#which means it will be airing at midnight instead of 1am which is so much more manageable

[jakeperalta]

911 coming back during the couple of weeks that the US–UK timezone gap is an hour less is such a treat I love this for me

[hopelesshawks]

Safe Haven

Hawks x Reader

The coffee shop au that I thought would be quick and then got so out of hand so fast omg. But hopefully it's in a good way

While this fic is sfw, the blog posting it is 18+ only, minors dni

Content Warnings: hurt/comfort, egregious use of italics, unreliable narrator (almost entirely on Hawks' end), Keigo being touch starved and desperate for affection bc he deserves more of it

General Masterlist Kofi

You flip the sign at the front door of your shop from open to closed. It’s late and you’ve cut off the main lights to discourage anyone from trying to come in. The only thing lighting up the interior of the dining area is the neon sign of your logo and the spillover from the fluorescent light of the stock room in back. It’s a friday night which means it’s time to go back over your inventory in detail and make note of what needs to be restocked. Your apartment is right upstairs so you don’t mind staying even later. There’s something peaceful about the area when the moon is high in the sky and every other business has closed for the night. There’s not much foot traffic at 1am, understandably so, which makes you feel like your shop is its own little lofi haven. 

You’ve got a special playlist just for wrapping up for the night and it plays softly over the speakers as you wipe tables and counters and put away chairs. It’s easy to get lost in the familiar routine and the fall of rain outside only contributes to the easy atmosphere. As you finish up cleaning you know the stock room is waiting for you but you decide to take a second to just enjoy the moment. You lean against the front counter and let your eyes flutter shut, focusing instead on your other senses. 

The smell of roasted coffee lingers in the air, cut by the smell of the disinfectant you’ve just used to wipe everything down. Life Goes On by Agust D plays over the speakers and it pairs perfectly with the heavy patter of the rain on the windows as the storm grows a bit stronger. It hasn’t started thundering but you wonder if it isn’t far behind. If it continues into the morning the foot traffic on the road will be less which means a slower day for the shop. You can comfortably afford to have some slow days so you’re not too worried by that, if anything it may be nice to have a peaceful day considering the approaching summer will likely mean workers, students, and tourists alike flooding in to escape the heat with fresh pastries and iced drinks. 

You may have stayed wrapped up in your musings for a while yet if not for a sudden thud at the front door that interrupts your thoughts. You jump slightly as your eyes fly open. You’re not 100% sure what you expected to find. You don’t usually get entitled customers demanding entrance after closing considering you’re open until midnight and crime is rare in the area considering how frequently Hawks stops by. 

Speak of the devil…

Hawks’ silhouette is impossible to mistake. His prosthetic wings aren’t quite as grand as his original ones were but they are just as recognizable. Especially considering it’s his back that’s pressed against your door, his head thunking against it with a quieter thud than the initial one that had caught your attention. As you slowly approach the door you can already tell he must be exhausted. You can hardly believe he’s flown in this weather considering how much it’s coming down and on closer inspection he looks absolutely drenched. He’s a regular at your store, likely because it’s the only coffee shop that stays open late in the area, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s here now. Alarm bells are going off in your head that something may be wrong, which is perhaps why you find yourself unlocking the doors and pushing open the one he’s not leaning against. 

“Hawks?” you ask hesitantly as you lean out to look down on the weary pro hero. 

He blinks up at you, his eyes slightly widened in surprise. It’s clear he didn’t think anyone was still in, which only makes you all the more curious why he’d come in the first place. 

“You’re still here,” he notes and it’s not really a question but you find yourself nodding all the same. 

“Sorry didn’t mean to bother you,” he mumbles and he seems millions of miles away. It’s a bit off putting considering the version of him you’re used to seeing. Sure he’s been a bit more subdued ever since the great war against All For One and the League of Villains, but he’s still made most of his public appearances with a reassuring if not cocky grin and a quick witted tongue. None of that seems present in the man at your feet now. 

He stands again and it’s concerning how much effort it seems to take as he moves to leave so you’re quick to intercept him. You quickly surge forward to help support his weight, wrapping a hand around his arm as the other goes to his back to help support him. 

“Why don’t you come in?” you find yourself offering.

“But you’re closed,” he protests, eyebrows furrowing as he starts to shrug out of your grasp.

You tighten your grip to prevent him from going anywhere. He’s plenty strong enough that he could easily have still escaped if he wanted to but the movement still gives him pause as he brings his gaze to meet yours, confusion and something else that looks suspiciously like smothered hope marring his golden irises. 

“Doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t stay out in this weather anyway you’re soaked,” you insist. 

That seems to be enough to convince him to follow you as you bring him into the warm safety of the cafe, closing the door behind you both and locking it again. When you look back to Hawks he’s frowning down at his feet where a puddle is slowly forming as rainwater dips off every inch of him and onto the floor. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll clean it up in a moment,” you assure him as you pull him with you behind the counter.

The store room light reminds you of what you still need to get done but you ignore it for now. You’ll get Hawks set up and then come back for it. You’re not entirely sure what he needs but you have a guess of what could at least start to help him feel better, so you guide him deeper back into the store where no other customer has ventured before. He’s tracking water with each step but you don’t really care as you guide him up a tight stairwell and into your apartment. It’s small and cozy, the lighting soft to make the transition to bed easier after the brightness of the stock room lights. You pull him past all your various succulents, stuffed bookshelves, and worn leather couch, into your bedroom and then the en suite bathroom attached to it. 

“Get out of those wet clothes and take a warm shower. I’ll leave some clothes for you to change into on the bed and then you can come down and find me in the stock room if you’d like,” you explain gently.

You wait until he’s given you a nod of understanding, clearly still trying to process the generosity you’re showing him, and only then do you give him a soft smile and leave to give him privacy. You raid your drawers to find a hoodie and drawstring sweats that are oversized on you to leave for him. You leave them on the bed as promised and then head back downstairs. 

The first order of business is to clean the floor back up but it doesn’t take long. You can’t help but think of the look on Hawks’ face when he’d realized he was making a puddle. It was far from a catastrophic mess and it took you almost no time at all to clean, yet he’d looked as if he’d committed some criminal offense; as if his presence was nuisance enough and dripping water on the floor was only adding insult to injury. Part of you wonders what could possibly make such a beloved pro hero, someone who must be used to being met with praise and adoration wherever he goes, look like that. 

Then you remember the broadcast years prior that had revealed who his father is and you wince. With a father like that… Well it’s not your place to speculate, especially considering the basis for your speculation is information Hawks hadn’t willingly given. 

To distract you from wandering thoughts and the memory of weary golden eyes you begin taking inventory as you’d originally intended before Hawks showed up at your door. It’s an easy enough process, comforting in its monotony, and you almost forget entirely about Hawks’ sudden appearance at your doorstep until the man himself makes his reappearance. You’re about halfway done with inventory at this point but you pause to briefly appraise your guest. He looks more present than when you first found him outside and soft in the borrowed clothes. He’s left his prosthetics upstairs, probably to dry off with the rest of his things, so you can fully take in the much smaller remnants of his natural wings. You can tell he feels a little wrong footed so you decide to offer him a lifeline. 

“Want to help me with taking inventory?” you offer, figuring it will ease some of his discomfort if he feels like he’s helping instead of burdening you. Your instinct seems to be correct because he straightens a little at the offer and gives a somewhat eager nod. He doesn’t respond at all verbally, which throws you a little considering you’ve never seen him so quiet. Still you decide it’s best not to point this out, instead carefully explaining your process and handing him a notepad to take note of what you tell him to. 

The process moves a little faster with you able to just call out what you will need to Hawks instead of pausing to take notes yourself. Your music is still playing and it fills the silence between each note you tell him to write down. It should feel odd considering this has always been a solo process for you. You’ve got a few employees who help out but you always take the closing shift yourself since it’s never too packed for one person to handle and that way no one has to make their way home so late at night. It feels natural working with Hawks though and he seems to appreciate having a task to do. 

“That’s the last of it, how about you head up and put the kettle on while I finish closing stuff up down here?” you offer once you’ve finished. It’s ticking past 2am by now but you still can’t imagine sending Hawks home yet. Especially considering the rain is still coming down pretty hard. Again having a task to do seems to help him relax into the space and he gives you a short nod before disappearing back upstairs to do as told. You finally turn off your music and the neon sign in front, leaving the stock room light for last before going back into your apartment. 

You’re not sure how much losing so many of his feathers has dulled his heightened senses so you make sure to make a decent amount of noise as you enter your apartment, intentionally stepping on the creakier floorboards so he has plenty of warning that you’re coming. You notice that he cleaned up the puddles he made earlier and when you enter the kitchen he’s already gotten two mugs out and set them by the stove. Your gaze lingers on them as you realize he’s inadvertently grabbed down one of your favorites. He seems to misinterpret why you’re looking at them because he suddenly gets a bit sheepish. A slightly self-deprecating grin that looks closer to the Hawks you’ve seen on tv spreads across his face as he reaches one hand up to scratch at the base of his neck where he still wears his hair shorter than he once did. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to rifle through your cabinets too much but I figured I should at least get mugs for us,” he offers with a chuckle that may have been convincing if you hadn’t seen the state he was in when he first arrived. You wave off his concern with a flippant gesture of your hand, moving to the drawer where you keep all of your tea. 

“No apology necessary, thanks for getting them for us,” you reassure as you select out a chamomile tea for yourself and an even more soothing blend of lavender and butterfly pea for Hawks. The latter is one you crafted yourself, still a bit of a prototype before you’ll roll it out into the shop. It’s worked for you on especially stressful days, so you hope it can similarly help him shake off whatever it is that sent him to your doorstep. 

When the kettle goes off you quickly move to fill both mugs, pressing your favorite into Hawks’ hands even if there’s no way for him to know the significance of the gesture. Tea now in hand, you guide him over to your couch, allowing you both to settle in comfortably with your hands wrapped around your mugs and your backs pressed against opposite arms of the couch. Your knees are pulled towards your chest, he’s got one knee bent and resting on the cushion so that foot hangs off the edge and the other foot is firmly planted on the floor. He looks torn between settling in more comfortably and bolting, but a deep inhale of the steam wafting off his cup seems to help ground him. 

For a moment silence dominates as you’re unsure whether to pry or not and Hawks seems to have no intentions on being the first to say anything. It’s not a particularly comfortable silence but it’s not quite awkward either, just laden with tension at all of the things being left unsaid. It’s not like the two of you have ever done this before, although the ease of the whole process to get to where you are now may suggest otherwise. This is uncharted territory and as curious as you are to explore it, you don’t want him to spook him either. 

Just as you’ve resigned yourself to the silence, Hawks finally clears his throat to catch your attention. His gaze doesn’t leave his tea and he still looks vaguely uncomfortable, but after another moment you watch a mask slip into place as he finally forces himself to address the elephant in the room and meet your eyes. 

“So I’m guessing you’re wondering why I just showed up like this,” he chuckles and it’s more convincing this time. 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you shrug and for a moment his mouth twitches into a more authentic smile before he carefully schools his expression once more. It’s almost a jarring contradiction to see such a curated look on his face while he’s wrapped up in your comfiest clothes. 

“I owe you an explanation,” he starts but you quickly correct him. 

“You don’t owe me anything.”

The words seem to catch him off guard in how absolute they are. From someone else it would probably sound like a platitude but you say it with such conviction that he can’t help but believe you. A part of him that sounds suspiciously like his HPSC handler warns him against opening up, but your insistence that he need not explain himself has ironically made him want to explain himself to you even more. Whatever pretty excuse had been on his tongue melts away and instead he finds himself formulating something more sincere. 

“Thank you for that. Thank you for all of the hospitality actually. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here when I showed up,” he replies and the only word he can use to describe the way you tilt your head in apparent confusion is adorable. 

“But you came anyway?” you ask. 

“But I came anyway.”

“Do you mind if I ask why?”

He feels his smile go a bit sad. He doesn’t mind the question, actually he was sort of hoping you’d ask it. As deep down as he buries him, Keigo’s never quite managed to completely cut out that inner child that craves love and understanding while only getting contempt or indifference. 

“I was just… exhausted. This was on the way and I just needed a safe place to catch my breath. It’s–”

Keigo’s eyes shut as he leans more heavily into the arm of the couch and blows out a breath. 

“It’s been a long day. Too long. I needed to land and wait things out for a bit before I could make it the rest of the way home.” 

When he opens his eyes again he expects to find something akin to pity on your face but instead only finds understanding. It makes his stomach do an odd flip and he quickly takes a sip of his still too hot tea to hide any reaction that may have shown on his face. He burns his tongue in the process but at least it gives him a physical sensation to focus on and ground himself in before he does something stupid like pour his whole heart out to you. His heart’s beating just a little too fast for comfort and he needs to slow it down if he wants to avoid embarrassing himself.

“I’m really glad this is a safe space for you. If you ever need a place to crash land, I’ll always welcome you here,” you reply so innocently, so genuinely, and just like that his heart is racing all over again. Do you know what your words are doing to him? Do you realize how rare and precious a gift you’re offering up so casually?

“What if you’re not here or I show up even later next time?” he asks because part of him needs to find the catch. Every salvation he’s ever received has had a catch, why should this one be any different?

“I’ll let the employees know you’re allowed in back if you come during opening hours and I’m not here. I’ll also give you my number in case you come after hours. Just call me and I’ll come let you in, even if I’m still half asleep when I do it,” you shrug. You shrug. As if you aren’t offering him the world. He could almost cry with it so instead he just nods and drowns himself in his tea, now a safely drinkable temperature. 

Silence dominates the room again as you both drink your tea but it’s definitely comfortable this time. It’s almost unnerving how much he feels his guard lowering and the lower it goes the more he longs to reach out to you. You’re right there. If he stretched out his legs they’d likely brush yours where you’re curled up at the opposite end. It could be so easy to just close the distance, just a little bit, just enough to soothe the growing itchiness beneath his skin that creeps in when he’s at his most vulnerable. But years of abuse and strict HPSC approved training aren’t so easily overcome. 

He doesn’t move, doesn’t reach out to touch the way he so desperately wants to, doesn’t do anything even though his inner child screams and begs for it in a way young Keigo was never actually allowed to. He just sits there, drinking the tea you picked out for him and hating himself and his parents and the HPSC for turning him into someone so incredibly starved for affection and yet absolutely terrified to receive it. 

He mourns when he finishes the last of his tea. A quick look out the window reveals that the rain has stopped, which means he’s all out of excuses to stay in the warmth of your apartment. He’s got his own little safe space hidden away in his apartment that he’ll likely sleep in tonight but it feels so far away and lonely right now. Maybe you’ll hug him goodbye. You seem friendly enough to be the type to hug people goodbye and even the HPSC couldn’t begrudge him accepting it since not doing so would be rude. It would be all too brief but it would be something at least. Maybe just that much will be enough to soothe the ache inside him for a while, calm the longing until the next time he cracks and brings himself to your doorstep. It could be enough. He wants more, so much more he feels it viscerally, but it could be enough. 

“Come here,” you suddenly say, setting your now empty mug on the floor next to the couch since the coffee table is just out of reach before stretching your legs out across the couch and reaching your arms out to him. 

He blinks at you confused for a moment. Do you have a mind reading quirk or is he just that obvious? Do you really mean what you’re offering or do you just feel bad for him? Thousands of doubts fill his head and threaten to pull him into a downward spiral but when you just continue to extend the offer with a soft and genuine smile on your face, they suddenly don’t seem so loud. He still moves hesitantly, like one false or too quick move may break the trance of the room and cause you to withdraw from him. Hawks is famous for his speed, but right now Keigo’s pace is almost glacial as he sets down his own mug just as you had and then shifts forward in your space. He expects you to meet him in the middle and give him a quick hug but instead you take hold of his wrist and tug him into you with surprising strength. Before he knows it you’ve settled his head against your chest, your heartbeat right beneath his ear, like it’s nothing. Like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Like this is a normal thing the two of you do together even though prior to tonight the most the two of you have done is talk and banter while you prepare his coffee. 

At first he’s stiff in your arms and it must make you worried you’ve overstepped some boundary because your arms around him start to loosen but he won’t have that. Can’t have that. Not now that what he’s craved for so long is finally right here. So he hurries to reciprocate the embrace, bringing his arms up to wrap around your torso and squeezing, perhaps a bit too tightly. 

