#who rambles on and on without stopping. spurred on by nothing but her imagination

[malachitezmeyka]

Just cried for two hours straight. It seems that no good mood of mine can last for too long.

[bigwriterenergy]

yandere dio brando x reader

anonymous asked: “Hello! I'm super shy requesting stuff because human interaction (tm) but I love your writing so much! I also love yanderes, so could I request a yandere Part 1 Dio reconnecting with a childhood friend. Well...HE thought they were friends (and maybe even something more) but she was always so scared by him and only hung out with him cause he's a pest who scared away her other friends. It can be in any writing format you'd like! Thank you and have a wonder day :D”

hello! and please don't ever be afraid to send me messages or anything like that! i love interacting with my followers and talking about our jojo boys!! thank you for sending in the request though and i’d be more than happy to write what’s requested!! :)) thanks again1!

dio with yandere tendencies is far scarier than one would initially imagine. i think, in general, he hates humans, especially when he turns due to the mask in part one. the separation of dio brando and his humanity is an easy way for him to detach himself to other humans. he thinks humans are weak and settle for less than they are worth, so him becoming something other than human removes him from those labels.

but yandere dio? yandere dio hates humans even more. he hates them so much that the one human he deems above the filth, is only safe or saved from their primal instinct of wickedness when they are right by his side. his idea of “love” is completely warped due to his hatred.

those who are evil often cling to the past. so it made sense that he would seek the woman who first captured his heart. one who reminded him of his mother when times weren’t nearly as confusing or difficult. a woman who never doubted his abilities and listened to his ramblings about mundane things. you were on a pedestal in his eyes. a pedestal right beside the new god of this world.

he never realized that you spent time with him due to more malicious reasons. he was an intense boy and the intensity protected you from those who sought to harm you. when you were younger, being friends with dio meant being protected. but he also drove away those who were closest to you with his own antics. in the end, dio brando was the one you saw most often.

when his obsession begins again, probably spurred by the desire to feel equal to another or to cure his loneliness, he’ll stop at nothing to have you. the “romance” between both you and dio, whether you deemed it so or not, was clearly apparent to him. why couldn’t he just pick up where he left off?

it’d be inevitable. he’d find you. you would be something he can dote and protect all over again. you’d be treated as a queen, naturally. yandere dio has a lot more respect for his obsession than typical dio does. it’s almost comical how often he’d ask for your opinion on things or even the amount of domestic activities he loves to engage in. picking your brain and watching you is his favorite activity.

“you’ve already finished the book i’ve given you? hoho .. you quick little bird. tell me, what was your favorite chapter?”

yandere part one dio brando is FAR different from yandere part three dio brando.

you always knew it would end with this. although you’d like to pretend and spout that you never expected his behavior, you knew. you knew eventually that he would take drastic measures to ensure that you never left his side again.

although yandere dio is more loving, his intensity and ruthlessness is still maintained. he’s not afraid to punish those who act out against him, his darling included. he’ll claim it as an act of love.

“don’t you remember all those years ago? i am no longer the little boy you played with -- i’m finally able to make you mine now without interference. i couldn’t bear another second without you.”

[vulturhythm]

until the blue ocean turns green - part two

part one

- - - - -

It's been years since Geralt left the merman alone by the shore.

Two, three?

He doesn't know.

Nearly six months since he left Yennefer behind.

She was too much, too soon... too intense.

They were doomed from the start.

Maybe... maybe, he admits, late at night when it's just him alone in his head, he should have stayed by the sea.

Maybe he should have stayed with Jaskier.

--

He travels.

He goes north.

He goes north, and he goes east, and he goes west.

Anywhere but south to the seas.

--

He takes contract after contract, kills creatures for peasants and nobility alike... never lays a hand upon a human, not again.

Every drop of blood he spills, he remembers the glistening silver of Jaskier's. He remembers how it laid upon the surface like liquid moonlight, how it soaked into the bandages and turned them a murky platinum...

Every time he meets the gaze of a monster, he thanks the gods that it isn't Jaskier's, that his merman isn't at the point of his sword.

Every time he makes camp near the river, he watches the water flow, and he wishes it were deep and rolling, capped with foam.

--

Five years pass, and then ten.

Time is kind to his type, his only claim to age an addition smattering of scars across his body, torn into his flesh by blades or teeth or claws.

There is one blessing time continues to withhold, however...

He has not yet managed to forget.

--

He sleeps with countless women, and yet, never with a man.

He tries, once - lets a young, pretty-eyed thing woo him with his words, gets as far as setting his teeth to the side of his throat, hands beneath his shirt and thigh between his legs...

... and the image of deep blue eyes and deeper scales flashes through his head, and bright, bright silver blood.

He draws away, steps back... leaves the man behind the tavern, mounts up on Roach, leaves the town he's only barely gotten to know and leaves it all behind.

That night, he doesn't sleep.

Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Jaskier floating in the sea.

--

It's when he sees the scales of sea things at a market that fear clogs his throat.

Harpy scales, selkie scales, merfolk scales... blacks and grays and greens and golds, and blues - bright blues, dark blues, ocean blues, sky blues...

He confronts the man running the stall, demands to know where - and why.

"They're quite coveted for jewelry nowadays," is the simple response, and there's fear in the man's eyes when Geralt looms closer. "I'm not the, ah, the collector, I don't hunt the things - I just sell them and split the profit - "

"Split it with who?" he growls, and he knows, almost before the answer comes...

"Why, the witcher, of course."

--

Months pass.

Slowly, he wanders south, along mountain trails and through little villages he hasn't seen in years, along the outskirts of kingdoms and through valleys and forests...

He sees the scales in nearly every market, and in the richer regions, he sees them around the necks of women, at the fastenings of men.

As time goes on, he realizes it's not just scales - there's teeth and claws, too, and feathers, and as Geralt rides on through or walks on by, he realizes the witcher is killing not for contracts, but for sport.

It sickens him to imagine.

Worse, however, is the nagging voice at the back of his head, the one that urges him to try and remember the exact shade of...

No.

--

Geralt loses track of time again, as he often does now. With more than a century of his life beneath his belt, the years feel more like months sometimes.

Cycles, as Jaskier would have said.

He's begun to think like that with increasing frequency, evaluating things from the merman's eyes... he wonders what Jaskier knew of the human realm before he met the witcher.

Wonders if he's found another human to tell him of tavern songs.

--

The air grows salty as he draws further south.

It feels... it feels like returning to a home he never truly had.

To a love he never allowed.

--

He awakens from a dream one night, a nightmare... awakens from the vision of Jaskier, split and flayed open on the shore, his beautiful, beautiful tail sawed off and skinned bare, his scales shorn off and cleaned and sent to be draped about the neck of a queen.

He's barely been asleep for an hour, yet if it weren't for Roach's weariness, he would have taken to the road again immediately.

--

Things begin to look familiar, though changed with the passage of time.

He remembers this tree, that stone... remembers when that husk of a farmhouse was once active and lively, remembers when this town was small, little more than houses.

He stops at the new tavern, buys himself some ale.

It's here that he learns the witcher has all but set up camp along the shore, where the rivers feed into the sea.

Geralt's stomach churns at the thought.

He pushes Roach hard the next day, urges her on, on, on...

--

It's nightfall when he reaches the edge of the sea.

The water is dark and calm, but there's clouds upon the horizon, clouds that roil with lightning and threaten to mask the crescent moon overhead.

Geralt leaves Roach tied to the fallen tree. It's splintered with age, no longer sturdy enough to support his weight. She shies from the wood, and it's no wonder - it's splashed with platinum blood, dried into the bark.

The air reeks of death. Coppery blood blends with salt and fish and sand, and Geralt snarls beneath his breath as he paces along the water's edge.

He comes to the tide pool before long.

Much the same as always, full of life, of clear and gentle water that sloshes when the tide eases in. Standing at its edge, Geralt remembers the deer hide he'd spread across the stones, the cloths he'd draped upon Jaskier's back.

His gaze wanders back to the sea.

As clear as ever, he can see Jaskier floating just past the shallows, testing the strength of his newly-healed tail, calling the songs of the sea to Geralt and laughing aloud at his bewildered stare.

The faintest of smiles tugs at Geralt's lips, but it's dashed away an instant later by the memory of that silver cloud of blood, drifting upon the surface, calling his attention to the body out in the water that night long ago.

He thanks the gods above that he wasn't greeted by the same tableau tonight.

That doesn't mean he won't encounter it soon.

Geralt heaves a quiet sigh, turns to look back at Roach, who's watching him with those soft, wise eyes. "Hopeless?" he half-asks, his voice low.

She whickers in response, and he turns his gaze back to the water.

--

Two weeks pass.

He comes across no other signs of the witcher, but, as he learned long ago, invisible demons are no less a threat than those that you can see, hear, feel.

Then again, he supposes he can see, sense, touch the evidence of the other witcher... he sees the blood splashed across the driftwood and stones. He hears the way the shore is all but silent except for the lapping of the waves, even the gulls overhead scarce. He feels the way every living thing seems to have drawn back in fear.

He hates it in a way that he cannot describe.

He's seen horrific things - battlefields sprayed with blood and brains, homes torn apart by violence, corpses left hanging half-eaten from trees or mountain ledges, bits of rotting flesh on the teeth of the creatures he's meant to kill - and yet, not in his century-odd of living has he ever encountered such a dreadful aura, such an air of gloom.

Distantly, he knows that it's because of the fear roiling deep within his chest, a constant ache that refuses to ease away. He sets up camp less than a half-mile from the sea, where the wind will waft the scent of blood in his direction, should anything... go awry.

For a while, nothing happens.

The days pass without event, and the nights, much the same.

--

It's about three days later that he begins to notice the gulls are returning.

At first, it's just a couple, cruising along overhead, their calls rare and quiet, as though they know better than to speak too loudly.

Later in the afternoon, as Geralt paces along the shoreline where he'd met Jaskier all those years ago, he notices more of them, perched upon a rock that crests above the sea a short distance out. The sight is oddly familiar, enough to jog Geralt's memory. He goes still, frowning toward the stone.

He doesn't think he's imagining the way the gulls are staring at him, tilting their heads, cawing between themselves.

It's unusual, to be frank, but...

... nothing comes of it that day.

--

The next day, there are more. A lot more.

One awakens him in the late evening by lighting upon a branch near his camp and squawking loud enough to wake the goddamn dead.

Geralt jerks upright with haste, staring at the bird in the sort of confusion he usually reserves for sorceresses and their type.

Realization strikes him a moment later, and he scrambles to his feet. Roach is already snorting her protest before he even approaches her. She seems far, far less than impressed to be saddled up and nudged into a trot all thanks to the appearance of a single gull, but Geralt pays her disgruntled sounds no mind, for a memory has risen to the surface...

... the memory of his merman, rambling on and on about the stories the gulls told him.

As soon as it sees Geralt is in motion, the gull springs into flight, rising up through the trees into the open air above. Geralt catches enough of a glimpse to track it westward; he's quick to spur Roach along, heart caught in his throat.

It's easier to follow the gull once they're beyond the trees, once it leads them out to the shoreline. It's now that the gull is joined by two - three - more, all circling impatiently then flying on ahead while Roach finds steady footing in the sand.

Geralt imagines they've gone nearly a mile before, suddenly, the wind shifts, and he's hit with -

with -

with the stench of blood, hot and wet and not... not red, no, silver, unicorn silver, a cloyingly sweet scent that bites the roof of Geralt's mouth when it settles there, horrific in its familiarity.

No longer minding the gulls above, he kicks his mare into a canter, praying to the whole damn pantheon that he isn't too late.

--

The moon is high overhead when he finally catches sight of the bleeding thing.

There's a fishing net halfway submerged in the shallows, one end tangled and tethered amongst the mess of rocks and logs on the sand. It's clear that the net was hauled ashore once it was full... hauled ashore so its contents would dehydrate and rot away in the heat of the day.

As Geralt draws near, he slows Roach to a walk, and then to a halt, his heart rising and catching in his throat.

Through the strands of the net, he can see pale skin and deep, deep blue scales.

He's out of the saddle and in motion almost before he realizes it, calling Jaskier's name, and the creature tangled in the net - they stir, they thrash, they try to pull away -

Geralt drops to his knees beside the mess of rope and blood and flaked-off scales, fumbling to pull his dagger from its home at his belt. "Jaskier," he says, and then, louder, when dazed blue eyes meet his own, "it's me, I'm here, you're - don't try to move, I don't want you hurt - "

"You came," croaks a familiar voice, weakened with illness, laden with relief. "You - I thought you were gone..."

"The gulls led me to you," was Geralt's simple response; he was frozen now, staring at - at all of it, trying to find the weak points in the rope, the points where he could cut through without hurting his siren any more than he already had. "I'm - I'm sorry, Jaskier, I should have come back before."

His merman shakes his head, or tries to, and fuck, the rope is digging into his face, and Geralt's heart fucking aches with the sight. "Don't blame yourself," he mumbles. "Don't."

All Geralt can do is look at him, look at him and try to fucking breathe.

It's been years since he's let himself cry, but he thinks he might now.

He shakes himself into motion with a muffled curse, grabs for the loosest part of the rope that he can see and - and tries to cut through, he fucking tries, but there's more resistance than he expects, and it's then that he realizes the rope is glinting with silver - silver for monsters - and the anger that rises in his chest gives him the strength to slice through the metal strands.

Jaskier, to his credit, lays still as Geralt reaches, grabs, pulls, cuts - shows no sign of fear - and Geralt breathes in, forces himself to listen, feels dread settle in his stomach when he realizes the merman's pulse is weak, so weak... when he realizes his merman is dying.

"Stay awake," Geralt grits out, and he knows he sounds harsh, he sounds cruel, but - but he doesn't know how else to sound, not when he thinks he may have to scare death off his own goddamn self, just to keep his mermaid safe. "Stay awake, Jaskier..."

It becomes a fucking mantra, one he repeats over and over again as he cuts the net apart, as he slices through what feels like fucking miles of silver thread, careful - so careful - not to cut into lacerated skin or shaved-off scales. It feels like a fucking eternity before the last of the net falls away and Geralt can breathe again, can sheathe his dagger in a hurry and look Jaskier over.

His anger returns tenfold as he takes him in.

The merman is badly sunburnt, bright and horrific red, a salmon shade joined by deep silver and deeper gray where he's bleeding and has bled. A closer look tells Geralt that the silver has done a fine job of eating into his skin in some places. As for his tail, well... it's easy to tell that it'll be marred by quite a few new scars, and the fan at the end is bordering on ruined.

"I'm sorry," says Geralt at last.

He's met with silence, and fear clogs his throat as he looks up to Jaskier's face.

Jaskier is merely... he's just watching him, those deep blue eyes glazed and unfocused.

He looks half-dead already, and yet, despite that - despite the blood on his skin - he looks... trusting.

Geralt can't quite wrap his head around that.

"Stay awake," he says again, reaching beneath the merman - just like years before - and lifting him with arms that want to shake despite his best efforts to the contrary. "Let me get you to the water..."

Jaskier gives a quiet sound in reply, and he tips his head to the side, resting against Geralt entirely even though he whines with pain. "They told me a witcher was nearby," he says, hoarse. "I thought... I thought it was you."

Anger wells up yet again - anger, and hate, and malice, and... and remorse.

Guilt.

He heaves a sigh as he carries his merman to the water's edge, wading into the shallows. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I'm going to set you down for a minute so you can cool off... I have potions in my saddlebag."

The other man doesn't respond, and Geralt fights the fear clenched tight about his heart. He kneels down, easing Jaskier into the water, and he can't help but grimace at the pitiful little sound of pain the sting of salt earns. "I'm sorry," says the witcher again.

He's as gentle as he's ever been as he sets the merman down in the shallows, eyes on Jaskier's tail as it rests limply upon the shifting sands. Jaskier, of course, offers no resistance, merely tenses and huffs when Geralt slips his arms out from beneath him. He dips his head back to submerge his face, and Geralt watches the subtle gills along his throat flex as he readjusts. It brings relief, almost, knowing that maybe he'll survive.

Geralt kneels there in the sands for... gods, he isn't sure how many minutes pass before Jaskier finally stirs again, opening his eyes and blinking up at Geralt from where he's only barely floating above the seafloor. He's almost limp, laying on his side, less-lacerated shoulder supporting him, tail motionless and arms halfheartedly folded.

It... hurts to see.

"I'm going to go get the potions," Geralt says, voice a bit louder than normal; he knows Jaskier can hear him. "Focus on resting."

The merman, once again, doesn't react, and Geralt tries to ignore the stab of pain that goes through his gut. He stands with a sigh, returning to Roach, who has been observing everything in telling silence. She stands patiently as he rummages through her saddlebags; he keeps the potions safe for humans and other non-witcher beings here, not wanting to clog up his own belts and pockets with things he can't grab and down in a heartbeat.

He picks out a vial full of a deep green liquid, one that glistens in the sunlight as he walks back into the gently-rolling water. Jaskier twists over onto his front when Geralt nears, and it's obvious the motion causes him pain; his tail convulses briefly, and his face contorts, but he rests his elbows on the sand to lift his head from the water regardless. "Can you drink?" Geralt asks.

Jaskier merely nods, watching him with an unreadable expression in those glossed-over eyes as Geralt kneels at his side once more. Deciding that's answer enough when Jaskier could well die before the sun rises, Geralt uncorks the vial, setting a gentle hand beneath Jaskier's chin to steady him as he tips the potion to his lips.

His eyes rake over the merman's body once more as he drinks, taking in the way his throat works, the deep and angry burns across his skin, the lacerations here and there...

He won't survive, not like this.

Suddenly lost within that train of thought, Geralt goes still.

It isn't until Jaskier begins to cough and choke that he jolts himself back into the present, pulling the half-empty vial away from the merman's mouth and waiting until he's steadied out some before he says, "Jaskier, you... is there any safe spot nearby? Like the tide pool?"

Something like pain flashes through the merman's eyes, but it's not physical pain.

Geralt recognizes it all too well.

"I'm not going to leave you," he breaks in, before Jaskier can get a word out. "Not again. I need to get you somewhere safe so I can treat the wounds and so you can rest. That's all."

Jaskier hesitates, looks away; finally, he nods, saying quietly, "Further south along the shore, there should - there's a little lagoon..."

"How far away?"

"Around the next bend," he mumbles, and he sounds tired, so tired...

Geralt curses under his breath, saying as he reaches for him yet again, "Stay awake... just a little longer."

--

It's maybe a ten, fifteen minute ride along the shore and around the curve.

Geralt keeps Jaskier cradled in his arms, clucking to Roach and nudging her with his heels to keep her straight, but the mare knows what to do; she moves slowly, head steady and pace even, as if she knows just how important the extra weight on her back is.

The lagoon is small, barely any wider across than your average tavern, shut off from the ocean by bits of shore that stretched too far into the waters and refused to draw away. The inland forest has crept up close, heavy trees fading into palms near the water's edge, and it's...

Well, it's beautiful.

