.

Before I used to think, “Wrinkles are so beautiful. What’s the problem with ageing? Why all this surgery?” I actually still feel the same way about wrinkles - I think it’s life and it’s beautiful. But I've started to see changes in my metabolism and if I drink too much, the next day is harder than before. I now have to work out more to maintain, and all these changes are so stressful, so I understand better now why people are resistant to ageing.

I see my friends who are around 45 years old - which is still young! - and between the ones who take care of themselves and the ones who smoke and eat unhealthy foods, I can see a big difference. So it makes me feel like ageing can be beautiful, but it depends on you and how you treat yourself. It’s very inspiring.

When I was a teenager, I wore red lipstick all the time, because I was in France.

I thought that as a woman, you wear a lipstick. I think I was 14. And red nails - I wore very deep red at maybe 12 or something. A perfect manicure was very important to me as a teenager. And I started to have fun with glitter pretty early. 18 was the big glitter phase in my life, but only on myself - I was 19 when I started to experiment on people as a makeup artist. But in school I wouldn’t wear any makeup - maybe just mascara. At that stage, beauty was not an obsession. Fashion was a bigger deal to me then.

I have these boots that help with lymphatic drainage, since I am always on my feet. I love them.

I also do facials at Rescue Spa every 6 weeks. At home, I do my own facials once a week. And after winter, I do a bit of cryotherapy to help my body recover from all the heavy food I’ve eaten. In New York, I go to Hortūs Nailworks for manicures - I will only go there. I also love Soho Sanctuary for massages and Shibui Spa.

I am now following a keto diet, and it has changed my life.

I don’t eat carbs or sugar - or even fruit, with the exception of berries - but I eat lots of good fats. I am so happy - I feel great and my body is in much better shape, and I am just much healthier overall. For breakfast, I’ll have a muffin with almond flour that I make myself, and some cheese or eggs with avocado. For lunch and dinner I’ll have some protein with veggies, and I make sure I have enough fat, as that is what gives me energy. I eat all organic and clean, nothing fried. It’s very close to what my diet was like back in Europe, so it’s not that big of a change. I also make my own coconut yogurt that I can eat as a snack with berries in the afternoon. I am never hungry, as I eat good quantities, and I am always full of energy.

I must admit, my stretches in the morning help me a lot. I pour cold water on my legs every morning and night to help with circulation, and I also use a dry brush everyday before my stretching to get rid of toxins. After having moved to New York City, where the food and elements are very different from France, I have to take a bit more care than I used to. But I actually enjoy doing all of these things, as it makes me feel so good.

I love apple cider vinegar in the morning to cleanse.

I do coconut oil-pulling first thing each day - it gets rid of all the toxins your liver clears out during the night. Sometimes I’ll do a week of aloe vera juice before each meal to help my digestive system, and I love a good turmeric and black pepper supplement to help me with any irritation or inflammation. And of course omega-3 for good skin. I still drink wine, as it is keto - which is good, because I need my dose of cheese and wine - I am French after all!”

Story by Tess Schlink. Images from Estée Lauder and Violette’s Instagram.

[kyurilin]

First Races

So I got inspired to write this on Wednesday but then didn’t actually get around to it until today.  I’ve wanted to do a thing with the different generations of the Hicks family for awhile now but didn’t know exactly how to until I thought of making it about just before their first races.  It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written but it was fun!  So here it is! 

Beginnings.  June 19, 1949.  Charlotte Speedway, North Carolina.

Dirt.  If he focused on the familiarity of dirt beneath unfamiliar racing tires, he almost felt at home.  He wasn't used to other voices, other cars here for the first official racing season.  He almost felt out of place, having been a late entry with a number he hadn't chosen (frankly he'd have preferred 47, it being his lucky number, but the officials had passed off the number 26 to him, and not wanting to argue, he'd taken it).  He was far from home, far from anyone who knew him, and still unsure if he actually was cut out for this.  But there was no doubt in his mind at least that he'd give it a shot- the stories of the non official races that popped up over the last few years had always fascinated him, and he was determined to get his name into it somehow.