“Don’t,” he pleads, and the word comes out so soft, so sad, so pathetic that he can hardly stand it. But you don’t judge him. Of course you don’t. You just lean down to press a kiss to the top of his head before bringing a hand up to card through his hair. 

“I won’t. You’re safe here Keigo. You’re safe,” you assure him. 

It should feel like a violation when you say his real name. It’s certainly felt that way any time someone else has said it since it became public knowledge. But somehow he just knows you’re only doing so because this moment feels too intimate for his hero name. If he told you not to use it he has total faith that you’d listen and maybe that’s naive of him. Everything from his training and upbringing tells him that it’s beyond foolish to put so much trust in anyone, let alone someone he knows as little as he knows you. 

But you’ve also been a constant in his life ever since he first wandered into your coffee shop maybe a year or so ago. At first he was just coming in because you make a mean cup of coffee and the shop is conveniently located, but at some point he knows he started coming in just for the sake of speaking with you however briefly. After all, now that he thinks about it there were definitely times he stopped by only to see one of your employees at the counter instead of you and make some flimsy excuse for why his daily caffeine fix could wait. Maybe everything has been building to this without him even realizing. Somehow you’d carved a space inside him without his notice and it should terrify him but it’s hard to see it as a bad thing when he’s here now, your heartbeat steady beneath his head and your fingers gentle against his scalp. 

“Why’re you doing this?” he asks, his voice rasping softly. 

“Because heroes deserve to be taken care of,” you say but he can tell there’s more to the sentence you’re not saying. 

He pulls back just enough to look up at you, searching your face for some sign of discomfort or regret, but he’s only met with the same hesitance he had already picked up on from your tone of voice as your hand stills in his hair. 

“But?” he prompts but you shake your head and resume running your fingers through the blonde strands. 

“Not ‘but’, ‘and’,” you clarify as you gently bring his head back to your chest. He goes easily enough and braces himself for whatever else you’re about to say. 

“And since you’ve been coming in, I don’t know. It feels presumptuous to say but I feel like the more I see you the more I can see just how much is on your shoulders all the time. I can’t even imagine how difficult that must be. How lonely. I just… I want to give you some place to lay all of it down for a little while. It’s not like I can go out and do what you do but–” 

“Thank you,” he interrupts, cutting off any attempt you might make to diminish what you’ve done for him tonight. He feels more than he hears the start of your protests, so by the time you’ve actually started to say them he’s already had enough time to sit up and force your eyes to meet his. 

“Don’t. You have… you have no idea how much this means. So don’t say ‘it’s nothing’ or ‘anyone would have done it’ or something really stupid like an apology. Just accept my appreciation. Thank you,” he insists.

He watches you nod your head with wide, stunned eyes, clearly not expecting him to be so insistent with his gratitude. It would be so easy to lean down and press his lips to yours. He can feel it in the air, that subtle tension that makes the space between the two of you feel electric. But he’s been selfish enough for one night and he doesn’t want you to think he’s only doing it because you’re here and he’s feeling vulnerable. So he uses the grip he still has on your torso to shift you both until you’re laying on your sides, legs slotting together as if your bodies were made for each other as he settles you both comfortably into place. 

“Let’s just stay like this a little longer, then I promise I’ll get out of your hair,” he whispers, his heart pounding in his chest. 

“Stay the night. Only if you want to, obviously, but… I’d like it if you stayed,” you confess, smiling so warm and sweet.

“Okay, then I’ll stay.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

The two of you end up falling asleep there on the couch, and wrapped up in you and the smell of old leather and roasted coffee, Keigo thinks it’s the first time he’s known what a home could feel like.

A/N: This was so shamelessly self indulgent and self-inserty oops. Low key worried Keigo’s dialogue came out ooc but I’ve literally been working on this all day and it’s 1:30am now so we’re sending it lmao hopefully y’all have enjoyed

Taglist: @ahtsuwu @karamfilmare @larkspyrr @hutaoscoffinn @black-rose-29 @touyasdollmain @izukiss @moonstormmyuna @kingdomkeigo @dnarez @mandalorian-baby-bird @reinersbrat @simpsfortodoroki @unlogical-ella @crowned-peony

[realcube]

waking up the hq boys at midnight to get ice-cream hcs🍦

characters: tsukishima, tanaka, nishinoya, ushijima, sugawara,  oikawa,  kageyama 

note: yes, this was very much inspired by that one tiktok sound where the girl wakes up her bf to get ice-cream- 

also, i use midnight as like..the middle of the night- not actaully 12AM lol

tw// fluff, sangwoo- 

Tsukishima Kei

you did not need to wake him up at 1AM to get ice-cream

man was already up, having just came off his phone and laying like this 😐 in bed as he either waited for himself to fall asleep or was thinking about an awkward interaction he had earlier that day 

anyway, as soon as you turned to him like ‘tsukki, do you wanna come with me to get ice-cream?’

he was suddenly 😴 fast asleep, fake snores and all

you were stubborn though, so you hopped out of bed up to go get ice-cream by yourself if he was just going to ignore you 

although, once you threw your coat on, tsukishima decided to start questioning your unusual behaviour, ‘why do you want ice-cream? it’s night; can’t you just sleep like a normal person and have ice-cream in the morning?’ 

honestly, tsukishima probably finds your nightly antics more endearing and cute rather than annoying 

he’d never admit it though- 

if you talk to him after midnight, on the outside he always looks displeased but really, he loves talking to you period

whether it is at 5PM or 1AM

you shrugged, without an explanation for your craving, ‘i don’t need to reason my midnight urges to you.’

with that, you turned on your heels to head out the door with the full intention of going to get ice-cream - this wasn’t a game 

tsukishima groaned as he finally deduced that you were being dead serious and not just doing this to irritate him

‘ugh, wait.’ he scoffed, forcing himself out of bed to follow you, ‘we have ice-cream downstairs, dumb-ass. don’t bother going out.’ 

you didn’t spare him a glance, continuing to venture to the front door, ‘yeah, but we don’t have strawberry.’ 

tsukishima glared at you, realising that persuasion would not work in this situation so he’d have to resort to brute force and trickery

‘ah, alright.’ he let out a sigh of defeat, ‘at least give us a hug before you go then.’

you paid no mind to how he referred to himself as plural, which is something he only does when he is lying or guilty as he is talking on behalf of his two faces 

also, you should’ve realised something was up when he actually asked for a hug instead of just expecting you to give him one

obliging, you wrapped him in a hug; allowing him to scoop you up into his arms, throw you over his shoulder and carry you to the kitchen

‘let me go, you whore!’  you squealed, lightly slapping his back as if that’d make him let you go 

tsukishima snickered at how childish you were being, ‘you can’t go out in the middle of the night to get ice-cream. you’ll die.’ 

‘i won’t die!’

‘you definitely will.’

anyway, he ends up making you both a bowl of ice-cream and eating it with you at the kitchen table while watching Spirited Away

and despite the fact he had some too, he’ll tease you about this for..the rest of your life 

like sometimes he’ll just wake you up in the middle of the night (during holidays ofc - he respects your sleep schedule) and whisper in your ear, ‘(y/n), do you wanna come get ice-cream with me?’

Tanaka Ryūnosuke

IORFHIEBGEGBO THIS MAN

ik most ppl would think he’d just go with you without a second thought or that he’d be the one asking you to go out for ice-cream but- no- 

well, yes; he wants to 

but when you wake him at 1AM 

(which he doesn’t mind btw bc  sometimes he accidentally wakes you up at like 3AM bc he’s ragin’ on Battlefield oop-)

and you’re all like ‘ryū, wanna go get ice-cream?’ *puppy eyes*

he’s like ‘sure!- but i ain’t got money so- no ❤’ 

then he goes back to sleep 

however, if you say that you’ll pay..he’s already standing with your bags by the door

so you’re definitely gonna have to fork up some cash for that good quality pistachio gelato for him if you want his presence 😌

but tbh, if you said that you were just gonna pay for yourself, he’d come anyway-

Nishinoya Yū

y’all go out at midnight for ice-cream at least once a week-

and it literally began bc you were watching ASMRs and Mukbangs together at 1AM during a sleepover 

and one person was having some lemon gelato and it looked 👌✨ immaculate

in that moment, you both looked at each other and neither of you had to utter a single word for you both to know that there was a mutual goal in mind; to get ice-cream, ASAP

so yeah ig you didn’t have to wake him up but you did need to awake the desire for ice-cream inside him

needless to say, y’all ran to the nearest ice-cream place 

and you made a race out of it 

(you won, ofc)

AND YOU BOTH SHARED A CUP OF GELATO AND IT WAS SO CUTE ! q(≧▽≦q)

and y’know the trope where you have food on the corner of your lip/chin etc and the person kisses you to get rid of it? 

yeah he tried to do that with the trope in mind but he deadass LICKED you IWFBVBBFRI

he was like ‘omg (y/n), lemme get that for you’ 😋👅

honestly, ig it depends if you are into that kinda stuff but ik some ppl would leave fast af ( ﾟдﾟ)つ Bye

Ushijima Wakatoshi

sorry i might have a bit of favouritism going on but i feel like ushijima would be a bigger bitch about it than tsukishima (at first)

but it’s like- solely bc you woke him up y’know?

‘ushijima, wanna go get ice-cream?’

he’s just laying there with his bed-head like :/

silently livid bc you messed up his potential 9 hours of sleep

‘no.’

pester all you want but that is the best you’re getting out of him that night

HOWEVER, the following afternoon (after practise ofc), he took you out for ice-cream 😊

and unlike some would believe (by ‘some’, i mean myself 2 secs ago.) i don’t think he’d be all ‘ice-cream is horrible for your health, (y/n)’ or ‘i can’t believe you’re eating that filth. your body is a temple.’

but that rather he’d just happily eat gelato with you; everything in moderation ig :)

OH AND HE’D PURPOSELLY BUY A DIFFERENT FLAVOUR FROM YOU SO HE COULD BE LIKE

‘(y/n), do you want a bite of mine?’ and give you a spoonful to try like the romance king he is  

Oikawa Tōru

you wouldn’t wake him up bc mf needs his beauty sleep

plus, it was during a sleepover at your house so ofc you didn’t want to wake up your guest 

but he’s a light sleeper so when you’re shuffling through your stuff at 1AM, sneaking around the house to find a jacket (trying to be as quiet as possible so you don’t wake him up); his eyes are open and he’s speculating that sangwoo is near

until he turns around to notice that you’re not laying next to him and he is in fact being spooned by a large pillow (probably a sangwoo body pillow smh)

after that, he hops to his feet and storms through the house in search of you so he can yell at you for ruining his sleep grr

however, once he finds you and realises that you look ready to head out, he feels inclined to firstly ask, ‘where are you going? you know it’s 2AM, right?’ 

you replied by explaining your plan to sneak out for ice-cream and he just stared at you, absolutely bewildered for a few moments

he stood like a statue with that stupid expression on his face for ages so you asked him if he was alright, to which he responded, ‘that’s such a stupid idea.’

‘so, you’re not coming with?’

‘of course i am.’

so you both ended up sitting with your ice-cream cones, in your pyjamas, on a park bench somewhere, admiring the moonlit sky along with the stars adorning it

oh, and that was actually the first time he said ‘i love you.’

Sugawara Kōshi

if feel like suga would be exactly like the guy in the sound/video: confused, tired and extremely reluctant but ofc inevitably he ends up standing outside of a dessert place, hand-in-hand with you

he’d wake up, weary from fatigue and he barely has the strength to argue with you during the day - so how exactly was he supposed to do it in the middle of the night? 

thus, he lugged himself out of bed and threw on a coat but as soon as the cold winter air bit at his nose, he was flooded with the energy and will-power to try convince you stay in with him

(It’s his parental senses) 

‘you’ll catch a cold, darling!’ (yes, he does call you that.) ‘and it’s night too, there’s probably a bunch of creeps out and around!’

at that point, it was just a battle of will

bc you both had each other’s wishes at heart

you wanted him to have peace of mind and he wanted you to have ice-cream

(and he was kinda craving some himself tbh)

so you both decided to stay in, tucking into the half-eaten tubs of Ben & Jerry’s in the fridge 

and after that, neither of you got any sleep bc you both stayed up watching movies and cuddling 🥺

Kageyama Tobio

he was wide awake at 2AM, laying beside you on the bed, practising sets 

so ofc the time wasn’t an issue

but kageyama wasn’t big on sweet treats so when you suggested that y’all should go out for ice-cream, you were shocked - to say the least - when he simply replied 

‘sure’

like why would he oppose? he was already awake. plus, he was kinda craving something sweet tbh

also, he could tell it’d make you happy and he’s whipped tbh

so you took advantage of this indifferency by immediately jolting up and dragging him to your favourite dessert place

the whole time, he acted as usual - it was as if he was just on a regular walk to school

when you got there, you both shared a sundae and he paid; what a king (❤´艸｀❤)

(it was bc you had forgotten your wallet/purse at home- but still a kind gesture 💕)

you both just sat in a booth, pecking away at the sundae while talking about anything and everything that came to mind as the low, distant R&B music from the shop’s speakers played in the background

 ‘it is flat. have you ever been on a plane before, (y/n)? did you see a single curve? no.’

you rolled your eyes, finding it physically painful how stupid kagyeama could be sometimes, ‘it’s science, kags. the earth is round! the curves are just very subtle.’

‘no.’

‘YOU CAN’T SAY NO! IT’S SCIENCE!’ 

[puppetsoftomorrow]

the avalance news reader au

hey who said peer pressure doesn't work. anyway i made this post and y'all seemed to like it so here we go!! might post to ao3 later on idk...

It had been a truly terrible day.

Ava considered, in the moment that her coffee machine spluttered coughed up coffee grounds over her last clean shirt, that maybe she'd just had a truly terrible year. All her dreams about finally moving to television after being stuck in the doldrums of local news media for six years had been slashed when she'd been placed on the graveyard shift - sure, Ava was finally reading the news, but her shift was from 1AM until 4AM, so her only audience was long-distance truck drivers and new parents.

Still, she persevered, with the slightly foolish belief that if she worked hard enough, she could be promoted to a primetime slot. Or at least a slot that didn't require her to be making coffee at 10:45PM.

Her day had started off badly - she'd barely slept, as the sound from the construction work three blocks away rattled her windows, and she’d woken to find that her cat, Merlin, had kicked his litter halfway across the house in a fit of pique. Ava couldn't even have her normal oatmeal, as she was out of oat milk, and now she was having to drink her coffee black.

After changing her shirt to a dark dress and grimacing as she choked down the coffee, there was a knock on the door, and Ava groaned as she realised she was running late.

"Hey, Sara." She sighed.

Sara stood in the doorway, hair wavy over her shoulders, hands shoved in the pockets of her hoodie - the same grey hoodie she wore every day, branded with their news station's logo.

"Woah, a dress?" Sara said, eyebrows raised appreciatively, as Ava grabbed her coat and bag and they moved to go down the stairs.

"Don't mention it." Ava grumbled, pulling the coat around her shoulders.

"It looks good on you." Sara said, and Ava shot her a look. Sara mimed zipping her lips. "Do we have to time for Starbucks? I had to have black coffee; my mouth tastes like something died in it." Ava muttered, and Sara shrugged.

"I mean, we've arrived half an hour early for every shift for the past year -"

"Do you want to go back to taking the bus?" Ava said, looking over at her as they reached the lobby. They'd discovered they lived in the same building almost accidentally in Ava's first week, awkwardly meeting across the hall in the early morning, until Sara had realised that Ava had a car and they'd started riding in together.

"Fine, if you're happy with having bad angles." Sara said, holding the door open for her, and Ava rolled her eyes.

"Are you saying I have bad angles?"

"Oh, I'll find one." Sara muttered, and Ava snorted with laughter and unlocked the car. One of the benefits to giving her camera operator a ride every day was always having excellent angles.

After a stop at Starbucks, Ava rolled along the dark, quiet roads, sighing deeply.

"What's up?" Sara asked, sipping her drink - black coffee, which she somehow enjoyed.

