#which is usually the first hint I’m about to get a Bad Period and if that happens at work ill be so mammothly fucked

[hella1975]

MEDICATE MEDITATE SAVE YOUR SOUL FOR JESUS THROW A PUNCH FALL IN LOVE GIVE YOURSELF A REASON DONT WANNA DRIVE ANOTHER MILE WONDERING IF YOU’RE BREATHING SO WON’T YOU STAY WON’T YOU STAY WON’T YOU STAY WITH ME!! DON’T LET THIS DARKNESS FOOL YOU ALL LIGHTS TURNED OFF CAN BE TURNED ON I’LL DRIVE I’LL DRIVE ALL NIGHT!!! I’LL CALL YOUR MOM!!’

[hijackalx]

MALE BG3 CHARACTERS EATING OUT F!READER +18

characters included: gale, astarion, wyll, gortash

FEMALE BG3 CHARACTERS

a/n: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY YALL!!!! your bg3 pookies have a present for you !!!! (hint: it’s head)

ASTARION

you guys already know i’m a pleasure dom astarion truther 😹😹 at the end of the game he is WHIPPED for you. so he enjoys every minute of giving you head

and he’s so good at it. and he knows he’s good at it

well— he’s good at it as long as he has the patience. sometimes he’d just rather make you finish on his cock and you know how he is when he wants something

ANYWAY……. he’s obsessed with the way you taste. and smell. especially when you’re close to/on your period. will literally BEG you to let him eat you out then

can be a little rough when you’re bleeding though. he gets a bit overexcited 😹😹 sometimes he has to stop and bite your thigh to regulate himself, which honestly hurts worse LMAO

will look you in the eyes while he kisses your clit

he basically never breaks eye contact. eye contact is HUGE for him. he’s mostly watching how you react so he can adjust accordingly, but he also loves how intimate it is

SO much praise if you react the way he wants— “thaaat’s it... that’s my girl”. he loves hearing you whimper his name, he could literally get off to that alone. your voice is as sweet as you taste

secretly loves when you reach out to hold his hand lol. he thinks it’s so cute

also loves having to hold your legs open when you start to squirm/try to close them. your thighs will be so bruised after

when you tell him how good it feels he goes “i know, i know” in the sweetest, faux-sympathy tone. he’s cocky with it lmao

immediately goes “come give me a kiss, darling” after you finish and he hasn’t wiped his face off yet. half of him is doing it to tease you and the other half genuinely wants you to kiss him lol

WYLL

i’m going to be honest i think you’re his first

he’s a little nervous to try it but he’s also SO eager. he’s just worried he’s not going to be good at it lol

he needs a lot of praise and reassurance. he’s constantly watching your expressions to see if you like it, but at the same time he doesn’t really know what to do if you don’t 😹

at first he’ll need some direction but he learns so fast. will start out slow and hesitant but eventually just loses himself in the pussy LMAO

gets rock hard from eating you out. the sounds and faces you make drive him crazy, mostly because he’s so eager to please. LOVES to know when he’s doing good

the type to moan into your pussy. probably because he’s grinding into the bed 😹😹

i think he could probably finish just from eating you out

when he gets more confident, he can be a bit of a tease. sometimes he’ll stop to pepper kisses on your thighs so he can hear you beg for him to keep going

he feels bad making you beg for too long though so he gives in pretty quick lol “anything for you, my love” or “your pleas are so beautiful— how could i say no?”

also i think he’ll eventually try to fuck you with his fingers while he eats you out too. once he gets the hang of balancing both it’s MAGICAL

likes to eat you out while you’re standing. something about having your leg propped over his shoulder while looking up at you from his knees does something to him BAD

he usually doesn’t want to overstim you because it feels mean 😹😹 but he will absolutely keep going if you want him to

GORTASH

i don’t think he really ate pussy before he met you LMAO

he seems like he can be a pretty selfish lover— if there’s nothing in it for him then what’s the point?

BUT……….. there’s something about you…….

he feels a little weird the first time he gets the urge to do it. he sticks his fingers in his mouth to clean them after they were inside you…… and when that creamy taste hits his tongue….. boom……. his third eye opens

he’s not super adept at it to start, but he’s got the spirit 😹😹

he literally eats it like he’s STARVING. i’m talking lickin’ and suckin’ on ANYTHING he can put in his mouth. nothing is safe. clit? assaulted. lips? sucked on. hole? tongue-fucked

even when he’s eating you out it’s like he’s doing it for himself LMAO. he just disappears into his own little world

he DOES love your praise though, so that kind of encourages him to try to work it out of you. he needs to hear you tell him how good it feels or it’ll bruise his ego

reaches up to knead a titty while he’s doing it

LOVES to do a bunch of hungry, flat sweeps with his tongue. will also press and hold it against you like that to get you to grind on it. he wants to see how needy you are

will say nasty shit into your pussy. “you taste so fucking good, baby”, “daddy loves this pretty little pussy of yours”. you can feel every vibration from his voice

will want to spit in your mouth after

GALE

i feel like gale is the greatest pussy eater there is. like he basically has no vices when it comes to eating you out

he’s extremely sensitive and receptive so he always knows what to do. sometimes you don’t even have to say anything. he just figures it out

his FAVORITE position is facesitting. eating pussy is a literal hobby to him

he’s SO good with his tongue. he has such good control of it and uses it to absolutely destroy your clit. his switching between circling and flicking will make you finish embarrassingly fast

will overstimulate you if you let him. he’ll keep making you cum on his tongue until your whole body is shaking

also the way his beard feels against your inner thighs/lips…………… magnificent……

since he’s a thigh man he loves to knead/bite/rub on your thighs too. will legit almost bust when you try to close your legs around his head. it’s that serious 😹😹

LOVES when you grind on his face. will grab you by the hips and encourage you to do it. you using his face to get off is so hot to him

likes to stimulate your g-spot with his fingers while simultaneously sucking on your clit. also gets off to all the lewd, wet sounds he creates while he does this

moans and groans like he’s eating a five star meal LMFAO

talks A LOT but it somehow doesn’t get in the way of what he’s doing. most of it is incoherent mumbling along the lines of “so good, so good”— but other than that he tells you how gorgeous/perfect your pussy is. i’m not joking when i say he worships your pussy

he WILL try to make you squirt. he’s in the splash zone for a reason baby

[torialefay]

You Know Whose You Are 👀

hyunjin x gn!reader smut

✨ friends to lovers trope 🔞

✨ request: "Hi!! For your smut prompts can I pls request Hyunjin & 24 (Hyunjin being the jealous one)? Maybe enemies to lovers or friends to lovers scenario? And for the actual p-in-v part can he fck reader holding her up against the wall (like her back against the wall and legs around his waist position)? Sorry if this is a lot, I’m on my period and I’m having many specific thoughts lmao. Thank you!! 🥰🤍" -anon

✨ word count: ~3.5k

✨ warnings: porn with a plot; minors dni!

• you and hyunjin had become close friends quite a while ago.

• he quickly became one of your closest friends after you'd met him in a bookstore after first arriving to korea.

• while keeping your eyes fixated on the rows of books next to you, you accidentally ran straight into his chest.

• after quickly apologizing to him, you both struck up a conversation about your favorite books & authors. you had no clue who he was, and he liked that about you.

• a real friend.

• since that day, you'd messaged back and forth a lot, hung out almost on a routine basis, and made lots of fun memories.

• after a while, you eventually found out he was an idol (it was bound to happen with his weird "work schedule" he always had), but it didn't matter. he was the same hyunjinnie that you'd built a solid friendship with over the past few weeks.

• but that was the problem- you didn't want it to be just a friendship.

• and who could blame you? hyunjin was the most amazing, kind, intelligent person you'd ever met. you had more in common with him than even your very best friend. it was only natural to develop those feelings for him.

• but you knew the feelings weren't reciprocated.

• he'd never made so much as a subtle hint that he was interested in you as more than a friend... and let's be honest, he was basically the most wanted guy in all of korea. how could you compete with all these other beautiful people?

• so you didn't even let your mind wander to that extreme. you accepted the fact that he'd be nothing more than a friend to you, no matter how much you knew it could have worked out.

• "my best friend", you'd learned to teasingly call him. and soon, even you started to believe it. only that.

• one day, you'd gone over to hyunjin's apartment. he mentioned that he wanted to repaint the walls in the living room, so you offered up some of your free time to help him out.

• it wasn't super often that you came to his apartment. only a couple of times. you'd usually only gone out to do things together like go to a new art gallery or to grab coffee and talk about life. cutesy little things.

• you weren't the most familiar with his apartment, but that didn't matter much as you quickly settled in. you placed your phone in the kitchen to blare music, then headed to the living room to help coat the walls with a fresh set of paint.

• it did take a bit longer than you thought, but you didn't mind. when you and hyunjin were together, you always had fun, taking little jabs at each other and laughing to funny stories you had. the time always seemed to melt away.

• after a couple of hours, your playlist turned off. you guessed it had run out of songs.

• "jinnie, could you get a new playlist going on my phone?" you held your hands up, covered in paint. "i think it'd take me a while to do it."

• he laughed, realizing how messy you were compared to him.

• he didn't need to say anything, just got up and walked over to the kitchen, which was only a few steps away.

• as he went to tap the screen, a notification popped up... from one of hyunjin's life-long friends.

• the two of you had met a week or so ago when hyunjin invited him to go to a poetry reading with the two of you. his friend, ha-joon, wasn't necessarily as into the activity as the two of you were, but hyunjin felt bad canceling his original plans with him when he'd found out the event was happening and really wanted to go.

• and now... he was texting you?

• he read the message as it splayed across the screen:

Ha-Joon: Excited to see you tomorrow :) What are you doing?

• it's not that you were very enamored by ha-joon when you first met, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. plus he was friends with jinnie, so you figured he couldn't be too bad. when he messaged to ask if you'd be interested in going out with him, you thought you'd give it a shot. it's not like you had any other romantic prospects.

• "what's your password? i'll flip to a different playlist," hyunjin raised his voice, trying to act non-chalant. he silently thanked the fact that he was just out of sight.

• "2-7-4-4-1-2" you said back to him.

• he quickly scrolled through the playlists and chose one, letting the music blast through the speaker once again.

• "i'm gonna get a drink, do you want one?" hyunjin lied, going to open up the messages on your phone.

• "yeah, i'll take a water if that's okay?"

• "sure, i'll get it in just a sec." he started to sound nervous as he clicked to ha-joon's name on your phone. dang, texts going back to the beginning of the week. he quickly scrolled through to find quite a few message exchanged between the two of you. he scrolled back to the conversation that started last night.

Ha-joon: This might be a little bold, but I'd really like to get to know you more. Not just through texting. Would you want to grab a coffee sometime? Just you and me?

Sure! That'd be really fun :)

Ha-joon: Are you free sometime tomorrow?

I'm not really sure yet. I'm going to help Hyunjin paint. How about we just plan for the next day?

Ha-joon: Sounds good to me!

Ha-joon: Hyunjin will be okay with this, right? With us meeting up?

I don't see why not. He'd probably be happy about introducing us!

Ha-joon: Okay, I just didn't know if I should let him know or not is all.

Ahh that's okay. I don't think we need to rope him into any of this unless things go well between us ☺️

Good plan. I'm excited to see you!

Same here :) Text me tomorrow and let me know where you want to meet up.

Will do! Sleep well 😊

• hyunjin felt his heart break. he knew he had no right to. but he couldn't help it.

• of course he harbored feelings for you. how could he not fall for the one girl he ever felt like truly "got" him?

• but he hadn't wanted to tell you. not yet. he didn't want you to think that was the only reason he kept hanging out with you. he genuinely LOVED being around you. he was himself when he was with you. and he was so scared he'd lose that if he told you.

• but he hadn't said anything. so he couldn't be upset.

• he mentally kicked himself for introducing you to ha-joon.

• he thought on it for a bit as he reached into the fridge to grab a bottle of water for you. he quickly exited out of the app as he rested your phone back on the table to play the music.

• the upbeat tunes coming out completely mismatched what he was feeling in the moment.

• he stood for a moment, then walked back to the living room, where he saw you sitting cutely on the floor, knees bent criss-crossed as you painted the bottom of the wall carefully.

• suddenly, he started to think about how lucky he felt with this sight in front of him. and how he didn't want another man to be able to see you like this: hair tied up, sitting contently on the floor, completely covered in paint, looking so happy just to be there while bopping your head to the beat without a worry in the world.

• he wanted that. he wanted you. and suddenly, he saw red.

• he leaned against the door frame, now subconsciously squeezing the bottle of water in his hand.

• "y/n, can you come over here for a minute?" he said, voice now full of authority. his face looked annoyed, as he looked off, not able to focus his eyes on you.

• you looked at him confused for a moment, then carefully stood up, walking over to him wondering what was wrong all of a sudden.

• "what is it?" you asked, looking up at him innocently. you could tell something had him deeply bothered.

• his jaw clicked for a moment before he finally looked at you.

• "why didn't you tell me you were going out with my best friend?"

• the question caught you off guard.

• "were you going through my phone?" you asked. you didn't mean to sound accusatory, but that's how it came out.

• "i didn't mean to, but there it was." he looked down at you, not backing down.

• "i mean, yeah, he invited me to get coffee... is it a big deal? i thought you'd be happy if maybe we started seeing each other."

• "well, i'm not."

• "look jinnie, i'm sorry. maybe i should have told you, but i didn't think you'd care. surely he's a good person if he's your friend. and i'd like to think i'm a good person, so it just-" suddenly, he cut you off.

• "it's not about being a good person, y/n!" he began to raise his voice. "what about me?!"

• "what about you?" you asked, voice full of confusion.

• "i like you, goddamn it! give me a chance, not him!" he was full on yelling now, pressing himself up against you. suddenly, you felt small, but so fucking smitten at the same time. hyunjin actually liked you? this whole time?

• your head started spinning. it was just... it was a lot. you began to slowly move back from him a bit.

• "jinnie... i don't... i don't know what to say."

• he followed your path, pushing his body forward toward yours. you were about to be trapped in against the freshly painted wall behind you. you had no where else to go without ruining the wall.

• "say you'll let me take you out. not him." his eyes were trying to tell you something, but you couldn't quite pinpoint what. you'd never seen him like this.

• "i can't just do that to him... i mean he's your friend and i don't want to make things weird and i didn't know you even thought about me-" you were just rambling at this point before hyunjin cut you off.

• "i don't give a fuck if he's my friend. i wanted you first." he pushed his body right against yours, your front feeling him completely. he aligned his face perfectly in front of yours.

• "for how long?" you asked meekly.

• "since i first saw you." he let his eyes wander down to look at your lips before coming back up to focus on your eyes.

• being so close to you, he lightly closed his eyes, letting his lips linger next to you. "give me a chance first. if you don't like it, you can go to him... but i want you more than he does. i promise you that."

• goose bumps popped up along your skin. you couldn't believe he was actually into you. it was actually such a shock, you almost didn't even let your mind think on it. you'd wanted it so bad and suppressed it for so long. you didn't even know what to think. so you remained quiet, just pondering on what you could say.

• "let me show you," he whispered into your ear, getting too impatient to wait for your response. "let me show you how good i could be to you."

• again, you couldn't muster up words. you were so shell-shocked, you didn't even know where to start.

• he leaned into your ear, his breath hot over top of you.

• seductively, he whispered into you, "just tell me to stop," before planting a slow kiss to the side of your neck, at the sensitive spot right below your ear.

• you let out a slight moan at the unexpected sensation. you felt the hairs on your body start to stand up.

• hyunjin smiled and moved his small kisses along your jaw and cheek, then planting straught onto your lips.

• he wasted no time in deepening the kiss, running his hands through your hair until he was holding the back of your head in one hand and squeezing your jaw with the other. he wanted full control of you.

• he moaned as you slipped your tongue into his mouth, giving him access to enter inside your mouth too.

• as you smiled into him, he walked you back until you were pressed up against the wet wall. to hell with it.

• you continued grappling at each other, shoving tongues down throats like horny teenagers. you couldn't help it. this was all you'r ever wanted.

• until you started feeling hyunjin slightly buck his hips into yours. you felt his bulge grind the tiniest bit against you, turning you on with the gentlest touch.

• he let out a small chuckle as you moaned at the sensation.

• he kept sucking on your tongue, harder and harder as he more fervently grinded himself into you. you could feel him getting rock hard against you. and fuck did it feel so good. you couldn't help but pant, and run your hands along his body, desperate to grapple onto whatever you could.

• you pulled on his collar, pushed your hand up his shirt to run along his abdomen, tugged on his waist band- anything and everything you could cling to in order to feel closer to him.

• and he reciprocated fully. he moved his hand around your jaw to secure your face down against the wall, pinning you back hard. his mouth never disconnected from yours as he used his other hand to run along your body. down your neck, around your boobs, down your stomach, down to wear he ground against you, hoping to make brief contact with you before taking his hand around your waist to grab your ass.

• you moaned loudly as he shoved his tongue deep into your mouth and grabbed a handful of your ass with a harsh squeeze. the slight pain felt too fucking good to not yell out about.

• your noises only agged him on more.

• he pulled his mouth off of yours for a split moment.

• "let me take these off?" he asked hungrily, pulling at the top of your leggings.

• you didn't have to respond, you quickly yanked the fabric down, along with your underwear and ripped them from your feet and to the side.

• he smiled down at the sight, loving how willing you were to give into him.

• he connected his mouth back to yours as he followed suit and hastily unbuttoned and slid down his pants and boxers.

• when he was done, he grunted as he felt himself now unclothed, finally getting some friction against you.

• you couldn't contain yourself as you heard him grunt for you. you quickly pulled your hand up to your mouth, spitting into it quickly before bringing it back down to stroke hyunjin's cock.

• "ah fuck," he let out, letting himself grow harder and harder. this was the hardest he'd ever been.

• a wave of aggression came over him as he started to feel territorial. he brought a hand around your neck to give it a tight squeeze.

• "faster," he instructed. he reached his hand down to toy with you too, slowly working up pace.

• you felt yourself becoming more deprived of oxygen as you pumped your hand along him, going down to his tip. when he wasn't satisfied, he rested his forehead on yours and began thrusting his cock into your hand, throwing out grunts as he went. he kept working at your hole until you were lightheaded and writhing underneath him.

• he smiled and let out a little laugh as he released the pressure from your neck to let you gasp for air. you felt light-headed and needed to come back down. but hyunjin didn't let up.

• "let me fuck you." it was more of a demand than a question, but you didn't fight it. you slowly nodded from underneath him.

• he swiftly rand both hands down to your waist and then around your ass until they were resting behind your thighs.

• "jump," he instructed.

• you weren't sure about this. you'd never done it before. you were scared you'd fall and ruin the moment, but you decided to just put your trust into it. pushing your back against the wall, you threw your legs up as he guided them and secured them in place around his hips. he made sure to support the rest of you by keeping your back pressed tight to the wall.

• he used one hand to guide his dick to your entrance before steadily thrusting himself inside. it took your breath away at the sudden stretch and feeling of him inside of you. he didn't give you very much time to settle into it though as he started to fuck into you. hard and steady.

• his hand came back up to support under your thighs, securing you on top of him and pushing you back so your head was almost slamming into the wall as he pounded into you.

• you felt so good around him. so tight. squeezing onto him for dear life.

• he hungrily brought his mouth to your next as he sent fast, angry strokes into your. he guided his tongue around, planting sloppy kisses and fast, violent bites that made you scream out. he fucking loved it. he wanted to hear you scream. make you forget about any other man.

• "that's right baby, scream for me. you know whose you are," he growled. he was fucking you so hard you thought you'd pass out from the overstimulation of it all.

• you kept moaning for him, not knowing how to do anything else.

• before too long, you felt yourself start to pant harder, feeling hyunjin hit just the right spot. you started to grow warm inside, getting your breath taken away with each pounding.

• "jinnie," you breathed out, finally opening your eyes to see him with his eyes hyper focused on you, like he was ready to attack at any moment.

• you could only breathe heavily before repeating his name again. "jinnie, i'm gonna cum." you felt yourself reach a breaking point. it was coming. now.

• "that's fucking right. you're gonna cum for me right now... it's just me from now on. only me." he growled, fucking himself into you faster. "cum on me right fucking now!" he ordered, ramming into just the right spot to send you over the edge.

• you gasped as you threw your head back, beginning to spasm around his cock.

• "ahhh fuckkkkk, just like that," hyunjin mimicked you, throwing his head back now too. "fuck, fuck, fuck," he breathed out, slamming into you faster than ever.

• "ughhhhhhhhh," he yelled as you felt him release inside of you. you could feel yourself still shaking around him, not being given any sort of break.

• as he finished out his high, you wiped at the few tears that had built up in your eyes from the overstimulation.

• once hyunjin was done, he slowly lowered your legs off of his hips and set them back down on the floor, keeping his cock resting inside of you as he put you down.

• with you both now panting and trying to settle down, he just brought both hands up to cradle the sides of your face. he pushed himself a bit deeper inside of you, just enjoying the feeling of resting within you.

