#will go on until kinda late and i will prob stop for a few hours because gotta cook for everyone here but then i might continue

[turrondeluxe]

[biteyoubiteme]

late shift

fem!reader x bangchan

synopsis: you and your virgin coworker Chan share a bed. 

warnings:🔞 !!! virgin!chan, whiny!chan, oral (m!rec), orgasm denial (m!rec), size kink if you squint, dom(ish) reader, praise, no protection, creampie, one bed trope, prob forgot some

wc: 3.77k

an: my first request! Thank you for submitting hope i did it justice lol also i lost the request i dont know where it went ;-; but i think i got everything you asked for

I used the line about ‘inviting someone back for ramen at your place’ synonymously with the term 'netflix and chill' I'm pretty sure that's the way the line is used in Korea. Correct me if I'm wrong lol. Anyways feedback appreciated :)) not proof read sorry! [m.list] 

You've been at your current job for a few years and every other Friday you and your coworkers go out for a drink or dinner depending on how heavy the workload had been the previous weeks. This Friday was one of those times, only most of your coworkers had taken a work trip to help secure a big account. The office was basically empty around the end of the day now, only your office light and the office across the hall was on. Chan, the owner of the space in front of yours, could be seen typing on his computer through the glass, one of the few who had opted out of the trip to be able to leave earlier. Only both of you hadn't been leaving the office at reasonable times even if it had been promised. your days were still just as long only now you were picking up the other's work while they were gone. it was a shit deal but neither of you would complain, too shy to bring it up to your boss who did in fact keep his word on letting himself out early. 

rubbing at your eyes you power off your laptop after looking at the time. if you didn't leave now to catch a streetcar you would have to walk home and you were too drained to do that. you start to pack up your things and across the way, you can see Chan doing the same, probably set to move when you did. he was always nice enough to wait every night until you got off to walk you to the stop sign to wait for your ride before he went across the street to catch a streetcar headed in the opposite direction. even without your other coworkers, he was always smiling at you from across the way waving as you left to head home. 

As you slung your bag over your shoulder and headed to turn out the lights Chan was at the doorway giving a shy smile. “I'm a few seconds from collapsing on the floor and sleeping in my office,” 

“me too,” you flip off the lights, “and I'm starving I don't even think I have anything in my fridge,” 

Chan keeps pace with you as you make your way out of the building, reaching ahead of you to press the call elevator button “We could always keep the tradition going even if it's just the two of us, find a place for dinner?” 

“I don't know, not a lot of places are open at this hour and I want to eat on the couch and pass out,” you say hopping in after Chan when the elevator arrives. The space is small enough to have your elbows touching. Chan pressed the button for the lobby, “We could eat ramen at your place?” 

You are shocked to hear his suggestion and you assume he is too seeing at how he is bright red and stuttering, “No not like that- well kinda but just the food part- wait- I-,” he cuts himself off giving a flustered sigh, “I'm sorry i- we do not have to i'll just go home I'm sorry,” chan's rubbing at the back of his neck, ears red, eyes scrunched to avoid looking at anything at all because it would kill him to see your negative reaction. hell, it will kill him hearing you say no and push him away even if it was an innocent suggestion in the first place. he really didn't mean it that way he only wanted to hang out because he liked you and now he's gone and ruined that with a suggestion he didn't even fully intend to say in that way. 

Your giggle fills the silent elevator and you bump your shoulder against his arm, “It's okay Channie, it's definitely a perfect idea, ramen sounds so good, anything warm will send me straight to bed,” You find it cute how flustered he gets around the topic of sex. drinks out with coworkers leading to his confession months ago that he was inexperienced in bed, the flush on his cheeks as he begged the others not to ask him dirty questions. 

please you're joking Chan there is no way you haven't had sex yet! your defense of him that night only makes him like you more, who cares anyway? We should not be sharing bedroom talk with our coworkers. To know you are all kiss and tellers is an explanation enough as to why none of you get any when we go to bars. The conversation moved past Chan's Confession to laughs about how their coworkers had in fact picked up ladies from bars before. Chan had been thankful but the next morning when he remembered sharing he was a virgin in front of his crush was mortifying but you never brought it up again. 

you didn't really care that Chan was a virgin, finding out didn't make you like him any less than you already did. even if Chan had been asking to go back to your place to have sex you don’t think you would have turned him down. for as long as you worked in the office across from him you couldn't help but think about asking him out just the two of you but you had witnessed Chan turn someone down before in the breakroom. The way he smiled so sweetly as he said he didn't really like to date coworkers made you try and push the image of the two of you together away. you were friends and inviting him over was something friends did. 

“There is a convenience store across from my apartment, works out great,” you smile once you leave the elevator, “it won't be too late for you to head back home later?” 

“no northbound street cars run another lap, unlike the southbound ones I should make the last one,” the two of you ride to your place with polite small talk, and when you get off you cross the street to the store to pick up your dinner. 

It's the first time Chan has been in your small place, the one you haven't upgraded since you were in college because you didn't see the need for any more room but with Chan in the living room taking up most of the couch you wish you had. Both of you seated watching TV had your legs pressed together from the hip to the knee, his body heat overwhelmingly comfortable as you ate dinner. 