"Nothing." Ava muttered, but it only took one look at Sara for her to come out with the story of her crappy day. Sara laughed.

"So that's why you're wearing the dress."

"That's what you're focusing on?" Ava said, focusing on the road with a small smile on her face. "I have to go back to my apartment at 5AM and clean up kitty litter and coffee grounds."

"Not to mention getting coffee out of your shirt." Sara snorted, and Ava groaned, loud and over the top.

///

They always split when they got to the studio, Ava marching off to make-up to get ready, and Sara taking the elevator to the studio floor to set up her camera. The studio was always dead past midnight, just a skeleton crew left, which Sara found she enjoyed - it was easier to know everyone that way. She waved at Nate, distracting him from where he was running through the weather, muttering under his breath and checking his perfectly coiffed hair in the camera. He waved back, a bright smile on his face.

Careful not to trip over any of the wires on the floor, Sara made her way up to the box above the studio, the cramped room filled from head to toe with blinking lights and buttons, with a large window so they could look down on the studio. The techs – Behrad and Charlie - were sat with headphones on, running through sound checks, so Sara just waved to them as she found who she was looking for.

Zari, the studio runner, was running through her clipboard, muttering under her breath. When she saw Sara coming, she rolled her eyes. "Back again?"

"What have you got for her today?" Sara asked, keeping her voice nonchalant.

"The usual. Some city councilor has been embezzling funds, Star City is readying to bid for the 2028 Olympics, and former mayor Queen is opening a patisserie down-town. It's been a quiet week."

"Exactly." Sara said, her grin widening. "You've got to add the cat one."

Ray, their head writer, had found a story a week ago about a fat cat attending the Star City pet spa to lose weight, and Sara had been tracking down clips of the poor thing, bribing the editor, Nora, to pull them together. She'd even written a script. Zari looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Seriously?"

"Yes! I have a bet going with Mick - if I can get Ava to break on camera by the end of the month, he's got to give me $50." Sara said. It was ridiculous, she'd started the bet - truthfully, she found it endearing how Ava read the news with the same abject sternness whether she was covering a political scandal or a dog who'd learnt to surf in Star City Bay. She'd only broken her composure once - a smile creeping on her face when reporting on the 5th birthday of a crocodile at Star City Zoo named Snaps. From that day on, Sara had vowed to make her laugh, properly, live on air.

"I don't have any time to make up." Zari said, and Sara sighed.

"Yeah, but you know Ava reads quick enough. Please? For me?"

Zari seemed immune to the puppy eyes, so Sara sighed. "And I'll give you $20."

Zari snorted. "Do you have $20?"

"I'll have $50 when I win the bet." Sara countered, and Zari sighed.

"Fine. I'll see what I can do."

"Z, you're the best." Sara said with a grin, and turned to return to the studio floor.

///

The program went smoothly, like always. Sara liked her job, the focus of filming and the pride she got when she saw her own work on TV, but she liked it better when she was filming Ava, who had pretty much insisted from day one that Sara be her primary operator.

Ava looked especially pretty today, someone in make-up evidently having convinced her that she didn't need the bun today, and instead curled her hair over both shoulders, which didn't completely cover Ava's defined arms, visible in her sleeveless dress.

The night ran the same as most others, Ava transitioning smoothly between topics and engaging in light, courteous banter with Nate before he presented the weather. Sara looked at Ava during these moments, the five minutes she was off camera, where she looked down at her notes, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

Okay, so maybe Sara wanted to make Ava laugh because she looked so pretty doing it. Sue her.

They were coming near the end, and Sara was losing hope that the story would be included, until she heard the segue.

"Now, in lighter news," Ava started, her eyebrows suddenly shooting up as she read the prompter. Sara grinned; Zari had obviously left this out of Ava's notes to inspire more of a reaction.

"Cats," Ava blurted out, steadying herself before continuing, "they're not normally known for their love of swimming, but one feline in Star City is hitting the water instead of the gym in a bid to lose weight. Mr. Snuggles -" Ava bit her lip as the pictures played on the monitor - a black and white cat in a life vest, looking absolutely terrified, and Sara grinned. "Mr. Snuggles is a thirteen-year-old cat who - dislikes the outdoors and other physical activities."

Sara's grin widened as Ava lost it, barely making it through her lines through her giggles. Her face was flushing pink and she bit her lip to try and compose herself. "But with encouragement from his owner -" Ava pressed on, trying to hold herself together, "Mr. Snuggles had lost one pound in six months."

That was the final straw, as Ava descended into a full-on laugh, barely making it through her sign off. Sara was so distracted by the sound she nearly missed Zari's voice in her ear. "Camera 1 to Camera 3 in 3, 2, 1 -"

Sara switched off, but not before Ava snorted, flushing even deeper and covering her face with her hands at the sound, not disguised by the jingle from the lottery numbers playing across the screen.

///

Ava had bolted from the set, and Sara packed up her equipment as quickly as possible, ducking out just in time to catch Ava as she walked down the corridor to the lobby. Her face was now free of make-up, her hair tied up in a messy bun, but she was still in the dress that left Sara's mouth a little dry. She looked at Sara, blushing again.

"I can't believe you did that." She groaned, and Sara put on her most innocent face on.

"Did what?"

"Bribed Zari to put the cat story in! John in make-up said that Charlie had told him that you'd bribed Zari."

"To win $50!" Sara said, grinning. "And you have a really cute laugh."

Ava looked up; eyebrow furrowed. "Really?"

"Yep." Sara said, trying to play it cool. "Look, do you want half? I feel bad now."

Ava sighed. "No, it's okay."

"I could buy you dinner." Sara said, almost blurting it out, and Ava looked at her. "To make up for it."

Ava's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Uh - yeah, okay. I can do dinner."

~the end~

okay so this was fun to write and i kind of want to write more so uhh send me where u think this story should go. or ideas for a part 2 maybe. thanks for reading!!

[plaidbooks]

Love your work! Can you please do one where Sonny and the reader get into a huge fight. Maybe the reader’s last relationship was abusive and something about the fight scares the reader or causes a flashback. Maybe the reader panics and tries to get away from Sonny or locks herself in a different room? Sorry this is so long, but I love your work and live for a good hurt/comfort/angst fic! 🖤🖤

Past Mistakes

A/N: Hey anon! First off, thank you! Second, I hope I did this justice; it’s a little short, but I may do a part two...we’ll see if anyone wants one lol. Also, I love a good hurt/comfort fic!

Tags: mentions of domestic violence/flashbacks

Words: 1k+

Taglist: @the-baby-bookworm @beccabarba @thatesqcrush @itsjustmyfantasyroom @stardust-fray @permanentlydizzy @averyhotchner @mrsrafaelbarba @reading--mermaid

You glanced at your phone for what seemed like the thousandth time, angrily shoving it back into your clutch when you saw no new messages. You finished your glass of wine and waved the waiter over, asking for your bill. It wouldn’t be much; all you had was three glasses of wine while waiting for your boyfriend to show up. But seeing as how he was supposed to be here an hour and a half ago, you were pretty sure he wasn’t showing. It wasn’t the first time Sonny cancelled date night because of work, but this was the first time he didn’t call or text, didn’t let you know in some way. Your cheeks burned as you hurried out of the fancy restaurant, everyone’s eyes on you as you fled in embarrassment.

He didn’t come home for another three hours, almost midnight. You were still in your fancy dress, too pissed off to change out of it, wanting him to see you in it, to see what he had missed.

When he saw you standing in the kitchen, his eyes scanning up and down your body, his face falling, you felt a sick delight in making him feel bad. “Was…was date night tonight?” Sonny asked, mumbling.

“Well, it was supposed to be. Instead, it was more me sitting alone in a fancy restaurant while everyone laughed at me because my boyfriend stood me up,” you retorted, your voice venomous.

“I-I’m sorry; I forgot. We had a case come in and—”

“I don’t care, Dominick!” you yelled. “I’m so sick and tired of work coming first! We hardly spend time together. I never see you anymore! Between this and your classes, it’s like we’re not even dating!” You didn’t know where this anger was coming from, but it was bubbling up inside you, lashing out.

Sonny looked hurt, and he went on the defensive, his voice starting to raise. “Hey, you knew when this started that I’d be working a lot, that I had night classes on top of everything else. You know my job; you know work has to come first!”

You scoffed. “I knew you’d be busy, but this is ridiculous! When was the last time we had dinner together, hm? Or just sat and talked?”

He ran a hand over his face. “I’ve been busy! I’m sorry if you’ve been feeling lonely, but it hasn’t exactly been a picnic for me, either!” As his anger took over, Sonny started gesturing wildly, his arms flinging out around him. When he threw his arms in the air above his head, you froze. It didn’t take a detective’s training for Sonny to see how you flinched, how your eyes glazed over, staring right through him. In your mind’s eye, you were standing in your old kitchen, your ex standing in front of you, his arms raised. You didn’t even feel the tears in your eyes or trailing down your cheeks.

“[Y/N]?” Sonny asked, voice barely above a whisper. He reached out for you, but you turned and bolted. He stood there, dumbfounded at your reaction, only snapping out of it when he heard a door slam shut.

You locked the bathroom door, leaning your back against it and sinking down to the floor. You pulled your knees to your chest, burying your face against them, sobbing uncontrollably. You felt your body violently shaking, but you couldn’t stop it, couldn’t control it. You heard footsteps on the other side of the door, a soft knock.

“[Y/N], are you okay?” a voice asked, the doorknob jiggling. You cried harder, curling tighter into yourself. The voice sounded suspiciously like your ex, and you briefly wondered if he’d try to break the door down.

Sonny sighed, running a hand through his hair. He’d seen that look before on many victim’s faces. But he didn’t want to assume anything; he’d wait for you to tell him…if you wanted to, that is. He leaned against the door, slumping down until he sat on the floor, one leg bent, the other straight out.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But we still need to talk…and I still need to apologize to your face,” he said, loud enough for you to hear through the door. “I’ll wait here until you’re ready.”

He was exhausted; work was long today—technically yesterday. It was already nearing 1am, and Olivia was only letting him sleep in until 8am before he had to be up and back at work. But after a half hour with no noises outside of your soft sobs coming from the bathroom, he texted Amaro, asking him to cover his shift, telling him a family emergency came up. Sonny would wait as long as necessary for you, even if that meant no sleep tonight.

Finally, after another 45 minutes, Sonny heard the bathroom door unlock. He scrambled out of the way before you opened the door, your eyes red-rimmed, still trembling slightly. But he felt the slightest bit of relief when he saw the clarity in your eyes as they locked to his.

“Sonny…” you murmured. “I’m sorry—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, doll,” he said, cutting you off. He moved to hug you but saw you flinch, and he winced, silently calling himself an idiot. He knew better. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have yelled like that…. Do you…do you wanna talk about it?”

You sniffled. “I-it’s nothing, really.” You waved your hand, moving on, “besides, I shouldn’t have lit into you like that. I know you’ve been busy; I’m…I’m not actually mad at you. I was annoyed because of dinner, and I said things I didn’t mean.”

Sonny looked at you, his eyes appraising you, scanning your face. “It’s not nothing, doll. I can see it all over your face…something happened.”

You vaguely wondered if this is how he talked to victims in his job, how he pushed for information. You cleared your throat. “M-my ex…,” you sighed. “When we would argue, he normally ended it with his…f-fists,” you sniffled again, and Sonny’s heart sunk.

“Did you ever report it?” he asked, starting to feel himself tremble with anger.

You scoffed. “Yeah, sure. But he was a trust-fund baby; the local precinct didn’t do anything. I got a restraining order, but that didn’t stop him from driving by my place. That’s why I moved here to the city from Jersey.”

“What’s his name?” Sonny asked, voice dangerously low.

“It’s not worth it, Sonny. This was years ago; I don’t know if he even still lives there,” you reasoned.

“Yeah, but if he hit you, I bet you’re not the only one. Guys like him, they’ll continue doing that to anyone they’re with. I wanna put the bastard away…not to mention break his nose,” he added, and your lips twitched upwards. Sonny took a breath, his face softening as he looked at you. “But tonight, I wanna spend reconnecting with you. I took tomorrow off, so we can spend all day together, talking, listening, and doing whatever else you want.”

This made you smile for real, which then turned into a yawn. After all the tears you shed, you were exhausted, and from the look on Sonny’s face, he was, too. “I’d love to, Son. But right now, let’s go to sleep.”

“Right behind ya, sweetheart.”

[crash-cinematic-universe]

Let the Patter of the Rain Become the Rhythm

pairing: peter maximoff/reader

summary/request:  hi! can i request running through a summer thunderstorm at midnight with peter and just singing and dancing together and blasting music through a speaker in the empty streets? thank you so much! -🥕

warnings: none-- it’s pretty cute, though

notes: 1.5k words and also its fuckin CUTE. I changed it up juuuuust a teenie tiny bit

taglist: @creator-appreciator

            Peter Maximoff was never an optimist; his spirits are brought down easily, and although he’s persistent, he can give up hope quickly. He’s not proud of his pessimism, in fact, he actively tries to change-- he doesn’t exactly want to assume the worst of people. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly easy to switch his entire mindset, especially after so long. However, there are times where Peter outright refuses to let something ruin his mood-- this was one of those times.

            Peter’s fingers were laced with yours as you walked down the sidewalk, the bright moon beaming down on the two of you and making Peter’s hair shimmer like, well, silver. His dark eyes darted over to glance at you every now and then, his deep irises glittering with admiration. Peter felt as if he were on top of the world, his heart swelling with every brush of your skin against his. 

            The two of you shouldn’t be out this late-- you’re both aware of this, but neither of you care. You almost never get alone time in the mansion, especially during the day. So, you decided that your romantic escapades would have to take place in the dead of the night. As odd as it sounds, midnight adventures spent wandering through empty towns or late-night movie showings are more wonderful than anyone could really vocalize. Not to mention that Peter almost glows in the moonlight.

            However, there were downsides to going out so late at night-- you two were almost always tired and constantly had to sneak around whenever you wanted to leave the mansion. Everything was always closed at night which limited your options and gave you almost no protection from the weather; when Peter noticed storm clouds rolling in as you walked, he felt his stomach drop.

            “It’s gonna start raining soon,” he sighs, a flash of disappointment crossing his eyes. “We should probably head back,” Peter had been looking forward to tonight-- he’d been especially busy with the X-Men and you were drowning in essays that needed grading, tonight was supposed to be carefree. You’d only been out for about 20 minutes by the time the clouds appeared, and Peter dreaded going back to the mansion so soon. The young man’s spirit was crushed by the weather and he was prepared to let the night be ruined by the rain. You seemed to have other plans, though.

            “Peter, I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna let a little rain spoil the evening,” You stared up at the sky and watched as the moon was blocked out by large clouds, plunging both you and Peter into a deeper darkness. “If you really wanna go back, we can, but--”

            “No!” Peter cuts you off, eagerness in his voice. A dark blush settles on his cheeks as he stutters. “I mean, uh-- no, I think I’m okay staying here with you.” Peter’s heart fluttered as you grinned at him, your smile seemingly brightening up the night. You pulled him close as the first few raindrops fell, the gentle pattering becoming louder and stronger as the seconds passed. Peter stood stiffly, his arms stuck at his sides as the rain came down on him. He felt awkward and out of place, his clothes soon becoming much heavier than before. None of that really mattered to Peter, though, because something else had caught his attention.

            Peter couldn’t help but stare as you spun around in the rain, the downpour soaking you to the bone. You didn’t seem to mind, though. A large smile was stuck on your face, your melodic giggle cutting through the patter of the rain as you reached out for Peter once again.

            “C’mon, Silver,” You beamed. “Dance with me.” His heart skipped as your fingers laced with his and pulled him close. He watched intently as he twirled you around, his hair sticking to his forehead as the rain continued to fall. The sight of you grinning in the rain made him weak in the knees, his entire body reacting to your affection and antics. Peter had never felt something like this before-- he’d never felt something so strong and genuine and real. He wanted nothing more than to pull you close and never let you go. The sour mood he once held, the awkwardness, the disappointment and discouragement were washed away in the rain as he danced with you. 

            You frowned when Peter suddenly froze and pulled away from you. He disappeared for a moment, and you began to believe that he was ditching you-- that is, until he appeared once again with something in his hands. He knelt down and placed a small radio on the wet pavement, a goofy grin on his face as it switched on. The sweet melody of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” cutting through the rain.