• he smiled down as he planted a soft kiss to your forehead.

• you smiled back up at him, placing your hands on his chest over his heart.

• "i think this is how we're meant to be," hyunjin said in a low voice.

• "i think so too," you grinned.

• he kept planting tiny kisses onto the same spot of your forehead. "tell me you aren't still going with him tomorrow."

• "of course not. i know whose i am." you gave him a quick wink.

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

✨ if you enjoyed, please consider liking, commenting, or re-blogging <3

✨ head over to my masterlist for more!

[wosoamazing]

Periods

Summary: you get your third period and it’s bad but Lia and Leah take care of you.

Warnings: Bad period, vomit, hints at Leah’s endometriosis (but not actually mentioned)

A/N: I understand that Lia and Leah are not together, but this is purely fiction so…. Hope you like it, also as always requests are welcome, and I am working on the current requests I have.

“Hey Y/N/N, why aren’t you up yet? The girls are coming over soon.” Beth asked, you had stayed at Beth and Viv's for the night as Leah was going out with some friends and you didn't want to be left alone.

“My stomach hurts Beth, it’s like cramping,” she furrows her eyebrows and pulls back your covers, to see a red patch underneath you.

“Oh, I think you’ve got your period, don’t worry it’s okay, it happens to all of us, there are some products in the bottom draw of the bathroom, have a shower and I’ll change the sheets for you,” she left you in the spare room, you quickly grabbed some clothes for the day and made your way to the bathroom, passing Beth in the hall.

You spent quite some time in the shower the warm water felt really nice, once you got out you put a tampon in and a pad on, you didn’t want to leak, you have only had 2 previous periods, but hadn’t leaked onto the sheets even the first time you got one, so you were more concerned than usual, after getting dressed you headed downstairs.

You had barely made it down the stairs, each step was accompanied by a stab in your lower abdomen. With each step the number of tears leaking out of your eyes increased. You walked into the living room where you could hear voices coming from, as you rounded the corner Lia saw you and her face dropped. “Oh Bug, come here” she said as she gestured for you to come sit with her, she was sat in the corner seat of the couch with her legs crossed, Steph was sat next to her, normally you would’ve resisted her offer, you didn’t like to have to have people take care of you, but in this moment you just wanted comfort preferably from your sister but Lia was the next best thing, you had seen her take care of Leah many times and sometimes Leah even asked Lia for help, especially when she had her period, and she was very good at it. So, you went over at sat in her lap. You sat horizontally to her, leaning your side into her, and placing your head into the crook of her neck, you brought your knees up to your chest and curled yourself up in hopes of reducing the pain you were experiencing.

Shortly after Beth had entered the room, holding some pains meds and your Arsenal water bottle in one hand and a hot water bottle and some sick bags in the other, you were slightly confused as to why she had those but didn’t bother to question, the girls had dealt with Leah’s periods a few times so maybe they were preparing just encase. “Here,” you sat up slightly as Beth handed you the pains meds and water bottle, she placed the sick bags next to Lia. After you swallow the pain meds, she gave you the hot water bottle which you put on your stomach before collapsing back into Lia as you let out a whimper.

“Where is Le?”

“She’ll be here soon, was just picking some things up. It’s okay, I’m here for you, anything you need at all, I know they haven’t been this bad before, but its okay” Lia told you. She practically knew everything about you, she was essentially living in your house now so it was expected.

“Do you want something to eat?” Beth asked you, you shook your head.

“You should try and eat something Kleintje, what about just a piece of toast” Viv asked

You didn't nod but you didn't shake your head either, so Viv decided to go make you a piece of toast, she lightly buttered it for you and brought it back. You managed to get through half of it before you started to feel sick, you gave it back to Viv and tried to take your mind of the sick feeling, however it only increased, you were very similar to your sister when you were sick or in pain so Lia noticed almost immediately, she got herself prepared with a sick bag trying to be as discrete as possible. You released from your ball as you gagged, Lia held the sick bag for you, and Steph rubbed your back. Once you finished you leaned back into Lia as Viv took the bag from her and said, “I’m going to call Leah,” to which everyone nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, starting to cry, you try and burry yourself into Lia further, she pulls you closer and just wraps her arms around you once again, whispering “It’s okay Bug, we’ve got you” in your ear. You drift off to sleep, shortly after.

_____

You wake up in a different place, you were still lying on Lia, but in different surroundings much more familiar surrounds. You were in your own house, Lia was sitting on your couch. Lia had noticed your stir “Hey Bug, Leah is just having a quick shower, then she will be out, how are you feeling?”

“B-bad” you said as tears leaked out of your eyes.

Lia noticed you were trying to move “Where do you want to go?” “Toilet” “Okay, do you want help up?” you shake your head. You try and manoeuvre yourself out of Lia’s lap, however it was unsuccessful and your movement caused a wave of stabbing pains to course through your abdomen, your breath hitched, you felt sick, like you were going to be sick, but you couldn’t be. Lia had noticed this, the bathroom wasn’t an option, and with your pain so bad, she didn’t want to move at all, every time she breathed you whimpered ever so slightly so she knew moving to reach the bowl would be all too much, she was just glad her and Leah had the idea to put towels down on the couch. You gagged, cupping your hand to your mouth, not knowing what you were trying to achieve as there wasn’t really another option other than the one you really didn’t want to face

“It’s okay, just let it out, we can just clean it up” she said in a soft, kind and reassuring tone. You gaged again, the only difference was this time something came up, and it went on you and Lia, “It’s okay, don’t worry, I’m here” Lia said as she rubbed your back. “Oh Bug,” Leah said as she walked out just catching a glimpse of the end of the what had just unfolded, she quickly walked over and grabbed the bowl placing it front of you, you gag again and loose more of your stomach contents, thankfully this time none of it was going on you though, Lia rubbed your back while Leah spoke encouraging words in your ear. “I’m sorry” you said shaking once you were done.

“It’s okay Bug, come on let’s get you showered” she picked you up, and took you to the bathroom, once you had gotten all cleaned up and changed, Leah directed you to her room as she helped you walk, Lia was already there sitting on ‘her’ side of the bed, she had also gotten prepared, there was water, pain meds, hydrolyte, sick bags and cloths on either side of the bed. You got onto the bed and Leah followed, leaving you positioned in the middle of the two women. Lia handed you some pain meds and water which you took before curling up with the hot water bottle on your stomach. Leah was rubbing your back, hoping that eventually it might soothe you to sleep, but it didn’t, only your whimpers got worse. You let out a little cry as Leah repositioned herself on the bed, she positioned the pillows so that her upper body was just slightly propped up. “Bug, I’m going to try something, it might hurt at first, but it should help, okay?” You nod slightly, so she gently slides you so that you are resting on top of her, she pulled you up slightly too so that your head on her shoulder, the movement cause you to cry, “Oh Bug, I know I’m sorry, I love you” she kissed you on the temple before continuing “I’m going to place my hands on your stomach okay, I’ll start ever so gentle and then slowly and slightly increase the pressure, but if at anytime you want me to stop just tell me and I will,” you nod. She places her hands on your stomach just below your waistband, you can feel the warmth of her hands and your body relaxes slightly, and with that Leah starts to apply a small amount of pressure, you wince and reach out for Lia’s hand seeking comfort, she slides over from where she is on the bed to be right next to Leah, you felt her at Leah’s side and slightly moved your head, so it was resting on her shoulder. Having relaxed into the initial pressure Leah increased, you whined and tried to pull back, Leah immediately moved her hands away “Sorry Bug, do you want me to stop?” “No, it does help, but also hurts a little, but not too much, better than the other pain” “Okay, but again tell me to stop if you need” you nodded your head and she continued, she felt you relax completely when you eventually fell asleep, but she kept massaging for a few minutes just to be sure you were in a deep sleep, your hand loosened on Lia’s and that’s when she stopped knowing you were definitely asleep.

“You’re a really good sister to her you know that right?” “Yeah, I suppose, I really don’t want her to leave, but she needs to, she needs to keep developing and as much as it pains me to say it, she isn’t going to improve at arsenal, she has just been playing with us for too long now, she knows the ins and outs of us, and even every defender on other teams, she needs new competition, new play style. I just, I don’t, in a few weeks everything is going to be so different” Leah broke at the final sentence, Lia wrapped her arm around her and kissed her on the temple, before Leah rested her head in the crook of Lia’s neck, her tears slid down her face, making Lia’s neck wet as she tried to hide her emotions, this was the first time Leah had actually expressed how she felt about your move, Lia knew how she felt but Leah hadn't actually spoken to anyone about it yet. “You know its okay to cry right, you both have such a special bond, she has lived with you for the past 6 years and you lived with her for like the first 8 years of here life-” “something like that yeah” “I know it will be different, I’ll miss her too, I spend so much time with her and I basically live here now, it’s like she is my little sister. But we have each other we will get through this together okay, I love you so much Le” “I love you too Wally, and if it helps, she definitely thinks of you as a big sister, I don’t think she would’ve let any of the other girls look after her today the way she let you do willingly, and did you see her reach for your hand and relax slightly when you came closer, she loves you too Wally, and also thank you so much for taking such amazing care of her today, while I wasn’t there. Sorry you got sick on you”.

Lia made a gross face at the reminder of that “I don’t think I would willingly let anyone other than my two Williamson’s vomit on me, ever. I just feel so bad for her, do you think we should take her to the doctor? Like I know with you and all there are the chances and stuff but what if something is wrong.”

“Oh don’t worry Mum has her booked in for an ultrasound already, somehow she managed to get one for tomorrow which in hindsight isn’t going to be fun to get her to but oh well” your sister looked down to your face a small frown was appearing she moved one of her hands back onto your stomach and the frown slightly lessened, she lightly started massaging again and the frown disappeared, so she kept going, hoping that you could sleep, as clearly even in your sleep you were in pain. “I do hope though that this is just a one off, I don’t want her to have to go through it, deal with this or worse every month.”

“I know, I hope so too, but we will be here for her and Lucy and Kie will look after her, and the girls at Barca, they all seem lovely”

“Yeah, it, just, I don’t know,” Leah sighed, they laid in silence for a bit before Lia spoke.

“Babe, I might try and sleep, if that’s okay, because it’s not like we are going anywhere soon and I’m slightly exhausted, after last night and then today”.

“Yeah, I might sleep too, love you,” they kissed briefly before Leah placed her head in the crook of Lia’s neck again and Lia rested her head on hers.

____

“Oh, Cait, I found them, shhh” Katie said, Caitlin came in and took a picture, Leah and Lia held hands over you, as you hand your hand was still placed in Lia’s and Leah’s other arm was wrapped around you.

“They are so cute, let’s just leave them be, leave the stuff on the bench I’ll send them a message”.

____

Leah woke up first and grabbed her phone, seeing a message from Caitlin.

Caitlin: We came to drop of a few things, you didn’t answer so we let ourselves in, we found all 3 of you asleep, so let you be, the items are just on the bench.

Caitlin: *sent a photo*

Leah: Thank you so much, and could you not tell people straight away….. I mean I know the team probably assumes but we haven’t told Bug yet, were going to tell her today but…

Caitlin: Yeah sure, hope she feels better.

____

You blinked your eyes open, and Leah looked down at you, “Feeling better Bug?”

“A little I guess,” you paused for a little moment, “Le?” “Yeah Bug,” “Are you and Lia together?” “Well Bug, in a way I suppose yes, we were going to ask you if you were okay with us being together today, but we decided not too because you weren’t well”.

“Okay, I don’t mind, can Lia move in now? Well like does it mean she will move in?”

“If you’re okay with that bug.”

“I would like that, I love Lia, she is really nice and fun, and she takes care of me and doesn’t complain when I throw up on her, and she makes you happy, and she is always the first one to check you’re okay and she really cares for you and helps you, even when you push her away. Don’t mess this one up Le, but maybe before she moves in just check, she wants kids…. And maybe marriage.”

“I’m glad you like her bug, because I do really like her, and I promise I wont mess this one up.” “I’m just going to go to the toilet” you say as you get up and head for the toilet shutting the door.

“Having little mini me’s wandering around the house one day could be cute, and I reckon she would make a great wedding planner, that way she wouldn't have to choose between us, for bride's maid”

“You were awake? You heard all that?” Lia nodded and smiled, which caused Leah to smirk before they kissed.

[loaksky]

no thoughts other than professor!abby / coworker!abby and the holiday stocking ! this is like 80 percent backstory bc who am i to not blabber about my new favorite trope...full length fic abt them in the works oops! not proofread + no warnings other than language!

tlou masterlist | main masterlist

⋆.ೃ࿔ first let’s set the scene by establishing that abby’s probably a tenure-track professor in a hyper specific literature study or maybe cross-teaches a course or two in the women and gender studies department. you’re a new educator probably teaching english 101?

⋆.ೃ࿔ abby first sees you at the faculty meeting for her department during the late summer and is immediately enamored.

⋆.ೃ࿔ by some stroke of luck, she finds that she’s been assigned to your neighboring office and her final lecture is held in the hall across from yours.

⋆.ೃ࿔ abby’s usually pretty good about the timing of her lectures and she ends up finishing 10-15 minutes early every session. so sometimes she hears the tail end of your lessons and can’t help but think you’re so fucking brilliant.

⋆.ೃ࿔ the students are taken by you too, usually not paying any mind to professors that teach lower level classes, but you’re animated and hands-on, and abby realizes that maybe she should take a page from your book.

⋆.ೃ࿔ literally can’t work up the courage to say anything to you first and is so surprised when she’s having an internal warfare one day while she’s locking up the lecture hall and you slink past her.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “have a good weekend dr. anderson!”

⋆.ೃ࿔ nearly short circuits because how in the fuck do you know her name? (hint hint: you haven’t been able to get a grip after seeing her in the same faculty meeting she’d basically fallen head over heels for you at).

⋆.ೃ࿔ for the life of her, can’t get her shit together over the weekend. is so scatterbrained because the hot new professor knows her name?? practically spirals because that means that she’s been perceived and she has no idea if it’s a good or bad thing because what do you think of her ???

⋆.ೃ࿔ runs into you bright and early monday morning as she’s about to duck into her office and she wants to make a beeline for the safety of her ergonomic chair, but you look a little frazzled and she’s speaking before she can stop herself.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “everything alright?” she asks as you miss the slot for the keyhole a few times and blow out a shaky sigh.

⋆.ೃ࿔ notices you’re carrying a fuckton of things and is wordlessly grabbing your stack of folders and taking your heavy knapsack from you as you finally get the key in the keyhole.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “thank you so much,” you say, voice thick with unshed tears. “i just, fuck, shit, sorry, that wasn’t professional—”

⋆.ೃ࿔ and she could melt because you’re so cute.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “i don’t think i saved the form for midterm grades on my laptop and the battery just crapped out on me, and i’m pretty sure i just missed the deadline and—”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “hey, breathe, breathe,” abby says gently, hands involuntarily smoothing over your shoulders. “you’re okay, it’s okay. shit happens.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “god, i’m such a idiot.” you scrub your hands down your face. “the upper level professors were right, i do suck—”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “whoa, whoa,” abby calls out sternly, expression horrified. “who said that?”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “it’s not important,” you whisper, blowing out another breath and squeezing your eyes shut as you shake your hands to try to calm yourself. “they’re not wrong.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “who.” and abby is no longer asking, arms bulging in her oxford shirt as she crosses her arms over her chest and stares down at you.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “dr. paige and mr. ruiz,” you say quietly, fidgeting under such a steely gaze.

⋆.ೃ࿔ abby just makes a noise in her throat, uncrosses her arms and tilts her head towards your desktop computer.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “if you were working on the submission form on your faculty account, it automatically syncs to the cloud both on and offline,” she says. “there’s usually a grace period until the final scheduled lecture for the day which is in...” she glances at her wrist watch, “in about an hour.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ you’re rounding your desk, practically throwing yourself in your chair as you boot up the computer and log into your faculty portal. your cheeks are flushed warm and eyes wide as your gaze flits across the screen.

⋆.ೃ࿔ you deflate in relief after a few clicks to find that professor anderson’s absolutely correct, and there’s the form in all it’s glory, cursor blinking and ready to be completed and submitted.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “holy shit, thank you so much,” you whisper.

⋆.ೃ࿔ when you look up, she’s already stormed halfway out of your office.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “dr. paige and i would just like to extend a sincere apology for our words regarding your tenure here,” mr. ruiz says after they corner you in the staffroom a few mornings later.

⋆.ೃ࿔ your eyebrows are knitting together momentarily before it dawns on you like a splash of cold water.

⋆.ೃ࿔ it explains why professor anderson had been in such a hurry to leave your office after assisting you a few mornings ago.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “s’okay,” you shrug.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “it’s really not,” dr. paige says. “it was immature and uncalled for to make such comments, and such shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ a sudden movement outside of the window catches your eye, and you’re grinning when you see the familiar flash of dirty blonde.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “really, it’s no hard feelings,” you assure them. “now if you’ll excuse me.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ you’re breaking away from them to duck out of the staffroom and surprise surprise, abigail anderson is standing a few metres from the door, arms crossed over her chest.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “are you eavesdropping dr. anderson?” you tease.

⋆.ೃ࿔ she doesn’t even bother to hide it, answering with a firm and resounding, “yes.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ that earns a full-bellied laugh out of you and she realizes that she’s so fucking whipped.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “you’re a wonderful professor,” abby assures you. “your students love you and you’ve already accomplished such great things in the department.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ you can’t help but flush and an awkward but cute silence dawns the two of you after you murmur a quiet “thank you”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “where’s your next session?” dr. anderson breaks the ice. “i’ll walk you.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ the two of you end up getting a lot closer over the rest of the semester and abby starts to get a little frustrated with herself for waiting for so long to actually talk to you.

⋆.ೃ࿔ because you’re practically perfect; so sweet, insanely intelligent, and it’s just the icing on top that you’re probably one of the prettiest girls she’s ever seen and you’ve got an equally pretty ass to match (abby is an ass girl IDC !)

⋆.ೃ࿔ heart is in shambles because you’ve learned how she likes her coffee and frequently bring her one first thing before your string of lectures start.

⋆.ೃ࿔ also, more often than not, the two of you are spending lunch hours together whether you’re grabbing a quick bite from one of the dining halls, splurging a little to eat lunch at an actual establishment, or killing time at the nearby bookstore a few blocks from the campus center.

⋆.ೃ࿔ long story short, you and abby have been spending so much time together and she knows she really likes you, but she can’t find it in herself to say anything because she doesn’t wanna scare you off with such a strong bout of emotions.

⋆.ೃ࿔ but literally everyone sees it! and it’s not necessarily that you’re oblivious, but abby’s accomplished, a really well-loved professor by both the department and her students, and even if there isn’t a ring on her finger, you’re convinced that abby’s got to have someone special in her life...it’s literally you.

⋆.ೃ࿔ even the students see it! dr. anderson’s been lagging recently during her last time slot and it doesn’t take long for a few students who love her especially so to see the way it takes her a little while longer to pack up and how she lingers out in the hall as your class ends!

⋆.ೃ࿔ “have a good weekend dr. anderson!” her last two students chime as they part ways with her. one of them glances over his shoulder and sees you filing out with a group of students from the adjacent classroom. “good luck.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ and abby’s beet fucking red when you finally lock up and ask her what that was about.

⋆.ೃ࿔ fast forward to now, it’s the final week before students are set to go home for the holidays and she’s a little down in the dumps because not only will she not get to see you for almost a month, but she’s usually alone this time of year and it’s agonizing to think that maybe you’ll be going home to someone else.

⋆.ೃ࿔ unbeknownst to her, you’ve been really nervous because maybe you’d overheard her talking to an adjunct professor, owen, about how she’d never gotten a personalized stocking made for her in response to seeing the one hanging on his shelf that his wife and kid had made for him this year, and perhaps you’d watched a couple youtube videos on stocking decorating and went out to buy the supplies right after.

⋆.ೃ࿔ admittedly, the last few days, the two of you are distant, her because she’s sad, and you because you’re probably spending every waking moment trying to think of ways to make the stocking perfect and you’re so in your head that you don’t even notice her change in demeanor.

⋆.ೃ࿔ and you try to make it perfect, really want abby to love her gift, so you fiddle around with it until the last possible moment.

⋆.ೃ࿔ you’re also nervous as fuck as you peer over your shoulder thursday afternoon, hoping dr. anderson doesn’t catch you in the act of staging her gift because frankly you’re too shy to give it to her.

⋆.ೃ࿔ even though you and dr. anderson are on great terms, she’s still so intimidating and you don’t trust yourself to make an ass of yourself, so you relay your message through a pretty piece of cardstock and tuck it into the bag before you’re scurrying off for the end of the semester.

⋆.ೃ࿔ finally, it’s the final day that campus will be open and abby’s trudging up to her office, only really intending to gather the last of what she’ll need since the buildings will be locked throughout the duration of holiday break, but she’s stopped dead in her tracks when she sees the sizable gift bag hanging on her doorknob.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “what that—”

⋆.ೃ࿔ she’s carefully moving around the tissue paper and her heart catches in her throat when she sees a blue stocking bulging with different treats and even a book! with her name carefully stitched on the band.