If there was one thing that Richard Hicks, better known to family and friends as Rick, was, it was not a quitter.  

His coach was unfamiliar but friendly, a thing that calmed his nerves enough to make it easy to focus on something else while last minute details were sorted out.  He both dreaded the call to the starting line and could not be more excited for it.  In part because there was nothing he wanted more than to experience this, and in part because if he could get the family name out there as something other than a rumored family of master thieves like his grandfather, then it would be well worth it.

He didn't even care if he won; he just wanted to race.  If he could get the nerves out of the way, he could maybe tell himself that winning was possible.

Legend.  February 24, 1963.  Florida.   "Don't be nervous."

"That's easy for you to say." It came out more as a mutter than a sentence, but the '47 Buick Super next to him chuckled.

"C'mon Mick, nerves won't make it easy out there." 

Mick just decided to ignore the comment.  It wasn't that the setting was unfamiliar- he'd grown up around race tracks, grown up dreaming of this moment, grown up knowing that this was exactly what he'd wanted to do.  It was more of 'oh god oh god, it's finally here'.

"I know, I know.  Just shut up dad."  

Any other parent might have gotten irritated at his snappy attitude, but if anyone understood pre-first race nerves, it'd be Rick Hicks.

"They're absolutely gonna call you Michael on all the broadcasts.  Can't wait for that.  It'll be great."

   "Can't be any worse than the year the new guy called you 'Dick'."  Rick frowned.

"Okay yeah.  Let's not bring that one up.  No one let me live that down for the rest of the season." 

  "So, this is really gonna be worth it?"

"One hundred percent, Mick.  You're gonna be a legend, kid."  Despite the nerves, Mick smiled.

"You don't know that for sure."

  "Nah, I don't.  But it's what I always told myself, y'know.  It helps.  Just get out there and do your best.  And don't go trying any o' my tricks, cause if you get yourself hurt out there doin' stupid shit like I do, I don't think I'll like that."

   "I'll try to remember that dad."  

Second.  February 14, 1993.  Florida.

"Okay pops, ya gotta quit hanging around me like this.  Go be a champion somewhere else." 

Mick just rolled his eyes and stayed right where he was.

"Listen Chick, everyone else is still gonna bother you whether I'm hanging around you or not.  Besides, if I remember correctly, you came over here first."

Chick started to protest, but gave up.  It wasn't like his dad was wrong.  There was a lot of activity leading up to the start of the race; he would have liked for some levity in it, maybe if granddad and brother had been allowed in the area, but Rick stuck more to the stands these days and Thunder- begrudgingly- was with him.  His brother wasn't the biggest fan of racing, but had made a promise to be there for Chick's first race and that was all that really mattered.

   "Okay okay, so I did.  Just... nerves.  Y'know?"

"Believe me, I know about nerves.  Still get 'em.  Been on the track for 30 years, still nervous before every race.  Chrysler, it's getting rid of them that's the problem."

Despite the aforementioned nerves, Chick laughed.  

"That's good to know."

  "If you weren't nervous I'd be worried.  Racing's gotten a lot more intense.  Not to mention there's a lot of well known racers out there to look out for.  So don't get too worried if you don't do great, alright?  It ain't the end of the world."

   "I know, I know.  Race well, not cheap, be careful, and for the love of god don't zone out.  You've been telling me that since day one, I get it."  

An unspoken 'rule' from his dad also found its way into his thoughts - don't race like your grandpa.  Which, granted, coincided with this don't 'race well, not cheap' rule, but was more specific.

  "See, you've already got the hang of this."

   "Yeah, we'll see how I do on the actual track with everyone else."

   "I think you got this, Chick.  You're pretty good by yourself- just don't get too in your own hood if you're not doing as well as you want to.  You've got the potential to go really far with this.  And I'm not the only one who thinks so."

   He wouldn't say it- he was a little too stubborn to- but hearing that actually made him feel better about continuing the Hicks family legacy.

Reputation.  February 27, 2012.  Florida.