            “It’s easier to dance with music, right?” His hand finds its way to your waist once again, the other hand quickly gripping yours. Peter’s swift movements get in sync with the beat of the song, a permanent smile on his face.

            The pair of you were both well into your 20’s and yet there you were, twirling around in the rain and giggling like teenagers. You were on top of the world, carefree and reckless and stupid-- nothing could stop you, not the rain, not the cold, nothing. All you cared about in that moment was not stepping on Peter’s toes as you danced. 

            “Rain has a bad reputation for no reason,” You say, shaking the water out of your eyes. “People always say stuff like ‘you’re raining on my parade’-- if a little rain can ruin your parade, your parade wasn’t very fun to start with.” 

            “Oh? You think so?” Peter says as he pulls you close. He loves your optimism; it’s refreshing. He’d become so used to his own pessimism that having someone look for the bright side was like a breath of fresh air. 

            “Yeah, but don’t worry,” You smile before pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “The time I spend with you is much more fun than any parade could ever be.” You shivered as the rain slowed down and allowed the chill to set in. Peter was quick to pull off his leather jacket-- you took it graciously, ignoring the fact that it was also soaked. It smelled lightly of weed and rain and Peter’s vanilla shampoo. Even if his jacket was wet, it was still warm and comforting. 

“Y’know, I think you might’ve changed rain for me,” Peter says dreamily as he slings an arm around your shoulder. “Before today, rain was always a bad thing. It brought sadness and kept me locked up inside and it scared my sisters-- everything bad seemed to happen when it was raining. But now? Rain just makes me think of you, and this and--” Peter stopped himself, the words teetering on his lips before he swallows them.

            “And?” You encourage, lacing your fingers with Peter’s again. His eyes flicked up to meet yours, admiration and adoration swirling in his irises. Peter always had trouble vocalizing his emotions; the mixture of his insecurities and fear of abandonment causing Peter to lock all his feelings away. Then, you rolled around and you began to help him open up. You were there for him, you made him feel like he had value. Of course, Peter’s trip to loving himself was incredibly rocky and there were times where he locked himself in his room and cried, but still, you were there for him. So, there he was, standing in the middle of an empty road at 1am next to the love of his life as raindrops fell from the night sky and for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t afraid to feel. 

            “Rain makes me think of you and I feel… safe and loved and it reminds me just how much I love you.” Your heart swelled at Peter’s words, and you instinctively took his face in your hands. He leaned into your touch, his eyes not leaving yours once as he rests his forehead against yours. His breath fanned over your face as he held you close-- close enough for you to notice the small raindrops decorating his eyelashes. 

            “Peter,” you say softly, your lips brushing ever-so-lightly against his. “Kiss me.” Peter did exactly that, softly pressing his lips to yours. His hands gripped your hips as you gently caressed his cheek with your fingers, the small gesture making Peter whimper quietly. 

            “God, I love you so much,” He pulls away just enough to mumble against your lips. You don’t respond, instead opting to kiss Peter again as you tangle one of your hands in his wet, silver hair. It’s all so peaceful and warm and comforting-- Peter almost can’t handle the rush of emotion. He’s told you he loved you before, but this time was… different. It was special, heartfelt, and meaningful; he wasn’t just stating a fact anymore, no, this was a declaration. So, when your lips broke apart again, he was delighted to hear the words rolled off your tongue.

            “I love you too, Peter,” 

[lunawings]

King of Prism SSS Episode 2 commentary (Yukinojo)

Watched this episode live with you guys at 1am, stream froze right at the ending. That was the tipping point I needed to stay up to watch it again as soon as it was released on Crunchyroll at 3am, with the few folks who stayed in the chat. And of course after all that extended King of Prism woke me up, now look who can’t sleep and is watching it a 3rd time tonight at... 5am... aha ha... ha...... don’t look at me like that I don’t have work until 4pm it’s fine

So like most folks in Japan I experienced this episode as part of a three pack bundled with the prologue and Taiga’s episode, which makes up the theatrical SSS Part 1. 

While the theater experience is great, it’s also kinda bizarre since the tone in this episode is drastically different from the other two. After the dinner scene ends there is no basically cheering until the end of this episode. What can we say! I just kinda fall into a prism coma until the Prism One show when I am suddenly like wha... WHAAA OH YEAH knocking my concert lights on the floor trying to quickly grab them in time and all that. 

But not because this episode is bad or anything. Quite the opposite. It’s just....

Mesmerizing.... 

Anyway.

ITS ABOUT FRIKKIN TIME 

Renjishi is a pretty famous Kabuki show, and I think “Two Lions” is an accepted English translation so I don’t know why they didn’t bother to translate it? 

 This translator couldn’t figure out what to do with the “18″ either... I would definitely be confused why there is so much 18 this and that in this episode if I hadn’t looked it up for my own translations. It’s a reference to a certain collection of best kabuki plays.

And if you’re wondering why Yukinojo is the 7th generation while his father is the 3rd.... well... hell if I know, because that actually not a mistranslation. 

*throws hands in the air* If someone can explain it to me let me know.

In the theaters sometimes people will hold up two red lights and break them apart here and I always want to do it but I ALWAYS FORGET AHHH. My brain just isn’t in cheering mode during this episode. 

Also it took me like eight viewings before I noticed there is a continuity error where Shin’s chopsticks fix themselves ahah.

FACE

(Also someone in the livestream pointed out his earrings. Not sure if we have seen Yu with earrings yet.)

One of the many things that makes SSS so amazing is how much it changes the first two movies. Just when you thought you were done with them, all of a sudden you want to watch them all over again to see them in a new light. While the movies largely follow Shin’s perspective, for the first time we finally get to see things through the perspectives of other characters and it just adds layer upon layer upon layer and it’s just.... ahh..... 

THE PRISM

THE ONE SPECIFIC PRISM

The way the translator phrased this I imagine them all worshiping a giant stone in the back somewhere. ALL HAIL.... THE BRILLIANT PRISM....... 

This line is super weird out of context. When I translate King of Prism stuff I put in “prism jump” just to add context when it’s not there. But that’s.... just.... m...eee..............

This is my favorite damn Kakeru line in SSS and he doesn’t even say anything. 

Eeeeyaah... ....

Taiga is amazing in this scene too. BE TRUE TO YOUR EMOTIONS YOU’RE  RUINING DINNER DAMMIT 

I thought when I paused on this scene I’d be able to read some of these posters but not really. Wonder if these are a reference to Yukinojo getting into Japanese rock like he did during the curry event on Prism Rush? Maybe they just wanted to show he has typical teenage boy stuff in his room too. Also, of course, cameo from Andy! 

A translation I actually liked. This is basically exactly what he says ahha... the old men group of Edel Rose (2nd year high schoolers).

For anyone who read my shitty out of context spoilers during the first weekend and thought I was kidding when I said Kakeru almost got murdered by Yukinojo but he kinda deserved it.

I’m still reeling from how fucking real Kakeru gets here...... damn........

Someone in the livestream pointed this out, but we almost never hear Kakeru call Yukinojo “Tachibana” do we?

I jumped an inch in my seat when I saw this at the midnight showing. It was the moment where I was like holy moly we’re not in Kansas anymore and started to realize exactly what we were getting into in SSS. This is a whole new King of Prism. 

When you watch the episodes all strung together in the theater, the first episode runs at the same pace as the movies (in my mind I kinda of think of it as a shorter 3rd movie in itself), so it’s not until you get about here where things first start to slow and deepen and it’s you realize wow.... this really is an anime now..... 

I thought Nikkanen mentioned this superhero on Prism Rush, but he said Yossha-Man haha. Well they are both parodying the same series. (Yattaman/Yattawan?)

I really like Yukinojo’s grandpa. He just has the best old man voice. 

WHOOOOOOSH

This scene is foreshadowed in the first episode of SSS. While Shin is introducing everyone you see Yukinojo’s mother look down at her wrist. 

So it was kind of weird to be like is that gonna be a thing--OH THATS A THING right after haha. The theater experience is great, but these episodes are probably better paced week-to-week like this instead of in odd chunks the way they show them in theaters. 

I think this was foreshadowed in Pride the Hero too isn’t it? (His hairpin shines when he looks at his Mom?)

Perhaps something more shocking happened in the next scene though.

At least to me anyway. 

So ages ago, maybe first movie era, I was reading a profile of Yu in a magazine. Specifically this one:

It mentioned that Yu wears Bell Rose pajamas. 

And I always remembered that. Because hey that’s pretty hilarious. 

YEARS PASS

King of Prism SSS episode 2.

Yukinojo just had a breakdown 

AND THERE’S YU

IN HIS GODDAMN BELL ROSE PAJAMAS

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously my mouth fucking dropped open when I saw this. If only I was at cheering I really would have shrieked and ruined this serious scene ahah.

AND THEN THERES THIS 

This scene just gives me goosebumps everywhere. Yukinojo’s first prism jump. The way Shin screams. AHHHHHHHH--

This scene actually gives me goosebumps too. It’s such a mood. This whole episode is such a mood. 

Kakeru and Yukinojo really have a lot in common. I understand now why they made such good duo partners on Prism Rush. Not only do they both have a lot of weight on their shoulders from their families, but the both inherited it from their mother’s side. Just like Yukinojo’s father married into kabuki, as we learned in Young of Prism it was Kakeru’s father who married into the Juuouin group. Don’t mind my random fact, I just thought it was super interesting.

So. This line kind of confused me a bit. Because I thought a major theme in this episode was about how Yukinojo couldn’t escape his blood. Yukinojo’s mother made that clear.

But then again Yukinojo’s mother also knew his father had this experience where he learned his fate wasn’t controlled by blood at all. 

Maybe that just served for a reason as to why she can see Yukinojo’s soul is in prism shows? I don’t know. 

I’m also really confused by how differently she treats Yukinojo in this scene compared with the flashback. I’m glad she came around, but I feel like we missed something in between. 

I don’t need to say how awesome Yukinojo’s prism show was. It just keeps building more and more tension as it goes on and just ahhhh....

I was really sad the stream froze before you guys found out Yukinojo beat Shin’s score (in sparking). 

Also I feel super dumb because I said something about Yukinojo being only the second male star to do four jumps in a row. I FORGOT ABOUT HIRO

So Louis -> Hiro -> Yukinojo, the first three male stars to successfully do four consecutive jumps. The top male stars by pure skill. 

So this ending.... is NOT the ending we see in the theater. The song and visuals were all new. (Well except for assets reused from the episode well you know what I mean.)

I’m a bit town about this. On the one hand I was REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to hearing 366 Love Diary.... But on the other hand it’s cool that they are doing something so special for the TV showing by having different endings every week. And after all, the CD for 366 Love Diary is coming out literally tomorrow.... but....

Okay so clearly I loved this episode but part of me is just really glad it’s over because next week is TAAAIGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and I cannot fucking wait to share it with you guys. 

(My favorite episode of the show.)

(I don’t even know if I can fit all my thoughts on it in a post how long is the limit on Tumblr srsly)

[lordsicheng]

Délicat: Pt. 1

Bae Jinyoung x OC

g: vampire au

s: never would you ever expect on meeting a vampire within a big city, and yet this does spark your curiosity on what holds the truth to their existence. Jinyoung is different from all the vampires you’ve heard and read about in fictional literature, whereas it reaches to a point where you believe that he may possibly be only a half-blood.

requested: nope

a/n: posting this in time for Jinyoung’s birthday! happy birthday my lovely prince ♥

It was already half past 12, and you finally finished your shift at the convenience store you worked at. This wasn’t new for you to get home pretty late especially during the weekends, since your coworker who gets to go after your shift always came either late or slightly having a slight stench of alcohol. Not that it bothered you, just that you wished he was a bit more considerate with you or even with his job.

That certain night, however, made you feel a little more irritated. He came to work much later since your shift usually ended past 11 or even at midnight. You wanted to leave at your usual time since you needed to clean up your apartment. You didn’t realize your were frowning on your way, almost losing sense of direction the moment you noticed you were in a park that led to a shortcut to your way. You always took the long way since you loved looking around the streets to your home: lively places like bars and clubs you passed filled with different kinds of people, often drunk, and the lights at the city at night in general.

“No choice.” you huffed, continuing to walk slowly to get home

For some reason, you actually felt the cold wind than usual. It was still spring, sure, but you always covered yourself comfortably. You sighed and looked to the side where you realized there was literally no one around. This kind of got you a bit of an adrenaline rush because you always heard about the dark stories that happened at night at the park. But you shook your head to get it off your mind and just continued to walk instead.

You could only look down as you walk, almost increasing your pace for every step you made. You heard a slight slap of wind that passed you and it made you turn to see a young man following you, eyes fixed to the ground as he could only look to the either sides instead of you.

“Excuse me, but are you following me?” you asked, sounding a bit scared

“No.” he replied firmly, putting his hands in his pocket as he looked down

“Don’t follow me.” you said as you slowly walked and took one look back before continuing

This didn’t stop your suspicion, though. You felt as if he had been following you for the past five minutes you’ve been inside the park. This kind of made you even irritated than earlier from work, but you brushed it off instead since you did slightly feel as if he was telling the truth.

“Ow!”

You turned to see what had happened and realized a branch fell on the young man. He was already over several meters away from you, but you felt bad and immediately ran to his aide to help him get back up and kick the branch away. The moment you walked over to him to grab his hand, it felt pretty much colder; even colder than the wind that night. You were skeptical, but you helped him either way as he looked kind of helpless in your eyes, but he was able to get up immediately and brush his clothes to fix it

“Are you okay? What happened?” you looked at him, but he only kept looking down and wasn’t sure enough to even look back at you

“T-the branch just fell all of the sudden…” he mumbled

“Well, this is a park…” you slightly shrugged, trying to look at him but he faced to the side out of either shyness or embarrassment

“But are you okay, though? Please be careful.” you told him in worry, and he just nodded

“I’m gonna go now. It’s getting late and you should get home too.” you turned, not looking back this time and slowly walked away

As you walked, you kind of felt bad that you had to leave him. It concerned you that he was pretty startled by the branch that fell on him, but you wondered why he didn’t get any injuries at all. You tilted your head in curiosity as you walked, looking up to see it was about to rain as well. Turning your head, you noticed the young man still standing and looking down, facing the other side as he looked a bit grimmer than earlier. This made you worry a bit, so you decided to walk over to him and grab his hand just in time the rain started to fall, forcing him to run with you towards a shade that was nearby.

You stood next to him under the shade that was pretty sturdy, looking up to see if he was even confused or surprised that you grabbed his hand again out of nowhere—but he wasn’t. He just continued to look down, this time blinking almost rapidly. You were beginning to get confused again with him so you decided to just try to speak to him

“Uhh, do you live nearby?” you asked, tilting your head a bit to look at his face properly

“Mhmm.” he nodded in reply

“I’m sorry for grabbing your hand out of nowhere. It started to rain and you looked like you weren’t gonna walk away anytime soon.” you snickered, trying to not make things awkward

But he was still quiet, maybe a bit too shy to speak. You looked at him and noticed he had a bit of a face that showed he was probably younger than you. You thought he was most likely a high school student, maybe rebelling or some sort since he was also near the most crowded and party-filled streets in the city. You pursed your lips and nodded at this thought, which led you to wanting to get to know this young man who was right next to you

“What’s your name by the way?”

“Jinyoung…” he replied, to which you just nodded

“I’m y/n.”