⋆.ೃ࿔ her first knee jerk reaction is that maybe owen pitied her and made her one, but a matching blue envelope catches her eye and she’s fishing it out of the bag.

⋆.ೃ࿔ recognizes your handwriting from the whiteboards when she’s stealing peeks into your classroom.

⋆.ೃ࿔ cheeks are flaming and stomach is tying in knots as she reads your note.

⋆.ೃ࿔ Firstly, I’m really disappointed I couldn’t deliver this to you in person, but my flight leaves for home on Friday... :( Nonetheless, you’ve been such a wonderful office neighbor and even more wonderful colleague. I truly can’t string together an adequate way to express how grateful I am to work alongside someone as kind and thoughtful as you, Dr. Anderson. You’ve quickly become such a dear friend and I hope you have a wonderful holiday! See you next year! ˆ<3

⋆.ೃ࿔ the fucking heart...the fucking heart!!! literally it’s all abby can fixate on before she realizes that there’s an ass of things tucked in the stocking and not only did you take the time to handstitch onto the fabric, but you took the time to gather things she didn’t even realize you knew she liked.

⋆.ೃ࿔ is unlocking her office so that she can pour the contents of the stocking onto her desk and she nearly dissipates into a pile of goo right then and there because there’s a few packs of her favorite gum (wintergreen), a set of her absolute favorite ballpoint pens (because gel pens are too runny for her liking), a giftcard to her usual coffee shop (“since I won’t be there to bring you your order” according to the note scrawled on the holder), a thick pair of argyle socks in her favorite colorway, and finally, there’s an annotated version of this is how you lose the time war.

⋆.ೃ࿔ and it has to mean something; your book choice and how you raved about it weeks prior during an excursion with abby to the public library, and you’d pulled the copy off the shelf and asked her if she’d read it.

⋆.ೃ࿔ “no,” she answered simply. “never caught my eye.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ “you should read it,” you’d said quietly. “their love was beautiful.”

⋆.ೃ࿔ and she’d never admit it, but she’d checked it out the following morning and blew through the book so fast, heart pounding in her chest as she realized that it was about two women in love. and, god, this has to mean something, she’d continue to agonize, even until this current moment.

⋆.ೃ࿔ and here an annotated version sits, your thoughts and inner feelings inking the pages. it makrs abby bubble with equal parts hope and sadness. sadness because it seems like way too long until she’ll see you again, and hope because maybe this means something more for the two of you in the future.

⋆.ೃ࿔ who knows, really. but abby’s certain that this holiday will feel a little less lonelier with her heart a lot more fuller.

neng © 2023

[usedtobecooler]

Sorry I keep blowing up your inbox w virgin Eddie thots. I just have so many. 😓 latest since I’m currently suffering: Virgin Eddie + period sex

do not say sorry cause this had me feeling some type of way and it's given me inspo for the first time in a few days!!

part one // part two // part three // part four

pairing | eddie munson x fem!reader

warnings | sexual content (18+ minors dni), fingering f receiving, piv sex, unprotected sex (wrap it up guys), period sex, mentions of tampon removal, eddie taking care of reader, eddie being endearing (when is he not), dirty talk, lots of fluff and reader being nice to eddie, reader also kind of snarks at him for being annoying, eddie professing his love for reader, no use of y/n. i think that's it? possibly. maybe.

word count | 3.6k

a/n | i made this way fluffier than any of my past stuff so this is really off brand for me. i'm also currently suffering on shark week and i'm definitely in my feelings about it so that probably explains it. reader is softer than her usual self here which gives eddie time for his more dominant, carer side to shine. hope u all love it.

You'd been doubled over on your chair all day, not even your heat pack and strongest pain killers were relieving your cramps. Everything hurt, everything ached, and you were being exceptionally snarky (even by your own standards) for no reason.

It was quiet in the store, a weird Tuesday where the weather was putting off anybody from stepping foot out of their house. Misty, grey, dull and wet. A bit like you were feeling yourself, almost like the sky knew you weren't on top form and was sympathizing with you.

Eddie was whistling along to whatever crap he'd put on the store's boom box; in the back of your mind, you think it's Motley Crue but you can't even find it in you to tune into the song enough to make it out properly.

You felt anxious, every little noise creeping into your ears and booming loud, making you feel like your head was about to explode. You hated to admit it, but Eddie's voice in particular was grating on you, every time he opened his mouth you wanted to snark at him, tell him to shut the fuck up.

You were trying your best to block him out before you blew up at him, twirling in your chair a little for comfort whilst you redundantly pressed the useless heat pack closer to your aching tummy, when he suddenly jumps out of nowhere at your side and starts doing the air guitar to a particularly loud and annoying solo.

"Eddie, shut the fuck up. You're driving me up the fucking wall." You snap, voice stern, angry, gruff, and it makes him stop in his tracks, looking crestfallen. You'd usually feel bad, but not today. He'd been pushing your buttons since you opened up, albeit he wasn't doing anything wrong and wasn't meaning to upset you, but your temper was short, and he wasn't getting the fucking hint.

Eddie scratches the back of his neck absentmindedly, big puppy dog eyes looking apologetic and sad, "M'sorry, sweetheart. I know you're not feeling good, I was just tryin' to make you laugh."

Your face softens a little, the guilt creeping in as you look at Eddie's sad features, "I'm sorry, handsome. I'm just exhausted these cramps are wiping me out." You sigh, groaning a little as your tummy coils up unpleasantly, radiating pain throughout your belly, back and legs.

Eddie comes over to lean over the counter, rubbing at your shoulder softly, and you melt into the touch, tense body slackening under his fingertips, "You know, I read in a girly magazine-" Eddie cuts himself off, like he's pondering on if he should actually continue on his sentence, you egg him on by nodding your head, "it was in the doctor's office, okay?"

"Hey, I never said anything." You hold your hands up in self-defense, giggling a little and trying to ignore how Eddie's inner brat jumps out as he rolls his eyes and lets his hand fall from your shoulder. You make a show of pouting until his hand comes back out, this time brushing down your arm.

"Anyway, in this girly magazine there was this article, about how to relieve menstrual cramps..." Eddie cringes at himself, screwing his face up at his wording and you laugh properly then, "Apparently, orgasms are the best way to relieve the pain. Something about the hormones it releases."

You balk at him a little, dumbfounded by the fact that he, for one, chose that article out of all of the pages in a women's magazine. And, for two, that he actually took in what the article said and stored it somewhere in the back of his head, almost like a mental note for if this were to ever happen.

He furrows his brows at you, "Is that- is that not right?" He asks, cocking his head a little, tips of his fingers still brushing your arm absentmindedly, "I thought since it was in a girly mag it'd be true."

"No, I mean I think it's true, I've heard that before." You shrug, trying to ignore the ache in your back at a particularly strong cramp, "But I don't really like to touch myself when I'm on my period. I'm usually too sore to focus and it makes a mess."

"Well," Eddie starts, cheeks flushing dark and his breath shaking, "I'd be more than... more than happy to help you with that. If y'want."

You suck your cheeks in, looking at him with narrowed eyes for a second before they soften, and you're pretty sure if he looked at you properly, he'd see the love hearts swirling round in your irises, "You're the sweetest boy I've ever met, Eddie Munson. Don't feel like you have to do that, though, I've gone like at least ten years on my period and am yet to do that."

"I'd like to," Eddie cuts in all too quickly, and now you wonder if he's doing this for your sake or his own morbid curiosity, though you suspect it's somehow both, "I'd like to help you feel better, that is. I don't - I don't mind the mess."

"Well, okay then." You shrug, trying to ignore the way that your thighs clench a little at the thought of Eddie touching you whilst you're menstruating. It was never something you'd thought about before, but now that Eddie had said about it, you wondered just how much you'd actually be into it.

"We can go to my place, uh, Wayne's gone until tomorrow, took a double shift for the extra money." Eddie rambles, like he has to justify every single detail to you. It's cute, endearing almost.

You nod your head in reply, subtly drifting your eyes to the clock and realizing there were still four hours left until closing. You couldn't help but wish the time away.

***

Eddie ushers you into the trailer slowly, a hand hovering over your lower back in a soothing motion, "You can go to my room and make yourself at home, sweetheart. I'll go get some, like, towels or something?"

"Towels should work, handsome. I don't think it's bad enough to justify a tarp." You say it as a joke as you toe your Docs off, but Eddie's eyes widen comically, "It was a joke. Though a tarp would be easier to clean."

You saunter off through to Eddie's room, sliding a comic book off of his desk and plopping down on the bed. You have no interest in it as you flip through the pages, tummy doing flips for two reasons now - your obvious cramps, but also the nervousness of what was about to happen.

You? Nervous? This never happened. You and Eddie had only had actual sex once, but you were in control, in a situation you'd been in plenty before. You showed him the ropes and took charge, that was your comfort zone. This was... different.

There's no more time to worry and ponder when Eddie comes bursting through the door carrying an array of things he thought you might need. Pain killers, a bottle of water, two towels and what looked like one of his oversized, ratty Metallica shirts.

Your heart melted a little. Eddie was just so, so sweet. You couldn't believe nobody had snatched him up before now, he was caring and attentive to you, albeit a bit fumbly and nervous but you think that's just because of how you are towards him.

He had the biggest heart. To match his dick.

"D'you need these before we start?" Eddie asks quietly, pulling you out of your trance and shaking the bottle of pills at you. You can tell he's nervous too, his breathing all jagged and his hand holding the pills jittering enough for you to notice.

"No, no, that's okay. I took a few before we left the store so they should start kicking in soon. Hand me the towels, would ya?" You lift yourself up off the bed, gently plucking the towels from Eddie's open arm. You strip his comforter out of the way in silence, laying the towels flat and spreading them out as well as you could. His twin bed was small enough that it covered just fine, but you spent extra time focusing on it and trying to block out the pounding in your ears.

Eddie's warm hands on the base of your spine jolt you out of your thinking, you melt into the touch slightly and lean back against his chest. He huffs into your hair, "We don't have to do this if you don't want to, sweetheart. Was just a suggestion."

"I'm just used to knowing everything and showing you the ropes. I dunno how to do any of this and I'm worried I'll gross you out." You say it matter of factly, making sure that as always you have the upper hand in showing him that you don't panic and you're always in control.

"S'not gonna gross me out, it's you. What if we... what if we did this in the shower instead? Would that make you feel better?" Eddie suggests, voice barely above a whisper and a clear nervousness breaking through. He's worried you're going to say no, you can tell.

You don't want his second time to be messy in a shower. But you make note of it for another time, now that you knew that was something he was clearly into.

You turn in his arms, shaking your head and nudging up to press your lips to his softly, just a brief kiss. But, Eddie grabs hold of your waist gently, deepening the kiss and forcing you to stay in place when you went to move away.

He's still not a good kisser, you make a mental note of that. He's still sloppy and giving too much tongue but you can't help but suck on it, causing a moan to escape him as he nudges you back towards the end of the bed until the backs of your knees knock on it. You fall backwards with a small thump and Eddie's lips never leave yours as you shuffle up the bed, until your head is cushioned by his one lonely pillow.

"What do you want me to do?" Eddie asks gently once your lips part, soothing your hip with his big hand. You keen into the touch, loving the feeling of how soft his hand was, unwinding how tight you felt with nerves.

"You don't have to do anything you don't wanna do, pretty boy." You start, and Eddie's eyebrows furrow at you, "You can finger me, if you wanna? You can just stick to rubbing my clit, though."

Eddie doesn't humor you with a reply, simply tucking his fingers under the waistband of your leggings to drag them down your legs and off in one swift motion. You raise a brow as he goes to strip his jeans off as well, leaving him in a pair of tight black boxers which you swear you've never seen him wear before.

They leave nothing to the imagination - you sit up on your forearms for a better look at his half hard cock already straining a little. You catch it kicking up in interest as you stare at it with wide eyes.

"Theyre - they're new." Eddie stutters over his words, flushing a dark shade of red and there's the Eddie you know all too well, all flustered and embarrassed.

"They look great, Eddie." You say with a strained voice, gasping as he slides back onto the bed and in between your spread thighs, only your respective underwear and shirts blocking your touch. "I still have a tampon in so that I, like, don't leak everywhere."

Eddie slides his palm over your hot cunt, eliciting another small gasp from you. It makes you feel, well, weird. And kind of dirty. But he doesn't seem to care, as his fingers pull the material of your panties to the side and he dips the tips in between your folds, seeking out the tampon string.

"Can I take it out?" He asks, eyes wide in earnest as if he doesn't realize how strange and weird of a request it is. You cringe a little, falling onto your back so you don't have to look at him whilst you nod your head yes.

It's not like you to be so mortified by something so normal, always one to not be a priss and try anything at least once. This just makes you feel vulnerable, and Eddie is so inexperienced that it makes you question if he knows that this isn't necessarily 'normal' to do during sex.

You throw your forearm over your eyes and squeeze them shut as you feel Eddie's fingers grab the string and tug your tampon out gently, then the telltale sign of him lifting off the mattress, clearly leaving to dispose of it.

His footsteps come back quickly; you feel the bed dip as he gets back onto it and snug back in between your spread legs. Then, you gasp as he runs two fingers back in between your folds, this time to slide them through and gather some slickness.

You let your arm fall from your face, plucking up the courage to finally look back at him and he's smiling with this dumb look on his face. It makes your cunt clench around nothing - you didn't realize through all your nervousness that you were clearly into this, slick mixing in with your menstrual blood to make things extra wet.

Eddie doesn't seem to care about the blood at all, swirling his fingers around like you'd previously taught him to, finally catching them on your clit and rubbing in slow circles. He leans over the top of you, mouth against your neck to press a sweet kiss, "Does this feel good?"

You nod your head, shivering at the feeling of his breath on your soft skin, goosebumps blooming down your arms. He probably didn't mean for his words to sound dirty, but they did, made you flush warm with want for him.

His fingers slip through the mixture of fluids with ease, rubbing relentlessly on your clit until you're a whining, shaking mess under him. Somehow, this feels more intense than it ever has before, and you can't tell if that's because of you being on your period, Eddie taking the lead or a mixture of both.

"E-Eddie," You choke, hips jolting up of their own accord, a loud whine escaping your lips, suddenly you're aware of how submissive you're being but you can't find it in you to care, "f-feels so good, Eddie."

"Yeah?" He asks, fingers rubbing at your clit with purpose, clearly trying to get you there and it's working, "Y'gonna come?"

Eddie can sound so dirty without even trying and you feel your cunt clench, can feel your warm fluids dripping down your ass, pooling there and probably making such a mess. It shouldn't be as hot as it is, you shouldn't be as turned on as you are, but it feels so dirty and Eddie loves it more than you do and it's making your brain short circuit.

You nod your head, squeezing your eyes shut but Eddie's free hand grips at your jaw, shaking your head a little until your eyes reopen to see him staring at you intently, "Look at me whilst I finger you, sweetheart. Wanna see you come undone on my hands."

You gasp, the coil in your belly tightening at Eddie's vulgar words, the loud slick sounds of your cunt being violated by his hands filling the air and engulfing all of your senses. Your mouth opens in a soundless moan and Eddie sees that as an opportunity to shove his thumb in your mouth.

"Suck on it." He says it like it's casual and like he's told you to do it before, the way you obey and immediately begin licking and sucking at his calloused fingertip makes you question yourself, but then his fingertips dig into your cheeks a little rough and any thought leaves your brain.

Your body feels like a livewire, tummy tensing up impossibly tighter. You're looking into Eddie's glassy dark eyes, his puffy pink lips open slightly as he stares you down, feeling every catch and drag of his fingers on your clit and you're a goner. Your orgasm hits you like a freight train and you're biting down gently on Eddie's thumb, moaning and squeezing your eyes tight as you come so hard you see stars.

"That's my girl." Eddie grins, rubbing your clit slowly as he works you through it, not stopping until you're trying to clench your legs shut from oversensitivity.

You open your eyes again just in time to catch him wiping his fingers on the towel below you, a creamy dark pink colour staining the grey fabric. You're still trying to catch your breath, can feel your shirt clinging to your back with sweat.

You grab Eddie by the front of his own shirt and pull him down to kiss you, all needy as you gasp into his open mouth, tongue lapping in to drag against his own.

Eddie moans, shuddering against you as his hands roam up under your shirt, soothing the hot, damp skin under his fingertips. You slide your own hand down his torso, grabbing at a handful of his hard cock through his boxers and squeezing until he bucked into your hand with a whine.

You're honestly surprised he didn't come in his pants again, it seemed to be a running theme with him. Not that you minded, you liked having that power over him.

"Can I..." Eddie breathes into your mouth, cut off with another groan as you attacked his neck, nipping and sucking hard enough to leave a bruise, "Can I fuck you?"

You nod into his neck, hands deftly sliding over the waistband of his boxers, blindly tugging them down his thighs as you continued your assaults on his pale skin.

You grab a hold of his cock by the base when it springs out of his underwear, giving it a few quick tugs for good measure, which has Eddie shivering and almost collapsing on top of you. You slide the wet head of his dick in between your folds, shuddering at the wet sounds as it catches on your entrance.

Eddie has no patience and shoves his hips forward, sliding into you with ease. He grips at your hips tightly, sucking in a shaky breath as he bottoms out, "Jesus, you're so fucking wet."

You clench around his cock at his words and he positively mewls, pulling out a little and thrusting back into you, eyes tearing away from you to look down at where your bodies meet, the absolute mess you're both making. He's so mesmerized, watching how your cunt sucks him in so well with every thrust, "Your pussy is so greedy."

It tumbles out like word vomit, but there's no embarrassment in Eddie's eyes when yours fly open to look at him, watch him looking at your cunt with hearts in his eyes. You cry out, hips bucking of their own accord as his thrusts pick up, finally gaining a good rhythm and abusing your gspot with ease.

"Harder, Eddie, please," You gasp, tears pricking at your eyes as he doubles down his efforts and leans over you, fucking into you harder, faster than before. His curls are matted to his forehead, this wild look on his face as you lean up to brush his hair back, fingers gripping into it at the crown of his head so your foreheads are touching, "You're so fucking pretty like this."

Eddie lets out a shaky laugh, grinning like the Cheshire cat, "Don't say that, I'm gonna come." He grits his teeth, hips beginning to falter and stutter.

Your soft spot is being abused by his cock, grazing at it with every thrust and you too feel your orgasm impending on you, "Come with me then. Come in my wet pussy."

Eddie whimpers, that in turn makes your cunt throb around him and he's shoving his cock into you so hard you move up the bed a little, the slick sounds invading your senses and making you clench sporadically until you're coming with a loud shout of his name.

"Fuckfuckfuck, god you're so tight, fuck." Eddie's babbling nonsense, clearly struggling at the feeling of your pussy sucking him in so well, then he's coming too, hips stilling as his eyes roll into the back of his head.

You watch him in awe, you don't think you'll ever get fed up of watching him come undone inside of you the way that he does. He's so perfect it makes you feel like you're suffocating every time you look at him.

He collapses down on top of you, breathing heavily as you pet his hair gently, soothing him quietly, "I think I'm in love with you, fuck."

"I'm in love with me too." You say jokily, trying to hide the way your words come out panicky, though you're sure Eddie can hear your heart going a million miles an hour under his head.

Eddie barks out a laugh into your chest, snuggling up a little, "You'll say it back eventually." He shrugs, nonchalantly like he could care less that you brushed off his confession.

Little did he know how much you'd been in love with him from the day you set your eyes on him. But that was a conversation for another day.

"Yeah, yeah. We need to get up before these towels stain your bed." You giggle, "That was... perfect, by the way. Thank you for always taking such good care of me."

"So long as your cramps are a bit better." Eddie sighs sleepily, snuggling into you a little more. You lie there a bit longer before you're shoving him out of the bed to clean up, worried he'd fall asleep in the mess.

If you followed him into the shower and sucked his cock clean later, then nobody needed to know.

[chasedbyatlantic]

sunshine, joel miller

masterlist summary: IN WHICH — after getting lost on your little getaway, out by yourself, help is on the way once your situationship - joel miller - gets wind of it.

warnings: post outbreak!joel, jackson era!joel, f!reader, angst into fluff!, (almost)smut at the end - hints to it, joel being caring for you, mentions of guns, swearing, joel being husband material as usual. lmk if i missed anything!

wordcount: 2.5k

a/n: i got HEAVILY inspired from the lyrics behind sunshine (steve lacy/fousheé) for this, its also my first go at a little angsty vibe so i hope u love it as much as i do. remember to like, comment, reblog and follow for more! send in requests. xoxo

—

It had been weeks since you last saw him.  You felt bad, you really did- you just couldn't bring yourself to love him and then lose him like you did with everyone else.  This world was so cruel to you, you didn't want it to be any crueler.  Not anymore.  You had been through so much in the last few years, that you were now holding on with a thread, and the thread was thinning out even more.  You didn’t tell him that you didn’t want to be with him, no, you told him that you just needed time to- think it through.  He seemed more than happy with the decision when it happened, it just (sort of) backfired after. 