To say there was a lack of friendly faces would have been an understatement.  He didn't know if he was imagining the whispers or not, but every racer preparing for the race seemed to have glanced at him and wondered 'isn't that the new Hicks kid?'.  It was an unnecessary weight on him, but he was still determined to do this.  It'd been his dream since before that tiebreaker, and even after- but he hadn't really thought about the consquences of racing when his name brought back those events.

   And to think, he was just the nephew.

   He sighed, trying to ignore the either real or imagined stares.  He was alone until the beginning of the race, at least family wise.  The closest there was was Kori Turbowitz, and he only occasionally caught glimpses of her interviewing other racer, which for the moment was okay.  He figured he'd just come across as stressed, and that wouldn't look good at all.  Not that he didn't like Kori- she was pretty nice and admittedly a good match for his uncle- but he felt he'd snap at anyone who tried to interview him right now.  His mom had regrettably had to miss his first race for a movie shoot but had promised that she'd record it and watch it later.  And his dad was supposed to be somewhere in the crowd of cars but Dylan didn't actually know for sure whether or not he'd show up considering he knew his dad was not a racing fan and didn't know if his dad would drop that just for his son.  Either way, he was okay with it; maybe it'd be better if his dad didn't see how much he could screw up.

He was really getting too in his own hood about things.  He was Dylan Mackay Hicks, and dammit he was gonna prove everyone wrong.  The Hicks name, direct lineage to the original Rick Hicks or not, was not a shame to have.  So what, uncle Chick had done a really shit thing?  It didn't mean they were all bad.  Yeah.  He just had to get out there and prove that.  Which, was seeming harder done than said, and the more Dylan thought about it, the more he dreaded actually getting out there on that track.  He wished more than anything that Mick could have been there; he knew for certain that the old racer would have known exactly what to say.

   He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.  He could do this.  He wasn't going to help his nerves believing that everyone despised him because of who he was, he wasn't going to help himself by thinking he couldn't do this and that everyone would see him fail, he just had to believe in himself. And he had to make sure he didn't do anything that would be misconstrued as intentional aggression towards other races for the sake of being a better racer.  Right.  Easy.

Boy, this was not going to go well.

Legacy.  February 14, 2025.  Florida.

If she focused on anything other than the crowd noise and the mechanical whirrings of equipment being tested, she could almost believe she was alone out here.  But that kind of focus didn't come easy, and she sighed in frustration.  

"It's okay to be nervous, kid."  

She was convinced that she was the only one her dad ever was encouraging to, and it helped, a little.  Just enough that some of the nerves disappeared, but she still had plenty more of those to go around.  

"Is it really?"

"Absolutely not, he's fucking with you."  

Chick shot Dylan an exasperated look, but it got a grin out of Mickey.  Michelle 'Mickey' Hicks, named for her legendary grandfather she'd never met, about to begin her first racing season.  With her cousin as a coach, because despite him having only raced one season in the Piston Cup, he'd found it easy to race in other smaller leagues and later found it easy to coach.  It was actually a relief to her that she had a coach she knew rather than someone she didn't know.

   "It's fine dad, I know it's okay to be nervous.  I just didn't expect it to be so bad." 

  "You got a lot of people out there expecting a lot from you Mickey.  I'd be worried if you weren't nervous."  

He wasn't wrong, and she'd known it from the start.  Rumors had been passed around the Piston circuit as long as she could remember that she'd be next in line to continue the Hicks family legacy on the track; after Dylan's single season, there'd been uncertainty surrounding whether there'd ever be another from their family to race, if the family were even to continue.  And of course, once Mickey came onto the scene, the rumors swelled, taking form with the nickname she'd been graced with and the obvious intent to have it echo the name of her grandfather.  She'd grown up hearing stories about her great grandfather who had been good but not great in his time; her grandfather who'd won three Piston Cups without compromising a charm and grace that made him one of the most well respected in Piston history; and her father who had started out strong but had cut his career shorter than he'd wanted to because of the events of one race.  She knew without having to hear it again that his dream had been at least to continue racing until either his nephew or kid came onto the track to keep up the trend of overlapping careers; at the very least, he had gotten to see both of them go on to race.

  "They don't really expect me to go out and be amazing from the start, do they?"