He didn’t reply, at all. So you thought he was a little bit too shy to speak to you anyways. Silence ensued right after between you two as the rain was still pouring, but not strong as earlier. This kind of gave a vibe of a very awkward atmosphere, so you just decided to stop the uncomfortable air between you two

“Are you somehow rebelling?” you asked, crossing your arms to which he widened his eyes and looked at you in much surprise

“How did you know?” he looked at you with shock written all over his face and you just gave off a smile

“You kind of look like you would. At least to me. You also have this aura in you that I kind of feel.” you looked at him from top to bottom, which made him a little nervous the moment you slowly walked around him to get a better look

“W-what are you doing…?” Jinyoung asked, sounding obviously nervous

“Just checking something to make sure I’m correct.” you said as you stopped and looked at him again

“Why? Do you think I’m… different from people you see around?” he gulped, looking back at you in anxiousness

“Definitely different.” you smirked, slightly chuckling

“Please don’t be afraid of me…” Jinyoung stuttered a bit and tried to look away but your suspicion just kept growing and he felt it himself

“Why would I be afraid?” you furrowed your brows in question

“B-because I’m a-“

“High school student?” you raised your brow, laughing

This kind of got him taken aback, only able to blink his eyes and his mouth slightly opened from your words

“Well?” you tilted your head to try to make him admit that you were correct

“You need to go home.” he said firmly in reply

“And leave a very delicate young boy behind to be alone under the rain?“ you replied almost in retort

“I mean, it’s late.” he tried to make an excuse, but you didn’t really buy it

“Unless you tell me the truth on why you’re here at like, what, past 1am.” you checked your watch and looked at him again, raising a brow and crossing your arms

“Fine.” he sighed, and suddenly the rain stopped as he did and this kind of confused you

“The rain just stopped the moment you sighed…” you frowned from looking to the side and then back to Jinyoung

“It’s just coincidence.” he replied with no particular expression at all, face looking a little bit more grim the more he looked at you

“Okay now you’re just angry with me.” you shook your head and turned your back, arms still crossed

“I’m not angry with you. I’m trying to tell you the truth.” Jinyoung blinked a couple of times as he spoke, starting to get irritated as well

“I just met you, Jinyoung.” you turned to look at him with the same level of irritation written all over your face

“I’m a vampire.” he said directly, looking into your eyes deeply to try to get you to believe him

“Sure you are.” you gave a nod, mocking him

“I’m serious.” Jinyoung said without hesitation again

But you felt as if he was telling the truth from even being with him: cold hands, clothes all of a dark hue, slightly gaped mouth that showed his fangs just as you examined him, and the aura of almost a very different person from the one you helped from earlier. The moment you looked back to his eyes , you felt your body shiver in almost fear and suddenly fainted, blacking out. Jinyoung widened his eyes in shock and worry, grabbing your shoulders just in time for you to fall. He tried to shake you to wake up, but you definitely were knocked out unconscious

“Oh no, please…” Jinyoung mumbled in worry

At the same time, another person suddenly arrived and looked at both you and Jinyoung as Jinyoung tried to wake you up from your shock. He was only able to shake his head and cross his arms while looking at Jinyoung, who looked very helpless.

“She’ll wake up in the morning. She seems tired.” the other person suddenly said, and Jinyoung turned his head to see it was his friend

“Daehwi, I swear I didn’t do anything to her.” Jinyoung said frantically, looking at you again as he tried to put you on the bench

“I saw from afar. Do you know where she lives?” Daehwi sighed as he walked over to Jinyoung who was this time, holding you while on the bench

“No.” he said in a straight face

“Bummer. Looks like we’re gonna have to leave her alone here.” Daehwi didn’t even hesitate on saying this, and Jinyoung frowned in reply

“No, Dae.”

“Jinyoung.”

They both ended up staring at each other with frowns on each faces, getting a little bit irritated by each other because of Jinyoung’s indecisiveness and Daehwi’s spitefulness.

“Fine. We’re taking her home.” Daehwi grumbled

“What? Our house?” Jinyoung widened his eyes, looking at you and then to Daehwi

“Well you’re the one who doesn’t wanna leave her here! You don’t even know where she lives!” Daehwi made a point, to which Jinyoung just took a deep breath after a while and nodded

“Fine. We don’t really have a choice, anyways.”

[tappity-tap]

FOREVER BElonging WITH YOU

PART VIII - THE DELIVERY

<< PART VII || END Story Rating: M Chapter Warnings: Pregnancy, medical things, and mild suggestive content. [This chapter is sfw.]

When Renji and Rukia’s daughter finally arrived, she was late.

 As in, “half a week past her due date” late.

 And because everyone involved was under the reasonable assumption that she would come before or on the projected day given by Captain Kotetsu, this unexpected delay of events selfishly interrupted the lives of people who had already organized their schedules for after said day. It was already highly inconvenient for those who resided in Soul Society, but it was even more so for the ones living on an entirely different plane of existence.

 Typical. Only her first day of life and she was already throwing baby-sized wrenches into Ichigo’s plans. Just what he’d expect from something spawned by those two.

 They were important plans, too. He was supposed to be treating Orihime, his girlfriend of eight months now, to a date that included a morning walk in her favorite park, lunch at a new restaurant downtown, and a movie of her choice; His intended birthday gift to her. Since he was swamped with classes during her actual birthday on the 3rd of September and had several major assignments due in the weeks following, he had worked extra hard to make sure this day, the 23rd of September, would be free of conflicts and he could devote all his time and attention to her. After all, Ichigo knew these were the things she treasured from him more than anything else and he would walk the world over to give them to her. Twice.

 When he thought about it, that’s what he loved most about Orihime.

 They had been together as a couple since mid January, though he had definitely harbored a crush long before that, and her even longer still. Ichigo had to reluctantly admit: If Renji hadn’t decided to play matchmaker (at his own wedding, no less) and figuratively thrown Orihime into his arms (which, ironically, Ichigo had literally done to him with the woman he had just married), he might not have ever found the courage to act on his feelings. He was happy enough being around her even just as her friend, and he didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize their relationship or make her uncomfortable. All he wanted was to see her happy and safe.

 Even though Renji had given him the perfect opportunity, he still couldn’t bring himself to confess to her at the wedding and instead asked that she make time for him so they could discuss something important. It had taken almost two weeks to find that time when both of them could sit down and properly talk, but they put in the effort to make it work. It meant they had to quite literally meet up during work hours while she was on break, but at that point Ichigo didn’t even care anymore. He just needed to come clean to her somehow.

 When he was finally able to look her in the eye over a platter of fruit tarts and quietly tell her, “Inoue…this may be selfish of me but I need you to know my feelings. For you. I like you a lot as a friend. And I think…I might also like you as something more,” Ichigo definitely didn’t expect her to break down and give him a confession of her own in return.

 Her feelings, as it turned out, were the same as his. Though she deeply desired more, all she ever wanted and expected from him was his company and loyal friendship, if it meant he could be happy.

 Ichigo ended up waiting around until her shift was over and walking her back to her apartment where they drank tea and ate more sweets and stayed up talking well past midnight. It was almost 1am when he finally arrived home and was promptly submerged in a tidal wave of nosy questions from his prying family. That was probably why he held off until April to officially tell them he and Inoue (he would soon start calling her Orihime after that) were dating.

 Funnily enough, they’d actually already deduced it for themselves from the amount of time she spent at their house, not to mention alone with him in his room.

 September rolled around and he and Orihime were better than ever…still close and growing closer, still enjoying spending time with each other, still determined to make the other as happy as they could possibly be. The only dynamic that had truly and drastically changed between them was…well…in a physical proximity sense.

 And speaking of which, in the days leading up to their date Ichigo found himself secretly hoping that she’d pick a boring and easily ignored biopic or something lame like that so they could sit in the back of the theater and find a better way to pass the time.

 That morning had gotten off to a good start. After getting up early enough to take the first shower (allowing him as much hot water as he wanted) and gulping down a quick breakfast, he zipped himself into a jacket appropriate for the brisk autumn air and set off to meet Orihime at the park to kick off their walk-lunch-movie date. It was approximately 10:46 am, 20 minutes into the “walk” part, when both their phones buzzed and lit up with identical text messages:

 GET READY!!! BABY COMING SOON!!!

 At Orihime’s insistence, Ichigo reluctantly agreed to set aside their plans for another day so they could wait on standby for any further updates on the baby’s progress from Renji (as they had promised and intended to do when she was supposed to be born, four days ago). Bare minimum decent as it was, if it could reassure Renji and Rukia to know they were only a text or call away should something drastic happen, then all the better. It wasn’t like there was anything they could actually help with since this was all going down in Soul Society and they were…not in Soul Society.

 After two and a half hours of sitting on his bed and twiddling their fingers to radio silence, the message they’d been anticipating finally arrived:

 SHE’S HERE!!!

 This one was accompanied by a photo of a sweaty and exhausted-looking Rukia lying on a hospital bed and giving the camera a weary, but noticeably happy, thumbs-up.

After studying the photo, they remarked to each other with some amusement that considering the wording of the message it would have made more sense for Renji to send a picture of the baby instead of Rukia. But as his next message informed them, they had already been given priority clearance to come to Soul Society right away so they would see her for themselves very soon.

 3:55pm, they all stood in the street just outside of Ichigo’s house waiting for the gates to appear so they could cross over: Himself, Orihime, and Chad.

 Next to him, Orihime fidgeted and wrung her hands excitedly. And next to her, Chad loomed over, tall and massive as ever. Ichigo swore he got bigger every time they met up. He was training practically every day, though, (and had even shown up straight from the gym still in his workout gear) so it actually might not have been his imagination.

 A light breeze blew a small flock of leaves past them and ruffled his hair. Sighing, Ichigo took one hand out of his pocket to brush it back in place somewhat awkwardly. It was weird not feeling the long strands he was used to having since he was a kid; He had recently cut his hair short on a whim and had yet to grow accustomed to the new style.

 Actually, that was a lie…he cut it because Orihime had mentioned a few times in passing that she thought a short haircut would look good on him and he’d finally given in to curiosity. Thankfully, it turned out she’d been right. It made him look his age, maybe even older.

 Not to mention, it was worth seeing the look on her face when he showed up on her doorstep unannounced to show it off.  He really liked making her blush and smile like that.

 “Hm. This feels a little strange,” Chad suddenly remarked.

 Ichigo dropped his hand and jammed it back into his jacket pocket. “I know. Hard to imagine those two idiots with a kid isn’t it?”

 Chad shook his dark curls. “No. I mean us going to Soul Society like this without Ishida.”

 “Oh. Right.” Ichigo shrugged. “He said he was fine with it. You know how busy he’s been recently.”

 “Still, it is sad.” Orihime tucked a strand of hair behind her ear wistfully. Her blue flower hairpin flashed brightly in its disturbance. “We don’t get to see him much anymore. I hope this doesn’t mean-”

 Ichigo let out a defiant huff before she could finish. “That doesn’t matter, does it? Ishida’s still our friend. We’ve been through things together, we still have those bonds and share the same feelings. That’s not going to change, even if we don’t see him as often as we want to.” He then noticed the other two smiling strangely at him. “What…?”

 Chad smirked and Orihime let out one of her musical laughs. “Nothing,” they replied simultaneously.

 Ichigo sighed. He adored his girlfriend and his best friend dearly but sometimes he just didn’t get them.

 At 4pm right on the dot, they felt the telltale spike of energy and shift in the wind that heralded the appearance of the Senkaimon. Seconds later, it materialized in front of them. The doors slid smoothly open to reveal the dark dank passageway of the Dangai, and its lone occupant.

 “Kurosaki Ichigo. Inoue Orihime. Sado Yasutora.” A familiar cool masculine voice addressed each in turn. Three hell butterflies fluttered out to meet them and circled impatiently around their heads as if to say “Hurry up! Get moving!”

 Ichigo gestured in greeting to the approaching figure with his hand still inside his jacket. “Yo, Byakuya! Congratulations!”

 “Rukia and Renji had the child, not I.” Byakuya eyed him with blatant disapproval for his supposed mistake. Although, that wasn’t saying much since the man always gave off the impression that his sole purpose in life was to bestow unforgiving judgment on everyone around him.

 Stepping through the doorway with the others, Ichigo shrugged. “Yeah, but you’re an uncle now, that’s something we still congratulate people for.” The doors clanged shut behind them and he fell into step next to the captain. “So, congrats, Uncle Byakuya! How does it feel to have a new niece?”

 “Oh. Yes. Good, I suppose.” Byakuya closed his eyes and turned away with a curt nod. “Thank you,” he added hastily.

 Ichigo smirked to himself. There were things even the great Kuchiki Byakuya wasn’t immune to and getting caught off guard by his own emotions was one of them.

 Of course, now that Byakuya had clammed completely shut, that was the extent of this discussion. For almost the rest of the way the four of them walked the bumpy, oozing tunnel to Soul Society in awkward silence, their butterflies flapping out little halo-like paths over their heads. It wasn’t until they caught sight of the bright light streaming in at the end of the channel that it was abruptly lifted.

 “Byakuya-san?”

 He looked slightly taken aback at being addressed after such a lengthy pause in conversation but he indulged Orihime anyways. “Yes?” he answered in a stern, clipped voice as if he was attempting to discourage any small talk in a very roundabout way.

 However, he’d apparently forgotten this was Orihime he was talking to and being Orihime, she wouldn’t be deterred by something like that. She pressed on shyly. “Um…have you seen her yet? The baby?”

 “…I have.”

 With that bit of knowledge, she gained new confidence and perked up considerably. “Really? What’s she like?” Orihime asked him eagerly.

 Byakuya glanced at her for a split second before replying with some reluctance, “Very small.”

 This was not surprising information. Not counting children, out of their entire group of acquaintances (Shinigami or human) Rukia stood the shortest at less than 4’9” tall. On top of that, she was incredibly slender and it was pretty much a given any baby that grew inside her would reflect this, plus the bump in her stomach did not end up being very big in the end. So knowing that, what Byakuya gave them wasn’t exactly useful information, either.

 When Orihime continued looking at him expectantly, he sighed in defeat and went on, “But she is healthy. She has Rukia’s eyes. And a full head of hair. Renji’s hair,” he added begrudgingly as if this was somehow Renji’s fault.

 Unprompted this time, he paused and took a breath.

 “You will not be disappointed. She is…adorable.”

 Ichigo raised his eyebrows. Was that a smile on Byakuya’s face, or was he imagining things? And the measured steps he was taking…had they suddenly become lighter? Unsure, he looked over at Chad, who shared his sentiments with a silent shrug.

 Byakuya only accompanied them as far as the gate, immediately excusing himself and shunpo’ing away the second he stepped foot onto the ground and his hell butterfly detached from his aura. Something told Ichigo this was his way of dealing with the embarrassment of letting so much emotion towards his newborn niece slip out in front of them.

 Well, it made him seem more human at least. Or…soul.

 The 4th Division’s main medical building (where Byakuya had been decent enough to direct them before darting away) wasn’t busy at all that day. In fact until they walked through the doors, the entire reception area was completely deserted save for one person seated at the first aid station nearby. The poor thing was swaying back and forth on his stool with the glazed over look of someone who’d been stuck in one spot with nothing to do for hours.

 “Hey, Hanataro!” Ichigo recognized who it was and waved. “D’you know where Rukia’s room is?”

 The zoned-out Shinigami yelped and shot several feet off his stool from shock. Displaying remarkable recovery time for someone so lethargic, he snapped back quick as a whip, standing straight at attention and braced for the impending reprimand for slacking at his post. When he saw it was only Ichigo and co. he immediately relaxed his posture and put on a relieved smile. “Oh, hi, everyone! Um, yes, it’s just down this hallway. Follow me.” He motioned for them to accompany him down the closest corridor and they followed his lead.

 As they walked, Hanataro looked at each of them and asked eagerly, “Are you here to see the baby?”

 “Yes!” Orihime nodded, excited, and moved closer to him. “Have you met her yet, Hanataro-kun?”

 Hanataro blushed rather furiously at this question. “Ah…well…you could say I was one of the first people she met,” he laughed nervously and fiddled with the strap of his backpack.

 Chad slowed pace and tilted his head. “You…delivered her?”

 Thoroughly appalled by this suggestion, Hanataro vigorously shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. “Oh…no…no, I wouldn’t even trust myself to do that! Captain Kotetsu was the one who delivered her. But the lieutenant and I checked her over and took measurements right after she was born!” He paused with one finger in the air and mouth slightly agape. After thinking hard for a moment, he scratched his chin sheepishly. “Um…I forgot what they were. I was sent away once I did that.”

 “That’s okay. We’ll…get them from Renji or something,” Ichigo assured, knowing full well they would completely forget by the time they actually got to him.

 “Right…ah…I’m sorry, but I do have to get back to my work. Her room’s right there.” After pointing it out, he waved and hurried back down the hall to his station. The others continued on.