You found out it had gotten bad after you talked with Ellie last.  Over the period of time you two were together, you grew closer to her - she trusted you, and you trusted her.  Ellie had told you that Joel was always locked in his room, other than when he had work.  He would skip meals every so often, but it was something that didn’t bug her (it bugged you, though).  After she had told you all of this, she made you swear under the non-existent god (her words, not yours) that you would never tell Joel.  You promised, of course, but this made you nothing short but scared, scared for him.

You and Joel worked together, that was how you met in the first place.  You were both on the more-experienced end of the patrollers unit throughout Jackson, and often went outside of the walls together.  That had changed, though.  A few days after you had loosened (not ended) the ties with Joel, you had been assigned to a new sub-unit by Tommy Miller (Joel’s younger brother), one that wouldn’t intertwine with Joel’s at all.  You weren’t sure if he had said something (you really hoped he hadn’t, you couldn’t deal with any pre-apocalyptic drama anymore), or if it was just the world doing you guys a solid.

You were close with Tommy’s wife, Maria, so you had somehow convinced her to let you take a small trip outside the walls by yourself, to scavenge for supplies and what not.  You told her you knew the outside area like the back of your hand, and you weren’t all wrong.  It was just- well, you didn’t know it off the top of your head, you knew it through a map (that was something you’d never tell Maria, though).  She made you promise her that you would radio her if anything went down while you were out, anything ranging from getting lost to coming across unfamiliar people.  That’s where you found yourself right now.

You left the walls two days ago, and now you were lost.  You had lost your map after having to kill a clicker late the night before, and couldn’t find it no matter how hard you looked.  Though, you only looked for about an hour- you had to get out of the area quickly, because if there was one clicker, there was bound to be others.  You now found yourself in the living room of a house you had cleared out earlier in the day, praying to whoever was above that someone would answer the radio call. 

“This is- it’s me, Maria,” Your hand was holding down the side button, as a sigh was heard across this station, “I’m lost, I should’ve listened, my coordinates are-” You had listed off the rough points, admitting defeat.  Maybe this was the universe’s way of telling you that you needed to move on and start off fresh.  Hell, you thought to yourself, this was a damn good way of Mother Nature telling you to leave those people behind, if that was her goal.  You waited a moment before flipping through the channels, having absolutely nothing else to do but this.  It was still radio silence throughout all of the twenty-some odd channels.  You decided to give yourself an ultimatum, if no signs were shown by the morning, you’d move on for the better.

You had fallen asleep not long after you gave yourself the ultimatum.  You only realized that after your brain woke itself up god knows how long after.  Your body was nowhere near waking up, this had to have been the best sleep you had gotten in weeks, after everything that happened with Joel.  You weren’t a cliche person, no way.  But, you knew you hurt Joel, even if he refused to show it ever.  You felt like shit for doing it, you really did, but maybe he would’ve figured out that it was for the better (sooner or later, at least).  

Speaking of figuring it out, you had figured that you better get up.  It was probably around nine or so in the morning, and you had already slept in far too late.  You shifted around on the floor, where your makeshift (not really) bed was, before you heard breathing.  Not your breathing, no, but something- someone else.  If you weren’t fully awake before, you sure as hell were now.  You didn’t open your eyes, but you shifted once more, you had a pistol in your back pocket that you had to get out.  As you tried your very best to shift as normal as one could in their sleep, you finally reached the pistol.  You hand wrapped around the body, and finger hovering the trigger, before shooting up and ripping the pistol out of your pocket.  Your eyes were translucent-like right now, which meant you weren’t able to see properly who was in front of you.  It was only by the tone of the voice that gave the person away, “Now cowgirl, what’d I teach ya’ ‘bout pointin’ guns at people ya’ know?”

It was him, it was Joel Miller.  With the gun still pointed at him, a million thoughts started to race through your head.  Why was he here?  How did he find out?  How did he get here so fucking quick?  Though, your thoughts were cut short when your pistol was ripped out of your right hand- and you just let it be.  You rubbed your eyes, finally able to lay your eyes across the man in front of you.  He looked like he had lost a bit of weight in his face, but his hair was still curly and untamed, his muscles still threatened to strip the seams out of his shirt, his eyes were still- no, you thought to yourself, you couldn’t and shouldn’t be thinking like this.  

“You shouldn’t be here, Joel.  Not after what happened.” You immediately shot up, not letting your eyes linger for a second longer.  He was sat, leaning against the door frame into the kitchen.  His rifle was resting against his knees, the safety on since he knew you wouldn’t do anything.  “What?  Just ‘cause we- doesn’t matter.” He muttered, “Ya’ called, and I came’n checked on my colleague.” A colleague?  It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did, when he said that.  You had to ignore it and keep your guard high, it wasn’t like you if you didn’t.

“How the fuck did ya’ get the radio station?  It was only for Maria.” You had gotten up, honestly just wanting to leave.  Even after feeling like the shittiest person on earth for distancing yourself from Joel, you would’ve preferred anyone else to answer the call for help.  As you made your way to the entrance of the kitchen, just beside to where Joel was sitting, he put his rifle up and covered your path.  “Made ya’ somethin’ to eat, missy.  Ya’ still eat y’ur eggs over easy?” This set you off, almost. Why was he being so nice to you, after everything you did to him?

You pushed your way through his rifle and into the kitchen, the smell of freshly cooked eggs, something you hadn’t smelled in god knows how long, came passing through your nose.  Joel always treated you right, you didn’t deny that.  You had heard the man in the other room getting up, so you quickly ripped off a piece of the over easy egg and shoved it in your mouth.  He would’ve obviously seen you had taken a bite, but you wanted to hold onto the little bit of pride you had left.  “Listen,” Joel had began as you turned to face him, he was leaning against the frame, “I’ain here to rehash anythin’, just wanted to make sure everythin’ was alright.” 

It wasn’t before, but why did it feel like it was now?  You shouldn’t have been feeling like that, you thought to yourself. You should be running away and pushing him farther away from you than before.  “It is, you can- leave now.” You had hesitated, and your eyes fell from Joel’s.  You couldn’t even look him in the face when you said it, you knew it was wrong.  All you wanted to do was hug him and kiss him again, but the fear of attachment you had was lingering heavy right now.  Joel noticed this, crossing his arms.  He knew that you were bull-shitting him, and that everything wasn’t fine.  He had been with you long enough to know when you were lying, and when you weren’t your usual self.  “‘M sorry- ya’ know that, Sunshine.” He told you, one of the few times you had ever heard an apology escape the man’s lips.  This had roped you into meeting his gaze again, your heart almost dropping.

Joel went to say something else, but you immediately cut him off. “Don’t you apologize.  I was the one to- to push ya’ back.” You began, “It shouldn’t have happened and’m sorry for it- Jesus Christ Joel, you know I still love ya’.” There was different tones said to this, angry ones, sad ones, embarrassed ones.  You knew, and Joel knew, that whatever you had done was to try and protect him, but no matter how much you pushed him back, you guys were meant to be no farther than three feet away from each other.  

“There’s the girl I know, not some pistol whippin’ chick.” He had a rough smile playing against his face, he couldn’t help it.  Joel, despite not showing it, had butterflies that were running through his stomach like crazy right now.  You made him feel like that whenever you wear near him, and he hadn’t experienced that for twenty years.  He unfolded his arms and rose one, signalling you in for a hug.  You couldn’t help it, you immediately stepped forward and embraced the man that you had missed so dearly.  Though the fear of attachment was still alive and well, you felt as if you could outrun it right now.

It felt like it was your first hug in years (in weeks, actually), and it felt so rewarding.  Joel was praying (even though he wasn’t a religious man at all) that you would come around, and that you would love him again- like he loved you.  Your head fit into the crook of his neck just like a puzzle piece, and he was happier than ever.  “‘M sorry.” You repeated yourself once again, wanting to say so much more but just couldn’t find the words to.  His hand fell to the bottom of your neck, “I know,” He began, “Now, go eat y’ur meal before I eat it for ya’.”

You had a small smile rise to your face as your arms dropped from Joel’s embrace.  You had reached over and gotten the egg, ripping a piece off the edge of it.  You turned back and turned your glances up (Joel had practically towered over you) to meet his eyes, bringing the piece of egg to his lips.  As Joel took notice of what you were doing, he parted his lips in order to assist you.  As your finger slipped into Joel’s mouth, he started to suck around your finger.  It felt good, almost too good, in your opinion.  He let out a small, raspy moan against the piece of you that was in his mouth.

He had let go after a moment, letting your hand fall back to the side of you.  “Missed everythin’ ‘bout ya’.” He had started, tucking a piece of your hair behind your right ear.  “‘Specially the late nights.” You knew what he was talking about, sex.  Even though the world had gone to complete shit, people were still going to be people.  “Before anythin’,” You had started, “Do ya’ wanna, I’dunno, get back at it?” You were bad with words, Joel knew that.  But he also knew that you were hinting at continuing your relationship together.  He didn’t want anything else, honestly.  He missed waking up to you, going to bed with you, and everything in between.  Joel wasn’t an emotional guy by any stretch of the way, but he tried to be more considerate when it came to the people he loved.

Joel had answered your question by leaning forward and placing his lips on top of yours.  He was soft at the start, unsure on how you would take it.  He was also hoping that this would give you an answer, instead of a verbal ‘I need you now’ one - thankfully, it did.  It gave you a clear-as-fucking-day answer.  You had parted your lips, allowing Joel to take control over the both of you while you two were catching up on the missed kisses from the last while.  This is when he had started let his rough edges show, he slipped his tongue in and started to love on you more aggressively.  He was still hesitant on how you were going to take it, but you reacted very positively (to his pleasure).

Joel became handsy first, his hands travelling from over your hips to under your shirt and unclipping your bra.  He knew that you wanted it as much as he did right now, he could tell by the muffled moans that were escaping your lips against his.  You were soon to follow suit, your hands moving from Joel’s chest, to his more southern regions.  A grunt had escaped his lips when you began to undo his belt, and he removed your bra from under your shirt.  This was the only person you had ever wanted to do anything like this with, Joel knew that.  He felt the same way with you, he knew that you were delicate with him and his subconscious.  

Now that things were finally figured out between the two of you, you could go back to loving Joel.  You would deal with your fears at a later date, not now, not anytime soon.  You had to focus on what you loved most, and it was the man right in front of you.  Joel was glad you had come around, he didn’t know what he would’ve done if you didn’t.  In this hell-bound world, you were one of the few things that really mattered to him.  Everyone goes through their hardships, it just makes the shared relationship stronger.  You had finally figured that out as Joel was making love to you.  Fears can come and go whenever they want, but people you love will stick with you- even through the fucking apocalypse.

—

sunshine, steve lacy/fousheé

[strawberryya]

whichever blooms first

Joshua x reader

synopsis: A dandelion is resilient, it can weather any storm, and at the end of its life it will even grant wishes to whoever sees its worth as something more than a simple garden weed. Your relationship with Joshua is the same, you hope, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to make a wish that your love will last a lifetime anyways.

word count: 2.0k

genre/contains: fluff, hints of angst, flowers, lots of flowers, established relationship.

rating: sfw, all ages

a/n: here's my secret garden collab fic for the warm summer days ahead. it's short but sweet, I can pinky promise that much!

check out the other fics in this wonderful collab with the amazing authors from svthub here!!

[navigation post!]

The spring sun was warming the surface of your skin. A calm breeze swept by, ruffling the high grass in the field you were laying in with your boyfriend. 

Your head was in Joshua’s lap and his shadow worked as a way to avoid getting the sun in your eyes. For the past hour or so your mind had been completely immersed in the fantastical story you had been dying to read for a while, only just finding the time to pick up as the hectic spring period was coming to an end and summer was on the horizon. 

Joshua had been the perfect headrest and parasol the entire time, and you hadn’t paid much attention to what he had been doing. When you looked up it gave you quite the fright to find that he was staring down at you, a small smile gracing his lips and a spark in his eyes. A spark that both intrigued and terrified you since you had seen it before and what would happen next was always a game of guessing the impossible. 

“Why are you looking at me like you’re gonna do something…? 

He smirked, making you even more nervous. “Stop it!” You warned, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he gave you an even bigger smile and a nod, conveying the feeling of having made a decision in his own mind. “I think you need a new nickname,” he said. 

This was not the kind of mischief you had been expecting. Usually he would tease you, tickle you, or attack you with kisses. You stared up at him, trying to tell if he was joking with you or if his serious tone mirrored his feelings correctly. “Why?”

“Don’t know, just thought you looked like a spring flower and that you needed a name that properly reflected that.” he deadpanned. 

You couldn’t help but burst out in laughter at his cheesy line. “Oh really, am I that pretty today?” You said and pretended to fawn over yourself, hands underneath your chin and fingers wiggling as if you were a flower, making Joshua crack up as well. 

“You’re always pretty and you know it,” he chuckled, “but the flowers around here just seemed to match your gorgeousness so perfectly.” 

“I’m pretty like a spring flower!” you giggled and kicked your legs up into the air with a little shout of “Yay” before you relaxed and just smiled up at Joshua’s pretty silhouette that was being lit up from the setting sun behind him. “Are you serious about this, Shua?” you questioned with a small smile. 

“Which flowers bloom first after winter? Daffodils?" he said and quirked an eyebrow in question as to how you liked it as your new name. He was definitely serious, you realized. Daffodils are pretty, but their other name is narcissus… You looked at him with an offended look, “Are you calling me narcissistic?” you said as you gasped jokingly. 

Joshua gave you a dashing smile in return, making you instantly forgive him. “Okay, not that one…What about tulip?” You thought about it for a while, not bad, but it just didn’t feel right. Maybe they were simply too common, you thought. 

“Better, but there must be an even better one.” you decided. 

“Oh, I know! What do you think about dandelions? They’re pretty, but everyone doesn’t see just how pretty they are. Me, however, I see it and it is blinding.” Joshua said, looking down at you with an excessively smug face. You were going to protest. A common weed that grew stubbornly by the side of the road? Was that how he saw you? But before you could find the words your mind looped back to the book that lay heavily on your chest where you had stopped before. 

“Dandelion! That reminds me of a really cute quote I read just a couple of chapters ago!! They were racing with their horses and she was looking at the queen being all happy and carefree,” you rambled on, excited to get an excuse to talk about the book on your chest. “Wait,” you said as you picked up the book and began searching for the words you had been reminded of.

“Okay, so here’s the quote: “Ead felt her own cares lifted from her shoulders. Like seeds from a dandelion clock.” Isn’t that so pretty?” 

Joshua’s eyes were big now and his smile was one you had come to recognize as him thinking you were adorable. “What? Is it silly?” you asked, a little shyer than before. He had this eerie ability to make you feel so heard, so seen, and usually, it made you happy. Now you felt slightly embarrassed about having digressed from the conversation so suddenly. 

“No. I like it, it’s a great quote,” he reassured you fondly. “Dandelion it is then! Your new nickname I mean.” 

His smile shone brightly as he declared his final decision. “It’s bright just like you.” 

That smile, like every other perfect smile Joshua had given you over the years, quickly imprinted itself on your eyelids. The sight of his smile was as common as daffodils, but beautiful nonetheless. During those times when he had been unable to smile at you like this had been the hardest months of your life. 

You never wanted to go a single day without seeing that very shining expression on his face ever again. 

Joshua had turned his gaze toward the field of flowers, expecting you to go back to your book. When you instead began talking his head snapped back down to you, his pretty doe-eyes made your heart flutter just like they had done so many times before. “I wanna come back here later and make a wish on a dandelion clock. I wanna feel all my worries lift from my shoulders just like the seeds the girl in my book talked about. Could we come back once all of these have finished blooming?”

“Mm, of course. Could I ask you something though?”

You nodded. “What are you planning on wishing away?” he asked, even though something in his tone was telling you that he was a bit afraid of the answer. 

“Well, you know, it’s a bit silly to say it out loud like this… but I wanna make a wish that we can stay like this forever.” When recognition lit up in Joshua’s eyes you averted your gaze, instead opting to reach a hand out to play with strands of grass beside the baby blue blanket covering the ground below. 

“Do you still have doubts that we’re gonna last?” 

You heard the genuine concern lacing his voice as he found the courage to ask. You nodded slightly. “I mean, I know that you do love me. You’ve told me so many times. Some days it’s just harder to believe in what I know. I thought you loved me back then too, and still, we couldn’t do anything but fight.”

Joshua stayed silent for a moment. The buzz of the field and the birds in the distance filled up the silence. It wasn’t as awkward to talk about it anymore, you felt it in the way neither of you was getting angry. There wasn’t any frustration or tension surrounding that period of fighting and the weeks when you had broken up anymore. The relief was immense. You felt it in your bones. Maybe you were strong enough to weather any storm that may lay ahead if you had managed to heal and grow even past that horrible time in your relationship. At least you hoped so.

“Yeah,” he sighed, leaning back onto his hands in the grass. “I get what you mean.”

“I’m really happy now though, I hope you know that. I really wouldn’t change anything in the past if it meant I would lose what we have now.” 

Joshua’s face lit up into half a smile yet again. “Me neither.” With a soft kiss on your forehead, he lifted your head off of his lap, making you pout in confusion when he got up from your little blanket. “Wait here, I’m just gonna go get something, I’ll be right back!” 

“Okay, but where…” you began but changed your mind as you saw him begin to wander across the entire field, apparently searching for something among the high grass and wildflowers. You chuckled and went back to finishing the chapter you had left off at as you waited for Joshua to come back. 

It didn’t take long for Joshua to come running back to your blanket with his hands full of small yellow flowers with petals that sprawled out like a tiny explosion from their stems. You looked up at him as he dropped the flowers in a neat pile on the edge of the square of fabric splayed out on the ground before he sat down next to you, slightly turned away from you so as to not have his project within full view of your watching gaze. 

That didn’t stop you from curiously peeking over his shoulder to sneak a peek at his crafting. You weren’t sure what he was doing, even as you recalled childhood memories of doing the exact same thing as he was currently doing with the flowers he had picked. 

His fingers were surprisingly nimble for their size as he wrapped the stalks of each flower around the next one, forming a long string of flowers tied together. It was pretty, but your imagination ran wild trying to figure out what he was intending to make. A necklace? A rope? Why would he need a rope of flowers? 

As you wondered, Joshua looked back to see your confounded face as he began turning around, his hands very obviously hiding something behind his back. You were pulled back to reality when you heard him chuckle at your zoned-out expression. 

“Oh, you’re done?” you asked excitedly, putting down the book to pay all your attention to whatever Joshua had ended up creating. 

That mischievous look was back, his eyes shining in the light of the setting sun that was sinking down below the treetops. “Ready?” 

“Show me!” you exclaimed with curiosity. You gasped when he brought his hands out from behind him, showing you what he had ended up making. In his hands was a round wreath, dotted with the bright yellow dandelions you had seen him bring with him. 

“That’s so pretty Shua.” 

“You like it?” he asked, seemingly a bit nervous to hear if you truly liked his gift. You nodded and he softly placed the flower wreath atop your head. 

“Thank you, I love it,” you laughed, adjusting the flowers so they wouldn’t fall from your head. “What’s it for though?” 

“Well… it just means ‘I love you’, nothing more, nothing less, really.”

You pouted, he made you a wreath to assure you that he loves you? It was a strange way to tell you, but it definitely worked. 

“I just want you to know that you don’t have to wait until you can make a wish on the dandelion clocks to know that I will love you forever.”

“You’re gonna make me cry if you talk like that,” you said, fanning your eyes in an effort to stop the tears. 

“I have one more thing, so don’t cry just yet!” he hurried to say, making you laugh and pushing the tears away momentarily. 

From behind him, he brought out something small, it fit in the palm of his hand with ease. A single dandelion was wrapped around itself and created a ring of its stalk. Your hand flew up toward your face to cover the scream that tried to escape at the thought of what this ring-shaped flower might mean. 

“I know it’s not perfect, but… my dandelion, will you be mine forever?” Joshua was smiling again, encouraged by the way you were almost jumping up at the sight of his creation. 

Tears were pricking your eyes again, and you nodded. “Yes, of course, I will!” you exclaimed, your voice barely holding up as you shrieked and threw yourself into Joshua’s arms. His body wrapped around yours as he held you close, accepting all the kisses you gave him as the tears of joy flowed from your eyes.

Reblogging and commenting is highly appreciated!! Hearing what you thought is what makes writing and being here overall so much fun! Ty and ily 💕

[navigation post!]

[caramelstarlight]

Hi! I have a silly request to share.

It's about Al-Haitham and reader being former academic rivals. They were always at each other's throats. No matter what snarky comment one made the other always had a quick and witty remark. Oh? One got a 95 on their test? Well, too bad! The other got a 100 and will rub it in the other's face.

Literally all of Sumeru knew of their rivalry. But you know what they say: the more you bicker, the more you love. And eventually, the two would date in secret for the next couple of years before eventually getting engaged.