Neither of you realized you were beginning to fade, eyelids heavy as you tried to blink away sleep. When you realized you had dozed off, the TV was playing a movie that neither of you had put on, your head resting on Chan as he slumped over the armrest of the couch. you pick up your phone to check the time, the movement waking Chan up, “oh no it's so late,” you yawn pulling yourself up, “The last streetcar left an hour ago,” 

“shit,” Chan yawns, stretching out still in his button-up shirt, he had taken off his work coat when he came in but this was nothing he could sleep in. 

“it's okay you can stay but I have nothing for you to wear,” 

“I can walk it's okay-“

“You will not be walking all the way home. it's fine you can sleep in my bed I don't even think the couch is long enough for me to stretch out all the way,” 

“Then where will you sleep?” 

“the floor, it's okay,” you say waving him away to check to make sure your room is clean of clothes on the floor. you wave him over as he shakes his head, “No you're not sleeping on the floor in your own home, we can share I don't mind, or I'll Sleep on the floor,” 

“Fine, we can share,” You're too tired to argue, too tired to think about the fact that Chan is standing in the doorway as you turn around and pull out your oversized sleepshirt, shedding your work top and bra off. 

Chan is suddenly frozen fully awake watching you. He can only see your bare back turned to him, the image of your fingers unhooking your bra burned into his mind before you tug on the oversized shirt. but you're not done, the button of your work pants is undone, and at only sound in the room is the ripple of your zipper before you tug your pants down leaving you in your underwear. he cannot see them but he can see the outline through your white shirt, the black fabric hugging your ass as you pull the covers back to climb into the bed. “turn off the lights when you're ready,” your eyes already closed as you snuggle into the sheets. but Chan can't move. He is sure if you opened your eyes it would be very obvious that he was thinking about you lying in bed next to him almost naked. only two articles of fabric separating your completely naked form from him. 

he swallows the lump in his throat unbuttoning his work shirt, when it's gone he starts on his pants even taking them off to leave him in his underwear is enough to make him sigh. the pressure on his cock releasing just a bit but not enough to make him go soft. He's cursing at his body for making it so obvious he wants you. You're so natural at this, not even caring that he's climbing in bed next to you and he's a complete mess as he edges in on the far side of the bed trying not to make any contact at all as he turns the lamp off. 

in the dark, he tries to tell himself to calm down but it doesn't work, not when he can smell you on the sheets, when all he can think about is that if you touched yourself you would have to do it in this bed. 

You're not even thinking about anything besides falling asleep. You can hear Chan trying to get comfortable next to you, tossing and turning, the dip in the bed from his weight making you slide closer to him. you're barely touching him but he's gone still next to you, without thinking you roll your hips to try and pull away not wanting to make him uncomfortable but it does the opposite because you slide closer to him your ass pressed against his very prominent erection. 

if it wasn't for Chan's uneven breaths you would have thought he was asleep with how still and quiet he is. you wonder if you should pull away and ignore him, act like nothing was wrong, that you did not feel anything at all, and that you were asleep already and it was an accident. but the heat of him makes you wet, just the idea of rubbing back against him sends you into overdrive. you move your hips again to hear the soft whine Chan lets out, he's so close to your ear that it makes the sound amplified. 

Chan reaches out, his palm wrapping around your hip and you brush against him again. His whine is louder, a weak, “I'm Sorry,” mixed in with the sound. Chan's hips bump forward looking for more friction but you can tell he's trying to hold himself back with how hard he's holding you. “it's okay,” you whisper grinding back into his strained thrusts. 

“ill stop, I swear,” but he can't bring himself to listen to anything he says, the feel of your ass against him is so much better than when he ruts against his pillow at home. You're so warm, so firm, and he can't help himself. Chan's movements are jerky as he presses himself against you, the thin material of his underwear making him groan in annoyance. 

“You don't have to stop,” you mutter, encouraging him with each roll of your hips against him. “if you want I can use my hands,” 

The thought alone would have made Chan cum if he hadn't pulled himself away from you, rolling on his back and whining from denying himself. 

you sit up next to him, watching him squeeze his eyes shut, hair a mess on his forehead before he runs his hands through it grabbing the strands and pulling at them. He's panting hard, the rise and fall of his chest catching your attention. You've never seen Chan shirtless, you didn't know that underneath the suit he wears he is completely ripped. Your mouth waters with the need to lick him up and down, to kiss him, if he let you suck him off it would be a very good night. “If you don't want me to use my hands I could use my mouth,” Chan whines again, a weak thrust of his hips into the air at your words. you lean down until your lips are next to his ear, “If you don't want my mouth I could let you use me in other ways,” he's fully humping the air now, fists made in the sheets. 

“I don't- I've never…” he shakes his head finally opening his eyes. pupils were blown looking for you to understand, “I want to be good for you but I don't know how,” 

“I can show you,” your lips brushing his as you whisper it, “only if you want me to,” 

“I do!” he nods, “I want you, I've wanted you so fucking bad for too long,” 

you kiss him and he could shatter at the seams from finally getting to taste you. Chan has made out with people before, he knows he's a good kisser, what he's worried about is everything else. but with your lips on him, he's a little less worried. breaking the kiss you move to straddle his abdomen, kissing down his jaw as he throws his head back. He can't control his thrusts anymore, searching for friction where you're purposefully not giving him. “patience Channie,” you say between nips at his neck, his whines in response but you shake your head. “I know you're needy but it will feel better with foreplay,” 

he nods as you work down his collarbones, reaching his nipples as you slide down his body. you lick down his chest and abs, circling his navel and following a line down to his waistband. The cold air hits the line you've made down him and Chan moans at the feeling, goosebumps rising over his arms. He wants to touch you, peel your shirt away, and finally see more than just your bare back. almost as if you can read his thoughts you sit up placing your ass on his thighs before pulling off your shirt. nipples pebbling from the air, Chan's hands fisting the sheets so hard his knuckles are bloodless. 