 Up ahead there was a flash of red and Renji popped forth from the room Hanataro had singled out. When he spotted the approaching trio, his face immediately lit up and he waved at them with all the enthusiasm of a puppy bounding over to say hello to its favorite human. They had seen Renji get worked up when he was feeling strong emotions many times before, but never like this. Right now he looked positively giddy with elation.

 “Ichigo! Inoue! Sado!” His loud booming voice echoed down the hall and practically knocked them down with its intensity. “Gladja could make it!”

 A passing orderly carrying a tray full of surgical supplies and bandages winced. “Excuse me, Lieutenant Abarai…I understand this is a happy occasion but I must ask that you please keep your voice down. There are recovering patients on this floor,” he insisted, balancing the tray with one hand and gingerly rubbing the ear closest to Renji with the other.

 Wide-eyed, Renji shrank back and rubbed the back of his head guiltily as the orderly continued on his way. “Ah…right. Sorry.”

 “Yo, Renji,” Ichigo greeted once they reached him, “everything good? How’s Rukia?”

 Renji dropped his hand and grinned broadly with a sing-song voice, “Come ‘an see for yourselves!” He whirled around in a flurry of ponytail and shihakusho and proceeded to prance back into the room with an overly accentuated bounce in his step.

 Ichigo glanced at Orihime, who looked back at him and giggled under her breath. He had to agree with her; Renji was acting a little silly, even for him. Any other day and Ichigo would have given him grief for it. But considering the circumstances he supposed he could let this one instance slide. After all, the guy did just witness the birth of his first child, he had every right be stupidly happy about that.

 And come to think of it…that goofy demeanor sort of reminded him of his own father. Maybe it was a Shinigami dad thing? Ichigo hoped it wasn’t contagious. Or hereditary.

 “Rukia! They’re here!” Renji announced in a raised whisper when the three of them followed his lead through the door.

 From the bed in the center of the room, Rukia rolled her heavily lidded eyes. “I heard you the first time, Renji.” But she smiled warmly at her friends in greeting as they filed in and lined up at the end of her bed, right in front of the small table where various gifts and flower baskets had begun to accumulate.

 Then the bundle in her arms stirred and gave a tiny squawk of a cry.

 “Shhh…it’s okay.” Rukia gazed down and crooned in a soft tone Ichigo had never heard her use before as she tenderly rocked it. “You have some visitors, sweetie. Do you want to meet them? They want to meet you.” She spoke every syllable so slowly and deliberately he started wondering what the hell kind of drugs they were giving her to make her talk like that. And use a very un-Rukia-like word like “sweetie”.

 Perched on a chair drawn up beside the bed, Renji watched them with a joyfully pained expression, like he was on the verge of crying any second. He even gave a minute sniff and drew his sleeve across his eyes.

 Good grief, Ichigo thought to himself. Renji was blubbering so badly it was starting to remind him of Orihime. Which, of course, was perfectly fine when it was Orihime, but Renji displaying that type of disposition was just plain bizarre.

 Rukia suddenly looked up and frowned at the three of them. “What are you standing there for? Get over here and say hi to her. She’s a baby, not a virus,” she scolded. That sounded much more like the Rukia they knew; Raking them over the coals for something as trivial as their failure to properly greet her hours-old child who understood approximately zero words of spoken language.

 Unsurprisingly, Orihime made the first move. Nervously jittering from hairpin to boot tip in her mix of excitement and apprehension, she shuffled around and sat on the bed next to Rukia. But when she looked down at the bundle, her hands flew up to her face and the timid look underneath gave way to one of pure joy.

 “Ohhh…Rukia-san…Renji-kun,” Orihime gasped softly, “She’s beautiful.” She glanced between Renji and Rukia with a hopeful expression. “Um, may I…is it alright if…”

 “Would you like to hold her, Inoue?” Rukia prompted, giving her a gentle smile.

 “Yes! Please!” Orihime beamed and held out her arms.

 Carefully, under Renji’s contented observation, Rukia handed their daughter over to Orihime. “Be sure to support her head,” she instructed, “There you go, Inoue. That’s it.”

 The second Rukia had placed the baby in Orihime’s arms, something magical occurred.

 His girlfriend’s face blossomed into the most radiant smile Ichigo had ever seen and suddenly it was as if everything warm and soft about her had multiplied exponentially. As he watched, awestruck, she settled the baby in the cradle of her embrace so smoothly and delicately it looked like she’d been holding children all her life. Perfectly at ease with playing the role of this child’s caretaker, she almost looked more natural and motherly holding it than Rukia, the actual mother.

 On second thought…that one could’ve been his own bias talking. There was a strong possibility being kicked in the face one too many times by Rukia may have severely damaged his ability to view her as “motherly” in any way.

 When Orihime looked up at him, even her eyes were shining.

 “Ichigo-kun…Sado-kun,” she whispered tearfully and held out the blanket for the boys to see, making sure she was still supporting in all the right places. They both moved over and peered at the sleeping baby swaddled within.

 Byakuya wasn’t kidding…she really did have a full head of hair and it was the exact shade of crimson as her father’s. It almost looked like someone had cut off the end of Renji’s ponytail and glued it onto his daughter as a wig. Thankfully the rosy color dusting her chubby cheeks and delicate button nose wasn’t nearly as bright, or the effect might have made her resemble a miniature circus clown. Thin rows of dark fluffy lashes lay shut over each eye, occasionally twitching in her state of peaceful slumber, and the more Ichigo looked the more her features fluctuated between each parent. Everything about her was a perfect combination of both, though the way her nose crinkled daintily as she stirred and parted her lips with a barely audible whimper was definitely all Rukia.

 A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed it back to look at Rukia and Renji. “That’s amazing. She really looks like you guys,” was all he could think to say.

 Rukia rolled her eyes. “Well duh.” Despite her tone, the small smile she wore gave away how much she genuinely appreciated his comment.

 Chad leaned over and cautiously pulled back the blanket with one thick finger to get a better look. “Does she have a name yet?” he asked Rukia in his deep melodic voice.

 Rukia opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Renji frantically leaping to his feet. “Oi! Of course we gave her a name! It’s Ichika! Abarai Ichika!” he insisted. He sounded highly insulted, like Chad had just accused him of being a terrible father for leaving his newborn child nameless. Which Ichigo knew he hadn’t, but again…Renji was having a very unusual day today, he could let it slide.

 Chad seemed to share his thoughts. “Right. I see. Sorry for being presumptuous, Abarai.” He nodded sincerely and let the blanket fall back into place, at the same time Renji sat down again while muttering, “Damn well should be…” under his breath.

 Orihime paid no mind to the exchange and lit up at Rukia. “Ichika? Oh! What a lovely name! Like the flower, right?”

 Renji’s jubilant demeanor promptly returned. “Right! Exactly! Thank you, Inoue!” he commended her while haughtily raising one tattooed eyebrow at Chad as if to say “Why can’t you be like her?” Chad wisely ignored this.

 “We thought…since you all embroidered strawberry flowers on my wedding veil, well…” Rukia smiled fondly and looked down at her lap. “It just seemed appropriate. Both the meaning of the flower, and in honor of all you’ve done for us.” Beside her, Renji nodded proudly.

 To the surprise of no one, Orihime’s waterworks were going full blast now.

 “Well, that makes sense,” Ichigo laughed and scratched his head, “But for a second there I thought you named her after me.”

 The bed creaked and Renji and Rukia both looked around at him with identical disbelieving stares. “Why the hell would we do that?” Renji asked incredulously.

 Ichigo stared back, feeling one eyebrow start to twitch. “Because people name their kids after friends all the time! And what’s wrong with naming a kid after me?” he asked, annoyed.

 “Not my kid!” Renji shot back. “You can go ‘an name your own kid after yourself.”

 “Maybe I will!”

 The argument didn’t get any further than this because right then Ichika decided it was the perfect moment to interrupt them with a grumpy whine and squirm awake in Orihime’s arms. All attentions drew back to her as her little balled fists broke free from the blanket with a jerky stretch and she gave the biggest yawn her small toothless mouth could muster. When her large round eyes fluttered open Ichigo saw that, once again, Byakuya was right: They were the same deep indigo violet as Rukia’s.

 The tears stopped flowing and Orihime blinked down at the infant. “Hello, Ichika-chan.” she said softly.

 Ichika blinked right back at Orihime and attempted to stare at her. It was a valiant effort, but with how blank and unfocused her eyes remained no matter where she moved them it was more like she was aiming her pupils in a general upward direction than actually staring. Then she frowned and wriggled a little as if she was checking for something. When she finally seemed to realize the person holding her was not one of her parents, Ichika’s tiny face suddenly screwed up and she began to wail. Loudly.

 Caught off guard and not entirely sure what to do, Orihime stiffened. Her large brown eyes darted wildly from side to side.

 “Um…there, there. Shhhhh. It’s okay, Ichika-chan,” she whispered and tried rocking her the way she’d seen Rukia do it earlier. From what Ichigo could tell it was a perfect imitation yet it didn’t seem to do anything. Ichika’s piercing screeches continued ringing out, to the dismay of everyone’s eardrums.

 Renji sprang out of the chair and practically vaulted over the bed to get to the screaming baby. Shoving Ichigo and Chad aside (with a little more roughness than called for), he scooped her out of Orihime’s arms and started parading around the room with some kind of weird skipping trot to his gait. “Oi, Ichika! Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Daddy’s here! See? You’re fine!” he chanted with gusto as he rocked her.

 To everyone’s astonishment, Ichika went silent almost immediately.

 Trying to wrap his brain around what he was witnessing as Renji gamboled back and forth, Ichigo raised one eyebrow and looked at Rukia. She shrugged and crossed her arms with a languid shake of her head. “She likes it when he does that. We have no idea why, but it’s the only thing that’ll get her to stop crying.”

 “Ah.” Ichigo felt it best not to ask how they found that out in only a few hours.

 “Uh, Rukia, I think she’s actually hungry now.” Renji had finished his little cantering routine and returned to his spot beside the bed. Now that he was completely still, they could see how comically massive Renji was compared to his daughter…she was small enough for her tiny body to fit comfortably in one of his hands. (Three for three, Uncle Byakuya)

 “Is she? Finally. Give her here.” Rukia held out her arms and began talking in her weird high-pitched mush-mouth speech again once she had ahold of Ichika, “Are you hungry, Ichika? Do you want to eat? Okay. Let’s get you fed.” With Ichika tucked securely in the crook of one elbow she reached for her collar but hesitated when she noticed Ichigo and Chad were still watching. Her face reddened. “D-do you mind?” she stammered, refusing to look either one in the eye.

 They hastily whipped around.

 “Oi, Rukia, do you have to do that now?” Ichigo’s cheeks burned, out of the corner of his vision he could see Chad’s visible eye widen as he shifted his weight. “Can’t you hold off until-”

 “My child is hungry now so I am feeding her now, you imbecile!” came her irate (normal) voice from behind them, “If you have a problem with it, you are more than welcome to leave!”

 After a moment’s hesitation, Ichigo stiffly shook his head and Chad muttered, “No…no problem.”

 “S’alright. You can turn around now.” Renji sounded like he was trying very hard to restrain himself from laughing.

 When they did so Ichigo was thankful to discover that Renji, despite his overt amusement with the situation, had thoughtfully planted himself on the bed between them and Rukia to act as a sort of living privacy screen. He leaned forward with one arm on his knees and gave Ichigo an incredulous look. “What, you’re not used to it by now?”

 “No, I’m not! Everyone who’s ever given birth in the clinic went straight to the hospital after.”

 “I ain’t talkin’ about that, ya dumbass.” Renji rolled his eyes and lowered his voice. “You’ve seen Inoue in less, right? So how’s this,” he jerked his thumb back at Rukia, “botherin’ ya?”

 “Well, yeah, but…I MEAN-” Ichigo clamped his mouth shut and mentally cursed himself. Renji wasn’t supposed to be aware of that little detail about his and Orihime’s relationship. In fact, seeing as it had only happened a few times so far and they’d agreed to keep it between the two of them for the present, he had no idea how anyone would manage to figure it out for themselves…and judging by the genuinely surprised look he was giving him, even Chad had been completely oblivious until that moment. The only possible way Renji could know was if he’d said something that gave it away it in casual conversation without realizing. Either that or Renji was more observant than he’d been giving him credit for all these years.

 Attempting to shrug off his massive slip-up, Ichigo closed his eyes for a few moments and calmly replied, “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s not my girlfriend. I don’t want to see any part of her I don’t have to.”

 “Well, I’ll give ya credit for bein’ faithful.” Renji lolled his head around slightly to address Orihime, who was still far too busy fawning over the baby to pay attention to him, “Ya got lucky, Inoue. Mosta the guys I know would-“

 “Would you leave Orihime out of this already? She doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with any of your dirty nonsense!” Ichigo snapped, protective instincts kicking into overdrive now that Orihime had been directly involved.

 Sensing this, Renji snorted and held up his hands in mock surrender. “Whatever ya say.” Orihime looked up and blinked at both of them in confusion.

 “Ichigo!” exclaimed Rukia suddenly, most of her still hidden from view behind Renji, “What did you do to your hair?”

 He knew she couldn’t see his eyes but that didn’t stop Ichigo from rolling them anyway. “What, you just noticed that?”

 “I’ve been a bit preoccupied by other things today, or did you not notice that?” she answered dryly.

 Orihime smiled eagerly at Rukia. “It looks nice, doesn’t it?”

 Rukia was noticeably silent before she answered haltingly, “Uh…sure, I guess.”

 Seeing Orihime’s face fall slightly at Rukia’s not-so-enthusiastic response, Ichigo reassured her with a nonchalant wave of his hand, “Eh, don’t bother asking her opinion on this one, Orihime. She clearly prefers long hair on guys.” He looked pointedly at Renji.

 “Damn straight she does,” Renji smirked proudly with a flourished twirl to his waist-length scarlet mane.

 “N-not true! You just…happen to have long hair. That’s all!” Rukia argued back hastily.

 Even though she was fooling absolutely no one with that transparent claim, Renji still found it necessary to lean his head back at her and drawl wryly, “Oho? Then why’d I remember ya sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout my hair ‘an new uniform makin’ me irresistible the night we-“

 “RENJI!” Rukia snapped at him in warning, sounding far too frantic for someone claiming they never thought or said anything of the sort.

 He heeded her admonition and said no more about “that night” but since she couldn’t see him, Renji glanced at each human in turn and smugly mouthed, “She loves it,” while gesturing to his hair.

 A croaked gurgle sounded from Ichika and signaled feeding time was over. Renji turned and took her from Rukia while she put her clothing back into place. This time, Ichigo and Chad respectfully averted their gazes to the ceiling until a soft cough from Orihime signaled it was safe to look back.

 They watched with some fascination as Renji slung a small blue towel Rukia handed him over his shoulder and started gently patting Ichika on the back when he had her settled upright against it. Though “tapping” was a more accurate way of describing it since he could only fit two of his fingers on her tiny back.

 For anyone who had fought alongside Renji in battle (or fought him directly), this was a strange sight…the same guy they’d witnessed punch through walls and chuck his enemies almost a football field away with those massive powerful hands of his, now using them to handle this delicate little baby as softly as if she were made of spun sugar.

 Ichigo didn’t realize he was staring until Renji looked at him strangely and grunted, “What?” Shortly after, Ichika let out a quiet burp.

 “Nothing. You just…actually look like a dad right now,” he admitted with a casual shrug. Renji raised an eyebrow questioningly. Ichigo could tell he was putting on a face as blankly dull as he could make, however when he laid Ichika over his arm to re-adjust her wrappings and gently brushed his hand over her wispy red hair he was no longer able to hold back the proud smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

 As if this suddenly jogged her memory, Orihime gasped and jumped up off the bed. “Oh! Renji-kun, could you bring her here and sit next to Rukia-san? I promised Ishida-kun I’d send pictures since he couldn’t come.” She produced her phone from her jacket pocket and backed away several paces.