Even Geralt, halfway blinded by the panic that rises in his chest with the merman's every labored breath, has to admit it.

"We're here," he says aloud, soft, and Jaskier jumps, his eyes blinking open. "I'm going to set you in the water, okay?"

He isn't surprised when Jaskier doesn't react.

That doesn't make it any easier to bear.

Heaving a sigh, he adjusts his grip on the merman, swinging his leg over Roach's back and sliding to the ground in as smooth a movement as he can manage, bearing a couple hundred extra pounds in his arms.

Jaskier stays quiet as Geralt carries him to the lagoon, stays quiet as he's laid down in the clear and shallow water. He rests his body on the sands without being told, deep enough that he's submerged except for his head and shoulders when he props himself up once again. Geralt's hand brushes over one of the worst cuts when he draws back, and Jaskier winces, nearly whines -

"I'm sorry," Geralt says, low, and turns back to Roach. He comes back with another potion and a small vial of salve, one he's opening as he kneels at Jaskier's side. "I'll set up camp here, just inside the trees..."

"Don't stay for me," Jaskier interrupts, and it's the first thing he's said in quite a while, and it's so soft, so uncertain...

Geralt feels his heart break.

He shakes his head, dipping his hand into the salve and reaching beneath the water's surface to smooth it along Jaskier's sun-raw back. It's waterproof, or at least waterproof enough, so he has few qualms with this. "I'm staying," he says, just as soft. "I won't leave you again. I shouldn't have left to begin with."

The merman says nothing.

Geralt didn't expect him to.

--

It's difficult, those first few days.

Jaskier lacks the strength to move much on his own - to do anything beyond sinking below the surface and raising back up to drink whatever potion or plant concoction Geralt is offering.

Food, he says, nauseates him to even contemplate.

Geralt tries to hide how badly that thought scares him.

--

The fourth day, Jaskier begins to decline.

Despite Geralt's best efforts - despite countless fucking hours of sitting at the shore, of kneeling beside him in the water, of pouring every potion he thinks could possibly be safe down his throat - the merman is weak.

He is weak, and he is dying, and, well...

Geralt sees only one option.

It's a day's ride to the nearest town, but it's less than a half day to the mouth of the river the other witcher is said to be stationed alongside.

Leaving Jaskier with a quiet whisper of, "I swear to you, I'll return," and a kiss upon his forehead, he mounts up on Roach, and turns for the trees.

He prays to the whole fucking pantheon that things will be okay.

- - - - -

@xdandelionxbloomx @w-s-kibela @justjessiehere @wrenbug @golden-aire-girl @the-little-red-queen @littleredhotsridinghood @ladyaulis @flootzavut @g-e-r-a-s-k-i-e-r @insert-cleverurl @animaniac1017 @brothers-of-the-heart @jaskierisanangel @gray-coal @weakforjaskier @xpixelle @teddylacroix @flustratedcas @1stbonesfan

i hope i didn’t miss anyone! thank you all. third part on the horizon!

[anakinisvaderisanakin]

All That Matters - Ahsoka Brings Anakin Back on Malachor AU Fic

"You don't have to do this alone," Ahsoka implored in what she hoped was a convincing tone, taking one hesitant step towards the man she'd once called her brother.

Her former master, her mentor. Anakin. He'd taught her everything she knew, taught her to be independent, believed in her when no one else would. He’d saved her life, he’d stood by her, he’d been heartbroken when she turned her back on the Jedi order. How had such an emotive man come to fall so far from grace? How had he successfully traded in his gentle, kind hearted, welcoming persona for the visage of a thoughtless, mass murdering machine?

"You fail to understand," he snapped, his voice a jumbled mixture of his voice box and a meek version of his own struggling vocal cords as he shot her down. "I am no longer that man."

There was a frantic sense of urgent desperation to the statement, as if he was barely managing to hold onto his own lie. As if the walls he’d forged over the years were crumbling around him. Ahsoka shook her head vehemently in response, continuing to resolutely approach him with a stubborn determination. Clenching her jaw, she let the hilts of the sabers she was clutching in her trembling hands fall to the floor with a clatter. Discarding her only self defense, stripping herself bare. She noticed his sickly yellow eyes dart towards the source of the noise, registering her surrender before the intense stare returned to capture hers.

"Then explain to me. I'm here now. It doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done. Make me understand."

Ahsoka meant every word, every utterance. He flinched visibly as he took in the weight of what she implied, the eye wide with jaded disbelief and confusion. The terrifying amount of loathing and disgust she'd sensed when she first arrived for the confrontation had all but vaporized. Dissipating as if it had never been there to begin with. Instead there lingered a tense, uneasy sense of dread between them. She wasn't afraid per se, she just couldn't predict his reactions. His behaviour was so far from the Anakin she'd once known. Although, some things remained the same, she could tell. For example, she could still read his exposed eye like an open book. He was wavering, his conviction faltering and she was there to catch him when he fell. If he fell.

She prayed that he would fall.

"But it does. It does matter. All the things I have done… I cannot change what I have become, neither can you. Your efforts are misguided."

He trailed off, finally looking away. Averting his gaze, a distinct sense of shame bled into Anakin’s Force signature. The guilt was suffocating, closing in around Ahsoka as it poured off of him. Crashing in thick waves, dark and deep and overwhelming. Still, she bit her lip and continued to close in. He wasn't making any effort of moving to attack, wasn't attempting to back away. She was vaguely aware of her hand coming up by its own volition to blindly reach out for him.

"I don't care," she assured, but she felt her voice catch in her throat as the burn of tears began behind her eyes.

"How dare you propose that?!" he roared, a static shriek accompanying the booming vocals of the modulator cutting her off; eyes wide and crazed. "Do you even understand who I am? Do you understand what I have done?"

Ahsoka stopped dead in her tracks, swallowing hard. She was almost expecting him to revert back into fervent denial, to shoot her down and once again proclaim himself to be Vader. To once again pretend she meant nothing to him, that their past was nullified and nonexistent. That he had erased her impact on his life.

Instead, she watched the eerie golden glow of his eye begin to diminish. Slowly, as if it were fading and tapering out. As if it were a hue or film, being slowly wiped away. As if the fog was lifting, as if the spell of his self imposed mind control was breaking. As if the facade was cracking, as if he was coming apart. And little by little, a familiar pale blue shade began to emerge.

When Anakin spoke again, his tone was broken and quiet.

“You should be horrified.”

His broad shoulders gave a small wince, before sagging. Ahsoka watched him blink rapidly, apologetic gaze darting all over her face. It hurt. The pain radiating off of him was aiming straight for her consciousness, surging through her like red hot wires. Forcing her to share his suffering with pulses of intense, sharp anguish. She could sense his turmoil, his reluctance, his terror. He was terrified when faced with the prospect of accepting every heinous act he had committed as Vader, every atrocious thing he had done. He was frightened of the need to admit that there had never been a Vader in the first place, that everything was on him. He alone was to blame.

Yet, Ahsoka found she couldn't bring herself to blame him alone. She may resent what he had become, what he had done, but she could never bring herself to hate him. He was still Anakin, and whatever had led him down this path, she imagined it must be horrific. She had abandoned him when he needed her the most, if only she had been there for him - perhaps he might never have stooped so low. Bracing herself, she began to inch closer to him again. Her fingers twitching in anticipation, hand still reaching out towards him. Offering him a connection, a saving grace.

"I killed them... every single one of them. Every Jedi I could see. All of them. I had to, I couldn't stop. I had no choice. I couldn't..."

Even through the malfunctioning voicebox, the way his voice broke carried through as an unnatural, irregular pitching tone.

Blue. His eye was so light, so alive, a hurricane of emotions whirling within its depths. Like a clear, cloudless sky with a thunderstorm lurking at the horizon. Bloodshot, the scleras more pink than white. But the iris was baby blue.

"I know," Ahsoka simply whispered, nodding her head before repeating her words. “I know.”

She stretched her arm out further, taking a couple of more steps as he hung his head low. His gaze falling to the ground, a shudder wracking his large bulky frame. She focused on the eye, or as much of it as she could see when the helmet he wore shrouded it in dark shadows. Just a gentle, barely perceptible grace as her fingertips brushed against the rough fabric of his black cape. He didn't react, and she suspected he couldn't feel it. How much of his body was even his own anymore? Cautiously, she let her palm touch the armour piece before sliding over his shoulder. When it reached his upper arm, she pressed down to offer it a comforting squeeze - hoping he would feel that.

It spurred an immediate reaction. His head flew up, and he reared back as if he'd been burnt. As if her touch stung him. Eye wide open as he stared at her in shock, in astonishment; pleading with her not to allow herself to be tainted by his sins. In defense, Ahsoka held both hands up in front of her; what she hoped to be a reassuring expression on her face. She felt her stomach twist itself into tight knots, the bile rising in her throat. Once again, she was near convinced he would backtrack. She expected him to reignite his lightsaber, to waste little time in dispatching her. She held her breath, waiting fretfully.

Instead, she watched his naked eye slide shut. Instead, she watched as his tight grip on his own weapon loosened. She watched the hilt slide out of his gloved grip. Eyes flying back up to his face, she once again caught him staring at her. His blue eye misty, glazed over. It was only then she caught the gleam of tears pooling at the corners. She watched them gather, watched the unshed beads of water continue to well up.

"Anakin..." she gasped. "Oh, Anakin."

"I killed the younglings. I killed them all," he whispered. "What have I done?"

His voice was so weak, so full of regret and tangible remorse. The voicebox didn't even pick up on it. Only his own strangled, choked human tone piped up. Ahsoka could barely make it out, but she watched in stunned silence as a single tear broke free. Slowly, it made its way down his scarred, deformed, deathly pale cheek. Then followed another. And another. She could see him visibly trembling with the effort of attempting to restrain himself, the effort of holding his suffering back. Keeping it locked up, despite its attempts to overrule his ironwill.

Two steps, and once again her palm touched his arm. Face hard set, despite the stinging salty wetness prickling at the corners of her own eyes, she let her free hand come up. Careful but without hesitance, she gently let the pad of her thumb reach inside the crack of his face plate. She ran it ever so smoothly over his pale damaged skin, brushing away the wetness it found there only for another tear to break free.

"I know, Anakin. I forgive you."

He didn't respond, and for a second Ahsoka feared she had destroyed what little may be left of his fragile sanity. He stood still as a statue, as if the words wouldn't register. Gaze fixed straight ahead, as if seeing right through her. She raised her voice slightly when she spoke up again, desperate to get through to him. She put every ounce of her unabashed sincerity behind the words.

"Anakin. I forgive you."

A hideous sound erupted from him, and she suspected it was a sob tearing its way out. She blinked back her own tears, keeping a hold on herself as Anakin's legs began to buckle under his own weight. Another choked, an erratic static noise the only way in which the modulator could translate the whimpers. Still clinging to him, she had no choice but to follow him down as he sank hapless to his knees; shoulders shaking while the pain, the guilt and the sorrow he must have been keeping bottled up for years broke free. Without second thoughts, Ahsoka wrapped her slender arms around his large frame to her best extent. With gentle hands, she caressed his broad back. She exhaled a stuttering, weak sigh.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," he rambled brokenly in a mantra, hoarse and choppy as he cried. "Oh mom, forgive me, Padmé, forgive me...! Ahsoka... forgive me, please, forgive me...!"

"It's alright. I forgive you, Anakin. I forgive you," Ahsoka murmured, a pang of laboured guilt present in her chest but she could do nothing else.

As soon as she'd spoken those words, his hands flew up. Hovering midair inches from her waist as if afraid to touch her, as if he feared he might break her in half if he tried. Anakin, who had always been starving for hugs, for touches, for affection. Why had he deprived himself of physical comfort for so long? She could sense his loneliness, his solitude as clearly as were it her own. Pressing down, she stroked his back more firmly and hummed to encourage, as if to assure him it was okay. She relaxed when his trembling arms came around her in a humble, restrained embrace. It seemed as if he had to relearn how to hold another person all over again.

Anakin still weeping, Ahsoka finally allowed herself to cave into her own emotional overload. Sniffling, she smiled brokenly, keeping a watchful eye on him through her tears. They had so little time, it wasn't safe here. The entire temple was ready to collapse at any moment. Yet, if they died together like this, she wouldn't mind it much. Instead, she clung tighter to her brother, her master, her only remaining family.

Anakin. She forgave him. He was himself again. He was in his right state of mind, no matter how agonizing. No matter how harsh the truth may be.

They were together again. Nothing else mattered.

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

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26325700

Found above on my Ao3, and reposted from my previous acc.

[vinylhazza]

A Word Of Advice (E.D)

Summary: A heart-broken, love-sick Ethan writes a letter to the man that will love Y/n next. Spur of the moment, rush of feelings that has him sitting down to write about the girl he will always love. 

Word Count: 1.8k

Warning: Angst 

It wasn't easy for the pen to start moving against the clean lined paper. It wasn't easy to watch the blue ink stain the agonizingly white sheet, somehow making his heart hurt just a little more...she hated lined paper. Always insisted it ruined her creative juices, said it was far too confined and formal. She didn't like following the rules. 

But there he was, sitting at the dining room table, a tear streaking down his face while he writes the first words about the girl he fell in love with, the love that was doomed from the start, the love that bloomed like roses, the love that with forever make his heart fond at the memory, the love that got away. There he was, without her. Accepting the one thing he feared: she was never coming back. But maybe just maybe she might if she finds this letter...just maybe.

  The first line was the hardest.

To the person that will love her next,

Just a word of advice. Take it from me, I promise you, she is easy to fall for. Easy to love. Whatever you want to call it, she makes it easy. From the day you meet her and every day after, the want to always have her around will be near painful. Those eyes will get you more than anything...the way that they will look at you with kindness even when you’ re being an arrogant son of a bitch is remarkable...like she doesn't know how to not love you even at your worst. 

The seconds will tick by, but trust me, it will feel like time stands still just to let her have her moment in any room she walks into. But don’t take her light for granted, not like me. Don’t be like me. Don’t think her grit is meant for everyone but you. She’s been used before and knows far too well how it feels when your back is turned. 

Her love feels electric. The ‘heartless’ act is bullshit, don’t let her fool you. She will try, try to resist. Try to push you away. Don’t give up so easy, I promise she’s worth it. Her heart she tries to turn cold, is full of passion. Passion that can’t be stifled by bad behavior and a badass attitude. Her heart is kind. So when she loves, she loves hard. She doesn't know any other way. And the love that consumes her, it doesn't come around often in this lifetime. It’s pure and raw, nothing to fool around with. Nothing to abuse. 

She has a temper that bursts with flame, hot to the touch. But when she’s angry, never leave her alone. She says she wants you too, but don’t you dare walk out of the room. Don’t you dare leave her fire unattended. She won’t ask you to stay, she’s not one to beg for someone to love her. She won’t ever set the bar that low. So stay. Tuck that piece of hair that always slips in front of her eye behind her ear, kiss her forehead, her eyelids, her lips, and stay. Take that glorious chaos for what it is and fucking stay. It means more than you think it does. 

You’re not tough when it comes to her, so get it out of your head right now. Yes, you will let her braid your hair. Yes, you will let her apply gallons of makeup to your face as practice. Yes, you will make a grocery store run when the strawberry ice cream is all gone and you see that tiny frown that will tear at your heart from the minute it appears. Yes, you will cuddle even if you get too hot or uncomfortable. Yes, you will watch that sunset and end up missing it because you’re too busy watching her eyes dance across the colors of the sky. Yes, you will make those exceptions. You’re not tough when it comes to her so forget it. You know what makes you a tough man? Loving her with all that you have within you. 

And fair warning, she’s a writer. She is a genius writer at that. A woman that writes because she physically cannot hold of the creativity within her. Don’t be surprised when she has a lot to say in an argument, and always ends up winning. It’s just who she is. And when she asks her if something sounds good, don’t just nod. Express to her how each syllable made you feel. Be vulnerable. The smile that glows upon her face is worth it. 

Adventure is something that’s always intrigued her. Growing up in a small town with middle class parents will be the reason behind that. So explore with her. Stumbling upon places that cling to her heart like glue, is what makes her who she is. The spot by the cliff that has a mini waterfall? Dip your feet into the stream it makes, listen to her giggle and try to not fall for her everything - I dare you. Hold her hand tight while you walk the dewy streets at night, singing 80′s songs off key and very loud. You won’t think about the destination, you won’t even want to find one. You’ll want to keep watching her belt out the lyrics to “Head Over Heels” with a grin that makes you heart hammer from your chest.

If she shows you her vinyl collection, you must be special. Most of them are from her grandpa, the man who raised her. The man you taught her how to love the way she does, setting the example with his fiery love for her grandmother. Those dusty vinyl’s mean more to her than you can imagine. Watch her dance to Fleetwood Mac, watch her twirl. Pull her in when you can’t bare to watch her dance alone any longer. 

Her walls took a  long time to build. The didn't go up in a day. Yes, she may look tough as nails, but once those walls come down, and her vulnerability starts to shine through? You’re done for. But don’t let her know that you see through her bricks stacked high. Once she realizes you’ve knocked them down, she’s scramble to build them right back up, fear driving her to resist wanting anything more. 

And you make damn sure you never go a fucking day without telling her you love her. I don’t give a fuck how angry you are. Grit it through your teeth if you have to. Shut your eyes if you must. Bare your fist if that works for her. Kiss her lips to remind yourself, but never let her wonder. 

Yeah, she’s the most stubborn woman on the face of the earth. Yeah, it’s gonna make you want to yank the hair from your head. Yeah, her hard-headed ass will damn near refuse to admit she’s wrong. Just...proceed with caution. You’ll end up loving it. 

It’s not just a book. Yes, it’s a book. But it’s so much more. The character that died is someone she’s grown to love more and more with every chapter. Console her when the tears start rolling, let her stumbled out words on how it’s bullshit that they had to die when so many others deserved it more. Let her ramble even if you haven’t a damn clue about what the hell she’s talking about. In her mind - she’s lived the lives of those characters, felt the same heartbreak they did, loved the same people they loved, invested into their day to day activities. Yes she’s a writer, which makes it even easier to immerse herself in the literature that speaks to her heart. 

A head’s up: Listen to The 1975. It will mean more to her than you can even imagine. It won’t be a chore. They are amazing and mean so much to her that it feels like your on a constant high just hearing the first line of any song blaring through the speakers. Just wait until you see that grin during “Sex”. 

She will claim she doesn’t have a favorite song. It’s a lie. A great big, fat lie. It’s “Robbers”. Favorite song ever, favorite music video ever. It’s never changed and it never will. It’s the one song you can sing to her during an anxiety attack that will calm her right down. You don’t have to be an amazing singer, in fact; you can just hum it if you’d like. It’s the effort that means the world to her. The fact that you know exactly what to do. That songs...reminds her that she’s present. That she’s alive. That she’s there with you, breathing. That the world is turning and your lips against her forehead are real and she’s not just a blip in the universe. Just hum “Robbers”. 