“If you're good next time I'll let you lick me the way I did for you,” Chan whines almost painfully before you lean down moving back until you are face to face with his clothed bulge. already a dark spot on the fabric from his precum. “Let me know if you're about to cum okay?” 

Chan nods head lifting to watch as you lean forward and kiss over where he's straining in his underwear. his hips try to chase your mouth when you pull away and you tisk at him, “Patience Chan I shouldn't have to tell you twice,” 

“I can't help it,” he moans, your fingers hooked into the elastic around his waist pulling the fabric down his legs, his cock heavily slapping against his stomach. every vein prominent, ruddy tip swollen and begging to be kissed. you gather the spit in your mouth before letting it drop down against his length. If you are going to fit it in you're going to have to take the time to stretch yourself out so it won't hurt. For now, you wrap your hand around him, giving him a few shallow pumps, his moans of approval the only sound in the room. you let Chan thrust into your hand when he doesn't like your pace but you completely pull away when he says, “I'm going to cum im-“ he whines so loud at missing his release, your lips on his thigh as you use your hands to hold his hips back from coming up off the mattress. 

“no please, please I want to cum, please,” he begs, trying to rut in the air but you shake your head. 

“You have to wait pretty boy, you can hold out a little more right?” but he doesn't get to answer when you lick up his shaft, tongue swirling around his tip. 

Chan has never been so noisy in his life, he's never wanted, no needed, to cum so bad. when you fully take him into your mouth he sees spots in his vision, the coiling in his pelvis intensifying. he doesn't want to tell you but like you're sucking the words right out of him he whimpers, “cumming im-,” but it's ripped away from him again and he's on the verge of tears. he won't be able to last any longer not like this, when every brush of your fingers on him makes him twitch. he lets go of the death grips he has on the sheets pushing himself up be rolls the two of you over. 

you're shocked as he pins you down, his face pressed into your neck whimpers tickling your skin. “please, can I cum inside you?” his cock is rubbing against your covered center, and he can feel that the fabric is wet with your arousal, knows he must be doing something right when your soft moans come every time he rubs against your clit. 

you nod knowing you won't be able to say no to him, not when you want him this bad. “take my panties off,” Chan listened, not waiting a moment to follow your order. when they are gone he's stopped by the sight of you. laid out for him glistening, you reach down using two of your fingers to make a v pushing open more of yourself so he can see. Chan watches as you drag your fingers through your wetness, and whines as he watches you dip a finger into your entrance.“you listen so well Channie if you keep listening I'll let you taste me,” 

chans weak in the knees at your words, he wants nothing more than to please you, to hear you say nice things to him over and over, to finally let him sink into your warm heat. “please,” it's so quiet you almost miss it. 

“Grab your cock in your hand,” he does as you say, “then lean over me and run the length of you in my wetness kinda like you were doing before okay?” he nods and when he plants his hand next to your head he looks down to watch what he's doing. both of you moaning as he rubs against your clit, he could just stop here, he knows just this will make him cum without a second thought but you won't let him. “drag your tip down until it catches if you miss ill help you, okay?” 

but Chan doesn't need your help, the head of his cock prodding your entrance, his hips jerking knowing he's so close to feeling all of you, “you're doing so good,” you hum brushing your fingers through his hair, “slowly push in I won't be able to take it all unless you go slow,” 

Chan pushes in following your instructions. he's hardly in when he's shaking, you feel so fucking good, warm, and just right. he will never be able to imagine taking you while he's alone again, his hand won't cut it anymore, not after this. 

his moan is guttural as he fully seats himself inside you, your hips meeting his. chans so deep you can swear he's touching your womb, your hands wrap around his shoulders, both of you catching your breath, “you have to move slow, warm me up a little before you can trust harder,” Chan nods but he doesn't know if he will be able to last long enough to make himself go any faster. Your warm walls feel so fucking good he could cum without moving at all, but he slowly pulls out before sinking back in. You're so wet it's easy to find a steady pace. 

“Just like that Channie,” you moan and Chan whines at the praise, he wants to be perfect for you, as perfect as you've been for him and he can't control himself, his hips sinking hitting you deeper than you felt before. 

you moan loudly as he brushes your gummy stop making you see stars, “your hand, use your hand on my clit,” you whimper and when Chan's fingers find the perfect spot he feels you clench around him. he gives a shocked moan not realizing you could feel any better, his orgasm so close he presses his fingers harder against you, your shocked gasp music to his ears. you didn't think you would cum seeing as it was his first time but you're right on the cusp when you hear his pants, “I'm going to cum, please, I need to cum, let me cum in you,” he begs eyes watching where the two of you connect. 