 Nodding cheerfully, Renji took her vacant spot and reached around Rukia to pull her close until he had both his girls securely gathered up into one big family cuddle. Startled and visibly annoyed by Renji’s spontaneous act of physical affection (in front of their friends, no less) Rukia immediately whipped her head up and tried to shoot him a Look. One tender smile and a loving squeeze to her elbow from him, however, and she was soon quietly snuggled into the embrace, even relenting enough to lay her head on his chest. Ichika proceeded to fall back asleep in the warm nest of her parents’ entwined arms.

 While Orihime held up her phone and told them to say a bunch of nonsense words before taking the picture, Chad leaned over to Ichigo with a low hum and commented, “They’re a good looking family, huh?”

 “Yeah.” Ichigo nodded and watched Orihime snap multiple shots. “They really are, I gotta admit.”

 Chad regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “I wonder…” he paused and glanced over at Orihime, sitting happily with Renji and Rukia as the three of them admired the batch of photos she’d just taken.

 Ichigo eyed him suspiciously. “…What?”

 Chad smiled and crossed his arms over his massive chest. “Oh, nothing.”

 Ichigo knew his friend well enough to recognize that type of smile meant it actually wasn’t nothing, but he was prevented from calling him out on it by the boisterous arrival of a group of all-too-familiar Shinigami. After dodging several tipsy greetings (and discreetly questioning why the hell so many of them were that drunk this early), the three human visitors decided it would be best to take their leave.

 To be more precise, two of the human visitors decided it would be best to take their leave while working to persuade the reluctant third, as she kept prolonging her goodbyes in an effort to stay with the baby as long as possible.

 “Come by any time you want! We’re off duty for the next three months!” Rukia called out as they walked out the door. With one last wave goodbye at Ichika, now buried within the midst of a new throng of admirers, Orihime gladly assured her they would.

 The entire journey back through the Dangai, she could not stop talking about baby Ichika. And astonishingly, Byakuya now seemed openly keen to hear all the good things she had to say about his niece.

 “I’ve never seen a tinier baby before! The way Renji-kun held her in his hand…it was so cute! And you were right, Byakuya-san, her eyes looked just like Rukia-san’s! So much of her looked just like Rukia-san! And Renji-kun, too.” Orihime sighed happily and gazed at the photos pulled up on her phone. “Oh, she’s going to be so pretty when she gets older! Don’t you think?” She looked up and addressed Byakuya directly with this question.

 Byakuya nodded politely to her in agreement as she rambled on but once she switched her attention back to the photos, he turned slightly away and quietly sighed, “If she takes after her mother, ” under his breath.

 Ichigo, being the only one who heard him say this, quickly stifled his laugh with a rough cough that sent his hell butterfly reeling and almost crashing antennae-first into the wall of the tunnel. Byakuya said nothing but shot him a subtle warning glare as it fluttered back into place.

 The sky was starting to darken when they finally stepped back into the Living World as the doors closed on Byakuya’s retreating back and the small flock of butterflies that followed. Orihime was staying with the Kurosaki’s for dinner that night so Chad said his goodbyes as well and left them together outside of Ichigo’s house.

 Ichigo surveyed Orihime, flushed from the cold and shivering slightly. Without thinking, he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, Ichigo-kun…I’m fine, really! But aren’t you going to be cold now?”

 “Nah. I’ve got extra layers on,” Ichigo assured her, “besides, we’re going inside aren’t we? It won’t be for long”

 “Ah, yes…you’re right.” Orihime smiled and held the jacket around herself. She really looked cute wearing his clothes, even if they were a little big on her. He couldn’t help the smile that broke out when he thought this, and actually almost didn’t notice he was doing it at first. If the way she bashfully bit her lip and pulled the jacket tighter was any indication, Orihime definitely noticed.

 “Ichigo-kun?”

 “Yeah?”

 It was getting hard to see in the twilight but he could still make out the way Orihime pursed her lips and gazed at him with an expression that could only be described as hopeful. She started, “Seeing Ichika-chan…and seeing all of them together…it made me think…” Suddenly she blushed and turned away from him.

 “What?” Ichigo asked, genuinely interested to hear what she was going to say.

 After a moment, she hummed softly and tried again.

 “Ah, it’s just that…Renji-kun and Rukia-san seemed a bit different. But it wasn’t in a bad way. Even for Renji-kun,” Orihime murmured thoughtfully. She laughed a bit and looked back up at him. “Becoming a parent really changes you, huh?”

 The memories of Rukia cooing and fussing over her daughter and Renji frolicking about like some giant red and black rabbit played back in his mind, much like the movie they were supposed to see that day.

 “Yeah,” Ichigo snorted rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, “But don’t worry, Orihime. I don’t think we’ll change too much. I swear I’m not gonna get as dopey as Renji. Or my old man. And you’re already kind of the mothering type, right? At least Karin and Yuzu seem to think that. So you won’t be too different, either. Although…”

 He trailed off. Orihime’s mouth had dropped wide open and she was staring at him in shock.

 Automatically fearing he’d said the wrong thing, Ichigo frantically scrambled to think of a way to fix it when he realized it wasn’t what he said, it was the implication of what he said that his girlfriend was reacting to.

 Because he had just insinuated he was certain they would have children together in the future.

 Nearby, the streetlamps had started flickering on. Ichigo felt his face flare up right along with them and this time he was the one blushing and turning away from her. With a loud cough, he attempted to pull himself together and ended up awkwardly stammering out, “Oh…uh…I…that was…I just…”

 “Do you really mean that?”

 Caught off guard by her question, Ichigo froze. He knew by her tone of voice she wasn’t talking about believing parenthood wouldn’t change them. But did he really have an answer for what she was asking him? And if he did, was it too soon? What should he say to her? He didn’t know any of these things. Yet something compelled him to address it in some way and so, slowly, he turned back around to face her.

 Orihime was staring at the ground now, shyly twisting the ends of her long silky hair in the fingers of one hand while keeping his jacket in place with the other. The bright streetlamps made it much easier to see and the more he looked, the more they cast her in an ethereal glow and gave her the extraordinary appearance of a being emanating pure light. Or that could have been because on her face there was a smile: The same soft shining smile she wore when she looked so beautiful and peaceful cradling Ichika in her arms.

 In that instant, he was sure.

 Ichigo took a deep breath.

 “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Author’s Notes: Orihime...what can I say about her? Such a loving caring sweetheart. XD I do have a lot of fun writing characters with snark and sass but it’s always nice to write characters who don’t have a mean bone in their body. I have no doubt that in canon she was genuinely excited and happy for her friends and fell in love with Ichika the moment she met her. And yes I do believe each couple had met the other’s kid at some point before chapter 686. It was just the children themselves had never met each other since Ichika had obviously never been to the Living World (Rukia’s comment on how she’d been given “special permission” to come to the Living World now that she was a Shinigami Apprentice) and Ichigo and Orihime had probably never taken Kazui to Soul Society since he was so young.

Renji and Rukia were probably a little awkward and clumsy as parents at first since they most likely had no experience with infants (or if they had, it’d been a while) but I have no doubt they quickly got the hang of it.

That’s all, folks! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this little passion project of mine. Please feel free to share/reblog/leave comments+suggestions. :)

INDEX

COVER

PART I - The Reception

PART II - The Threshold

PART III - The Culmination

PART IV - The Issue

PART V - The Denial

PART VI - The Relay

PART VII - The Wait

PART VIII - The Delivery

[cuckingforchrist]

I was tagged by @dishon-nerd thx bae, gives me an excuse to do this instead of homework

LAST

1) Drink: coffee

2) Phone call: my grandad? it was something really minor idek

3) Text message: to my dad asking for coffee

4) Song listened to: Bad Things by Machine Gun Kelly

5) Time you cried: monday night at like 1am cos i was doing an essay due in that day and watching sad videos at the same time (a bad combination)

HAVE YOU EVER

6) Dated somebody twice: fuck NOOOO

7) Been cheated on: nope

8) Kissed someone and regretted it: yeahhhhhh

9) Lost someone special: nah lol 

10) depressed: when am i not

11) Gotten drunk and puked: this is what I’m known for, best binge drinker on the block

THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS

12) dark blue

13) black

14) white

IN THE LAST YEAR YOU HAVE YOU

15) Made new friends: yas

16) Fallen out of love: miss we with that gay shit

17) Laughed until you cried: hell yeah

18) Found out someone was gossiping about you: hell yeah these two hoes were talking shit about me in the bathroom and i got told so i went in and aggressively washed my hands and they were SILENT thats right hoes

19) Met someone who changed your life: nahh

20) Found out who your true friends are: all my friends are hoes and they know it

21) Kissed someone on your Facebook list: if my ex counts yeah

MUCH

22) Facebook friends: 131 lol

23) Pets: i have the best doggo called Hettie, she is an English cocker spaniel and unusually small so she gets mistaken for a puppy, what a good pupper

24) Want to change your name: YES

WHAT

25) Did I get for my birthday: money, stuff for driving lessons, an air pistol because I’m white trash

26) Time I woke up: 7am and I crave death

27) Were you doing at midnight: trying to sleep lmao

28) Can’t you wait for: the next time i get TURNT with my bois

29) Was the last time you saw your mom: well over a year, mother and I don’t get on

30) Was something you wish you could change about your life: not particularly interesting but I wish I had nicer clothes ya know, I don’t have the money to indulge my fashion tastes and god i wish i did

31) Are you listening to right now: IDFC by Blackbear

32) Gets on your nerves: the family next door, beat your kids quieter please and thanks

33) Talked to a person named Tom: there’s a guy called Tom in my year but i hardly speak to him

34) Is your most visited website: reddit

35) Elementary school/primary school: it was a holy trinity school and the headteacher I had was an atheist lmao, my class teacher was dumb as heck and now she’s headteacher rip

36) High School: went to a grammar school, lots of ‘privileged’ children for my white trash self to compete with

37) College: I go to the sixth form at the same high school, if you mean college as in american further education, I’ll probably go to Nottingham University lmao but idk I’m only 17

38) Hair colour: this weird brown/blonde/ginger colour

39) Long/short hair: darn short, shaved back and sides and all that jazz

40) Crush: not really

41) Do you like about yourself: my ability to meme

42) Piercings: an industrial (scaffold) in my left ear and two lobe piercings, and one more lobe piercing in my right ear. My school is super strict so I’m going to get the eyebrow and nose piercing I want after I leave

43) Blood type: who would know this honestly

44) Nickname: can’t shorten my name tbh

45) Relationship status: single and chillin

46) Zodiac: Capricorn

47) Pronouns: how about no

48) Favourite show: i really love Police Interceptors

49) Tattoos: a diamond on the inside of my left ankle and ‘idle’ on my ring finger

50) Left or right handed: right

FIRST

51) Surgery: never had any

52) Piercings: got both ear lobes

53) Best friend: a boy called Tom when I was five

54) Sport: didn’t do any

55) Vacation: probably the Caribbean cos we had hella money back in the day lol

56) Pair of shoes: the fuck? 

RIGHT NOW

57) Eating: nothin

58) Drinking: MORE COFFEE

59) I am about to: do history homework

60) Listening to: TOXIC BY BRITNEY SPEARS

61) Waiting for: the void to take me

62) Want to see: spain, it’s pretty

63) Want to get married: couldn’t care less

64) Career: wanna be a police officer

WHICH IS BETTER

65) Hugs/kisses: hugs

66) Lips/eyes: pretty eyes are 10/10

67) Taller/shorter: idc but I prefer around my height (5′8)

68) Younger/older: only two years younger or older max, I’d probably prefer older if I had to choose

69) Romantic/spontaneous: spontaneous for sure, getting surprised is wild

70) Nice arms/nice stomach: ummmmm arms i guess? muscular arms are all the better to hold (choke) me with

71) Sensitive/loud: loud cos then they’re usually more fun 

72) Hookup/relationship: I hate hookups but each to their own, no shame here

73) Troublemaker/hesitant: troublemaker to indulge my shenanigans

HAVE YOU EVER

74) Kissed a stranger: nope

75) Drank hard liquor: when am i not drinking hard liquor

76) Lost glasses/contact lenses: a few times but i always find them

77) Turned someone down: yeah

78) Canoodling on a first date: nopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

79) Broken someone’s heart: only nerd guys, they just don’t get the whole not interested thing

80) Had your own heart broken: sorta but idc any more

81) Been arrested: no

82) Cried when someone died: nobody has died recently

83) Fallen for a friend: nope and I hope it never happens

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

84) Yourself: yep

85) Miracles: in a way, yeah

86) Santa Claus: he’s my daddy, can confirm he’s real

87) Kisses on a first date: fuck no

88) Angels: sorta

89) Love at first sight: nah no thanks

OTHER

90) Best friend’s name: OLLIE

91) Eye colour: dark blue

92) Favourite movie: either angus thongs and perfect snogging or the other woman  (angus thongs and perfect snogging is a british classic and i highly recommend it and if after you watch it and you hear Scouting For Girls and don’t picture a girl dressed as an olive running down the street I’ve failed)

I’m tagging @tinzle @iratia and @ollie-otter1 cos my friends are all massive hoes and deserve to do this

it’s a real shame this tag doesn’t have a selfie question, i took a good one and it’s going to waste

[signal-failure]

Posted From Departure Gate

Previously on ‘Simpson’s Paradox’: Passing my HSK, Taiwan runs on Dunkin’s, teaching more, and 始.

Now the post:

Tomorrow, I’m heading to Taipei for a month to teach a class.

When I originally found this position, it seemed like everything was in a good place to take a short posting abroad. I’ve been subbing and teaching short-term classes for about a year, so it seemed like I’d just not accept any Boston teaching assignments for the time I’m traveling, and then go back to taking assignments when I came back.

But of course, after almost a year of subbing and short-term work, while actively looking for a permanent position, I was just offered my own, ongoing classes at a language school downtown.  It’s a school where I’ve enjoyed covering classes, and the other teachers are gamers, ex-expats, or both, so I was excited to accept, but I had to begin my new job with a request for a month’s vacation.

I booked my ticket a couple months ago, which is completely out of character for me. If you have the personality to accept that you’re leaving sometime next week and you’re willing to be rerouted through both Reykjavik and Cape Town to get there, there are some good last-minute travel deals. This is my usual approach to traveling.

My husband has the opposite personality, and if he’s not sitting at the gate about an hour before takeoff, he is terribly anxious. Only the literal gate will do. Not the airport bar or the airport Starbucks or another gate where the comfy seats with the outlets are free. The actual gate.

So, now that I’m married and I do responsible adult things, even if I mostly do them to avoid hearing Harold elaborate his minute-by-minute action plans for several dozen potential problem scenarios and to avoid seeing Harold do that thing he does with his eyebrows when he’s stressed. I bought my air ticket a couple months ago. And I bought a round-trip, instead of figuring it out over there, because have you seen that thing Harold does with his forehead? It gives off secondhand anxiety. That was the same day I ordered a pair of black flats for work, and GUESS WHICH TRANSACTION WAS FLAGGED AS POTENTIALLY FRAUDULENT??? Apparently my customer profile is much more likely to take off to Taipei for a month than to buy work clothes. Thanks, Big Data, you truly understand me.

The thing about buying tickets way way in advance is that, yes, I did avoid hearing Harold’s anxious action plan for what if every ticket on every airline for every flight is sold out, but in the time between when I bought my ticket and now, I forgot what time I’m leaving. I knew it was Wednesday, and I know where Logan airport is, so it’s fine.

In 2015, I flew to Yangzhou on the cheapest possible flights, which involved Raleigh to JFK, then sitting in JFK for hours before getting on a midnight flight. That was kind of the best for jetlag. The night wasn’t too bad, and we landed in Guangzhou on a morning that actually felt like morning to me, even if that morning started with my bag disappearing and ended with an unplanned stopover in Guangzhou…  So for jetlag reasons, I’m actually flying out at 1AM on Wednesday morning, which is pretty much Tuesday night. Which means I’m leaving a day earlier than I was expecting.  No one tell Harold that part, or he’s going to do that anxious thing with his face and start making action plans.

Posted from my departure gate, two hours before takeoff.

from Posted From Departure Gate on Simpson's Paradox

[floraexplorer]

Visiting Svalbard in Summer: 25 Fascinating Facts About This Arctic Island

There’s a lot you don’t know about Svalbard.

I didn’t know much about this little island in the Norwegian Arctic before I arrived either – but after spending a week in the midnight-sun-soaked Svalbard in summer, I can say it’s probably the most unique place I’ve ever travelled to.