She’s stronger than she’ll admit. But don’t let her be strong alone. Hold her through it, walk the path with her. Treat her like she deserves the universe, because she does. She deserved good things. She deserved to be loved and cherished and kissed like it’s the last day of her life and she’ll never have another. She deserves the world, and believe me when I say you will stop at nothing and want to spend the whole life trying to give it to her. 

And one last thing, make sure that you don’t screw it up and lose her. Not like I did. It will be the worst mistake of your life. Treat her right.

Sincerely, 

Ethan. 

A part of him hopes she finds it, knowing there is a slim to none chance while he tucks it into an envelope, clicking the pen closed and setting it against the wooden table. It’s possibly the hardest thing he’s ever had to do: teach someone how to love her and correct or perfect all the things he couldn't. He knows what people mean when they say ‘you never know what you have until it’s gone’. He hopes she finds it so he can show her he can love her right, give her the world. He hopes she has a moment of weakness and stumbles back through the door, just to see his face one last time. He hopes his strong independent woman misses him just a bit too much. 

But for now, he’d tuck that letter into his nightstand. He’d wait for the sun to sink down and turn the sky violet, her favorite color. He’d walk outside, pull out her favorite chair (the one with the yellow cushion), and think of how her eyes twinkled when she laughed two months ago when he teased her in this very spot about loving the sky just a bit too much. He’d sit and think, think about all of the things he’d change. Everything he would give just to have her back.

[cherryhanji]

streetlight

changbin x reader

genre: best friends to lovers au, quite angsty, fluff

words: 2.5k

warning(s): quite strong language

this is inspired by Changbin's Streetlight.  Please stream Streetlight guys! You won't regret it. The message is so touching.)

You opened the door of your apartment as Changbin pressed the doorbell sound. Changbin went to your apartment as he sensed something with you when he called you a while ago.

As Changbin went inside, you immediately hugged him tightly as tears fell from your eyes. He rubbed your back as you cry on him.

"Cry it all out, I'll stay here for a while." He said and both of you went to the sofa and sit down.

"I'm sorry you need to go here, I told you that you don't need to go he--"

"Okay? Are you sure? You suddenly cried in front of me when I'm still going inside your house. Is that what you called okay? I can say that you're not. Look at you. I decided to spend the night here since it's our day off tomorrow, so don't worry, manager-hyung is okay with it."

Changbin stand up and fixed the food he bought for the both of you. "Y/n wait for me and just stay there while I'm preparing the foods" you nod at him in response. He bought rice cake, some boxes of pizza of different flavors for both you because he's sure your talk with him will take a lot of hours.

"Thank you binnie, sorry to disturb you this late night." You grabbed a slice of pizza and munched it

"It's nothing, y/n. what is the purpose of our friendship if it weren't for this?" Changbin said and grab a slice of pizza. It's always like this, Changbin, your bestfriend is like a savior to you. Your Streetlight, you always tell all your problems, worries, delightful stories, and resentments in your life. On the other hand, he barely tells you what are his concerns, yes he tells you what stresses him that day, his achievements, but when something seriously came up, he's always silent about it and said he can manage that one. He's acting strong for himself and you so that it doesn't affect you anymore. He just keeps those serious problems to himself. You, who just want to comfort and help him, can't do anything about it. He's your bestfriend, after all, you just want to help him overcome his problems like what he always does for you.

"Tell me, is it about that asshole again?" You nod in response. You saw him clenched his fist. You held his hand and calm him down.

"Hey, calm down. He's my boyfriend, okay. I-i mean ex-boyfriend." He looked at you with angry eyes. Not at you, he was angry, but to your boyfriend, who he knew as a sick in the ass to you ever since you started your relationship with him. Your boyfriend broke up with you because he said he's "so sick of you" and told you that he fell out of love with you, so he decided to break up with you and your other hand, can't accept it because you just can't live (eew) without him. Changbin already told you before to break up with him because you're too good for that douche bag. But you just can't because he's your first boyfriend.

"What did I tell you before? Y/n, he's just your first boyfriend, your asshole first boyfriend. There are lots of guys that are better than him."

"But I love him! I just can't let him go that easily" You retorted

"But he can do that to you? Wake up, y/n. He doesn't love you. You're just blinded by your love for him." He replied. You just cried at him like a child.

"Maybe, you're right binnie, maybe I'm just blinded by my love for him. I think it's better he ended those things up with me. In that way, I can find myself and move on. Maybe that way I can forget how asshole and a douche bag he is." You defeatedly sigh and opened another box of pizza.

"Come here" you scooted beside him and he hugged you tightly. You wrapped your arms around him as he caresses your hair.

"How many times did I tell you this, I'm just here okay? You can count on your binnie." He said and kissed your head.

You smiled at him. You're happy because Changbin once again becomes your savior. You are so happy to have a bestfriend like him. You sit down again to look at him.

"Thank you so much binnie, I know I can always count on you. Thank you so muuuch" you cheekily said and pinched his chubby cheeks. He just cupped your cheeks and didn't realize what happened until you felt his lips in yours. You're shocked but then closed your eyes after. His lips are so intoxicating it makes you melt and you didn't realize your lips are moving with his. After a minute he breaks it off as you catch your breath. A silence passed before you decided to talk.

"What was that for Changbin?" you asked him in confusion. He just lowered his head and you heard him curse in his breath.

"I-i'm sorry, I didn't mean to kiss you." He looked at you with a worried expression in his face.

"Let's just pretend this didn't happen. Uh, I need to go to the bathroom. " you left him and went inside the bathroom. What was that? Spur of the moment? What confused you the most is the fact that you liked it. You liked it that Changbin, your bestfriend kissed you. You're not against it. Why is that? Do you like your bestfriend? You just keep on wondering and thinking about what to do.

No words from Changbin. Two weeks after that "kiss incident" you hadn't heard about Changbin for a while now. Until you saw their group's post on Instagram that they're having their comeback this month. Maybe he's just busy because of it, you thought. But there's something weird inside of you. You miss Changbin, of course.. But there's this weird feeling bothering you ever since that night Changbin kissed you. And every time you remember it, it makes your heart beat faster like what the heck is happening to you? Do you like Changbin? Do you already have feelings for your best friend?

Every time you think about it, it makes you go crazy and it makes your mind blank. All you know is that you missed his presence, his smile, his kiss, whatever. You surely do like your best friend. Maybe you love your best friend, romantically, you already see him as a man. But still, why did he kiss you that night? Why did he do that? It's not like he will kiss you because he just feels like to. Or maybe he does have feelings for you? Here you go again, you're making your thoughts rambled inside of your head.

You decided to watch on Netflix just to get rid of these Changbin-related thoughts in your head. You just need to make yourself relax and fix these problems later.

You're now peacefully eating and watching when you heard your phone rang. You checked who's calling and you swear to all the gods, Changbin is the one who's calling. After a couple of minutes of staring at it, the call stopped, and it rang again. Changbin and his impatient ass. You decided to answer it. "H-hello binnie?"

"Oh hey y/n, what's up? We haven't contacted each other for two weeks, I'm sorry, we're just busy for the comeback." As you heard his voice from the other line, you feel like your heart wants to go out of your chest because of it's fast beating. You can't calm yourself and feel your lips form a smile. You heard his voice again after two long weeks. You feel like you keep on falling for this man.

"Uh n-no, it's okay. I know you guys are busy. You don't need to worry about me. I'm okay." You smiled even though he can't see it. You heard him chuckle at the background.

"You sure? Don't worry, if I have the time, I'll go there and bring some of your favorite pizza." He said.

"You don't have to. You need to prepare a lot for your comeback. I'm rooting for you guys." You said and cheered him up.

"Thanks a lot, y/n. Oh, anyways, I need to go back now. We're going to record some songs. See you soon! Miss you!" Your mind went blank as he said that line. You didn't know he already has this effect on you even though you say you miss each other very often ever since.

"Uh, okay! Sing well and take care of your voice!" You heard the call ended. You're so excited to see Changbin. But you can't do anything because it's his work. He needs to prepare for it.

You rolled on the sofa like a crazy little shit after the call, thinking about Changbin. You can't contain your feelings as you imagine again being with him. You feel like Changbin already occupied a place in your heart that makes him more special to you.

Today you happily went to your work after another call with Changbin last night. He just told you that he will pick you up later from work to treat you dinner. And you just can't help yourself but smile on your entire duty.

"Uhm, y/n? Are you okay? You seem to be so happy since you got here.? And you look so blooming today? Got a new boyfriend?" Your co-worker slash friend asked you. You just smiled at her.

"it's nothing, Changbin will just pick me up later and no, I don't have a new boyfriend either. It's just that I want everything to be okay and happy. I just don't want to think of that asshole ever again." You replied to her and smile. She also knows that your friends with Changbin.

You just finished the remaining papers and you're ready to go. Changbin just messaged you and said that his waiting for you outside the building where you are working. You excitedly bid to your co-workers your goodbyes and went outside to see Changbin standing there, waiting for you. His presence is so jaw-dropping. Is he always this handsome? You swear you feel like you're the luckiest biatch alive.

He waved at you and called your name. "Hey, y/n, long time no see. How's work?" He went near you and ruffled your hair

"I-it's good. I'm okay. How bout you? How's practice? Did you take a rest?" You said and shyly smiled at him. Oh gosh, You can't hide your now blushing face on him. He nods at you and takes your arm with him.

"Come, let's go buy foods. I feel like eating at your place today." He excitedly said as he looks for some restaurant to buy food.

"Okay then, also! Don't forget to buy soju okay?" You told and he just nodded at you. Gosh, you really missed Changbin and his presence.

It's already 11 pm and You and Changbin already finished 4 boxes of pizza and 3 bottles of soju. You wanted to open another bottle when Changbin stopped you from doing it.

"Y/n, stop it. You drank too much, look at yourself, you look wasted." He kept the bottles away from you. You pouted and whined at him like a crazy child. You easily get drunk and Changbin knows it. That's why he always goes with you whenever you're drinking because he knows that you might pass out because of drinking too much.

"I want some mooore, binniiiiie." You sprawled on the floor and keep on whining at him. He just rolled his eyes and carried you to the bedroom.

"You need to rest now, come on, I'll take you to your bed."

"Stay with me pleeeease" he nods at you and lays you down on your bed. He went to your closet and get some new clothes for you to change. He throws your clothes on you and faces the door.

"You change your clothes now, I'll wait outside." He hold the doorknob when he heard you talk.

"Just stay there, I'll be quick, just don't look at me, okay?" You giggled at him and change your clothes. You just heard him sighed as he waits for you.

"Done changing, you can look now!" You excitedly said to him. He went to you and fixing your blanket.

"You need to sleep now. I'll clean the living room first and I'm going to get off." He said when you tugged his arm.

"Stay here, please. Don't leave yet." He looked at your eyes and he can see the sadness in it. He just nods at you and sits down beside you.

He's just playing with your hair as you look at him like a puppy.

"I love you so muuuch, binnie." you mumbled to him.

"Why don't you sleep yet?"

"I missed you Binnie. I badly missed you. I love you Binnie, I really do." Those words just get out of your lips. You can see the shock in his eyes and later it became calm and smiled at you.

"I love you too, y/n. I always love you." Now you're the one who's shocked and looked at him. He just laughed at you and kissed your forehead. you became speechless because he replied to you. Did he just said he loves you too??

"I love you, idiot. Isn't it obvious that I'm so happy when you told me you broke up with that stupid boyfriend of yours? I just can't help but kiss you that night. I'm just shocked because I saw that you're also into it." He chuckled at you when he remembered that night.

You just became speechless again and blushed because of what he just said. Oh, maybe that's the reason.

"Does that mean--" you just can't think of any words to say.

"Yep, I know that you like me, oh no, erase that. I know that you love me, and I love you. Yep, we're dating." He leaned in and place a peck on your lips.

"But, you're not allowed yet to have rel--" he cut you off again by kissing you. Here we go again, his intoxicating lips makes your knees go weak and your mind hazy.

He breaks it off and smiles at you. "It's not a problem, they know you're my friend, we just need to wait two more years, and I can officially say to the world that you're my precious girlfriend." He smiled and kissed your forehead again. You hugged him really tight and placed your head on the crook of his neck.

"And I love you too, my princess." You can feel his lips formed a smile. You finally admitted to yourself that you're indeed in love with your bestfriend. You just opened light in each others' hearts.

[realtacuardach]

Sunsets Suit You

Thanks to bubblesthemonsterartist for the beta!

...

Shirayuki squinted against the bright hues of sunset as she tilted her head to one side and looked up at the fortress’ tower. The stones of the tower were craggy and gray, an intimidating sight to those who would attempt to storm the walls, and so the bright splash of color stood out clearly as it waved with the wind.

Most people would simply smile at the bright blossom and go with their day, but Shirayuki wasn’t most people. She smiled and then immediately began devising plans.

I’ve never seen it out in the wild, she thought as she rolled up her sleeves, and it’s been nearly impossible to cultivate in our greenhouses because none of the specimens we gathered had intact roots.

If she squinted just right, the dull brown-green of the roots glinted against the stone, at that moment more beautiful than the bright red of the flower - certainly more precious.

She needed that root - and the flower, of course. To be able to cultivate a more hardy strain of the flower was an opportunity she could not pass up. Unfortunately, the bloom was far up the tower, waving its petals cheerily above a small ledge that was probably attached to some courier’s room. If she’d known who stayed there, she could just lean out the window and carefully harvest it - but she didn’t.

Well, there was nothing for it.

Shirayuki shrugged off her lab coat and folded it before carefully removing her satchel and placing it on top of the coat. She rubbed her hands together to dry them before reaching to the stones just above her shoulder and gripping hard.

She would just have to climb to get it.

With time, the stones of the tower had shifted, leaving grooves between them that, while not enormous, were wide enough that she could slide her feet into them and curl her fingers around the crevasses. She boosted herself with one foot while the other found purchase as her hands cautiously reached for the next viable spot. Once her hands felt secure, she pulled, already feeling beads of sweat dampening the hair behind her ears.

Boost, step, grab, grab, pull.

Shirayuki was slight, but she had built up a fair bit of muscle in her arms from years of repetitive weeding, pruning, and harvesting, not to mention the bags of soil and fertilizer and pails of water she’d had to lug around. Even when Obi was around and doing more than his share, it was a lot of lifting. She should have no trouble climbing a wall.

Boost, step, grab, grab, pull.

Shirayuki gasped to catch her breath, leaning forward to rub her sweating forehead against her sleeve. She looked down to see her progress to bolster her spirits and groaned. She was only about two feet off the ground. How does Obi make this look so easy?

As though he could be summoned by thought alone, Obi’s upside-down face came into view. “Hey, Miss.”

Shirayuki was used to him popping up out of nowhere, so her only reaction was for her hands to twitch in surprise. However, in her tenuous position, that was enough to send her falling backwards. “Ack!”

There was a heart-stopping moment of free fall before she felt a familiar arm across her back and a comfortable warmth bracing against her. Obi grinned down at her, his eyes glinting with mischief and curiosity.

“Falling for me, Miss?”

“Obi!” She laughed, smacking at his arm, “thanks for catching me.”

“I’ll always catch you,” he said, and something about his voice made her breath catch for a moment. He cleared his throat almost awkwardly. “Besides, you wouldn’t have had far to fall even if I wasn’t here.”

She splayed one hand across her face, the heat from her burning cheeks seeping into her fingers. “Oh, wow.”

He arched a brow as he looked down at her and really, it wasn’t fair that he looked so smooth in his knight’s attire, unruffled even after hanging upside down, while she probably looked a proper mess after failing to climb more than two feet. “What were you doing? If you wanted to go climbing, there are several other places I could show you.”

“Oh,” Shirayuki perked up, “that would be nice. But I actually was looking for a plant, not exercise.” She reached upward with a sore arm and pointed at the flower. “See?”

The corner of Obi’s mouth quirked with a grin. “Pretty.”

“It’s not just pretty,” Shirayuki explained, “it’s gloxinia with the roots intact. We’ve been trying to grow it without much luck, but if we have viable roots - “

“Say no more.” Obi said, shucking off his cape and draping it over her satchel. He cracked his knuckles, popped his neck, and then leapt at the tower.

Her breath caught again.

Obi made a striking sight against the stone, climbing like a cat, silent as a shadow. It looked so effortless and easy the way he did it, it was frustrating. And yet, she felt she could spend her time quite happily just watching him move for a while.

Her cheeks burned hotter.

Obi arrived at the right spot far too soon, and without a moment’s hesitation began smoothly and delicately working the roots loose with an ease honed from years squatting beside her in the dirt, lending a hand and learning the tricks of her trade.

“Be careful!” She called out before she could stop herself.

Obi’s laughter floated down from his perch. “Don’t worry, Miss. I’ve been around you long enough to know how to be careful with roots.”

I meant I was worried about you, Shirayuki thought, but didn’t voice out loud. It would just embarrass him.

“Success!” He crowed, waving his prize triumphantly even as he protectively cupped the roots in his palm. Obi released his grip on the wall and landed, light and cat-like, onto the small ledge.

“That’s great, Obi!” Shirayuki called back, beaming.

Later, she would blame several things for what happened next. She had some slight adrenaline threading through her heart from the fall. It had been a late day of work and had started earlier than usual, and her brain felt languid from fatigue. She was elated about going to the lab and showing Ryuu the flower and roots, and maybe going out to celebrate.

All of these things must have had an impact on what happened next, but not as much as the image of Obi silhouetted by the warm reds and yellows of the fading sunset.

“Sunsets suit you, my dashing knight,” she breathed, and then her cheeks flamed again as she fought the urge to cover her mouth.

If it had been anyone else but Obi, she could have sworn he stumbled. When he looked down at her, he gave his usual smirk. “Dashing, Miss?”

“Erm…”

“I’d think more tall, dark, and mysterious.” He remarked downwards. “Dashing is more of a pr-” He coughed and caught himself.

Shirayuki glared up at him. She was only telling the truth. “Obi - you look dashing.”

Obi coughed, and she could have sworn the sunset was giving his cheeks a pinkish tint. “Be careful, Miss - you’ll turn a man’s head.”

Shirayuki knew exactly what spurred on what happened next - her absolute frustration at how Obi, who had made great strides in feelings of self-worth but was not there yet, thought she wasn’t serious. That he continued to not believe he was worth all the true compliments she could give him. “If only it would help you to listen! You are dashing, and clever, and always there for me. I can’t imagine a life without you, and if it takes the rest of my life, I will make you understand me.”

Shirayuki gasped from the exertion, her breaths fogging in front of her. Obi looked gobsmacked.

“Wow,” he coughed, “that was - huh.” He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

Shirayuki smiled nervously. “I meant every word.”

“It’s just -” Obi coughed again, “that sounded like a proposal, Miss.”

“Obi…”

“I would’ve thought you would have been the one on the balcony when  -”

“Obi -”

“What would the Master think?”

“Obi!”

He stopped rambling, and she took a deep breath. “Every. Word.”

“Oh.” Obi stood still as a statue for a moment before springing into action. He leapt from the balcony, one hand gripping the banister as he swung over the side. He landed smoothly next to her and held out the plant.