“you've been so good to me,” your words making his stomach flex, balls tightening, and you can feel him twitch inside you, “cum for me Channie,” 

he cries out as he finishes, hot ropes of cum spilling inside you making you follow right after him. The fluttering of your cunt makes him whine sinking in deeper letting his body weight fall on you as he pumps more cum deep inside you. 

never has he cum so hard or this much, never did he think it would feel this amazing. 

Chans is lying on top of you, both of you sweaty and panting. your fingers comb his hair back from his forehead, scratching his scalp until he's humming. you can feel his softening cock inside you, his hips twitching every once in a while. Neither of you moves, only enjoying the feel of each other. “Did you mean what you said?” Chan asks and you scrunch your brows. “what?” 

“about next time? that there would be a next time.” 

you giggle pressing a kiss to his cheek, “Yes if you're good there will be a next time,” but you can feel Chan twitch inside you already growing hard again. 

[aajxs]

meant to be , s.g

synopsis - the one where you're in love and satoru doesn't realize until it's too late.

pairings - satoru gojo x fem!reader

contents - ANGST!!! , gojo is an asshole and y/n is too sweet for her own good , mentions of injuries and blood , major character death , prob ooc gojo

w/c - 1.8k

a/n - I got lazy asf at the end and didn't know how to finish this and I just needed it out of my drafts lol. this is kinda buns but I hope you enjoy it anyways!!

masterlist , part two .

There wasn't supposed to be any grade one curses on your mission. You were supposed to get in, exorcise the few grade three curses, and get out. 'You're strong, stronger than most, so why couldn't you beat them?' You thought to yourself as your back pressed into the concrete wall behind you. You had been sitting here for awhile, and the curses were long gone. You had beaten them up pretty badly, but you just weren't strong enough.

'Satoru could beat them, though. He's stronger than you ever will be.' Said that tiny voice in the back of your head, reminding you over and over again of your weakness.

You kept telling yourself that someone would come for you. Someone would realize you hadn't been at the school in awhile. Someone would come and find you. Maybe it was the false hope that was keeping you alive, maybe it was something else, you weren't sure. You were surprised you hadn't bled to death yet. It felt as if you had been staring aimlessly at the ground for days, yet it had probably only been an hour since the curses left you to die.

You felt a presence somewhere in the building and went to get up. Due to your weakened state you were unsure if it was a curse or another jujutsu sorcerer. You had one hand holding your bloody side, and another hand on the wall in a lousy attempt to get yourself off the cold ground. You cursed under your breath as you pushed yourself off the wall, forcing yourself to walk towards the suspicious presence. Your vision was blurry, you were bleeding from multiple places, and needless to say, you were going to need a new uniform if you even got out of here.

Your day was completely and utterly ruined. 'Not that it was going well in the first place.' You thought as you recalled the encounter you had with Satoru just a few hours prior to your mission.

"'Toru–" You happily began, but you were instantly cut off. "Don't call me that." Satoru irritatedly uttered as the two of you walked side by side through the halls. "Gosh, who pissed in your cereal?" You joked, letting out a small laugh as you purposely bumped shoulders with Gojo, making him give you an annoyed glance.

"Anyways, Satoru, I was wondering if you wanted to-" You began again, "No." He cut you off, quickening his pace. "I didn't even get to finish..?" You awkwardly said, your smile starting to disappear from your face. "Y/N, just leave me alone, I can't deal with you today." Satoru said, making you slow your steps. "What?" You frowned, "But we haven't talked all day?" You sadly uttered, bumping shoulders with him again, this time a bit softer.

He brushed you off his shoulder, "We don't have to talk every day." He said, obviously becoming irritated. "But we're best friends, why wouldn't we..?" You trailed off, confusion and sadness washing over you. When he didn't reply, you went to bump his shoulder again, but you were stopped by his infinity. "Why's your infinity on? You never have it up around me." Your frown deepened at the action. Did he really not want you around him that badly?

"I don't like you touching me Y/N, just go somewhere, I'm not in the mood for you right now." Satoru quietly said, "So you have to be in a certain mood to be a good friend?" You asked, growing more upset by the second, "You could just tell me that you're not feeling well and you don't want to talk right now, you don't have to be an asshole about it." You said, stopping in your tracks.

"I'm not feeling well and I don't want to talk to you right now." He said, his words laced with a mix of irritation and sarcasm. "Satoru if you don't want me around you just say that!" You said, making him abruptly turn to look at you. "I don't want you around me! Is it that hard to give me a little bit of space?! You're always right next to me, always bothering me to hang out with you!" Satoru snapped, "Well, did it ever occur to you that I don't want to hang out with you?! That I don't want to talk to you!?" He said, the hands that were once shoved into his pockets now balled up into fists.

Your lips parted in shock, and you stared at him for a few moments. "I didn't realize that was how you felt." You murmured, "I just-" Your voice cracked slightly, "Nevermind, 'm sorry I said anything." You apologized, attempting to blink back the tears that were forming in your eyes. Your shoulders lightly shook as you walked away, and you prayed he didn't notice your sobs. You didn't know why it hurt so much, it wasn't like it was the first time Satoru had said something along those lines to you.

You don't remember much after that, aside from the fact that you eyes still hurt from crying and Satoru didn't even try to make sure you were alright. On your way out you saw him playing around with Suguru and Shoko.