Needles to say, poor Kaveh, Cyno, and Tighnari were gobsmacked to see Al-Haitham linking arms with his biggest rival since his Akademiya days and introducing her as his fiancee.

I’m doing this again bc tumblr didn’t save my earlier draft 😭🤚

✅⭐️

anyways! Expect slower updates because school has started again for me. (Excluding this and the other one I have in my inbox.)

I haven’t been touching this because I was confused on how to grasp this.

But yay story. It’s below the cut (You have amurta because it’s the biggest and my favorite.)

Rivals to Lovers

Alhaitham x Female Reader (Can be read as G/N)

You walked into class carrying what you needed for the day. Today was a test taking one. Sadly it was the first class you were in that had the test. Others came through the door you watched as each person sat down. Waiting for the bell to ring.

When it did ring everyone was inside as the teacher welcomed everyone and showed a few confusing parts with a few hints on how to deal with them. Luckily you understood everything unlike some others.

You received your test and began. Skimming through each page to find similarities in questions. Using that method to easily do majority correctly. You focused on the other questions and used the tips the teacher had given the class.

Amurta was lucky to have such a kind teacher, giving everyone study time and tips to pass any tests and gives tutoring in lunch or recess period. Everyone would pass in her class.

You went to your next class, identifying differences between certain species. Being given multiple animals with similar ones. Such as Snow,Crimson and Desert foxes.

You figured out majority of the differences and finished early. Focusing on drawing a Crystalfly and a Avidya Leopard for the remaining time. The bell rang and you walked out. Seeing Tighnari with his friends beside Alhaitham.

Your mind thought of what happened to him. Is he stuck in the library like always? You’d ask yourself as you went towards the bunch. Joining in on the conversation they were maintaining.

Until Alhaitham showed up. You looked at him and Kaveh tried to act like he wasn’t there. Failing of course. “I betted that you wouldn’t get a better score than me.”

He stated as he looked at you. “Oh yeah? I bet I did better than you. Why don’t you tell me ur score?” You stated confidently and he said he got a 95. “How much were you betting?” “Only 20 dollars(idk how much mora that would be lol) Are you scared?”

“No because I got a perfect score of 100!” You said as the others tried to not laugh. Your rivalry with eachother was interesting. Showing your paper to him across the table and sticking your tongue out. “Anyways who did you bet it to?” “Cyno.” Everyone’s head turned to him and he was confused. “What?”

“Why cyno-?” Kaveh asked to Alhaitham. “Because he wanted to.” “I uhhh…” “Cyno you shouldn’t bet.” Tighnari scolded him as he nodded. “Anyways I will do better than you in our next class!” You said as you looked to Alhaitham. “Yeah sure.” He replied as he looked away and back to his book. Handing cyno the money.

He did better the next time and repeated what you did to him beside sticking out his tongue. Another fight between you two was about to happen. Which is usually the both of you just rambling about the other and trying to be louder than the other. Which didn’t happen. Thanks to Tighnari holding you back.

Multiple years passed and graduation comes. You two of course still bickered with one another and weren’t as competitive as you used to be when you were younger.

Now with the both of you dating secretly you have to keep up the act still. You both didn’t want others to find out that secret that was kept hidden.

You sticked out your tongue playfully at him as you linked arms. He smiled at you before he made you spin and let go. You dropped your scroll as he snickered at you.

Your yelling could be heard from a bit away. Gathering a lot of people’s attention but they were used to it. Everyone knew you bickered constantly. Trying to keep up the act as you made him drop his scroll. He looked at you with slight anger and ignored you.

When the time came you yeeted your hats in happiness. A few bits of celebration everywhere. All happy they were finished learning successfully in their chosen darshan.

He brought you on dates with gifts and you did the same but he did majority of them. Always booking the times that would be the most crowded or exclusive.

Both of yours and his parents approved of it. Letting you both to get engaged after a few years of getting together. You and him arranged a meet up with the others after not seeing them for 3 years.

“Hey guys long time no see!” You said as you waved to them at the meetup spot. Alhaitham linking his arm with you. They were in shock at the two of you. “You guys are dating-?” Tighnari asked as he looked at the arms. “Yeah. We’re engaged actua-“ “WHAT?” Cyno and Kaveh exclaimed as Tighnari covered his ears.”

“Yes indeed. She is my fiancé.” “Y/N your his fiancé-??” Kaveh asking you while you nodded. “You guys always bicker I’m surprised you both managed to do this.” Cyno mentioned as you all headed to the spot.

“She and I had a Rivals to Lovers I guess?” Alhaitham stated as you nodded slightly. Talking with the others on the way. “We’re going to the cafe to have lunch together! It’s on us.” You said as Alhaitham gave a thumbs up.

Arriving at the cafe and ordering, sitting down and chatting amongst everyone while waiting for the food and drinks to arrive. Enjoying the meal as you all listened to stories of what happened to eachother in those three years.

(Had no idea how to end this but I hope you enjoy)

[hopeyarts]

Have you heard about Disney’s a tale of..?

It’s a perspective flip/prequel book series from the villains POV, only it makes them much more tragic and sympathetic.

For example, the first book, fairest of all makes the evil queen a victim of abuse and manipulation from her father (who is the slave in the magic mirror in this continuity) with a little help from the odd sisters, original characters who are Snow white’s cousins.

All this to say that if they made a tale of.. for Wish, it would just be everything the Magnífico stans/defenders are saying, like word for word.

Hi!

I just read up on a summary of Fairest Of All and it really is really interesting! I haven’t heard of the series until I got your ask, and I might get the Evil Queen book now because I love tragic stories that turn people into antagonists of another story. I don’t know if they’re canon to the movies, but canon or not I’d accept it whichever way Disney says.

Before I start, I’m just gonna say that I’m not exactly sure if you’re a Magnifico stan/defender or not, lol. I’ll just answer honestly as usual!

So regarding your last paragraph, I kind of agree with that. If there were a book for King Magnifico since he was Wish’s ‘villain’ then it could be similar to what Magnifico stans/defenders are saying. Unless they’ve got it all wrong and Disney was intending/leading it to something else, like his backstory being a lie (which is what I believed until the movie subtly proved otherwise). There’s still a chance for Disney to either divert his past story or put more into it, because they really kept it vague and only mentioned it twice. At this point, we can assume anything about him but we’d need to consider how honest he was with what he said.

For instance, in the graphic novel of Wish he mentions to Star on why it took Asha for them to meet or why wasn’t Star there when he needed him. Or how he put passion into his voice when he pointed to the burnt tapestry during that one scene. Those just tell us he has some sort of trauma that stemmed to his past, but the movie barely does anything to go into more detail about it. Disney knew that if it did, then they’d create another obvious sympathetic villain—but they already did that anyways. One hint at a bad past and you get a character whose trauma overwhelmed him to the point of doing villain stuff with an evil book (which is oddly similar to the Queen in Fairest Of All in a way). Then afterwards you get defenders and stans.

Which, hey, I’m a stan. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I would also say defender but not in an Asha is evil and Magnifico is a pure angel kind of way, personally. I wouldn’t bring one character down for another, because honestly the thing we should bring down is the bad writing. No one’s truly evil unless they’re taking pleasure out of being sadistic and intentionally hurting/killing others, and no one is a pure angel period. Asha’s a good-hearted girl who’s heavily naive, and Magnifico is a good man who lets his past haunt him to the point he commits to unreasonable decisions. Both are misguided. None of these make them a bad person. Just flawed—and that’s human. I suppose that’s why I love movie Magnifico so much because he chooses the worst decisions for himself out of pure emotion and desperation. That’s human! That’s relatable! And it’s fine, until they decided to not redeem him. They could’ve had a nice lesson if they did so, but anyways.

I just like to see every aspect, detail, perspective, and more before I decide to villainize a character (which is never) over the other or whatever. This isn’t targeted to anyone btw, I’m just saying my truth. Because in honesty, I’m tired of holding my tongue and trynna people please (this is a personal grievance- it’s not directed at you lol, I just wanted to mention it).

But anyways—again and finally—I agree that a book about Magnifico’s past could be what stans/defenders are saying. But it could also not be, because his past is so vague that it can be easily altered by Disney, its sole creator. Whatever they say about the character is the truth. If stans/defenders (me included) don’t like it, then we could just leave. We can’t deny the truth about a character that isn’t of our creation, but we can choose to acknowledge it or even dissect it to make it something more. And also not complain about it, haha. If the book were to actually be what stans/defenders say, then hooray we can celebrate I guess.

I don’t really care whichever way it goes as long as it is interesting and worth my time. I’d rather a unique investing story of a Magnifico book than a story that caters to and pleases my own interests (even as a Magnifico stan/defender and even as someone who’d like to see Magnifico rise up again and be proven as right with the movie product we have now), which is what I see a lot of people doing nowadays. I could elaborate on that but I don’t want to make this too long—

If Magnifico was telling the truth about his past and it is as traumatic as he says it is, then so be it. If Magnifico was actually lying about his past because Disney confirms it, then so be it.

Besides, Jennifer Lee mentioned in an interview that she could write a whole book about Magnifico’s past or just something about him that led him to who he is now. I hope she does even if she grossly gave a good man the fate of a villain’s. I’d give the book a chance.

Thanks for the ask! ❤️

I’m sorry I love this meme so much- it’s a running joke with my siblings. 😂

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Hey, today I got around reading your surprised by a storm series and it's so cute I loved it!

If you don't mind, id like to request Fuegoleon finding out they're having twins (one boy one girl) as his wife is in mid delivery and him holding his children for the first time please ?

Hiya!

Okay, so I love y'all for wanting soft Fue!! He really should have a family! I decided to combine these 4 requests, because I felt that they flowed together so nicely, and it means that the fic is slightly longer than... usually, but I do hope that you guys will like it!

Summary: Reader is afraid about the pain of the delivery, especially because she's having twins. Fue comforts her and offers to take her to Owen's office the next day to discuss more about the delivery. There both reader and Fue try one of Owen's spells that mimics the pain of delivery. And he's very much in pain (but there's no graphic depictions of the pain; the intended tone is slightly humorous). And at the end there's a successful delivery, and mom (reader), dad (Fue), and the kids (twins; one boy one girl), are laying in bed together, and Fue is just in awe.

Fanfic type: Oneshot Pairing: Fuegoleon x f!reader Length: ~2.6k Genre: hurt-comfort, slight comedy, family fluff (in that order) Warnings: obviously pregnancy, labour (no graphic depiction of labour though), fear of the delivery being painful, depictions of pain, I haven't actually given birth myself, so what's written here is to be taken lightly in that aspect; I don't actually know how it feels, possible typos so apologies for that

It was one of those nights where you simply lied awake and stared at the ceiling. It seemed as if the closer you came to your due date, of giving birth, the more anxious of it you grew. But it wasn’t about not wanting to be a mother, though it was scary too. You were told that nothing could quite prepare you for the task of being a mother, but it’d be a feat which you welcomed with open arms. Because you loved your children, even before they were born, and you knew that your husband would love them just the same.

It was more than clear from the way Fue stroked your stomach during the evenings, and spoke gentle nothings to them even if they couldn’t hear him. You were… almost sure, that they couldn’t hear him.

But your fear, uneasiness and anxiety had to do with the pain of giving birth. You had had horrid period cramps already, but you were told that giving birth would be much worse than that. And that… you couldn’t imagine a pain that bad. It had already been bad enough with dealing with being emotional and in pain during your periods and this just would be worse and it…

It was getting overwhelming. Especially because you knew that you’d be giving birth to twins.

So, you sat up and started crying as the emotions were just becoming too much. They were spilling over, and you just… sat there, sobbing. You hid your face into your hands and just… let it out. Because it was just too much.

“Honey…?” You heard the tired, muffled voice through the darkness. “What’s wrong..?”

There was a passing sense of guilt in you, since you knew how tired he must’ve been from work as well. And you didn’t want to bother him, burden him. But still, there was a hint of relief, of a wish to talk to him about it. And that wish soon silenced the guilt.

“I’m…” you begun, but still there was something in you holding back. Because, you also knew that despite the fear of pain childbirth would bring, it was too late to turn back now. So, the idea of grimacing over a fear that was inevitable felt… senseless? “I’m just… afraid of… how much giving birth will be…” you finally admitted while turning your face to the side and wiping tears from the corners of your eyes.

He sat up next to you, and for a moment the only sound in the room was the ruffling of sheets, as he, most likely, was thinking about what to say, what to tell you? Of course it’d hurt, he knew as much. And, if he was quite honest, he didn’t know how women could do it. Of course, he had read about giving birth and could site the stages of labour along with any other information he had managed to find, but… still, childbirth was no short of a miracle to him.

So, he placed one hand onto your shoulder, and wrapped the other around your middle, the bets he could. “I’ll be there, by your side through it all,” he assured you. “I understand that you’re afraid, and… though there are medicines and spells that can ease with the pain, I hear that it’s still quite the ordeal,” he was trying to reason with you. But he was also a problem solver. It was his love language. “Many women have gone through it, and thus there’s no reason why you couldn’t do it either,” another logical statement. “But I promise that I’ll be there with you through it, and I’ll do anything I can to assist you.”

He was trying. And he was being realistic.

The fact that he assured you that he’d be there for you, made you feel better, but it didn’t quite succeed in ridding you from all the fear you still held in your heart.

“If you wish, we may go to Owen to discuss about our options in more detail?” He suggested.

And you loved it when he said ‘we’.

“It… sounds good,” you told him, because it did sound good. It felt like you were being heard, and he really was there for you.

“Then we’ll do that as the first thing in the morning,” he told you.

“Don’t you have a meeting?”

“I can reschedule. There’ll be many more meetings, but I shall not be an absent father.”

There it was, that stubborn pride of a lion. But honestly, it made you love him even more.

“First thing in the morning,” you repeated with a subtle smile, after which he pressed a kiss onto your temple and pulled you back into the bed, holding you close.

His broad chest was pressed against your back, and you could feel it rising and falling as the sound of his breathing rang through the silence. Steady, soft, and secure. To the melody of which you drifted off to sleep.

---

The next day, as promised, you were at Owen’s office to discuss your options about pain relief during labour. And not many of the options presented were new to you. But, you supposed, you had forgotten about how many there were, while even Owen did admit that they couldn’t do miracles, and labour would still take a toll. It was a long ordeal, after all. And he was quite honest with you, when it came to admitting that it would still be painful.

He wasn’t going to lie, which… in a strange way made you feel a little better too. Because you would rather have him tell you the truth, rather than have him lull you into some idea of a painless childbirth, only to then be in agony during labour. At least you could mentally prepare yourself that it’d be like experience the worst cramps you had had, and then a little bit of extra.

But you could do it. You were sure that you could. And they would give you something for the pain to ease it. Warm baths, and walking supposedly also helped, so there were options.

“How painful will it be?”

You were a little surprised to hear Fuego ask that question, if you were honest. Because you had assumed him to focus more on the remedy. But you were even more surprised to hear Owen tell him that he had recently learned to use a spell to mimic the amount of pain a mother experiences during childbirth, in a way of allowing fathers to experience the feeling too.

“May I try?”

That was another question you certainly wouldn’t have anticipated while coming here. But as the initial, split second surprise faded, it did make sense. Fue would be the type of a person to try and understand your predicament, and this would be a good way of doing it.

But still you felt inclined to ask: “are you sure that you want to try?”

“Of course,” he replied while looking at you. “It allows me to connect with you, and understand what you’ll endure.”

“Mmm…” you uttered, first thinking about how you’d react if he went first, and it’d be horribly painful to him. Because the fact of the matter still was: he wouldn’t need to bear through it, while you did. “I’d like to try. First, if that’s okay.”

“If that’s what you wish,” he nodded to you, and then looked at Owen expectingly.

While Owen simply sat there, looking at the exchange, letting you have the discussion, before nodding to you, and instructing you to take a comfortable position before casting a spell.

“Alright, so this mimics the pain of a contraction in the early delivery,” he explained.

You took a deep breath and readied yourself the best you could. Okay, okay, I can do this… you encouraged yourself as Fue took your hand.

“It’ll be alright, my love. You’re strong,” he encouraged as the spell begun to take effect.

And it… it did hurt yes, but it wasn’t much different than a period cramp.

Your eyes shifted from side to side, expecting it to grow worse, but after a while it was gone.

“That’s… it?” You looked at Owen with a frown.

“A contraction in the early stages of labour yes. The few next ones will increase in pain level, much like they would during delivery, and the last that you’ll experience is equivalent to the pain you’d feel during delivery. But I’ll try to keep the last one brief.”

“Okay,” you said with a nod, while again readying yourself.

And Owen continued with the spell.

The next one was worse. And the one after that was even worse. Actually, it reminded you of that time you were on your period and you had had to run and do sit ups. Which had been awful. Horrible. Gut-wrenchingly painful. Just as was your expression and reaction this time.

But honestly, you had expected much, much worse.

And that came with the last stage. Your body curled around itself out of impulse, and your breathing was heavy and deep.

That was when Owen stopped the spell.

The pain faded, but you still sat there, hunched over yourself with a frown on your face.

“Are you alright, my love?” Fue asked, while still holding your hand.

“Mhm?” You hadn’t intended to hum it out as a question.

“Yes?” Owen replied with a question of his own while sitting there with slight concern on his face.

“I’m… not sure?” You said. “I was expecting something… worse?”

Owen gave you a slow nod while choosing his words. “I have to emphasize the fact that it is only a simulation, and what you’ll experience may differ drastically. And. This time the amount it took for each pain impulse to be in effect was considerably shorter than what it’ll be during actual delivery. Exhaustion and the fact that you’ll experience the pain for longer periods of time, do amplify the pain experienced in actuality.”

“Hmm…” you hummed.

“So, you still should do your best to prepare for the delivery.”

“Oh yes, of course,” you replied. Because… of course you would. But you also supposed that it was a good thing that he said it out loud.

As you fell in thought Fuegoleon asked if he could try it out now that you seemed to be alright, to which Owen agreed.

So, Fue took a comfortable position on the chair, as Owen again cast his spell.

Fue’s eyes opened wider, and his body hunched forward as he looked at you with a frown on his face, as if he was asking a question with his expression alone. During the pause, he took a few breaths, slightly deeper than usually.

“Regular… period pain?” He asked, this time managing to voice the question.

“Quite close yeah,” you replied. “Not as bad as being on your period while having to exercise,” you continued right before the second wave hit him.

This time his teeth clenched together, as he leaned forward, even if only a little again.

“This… cannot be,” he managed.

And the came the third wave.

And a fourth. And fifth.

 Sweat dripped down his face, and his breathing was ragged from the pain. His face was pale, and his arms were wrapped around his stomach as he still tried to maintain his composure.

The pride of a lion.

But by the time the last wave came, he was on the floor, growling while grinding his molars, fingers trying to dig into the floor without avail.

And then the pain ceased.

But the sensation lingered. Just as with you. And again his head turned towards you with a frown and a wordless question, which this time around was mixed with a profound sense of awe.

“Does sting a bit, doesn’t it?” You smiled.

And you could have sworn that you heard Owen chuckle under his breath ever so slightly.

---

The weeks rolled past as the due date came closer. All the way until it arrived. And the delivery was without complications.

If you didn’t count Fue stressing more than you would have expected. In fact, you didn’t think that you had ever seen him so on edge than on that day. It was almost like he was angry, angry about your pain, angry about you having to endure something with which he couldn’t help you.

He was helpless. And he hated that.

But by the time the delivery was done, and you were so tired that you couldn’t lift your arms anymore, silence settled into the room. Just... silence, and awe and bliss that you couldn’t describe even if given all the time in the world.

Your first born was by your side. He had cried so much at first, but now it seemed like he had realized that it was alright.

Everything was alright. Mom was there… dad was there… and it was… alright.

Somehow you found the strength to turn onto your side and look at him… His hands were so small… his nose was so tiny and he was… just perfect.

You reached closer to him, placing your arm around him, as if to protect him, without putting the weight of your arm onto him.

“They’re perfect…” Fue whispered while cradling your daughter in his arms, without breaking his gaze from her.

“They are,” you agreed, while looking at your son again.

He placed a kiss onto your daughter’s forehead before turning to you, and placing her next to your son before climbing into the bed himself.

His movements were careful, soft, almost hesitant.

..Yes hesitant.

His eyes were looking intently to your children, as if he was afraid of looking away, as if he was afraid of something happening to them if he dared as much as look away. He might have just met his children, but it was evident that he was already filled with nothing but love, support and devotion to them. They’d be his world. Along with you.

You, and your children were his world.

As simple as that.

And as he laid in bed next to you, wrapping his arm over yours, as if to protect you and the kids now sleeping in between you two, you couldn’t see any fatigue in him, despite having been awake with you throughout the delivery. But there was also a sense of… wonder? The question of if it was real, that moment, was reflected from his eyes. The sheer disbelief if the happiness of that moment was real.

Which it was.

It was…

Your daughter let out a babble in her sleep, and you could have sworn, that even through your tired state, you could see a tear of joy collecting into his eyes.