Shirayuki’s breath caught again.

“Miss?”

Shirayuki came back to herself. “Come on,” she exclaimed, grabbing his shirt sleeve and starting to haul him along with her, “we’ve got to show Ryuu!”

As she felt the warmth of his arm against her hand, she was glad he couldn’t see the huge blush on her face.

But if she had looked back, she would have seen he had one, too.

[stealinghero]

Huzzah for Sengoku Basara! After reading those headcanons, I demand fluff with Yukimura please! ^.^ maybe he is getting advice on how to confess his feelings from someone like Sasuke or even Masamune?

Of course it had to be Masamune. It’s not pure fluff but with a Happy End (on at least one side)

A branch broke under his foot, the sound echoing through the huge forest and making it sound as if all of the trees were laughing at him.

And Yukimura couldn’t even be mad at them for laughing about such an idiot as he was.

It had begun so beautiful! The sun was shining, the day was about to start great and he was on the market, looking for some fresh vegetables for a snack… until this…. This…

He sighed and sat on a fallen tree, looking at his hands and thinking about this young woman that had stolen his heart. How should he approach her? Should he approach her at all? Should he blankly tell her that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her?! Or was it too much after having seen her just this one time?

“Are you lost?”

He stood up, ready to battle, when he recognized the unruly hair and its master.

“Lord Date!”

“Shut up!” The other placed his hand on Yukimura’s mouth and looked around frantically.

“Are you running away from responsibility again?” Sanada asked mumbled through the hand.

The Lord snorted.

“I am NEVER running away, got that?!”

Yukimura laughed and nodded, breathing in after the other took his hand away.

“Kojuro never understands a joke,” the one-eyed dragon complained and settled on the same tree as Yukimura had sat on just a minute ago.

“Poor Katakura has enough on his plate without your practical jokes. What did you do this time?” Without a seat left, he sat down on the ground, facing Masamune.

“Hah! He needed to cool his head a bit. I just helped!!”

Yukimura stifled a laugh, imagining the poor man having water poured on him.

“See? It’s funny!”

“I guess.”

“And you? Who did you piss off?”

“No one!”

Masamune laughed and patted Yukimura’s head.

“Sure thing. But you look distressed. Better get back in shape so I can beat your ass!”

“I want to marry a woman!”

Silence followed this bold statement. Moments passed and Yukimura began to wonder if he had defeated the always on-guard Masamune.

“Is it that bad?” he finally asked.

Date shook his head and cocked a dirty grin.

“So, will we be settling it before or after the wedding?”

This time Yukimura was silent, wondering if he ever would have the courage to talk to that woman.

“Aaaah, that’s a bad vibe there, Sanada! What’s with it? She already got another man?”

“I never talked to her!” he could feel the heat rushing through his face, leaving him blushing in front of his biggest rival.

Who stared at him.

“You-…. What?!”

Yukimura shook his head in defeat. Of course he had to reveal his misery to Date!

“But how can you marry her??”

“I don’t! I can’t!! I… I saw her this morning on the market and she smiled and I would give up any fight for this smile! My heart belongs to this woman and her beautiful smile and she…” Again a hand was placed on his mouth to stop his rambling.

“Got it. But do you at least know her name?”

Again a shake of the head, making Masamune sigh.

“You saw a woman. And you know nothing but you want to marry her. How about you talk to her first??”

“But how?!”

“How? Go to her and say hi?”

“I could never!”

“Why?”

“Because she is too pretty! You can’t just go to a goddess and say hi!”

“Why not?”

A small thought found a place in Yukimura’s mind.

“Did you ever talk to a woman you like?”

Masamune bristled by this direct question.

“Sure!”

Yukimura grinned, knowing it was a lie.

“And did you just say hi?”

“Yes!”

“And then she told her that she loved you and you married her and everything is alright?”

The Lord grumbled and crossed his arms.

“Fine, you win. But I have other things to do than to concern myself with women!”

“Men?”

“Want to die?”

Sanada raised his hands defensively and laughed while shaking his head.

“So, how about a gift then?” Date finally said.

“A gift?”

“For your lady! Give her something.”

“What should I give her?”

“Something pretty??”

“But nothing is pretty enough for her!”

“Listen up! Just get something and give it to her. Women love gifts!”

“But how will she know who I am?”

“Are you stupid?! I think everyone in Kai knows you. And now get going before…”

A splash of icy cold water was dumped on the Lord of Oshu, leaving him a shrieking and shivering mess while Katakura stepped forward, grinning like a madman.

“You need to ‘cool down’, Lord Masamune!” he told his protégé, imitating his speech pattern.

Laughing, his lord nodded and wiped the water out of his face, only to point at Yukimura.

“He’s got a problem.”

Kojuro nodded.

“It’s easy to hear you two throughout the whole forest and I think she knows by now. Lord Masamune, let us go back. Your men are already waiting.”

Behind his back, something moved and both younger men were ready to strike when a young woman appeared, wildly blushing, holding a basket of mushrooms and flowers.

Yukimura gasped, leaving Masamune grinning and patting his shoulder.

“That’s a cute one! You have my leave to marry that one!”

The Takeda man nodded furiously and blushed as he heard the woman laugh.

“I met her on the way looking for the source of this noise,” Kojuro explained, gently shoving Masamune in the other direction to give the other two some privacy. On his way he shoved something in Yukimura’s hand, winking.

“So you really are the great general that’s protecting us?” the woman asked, looking and talking to her basket.

Yukimura watched the hairpin in his hand and tried to remember that he had to thank Katakura someday.

“For you!” He held it out to her with closed eyes, not daring to look at her.

“What a beautiful hairpin! General, you are the most chivalrous man I ever met!”

“You’re really beautiful.”

She shied away from his words, hiding her red face behind her hands, smiling from behind them.

“AH! What is your name??” he asked, remembering that he didn’t even knew that.

“Yuki.”

He laughed at her name and finally something snapped and released him from his anxiousness.

“What a beautiful name for someone as beautiful as you!” he told her as he held out his hand to her as an offer to carry the basket for her.

With a shy smile she obliged and gave it to him.

“I am sorry but I overheard your words,” she admitted in a small voice, blushing heavily again. But Yukimura grinned at her.

“Then you know how I feel already! I am relieved!”

“I would like to meet you more often before marriage, though.”

He laughed and almost ran into the next tree, embarrassed about his boldness.

“I think that would be a great idea.”

 “Oi, Kojuro.”

“Hm?”

“Do you always carry around gifts for women?”

“It’s my sister’s birthday today.”

The young Lord paled as he had forgotten about it and suddenly remembered why his most loyal servant had been so stressed.

“A feast, hm?” he asked cautiously.

“Before I and all the plans were soaked. Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Apologize to her and not to me.”

“I can’t!”

“Why? Can’t you talk to women now?”

“You know why!! She will kill me!”

“Why don’t you just try and give her a gift? A wise man once said ‘Women love gifts’.”

Kojuro laughed and spurred on his horse to leave Masamune behind him to think about his careless words.

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

Spring Fever (3)

@adrinetteapril 2019 story

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | art | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | art | 18 | 19 | 20 |

AO3 / fanfiction.net

Chapter 3. Embarrassing

In which Adrien is a keeper

Adrien shot out of his seat as it was on fire. Then he remembered his manners and with a flourish he let Marinette go out first. She smiled sweetly and joined Alya on their way to the locker room. Adrien followed nearby, the rest of the class at his heels so he needed to move fast.

He grabbed his spare t-shirt and a bottle of deodorant from his locker and made a beeline for the bathroom. When he emerged few minutes later, leaving the godforsaken cheese odour in the past, Marinette was still beside her locker chatting with Rose and Juleka.

Adrien’s heart did a little somersault. It looked like he had less and less power over his own organs. His cheeks already stung from the fierceness of their color but he soldiered on. He sent the girl an apologetic smile, but she didn’t seem bothered by his antics during the trip. Considering her own tendency to slip, squeak and stutter, he supposed she’d seen or experienced worse. He returned to his locker to take out some textbooks. Judging by the sounds of retreating steps and fading voices the girls were already leaving.

Good. He really could use a breather.

Tap.

His left  foot took a step towards the locker room door. Without his intention.

Tap.

His right foot followed.

He was so shocked he didn’t even try to stop.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Another step and another. Adrien was staring at his feet in wonder.

Bam!

He walked right into the opened door of Chloe’s locker.

'Adrikins!’ she exclaimed. 'Are you all right?’

'Fine!’ he chirped, rubbing the bruise on his forehead.

His feet froze in place. He looked up only to see Marinette at the entrance, staring at him worryingly.

‘Is everything okay?’ The love of his life spoke and he no longer heard babbling Chloe.

‘Peachy!’ he squeaked in reply. He had been sure he’d never again hear those frequencies after his voice changed.

Marinette didn't seem convinced. ‘Maybe you should go to the nurse?’

‘I'm fine!’ Adrien insisted.

He noticed that he must have finally managed to freak her out because she never moved from the door. He couldn’t decide if this was a bad thing (because obviously she should already be here next to him, comforting him and tending to his bruise, which would be nice, because she smelled so lovely and Adrien get a grip on yourself, you hopeless dweeb), or a good thing (because he was a big boy who would not make a fuss of one lousy bruise, he was great all by himself, even if all he wanted was to never part with the love of his life, and Adrien focus, because you’re staring and rambling out an inner monologue, that’s not healthy). He took a deep breath. ‘I’m fine,’ he repeated in a calmer voice.

‘You know best,’ she shrugged and turned to resume her walk towards the classroom.

This time Adrien felt the pull that demanded he follow. He tried to resist, focusing on keeping his feet under control when the upper half of his body disobeyed him. He swayed forward and almost fell to the floor.

Something was pulling him after Marinette, an invisible force that literally dragged his body over the school grounds in the direction she went. All he could do was to try and stay more or less upright and appear to be walking intentionally. The result was… well very much zombie like until he finally stopped resisting.

And the grander the distance the stronger and more persistent the pull was, spurring him to move faster in his chase. He regained control over his limbs about a meter and a half around the girl, at the threshold of their class.

Marinette spun around at the sudden movement behind her back. His lips automatically stretched in a smile that he wished was more worthy of a model, less awkward and less toothy, too. His teeth apparently wanted to greet her very much. Adrien very much wanted to grit them but he didn’t dare at a moment like this.

The love of his life reciprocated with a reluctant smile and a raised brow. Her eyes searched his face blinking a few times. Adrien’s chest puffed at the attention. He felt emboldened enough to risk a small wave. To his utmost delight Marinette giggled and it was as if Venus herself spilled the finest pearls over the Dupont college’s floor.

'Marinette, you coming or what?’ Alya’s voice cut into what he liked to believe was adorkable silence. He wasn’t sure where the little pink bubbles came from, but the love of his life looked absolutely stunning with them as the background.

'You’re blocking the door!’ Another person shouted.

Embarrassment flashed in Marinette’s eyes as she stuttered. 'Right, right. I’m sorry. I’m coming, I’m coming!’

The sweetest of apologetic smiles tugged at her lips. She didn’t turn, just made a step back to enter the class.

Adrien’s right foot obediently took a step after her.

Damn, he forgot about that. The look of painful surprise on his face made Marinette freeze, but when he didn’t move she made another step back.

Adrien’s left foot stepped forward immediately.

The girl tilted her head. Her kind eyes got larger as she stared at him. Marinette wasn’t the kind of person to expect mocking from him, especially since he literally did nothing more than follow her.

Keeping her gaze fixed on him she stepped left.

Adrien’s right foot followed.

Her brow quirked and a shadow of smirk danced on her lips. Still watching him she took a step back, then chasséd sideways.

Adrien’s feet didn’t even ask, just carried out the instructions of the love of his life.

Marinette chuckled and spun in a pirouette, moving a little bit away from him. This time his feet spared him further humiliation and just stepped forward. He noticed that with each step the distance between them got smaller.

The girl made another step and her back hit the teacher’s desk.

Adrien had no other choice, the pull was too strong to disobey. He was right in front of her, only centimeters apart. His hands reached for her waist and it took almost superhuman strength to make them land on the desk, bracketing her sides instead. He gripped the wood so hard it creaked ominously.

It might have been his imagination, but the air between them seemed to be charged with static electricity. He took a deep breath and a delightful scent of spring filled his lungs, taking him straight into the garden of Eden.

‘Can I help you?’ Marinette’s voice brought him back from cloud nine. She looked to him. A little bit uncertain, but definitely not afraid. Rather patiently waiting for the moment when things start to make sense.

‘I just…’ gosh, he must have looked like a complete idiot! And he couldn’t do anything about it. Resigned, he decided he was hopeless enough to try it. ‘I just like to be close to you,’ he muttered for her ears only.

Marinette flushed bright pink at that. It was definitely a good color on her. Adrien instantly started to think of all the things he could do to make her blush more often.

'Ekhm, ekhm,’ Miss Bustier cleared her throat.

This time it was the love of his life who squeaked. She grabbed his hand, sending goosebumps all over his skin, and then she proceeded to drag him to his desk, taking a seat behind. It was close enough for him to stay in one place, even if the hair at the back of his neck rose and the faint tickling of the pull continued throughout the last of their lessons.

[bytheangell]

Alec talking with Catarina about asking to marry Magnus. (I NEED FLUFF AND THIS FRIENDSHIP RN I'M SORRY!!!!)

Same About You(Read on AO3)

When Magnus asks to come over Catarina doesn’t hesitate to agree, cancelling the plans she had with a coworker without a second thought. This isn’t the first time Magnus called her up to talk since leaving the Infirmary and she knows it won’t be the last - with the other warlocks in the city wrapped around Lorenzo’s little finger she knows his options are limited when it comes to friends with an innate understanding of exactly what he’s going through. Because she loves Alec, and Magnus does, too, but there are just parts of this he can’t fully appreciate no matter how hard he tries.

But how hard he’s trying is what helps Magnus the most. Because Alec isn’t giving up on him, even when Magnus snaps at him and tries to push him away. And for Catarina that’s the best thing she could hope for. She’s watched first hand as Alec stood there, taking hit after hit of harsh words without backing down. He’s in this for the long-haul, she can tell.

And so can Magnus.

They’re sitting in her apartment, mid-conversation when Magnus comes out and says it.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with him, Cat. I don’t know how long that might be now, but I want it to be with him.” He seems hesitant to admit it, going back on decades of swearing off love and marriage, and his eyes hold a bit of apprehension as they fall on her waiting for a response.

“So what’s stopping you?” She asks.

“I’m stopping myself. I’m a mess, Cat. I don’t even know why he keeps putting up with me like this… how can I ask him to sign up for a lifetime of watching me wither away, useless?” Magnus sighs, leaning back against the chair.

“You don’t have to. He’s already signed up, Magnus. Anyone with eyes can see that he’s there and he isn’t going anywhere. I’m not saying you have to get hitched tonight or anything. It might be good for things to settle down a bit, but if it’s something you want I don’t think you have to worry about him not wanting it, too.”

Magnus is considering this when Catarina’s phone rings, and she glances down at it with a confused look.

“Work?” Magnus asks, and she shakes her head.

“It’s Alec.” She says, glancing up at him. “Probably for you.”

Magnus shakes his head. “No, I didn’t tell him I was coming here today. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

Catarina’s even more curious now as she answers the call.

“Hello?  – What is it? – Give me a second–”

She mutes the phone and glances over at Magnus with an eyebrow raised. “He wants to know if I can meet him to talk about something? He sounds… weird. But he said it can wait if I’m busy.”

Magnus looks just as interested as she is and shakes his head. “I’m fine. Go see what he wants.”  

Cat hits the button to unmute the call before continuing. “Sure, I’m just wrapping something up but I’ll be over in a few minutes. – Of course. See you soon.”

She hangs up and they both exchange looks of intrigue, with Magnus speaking first. “He’s probably just worried about me still. He’ll probably ask you a million questions about how I’m really doing.”

“And how are you doing?” She prompts.

Just then Magnus’ phone buzzes with a text from Alec- ‘ Don’t forget our appointment with the realtor tomorrow!’ -  and he smiles.

It might be the first full smile she’s seen on him since he collapsed. “I’m moving in with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I think I’m doing alright, all things considered. Now go reassure my darling boyfriend of that, would you?”

—

Except when she knocks on the door of Alec’s office at The Institute he looks up at her with a smile.

“Come in, shut the door behind you,” he says quickly, and she does as he asks. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Of course, Alec. You said it was important… is it about Magnus?”

“It is. Sort of. I mean it’s definitely about him, but it isn’t about his health or anything.” He’s rambling and he seems nervous.

“…alright.” Cat says slowly, not sure where he’s going with this.

“I’m going to propose.” Alec says, coming right out with the words, no build-up, no hesitation. She’s surprised to say the least and it isn’t lost on her that he isn’t asking - he’s telling her. He wants to know what she thinks but he isn’t looking for permission.

“You are?” This, she has to admit, is the last thing she expected to hear from him just then.

“Tonight.”

“Oh, wow,” she breathes out. There are few people who spent any amount of time around the two of them who would doubt that they were headed for marriage one day, but even when Magnus mentioned the idea of spending the rest of his life with Alec only minutes before she didn’t imagine anything would come of it so soon, and least of all from Alec.  

“You think it’s a terrible idea.” He frets, standing from his desk to pace in front of it a little. “Do you think he’s going to say no?”

She could almost laugh at the concern, knowing what she does, but instead her smile softens at the look on Alec’s face.

“Alec, Magnus loves you. I haven’t seen him love anyone this much in a very, very long time. Maybe ever.” At this her expression softens, and Alec’s smile returns. It’s very clear to her that this is the only thing that matters to him. His love for Magnus. Magnus’ love for him in return. And as long as both of them have that to share it’ll be more than enough. “For what it’s worth, I hope he says yes. You’re good for him, and I don’t know many people who would stay by his side as dedicatedly as you are throughout all of this. You both deserve all the happiness in the world.”

Alec stops pacing and relaxes. “Good. Because I don’t know what I would’ve done if you said it was a terrible idea.” Alec beams. “Thank you. Really, it just… it means a lot to hear from you.”

She thinks of him with Madzie, always willing to do whatever it takes to keep her happy and smiling; the way he handled Lorenzo, putting his own feelings aside to do what was best for Magnus even at the sake of his own pride and anger; the way he is here and now, barely able to contain the look of pure adoration in his eyes at the thought of asking Magnus to marry him… Cat thinks of this side of Alec she’s grown to know over the past few months and knows that there is nothing Alec wouldn’t do for Magnus or the people Magnus cares about, herself included.

Alec is already such a huge part of their lives, and she isn’t sure when it happened exactly but she can’t imagine life without him in it now. And soon she won’t have to.

And neither will Magnus.

“So, Lightwood, what’s the plan? Or is that a secret?”

“Well…” Alec starts with a grin. “That’s where I was hoping you’d be able to help me out.”

An hour later and a very specific timing for a very specific portal later, Cat makes herself sparse in time for Magnus to meet Alec back at the Institute for the night, telling him that he was right and Alec just had a few questions about him… which isn’t a total lie, she reasons.