I arrived in Svalbard after two weeks spent sailing on an expedition ship from Scotland and up the coast of Norway, before we crossed over the Arctic Circle and into another world. As I disembarked with my fellow passengers at Longyearbyen harbour, most of them headed straight for the airport – but I had a full week ahead of me to explore the town of Longyearbyen and the environment of Svalbard beyond it.

Most people tend to visit Svalbard to see either the midnight sun or the northern lights, but there’s so much more on offer. Life above the Arctic Circle is beautiful, eerie, and surreal: it’s a place where polar bears outnumber people, where no trees grow, and where you’re not allowed to die.

Here are the most unexpected facts I learned during my week in Svalbard at the top of the world.

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1. During a Svalbard summer, the sun never sets.

Between May and September, you’ll experience a phenomenon known as the ‘midnight sun’, where the sun is fully visible all day and night. It happens in places north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle because the earth’s axis is tilted more towards the sun.

When the midnight sun arrives, the skies at midnight look like it’s dusk, or early evening: there’s a pinkish tinge to the air, and the sun shows no signs of setting all night.

As a result, it’s worth getting accustomed to a 24 hour clock, just in case you accidentally turn up somewhere twelve hours early. It happens.

Crossing the official line of the Arctic Circle at sea in northern Norway

2. Constant daylight is worse than constant darkness.

The downside of living under the midnight sun is that it screws with your circadian rhythm – and constant light is actually harder to cope with than the constant darkness of polar nights.

From November to January in Svalbard the sun doesn’t rise, but it’s not actually pitch black; it’s more like a constant blue-tinged dusk. Importantly, your body still understands that it needs to sleep.

However, when there’s sunlight at night your body finds it hard to adjust. During my week in Svalbard I felt wide awake much later than usual, despite the thick blackout curtains hung across the windows of my hostel dorm room. And one night I emerged from Longyearbyen’s pub at 1am to the utter confusion of bright sunlight outside! I felt delirious and disorientated walking down the deserted road.

You never realise the full importance of day and night until the concept no longer exists.

  View this post on Instagram

  An open road behind me, the Arctic earth below me and a midnight sun above me Some photos will create memories and others will preserve them — and right now, at the top of the world, this is a memory I never want to forget: the feeling of freedom, of happiness, and of being just where I belong

A post shared by Flora The Explorer (@florabaker) on Jun 15, 2016 at 6:45am PDT

3. There’s some confusion over what this place is actually called.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Spitsbergen, and Jan Mayen: this part of Arctic Norway has a few different names, which can get a bit confusing if you’ve never visited. This is how I understand it:

Svalbard is the official Norwegian name of the archipelago. This group of islands are separate from the mainland of Norway, flanked by the Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea, and they’re the closest inhabited landmass to the North Pole.

Jan Mayen is an island separate to Svalbard, but they’re administratively linked so are often referred to in the same breath. Jan Mayen is about 900 km from Svalbard, has just eighteen inhabitants and requires special permission to visit, so tourism is rare.

Spitsbergen refers to the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. It’s a Dutch name, dating back to the island’s discovery by the Dutchman Willem Barentsz in 1596.

Longyearbyen is the ‘administrative centre’ of Svalbard and is on Spitsbergen island, but it’s easier to refer to Longyearbyen as Svalbard’s de facto capital because it’s the only significant town in the archipelago – there’s an airport, harbour, school, swimming pool, supermarket, art gallery and museums, and it’s where all the hotels and restaurants are located.

Barentsberg is a small Russian mining settlement, also on Spitsbergen island. It’s about an hour from Longyearbyen and has about 400 residents.

To allay any confusion on your arrival, there’s a helpful road sign welcoming you to Longyearbyen – despite the fact it’s entirely unnecessary. There are no other road connections to any other settlements in Svalbard.

4. Svalbard doesn’t belong to Norway… but it’s not its own country either.

Svalbard is an area of the world under Norwegian control, but it’s not officially Norway.

Confused? Me too.

In fact, Svalbard is international land (as agreed by the United Nations). The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 allows any person, regardless of their nationality or citizenship, to enter Svalbard freely – which is why so many non-Norwegians live and work here. There’s no need for visas or work permits: as long as you make your own way to Svalbard, nobody can tell you to leave.

This treaty is used by immigrants and asylum seekers who’ve been denied residency in Norway or mainland Europe. If they can plant their feet on Svalbard’s permafrost soil then they’re able to stay, but they still have to be able to find a job and support themselves.

NB: although officially you don’t need a visa to enter Svalbard, the only viable entry points are on domestic flights from Norway (Oslo and Tromso) which do require a Norwegian visa. 

5. There’s no shortage of jobs, but there IS a shortage of housing in Svalbard.

Coal mining is the main element of Svalbard’s economy – but thanks to the growing tourism industry, it’s also possible to find seasonal work in the hotels, restaurants, and bars. If you have experience working with dogs, you could work at the kennels – and excellent skiers could get a job as a guide (as long as they’re comfortable with shooting a gun).

However, there’s a finite amount of space to build accommodation, meaning it can be tricky to find somewhere to live. There’s barely any privately owned housing in Svalbard: instead, you’re provided with accommodation alongside your employment.

Although you can find Svalbard apartments on Airbnb, your best bet is by paying per night at a hotel or hostel.

I stayed at the Gjestehuset 102 hostel which was pretty reasonable!

6. Svalbard’s tiny population is extremely multicultural.

Life at the top of the world is an intriguing idea, and Longyearbyen is home to an eclectic mix of around 2,000 people from 50 different countries. Norwegians make up the majority but there’s also a big Thai community and  people from Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. Officially there are lots of Russians too, but they mainly live in Barentsberg.

The official language of Svalbard is Norwegian, but with so many different nationalities living and working in Svalbard, it’s easy to get by speaking English. During my visit to Svalbard the barman was from London, but he hadn’t really learnt Norwegian because there was barely anyone to practice with!

7. There’s no public transport in Longyearbyen.

Although the fancier hotels do operate a shuttle bus service around the town, there’s no public transport in Longyearbyen. Luckily, everything in the town centre is walkable – it took me about 40 minutes to walk from the harbour to my hostel at the far end of town.

If you don’t want to walk, there are taxi companies like Svalbard Maxi Taxi and Longyearbyen Taxi, and a shuttle bus operates from the airport to the town centre.

For trips outside of Longyearbyen, you’ll be taking other forms of transport like buses, boats, ATVs, snowmobiles and even dog sleds.

8. Visiting Svalbard in summer might mean a lack of snow-related activities.

Average summer temperatures in Svalbard are between 3 – 7’C (37 – 44’F) – but the strong rays of midnight sunshine can make it feel warmer.

This can lead to melting snow, so be prepared for some snow-based activities to be compromised or unavailable. (I say compromised because dog-sledding was apparently still available with no snow cover – but when I learned that the dogs would have to run on asphalt while wearing little socks I decided against it!)

On the upside, warmer temperatures meant I was able to visit the abandoned site of Pyramiden, a Russian mining settlement which is now a ghost town. There’s a small window of opportunity for this as during much of the year the water at the harbour freezes over and no boats can access it.

Read more: Exploring Pyramiden, the Arctic’s Soviet ghost town

9. You don’t actually want to see an Arctic polar bear in Longyearbyen!

It’s estimated that there are over 2,500 polar bears in Svalbard (more than the number of permanent residents in Longyearbyen!). They’re nonetheless an endangered species and have been protected by international law since 1973, which means no polar bear safaris or guided tours – but that doesn’t mean you won’t see one.

Bears roam the entire archipelago, and there have been occasional attacks on people in Svalbard.  If you go to Pyramiden, you’ll no doubt hear of the break-in at the Hotel Tulipan, where the trespassing polar bear proceeded to lick up traces of spilled beer at the hotel bar.

To remind tourists of the dangers, there are warning signs dotted around Longyearbyen’s borders. Great for a photo, but a little chilling when you think about what they’re warning against…

Read more: The day I saw three polar bears in Svalbard

[Image courtesy of Nicolo Lazzati]

10. Outside Longyearbyen, it’s illegal to NOT carry a gun.

Thanks to the thousands of polar bears which roam Svalbard, Longyearbyen is the only part of the archipelago where you aren’t legally required to carry a gun.

Outside of town limits it’s illegal to be without a firearm: you have to be accompanied by a guide carrying one, or be proficient in handling a rifle or shotgun yourself. All the students at Svalbard University are also trained to use firearms.

11. Shooting a polar bear anywhere in Svalbard is a criminal offence. 

Because of the aforementioned laws protecting polar bears, it’s a big deal if they’re purposefully affected by humans in any way. It’s considered a criminal offence to hunt, feed or disturb a polar bear, and anyone committing these acts faces trouble.

You can read the laws about firearms in Svalbard here.

Fun fact: polar bears in the Arctic really are ‘armoured’ – because they have a layer of blubber a few inches thick which can stop smaller rounds from a gun. 

12. But it’s basically impossible to commit a crime in Svalbard.

Although there’s plenty of firearms around, Svalbard is still a pretty safe place to live because there’s nowhere to hide. The most violence Svalbard sees is due to bar brawls – there were nine in 2013, but just one in 2012.

One Redditor who used to live in Svalbard said he once walked into the Longyearbyen bank with a ski-mask, a loaded rifle and the teller just nodded at him. Unfortunately, this was eclipsed in 2018 when a Russian man actually tried to rob the bank. He was quickly arrested but it’s made inhabitants a little more aware of modern-day dangers.

13. In Svalbard, reindeer are as unconcerned by people as your neighbourhood squirrel.

Svalbard reindeer are a subspecies with short legs, little round heads and a generally adorable appearance. Although not domesticated, these reindeer have no natural predators on the island so they’re perfectly happy to wander through town and aren’t scared off by people around them.

You’ll easily be able to spot a local versus a tourist from how they react to reindeer: the animals are such a common sight in Longyearbyen that the locals tend to ignore them.

14. You won’t see a single cat in Longyearbyen.

Thanks to the rich variation of Arctic birdlife in Svalbard, the archipelago is a top birdwatching destination: think ptarmigans, snowy owls, guillemots, auks, scuas, and let’s not forget my absolute favourite, the puffin – I even wrote about my experiences seeing them for National Geographic!

Unfortunately, that means cats are prohibited from living on the archipelago thanks to their natural inclination to catch birds – or their ‘disruption to local wildlife’. However, the occasional cat does make it through – like this ginger cat who apparently made it to Barentsberg, the Russian town close to Longyearbyen.

In comparison, dogs are much more common in Svalbard – huskies specifically. These boys work as sledding dogs, and take tourists exploring in the Svalbard wildnerness year-round.

(I’ve never been dog sledding but The Planet D’s article is a good resource for people worried about the ethics behind it.)

15. You might get attacked by angry birds.

The Arctic tern is the only tern breeding in Longyearbyen, and they nest alongside the coastal road leading to the husky kennels. If you’re walking along this stretch of road, make sure to take a long stick and hold it above your head: Arctic terns are extremely protective of their nests, and they attack the highest part of a predator by dive-bombing them with furious pecking and a lot of noise.

It’s pretty terrifying, but these birds are winners at commanding respect. After one round of being dive-bombed I never walked along this road again!

16. Every building on Svalbard is up on stilts. 

Much of the earth beneath Longyearbyen is permanently frozen solid throughout the year, thanks to what’s called a permafrost. However, a layer of it does melt in the summer months and refreezes as it gets colder again, which causes the ground to be soft and unstable.

Longyearbyen’s buildings are set on metre-high stilts driven deep into the ground so the heat they emit doesn’t melt the ice beneath. Unfortunately, globally rising temperatures mean the permafrost in Svalbard is melting at an accelerated rate in spite of the precautions in place.

17. Nobody is allowed to die in Svalbard.

Longyearbyen has a small cemetery on a hill at the edge of town, but nobody has been buried there for over 70 years. Why? Because in the 1950s, residents discovered that the bodies buried in Longyearbyen’s graveyard weren’t decomposing because the permafrost was delaying the process.

More worryingly, the first bodies to be buried were a group of Norwegian miners who’d died from the Spanish flu in 1918. Amid concerns that these corpses could still carry the active virus, and could re-infect people if the permafrost ever thawed, burials in Longyearbyen were stopped indefinitely.

It’s now forbidden to die in Svalbard. If you fall ill on the archipelago you’re sent to the mainland, and if you’re unlucky enough to die here you won’t be buried either – all bodies are shipped back to Norway for burial.

Cremated remains in urns can, however, be buried in the cemetery.

18. Abandoned buildings don’t decay in the Arctic.

The permafrost and the Arctic’s dry, cold climate means most of Svalbard’s buildings are impervious to rot and decay – or, at least, decaying happens very slowly.

There are also strict cultural heritage laws in Svalbard: any evidence of human activity dating from 1945 or earlier has to be left as it’s found, thanks to the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act.

Thanks to these combined elements, there’s a sense of living history throughout the archipelago. You’ll come across tiny cabins which haven’t been inhabited in decades and whaling boats left upturned on the shoreline – and you’ll wonder who last used them for their true purpose.

19. Svalbard’s history is a little bloody.

While present-day Longyearbyen is known for coal mining, Svalbard in its entirety was centre-stage for hunters and trappers as far back as the 17th century, when the islands were nothing but vast wilderness waiting to be explored.

The furs from polar bears and Arctic foxes were worth a lot of money; the Svalbard reindeer and ptarmigan birds were hunted for their meat; and the practice of whaling virtually took over the Svalbard coastline and surrounding seas throughout the 17th and 18th centuries until the whale was virtually extinct.

Most of these activities thankfully no longer exist – although commercial whaling is still an official practice in Norway, which is in defiance of a ban imposed by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

20. There are no trees in Svalbard.

You’d think no trees would make for quite a barren landscape – and it does, except that the flora (!) close to the ground is fascinating in its own right. There are all types of grasses, lichens, mosses, and tiny hardy flower species which manage to eke out an existence amidst harsh winds and chilly temperatures.

Longyearbyen is also a very clean place to visit, as Svalbard’s environmental protection laws prevent visitors from picking flowers or leaving any trash in the archipelago.The aforementioned cultural heritage laws also means you’ll occasionally see whale bones amongst the moss and flowers – a surreal sight.

21. Fresh groceries can be expensive – but alcohol is cheap!

Because it’s hard to grow fresh produce in Svalbard, most products are imported and they don’t stay fresh for long. Fruit and vegetables have to be flown in quickly rather than shipped in more slowly, which makes them seriously expensive. (On the plus side, if you’re not a vegetable fan there’s much less pressure to get your five a day!)

In comparison, alcohol is much cheaper here than in mainland Norway because (1) it’s non-perishable and (2) Svalbard is a tax and duty-free zone. Before you stock up though, just remember you’ll have to declare excess liquor at customs on your return to mainland Norway.

22. Take off your shoes everywhere.

There’s a long-standing tradition in Svalbard to remove shoes before entering hotels, restaurants and some shops.

It dates back to the coal mining days when coal dust was a constant annoyance and now just seems polite – so if you see a shoe-rack inside the entrance to a building, expect to unlace your boots and wander around in your socks.

23. If you have an Arctic bucket list, you can tick off the ‘northernmost’ everything

The world’s northernmost town: check. The world’s northernmost graveyard: check. And how about the world’s northernmost airport, swimming pool, hospital, kindergarten, hotel, and pub while we’re at it?

As the northernmost settlement of any kind, Longyearbyen and Svalbard hold a ton of ‘northernmost’ accolades. In fact, I’d wager a guess that for my week-long stay in Svalbard, I was the world’s northernmost Flora!

24. Santa Claus collects his Christmas mail in Longyearbyen.

Longyearbyen is 650 miles away from the North Pole, making it the optimum spot for Santa Claus to receive his post.

There’s a giant letterbox installed close to the harbour where you can add your own Christmas letters to his sack – although there still haven’t been any December sightings of the man himself.

25. Even at the end of the world, you might miss out on a bed!

Accommodation options are limited to a handful of hotels, a few hostels and one campsite in Longyearbyen – and these tend to fill up extremely quickly during the summer months. Make sure to book your hotel or hostel far in advance.

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