“They’re perfect…” he whispered, with soft, tender syllables again that flowed through the tranquil silence of the room.

“They are…” you agreed again with faint amusement in your tone as your eyelids begun feeling even heavier.

“Thank you…” he still said.

But you weren’t quite sure what to say, because a ‘you’re welcome’ seemed… out of place, somehow. So, you simply nodded, and it was enough.

It was more than enough.

He was thankful of you, of your kids, of your family, and he didn’t need you to say anything.

He didn’t need you to say anything.

It was enough for you four to simply be there; exist, as a family. The little, perfect family that you couldn’t have dreamed of even in your most wonderful of daydreams.

But the thing was, you didn’t need to dream about it, because it was right there, in the waking world.

[chaosduckies]

Restoration (Chapter 7)

I was in a fluffy mood this time. So, enjoy some with Angela because she’s just a littol baby plus Nathan and Ryker acting like responsible parents.

Word Count: 5.2k

CW: None! (I think)

7-Nathan 

It’s been a chaotic week. Well, at least for me. I don’t know about anyone else. But it’s the end of the week again. Yesterday’s counseling was fine. We had mostly talked about how things between Ryker and I were. They were… awkward. To me. He always looks like he wants to talk to me about something, but never says anything to me besides “Hi,” and, “Hey,” when we’re at lunch and last period. Otherwise, I just kind of sit there trying to ignore the bad thoughts in the back of my mind. It never works. 

It was a cloudy day, sort of smelling like it was going to rain as soon as I stepped outside. The bus ride to school was just as loud as usual. When I walked into the halls, they were crowded just as always. So why did I feel like something was off? Oh well. When has something ever worked out in my favor anyways? Nothing new to me. 

Classes were the same. The rain had started, but only lasted for about an hour before the clouds were clearing up. Everything so far had been the same. I don’t know why I was so on edge, but I was always like that. 

Lunch was just as loud and crowded as always. But somehow, Lucky had always found me before I found him. Of course scaring me before he revealed that he was behind me the entire time. I was never going to get used to that, but it was a nice feeling for some weird reason. 

“Hey!” He greeted me, showing off a big smile as always while he guided me through the mass horde of people. I just did a tiny wave back. I’ve felt a little bit better since those counseling lessons had started, but I haven’t really felt the same either. Actually, Mr. Smith says that he might recommend me taking some medications, which I didn’t even know counsellors could do that but he says he’s licensed and able to do so. I wasn’t entirely too excited to see how many medications he’ll have me take. 

As the table we usually sit at came into view, I noticed that Ryker wasn’t even there. Instead, Dylan was sitting across from where Ryker usually sits, on his phone and biting right into an apple. I stood in place. I’ve only really met him once, and even then we had never talked. Just that Friday two weeks ago. It wasn’t really that bad, but I just don’t what to expect when being around him. Dylan loves teasing with Lucky, and I already know I could never handle anything like that. What if he tries anything with me? Where was Ryker anyways? Wait… just breathe. Don’t want to have a panic attack. 

“Right… Ryker is taking care of Angel and Isabelle. They’re both sick.” Lucky had explained, answering one of my questions. The other being why Dylan was here in the first place. He had never sat here this entire week. Nor any of the weeks before. So why now? I wasn’t going to get an answer. 

Lucky stayed beside me when the elevator gate had opened. We walked out, I surprisingly didn’t stumble like I always do, and I was now in full sight. That didn’t sit right with me. At all. 

Dylan placed his phone on the table, smiling when he caught sight of Lucky and I. I took a few steps back. Everything will be alright. Everything will be alright. Everything will be-

“Oh hey! It’s Nathan right? I’m Dylan, I’m sure you know that though.” He laughed before stretching out his finger and thumb like he was about to give a handshake… Oh wait. It was a handshake. Or a makeshift one at least. 

I looked over to Lucky, hoping he would give some sort of hint to Dylan. Instead, he just gave a nervous smile and held his hand slightly out to me. He was giving the hint to me. I mean, it’s like like I haven’t done this before. Just one other time with Mrs. Kay. It’s just… kids are different. I learned that the hard way. I’m not trying to say Dylan would be like that though! It’s just not out of the question. From what I’ve seen, Lucky hasn’t been hurt. Yet. But I have no idea how long he’s lived there. 

Taking deep breaths, I extended a shaky hand. I watched my hand disappear under the surprisingly soft grip, nearly wincing as I had expected to hear a loud pop! Noise only to find out that my wrist or some other part of my hand was broken. That fear didn’t last long though. Dylan let go, my hand still fully intact with the rest of my arm. I shuddered at the thought of having another broken hand. That was not fun. 

Lucky was facing me with a wide smile with two thumbs up. I felt accomplished, but at the same time I mentally kicked myself for ever thinking that one of Ryker’s siblings would have purposely hurt anyone. Even if they haven’t really met me. 

Dylan chuckled, taking another bite out of his apple then throwing it away in the trash can by the wall. I sucked in a shaky breath, wondering what I was even doing here. I just thought that Lucky would be sad if I didn’t come, but now that I think about it, he knows that I’m afraid of giants. Is this his way of helping me? 

“You’re quiet,” Dylan tilted his head in confusion, “Shy?” I bit the side of my cheek, blinking a couple of times before nodding my head. He must think I’m crazy. Absolutely crazy. There was no doubt about that. 

Dylan just flashed a soft smile before talking to Lucky. I sat down where I usually did. Just a little closer to Lucky since he was laughing and having the time of his life with Dylan. Who was the older one? I couldn’t tell. They were obviously really close though. I wasn’t entirely paying attention to their conversation, just some bits and pieces. Who has the answers for their algebra homework. Lucky complaining about making something for dinner. 

My phone went off while I was reading a book the school librarian recommended to me. During those two weeks the librarian always asked me why I stayed in the library. I just explained that I had nowhere better to be. Ever since then we’ve talked more and more. She says she’s read almost every book in this library since rarely anyone ever goes in there unless they needed to print something or watch a movie while playing board games in their free period. Otherwise, she had always recommended me books to read and she’d always have the mini pretzel bags while I helped her place books back on the shelves. It kind of felt peaceful. 

Checking my phone, I read a text message from my mom. 

Mom: Work called me in. I won’t be home until around nine in the morning 

Mom: Will you be fine on your own for the night? 

Me: yeah 

I would not. Just something about a quiet house without hearing the sounds of the tv playing an episode of The Golden Girls while my mom lay asleep on the couch? I honestly didn’t like the idea of being alone at night. It freaked me out. Is it stupid that I was afraid of the dark? Yes. Do I care? A little. Okay, a lot. But it’s not like I can help it. I’m so used to knowing that someone was in the house with me. Oh well. There’s a first time for everything. Plus, It’s embarrassing for someone to find out that I was afraid of the dark. Doesn’t really come as that big of a surprise coming from someone like me though. 

Mom: Okay 

Mom: I love you I’ll call you when I can 

I sighed, standing up and seeing that the bell was about to ring. I checked my phone for any other nonexistent messages, but I wasn’t able to get a good look before Lucky snatched up my phone and started typing something. Panic rose in me, thinking he was texting my mom. Now that would be awkward for me to explain to her. I tried stealing a couple looks, even reaching for my phone, but it was useless given the fact that Lucky was practically an entire head taller than me. 

“Andddd here you go.” Lucky handed me my phone back, a smirk on his face. I gave a questioning look before seeing that he added a new number. Ryker’s number. What? Why would he give me this? I already I annoy him enough at school, I’m not going to do that outside of school. It’d be wrong. Plus, he’s watching his younger siblings, I don’t want to bother him. 

The worst part about this was that Lucky had already taken the time to text him. Saying that this was Nathan. Aka me. Panic took over my mind. I wasn’t really mad at Lucky per se, more a little sad because he didn’t ask me first. I don’t think I could be mad at someone even if I tried. Still, I wish that he hadn’t texted him for me. I would have preferred not having his number at all if I’m being honest. Not because I don’t like him as a friend though! 

I looked over to Lucky with a nervous look on my face. He just laughed, “You’ll thank me later.” 

“Gave him Ry’s number?” Dylan held back a laugh behind his smirk. He stood up and held his palm out, waiting for Lucky to climb on. Was this some kind of plan of theirs? What if I didn’t want his number? I can’t exactly get rid of it since he already texted him… But maybe this could be a good thing? No. I don’t think so. Never mind. 

“Anyways, if you’re not too mad at me, we should probably get going.” Lucky pointed towards Dylan, and with seemingly no effort, climbed onto his hand, waiting to help me up. I was not expecting this in the slightest. Wait, no, he won’t do anything while Lucky’s with him, would he? It wouldn’t make any sense at all. I mean, they are brothers, right? 

After a couple seconds of going over the pros and cons and all of the endless negative outcomes, I just decided that I would go. Nothing could happen while we were at school, and there was no way that Dylan would ever do anything harmful while Lucky was with him. Right? That was my way of thinking. 

Lucky helped me up, flashing an excited smile. I guess his way of helping is actually working. Huh. Wasn’t expecting that. 

———Ryker———

Isabelle was stuck in her bed, too weak to pull the blankets off and stand on her own two feet without falling. Meanwhile, Angela was snuggled up in my palm with her new stuffed animal she’s named Livvy. They both had a fever. A bad one at that. It’s gone down since this morning, but it was still burning hot. I couldn’t really tell with Angela since I didn’t want to make her too uncomfortable, so I had no idea how she was doing. 

They both insisted on waking up and then heading back to sleep after I tucked them back in, making sure they couldn’t pull the blanket off too easily, even if they tried. How they even managed to get sick? I had no idea. But, they were the only ones who didn’t go to high school, so I kind of thought that other kids at their school were sick too. 

Me? I felt fine. Well, almost fine. This morning I was worried I might have to take them to the doctor, or that I might not have any medicine to help them out. Turns out I did, and Lucky, given his name, was lucky to find some in the back of their medicine cabinet and gave some to Angela. 

Now when everyone had left was a different thing. The night before they had me work later than before, so I barely had any sleep. Then, of course, I had to make Isabelle something to eat that I knew they wouldn’t throw up. Turns out it never worked in the end because she forced herself to go to the restroom and vomit, thankfully, in the toilet. Then there was Angela, who had a slightly less severe case, and I couldn’t make her anything to eat. It didn’t really seem like she was up to the task either, but still. 

They’ve been sick before, just never this bad. Maybe just a little cough or a slight fever, but otherwise they’ve been fine. It’s been hard taking care of them, but I didn’t mind. Just as long as they feel better in the morning. 

Isabelle was fast asleep after I gave her another small dose of medicine. She was doing a lot better now, but I was more worried about Angela. I can’t exactly give her any medicine because I don’t know if it’ll do more harm than good. So I’ve just been holding her tiny body in my palm for the entire. Mostly because she refuses to get off for some reason, and another because I wouldn’t be able to hear her if she woke up and needed something. 

I was laying down in the living room, the tv on a low volume rewatching a horror movie that was supposedly supposed to be scary. So far it was not. At least to me. Angela had been stirring in her sleep, trying to find a comfortable position for a solid five minutes. I knew she was going to wake up soon anyways, so I just lightly pulled the blanket off, pressing the back of my finger into her tiny frame. She was burning up. I guess it was a good thing I pulled the blanket off of her then. 

My heart fell seeing her curl up on herself looking so uncomfortable. There was nothing I could do though. School didn’t end for another hour and Angela hasn’t eaten anything since last nights dinner. Even then she didn’t eat much, saying that she didn’t feel too good. I probably should have seen this coming. 

I paused the movie for a little, waiting for Angela to wake up and ask for a blanket. She stirred, turned, and I finally saw her rub her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time today. It’s been off and on. Again, nothing I could do about it except just let her rest. 

“Mmm… Ry?” She groaned, still holding her stuffed animal. I smiled softly, rubbing her back with the pad of my thumb. She slightly leaned into the touch eyes opening and closing, trying to stay awake. 

“Just go back to sleep, Angel. I’m right here.” I whispered, watching her snuggle up close and point to the human-sized blanket pinched between my thumb and finger. I didn’t want to give it to her. Her fever might just get worse like that. Dylan had texted me earlier to crush up an ice cube and wrap a tiny piece for her, but that wouldn’t work. 

“Aren’t you hot?” I frowned, seeing Angela shake her head and reach for the blanket in a futile attempt. I gave in, letting her wrap herself comfortably and snuggle closer to me. 

After a couple minutes, she was out cold once again. Didn’t matter when she was just going to wake up in an hour again. I unpaused the movie, and glanced to my phone. I grabbed it off the charger, seeing that I had an unknown number text me and a few from Lucky saying that he may have given Nathan my number. Of course he did. He brought the idea up last night after I came home from work. I only said no because what if Nathan didn’t want it? I mean, what if he wanted nothing to do with me. I’d understand if he didn’t, but then it’d be awkward just having it. 

I guess texting him wouldn’t be so bad though. As long as I don’t ruin it. 

———Nathan———

Last period was another free day. But Mrs. Kay says that she has another “project” she wants to try with us. I was not at all excited, but I just had to take this class for the next eight months and then I could go an do what I wanted… what did I want to do again? Didn’t matter. Still have eight months. I’ll be fine. 

As I sat at my desk aimlessly trying to pick a move to watch on my phone, there was a text. From Ryker. What did it say? Would it say not to text his number? That he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore than he already has to? That doesn’t really sound like him, actually. Why would I think that about someone? I bit the side of my cheek, opening the messages app and reading what he texted. 

Ryker: Hey! 

Ryker: I’m guessing Lucky gave you my number 

What do I text back? I’ve never really talked to him. I don’t want to say something stupid either. I can’t leave him on read. That’d be harsh. I groaned silently to myself, typing something out and immediately deleting it. Over, and over again. What do I say though? I ended up just typing something out and hoped he would say anything about it. 

Nathan: He did yeah lol 

Ryker: Of course he did 

He sent it along with an eye roll emoji. 

Ryker: It’s a good thing though 

So he does want to talk to me? I was so confused. 

Nathan: Yeah 

Ryker: Are things boring in last period without me? 

A smile took over my face. This was actually going pretty well considering I never text anyone but my mom. Or call anyone but her. A sad, sad life, I know. But it’s the story of my life. 

Nathan: Yup

Nathan: I heard your sisters were sick 

Ryker: Yeah I’m pretty sure they have the flu  

Nathan: Well I hope they get better :)

I’m pretty sure the conversation ended. That was short lived. Even in real life I can’t keep up a conversation for long. I either go silent or say something that ends it. Great, right? So I couldn’t even be on call until midnight because people lose interest in me fast. I’m surprised Ryker hasn’t yet. 

Ryker: They’re both asleep right now 

Ryker: If you wanna come over you can 

Ryker: I’ll just ask Lucky to take you or something 

Ryker: If you’re comfortable with it 

Going over to his house again? I mean I’m okay with it. It’s just that he’d have to hang around me while also taking care of both Angela and Isabelle. But maybe I could bring them some soup to make them feel better? It would be the right thing to do. I don’t want to go over there just to create more problems. But now that I think about it… why didn’t their parents take care of them? I feel like they can’t just keep Ryker away from school to watch his siblings. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s great that he does! But… they’ve never once mentioned anything about their parents, and I just feel like they should be taking care of their own children. It’s not my place to ask them though. I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. 

Nathan: Sure

Nathan: Is it okay if I grab something for Angela though

Nathan: Like soup or something? 

There was about ten minutes until the last bell of the day rang, and I would have to find Lucky before he just walked out of the school. I have no idea where they live, and there was no way I wanted to get lost on those terrifying streets. Especially with all of the riots lately. I just hope I can go home this time. 

Ryker: If you want 

Ryker: I’d really appreciate it 

Nathan: Will do then 

I sent it with a smiley face, hoping that he wouldn’t tell me anything otherwise. I’m sure my mom would be fine with me staying over for a couple hours. I doubt that they’ll have a movie night when their two youngest were bed-ridden. Or at least I think Ryker kept Isabelle in her bed. I don’t know how he’s been taking care of Angela… Maybe I could help out? Seems like a plan. 

Ryker: Tysm 

Ryker: I’ll tell Lucky to wait for you by the exit 

Ryker: Thank you, again 

He sent a smiley face back to me. My lips twisted into a small smile

Nathan: No problem 

——————

I was expecting for Lucky to be waiting for me. Not Dylan. But I guess it makes sense because they kind of live together. Duh. I’m so stupid sometimes… 

“You’re coming over!” Lucky excitedly announced, Dylan rolling his eyes and waiting for us to climb onto his palm. I bit the side of my cheek, thinking that we were going off of school grounds. Anything could happen. Does Dylan even like me? Probably not. Do I care? Yes. A lot. 

“U-Um… yeah,” I stole a glance to Dylan, who was texting someone, “S-sorry for making you b-b-both wait on m-me.” I whispered to Lucky while pointing to Dylan who wasn’t paying attention to either of us at the time. Lucky nodded his head, seeming to understand. 

“It’s all good. We’re stopping by the store first, right? We need groceries anyways.” Lucky had asked. I hesitantly nodded my head, letting Lucky lead the way as I followed. This was a familiar sight. I was getting to used to being around giants. Was that a good thing? I’d have to ask Mr. Smith about that later. 

About five minutes into walking, and watching in horror as Lucky quite literally had half of his body hanging from the edge of Dylan’s hand, Dylan had decided to start a little conversation. Mostly towards Lucky.

“You’re gonna fall.” He sighed, cupping his hand a little more to prevent Lucky from falling to his death. I shuddered just at the thought of looking over the edge. It’s taken literally almost everything in me to not look over the edge and pass out. 

“No I’m not.” Lucky stuck out his tongue, fixing his position so only his arms were dangling. I could practically hear Dylan roll is eyes. We made eye contact for a while, him giving a smile and opening his mouth to speak, “So what made you want to come over?” 

I jumped at the sudden question directed to me. It’d be pathetic to speak and stutter in front of Dylan, but then again the same goes if I don’t speak. What would he think? Choices are so hard to make. What if I just shrugged? But then he might want to bring it up again and then I’d have to answer. 

Out of nowhere, Lucky sat beside me, wearing a sympathetic face that said, “I’ll tell him for you.” And I’ve never been more grateful in that moment. I would have hugged him if I knew how to. Also I might step over a boundary. Not something that I’d like to do. 

I whispered to Lucky what I wanted him to say, noticing that Dylan looked so confused. I would have scooted back had I not remembered that there was about a hundred foot fall from where I was. If the fall doesn’t kill me the injuries would. 

“He say he just wanted to help out. I told him Angela and Isabelle were sick earlier. Plus, apparently Ryker asked him first.” Lucky shrugged like it was nothing. I admit, I was jealous, but that was shortly lived. I’ll be able to talk someday. Hopefully. Maybe. I’ve done it once I could definitely do it again. If I really wanted to anyways. 

“Makes sense,” Dylan shrugged, “That’s also oddly… nice?” He raised an eyebrow, suspicious of me. I nearly let out a squeak as I brought my knees closer to my chest. I really wasn’t trying to trick anyone… I’m just a really nice person trying to help a friend out. Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t- 

“I was just messing with you. You should have seen your face.” Dylan laughed along with Lucky. Oh thank goodness. The last thing I needed was to be ditched on the side of the concrete not knowing where I was. I was pretty sure we were close to their house though. 

“But seriously, that’s amazingly nice of a stranger. Ry could actually use the help too.” Dylan told me. A tiny smile formed at the corners of my mouth. Maybe he really didn’t see me as a bother. 

——————

It didn’t take us long in the store. Only a couple minutes tops. Though, I didn’t know that the human-sized part of the store was connected. It really made things easier for Dylan since he didn’t have to wait outside awkwardly. Plus, he could grab one for Isabelle too. I was paying anyways. 

We checked some things out, I paid for the things I was getting, while Lucky kept on insisting that I just let him pay for everything. We agreed that we would pay for our own things in the end. It only took a couple minutes to reach the familiar neighborhood I saw two weeks ago. 

Dylan walked up to their house, unlocking it and announcing his presence to practically the entire world while he was closing the door behind him. Ryker turned his head an glared at Dylan, making him whisper a sorry and let both Lucky and I on the ground in front of the same human-sized door that led to their rooms before silently walking back to his own room. It was intimidating to see him from this point of view, but I sucked in a breath, and walked through the open door. I came here, so I’ll just have to deal with it. 

It looked the same as before. Just that there were a ton of blankets thrown onto the couch. I didn’t think about that too much. 

“So do I get a thank you?” Lucky teased. For the phone number? I just laughed to myself, “Y-yeah. Thank you.” 

Lucky was putting away some groceries he had bought. I helped clean up a bit before we both decided to head back outside. It was a long walk from the hallway to the couch, but that’s no surprise when you’re two inches tall to these people. Now I get why Lucky and Angela get carried around almost everywhere in here. 

“Are you staying for dinner?” Lucky asked, now walking backwards to keep up a conversation with me. Was I? I still haven’t told my mom that I was here. I’ll tell her when she texts or calls. She’ll probably be so happy to hear that I was here anyways. 