She isn’t even mad at the 3am text that wakes her up from Tokyo: a series of 4 photobooth photos with Alec and magnus, the last of which shows a new ring on Magnus’ finger and both men in tears.  

[headoverjojo]

NSFW from an aged up Narancia :0 plssss. Maybe something like, he gets Mad at you for anything, and when you come up to him to solve it (because he is your best friend and was acting really weird lately) things get heated 🌚🌚

Hello, dear anon! Oh boy, this was my first smut scenario ever, I hope it’s ok! And, since it wasn’t specified, I went with a fem s/o. Hope it’s fine!Note: Narancia here is aged up, so absolutely in age. Don’t hit me with nsfw on minors, please

(Under the cut for NSFW!)

You and Narancia knew each other since years. You had joinedPassione just few months after him. You went from being a starving homeless tobeing an official member with a stand of the most powerful gang of all Italy.

Out of the small team you were assigned to, Narancia was themost friendly. You had the same age as him and his cheerful and funny attitudeenraptured you immediately. After almost a year wandering in the streets allalone, his warm presence was a balsam for your wounded soul.

You fought side by side many times, learning your respectivecombact styles, mended your wounds and watched each other’s back. You hangedout together a lot, wandering through the market stalls, stealing and apple ora peach and running away when you got caught, even if it rarely happened,laughing ‘till you were out of breath.

You became best friends in a matter of weeks. He was yourrock and confident and you really couldn’t image your life without him.

Years passed and the gang noticed how close you andAerosmith’s user were. Sometimes Mista joked about you being “lovely-dovey”,when you were chilling in a cuddle pile or hugging each other. The first timesyou both yelled at Mista to mind his business, but now you found yourselfblushing at the thought of being “lovely-dovey” with him. Narancia wasstrangely silent, and loosened his grip on you, a faint blush on his cheeks,and almost couldn’t look in your eyes.

You really hadn’t thought about him in that way. He wasyour best friend… or maybe more?

Everything changed the day of his 21th birthday. You stormedin his room like usual, ready to drag him out to party, but his room was empty.You blinked, confused.

“Nara?” you called, searching for him. He was already prettyweird since few weeks, but something like this never happened before. Worryclenched your gut as you sprinted out the HQ, searching for him. You ran to allyour favourite spots, but he seemed to be vanished in thin air.

You suddendly remembered that, on his birthday, he alwayspayed a visit to his beloved mother’s grave. You turned on your heels and ranat the graveyeard at maximum speed.

You stopped dead on your tracks when you saw that Naranciawas there, yes, but not alone. He was yelling to an older man who you didn’tknow.

Narancia was screaming and, to your utter stupor, hot tearsrolled down his cheeks.

“You let her die! You would have let me die as well! Younever cared about mom or me, and now you want to play good dad? You’re 21 yearslater!” he shouted, staring at his, apparently, dad’s stern face.

“It’s not too late for you, Narancia. You can still besaved. You can come home and stop being a mafioso, you can have a normalli-“

“I don’t want to! They’re my family! I’ll never leavethem and I’ll be out of mafia just as a corpse!” Narancia’s father’s eyebrowstwitched and his mouth thinned in a cold and bitter line that made you shiver.

“You were always been a stupid child. An ignorant and stupidchild. No surprise, you’re like your mother.” Your eyes widened when you sawthe shimmer of his folding knife and you ran towards them the exact moment whenNarancia charged for his father.

“Nara, no!” you yelled, putting yourself in his tracks.Narancia’s eyes widened and he stopped himself just at few centimeters fromyou. You grimaced, feeling a little pain coming from your forearm, where theknife had scratched you.

“What are you doing here?” he growled, his eyes full of rageand hatred. You put your hands on his, loosening his grip on the knife.

“It’s not worth, Nara. Don’t stain your hands with hisblood.” You murmured, trying to calm him down. Narancia gritted his teeth,turning his face away from you.

“This is not your business.” He spat, freeing his hands fromyours and running away. You stayed still, in deep shock. You didn’t even hearthe other man’s voice, but you snapped when you registered “friend of that stupidboy.”.

“Shut up, you asshole!” you hissed, finally running toNarancia. You catched him almost at the HQ and you screamed his name. Naranciastopped dead and you almost bumped on him.

“You shouldn’t have seen it nor get involved.” He murmuredin a quiet and dangerous tone that made you shiver.

“I… I’m sorry, Nara. I couldn’t let you kill your father.”Your eyes sting and your vision was blurred by hot tears.

“You know nothing. Don’t you dare to judge me or my actions.He deserved to die, and you fucking stopped me!” he roared, finally snapping.You twitched, trying to reach his hand, but he put himself out of reach.

“Leave me alone.” He growled, entering the HQ. You stayedstill for a long time, not able to move or even think.

It was so wrong.

Your heart ached like it never did. Why? You had have reallyclose friends and you had argued with them, but you never felt so utterlydestroyed.

Was this a broken heart?

You hide in your room for all the evening and the followingday, faking a cold. At the third day, however, Bruno himself came to talk toyou.

“Y/N, I know you don’t have a cold, as much as Naranciadoesn’t have bubonic plague, as he’s saying. I think you should talk and solveyour problems. You can’t hide forever.” He calmly said to your curled form,before closing gently the door. You sighed heavily, recognizing the truth inBruno’s words, and you slowly got up, leaving the blanked behind you. Yousoftly patted to Narancia’s bedroom and lightly knocked. No answer.

“Nara? It’s me. Please…” you pleaded, with a sad tone. Stillno answer. You chose, then, to enter without his permission.

The room was enveloped in a cold penumbra. You could seeNarancia’s form under the blankets, unmoving.

You approached him, sitting on the edge of his bed. Hesquirmed, when you touched him, and you sighed again, defeated.

“I’m sorry, Nara. I’m really sorry. I should have minded mybusiness… I didn’t want you to do something you could have regretted. I… I wantjust the best for you, I can’t stand to see you sad… but I was nosy and Ishouldn’t have to. I’m sorry.” You rambled, sniffling. Narancia shifted andreached for your right arm. A thin slash, caused by his knife, marred it.Narancia brushed it with his thumb, finally emerging from under the blankets.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I am the one who’s sorry.” Hemuttered, his eyes on the slash.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I’m really, really sorry. I shouldn’t havesnapped at you, I shouldn’t have been so horrible and… and God I’ve woundedyou, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he stuttered, pressing his forehead on yourforearm, dampening it with tears.

“I wouldn’t know what to do without you, Y/N, I’d be lost…”he openly cried, desperately hugging you. You crashed on him, crying as well,hiding your face in his neck.

He nuzzled your face, kissing your hair and forehead,muttering apologies on apologies. You were so overwhalmed by relief that youstarted to kiss back his face, his watery eyelids, his adorable nose, his plumplips.

He froze, widening his eyes. After few seconds, you cameback to yourself and froze as well, breaking the kiss.

“Nara, I… I…”

“You meant it?” he murmured, staring deeply in your stillteary eyes. You blushed deeply, nodding shily. You couldn’t deny your feelingsanymore: they were too obvious.

“Thank God.” He whispered, before kissing you again. You stumbled,clinging to him, not believing it. He felt the same towards you.

He liked you. He loved you.

You closed your eyes, sinking you hands in his silky bangsand pressing yourself on him. Narancia kissed you back eagerly, hugging youimpossibly tight, happy beyond imagination.

He pressed his forehead on yours, smiling brightly at you,giving some pecks on your lips and face and jaw.

“Since when did you… you feel like that?” he nuzzled hisface in your neck, kissing it devotely. He was always handsy and full of enthusiasmtowards physical affection and you couldn’t complain less.

“I think since a long time.” You whispered, softly caressinghis chest. You squealed when he nibbled your neck, before giggling softly.

“Too fast?” he watched you with big violet eyes full ofadoration and, you noticed, a hint of lust. You shook your head, giving him akiss and grazing his lower lip with your teeth, muffling his low moan.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to do it…” you smiled onhis lips, your eyes full of sincerity and need. He smiled back, a bit shy,squeezing lightly your hips.

“Uh-uh, really, babe?” he went back to your neck, kissing,nibbling and licking it, relishing in your soft sighings and trembling. He lethis hands wander under your shirt, on your navel, up to your breasts.

“Are you really sure? We can st-” his words got lost in amoan, when you grinded on his obvious erection.

“More than sure.” You boldly took your shirt off, gigglingsoftly at the faint blush spreaded on his cheeks.

“C’mon, you can touch.” You spurred, blushing. Narancia torehis gaze away from your breasts and smirked at you with his usual cheerfulnessand, now, with lust.

“If you ask so gently…” he whispered, latching again hismouth on your neck and unclasping, a bit sloppily, your bra.

His mouth wandered on your collarbone, going down to yourbreasts, covered by his warm hands.

“God, you’re so beautiful…” his husky voice made you squirmand grind again, searching for the friction you needed. He groaned, smirkingand licking one of your nipples.

“We’re needy, aren’t we?” he lightly bit your nipple,eagerly welcoming your moans and arched back. His free hand’s fingertipsbrushed your navel, popping the button of your jeans open. You gulped, knowingwhat will come next.

“Already damp?” your cheeks were burning as well as his.

“Stop teasing…” you whimpered and a moment later you winced,feeling his hand under your panties. You crashed on him, bucking your hips onhis hand, searching for more friction, more attentions that he gladly gave you,massaging fervently your clit.

“More…” you whispered on his hear, nibbling not so gentlyhis earlobe. He accomplished, sliding a finger in you, moaning when he feltyour walls clenching arount it. He slipped a second finger, enchanted by themelody of your moans and, when he felt that you were close, a third one. You tooka fist of his hair in your hand and pulled his head up, crashing your lips onhis and muffling your final moan in his mouth. Your hips bucked one last time,before you collapsed on him, breathing heavily with a lazy and satisfied smile.Narancia lovingly kissed your cheek, chuckling.

“What a ride, eh?” you laughed weakly, pulling him in a softkiss.

“And now it’s your turn, big boy.” You smirked, delighted bythe blush on his cheeks and the lust in his eyes.

You mentally noted to thank Bruno, once finished. It wasgoing to be a long and pleasant morning.

[leviosarpg]

Congratulations, LARA! You have been accepted for the role of KASSIUS OLLIVANDER! Lara, I think it’s fair to say that your app left me a little speechless, to say the least. “But his vision of himself is so skewed, so different from what everyone else sees, that silver will always look dull, even in the sunlight.” That, Lara, that was when I knew Kassius was yours. You nailed his entire character in a single, beautiful line. Not to mention, the quality of your writing was absolutely incredible; I found your para sample to be especially stunning! So much about Kassius’s character is tied to legacy, but I have to admit what absolutely enchanted me about your app was the way you conveyed Kassius’s understanding of legacy, as in it’s ability to be weaponized. Lara, I think it’s safe to say your app was was pure magic!

Your faceclaim change to: Matthew Bell has been accepted. Don’t forget to send in your account to the main and complete the items listed on the CHECKLIST!

THE PLAYER

name/age/pronouns/timezone: Lara / 24 / she/her / EST

THE CHARACTER

desired role: Kassius Magnus Ollivander KASSIUS: of Latin origin, meaning “hollow”. A meaning which he defies, but one he cannot admit to himself that he feels. MAGNUS: of Latin origin, meaning “the greatest”. A meaning which he strives to feel, but that he cannot admit is perilously beyond reach. OLLIVANDER: of Mediterranean origin; the near mythic name of a long line of wand makers, the likes of which have never been matched in the field. A reverent name, and one that has been situated amongst the Sacred 28 families since the group’s inception – though they are notably one of the few open-minded lineages amongst them.

CHARACTER DISCUSSION – AKA, I WAS DRUNK WRITING THIS AND GOT EXCITED

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.

I was surprised at my attraction to Kassius at first, until it made perfect sense. I am most often drawn to the ambitious, the volatile, the dangerous; my tastes fall with the tortured ‘bad boy’ who cannot be tamed. My usual type is the villain – not the tortured intellectual. But the more I write, and the more I think on him, the more I realize that Kassius is entirely within the realm of my ‘type’, though he is entirely more complicated than just a mere archetype, as is he more good than any base tortured soul that I might call a muse. I will explain this in an examination of his personality – which will surely devolve into a stream of consciousness rambling about my love for this character, as it is far and wide. I would talk about my attraction to the character as a whole, but I would be better served analyzing him, for I was drawn to the sheer complexity of his character above all else. And GOD all he wants is to make the legacy proud; he doesn’t want to live up to the Ollivander name for fame and glory, but because inadequacy will eat him alive. He is more silver than gold, and he cannot quite come to terms with the fact that it is just as valuable, just as lustrous and coveted as gold is. He should have been a golden boy; his parents certainly thought him to be, all wild imagination and intelligence to match, all charm and ambition to command every room – but his vision of himself is so skewed, so different from what everyone else sees, that silver will always look dull, even in the sunlight. Inadequacy is a demon, a shadow that lurks in places that should shine – and the illusion of it (for he is not inadequate, though he might think he is) will eat him alive. The part in his bio that really stuck with me, and really serves as the axis of this analysis – and of his character in general, is as follows: “Kindness has become your last sanctuary, for you have become the eternal flame that demands more and more, that seeks to outlast time itself. Contentment is a virtue you will never know, for your self-inflicted agonies are rich with flowers and demons who ensure your thorns remain sharp.” He can be kind to others, to the world, to those who cannot find it in the world to be kind to themselves, and yet he, Kassius, is never kind to himself. He strives to be a beacon of kindness, of hope, of a legacy that has long-upheld the wizarding community in its stalwart truth – but he cannot be kind to himself. The disquietude he feels for his own self, while revering what he could be, what he should be, all while expending all vestiges of kindness and hard work upon the thankless world – this is what makes him so fascinating.

PERSONALITY TRAITS: + SCHOLARLY: You have to wonder how he managed to choose to shirk his parents and go straight for the jugular that is his family history, his family legacy. And it is just that – there is no stoic past for him to study, but a living, breathing body of life-history which still runs like an archaic myth, and an undeniable truth, through the veins of the wizarding world. There is no Hogwarts without Ollivander; and so it is his duty to learn everything, to know everything, to learn the histories of his contemporaries back and forth for it is the Ollivander legacy not to be a number amidst the masses, but to be almost godlike in how utterly untouchable the name is. He buries himself in books, spell tomes, historical records, preserved letters; the legacy sits heavy upon his shoulders like weights on a scale, and it is all he can do to keep them from tipping in one direction or another. + HOPEFUL: If there is one thing that can be said for hope, in the hands of Kassius Ollivander, it is that hope is kind. Hope, longing, and dreams walk hand-in-hand, and Kassius allows the line to blur even in the most crucial of moments when, perhaps, logic should prevail. He is a highly logical man, and yet the nebulous wonder of hope can muddle his logic and turn it to color in but a moment. Hope is dangerous, but wonderful; call it forgiveness with teeth and a firm bite. Hope is a demon; he bestows it upon the world while it eats away at his soul to the tune of malcontent. Don’t be fooled; Kassius is not hopeful for himself, but for what he might push himself to do for the world. Might. He hopes. +/- AMBITIOUS: This is a perilous line to walk upon. His ambition would make him fit well in the Slytherin crowd, but his ambition is not at the expense of others, but of himself. He is too hard on himself, ever reaching too high, stretching too thin. But he can do more, he insists; he can do better. He believes that he is nothing if he is not striving for something, that he is useless, a meaningless thorn in a bramble bush if he does not run himself dry in pursuit of the family legacy that he is saddled with. The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak – or it makes us hard. He is becoming more thorn than petal, though he tries so very hard to do all things with kindness, to help and protect those who cannot do so themselves, with his legacy as a weapon. - PERFECTIONISTIC: Perfection or nothing at all. This will be his fatal flaw, because he will work himself into the ground and still believe that the hole he’s dug isn’t deep enough. He does his best not to impose this impossible standard on anyone else, instead taking the brunt of his own miserable self-displeasure. It consumes him, this endless reach for perfectionism, and it takes an enormous toll upon his personal relationships. There are very few people, few things, few causes that can pull him from within himself and into the world around him. The aching for his legacy, to step into the shoes of Ollivanders past, started as just that – an ache. A wish. To be creative, to be something more than himself, something a part of something bigger. But the ache has grown, and it sits as a heavy weight between his shoulders, bending arched back downward so that he may never stop working. - ISOLATING: Reaching for meaning, for purpose, for validation, rather than reaching for connection; there is something so icy and lonely about Kassius’s struggle, and he often allows himself to become consumed by it, which often leads to him setting himself away from those who might be close to him. No matter how much he craves camaraderie, companionship, warmth, the self-imposed competition he has with himself makes it hard, most often, to emerge from the impossible chrysalis of his own creation. It’s a vicious and complicated cycle: he finds connection and community,  and is validated by those he connects with; inevitably he is reminded of what he has failed to do, to become, and he retreats in on himself to work; he sees others living freely and happily, either without the chains of expectation or within, and hates that he cannot be this free; he remembers, then, that he cannot be happy until he is right, until he reaches the level of legacy that befits him. Not enough. He isolates and works, always long-suffering and self-martyring, when he falls into the deep hole of inadequacy. He does his very best to connect, and there are few things that keep him engaged, and enthusiastic, and warm in his efforts and ambitions, but when he isolates, turning inward on himself, he can be cold.

It is also worth discussing his MOTIVATIONS, as they are as varied and changeable as anything. Though his intentions are largely good, there is no doubt in my mind that he could easily be swayed by the selfish nature of his ambition. Now, this selfishness may not always be malicious – motivations spurred on by ambition need not always be at the expense of others, but they most often are at the expense of the self. He wants the best for his friends, for The Liberation, for all those they seek to protect – but how can he be of any use to them, of any good to anyone, if he’s not enough for his own legacy? For himself?

Extracurriculars: Ravenclaw Quidditch, The Liberation, Astronomy Club, Charms Club, Dueling Club, The Slug Club. – Ever the overachiever, he has bitten off more than he can reasonably chew. But Kassius is never the sort of person to admit that he has taken on too much, because he - an Ollivander - is not meant to be capable of burning out, or of being squashed beneath the weight of too much work. Not to mention he genuinely enjoys everything that he’s involved in, and is honestly passionate about everything on this list that he has set his mind to. It also helps that Freya is around in some of these places – that always helps.

PARA SAMPLE:

The hollows beneath his eyes are cavernous, and yet he finds himself here, keen, bright, standing stalwart amongst those he called his allies, and those he called his friends. There is truly nothing more important than this; it is in moments of clarity like this one that he realizes it, time and time again, that his own obsessions fall like scales from his eyes to reveal the truth – legacy is meaningless, when those without die for the sake of it.

Legacy is why they are here; some use it as weapons, where his is a thorn in his own side. Weaponized legacy, a name sharpened into a knifepoint, is a bastardization of everything a legacy is meant to stand for, but this is not why he is here. He sets his own name aside and becomes one of the masses, a wall separating the innocent from the malicious. Here, amidst the Liberation, he is not Kassius Ollivander. He is just Kassius. And for once, that is more than enough.