  "Nah.  I mean, as far as I'm aware, they don't.  But there's a lot of 'em that are gonna say you got a lot to live up to."  

"I know." 

"I mean, you did name her after a legend, sooooo..."

"Dylan, are you trying to psych her out?" 

"Hey hey, I'm just saying."  Chick groaned.

"I shoulda vetoed you being her coach."  

"It's okay dad.  He's fine."

"Yeah, he better be."  

There was quiet for a few moments; at least, relatively in their group.  Her mom had wished her luck before the race; Kori was now mostly helping with a lot of the behind the scenes stuff like managing which racers got interviewed and when.  Her uncle had promised her he'd be there which was close to an actual miracle.  She had all the support she could have asked for, but it didn't make her any more nervous. 

  It really all boiled down to one thing- legacy.  There was always the cloud of things hanging over her that she had to live up to- her grandfather's ability to do well so consistently, Dylan's refusal to show his disappointment in being a one season show- and the things she had to be better than- her great grandfather's tricks and her dad's poor decisions.

   But in the end, all that really mattered was what kind of name she made for herself.  

[1dfangirls35]

The Fallout Chapter 1

After nuclear war leaves the world in shambles, Charlotte Breslow finds herself simply trying to survive, until an unexpected stranger reminds her of what it means to live again.

Read on Wattpad

Chapter 1- 463

463 days. 463 days have passed since the world as I knew it  ended. It has been 463 days since I last saw my parents. 463 days since I last binged on Netflix. 463 days since I wandered through the grocery store, checked my email, or navigated through the lovely Los Angeles traffic. 

I pull out my notepad from inside my worn black backpack. Its once light blue edges now wearing down to a dusty tan color. The spine binding beginning to loosen, enough so it doesn't quite stay open. I flip to the inside cover and trace my fingers over the "To our dearest Charlotte, may your journey await" in my mother's swirly script. 

I flip to the page I've marked last, with the edge bent slightly inwards. 463, I write in bold print. Wednesday, July 15th, 2020. I stare at it for a moment, letting it sink in. Wrapping my head around those numbers, that date. It was the only thing that I had to grasp onto anymore after all. 

"And what day would it be today?" 463 days ago I would have jumped at the sound of my little brother Luke's voice behind me. Today, I don't even bother to turn around. 

"Today is Wednesday, July 15th," I respond.

"Well then happy hump day Charlie!" Luke pulls off some obnoxious dance move and I roll my eyes. Sometimes Luke's sense of humor was the only thing getting me through the day. 

"Happy hump day Luke," I respond back with a grin, although we both knew there was no such thing as hump day anymore. 

I shove the notebook back in its assigned pocket for safekeeping, and begin to gather my belongings. There wasn't much anymore. The blanket my grandma knitted for me before I left for college. The hairbrush that kept me from developing a rat's nest at the nape of my neck. The small pillow which had a hard lump I couldn't quite get rid of. My backpack, which carried things that I didn't dare use. The duffle bag where Luke and I kept all the necessities, soap, Pork and Beans, matches, and of course Oreo Cookies. Today the bag felt a little lighter, which meant that once again we were growing low on the very items keeping us alive. 

"Where to today?" Luke asks as he slides into the drivers seat of the maroon Honda Odyssey we lovingly referred to as Gertrude. I was always the navigator, because apparently my six months post graduation living in California had given me the knowledge to navigate its every where about. 

"Liam told me to check out Pomona. He said they found some good stock ups there last week."

"Where's he been anyway, we haven't seen Harry and him in ages." Ages was a bit of an exaggeration, it had only been 12 days by my records, but twelve days out on our own seemed like so much longer.

"Twelve days. It hasn't been ages, its been twelve days,." I partly snap. Luke always had a small level of distrust in Liam,Harry as well. He argues I don't know either of them well enough to be trusting our lives to them. I argue that in this time there isn't anyone else left to trust our lives to. "Remember I told you they were going to follow that lead on the safe zone Liam heard about."

"You mean the safe zone that Liam made up?" Luke says back with a roll of his eyes. 