“I don’t know.” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. 

“You should. You could teach me how to make actually good food.” We both laughed. 

“If you want me to.” 

Lucky silently cheered, thanking me several times before we reached the elevator to get on top of the side-table by the couch Ryker was currently sitting down at trying to find something to watch. 

“Hey Ry.” Lucky grabbed his attention, standing near the very edge of the table. Nope. Could never do that. How is Lucky so brave? Does he really have that much confidence in himself that he won’t fall? Just one wrong step… No. Don’t think about that. I’m not the one on the very edge. 

“Hey” Ryker replied, letting down his free hand. We climbed on and slid back off onto the arm of the couch where there were human-sized blankets and pillows making a makeshift bed. But there wasn’t anyone there. Where did he have Angela then? She wasn’t in that room earlier. I sighed, sitting down. I’d just have to wait until she wakes up. 

“How are they doing?” Lucky asked, sitting beside me. 

Ryker let out a long sigh, “Off and on. Isabelle’s been asleep for a while and I managed to get her to eat some toast. I haven’t been able to check Angela’s fever, but I don’t think she’s getting any better.” 

He brought his other hand towards us, revealing Angela wrapped up in a pink blanket. She didn’t look like she was having a peaceful dream either. She kept moving around and mumbling things that I didn’t understand. Lucky went to check if she still had a fever, which she did. I just have to wait for her to wake up so I can start making something for her. It’s the whole reason I came anyways. My mom’s a nurse, you learn a thing or two. 

“Oh, um, thanks for coming by the way, Nathan.” Ryker thanked me, looking concerned for his little sister who looked like she was about to wake up. 

I came back with a small bowl of chicken noodle soup and some crackers, hoping that this would help in some way. Angela was struggling to keep her eyes open, but after she ate something she already looked a lot better. She didn’t go back to sleep either so I guess that was a good thing too? All I can say was that Angela was excited to see me. We were sitting on the arm of the couch where the pile of blankets and pillows were. 

“Nathan!” She forced herself up and wrapped me in the tightest hug she could manage. I laughed nervously, debating on returning the gesture, but she let go before I could. Thank you. That would have been one awkward hug in front of so many people. Though, I noticed Ryker trying to hide his smile. I didn’t know if that was directed to Angela or me. Or both. Nope. Not going to think too much on that. 

Angela let out a series of coughs and sat back down, wrapped up in her blanket once again. I noticed that she was also hugging the panda I gave her two weeks ago. My heart fell. I didn’t expect her to like it so much. 

Her fever had gone down a lot. Which was a good thing. She ended up falling back to sleep eventually. Then it was just back to the little one sided conversations with Ryker. Dylan and Lucky were hanging out in their own room, probably playing a game or watching tv. So it really was just us. 

It was nice, really. Even if I could only listen and react. I didn’t mind. There was nothing to say anyways. I loved listening though. 

Ryker mentioned something about Jasmine having a game to go to tonight, which explains why she wasn’t here. Then, he said he should probably get started on dinner, which, wow, I probably should start helping out Lucky. 

I helped Lucky with dinner, and once again he praised my cooking abilities, which weren’t even that good. At least to me. Afterwards, Ryker took me to the bus stop by my house and thanked me again. I walked back to my house, changed into comfy pajamas and fell asleep. 

Today was a good day.

——————

I think this was a good chapter. I think. I don’t know. I love how Ryker is trying his hardest to be a responsible parent and how Nathan tries his hardest to take care of Angela and Lucky as much as he can.

Anyways, thank you guys for reading!! Love you guys ❤️

[faerywhimsy]

Vamptember Day 24 -FREE DAY

I am a huge fan of book to TV adaptations, so much so that a portion of my Honours thesis was actually dedicated to that particular portion of media.

The Hunger Games books and movies offer a perfect example of so much of what I love about it; a series of books that are from a limited 1st person perspective, then expanded out into a series of not just three but four movies to make room for perspectives that are hinted at within the books, yet given no explicit voice given the nature of the perspective choice.

But even a faithful adaptations can turn sour is when enough of the central themes of a story get overturned over the course of a longer running series. I’m thinking Game of Thrones here. That first season was almost a play by play of the first novel. Things like the Red- and Purple Weddings later occurred more or less as expected, though timelines of surrounding events were fudged. There were some really cool graphics made on this topic back in the day.

And then... well, we got the last 3 seasons, didn't we? What a disappointment (sorry Jacob, you're an actor capable of doing things that are very subtle, but that show let you down).

Reimaginings can likewise be good or bad, but they have built into them a bit more leeway. Where these usually turn sour is around the time they fully abandon the source material. This is mostly your ‘loosely inspired by’ stuff. It’s putting a name on the door that’s generated to sell tickets. I’m trying to think of a good example of this, but the stuff I haven’t liked doesn’t tend to stick in my head because I’ve usually moved on by then. At their strongest, reimaginings bring well thought out and updated content to a fandom.

BBC's reimagining in Sherlock was innovative when they brought Conan Doyal's characters into the modern day. They succeeded in doing that because what they kept sacred, at least to begin with, was the relationships between the characters and the overarching themes that came from that. By doing only those two things, they were able to reinvent satisfying ways to touch on the main plot points of the original stories.

That team also, sadly, offered a cautionary tale of what happens when such a project deviates too far from its source material.

The reimagining in AMC's Interview with the Vampire is far more ambitious and therefore complex in what it proposes, with an equal half of its story existing in a space that will be close to what was written in the books. I genuinely hope they end up succeeding with their ambition. Part of that is that it's not pretending to be any sort of directly faithful adaptation.

The first hint? The entire premise of S1: It’s 2022 and Louis invites Daniel for a second interview. That just didn't occur in the books.

This one change brings the story straight into the modern day, which is easily arguable as something needed for a series that released its first book in 1976. While I love a nostalgic- or period piece as much as the next person, I’m not disappointed by this.

This is the kind of change that’s a deal breaker. It stands to give new watchers the introduction they need into the world at the same time as giving something entirely unexpected to old fans. In other words, it’s narrative gold to someone like me.

The reasons I love it are completely different to what draws me to a straight like for like with added scenes adaptation as outlined above in Hunger Games. By changing the timeline and beginning straight out of the gate, it means that you can change everything.

And, god, they do.

Okay, obviously not everything. Character names, places, even dates on their own aren’t enough to hold the narrative cohesion of a reimagining if it doesn’t hold tight enough to the central themes of the source material to maintain that the original plot points still make sense to come to pass. WHICH S1 DOES.

I have so much interest in dissecting how they’ve so far kept hold of (most of) the themes and yet, in only 7 episodes, have already told a story with so many different details. And, if I’m gonna be totally honest, TVC is perfectly primed for exactly this kind of adaptation simply because, as a collection, these books have never been consistent (thank you, Anne for this dubious and ongoing gift).

There has been a single possible inconsistency with themes that did give me some cause for concern, but it’s also not the one that most people seem concerned by. So, let’s get into the analysis!

Armand:

I’m beginning with this character, because a supercut on YouTube I finally got around to watching made me realise we got a total of 15 minutes of Assad on screen in the 7 episodes of S1, and less than 5 of those are of him in the named character. So it’s an easy place to start.

Obviously, there is little difference that can be pointed to in those fewer than 5 minutes other than the differences in physical appearance than described (17 y/o, red hair, brown eyes) in the books, and that’s what I’ve seen a lot of discourse on thus far. That, and what on earth this Louis had on him to convince him it was a great play to pretend to be Rashid in front of Daniel. (He is a theatre kid, I guess…)

There is however a short detail in The Vampire Armand after Armand goes into the sun, however, that briefly describes his eyes as being orange (maybe amber?) as he starts to heal, and therefore the choice on making Assad’s eyes this colour in the series becomes an interesting detail to me.

Also, let’s be honest – if you’re gonna make the creative choice to have both Sam and Jacob in these luminescent contacts, but leave Assad’s natural throughout… well, I mean, what is being said on that side of the coin if that’s the choice being made?

On the side of details they kept AND CHANGED at the same time, my favourite for this character continues to be the below image that shows the physical resemblance between one Assad Zaman and, yes, a different Botticelli painting than any referenced in the books, but ultimately a Botticelli painting all the same. We're good to go!

Louis:

I don’t really want to focus too long on the obvious differences between Louis the slave owner (books) and Louis the pimp (series) except to say they are there. As are Louis’ signature green eyes.

However, that is where the resemblance ends. And I’m not just talking about physical.

In Louis’ case, the biggest difference I clocked and remarked in DMs up till now that—as a fanfic writer of both books and series fandom—Louis’ was the voice that consistently gave me most trouble to move between. I literally could not convincingly write him in any series fic at the same time as I was writing my mammoth long fic How They Get to Trinity Gate.

And it was not the fact that Louis was white in the books that tripped me up.

Another big thing is the change to when Louis and Lestat meet. This changes things for Lestat's character a bit as well, but I think it's more clear at this point the ways in which Lestat being set up as that much stronger and older than Louis on first meeting has had an impact on their story. Armand will be that much older than Louis as well, but what's a difference of a handful of decades when Armand already was that much older than Louis canonically?

As a linguist, I remain most fascinated by the dialogue changes that have been given to Louis’ character, particularly in historic New Orleans scenes. When reading Interview With the Vampire, there’s not a great deal of difference to the voice of Louis in the present vs the past that he gives to the boy interviewer. In the series, however? The difference in character from past to present is as unavoidable as it is riveting. To me, that alone offers so many details about who Louis is as a person, the disparity between Louis and a Lestat who obviously still gets to keep his book canon French accent.

In terms of how these changes effected the story as Louis relates it to Daniel, however? I mean, for the most part, the Louis I watched was equally convincing as he hit the main plot points his character needed to hit to stay true to the source material. That makes it a successful update to me!

Daniel:

Daniel is a laugh, both in the books and in the series. But, though the series has held on to the aspect of his sense of humour from the books, that humour is depicted in a completely different way.

Self deprecating, for the most part, or actually laugh out loud funny is what we see of Daniel in the books. Occasionally his anger gets the better of him, but for the most part he’s more docile—or possibly just as drunk—as many of us would be in similar circumstances. Apart from, say, when he’s calling Armand an immortal idiot.

The humour we get from Daniel in the series, though? That’s cutting. Yes, aimed to slice others up, especially when he’s deflecting from himself, but also the stuff that's made to cut through bullshit.

He’s had another 50 years to hone it, and none of them were lost to madness or absence from himself. No, this Daniel has been present every year of the 69 that have been given to him, and it shows. His wit has grown up with him, because he has grown up in a way he never got to in the books.

Something else to consider, however, is the fact that this Daniel is half David.

Actually, it's more than half. We got less of Daniel in S1 than we got of Armand. When I say this, I mean the only parts from the book canon we've got were in a couple of flashback scenes and the recording Eric listens to, then plays in Dubai in Episode 1. Only Luke Brandon Field has so far shown me anything close to a faithful version of Daniel, and I've no doubt this actor is destined to continue to follow that trajectory throughout future seasons.

That leaves me with wondering who we've got in the present from Eric? And that's David Talbot who, it turns out, is another canonical interviewer within The Vampire Chronicles. You may remember him as the guy who interviewed Armand, a version of which we're also set to see in S2.

David, when we first see him in Queen of the Damned, is someone interested in vampires not as puff portraiture but as a reality. He’s an older man coming to acceptance he’s near the end of his life and career. And he does not want to be made into a vampire.

Louis: A still hand, time to watch your daughters marry. Daniel: And divorce. And die.

Sound familiar?

Let me explain something of what I suspect went into this decision behind the scenes: The character of Daniel is underdeveloped in the books to say the least, something I’ve written about already during Vamptember. There was never going to be enough of the book character of Daniel in AMC's version to satisfy every book reader. Anne simply didn't give us enough of him, and fandom remains wildly divided in how to interpret him.

By contrast, David was a character readers got far too much of because of Anne's attempt to shoe horn us into a different romantic interest for Lestat. He's just not as popular. Imagine for a second the reception if the early promotional material had named Eric as playing 'David' instead of 'Daniel'? It's a marketing mislead, and one that's paid off.

When setting up the core "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"-esque central cast, the creative team over at AMC did something very clever, I think. They pulled over characteristics of another underdeveloped character from the same canon in order to flesh their version of Daniel out. We'll almost certainly see a body swap, and that's where the David, and Eric's, part of the story will end.

In conclusion, I will absolutely eat my hat if we see someone called David Talbot walking around in this series ever ever. And, when it comes to the eventual plot line of making Daniel a vampire, they've set up three good options in front of them (and another example where we old fans have no way to expect WHICH WAY IT WILL GO):

He'll be coerced into it (David, canonically by Lestat, but in this universe almost certainly Armand)

He'll change his mind and demand it again (Daniel in true Devil's Minion style)

He'll almost die and someone will have to turn him (Daniel, yes, but also Jesse)

Two of these methods of becoming a vampire from the early books canonically turn a Talamasca character, and I definitely have some on-a-tangent theories there, given the presence of Talamasca characters already in Mayfair Witches.

The only thing they’ll need to change from the books here is Armand being Daniel/David’s foil, instead of Lestat. And, look, they’ve already positioned Louis right there as the love of his life in the face of the love triangle that’s sure to follow in the series, as in the books.

Fareed (bonus):

This is further to my passing body swap comment in the last section, but I really wanted to add:

Why include this minor character front and centre as early as S1? Why then have him explicitly say he is not there not once but three separate times as part of his only dialogue?

Fareed: That is not my voice. And I'm not here. [...] I am not here. [...] I'm not here. [...] Pleasure never meeting you, Mr. Molloy.

Is this not explicitly designed to have the same effect as telling a person not to imagine a pink elephant? Not to mention, it's as meta as fuck. That's Schrödinger's Vampire right here.

So why do these things if not to bring to the front of people's minds not only that the entire of Anne Rice's canon is free game in this reimagining? But that Fareed in particular is a character who's the first of his kind in the Chronicles; a scientist who can and does invent a clone?

A clone that might just end up looking very much like Luke Brandon Field?

Why, also, spend so much time and promotional material on another actor we see for about the same short space of time within S1? Minute for minute, I reckon we get about the same amount of screen time here with Gopal Divan as we do with Luke.

That, and they both happen to appear for the first time in Episode 6. Just saying.

In terms of canon deviation, if there was a physical description of Fareed in the books, I honestly don't remember it. He was just one of Anne's many, many characters that were a) created to function as a plot point, and b) forgotten beyond the original purpose he was created for.

As long as they manage to keep Fareed interested in the vampiric sciences, I honestly don't see there being any problems.

Lestat:

Saving the best till last, am I right?

Lestat is Lestat is Lestat, isn’t he? The blond hair. The blue eyes. The arrogant swagger. Both the father’s anger matched with the uncontrollable laughter raging within him at all times. Completely out of control. Hedonistic, definitely to a fault. A Byronic hero in the package of an immoral vampire.

I hated Lestat and, when I read the books as a teenager, it was despite him.

I was ready to go into the series doing the same. The stories, the themes, the history, the characters (minus Lestat). There is so much richness to love in the world of the books, despite so much of it being told by Lestat. And there was no doubt we were gonna get less of The Lestat Show in a show that’s not told from his PoV and has three other main characters vying equally for that attention.

I will amend this statement now to acknowledge he does get less obnoxious by the time we hit the final trilogy, which were obviously not out when I’d made the judgement call of despising him. (Hell, Tales of the Body Thief wasn’t yet out…)

In Lestat's case, the changes that have been made aren't so much of appearance or characterisation, so much as moments. And I understand why. Lestat is iconic and, in many ways, impossible to change in any meaningful way because of it. So the choice of changing moments here and there becomes the perfect way to cast a new spin on Lestat's character.

ESPECIALLY when you have Armand right there behind Louis the whole time, almost certainly controlling the narrative.

Obviously, there was That Scene in Episode 5. That particular scene is one that never happened in any of the books. But Lestat’s aggressions, micro and otherwise, are a well known particularly in early canon, and Louis is certainly not exempt from them.

Nor is Claudia. And who among us haven’t put up with less when it’s aimed towards a person we love than what we’ll put up with aimed to ourselves?

Despite it not following an actual canon event, it held intact location, characters and central themes all together – the summation of most important aspects when we have an adaptation and hope it will continue to hit the major canon plot points in its reimagining.

We saw Lestat, Louis and Claudia all moving towards an event we all knew was coming, and what ended up being the climax of S1.

What I don't see being talked about anywhere near so much is the beginning of Episode 3, as Louis begins to commit himself to becoming a nuisance to the feline life of New Orleans.

Lestat: Say we come upon a murderer planting a flowerbed, thinking only of flowers. How long do we wait before his bloody deeds reveal themselves? Louis: As long as it takes. Lestat: You haven’t thought this through, Louis.

The charitable view, of course, is that Lestat is just not wanting, in this moment, to encourage anything Louis wants to say. If so, it would hardly be the only time Lestat shuts Louis down. Louis says he doesn’t want to feed on humans anymore so Lestat’s immediate response is to push as hard in the opposite direction. I would be satisfied with that.

Equally, I would be satisfied if, come S3, Lestat is revealed to remember this conversation completely differently. It would make sense. Of COURSE Lestat wants to feed on the evil doer and only the evil doer. What else are monsters like them supposed do? This would speak perfectly to their being many things in The Vampire Lestat that are different once Lestat takes the reigns of the books and supposed pen name.

The more I think about it, the more I won't be terribly surprised if they decide on one of these—or even a secret third option (Armand, I'm looking at you)—being the way this moment washes out later. The repercussions of deviating from Lestat only feeding from the evil doer are far too detrimental to the canon they seem intent to create.

Basically, their Lestat holding fast to this opinion for any longer than this scene would leave them struggling to hit more than one major plot point in future seasons.

Anyone who's read the books knows Lestat has already come across Marius before he meets Louis. He's heard Marius’ treatise on only eating the evil doer, and understands why his mentor holds to that tenant. Likewise, Lestat has prior to that come across Armand—something that has all but been confirmed for the series, again in the S2 trailer—and, after meeting both fledgling and maker, Lestat is able to pull together for himself an ethical stance he will take into the rest of his immortal life.

Lestat doesn't have to figure out what his code is gonna be, or whether he's gonna have one, like he way that's depicted for Louis in Episodes 2-3. This ethical stance informs him and carries through from there to the time in the future where Lestat’s made Prince of all vampires.

We'd have a very different looking future seasons ahead of us if Lestat were to abandon that code. It would make Episode 5 look tame.

But Sam knows those books. Rolin knows those books.

I love these monsters. As unreliable as Anne was with her famous lack of editing, this was something even she never flipped back and forth on. And a bunch of monsters with a code is still what we are seeing in S1 just from the fact that Daniel has survived this far into the interview in 2022.

They were and continue to be monsters, her characters, but they aren't that monstrous. There's a line for these serial murders. Honour among the thieves of mortal life.

That’s what makes them so enduringly interesting in all the variations we see for them.

@vamptember

[linkedkeysau-official]

Whumptober 2022- Linked Keys edition

Day 19- Enough is enough/knees buckling/repeatedly (+art)

There were times when a sudden issue arising has forced the Chain to stop and rest for a prolonged period of time. Usually it was illness or a severe injury, but none of the boys had expected something like this, especially not from their most seasoned veteran, Legend. And yet, following a tough battle against more of those stupid oversized monsters, Legend had suddenly collapsed. While he had woken up quickly and claimed to feel okay, Time and Warriors both agreed they should stop for the rest of the afternoon and set up camp early. During this time, Legend had been ordered to sit down and rest while Hyrule looked him over to make sure he was actually okay. But the fact that he couldn’t find anything wrong was, if possible, even more concerning. Legend didn’t appear to be sick. He wasn’t hurt; at least not beyond a couple of scratches and small bruises, neither of which should have caused him to faint like that. He’d been drinking water, he’d eaten today, and Four confirmed that Legend had slept all last night while the former was on watch. There wasn’t a single explanation Hyrule— or anyone else— could find for why Legend had passed out earlier.

Legend knew the answer, but never planned on revealing the truth to these guys. No matter how close they were. If they knew, they’d think he was weak, treat him as if he were some fragile porcelain doll. He’d gotten this far letting them live in ignorance, and honestly his condition hadn’t been too bad lately. It could be easily ignored. Worst case scenario, if it did get bad, he could always ask to rest and blame it on being tired. The jokes about him getting old were a lot better than them always watching him, staring at him like someone who could simply drop dead at any moment. So he never brought it up, and decided he never would. Hopefully, knowing that he seemed to be okay now, they’d eventually be able to put this incident behind them and everyone could continue living in ignorant bliss. But of course he should have known it wouldn’t go that smoothly.

In retrospect, perhaps he should have stayed put. But he was getting antsy. He hated that he was being forced to sit still and not move too much just because he’d randomly collapsed (for no reason, as far as they knew) at the end of a fight. It had been several hours since then anyway, and he felt just fine. He needed to stretch his legs a bit.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Warriors demanded.