In fact, it is more than enough, for as he stands at the head of the near-empty classroom, wand aloft, mirroring those who have snuck from their beds to meet tonight, Kassius finds all ghosts, whispering diatribes of inadequacy and doubt in his ear, to be absent. As they all stand in a line, wands pointed at hovering targets above their heads, he – for once – thinks not of the name Ollivander, but of the name Justice. Those around him care little what his name is; nor do the men, women, and children who the Liberation seek to defend against those who put more stock in blood than in mettle. For once, he is stronger in simply being Kassius, for the youngest of them all look to him as if he is not as tired as he truly feels. And so he holds his head higher; they are all that matters.

He thinks, for a moment, of Riddle’s gospel; his family had been expected to bow, for they sat amongst the Sacred 28. Perhaps this, this defiance, this decision to stand against tyranny and injustice, to protect those who cannot protect themselves – this is legacy. His gaze breaks for a moment from the target overhead, mind leaving the spell upon his lips and finding those who stood about the room with him, those brave souls barricaded in a classroom in which they could be discovered at any moment. He finds them, and all at once the ache in his spine from arching over paper, the tremble in his fingers from holding a quill far too long, the throb of tired eyes awake at work too long – all quiet, covered with the warm rain of camaraderie.

Yes, he thinks, turning his gaze upward once more, This is what legacy is for.

“Are you ready?” he calls, wand humming in his grip. He hears a murmur of agreement at all sides of him, and his lips twitch upward.

At your ready, Kassius! Someone calls out, and the assent rises. He turns his head to meet Perseus’s gaze, his dearest ally in this trying time; there is trust between them that allows both fear and exhilaration to exist in this space in equal measure. This moment is his masterwork, what he has spent so long belaboring in isolation. This mighty something born of his legacy’s proclivity for wandwork; this is a revolution. Somewhere in the distance, he imagines Tom Riddlesquirming. An Ollivander, someone pure, finding their own weapon in their name. Just Kassius – legacy abounds. They all cast at once, and the room is alight with blue, with spark, with light that blinds. At the boom it creates, he finds himself laughing, turning his gaze once more from the flying target, which now spins and bounces from the wall, to the room. The laughter echoes along the walls, moving through all of them like a wave, as he finds Perseus, Freya, the others, all family in arms.

He feels it swell within his chest before it breaks out across his face in a wide smile, lighting up the hollow corners of his tired face, warming the tense knot that seems to always occupy the pit of his stomach. Light and bits of dust still float down from the ceiling, from the charmed targets, which dart and spin across the ceiling at the behest of their sheer combined power.

Perseus offers him a nod; perhaps it is obvious that, as is so rare, Kassius has emerged from his withering disquietude, and has bloomed before their eyes, as is the power of their combined resistance and camaraderie. “This –” he gestures upward with perpetually ink-stained finger, lips pulled wide in a near-manic grin, an utterly giddy expression that is mirrored around the room, “is what we are capable of when we are together. Strength! Live together – die alone.” He offers Freya a glowing glance, and his stomach flips. “This is our legacy.”

OTHERS & EXTRA (OPTIONAL)

Could I possibly change his FC to Matthew Bell? Thank you!! :)

ALSO! I will link an inspo blog HERE that will be full of inspo, creations, headcanons, and the like :) thank you for reading this application!

[hunterqueen30-blog]

Swan Queen Fanfiction Recommendation List (95 fics)

After becoming obsessed with Swan Queen quite some time ago, I have made my way through god knows how many fanfics.  Ranging from the super short to the epically long, from the hilarious to the heart breaking and from the well written to the how is this author not famous and why aren’t they writers on the show!!!!

After ploughing my way through list upon list on fanfiction.net and archive of our own,  after devouring lists made by other SQ lovers and after I have read everything written by my favourite authors as well as reading all of their favourite stories, I would consider myself something of a SQ fanfic expert.

That being said, considering how much SQ fanfiction is out there I am sure I have only made a medium sized dent in the whole and given all of the talented writers out there I am sure there are still some amazing fics left for me to read (I hope so or what will I do with my life?).

Being a SQ shipper I considerate it my duty to get as many other people as possible on board. I have managed to convert my wife, although all that took was for me to say Regina and Emma and she was in, didn’t need to be any more specific than that, it wasn’t exactly a struggle. The same could not be said of my best friend, who at the time was a huge Hook fan (I can sense the eye rolls but don’t judge her too harshly) I basically made it my mission to talk nonstop about SQ until I had convinced her of its validity or she had changed her mind simply due to SQ osmosis.

Following conversation after conversation involving me painstakingly discussing things like how Regina and Emma can move the moon together and stop curses (Isn’t true love the most powerful magic of all??). How they are always fighting for each other and sacrificing for each other and all of those looks they give each other.  Not to mention the fact that let’s face it if Emma had been a man the saviour and the evil queen would have ended up together, it would have been the perfect fairytale ending. Snow White destroys Regina’s happiness but makes up for it by bringing her, her real true love, doesn’t get any more poetic than that.  After all of that I am extremely happy to say that my friend is now a huge SQ fan.

You’re probably wondering why I’m rambling on about this, but all of the above leads me to the main reason for writing this list.  Which is so my friend can read all of the amazing fanfics that I have and for all the other SQ fans (who like me are looking for another list they can make their way through, which will probably have a lot of the same fics on it as lists they have already read; but maybe there will be a gem in there that they wouldn’t have found otherwise).

I hope anyone reading this list will find it helpful and if you enjoy a fic, please pop over and leave a review for the author. It won’t take long and I am sure it means a lot to them.

To all the authors on this list thank you so much for sharing your work. You are all awesomely talented.

To anyone who is wondering why I am writing this list now, when the show is over and there is no hope for SQ, the answer is simple: once a SQ fan, always a SQ fan. And maybe if all SQ fans keep SQ alive, if the time comes when the show is remade the writers will remember this fandom and even though it will be too late for our Regina and Emma, maybe another Regina and Emma will get the chance that they deserve.

Let’s get started; the fics are ordered by length, with the shortest first, you’ll probably notice that there aren’t many short fics on here, (I like to get invested), apologies if you don’t have the time to read lengthy fics. 

Its In The Genes by hunnyfresh

In which Emma's brother Neal has a massive crush on Regina which spurs Emma into acting on her feelings - Future Fic. Rated T.

He Gets It From you by onepromise

Henry thinks that his moms should kiss so that Emma will get her powers back. The thirteen year old is so convinced that he's right, he procures the magical items necessary from Mr Golds Shop to lock them in a closet until they kiss. Rated T.

Someday When Spring Is Here by coalitiongirl

Her key to the kingdom rejected, Princess Emma offers herself instead to the Evil Queen, and embarks on a journey through the woods with Regina that will redefine everything she's ever believed about herself, her future, and true love. Rated Mature. 

She’s Already Ruined Her Makeup by deceptivelycomplex3925

In which Emma tells Regina how she feels on Regina’s wedding day. Rated Teen and Up. 

Imagine Me And You by bayloriffic

After they return from Neverland, Henry decides to set a parent trap for Emma and Regina. By the time Emma realizes what he’s up to, she’s already half in love with Regina and it’s pretty much too late to do anything about it. Rated Teen and Up.

As Good As A Lie by skyel4

Regina is finally woken from a sleeping curse by true love's kiss. She smiles at Robin and kisses him again, only it wasn't him who woke her. Emma stands by, surprised and confused. When Robin refuses to tell Regina the truth, Emma can't accept being pushed aside so easily. Rated T.

Sharing Souls by hunnyfresh

Emma joins in on Operation Mongoose, determined to help Regina get her happy ending, however neither woman expects to be reliving the other's life through the book, their dreams, and even the briefest of touches. Rated T.

A Fine Line by hunnyfresh

Upon Regina's banishment, the small town of Storybrooke becomes protected once again by an enchantment that prevents anyone from leaving or entering Storybrooke. Emma and Regina find themselves on the edge of the town, wishing for a way to the other side. Rated T.

It’s Not The Fall That Kills You by inkheart9459

Regina thinks she must be exhausted after everything that's happened, the curse breaking, the mob, the wraith. There's no way that Emma Swan is being nice to her without a motive and Emma's sudden illness has nothing to do with Daniel's reappearance. She must be exhausted to think such ridiculous things, or is she? Rated T.

Secret Santa by acheleismyobsession

When they get back from Neverland, (no body swap pan) the Charmings find out that their loft was giving away to the Darlings. Regina invites Emma to stay with her but what happens when the Charmings tag along. At a celebratory dinner, the guest partake in a Secret Santa. Rated T.

Temporary Distractions by amycarey

It's been a month and Regina won't speak to her, until she does and Emma is left pretending to be in a relationship with her so that Regina can get through a dinner invitation with her pride intact. Rated Mature. 

Follow If You Lead by maybeweare

At Midas' ball, the blonde in the red dress catches Regina's eye. And with no way home in sight, Emma decides that it can't hurt to see what the Queen has to offer. Meanwhile, Storybrooke is reeling from Emma's disappearance - especially Regina. Rated M. 

Second Chances by raeinspace

Zelena plans to go back in time, but Regina finds a way to hitch a ride (using blood magic) to go with her and try to stop her. Emma gets caught up in the spell. Regina manages to stop adult Zelena, but when Regina sees Cora sending her sister to Oz, she feels sorry for the baby Zelena. Emma suggests giving Zelena a second chance. Rated M. 

Little Green by RowArk

Emma fears she may have brought someone else back with her from the past: a lost little red-haired girl in dire need of a second chance, who could also prove to be Emma's second chance. And Regina's, if she can find forgiveness in her heart. Rated K+.

The Black Knight by inkheart9459

Regina is fond of her job as a knight and guard of the White palace. That is, until she gets assigned to the royal brat of a princess while she's entertaining insipid suitors. Between the mindless drivel the men are spewing and the Princess running off at every other moment she might just go insane. Rated T. 

The Great Wide Somewhere by amycarey

It has been seven years since Emma rolled into Storybrooke, and she and Regina are finally in a friendship that doesn't teeter on the precipice of hatred. When Regina's pining over Henry, away for the summer at an astronomy programme in Tucson, Emma suggests a road trip to surprise him for his birthday. Rated Mature. 

Right There All The Time by devje

His mothers are obviously in love and totally married in everything but name, so why is Henry the only one in their house who knows this? His moms don't even seem to have noticed that Mom kisses Emma on the cheek every morning when she leaves for work. Rated General.

Let Stars Be My Asterisks by absedarian

After her return from the past Regina refuses to see Emma: she can't bear to see the woman she loves with the pirate but Emma ignores Hook as all she can think about is Regina. Hook thinks he should be the center of Emma's attention and decides to woo her with a letter. He asks Regina for help, which offers her an opportunity she can't ignore. Rated T.

Second Time Around by RowArk

Emma magically reverts herself to a toddler, with her adult memories, but is unable to communicate and no one knows who she is. Regina takes in the lost baby girl and bonds with her, eventually telling her personal things, having no idea she's actually talking to Miss Swan, who is hearing everything, and it changes how she sees Regina (in a good way). Rated T.

We’ll Make Our Home On The Water by bayloriffic

For some reason, Emma thought they’d pass through the portal and end up right at Neverland. Instead, they spend weeks aboard the Jolly Roger, sailing the vast blue-green oceans with no land in sight, the water seeming to stretch on forever all around them. Rated Mature. 

Ever After, Again by hunnyfresh

The Swan-Mills family is an average American family living in Storybrooke, Maine until Regina accidentally casts a spell that sends them all to the Enchanted Forest. There, they are not the happy family they once were, and only Henry remembers their life in Storybrooke. He must figure out a way to get his moms to remember once more and to break the curse. Rated T.

A House Is Not A Home by coalitiongirl

Peter Pan managed to cast his curse on Storybrooke during Going Home. Six months later, the Swan-Mills family breaks the curse and discovers that they'd never been a family at all; that Emma and Regina had never fallen in love; and that they can't quite let go of the lie that had been their happy ending. Rated Mature. 

Exiled by SgtMac

To pay for her crimes, Regina accepts exile from Storybrooke. Five years later, on Henry's 16th birthday, Henry and Emma find her. Rated T.

Heroes And Lovers by trixwitch

When the Author writes everyone into his reversed world of "Heroes and Villains," Emma Swan is the only one to retain her memories. She shows up in the Enchanted Forest with no idea what's happening, and eventually runs into Bandit Regina. The Queen's knights attack at that moment, and Emma is badly wounded. Regina takes her back to her camp to care for her, and when Emma wakes up, things between them start to change. Will Emma respond to Bandit Regina's clear interest in her? Will she find a way to break out of this cursed book? Will they be able to find Henry? Rated Mature.

When I See You Again by MadameMayorRM

Henry and Emma are happy in the new life Regina gave them before destroying Pan's curse, sending all Storybrooke's residents back to the Enchanted Forest. Everything is fine until the night Henry begins dreaming about a brown eyed woman. Who is she? Is she real? Henry intends to find out. Rated T. 

How To Make A Monster by Velace

Regina decides to make amends after upsetting the Savior. What she doesn't realise is that in doing so, she finds the key to Emma's heart – food. Takes place after they return from Neverland. Rated Mature. 

It’s All In The Planning by terribledorkness

Zelena and Henry team up for a little matchmaking after wish-verse Robin leaves with the Evil Queen, and Emma gets engaged to Hook. The results, are of course, wonderfully disastrous. Rated Teen and Up.

The World’s You Never See by writetherest

The lives I'll never lead / Couldn't make me sing / Could they? Could they? Could they? / As soon as she had stepped through the doorway, the door closed tightly. And only then, with Regina inside, did the lines, curves, and swirls shift and move, assembling themselves into words within the heart. 'The Road You Didn't Take'. Rated T.

Storybrooke Singles by coalitiongirl

In which Zelena runs a dating agency and uses Emma Swan as her charity case. Rated Mature.

It Was Always You by trixwitch

Emma dated a woman in New York who reminded her of Regina (although she didn't know it at the time), and when she gets back to Storybrooke, she realizes her feelings were always about Regina. Regina, in the meantime, senses that something has changed between her and Emma, and wants to know what. Rated Teen and Up. 

About Last Night by JuiceCup

Emma and Regina wake up in bed together the morning after their plan to be drinking buddies. Rated Mature. 

The Debt by Scribes And Scrolls

Set just after the curse breaks, Emma hunts down Regina, who is preparing to flee. Sparks will fly. Rated M. 

Curse You And Your Dinner by highheelsandchocolate

Absorbing an evil curse into your bloodstream has a few side effects that no one was expecting, least of all Regina. Rated M. 

We’re Nothing More Than Dust Jackets by coalitiongirl

A queen takes her revenge, a savior is hidden away, and a dark curse is cast. You’ve read this story a dozen times. But this time, Regina Mills wakes up with a book titled Emma, and Emma Swan is found wrapped in a baby blanket with her tiny fingers wrapped around a book titled Regina. As time passes, their counterpart’s story unfolds within the books; and for twenty-eight years, the two follow each other's lives from afar until the day a little boy runs away from home to find his birth mother... Rated Mature. 

Incoming Messages by hunnyfresh

Ruby makes Emma a dating profile. The only catch is that she's listed as a guy. That wouldn't be such a problem if Emma hadn't found Regina's profile and begins communicating with the Mayor. Rated M. 

In The Velvet Darkness by devje

Emma Swan wakes up alone. Completely alone. Rated Explicit. 

Wayward Daughters by RowArk

When a magical mishap turns both Emma and Regina back into teenagers, they stay with the Charmings while the rebel Emma teaches the refined princess Regina how to have fun, and a teenage romance blossoms along the way. Rated T.  

Bring Her Home by SQ_RoundRobin

Cora’s dead. Henry lives with the Charmings. Regina continues spiraling through grief and loss and hatred. Then Emma suddenly falls unconscious and Henry shows up at Regina's door because he needs her help to bring Emma back. Reluctantly, Regina embarks on a wild swan chase through Emma’s mind, a whirlwind of ‘roads‐less‐traveled’ and ‘what‐ifs’ and ‘might‐have‐beens’, in order to bring her home. Rated Teen and Up. 

Forget Me Not by SinkOrFly

Tired of feeling heartbroken after Robin's death, Regina takes a Forgetting Potion to eradicate all memories of her True Love. However, things don't go to plan as she can still remember Robin, but has no idea who the blonde sheriff, who goes by the name of 'Emma Swan', is. Rated T. 

Being Miss Mills by Ultraboy181

The Final Battle is over. Everyone has started to get on with their lives. But when the Savior vanishes it's up to her family to find her. But Emma is closer than they think. Rated M.

Villains Don’t Get Happy Endings by lizardmm

It had been her sacrifice—the price she had to pay. Save everyone she had cursed for 28 years while simultaneously losing the one person she loved the most. Villains, after all, didn't get a Happy Ending. That was reserved for Princesses and Saviors. A 'what if' story where it's Regina, not Hook, who visits Emma in NYC at the beginning of 3B. Rated M. 

Bait And Switch by JuiceCup

Henry Mills is sick and tired of his mothers skating around the truth and not realizing that they are perfect for each other and that they belong together. So he has a plan to bring them together and convinces his grandmother to help. Rated Mature.   

Return To Storybrooke by MadameCissy

Emma begins having dreams in which she sees a dark stranger who knows her name. When Henry begins to talk about a place called Storybrooke, Emma is convinced her son is making things up. But who is the woman in her dreams who keeps calling her and why does Emma feel she has somehow seen her before? Rated T. 

Whatever This Is by afictionado

Emma thinks she and Regina are becoming friends, and it's... weird. Rated Mature. 

The Queen And Her Lady by StarvingLunatic

Regina is in a dark place after the death of her mother and Henry walking away from her. She locks herself away in her house, shutting out the world. She is ready to completely give up when an injured puppy ends up in her backyard. She saves the puppy ... or maybe the puppy saves her. Rated T. 

How A Dress Changed Everything by hope2x

In an act of desperation, Regina casts a spell that takes her back to the day Henry leaves for Boston. She wants to keep Emma from ever entering Storybrooke, but when she takes Henry's place, she finds herself completely unprepared for the woman who answers the door. Regina has a chance to do it all again, but no matter what, she can't escape one fact. All magic comes with a price. Rated M. 

Chasing Henry by starsthatburn

Tired of the tricks and lies of both of his mothers, Henry follows the dwarves, Red and Granny when they use Tiny's magic beans to return themselves to their old land. Emma and Regina both chase after him, and they reluctantly travel together through the Enchanted Forest in order to find him and bring him back home safely. Rated M. 

For Henry by AdmHawthorne

Regina broods over what she dislikes about Emma Swan while she makes her morning coffee only to be confronted by the sheriff moments later. The morning ends with Emma showing insight, Regina showing a crack in her armor, and the potential for something more to happen for both of them. Rated T. 