You let out a few more curse words before making your way towards the nearest wall. There was no use in checking out whatever or whoever had entered the building, you were going to die anyways. You knew your time would come eventually, but now? You're barely seventeen.

You leaned against the wall for a moment before giving in and sliding down the wall to the ground, your blood leaving a few marks along the way. You had barely felt any of your wounds due to shock, but now that the exhaustion was finally hitting you, your body started to hurt even worse than it had ten minutes ago. It wouldn't be long until you passed out from blood loss and finally met your end, you at least wish you could've gone out in a cool way.

You couldn't help the small cries you let out as you sat there, aching against a cold cement wall in an abandoned building. You're gonna die alone in some random, dirty building. You thought as your warm tears made their way down your battered cheeks. You heard the sound of rushed footsteps, and your immediate reaction was placing a hand over your mouth in a lousy attempt to quiet your sobs.

Your ears were ringing and everything around you was muffled, so you couldn't tell if what was approaching was far away or close to you. Your vision was blurred, and the tears only made it worse. In other words, you could barely see or hear a thing.

A hand abruptly grabbing your shoulder snapped you out of your own thoughts and triggered your fight or flight sense, aptly choosing fight. The hand that was once covering your mouth now clenched and pulled back into a weak fist. "It's me! Y/N, it's me!" A familiar voice said, making you slowly put your fist down.

You went back to your original position against the wall. Your eyes were droopy and you felt like you were going to fall asleep. "No– Y/N, stay awake!" The person said as they took your practically limp body into their arms. A hand reached to your face and began shakily wiping your tears, whispering curses under their breath as they cradled you.

"Satoru.." You mumbled, a weak smile appearing on your face. He perked up at your words, the hand that was wiping your tears now cupping your face. "Yes, it's me- Satoru, your Satoru!" Your Satoru. How you longed for those words to come out of his mouth for years. You know that's not what he means, though. You know he'll never be yours.

"Thought you didn't like me anymore, 'Toru..?" You weakly asked, tears still streaming down your face. "Fuck— I didn't mean that, you know I could never dislike you Y/N." He said, anxiety lacing his words. Your half-lidded eyes gazed at him with nothing but adoration, they always have. "I don't think 'm gonna make it, 'Toru." You tiredly said, offering him another weak grin.

"Don't say that! You can't leave," Satoru said, "You're important to me." A small frown appeared on his face as you let out a dry laugh. How could you be laughing at a time like this? "I don't get it," You began, "You've always said I'm important to you-" You cut yourself off with a cough, pain shooting throughout your entire body. "-But you always make me feel like 'm not worth your time." You said, blinking a few times to try and keep yourself awake.

"C'mon Y/N, none of that matters now," He said, his tone getting a bit louder, "Stop fucking talking and stay awake for me." Satoru pleaded, lightly tapping your face. If he could take back everything he ever did wrong to you, he would. "Satoru?" You asked, your voice cracked, the lump in your throat only growing with the pain in your body.

"I wanna go home, 'Toru." You cried, weakly gripping Satorus uniform. "You will go home. We jus' gotta wait for Kiyotaka to get here, 'nd we'll go home." He said before throwing his head back and biting his lip harshly, blinking back his tears.

Your side was throbbing, every other wound on your body was stinging. You looked sickly and if anybody saw you they'd assume you were a zombie. You and Satoru both knew that you couldn't live through this. "'Toru—" You began, a small hiccup erupting from your throat. "I love you, y'know that, right?" You uttered, licking your lips out of habit.

"I love you too," He admitted back, his cerulean eyes glossed over. "You're not allowed to die on me, Y/N." He frowned, his voice shaking and cracking every few words.

"I have one last request before I go–" You started, biting your lip when Satoru cut you off, "You're not leaving, don't say that!" He harshly said, his grip on your body tightening. "I'm weak, Satoru." You admit as you reach up to cup his face. He's not wearing those stupid glasses. You thought as you caressed his face gently, a smile appearing on your tear stained, battered face.

"Have I ever told you how pretty your eyes are, 'Toru?" You say, not failing to catch him off guard even in your last moments. He gives you a nod as he takes one of his hands and places it over your own. "Can you kiss me on the forehead? Like you always do?" You question as you blink away a few tears.

He places a gentle kiss on your forehead, his lips staying for a few moments, before hugging your body closer to him and tucking your head under his own. "Maybe in another life, I can be what you always wanted.." You mutter before closing your eyes. He could feel your body still, and finally let a couple tears run down his face.

It was never meant to be.

© AAJXS

[oneleggedflamingo]

I love your photos! Does Finland get snow a large part of the year? What is your average weather like? I've always wanted to see that part of the world and I thank you for giving me a small glimpse 🥰

Thanks for the ask! ^^ I can answer from the Central-Finland perspective. :D Wow, this got super long, I hope it is helpful. :'D

During some of recent years, the snow has only stuck from December on and stayed until the end of April. We have a week of lovely warm kind spring in April, and then suddenly we are hit with takatalvi/backwinter(?) and it rains up to half a meter of snow in one day. After that new snow melts off spring officially begins in first few days of May.