“Relax, Pretty Boy, I’m just going for a walk. My ass is getting sore from all this sitting around.” Legend rolled his eyes.

“You’re not going alone. Not while we’re still unsure of what caused you to faint.” Time stated firmly.

“I’ll go with him.” Twilight offered, getting up as well, “If something happens, I’ll whistle.” He held up the little horse whistle he had on a string around his neck.

“Alright. Be safe, you two. And don’t go too far. It’ll be dark soon and I don’t want to risk you getting caught by monsters out there alone.” Time said.

“We’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Legend assured him. Nobody looked convinced, but they didn’t try to stop him as he walked away with Twilight, either.

Legend walked through the trees until the camp was no longer in view, where he stopped for a minute, taking a deep breath of fresh, campfire-smoke-free air. It was quiet all around, aside from a few birds calling out and cicadas beginning to sing as the sun set. The other heroes were great to hang around with, but damn he missed this, being alone in nature like this. Only a hint of red was visible above the trees, turning the sky a cool purple color. The first few stars were coming into view. If Legend was still the naive teen he was back during his first adventure, he might have made a wish. But he wasn’t. He knew wishes made on stars never really came true, and if they did, it was nothing more than chance. He would know, from how many times he’s tried, and yet he still ended up being the goddesses’ errand boy. He still never saw Marin again… He still had this damned heart condition.

Lost in thought, he hadn’t realized that he and Twilight had gotten separated at some point until it was nearly dark. The howling of a wolf echoed through the air from somewhere nearby and Legend dared to hope it was his friend calling to him… until he heard several more howls in response. Shit… That wasn’t Twilight. Those were normal wolves, or with Legend’s luck, probably Wolfos. And with how close the first howl was, no doubt they could smell rabbit on him. Twilight at least could, and he had warned Legend about that too. Stay away from wolves, they can smell the rabbit on you. As if Legend needed a warning. The only wolf he’d be caught within mauling distance of was Twilight, and only because he knew Twilight wouldn’t hurt him. But these wolves for sure would.

Legend tried to run, but soon found himself surrounded by gray-furred beasts, all snarling ferociously. They were smaller than Twilight, but that didn’t make them any less terrifying. Like an idiot, he hadn’t brought his sword or any of his other items. Dammit, he was supposed to be the one prepared for anything! And he hadn’t thought for one second that he could be attacked out here. Seeing that he was cornered, panic set in, sending his little rabbit heart into a frenzy.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump—

A horribly familiar feeling of dizziness washed over Legend. Panic was a normal response to fear, as was increased heart rate. The problem for Legend was that in times of stress, his heart often started to beat too fast. A side effect of his rabbit transformation for sure, but something that has never gone away since his first visit to the Dark World, and always caused problems at the worst possible times, such as right now. If he had a chance at fleeing or fighting back, it was gone now. He’d collapse the moment he made any sort of sudden movement. If he collapsed, he was wolf dinner. Unfortunately, as his heart pounded harder and harder, faster and faster; a burning ache growing in his chest, the feeling of lightheadedness increasing to the point of nausea… collapse was imminent either way. He could barely keep himself upright as it was. But as if by some miracle, Twilight appeared at just that moment.

“Legend!” A loud, shrill whistle was heard before Twilight grabbed ahold of the other object around his neck, and with a burst of dark power, had transformed into a wolf. He came to a stop in front of Legend, growling at the other wolves. As several of them seemed to back away in fear of this much larger wolf, Legend’s legs finally gave out from under him and he fell to the ground right as the other wolves fled. Twilight turned around in alarm, giving a whine, followed by a loud bark, as Legend’s consciousness faded.

He woke up to a wet nose in his face. The last little bit of light in the sky above him told him he hadn’t been out long, but his wolf friend seemed to be extremely worried nonetheless. This was evidenced by the series of pitiful whines that Twilight gave him as he gently nudged Legend’s cheek as he managed to slowly push himself to a sitting position. Legend gave him a pat on the head, knowing Twilight secretly liked that.

“I’m okay, Wolfie. Just had a little panic attack, that’s all.” He lied, “Rabbits and wolves… You know how it is. I think I’m ready to go back to camp now, though.” Legend at least thought his last attack was over. It should be safe to stand up as long as he didn’t move too fast… He twisted around to where he was on his knees, then tried to stand up from there. Problem was, the second he put effort into standing, his heart began racing again. The dangerously fast, unsteady rhythm was pounding in his ears, drowning out everything else. He could feel every beat slamming into his ribs.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump—

His chest felt painfully tight, causing him to instinctively clutch a hand to it as if that would stop it hurting. He couldn’t breathe… He felt as if his heart and lungs were being squeezed by a massive fist. He heard a sob escape his lips as the pain only intensified. Waves of nausea and dizziness washed over him like a relentless stormy sea. His vision went blank, and the last thing he felt before blacking out completely was the sensation of falling.

Twilight saw Legend fail to get up, collapsing as he tried. Twilight couldn’t smell any blood, so he didn’t seem to be wounded. But he wasn’t waking up either… This was the third time Legend had passed out today, obviously there was something wrong. But what?

Okay, calm down… You blew the whistle. The others should be on their way. Just keep him safe until they get here, Twilight thought to himself. Cautiously he lay down on the ground, resting his head and his front paws on top of Legend’s body. He could feel Legend’s heart pounding at what for sure was an abnormal rate, but had that been the reason he passed out? Or was it a side effect of something worse?

“Legend?! Twilight?! Are you okay? We heard the whistle, and…” Wild came running through the trees, followed by Warriors and Hyrule.

“What happened?!” Hyrule asked in alarm upon seeing Legend lying motionless on the ground as Twilight got up from his spot, quickly shifting back into his hylian form.

“I don’t know. We got separated, and he was surrounded by wolves. He collapsed right after I found him, but then he woke up, and we tried to come back to camp but…” Twilight tried to explain. Warriors was kneeling down beside Legend, taking his pulse.

“Shit, Hyrule, come here. This isn't good." He said. Hyrule turned to him before joining Warriors at Legend's side, "Feel his pulse." Warriors moved so Hyrule could feel the side of Legend's neck.

"His heart's beating way, way too fast…" Hyrule muttered worriedly, "Twilight, did you notice him acting weird before he collapsed? Either time?"

"I… I don't know. It was dark, I couldn't see. My sight isn't that great in wolf form anyway. He… He did sound like he was having trouble breathing, but he told me it was a panic attack, because of the wolves." Twilight explained.

"This goes beyond a panic attack. There's something wrong with his heart. There's no way it should be beating this fast." Hyrule shook his head, not looking up for one second as he checked Legend's body for any sort of mark or bite that might have poisoned him and caused this.

"We should get him back to camp. Our supplies are all there and it's safer." Warriors suggested. Hyrule nodded. Twilight lifted Legend into his arms and the group returned to their camp.

"What happened?" Time asked.

"He collapsed again." Warriors explained as Twilight set Legend down on his bedroll. Warriors checked his pulse again, "dammit, heart rate still hasn't gone down. The hell is wrong with—"

"Tachycardia." Wild spoke up.

"What?" Everyone else asked in unison.

"I, uh… I think I read it in a book somewhere in one of the Sheikah labs. It's… I think it's when your heart can suddenly start beating too fast and it can make you pass out. I don't remember much about what I read, but it's often triggered by stress."

"That's… a much better guess than any of us had." Hyrule glanced at Twi and Wars.

"Way to go, Cub." Twilight praised.

"But knowing what's wrong doesn't help much. We've gotta try to get his heart rate to slow down before it kills him, or… whatever this tacky-whatever does." Warriors butted in.

"Right. Let me try…" Hyrule raised his hands over Legend's chest, letting his magic flow into him. Warriors kept two fingers on Legend's wrist, waiting to see if his speeding pulse slowed at all with the help of Hyrule's magic. It did, but not by much.

"It's not enough. We've gotta try something else." Warriors said.

"Potions?" Twilight suggested.

"Wait! I remember something else from that book! I think if you put his feet up that'll help. Something about… directing blood flow back to your heart or… I don't know, but I think that's what it said to do." Wild said.

"How the hell do you even know this stuff?" Paint asked. Wild shrugged,

"I got bored when Purah was working on restoring my Sheikah Slate. Saw this book that fell off a bookshelf and wanted to see if I could understand a single word that was in it."

"Well it's coming in handy now, I'd say." Twilight said. Hyrule had piled up a few people's bags, then moved Legend's legs to rest on top.

"Guys it's working. His pulse is slowing down." Warriors stated.

"Holy shit. Wild, you're amazing." Future laughed. Everyone was now coming over to check on Legend. Within a few minutes, he finally began to stir, his heart having returned to a more normal pace. Still fast, but it had always been a little on the fast side anyway. Legend finally opened his eyes, staring around at the crowd of people staring down at him with worried faces.

"Legend! You're awake!" Mask cheered.

"How are you feeling?" Wild asked.

"Nnnng… like shit…" he groaned weakly.

"Well I'd assume so. You collapsed three times today!" Warriors scolded.

"When I saw you collapse back in the woods, I thought you were having a heart attack." Twilight admitted.

"Your heart was beating so fast… I wasn't sure how you were even still alive!" Hyrule said.

Shit. They know.

"It was just a… panic… I-I'm fi—" he tried to lie.

"Don't fucking tell us you're 'fine' after that. You are not fine, you have not been fine. I've noticed you acting weird before, like you were out of breath and in pain when we weren't even doing anything. You passed out three separate times tonight, and Twilight confirmed the same behavior the last two times." Warriors yelled at him, "your heart was beating at almost 200 times a minute. I get that you were scared, but even then, it should not be that high. You have been hiding something from us, and it has been posing a serious threat to your health— your life, even. Enough is enough; you are going to tell us what has been going on, when it started, what causes it, and how to treat it just in case this ever happens again."

"A fast heart… is normal for a rabbit." Legend said.

"For a rabbit, yes, but you're—" Warriors paused, "Wait, are you saying this has something to do with your rabbit form?!"

"Not sure if that's what caused it but it… Only started after my first transformation… During my first adventure. Uh… Six years ago?"

"Six years?! You've been dealing with this for six years and you never once told anyone about it? I never heard anything about the Hero of Legend having heart problems and still kicking ass like you did." Paint demanded.

"Okay, we get it. Legend kept this from a lot of people." Hyrule butted in, turning back to Legend, "What triggers it, usually?"

"Stress… Sometimes anger… overexertion… Sta- Standing up too fast… Those are the main ones."

"And how do you normally deal with it?"

"Well, sitting down is always good. Or laying down is… better. Lots of water. Putting my feet up… like this. Finding ways to calm down..." Legend said.

"Okay, well we've got most of that going for you already. Someone get him some water." Warriors ordered. Hyrule ran off and came back with a waterskin. Twilight helped Legend sit up, allowing him to lean against him for support, as Hyrule handed Legend the waterskin.

"Better?" Hyrule asked.

"A little, yeah…" Legend nodded, taking another drink, "Do… you guys think I'm weak… because of this?"

"Weak? Heck no!" Twilight replied.

"Dude if anything you're insanely strong. You said this started back on your first quest? This is what, your fifth?! And you've been dealing with this the whole time. That's incredible." Wild said.

"Really living up to your nickname." Wind smiled.

"Yeah, you're a real legend, Legend." Future agreed.

"I wasn't trying to make you look weak. None of us were. I just don't want this to happen again and none of us know how to help you. We care about you, Ledge. We all care about you a lot. And if you were to die because you were too scared of looking weak to tell us about a legitimate health issue…" Warriors trailed off. Time knelt down and put a hand on Legend's shoulder.

"We're just glad you're okay. You're part of our family now, Legend. So please don't feel the need to hide things from us. Okay?"

"... I'll try."

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #05

previous | all | next

CW: Some of my analysis in this post handles the topic of death and suicide (there will be a warning around that portion). There are also more spoilers than usual. Stay safe!

I’m doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc.

As always, here are the silly silly non-analysis panels:

And the rest is under the cut >:)

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

Milly and Meryl (especially Milly goddamn) rolling nat 20's on their perception checks. It really is scary how good their sixth sense is.

In the previous chapter, Vash asked for (and for a while was using) a 3rd class seat, but it looks like he asked for a grade-up or something to accomodate for Kaito.

A sort-of mistranslation - Kaito means that Vash talks as if he were someone from the Big Fall (because in that time period, there's no way any human from then would be alive), so it should be more like "You talk as if you were actually at the Big Fall, over a hundred years ago." The existing phrasing could also mean that, but this would make it less ambiguous. Also, I would replace his "I/my" statements with "we/our," since it's not specified and he assumes Vash is just a human that's talking weirdly.

This line is really interesting to me from a rereading standpoint. At this point, Vash's origins and age are still a mystery, and this is the first hint at it. Vash's expression makes me think that maybe he was reminded that no one other than him (+Knives+the people at the Home ship) is from that time period. To the overwhelming majority of people, No Man's Land is their only home; this life is all they know.

Don't have much to say about this one that's not in the image. Vash's pussy is out again. Excellent (horrible) form. Kaito is either a bit worried about how hard he fell, or he doesn't give a shit and is just nervous/cautious about the mission.

I love how over-the-top neon is. Smoking a firework!! Damn!!

A decent amount of lines from Neon and the BL gang (I'm going to call them that exclusively) are in katakana English.

I like how he says "maggots" in place of the...rude 3rd person pronoun (??)(that sounds kinda stupid in english lmao) Neon says something more like "It's about time that boy set everything up!!" referring to the small bombs he was putting in the vents.

His pose here reminds me of kabuki. I'm not sure about details, since I don't know much about kabuki... But it looks like a stereotypical kabuki pose. Another over-the-top point for Neon.

In Japanese, the first line has "reeking of manure" describing the wagons. For the "Big Man" in Japanese, the kanji for the sandsteamer (砂蒸気, usually ruby-ed サンドスチーム/sandsteamer) with the ruby note saying Big Man (ビッグ・マン). Also, the guy mentions that the chasing them off is part of the fee they paid.

More over-the-top-ness from Neon. In the Japanese version, the first line looks a lot like one of those super long German words to me lol (究極華麗弩級盗賊). The portion saying "The Bad Lads Gang!" in Japanese is pretty much just "Hhhhhheaaaddd!!!!" (as in leader).

The introduction for Neon actually has play on words/kanji. The word 降臨 (kōrin) is originally for Christ's coming or descent, usually used for any arrival of someone "godly" (fyi Japanese has a much more casual sense of godliness than in English). What it says here, though, is 光臨, which replaces the first hald with the character for "light" (also kō). How bright can this guy get!?

Did Kaito nicely go through the trouble of moving Vash onto the bed before venting? how... that's a grown man...

And here is Rem's first appearance!! Just now realized that her name is probably based off of REM sleep (the stage of sleep associated with dreaming). The two are wearing similar (but not the same) clothes, with Rem wearing a tucked t-shirt and jeans, and Vash wearing an untucked button-up and jeans. I'm not smart enough for this but there's gotta be something to analyze here along with the fact that Vash is an adult (the dream isn't entirely based on memory)... Also, this is the first time we see Vash in a casual outfit.

This may very well be me reading into things too much, but it stuck out to me that Rem is barefoot while Vash has sneakers on. I had two speculations about this. One is that Rem has been at that picnic for longer than Vash, and Vash just got (appeared...?) there. I'm not sure about Western picnic customs/etiquette, but in Japan, you always take your shoes off when sitting down on the tarp. Rem is the one that set the picnic up, but Vash hasn't had the chance to even take his shoes off. this sounds kinda stupid now that im typing it out. idek (throws computer out of window) [death/sui cw] The other, more messed up one is that it symbolizes Rem's death. This one is definitely more overanalysis-y!! It reminded me of what Reigen did during the final arc of MP100...iykyk. During the Great Fall, Rem willingly stayed on the ship to save humanity, sacrificing herself. I'll spare the details, but in Japanese culture, people often take their shoes off before committing suicide. It's a frequently used symbol in art that handles the topic. Rem being barefoot may be symbolizing her resolve at the time of her death, of being prepared to die if it means she can save one more person. [/cw]

did i write all that for a single panel. this aut really be isming OH MY GOD MY COMPUTER JUST RAN OUT OF BATTERY I HAD A HEART ATTACK. I FORGOT IT WASNT PLUGGED IN HOLY SHIT THANK GOD FOR AUTOSAVE.

This line of Vash's is also interesting. Is he viewing "people" from an outsider's perspective, as an independent Plant? Or is including himself in that, questioning the meaning of his own current life in the desert planet, too?

In Japanese. way he responded to Rem's giggling looked a bit childish to me, like he reverted a bit back to his childhood, or he's just being a more relaxed around Rem. mom........

Ok okokok. In Japanese, she (more literally) says "All I can muster/the best I can do is ask my heart [the destination] (read: what I can do)." This may be a translation correction but I honestly was not thinking about that at all during the annotation lol. I'm too sleepy to actually talk about the importance of this line and the way it's phrased. but you get it. you get it.........

Silly Vash face for the first time in a while!! Vash's reaction upon waking gives me the impression that this is the first time (in a long while, at least) that he's dreamed about Rem...? he looks so cute..........................help...................

And that’s it for Chapter #05! As always, the Japanese annotations are in the reblogs.

i know i'm getting very behind. theres absolutely no way im going to complete all this in real time with the book club. and all this stuff about rem is not helping. send help

[lebubblyblogger]

How unlucky can I get???

So here’s what happened during my semester break. 

Today is the 2nd of July, 2022. I am WORKING...Yes, I had 3 weeks break from Uni and I decided to spend those 3 weeks working at my old workplace as a casual worker. You know what this means? not only I get to see my old co-workers, but I also got to see Jason!! I had so many shifts with him actually. We mostly did work and stuff but we still talked a lot and had a good time. On one of our closing shifts, Dean had an idea about a “plan of date” I guess. He recently went to the museum with his wife, he said that it was really fun and he wanted us to go there too. Dean kinda mentioned it a little bit to both of us, sort of hinting that me and Jason should both go. Few minutes later, Dean came up to me and he said that I should “ask him if he wants to go to the museum with you”. I was really scared and nervous, coz everything so far was going well, it wasn’t awkward at all, I was very happy and content to where things are going right now. However, I also wanted to take the chance to hang out with him again. The last time me and Jason hung out was last year, we both went to this asian restaurant, he surprisingly enjoyed it actually...Anyway, it took me a few minutes until I finally decided to ask him. So I did, and to my surprise...HE SAID SUREEEE. I was honestly not expecting that, there was honestly no hesitation to his answer...And at first, not gonna lie, I thought he was just bullshitting.... I thought he didn’t mean to say yes or anything, it almost didn’t seem genuine. I told him a day later that I was free next Tuesday. He said “I’ll see”. At this moment, I was thinking “alright, he’s going to say no...his answer sounds forced...maybe he feels bad??what it he secretly hates me???” all of these thoughts are coming up in my head, I was overthinking a lot....Until yesterday...it was my last shift with him...I was going to say bye, but before I could even mention the plan again...He was the one who brought it up. He said “Are you going now? Is it your last day? I see...well about Tuesday...I will say yes for now unless they gave me an extra shift on that day, but yes, I’ll go with you on Tuesday.” NOW HERE’S WHAT I’M THINKING. If he actually didn’t care, he would just brush off the topic right? or not even mention it...BUT NOOO, HE WAS THE ONE WHO BROUGHT IT UP BEFORE I LEFT! So in my opinion, that alone proves that he is being serious about taking me to the museum - which I’ve never been before....SOO COOOL: TUESDAY, MUSEUM, AFTER 12PM....right?? 

You see, I was super stoked and excited about this. But it all went to shit within 24 hours....

I went to work again today as usual (it was my last day before coming back to Uni). I was telling Dean how excited I was and how I couldn’t wait until Tuesday. After my shift, I said bye to everyone, I went upstairs, checked my phone, went to my sisters texts and saw a photo that she just sent an hour ago. GUESS WHAT? IT WAS A PHOTO OF A POSITIVE COVID RAT TEST. Now idk about the rest of the world, but if someone has covid in my household, every household member has to isolate for a week. So that’s what I need to do. Cool right? get to miss a whole week of Uni. Then I realised....SHIT MY HANG OUT WITH JASON IS IN 3 DAYS!!! I’M GOING TO MISS IT!!! FUCCCKKKK MYYYY LIIIIIFFEEE!!! What is my luck right now? this would have been the perfect opportunity to hang out with him....for realzies...but this stupid virus has to ruin everything for me...AGAAAINN. UGH!! I already messaged Jason about this, he hasn’t replied yet as of now. My isolation period is only for a week though, hopefully I at least have one free day 2 weeks from now, and HOPEEFULY HE IS ALSO FREE. I’m still waiting for him to reply. All I have to do is wait now....Please sweet Jesus let him reply ASAP. 

Anyway gtg now, I’m sleepy af. 

Edit (3rd July, 2022): HE REPLIED!!! He said alg, he won’t be taking any more extra shifts after this week!!! NICEE. Now let’s hope I don’t get the virus 🙏. Alright I’m tired, going to sleep now, see y’all whenever :))