Amor Fati by coalitiongirl

Just days after Emma announces her engagement, Regina is found in her vault without any memory of the past five seasons. The newly returned Mayor Mills is caustic, scheming, unnerved by her own future, and loves only Henry– and she might see more clearly than anyone around her.

Then again, that might not be for the best. Rated Mature. 

A Dark Ocean by chilly_flame

When Regina is injured in an accident, Emma steps in to assist. Rated Mature. 

Approximately 525, 600 Minutes by Reighne

Regina wakes up with a wedding ring on her finger, and a panicking Sheriff on the phone. Set approximately six months after Zelena, and assumes that the Frozen story arc has also been completed. Henry has moved back in with Regina. Rated M. 

Conviction by Velace

When Queen Regina discovered Snow White and Prince Charming had sent their child to another land, she decided not to enact the Dark Curse. Twenty-two years later, Emma Swan awoke in the Enchanted Forest. Thankful for the escape from the horrors of her previous life, she decided to embrace the new and found herself among the Evil Queen's Guard three years later. Rated Explicit. 

If The Blazer Fits by FlyYouFools(MK47)

Emma decides to dress up like Regina for a Halloween party at The Rabbit Hole, a seemingly innocent decision that surprisingly leads to a relationship. The romance is openly feared by some and secretly despised by an unlikely source, who plots to end it. Rated Mature. 

Que Sera, Sera by Velace

For months, Regina has tried to find a way to save Emma. Tasked with delivering yet another hope speech, as the Dark One refuses to listen to anyone else, she realizes she has none to give and Emma finally opens up. Rated Explicit. 

A Queen Without Power by Caroline

It was difficult to describe, but in a way... she felt connected to Regina now. They had been at each other's throats consistently since her arrival in Storybrooke and yet she felt the most unusual pull to her. Rated T. 

Operation Wings by Dakota829Snow

There's only one way for Tinkerbell to earn back her wings: complete the task of finding Regina's soul mate. Rated M. Only available on Dropbox, you will need an account to view correctly. 

A ‘Second’ Chance by MacNorthSea

"You did this," were the words that Regina spoke to Emma when she lost her happiness one more time. Could Emma somehow fix their tentative friendship and forge something new, perhaps stronger? Or were they fated to always be enemies? As Emma needed to go to New York to deal with things, Henry suggested they all took a break from Storybrooke, just not in those words... Rated T. 

Many Miles To Avalon by wistfulwatcher

When Emma is pulled from her happy life in New York to help save her family in the Enchanted Forest, she embarks on a journey to Camelot with Regina, Snow, and Henry to find Merlin's Twin Blades and stop a deadly threat. But a single savior cannot wield two swords and as their quest unfolds Emma and Regina begin to discover just how much more powerful they are together than apart. Rated M. 

Tame The Dragon by morshon

Emma finally comes up with the perfect plan to get Regina to go on a date with her: Ask. Now she just needs her to say yes. Takes place in a happy future post-cora and with a more mature Henry who doesn't hate his mom. Rated M. 

For Too Long by Velace

Six Months after their return to the Enchanted Forest, Regina and Emma have developed an odd sort of friendship. Regina is the Advisor to King and Queen (Charming and Snow) and Emma Swan is a... less than traditional Princess who disappears for weeks on end with the once Evil Queen. Rated Mature. 

Static by WaywardCharlie

After being tortured by Greg, then using just about all her magical strength to stop the trigger, Regina's magic has become unstable. She locks herself away in her house, refusing to let anyone help. Plagued by accidents, forced to endure nightmares and relive memories her magic keeps thrusting upon her, will this be what breaks her? Rated M.

So Does This Make Us Both The Other Woman? by coalitiongirl

Set after 3b in a peaceful Storybrooke where Regina is with Robin and Emma's fallen into a relationship with Hook.

Shame about all that subtext that's rapidly threatening to become text. Rated Teen and Up. 

Starting Over Again by AdmHawthorne

Regina has to to decide, if she had the opportunity to come at life with a clean slate, would she? Her decision changes everything. Rated T. 

Destiny Is The Rabbit Hole by MaggieMerc

Henry begging Regina to rescue Snow White and Emma from the Enchanted Forest in the season 2 premiere sets the formerly evil queen on a quest that takes her from the mountains of the Middle Kingdom to the pirate lair of a serial killer and straight into conflict with her own villain, the Queen of Hearts. Rated T. 

Back To The Start by withgirl

After trying to stop the trigger, Regina finds herself back in the Pilot, but with her knowledge of the future, how will she do things differently? Rated T. 

The Queen’s Favour by anamatics

The queen's favor is given to few, even fewer when the queen has a reputation for being heartless and cruel. A traveler has been having dreams about searching for something that no longer exists in this world, except where you least expect to find it. Rated T.

Hide and Seek by absedarian

Regina realizes some things in Neverland, all of which lead her to the conclusion that she doesn't want to stand in the way of what she thinks is Henry's and Emma's happy ending. She decides to leave but is that really what they want? And why is Snow suddenly acting strange? Rated M. 

The Last Resort by Dakota829Snow

When Snow realizes Gold is after Regina and Emma's truelove children, the family will do anything to keep them safe-including sending them back in time to the care of their former selves. Rated K+. Only available on Dropbox, you will need an account to view correctly. 

When Magic Collides by BlueHoneyBee

It all started off as a simple dinner to keep Emma out of the rain, and before she knew it, Regina's life had completely turned upside down. Rated M. 

Love Of The Lost by hope2x

No matter what Regina does, Henry just clings to the dream of a perfect life for himself & who he believes his "real" family to be. So when another child is in need of the love Regina has to give, is it wrong to allow herself that chance at happiness? As some relationships crumble and fall, others bloom & start to grow & everyone learns that happy endings are never what they seem. Rated T. 

The Games by edean13

Regina is a single Queen leading her lands with no problem; her court thinks she needs to marry. So, she suggests a competition for her hand. What happens when the White Kingdom enters their little princess, Princess Emma? Rated T. 

The Wrong Way by pcworth

Zelena offers Regina a chance to go back in time with her to change both of their lives for the better. But will Regina do it or can she find something else in her life to make her see the positives. Rated M. 

Break Yourself Against My Stones by Sinmora

Mary Margaret and David get sucked into the portal instead of Emma. Emma agrees to protect Regina from the citizens of Storybrooke as long as she agrees to help her get her parents back, and finds an unexpected friend and ally in the mayor. Rated M. 

By Process Of Elimination by hope2x

Always competing, Emma and Regina find themselves getting just a bit carried away one night. In the morning both are shocked to find their situation has changed and in a town with magic, not everything is so easily fixed. The two suddenly have to find some way to get along before one does't make it out alive. Rated M. 

Penance by SgtMac

Ten years ago, Regina was kidnapped by the Home Office, and put through three years of torture. When she finally returns home, she's been dramatically changed - both mentally and physically. With the HO threatening to return for her, it will be the ties she has to her son and the rest of her family that will keep her strong. Rated T.

The Color Red by Sinmora

When Emma and Hook get sucked into the time portal, they change the timeline far more than they could have imagined and return to a far different Storybrooke. Can Emma set things right before her best friend loses her True Love forever? Would she sacrifice her own chance at happiness to make things right again and bring back the Storybrooke she left? Rated M.

Safe by SgtMac

Afraid of what she'll do to Snow, Emma and Henry kidnap an enraged and heartbroken Regina and take her out of Storybrooke so that she can heal in a place without magic. Along the way, they help each other deal with the traumas and mistakes of their pasts and move towards a possible future together as a family. Rated T. 

A Trail Of Destruction by starsthatburn

A hostage situation in City Hall leaves behind a battered, broken sheriff, and a mayor wracked with guilt. Rated M. 

The Secret’s In The Telling by pyrophoric

"It's the sixth of October. A pivotal moment in Storybrooke's history and the turning point in Regina Mills' life. And it all began with a spell, a Sheriff, and a thief."  Rated T. 

Double Trouble by sea-ess-eye

Teenage versions of Emma and Regina appear in Storybrooke and to everyone's surprise the girls hit it off immediately... Rated M.

The following fics are all based in an alternate universe:

In Search Of A Queen by RavensDarkness

Emma Swan is the princess and heir to the largest and most wealth kingdom in FTL. She wants for nothing, except a wife who will love her for more than just her title and will be a true co-ruler. To escape an arranged marriage, Emma flees to the realm of earth with her best friend Killian Jones, to find her queen. Disguised as a foreign student working as a janitor, she falls for Regina but struggles with revealing her true identity. Rated Teen and Up.

Keep The Wolves Outside By Living Well by amycarey

An under-qualified nanny. A troubled child. A mysterious, prickly employer. A small town teeming with secrets. A love story. A ghost story. Rated Mature. 

Why Do We Fall, Emma? by BooklandReeve

Emma Swan is a guardian angel who just can't seem to get it right, and Henry Mills is her last chance before she gets reassigned to guard duty. Henry Mills is a smart kid in a small town with a big mouth, a bigger imagination, and an iron will so unshakable that his last guardian quit in protest. Regina Mills... isn't exactly something Emma is prepared to deal with. Rated Teen and Up.   

The Proposal: SQ Style by Forbidden-savior

Meet Regina: She has a problem. Meet Emma: She's the solution to that problem. The Proposal with a SwanQueen twist. Rated T. 

The Art Of Being Extraordinary by purplehershey

Henry, age 23, decides to give the crowd what they want, what they really want. A story. So he tells them the only one he knows: the greatest love story of all time, and it just so happens, that this love story is his mothers'. Henry's on and off POV. Rated T. 

An Impractical Affliction by kirkmills

Love in the Swan family is a little difficult, thanks to their ancestor Maria's curse, and none know it better than Emma Swan. All Emma wants is a quiet life and to finally be free from heartbreak, but loving a Swan woman is a dangerous thing, and unfortunately for Emma there's a little boy and a beautiful woman in her life who seem determined to do just that. Rated M.

Educating Emma by Bond.Jane

Emma finds it difficult to adapt to the White court: She has her foot permanently in her mouth, the manners of a peasant and a family that covets Snow's throne is out to eliminate her. There is only one person capable of teaching Emma what she needs to survive: the very same Regina Snow has kept secretly imprisoned for the last year. Rated T. 

When Swanprincess Met EvilQueen101 by amycarey

Emma Swan never expected her vlog to take off like it did, but she likes the community and occasionally getting drunk and ranting into a camera is a decent way to make a bit of cash. Regina Mills films a rather higher class of vlog, a chance to be creative after days working analysing bacteria samples in a lab and to discuss day-to-day life as a single mom. When Regina has a bad day and posts a video she immediately regrets, she doesn’t expect for it to become as notorious as it does, and she vows to destroy the person who popularised her deeply embarrassing rant, some idiot known as 'swanprincess'.

But when rumours spread about sexual harassment in the Boston YouTube community, the pair may be forced to put aside their differences and work together. Rated Mature. 

Sequestered by I.heart.mean.girls

The curse is still in place and Henry has yet to go searching for his birth mother. Regina is forced to leave Storybrooke following an unexpected event, and meets Emma. What would have happened if Emma and Regina hadn't gotten off on the wrong foot? Rated M.

The Bucket List by hunnyfresh

Regina Mills is in the midst of a midlife crisis where she finds herself doing the same things every day. After creating a bucket list, her best friend of twenty years, Emma Swan, seeks to help her complete the list, though they both cross off more than they expected. Rated M.

Teaching Miss Mills by HelveticaBrown

Emma is a gym teacher, who moves to Storybrooke Academy after becoming disenchanted with her job back in Boston. Regina Mills is the Head of English who Emma somehow seems to keep having run-ins with, despite the best of intentions. Along the way, Emma adjusts to life in a small town, gets her teaching mojo back, and gradually grows closer to Regina. Rated Mature. 

Dangerous Desires by SwanQueenUK

New paramedic, Regina Mills, catches the eye of firefighter, Emma Swan, when she joins the ranks of Firehouse 7 in Boston. Dangerous situations, high risk jobs, forbidden relationships and pent up emotions swirl together for a slow burn SwanQueen (pun intended). Rated M.

Send Up A Signal by coalitiongirl

Emma Swan is catapulted into stardom, the newest lead actress on a sanitized show featuring modern fairytales. Regina Mills is a long-undermined star with a chip on her shoulder and a thousand reasons why she's invested. Naturally, they loathe each other on sight. Rated Mature. 

Shadow Haven by Delirious-Comfort

Emma Swan is a PR agent who is sent on a holiday by her boss. Regina Mills is the owner of a private island named Shadow Haven. There is more to Regina than initially meets the eye. This story dips heavily into the BDSM subculture. Rated M.

Coffee To Go by unicyclehippo

Emma is new in town with her young son Henry. She runs into a certain dark-haired woman at the diner and decides, quite abruptly, that there is no one else for her in the whole wide world. I mean, no one ever said love made sense. Especially not when you can barely speak around the Mayor, let alone profess your love. Rated T. 

[darnedchild]

A Royal Surprise

Geeeet dressed, you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! For it is Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Day!  (A wee bit of an MJN reunion, set at least a year after ‘Zurich’)

@strangelock221b suggested having a Fandom Christmas in July thingy, and I thought “Heck yeah, I want to do a thing for that.”  And then she put out a list of potential prompts and I though “Double heck yeah!” So here is a little ficlet that sort of used prompt #3 - going home to see the folks, and #9 - a surprise stocking stuffer.

Thanks to @lilsherlockian1975 for looking this over for me.

Also on FFdotNet and Ao3, if you’d like to leave a comment/review somewhere.

A Royal Surprise

“Fitton Tower, this is Tango Golf Bravo Charlie established on the ILS.”

“Roger, Tango Golf Bravo Charlie.  Runway three-six clear to land.”

“Roger.  Clear to land, three-six.”

“… Martin?”

“Hello, Karl.  Merry Christmas.”

இڿڰۣ-ڰۣ—

Carolyn heard the outer door to the departure lounge open and held up her hand to stop Arthur’s latest rambling flight of fancy.  “That will be George, he said he’d be coming by this afternoon.  Arthur, dear, please let him know we’re just finishing up.”

She’d barely had a chance to turn back to Herc and Douglas to wrap up the weekly scheduling brief, when Arthur’s excited voice rang out from the other room.

“Mum, it’s Martin and Theresa!”

Carolyn and the two pilots shared a look, then all three of them hurried into the portacabin after Arthur.

Martin was smoothing down his Swiss Airways First Officer’s uniform which had probably been ruffled up by an exuberant hug exactly like the one Arthur was subjecting Theresa to at the moment.

Arthur released her and spun around like an excited puppy who had only just discovered its tail.  “Douglas!  Look, it’s Martin and Theresa!”

“I had noticed that.  Hello, Martin.”  Douglas offered Theresa a charming smile.  “Lovely to see you as always, Princess.”

Theresa giggled, “Ever the flirt, Douglas.”

Herc stepped forward to shake Martin’s hand. “My old mates still treating you well?”

“Oh, God, yes.  Thank you for introducing me, by the way.”  Martin enthusiastically pumped Herc’s hand.  “How is life at OJS?”

“Superb,” Herc drawled, his voice low and smooth in a way that brought a hint of an embarrassed smile to Carolyn’s lips.

She rushed to change the subject.  “Not that it isn’t wonderful to see you both, but what brings you to Fitton this close to Christmas?  I thought you said you were planning to stay in Lichtenstein until January?”

“Plans changed.”  Theresa rolled her eyes.  “At the last moment, my mother decided to spend the holiday in the tropics.  My sisters saw that as a sign to go skiing and get as far away from Mother as possible.  Maxie was already planning to stay with the Sheikh of Qatar over the school break, so . . . We thought it would be nice to come visit Martin’s family.”

“The Sheikh of Qatar?” Arthur asked.  “I thought Maxie hated him.”

“He did,” Theresa confirmed.  “Then a new boy started at the beginning of the term, and he began picking on Maxie, really made my brother’s life miserable for a few days. Then the Sheikh stood up and said no one else got to speak to Maxie that way.  That my brother outranked the obnoxious little prince since Maxie was a King, and he could have the boy’s head cut off for treason.  Maxie and the Sheikh have been the best of friends ever since.”  

“Aww.”  Arthur’s expression softened and turned a little dopey.  “I love a happy ending.”

Martin took up the story.  “Since our original plans had been cancelled, I volunteered for the flight coming in today, got Theresa a seat, and here we are.”  He threw his hands out wide, the small gold band on his finger briefly flashed the sunlight coming through the portacabin window.

Arthur’s gasp filled the small room.  “You got married?  Without telling us?”

Martin and Theresa shared a soft look, then he reached for her hand.  “It was a spur of the moment thing.  Very informal.”

Her ring was small and discreet, befitting the bride of an airline pilot rather than the showy ring of a princess.  In a word, it was perfect for Theresa.

Carolyn gestured toward one of the pair of settees in the departure lounge, nicer than the worn pieces of furniture that had been in use when they had been known as MJN.  “Sit, please.  Tell us all about it.”

Theresa perched on the edge of a cushion with Martin standing at her side, grinning down at her.  Carolyn took the seat next to her, while Douglas and Arthur took the settee opposite.  Herc leaned against the wall.

“You may have heard that Mother got married,” Theresa began.  “For the third time.”

“Oh, like Mum!”

“That’s enough, Arthur.”  Carolyn gestured for Theresa to continue.  “You were saying, dear?”

“It was a bit of a circus, as you can imagine.  We were sitting at the rehearsal dinner and realized the Bishop was right there.  Maxie was looking for any excuse to stay up past his bedtime so he was more than happy to give his official royal blessing.  As if we needed it.”  Theresa cast a teasing wink up at her husband.

“It’s protocol.  It was just the proper thing to do.”  Martin flushed when everyone else gave him a knowing look.  “Our news got buried in the excitement of the Queen’s wedding.”

“We had planned to host a reception—which you all would have been invited to—after my mother returned from her honeymoon.  But she left nearly three months ago, and recently called to inform us that she’s enjoying herself with the Prince Consort and intends to spend the rest of the winter abroad.”  Theresa shrugged as if to say ‘She’s the Queen, what can you do?’

Martin reached for his wife’s hand and leaned down to kiss the back of it.  “It might be a bit awkward to have a party to formally announce the wedding at that point, considering . . .”

Theresa bit her lower lip as her free hand fell to her stomach.  

Douglas figured it out first.  “Oh well done, Martin.”

Arthur’s head swivelled between his current and former Captains.  “What did he do?”

Martin flushed even more.  “Well, I didn’t do it alone.  Obviously.  I mean, Theresa was there to-to, I mean-“

“Yes, Martin.  We understand what you mean.”  Thankfully, Carolyn was willing to put him out of his misery. “Congratulations, you two.”

Arthur held up his hands.  “I still don’t get it.”

“Theresa’s pregnant, Arthur,” Herc answered before anyone else could.  He’d always been patient with the younger man.  His way with Arthur had been one of the reasons Carolyn had finally agreed to marry him.

“Oh, wow.  That’s brilliant!”