It is difficult to say what the average weather is like. We have 2-4 super cold stretches during the winter, when it is constantly -20 to -35 degrees of celsius, and in between those the temperature is from -5 to -20 degrees of celcius. And then there are some random +2 to -5 days through out the winter. November is the cloudiest month in my area, once I didn't see a single minute of sunshine from the constant overcast.

The spring days are peaceful and hopeful, and the temperature ranges from -4 to +10. During spring we have clear skies and the air is the driest it can be.

I'm not sure when spring officially changes into summer, maybe when the evenings are warm enough to wear a t-shirt? Maybe summer starts at the end of May?

You will never smell anything better, than the birch tree leaves at 3 to 4 am on the last days of May and first days of June. Seriously, no parfume, candle, lotion or soap matches it.

Some summers are rainy or very rainy, some are drier. We get 2-4 good lighting storms per summer. The day temperature is from +10 to +33. It only goes to + 33 on heatwaves, and down to + 10 on weird rainy stretches. On normal sunny days the temperature is from +19 to + 25.

During the strawberry picking season of 2021, it only rained once for 10 minutes during the work hours. It was a near constant heatwave. But during 2022, it started to rain almost everyday after 1 pm and it often rained a bit late at night, so it was very cold in the mornings. On some rainy days, it was + 10 at 5 am and + 14 at 1 pm, but when the rain stopped, the temperature would quickly rise and remain over + 20. The workers from Czech commented that the temperature of the rainy days felt like their winter (I'm not sure if they were joking or not :D)

I have loved every summer, I like the rains and the heatwaves, I love the sunny days and the cloudy ones. The warm soft wind in June feels kinda magical, there is something special about it.

The feel of autumn starts to creep in on last days of August. Eventhough September/syyskuu translates into autumn month, there are still some warm days (t-shirt and shorts weather) in September, but all of the evenings are cold. During September the air is most humid and the ground wetest.

I'm not sure when autumn turns to winter. October and November are cold, gray and dark. We get some snow in November, but usually not a lot, and it doesn't really stay. You start wearing wool socks and a thicker jacket in November, since the temperature is from -4 to +3. The true winter is probs from December to April.

In summary, spring is lovely, kind and safe, summer is lovely, kind and safe if you prepare for both rain and heat, early autumn is safe and fine, late autumn is depressive and evil and winter tries to kill you.

If you visit Finland I recommend spending your time in the countryside, cause Helsinki is only worth going to for a weekend trip. There is no silence, the air is filled with polution, you never smell anything good, and the ''city forests'' (in my area at least) feel like a scam, because of the constant loud traffic noise. Also you can only see one or two stars from the light pollution. Also the winter in cities is horrible for pedestrians, cause the sidewalks are either skating rinks or filled with thick icy slush.

[tinyjeanmarco]

Helloooo 🥺🥺 idk if ur into writing hurt+comfort but I’m in such a big fat mood to cry rn and there’s not a lot Porco angst out here... I was thinking along the lines of modern au and ur already in a relationship but ur incredibly insecure about urself and the relationship, but Porco reassures u in the end that he really does love u and goes out of his way to prove it <3

(I realize u likely won’t get this done tonight and I’ll probs be in a better mood tomorrow BUT it’s still true there isn’t a lot of Porco angst out there!!)

Also if u don’t write angst pls ignore this!! Thank you 💖💖

teddy (a hurt/comfort fic)

hello my darling!! i hope that you’re in a better mood now and don’t want to cry anymore! （＞д＜） remember that it’s okay to cry and to take care of yourself. your body loves you and you should show it just as much love. i do really love hurt/comfort fics! they always make me feel so soft in the comfort part. 🥺 i’ll do my best to write this! i think porco can be a real comforting boyfie that just cares so much about you. ♡ also sorry this was so late after your request, love. (｡ ́︿ ̀｡) i listened to idontwannabeyouanymore by billie eilish, and emotional anorexic by svavar knutur while i wrote this so you kinda get the vibe i was feeling while writing!

wc: 1,818

modern!porco x gn!reader

warnings: some angst, hurt/comfort, happy ending, i swear.

he’s just busy, you thought as you exited the coffee shop. you clutched the cup in your hand tighter as you checked your phone for what must have been the twentieth time that hour.

you texted your boyfriend, asking if he wanted to do something that day, but alas, it’s been a few hours and no response. you knew he had classes, but they should be done by now, meaning he was just ignoring you at this point.

no, he’s busy. you reminded yourself. yet, you weren’t sure how much longer you could buy that thought. you couldn’t tell if that was true anymore, or if it was just a way to keep your bad thoughts at bay.

you debated texting him again, but were worried that you would annoy him. maybe that was the issue in the first place; he saw your text and wanted a break from you, thus making him ignore you. it had already been nine months since you started dating, maybe he was annoyed with you.

you picked up your pace as you walked back to your apartment, no longer wanting to be around people, in case you broke down in some way. you knew it wasn’t the best to be alone when you felt like this, your friends telling you that getting out and doing things would take your mind off your anxious thoughts.

you couldn’t seem to text anyone to tell them you felt trapped.

stepping inside your apartment, you locked the door behind you and toed off your shoes before making your way to the bedroom. you tossed your keys on a table as you walked by.

your mind just kept racing faster the more you were alone with the silence that was suffocating you. the best course of action was to take a nap, you decided. so, you changed, and put on one of porco’s hoodies that he gave you.