"It very well might be out there Luke, what do you want to do wander around this wasteland for the rest of your life?" Luke grows mute at my comment, and I wonder if I've come at him a little too strong. Death had become quite a sensitive subject considering recent events. 

"Let's try Pomona today. We are going to meet back up with Liam and Harry on Friday," I say. If you had asked me 463 days ago who would be the leader of the group of four survivors in a nuclear fallout, I definitely wouldn't have volunteered my name. Hell, I wouldn't have even counted myself as a survivor. But a lot has changed in 463 days, that's for certain. 

********

The Spears Ridge neighborhood was marked by a large, multi-tone rock on the corner of the street. A large sign indicating a new neighborhood was usually a sign that it would be a good location. Neighborhoods with signs were like that, full of well-stocked cupboards and closets. Luke slowly turns Gertrude around the corner, driving slowly as I look ahead for any sign of others. 

The streets look deserted, and from what I could tell they hadn't been touched for a while. We pull up to a large brownstone at first. After one more survey of the area we decide this is a good place to start. Luke and I each grab a duffle and head towards the door. 

As we approach the front door, Luke checks the door frame for the key. I scour the mat and under the flower pots. 

"Got it," Luke exclaims, holding a small silver key in his hand. That's one thing I'd learned being out here: everyone had the same hiding places for their spare keys. Luke slides the key into the lock and I soon hear the satisfying click that means we have access. 

Walking in we can see its been left fairly untouched. There's a slight disorder that was no doubt a result of the warnings we heard 463 days ago. But there wasn't any disorder that suggested someone else had been here to raid through the closets. 

"Jackpot," Luke says aloud as he opens a pantry full of canned goods. I head upstairs and raid the bathroom, finding ample soap, shampoo and even some badly needed lotion. I find the closet of a young woman, and am so pleased by her clothing tastes that I snag a few outfits, pushing them into my bag. 

"To the next one?" I ask Luke as I walk back down the stairs. He gives me a head nod and we make our way towards the front door once again. We barely take a step out the door when we hear it. The noise that even 463 days hadn't erased the response of my hair standing on end. The sound of a gun shot. 

"Don't move," I reach out to grab Luke's shoulder holding him in place. We hear incomprehensible shouting, but no more gun shots. Seconds later we hear the sound of one car race down the drive, my heart stops for a moment as they rush past our vehicle, but luckily they don't seem to notice. Another vehicle rushes off behind them.  We wait a few minutes, trying to return our pulse to a normal rhythm. The road becomes silent once again.

"So I guess we better head back then," Luke says grabbing for the keys in his back pocket. 

"Why would we do that?" 

"Why wouldn't we? You heard those gun shots. Someone else was here," I can tell by the paleness of my brother's face that he had gotten a little spooked. I should have thought that through before going to a high profile neighborhood that Liam suggested. When Liam heard things, others did too. 

"Luke, listen to me," I grab my brother's shoulder in a reinforcing grasp. "Someone else was here, but they are gone now. You heard them race off didn't you? They left, two vehicles left. We will be fine," Luke takes a deep breath. "C'mon," I say standing to my feet and slinging my black duffle across my shoulder once again. 

The next house doesn't have much. The following looks like they hadn't even moved in. We walk up to the third house. When Luke tries the door its already open, not atypical. We walk in and observe the surroundings. Its a bit of a mess, but when we open the kitchen cabinets we find that nothing has yet been looted. There's enough food in there to last us months. 

"We might need another bag," Luke says with excitement. 

It's while we are filling the second bag to the brim that I hear it. A loud crash from the upper level. We instantly freeze. Luke looks at me with his "I told you so" eyes. I bring a finger to my lips and draw out the knife that I carry at the back of my belt nowadays. You could never be too careful anymore, especially after what happened when Liam and I went to Beverley Hills .

I begin to creep up the stairs, knife in hand. It's then that I hear another thud, the sound of a body hitting the floor. "Shit!" The voice echoes through the hallways, its deepness has a strange noise to it, almost resembling an accent. I put my back to wall as I reach the top of the staircase, and hold the knife to my chest. Then, taking a deep breath, I reveal myself to the person sharing the house with us.

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