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”  Martin couldn’t stop grinning.

“Does your family know yet?” Carolyn asked.

Martin shook his head.  “We got a little infant shirt that says ‘Granny’s Lil’ Pilot’ on the front, I’m going to try to sneak it into Mum’s stocking on Christmas morning when Cat and Simon come over to open presents.”

“Mother’s extended honeymoon gave us the chance we’ve been wanting, to be able to tell Martin’s family in person.”  Theresa squeezed Martin’s hand and then smiled at everyone else.  “So here we are.  Telling you.”

[overwatchworks]

Teammates Through and Through:

McCree head-canon Chapter 3, Part 3

Jesse didn’t have to go far to find who he was looking for, Ana turning a corner and not missing a beat in motioning for him to follow her after seeing his face and slouching posture. He followed the captain to an empty break room, Ana going over to the stove and placing a kettle on it, Jesse sitting on the counter.

“So, who do I need to hunt down?”

“H-huh?”

“Who made you upset?”

Jesse rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, Ana glancing at him with those intense honey-brow eyes of hers while she waited patiently for an answer.

“I...Ran inta someone from my past earlier on our mission.”

“And who was this particular someone?” Ana inquired, pulling two mugs from the cabinet and setting them in front of her.

“My...Uhm...My mother.” Jesse whispered, watching as the captain spooned ground tea leaves into the cups.

“And I’m guessing it didn’t go well.” Ana stated, Jesse bobbing his head and swallowing thickly before continuing.

“She left me when I was real young. At my uncle’s place. Horrible guy. Ended up havin’ ta run away from the orphanage after he was jailed, found Abuela, then I went to Deadlock after she passed.” Jesse told her softly, feeling completely vulnerable and quite honestly terrified by it. 

He had never told anyone about his past before, never trusted anyone enough, never thought they would care. Most of the time people didn’t, but Ana was different.

“What did you do when you saw your mother again?” Ana asked calmly, gazing at Jesse with her hands pressed against the lip of the counter, back hitting it from the way she was rested against it.

“I, uh, yelled at her an’ pulled a gun...” Jesse muttered through a small, nervous laugh, eyes cast down sheepishly. Scared to look up.

“Seems appropriate, considering the state she must have left you in.” Ana hummed, now pouring boiling water into the waiting mugs and stirring the contents a bit.

“Y-yeah, so...I kinda flipped out. Things had already been rough, an’ I had a bunch ‘a things eatin’ at me fer a while an’ it all just, ya know...Exploded. I panicked an’ I got upset, an’ I already don’t know what I’m doin’ with myself, an’ I feel like everythin’ just wants me ta stop this shit. Stop pretendin’ I can have it good when all I got set up fer me is shitty people an’ fucked up places. It’s not like that here, an’ I’m scared that it’s gonna just disappear like everythin’ else that’s good in my life.” Jesse blurted, everything spilling out once he had started. He sat in an uncomfortable silence after that, arms wrapping around his middle as he tried to make himself smaller.

“Jesse McCree. You have every right to be angry at the people who made you suffer. But you cannot believe that suffering is all you are going to get in life, and you cannot stay angry forever. It will only drag you down more. You were given a hard start to your life, one you didn’t deserve, but you made it through as a strong, kind, handsome, and determined young man. You deserve good things in your life Jesse, and I won’t lie to you, not all of them are going to stay. But most will, so long as you hold on to them.” 

“You have to hold on to the good things Jesse, because they will keep coming, we just have to wait for their time. You are a wonderful young man, and I will not stand by upon hearing you say otherwise. Good things will come, and you must be willing to let them happen. Do not forget the past, but you cannot fall back into it. Now drink your tea before it gets cold.”

Jesse stared at Ana for a long moment as she took a delicate sip of her tea, then he slowly took his own cup, staring down into it thoughtfully.

“Ya really think so...?” He asked quietly, Ana raising her brows and nodding.

“I know so. Now, I assume you’re suspended, right?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Alright. You can stay with Fareeha and I during the day, we’ll work on your aim and various weapons. And then some schooling.”

Jesse groaned, Ana shaking her head and laughing, patting the cowboy’s forearm consolingly.

“I assure you, my punishment will not be as severe as Gabe’s would be. Drink the rest of your tea, then get some rest, Jesse. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

--

As it turns out, Ana’s ‘punishment’ was far worse than anything Jesse could have imagined with Reyes.

“Ya do what now?” Jesse asked in exasperation for the fifth time, Fareeha pointing her pencil at the paper and jabbing the end at a number.

“You put that one at the bottom of the equation and multiply each of the top numbers by it!” She explained angrily, tapping her own finished problem and making Jesse groan.

“God, why is this so hard?! They’re just goddamn numbers! Yer just supposed ta count ‘em, not this multiplication shit!”

“Jesse McCree, you had better watch your mouth around my daughter.” Ana reprimanded, giving the cowboy a hard look as he grumbled and stared at his mostly empty page. He squinted a bit, then leaned back with an “oooooohhh,” scribbling down numbers and comparing his answer with Fareeha’s.

“Ha! Wasn’t even that hard.” Jesse chimed triumphantly, both mother and daughter giving him a flat look that he pointedly ignored, starting on the next equation with renewed vigor. Jesse had pretty much been put into homeschooling with Fareeha after practices with Gabe and Ana in the past two and a half weeks that he had been suspended, and he was actually enjoying himself, liking learning new things. 

He had dropped out of school when he was fourteen, so it seemed fair enough that he was picking back up at that level of education again. Jesse had finished his page with Fareeha, the both of them chatting excitedly about the mechanics of rocket jumping when Reyes walked into the commander’s commons room they were in with a sigh. 

The cowboy glanced up, the conversation halting as all three of them stared, the commander going over to the coffee machine and frowning, eyes darting around the room suspiciously.

“What?” He asked after a moment, Jesse raising a brow as Ana spoke what they were all thinking.

“You look terrible. What’s wrong?”

Reyes eyed Jesse and Fareeha, then sighed, shoulders slumping as he rubbed a hand over his face and tired eyes.

“This thing we’re working on...I’ve got all these top linguists here to figure out these damn messages we’ve been tracking, and what have I gotten? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! They’re supposed to be top of the line, and they can’t for the life of them place what these people are saying!” Reyes complained, rubbing his forehead in a mix of frustration and exhaustion. Ana hummed in disinterest, going back to her daughter and checking over her work.

“Maybe I should make you some tea instead of your coffee. You know how hard the caffeine is on your body.”

“Ana, caffeine is the only think that keeps this fine piece of art before you working. I’ll be damned before I let someone take it away from me.” Gabe grumbled, Jesse snorting as Fareeha hid her smile behind her hand, Ana shaking her head in disapproval.

“If you insist. Want me to come take a look at it for you, see if I can pick up on anything?” Ana tried, Reyes sighing and picking up his fragrant, steaming mug.

“You know what, yeah. Yeah, I’ll try anything at this point.”

Ana followed him out with a pointed look at Jesse and Fareeha both, telling them without words to stay where they were and not cause any trouble. The door shut gently behind the two, Jesse staring down at his page while Fareeha gazed up at him expectantly. He side-eyed her with a raised brow, trying his damndest to keep the smile off his face.

“What’cha want, Fairy?”

“Well, aren’t we going to follow them?!” She asked excitedly, bouncing a bit in place as she shook the cowboy’s arm.

“Easy now! Ya saw the look yer Momma gave us, didn’t ya?”

“Yeah...”

“That was the ‘stay here an’ don’t’—“

“‘Don’t go making trouble’ look, yeah.”

“So obviously we got some rules ta be breakin’. Come on!” Jesse told her as he jumped off the couch, Fareeha whooping and bounding after him with her fists in the air. The cowboy pressed a finger to his lips as he put his ear to the door, Fareeha nodding seriously and making a little zipping motion over her own lips before leaning in next to him to listen as well.

“I think we’re good, let’s go!” Jesse whispered, cracking the door open and peeking out before motioning to Fareeha to follow him.

“Do you know where they went Jesse?” The girl asked quietly, keeping light on her feet as Jesse grinned and nodded.

“A secret place fer decodin’ secret messages? Hell yeah I know.”

He walked in complete silence despite the spurs on his boots, having quickly learned how to be stealthy while keeping up the cowboy appearance, Fareeha trying her hardest to copy his movements. He smiled at the effort she was making, though it wasn’t quite as effective as Jesse’s stealth, all she needed was some practice and fine tuning-something she was getting plenty of while hanging around Jesse and sneaking about with him. 

They reached the room the cowboy had correctly assumed the commander and captain had gone, hearing muffled voices coming from both people and a recording from outside the door. Jesse motioned again to Fareeha, first waving towards himself, then again towards the floor, telling her to get low while he tried to listen to the voices. He squinted as he strained to catch syllables and sounds, frowning when he recognized the particular lilt and shaping of a few of them.

“Wait a minute...”

“Jesse...? What is it?” Fareeha whispered, eyes widening when his hand went to the keypad, quickly typing in a few numbers.

“Wait no stop! Mom’s gonna be mad if she finds out we’ve been snooping! This was not part of the plan Jesse!!” She whisper-shouted, the cowboy turning to her and giving a lopsided grin.

“Bail, I’ll take the blame!” He told her, and she scampered off with a nod as Jesse shooed her away, opening the door when she was safely out of sight.

“But I assure you commander, we will find—“ The linguist that was rambling cut off abruptly, everyone in the room turning to stare at the cowboy, and Jesse grinned at them.

“Boy howdy, I didn’t expect this room ta lead me ta some secret message decodin’ or anythin’. What a surprise this is!” He drawled, catching Reyes’ eye and grinning even wider at the way his jaw clenched, anger bubbling just under the surface.

“Agent McCree, if you do not remove yourself this instant I will personally see to it that you—“

“Play that message again fer me, will ya?” Jesse interrupted, knowing he was in for some serious punishment, though he hoped if he was right, this would lessen his suffering slightly. The linguists looked to Reyes, but he stayed quiet, eyes burning into Jesse as they hesitantly played the message again. 

Chatter started up mid-sentence, Jesse’s brows furrowing as he listened and the edge of a smile tugging at his lips, understanding every single word of it. The message ended abruptly, everyone gazing at him intently once more as he nodded, then burst out laughing. Jesse wrapped his arms around his middle, practically wheezing as he bent over because, seriously? This was what Reyes had been obsessing over for the past week?

“McCree, I swear to god if you don’t tell me what’s so funny, I’ll whip your ass into next month.” Reyes growled, Jesse holding up a finger as he gathered himself and straightened.

“Aw god, y’all gotta be kiddin’ me! This is what’s been stumpin’ ya fer a week? It’s Hokan!” Jesse told them, motioning with his hands when the linguists and commanders all gave him a blank look.

“Hokan! Here, listen again!”

Jesse played the message again, grinning the whole time, Gabe giving him a hard look before he shook his head and held out a hand from where they were crossed over his chest.

“Wait, you’re saying you know what they’re speaking?”

“That, an’ I can do ya one better, Jefe. I’ll translate it fer ya.”

Reyes watched him as the cowboy listened to the message once more, cackling again as he did.

“Okay, well, ya got two guys talkin’ there, an’ they ain’t happy ‘bout the newbies gettin’ all the pay an’ attention while they’re the ones slavin’ in the heat an’ keepin’ watch.” Jesse informed them, the commander raising a brow when he didn’t say any more.

“That’s it?! That’s what we’ve been fuckin’ losing out minds over?! Some guys complaining in this Hookey language?!”

“Hokan.” Jesse corrected, and Reyes rounded on him, pointing a finger to his chest.

“And you! Where the hell did you learn how to speak that?!” He raged, Jesse unable to keep the smile off his face as he raised his hands placidly.

“It’s a native language down in the desert, hardly ever used anymore. Kinda considered a dead language now, but they still speak it in a few places way deep in the southern deserts. I learned it while I was livin’ with a lady who had ancestors an’ family who spoke it, Hokan an’ a few others, that is.” He said with a little shrug, glancing at the awed faces around the room, and Reyes closed his eyes, turning with a deep breath and muttering something under his breath in Spanish.

“McCree.”

“Yes sir?”

“You’re officially not suspended anymore.”

“Yesssss!”

“But. But, you will still be receiving punishment for coming in here. Come with me.”

Reyes motioned and walked out the door, Jesse following after him as the agents in the room murmured among themselves. The cowboy trailed a few feet behind Gabe, waiting for him to say something, reprimand him, anything, but they ended up walking to the commander’s office in silence. When the door shut behind Jesse, he cleared his throat, taking off his hat and running the brim through his fingers, properly anxious now.

“Sir?”

“How many languages do you know, niño?” Reyes finally asked, sitting down at his desk and lacing his fingers together, gazing at Jesse over them.

“Uhhhh...Five. Spanish, English, Hokan, Penutian, and Uto-Aztecan.” Jesse nodded as he spoke, counting them off on his fingers as he listed them. Gabe’s brows rose in astonishment, and he leaned back in his seat, dark eyes drifting to the desk and flicking a bit as he thought.

“I don’t even know what the hell half of those are, but that’s still impressive. You catch on to them pretty fast?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. Ya learn enough ‘a them, ya find out the best way ta tack one down.”

“What?” Reyes deadpanned, confusion evident across his features, and Jesse smiled a bit as he shook his head.

“Yes sir, I think I can. Why do ya ask?”

The commander regarded him for another long moment, seemingly making up his mind as he leaned forward in his chair, Jesse tilting his head a bit. The cowboy raised his brows as Reyes slid a tablet towards him, pink cherry blossoms, a glittering city in the distance, and the word “Hanamura” pictured on it.

“How do you feel about learning some Japanese?”

~~

[taku-megu]

Isshiki had the same reaction and Souma was the one who confronted her. What does this mean!!!!!

Hello, Anon-san, thank you for reaching out.  I’ve always beenstruggling with writing and interpreting that I ended up wondering whether 

“This” = Isshiki’s reaction?  Soma’s reaction?  My postregarding Takumi’s reaction?  

After many days, a wordy+biased post toward the reactions of the threeboys is the best way I can think of to response, which is under thecut.

Let me warn that continue reading means you may have to put up with me missing thepoint / getting wrong impressions / questioning Takumi’s personality / likingSouma and Megumi’s friendship

_:(´ཀ`」∠):_

“Isshiki had the same reaction”

Isshik and Takumi.  Similar reactions, but different personalities and ways of doing things, and therefore different interpretations. 

Of all rebels, Isshiki knows Megumi the longest time, even longer than Souma, Takumi, and Erina.  He also has faith in her and Souma’s capabilities more than any other Polar Star residents.  As a senpai who has been watching her, caring about her, and having faith on her since junior high, he feels for her loss but at the same time he knows that she can take the loss.  Encouraging her is something can be done later on, after the 3rd bout, or even after the Regiment de Cuisine.  At this moment, at this place, as the vice/co-captain of the Rebel Team, his priority is what comes after the 3rd bout – the rest of the Regiment de Cuisine.  

He can definitely take one or two minutes to exchange a few words, but this is not his way of doing things.  Souma and Takumi are the ones who normally act spontaneously and speak on the spur of the moment, not him.  He tends to confront someone one-on-one without anyone else noticing.  His activities / schemes tend to happen secretly and then revealed afterward.  Instead of doing the same thing Souma did, having thoughtful interactions with just the two of them when the time comes suits his style more, if he indeed wants to that is.

And compared to Takumi’s reaction, he got one morepanel.  That moment when the result ofher match announced, that serious look on his face.  A serious look from someone who normallyremains cool and nonchalant regardless of the circumstance only means thesituation becomes dire enough for him to throw away his mask.  I certainly feel that her matchtriggered something within him and some imaginations sparked in my mind just onthese panels alone.  If there is anythingleft for me to look forward to in this manga, that would be a going-all-outIsshiki delivering substantial damage upon his next opponent.  It will be a bonus if the bond betweenIsshiki and Megumi is revealed to be stronger and more than what was shown, but it’s up to the author to decide.

“Souma was the one whoconfronted her”

Even though Erina and Hisako are the first Tootsuki girls Souma met during the entrance examination, Megumi is the first friend he made at Tootsuki.

Ever since then, Souma and Megumi have been doing many things, going different places, and meeting different people together.  Megumi is one of Souma’s closest friends who know Souma well and vice versa.  

During their unofficial Shokugeki against Shinomiya, an important ordeal that they went through together, he got to see her cryings (which she avoids to do in front of her Polar Star friends) and got to taste the frustration from losing a match that comes with serious consequences, something different from his casual matches against his dad.  Of all SnS chefs, he is actually the one getting the biggest record of on/off-screen defeats (to his dad Jouichirou, Shinomiya, Hayama, Eishi, and Megishima)  So when Megumi lost to Momo, of all people, he knows her fragile side and what it’s like to lose the most that it’s natural for him to check up on her right away and to think about how he understands her bitterness thereafter.  

Therefore regarding Souma being the first one facing Megumi, I’d say he did the right thing at the right time and I am happy to see that whether she wins or loses, he still cares about her as a friend.  Their trusting friendship is one thing that I appreciate about SnS and it is his reaction and monologue that helped me to cope with ch.240 and stopped me from hating the author even further.  

Takumi’s reaction is the one reaction that I want to scream “What does this mean!!!!!” to.

At first I thought he will say something to Megumi later on, but looking back, he is not the kind of guy who would hold back and wait until later.  

When Isami got eliminated in the Autumn Election preliminaries, he immediately put his hand on Isami’s shoulder to show emotional support.  

When Rentarō Kusunoki of Central insulted these couldn’t defeat him, he and Souma immediately stepped out and talked back. 

When Azami Nakumi was super excited about the upcoming Regiment de Cuisine, he immediately interrupted and stated that he shouldn’t act like he already won because the rebels will win for sure.  

Unlike Isshiki, when Takumi has something in his mind, he lets it out right away and without hesitation.  Which is why his lack of response makes me wonder. 

He has nothing to say?  Really?  Seriously?  

Or is there something serious enough for him to keep to himself for now or forever, since one thing that he didn’t show to anyone is the frustration and misery resulted from losing against Subaru and temporary leaving his Mezzaluna at Soma’s hand. 

What pierced through my heart though is that seemingly cold stare from him, which reminds me of Hojo judging Megumi and Nene telling Kuga to die.  Or is it just the way the artists draws that caused misunderstanding.  

Rather than imaginations, his panels raise questions.  One would expect that he knows her and trained with her long enough to care about her as a friend at the very least, to react similarly as the Polar Star members / Erina, especially after their teamwork being showcased.   

But then again, his character changed a lot since the Azami arc.  He seems to becoming more mature not to reveal his emotion as easily as before that maybe he is indeed holding back.  It’s hard to predict whether there will be anything else coming later.

In the end, while Isshiki’s reaction gives me something tolook forward to in future chapters and Souma’s reaction helps me to cope withthis betrayal from the author, Takumi’s reaction brings me insanity.

You are not the only one saying What does it mean, Anon-San.  I want to know What does it mean as well and thank you for the opportunity for me to ramble about it.