yet, when you settled under the covers, sleep wouldn’t find you. your insecurities picked you apart down to the bone. at this point, you had felt like you were being drowned. it was so hard to swim in the fog that was your head.

your brain had managed to convince you that porco was tired of you, and it was on its way to make you think he would break up with you. in the back of your head, you knew this was false, yet it kept persisting. it wouldn’t leave you alone.

instead of ruminating about things you didn’t want to, you thought maybe putting on one of your sad music playlists would help quiet the thoughts, which, in hindsight was an okay idea at most. it really only served to upset you even more.

you didn’t even notice tears were leaking from your eyes until you found your nose was beginning to clog. you wiped at your eyes, and just cried harder.

you were trying so hard to be okay, but your insecurities would not leave you alone. you hated it so much. you just wished they would leave you alone. tired,  you were so tired of always feeling like not enough.

normally, you would communicate to porco about how you were feeling because communication and telling the other how you feel in a relationship is rule number one. yet, you were so convinced he didn’t want anything to do with you at the moment, so you refrained.

the only option left was to just keep crying until sleep somehow made its way to you.

a few hours later is when you woke up, thanks to the constant buzzing of your phone. why couldn’t everyone just leave you alone?

sighing, you did your best to wipe the sleep from your eyes before you squinted at your phone screen to see who was calling.

your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach. it was porco. what would he want? was he finally going to break it off? would he tell you that your texts got on his nerves so he needed space?

you decided you didn’t feel like answering it, not wanting to deal with whatever it is he had to tell you. you weren’t mad at him, you just didn’t want to be even more hurt than you were already. that means ignoring everything completely.

after the phone finally stopped ringing, you kept getting texts from him but you just put your phone on do not disturb and shut your eyes again.

you had fallen alseep again, but it didn’t last as long as earlier, because you happened to hear a soft knocking on your bedroom door. shooting up into a sitting position, you scanned your room for a nearby weapon. who the fuck was in your apartment?

the answer came when a gentle voice, which you didn’t want to hear, followed the knocks.

“baby? are you in there?” and ever so slowly, the door pushed open. your body felt like it was made of lead as he stepped into the room. you forgot you had given him the spare key.

“oh, were you asleep? i’m sorry if i woke you, sweetheart.” he made his way over to your bed and sat himself on the side of it.

“yeah, i was asleep. it’s fine though, i needed to wake up anyways.” you mumbled out. he nodded before speaking again.

“what’s got you down? and don’t tell me nothing because i know you only take naps when you’re upset or it’s exam week.” he reached a hand out to take yours, gently stroking the top of it with his thumb.

“are you tired of me?” you blurred out, not quite answering his question, but to porco, that was enough of an answer that he got what was going on.

“no, no, no, baby. why do you think that? talk to me, honey.” his other hand that was not in yours, reached up to gently cup your face, encouraging you to speak.

“i dunno, you had to be not answering my texts for a reason.” you sniffled, tears coming to your eyes again today. when would they just stop and let you be happy?

“i’m so sorry, baby. my phone died today after i got called in for an emergency shift at work, and i didn’t have a charger at work. i promise you, i’m not tired of you. i was thinking of you the whole time i was working. i’d rather be with you then at that dump.” he gave a small squeeze to your hand. you squeezed back.

you had felt a little of the weight lift off your heart at his words, but you had spent so long today just overthinking and assuming you were right. the sadness wasn’t going to go away immediately.

“i’m sorry i overthink so much and always make you deal with it.” he just tutted and crawled on the bed to plant himself right beside you, pulling you into his chest.

“don’t you dare apologize. you know i care about you and have no problem making you feel more comfortable.” you felt yourself melt at his words and sink into his embrace. with every word he spoke, the thoughts in your head got quieter and quieter.

you closed your eyes and just listened to his heartbeat for a second before saying anything else. one of his hands reached up to your face and wiped the last of the tears away.

“thank you, porco.” you sighed and snuggled in even closer.

“you don’t need to thank me, this is what i’m here for.” a kiss is pressed to the top of your head, and you feel him shift. “now, how about i run to get stuff to cook for you and we can spend the rest of the night in?”

“you don’t have to, pock. i’m okay with just ordering a pizza or something.” you turned to him and pressed a kiss onto his nose before connecting your lips together.

“but i wanna.” he mumbled into your lips, not wanting to break the kiss.

you eventually reluctantly agreed, and decided to hop in the shower to melt away the rest of the day’s stress as you waited for him to return. he promised it would only be fifteen minutes max that he’d be gone.

the hot water running down your back felt like heaven. you could feel the knots in your neck and shoulders just dissolve under the heat. you were okay, not like earlier when you were wrapped up in despair.

you still felt tired and a little numb from the thoughts that polluted your head that day, but at least you no longer felt the need to cry. now you just craved the touch and comfort of your boyfriend, whenever he returned.

as you were getting dressed after your shower, you heard porco call out that he had returned from his shopping adventure. pulling his hoodie back over your head, you shuffled out to where he was unloading the groceries he had purchased.

when he saw you, he hurried to grab something he set aside and made his way over to you.

he got you a giant, cuddly teddy bear and some of your favorite chocolate bars.

“what’s all this for?” you inquired.

“i got it for you, to help cheer you up and kind of apologize for being irresponsible.” he scratched the back of his neck, a light red dusting his cheeks.

“pock.. i don’t know what to say. you really didn’t have to do this.” you took the bear from his hands and hugged it close to you.

“but i really wanted to, and it’s to make up for you being sad. whenever i’m not around, you can just hug the bear and pretend it’s me.” he set the chocolate aside on the counter and went to pull you into a hug, effectively squishing the stuffed bear between your bodies.

“this bear will never live up to the expectations of cuddling with you, pock.” you let out a small chuckle.

“well, then i guess i’ll just have to be sure to cuddle you as much as i can.” he pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“you won’t hear me complaining.” you leaned into him and pressed your lips together, craving his affection. “now, please cook for me, baby. i’m really hungry.”

you tried to give him the best puppy eyes you could muster. he laughed and gave you another quick kiss before pulling away and turning to the rest of the things he bought.

“of course, just make sure you sit there looking pretty and i’ll get right to it.” you finally felt a big grin form on your face, finally relaxed.

you hated that you could get so sad and insecure sometimes, but porco understood you, he didn’t judge you. you could always trust him to pick up the broken pieces when you didn’t feel okay.

[kiwibirbs-library]

alrighty, these two are a bit simpler and not as long. Maybe a one shot where you and MIdOrIyA are cleaning out y’all’s kitchen cabinets and there’s music in the background. You guys are kinda just mindlessly organizing until you hear your favorite song come on. Then, you kinda half heartedly are like “ooo, my favorite song” so then Midoriya comes over and offers his hand out to dance. And you two just end up dancing to the song. Idk, sorry if is dumb….

a/n: I wanna be friends with you. Like so freaking bad. Can we be friends. Please.

Caught in 4K

After living in the dorms with Midoryia for almost a year and a half now you’ve learned three things.

1. This man LOVES All Might even more than you thought.

2. He is willing to lift up the fridge for you to get a penny.

And finally,

3. He can’t work in silence.

So it’s not not uncommon to find him doing paperwork on the coffee table in the commons and hear some kind of music playing.

His music taste never has been solid so normally it’s just whatever anyone else was listening too or, if he’s alone, a playlist you made him a while ago. Before then it was just the radio.

Midoryia also has issues with loosing track of the time

And the playlist and long as I’ll get out

So when it finally ended and he looked up and around him the commons are dead silent and dark

Well ya know except or the kitchen which still had the lights on and had some noise coming through

So he got up and went over to see who it was

And low and behold it was you his wonderful girlfriend

And for the reasoning of coffee, sleep deprivation, and that sudden 2am hit of motivation you had the pantry open and emptied

“Love? Whatcha doing?” He asked as he got closer

He could see all the food on the counter tops and it seemed like you were only throwing expired items

But still what were you doing?

“Huh—oh babe! I came down for a snack and saw you working and thought I’d wait for you and then I got distracted and thought I would organize the pantry. Are you done?” You smiled and went to hug him

Midoryia smiled and hugged you back before really looking around

“Want help?” He smiled down

“I would love it!”

And now you two were almost done while your speaker played out your playlist

You were starting to feel the burnout of staying up late

And then you heard that opening note

After a second you stopped to listen better

“What’s wrong?” Midoriya asked, seeing you stop

“Oh ya, I’m alright. It’s just this is my favorite song,” you smiled

Midoriya stopped and mirrored the look on your face

He took a few steps back and did a dramatic now and stretched his hand out to you

“Shall we?” He glanced up to see you laughing a little

“I’d be honored,” you giggled

He pulled you in and pulled your arms up to wrap around his neck before pulling you against him

You giggled as you both swayed to the beat

You both just went around in circles for a majority of the song

And then this dork suddenly spins you out and dips you

“Oh hello... come her often?”

this idiot that I’m helplessly in love with

Literally it’s a wonder what being in a relationship with him long enough for him to be confident does man

He gently started pulling you back up when you pulled him down to meet him half way to kiss you

You two kinda just hung there for a hot minute after pulling away

I mean we all know he has the strength lmao

So you two were just there

Very very close

Whispering and laughing about random shit and how cheesy his line from before was

When there was a clicking sound

“Ahem”

I mean probs to Aizawa for finally checking in and making sure everyone was on curfew

But like

It was 3am by now

And when I say Midoryia SCRAMBLED

It was so funny he went ghost white my guys

So you just laughed and followed behind him as he threw himself down the hall

“Sorry Sir, goodnight” you gave your teacher a bow before going up to deku’s dorm

Lol like that’s not against the rules too

Aizawas just to tired to deal with you

For the next hour you got Midoryia basically suffocating himself in your chest and bright red all the way tot he back of his neck

[ellohcee]

Call Me

Okay so I want to throw this little bit out into the universe of one of my favorite instances of Jasper I've written. Context: He's a host for a dinky late night radio show and he has like... 10-15 listeners max and David is one of them, a college student who Can’t Sleep even between classes and his job, so he’s up late late listening to Jasper’s show. He calls in sometimes because Jasper is always offering advice and encouraging people to call in and chat, specifically about LGBTQ topics and David finds comfort and encouragement in their chats. They’ve been talking for a while but he still goes by the name Red. 

- - - -

“Alright you night owls, this next one goes out to my long lost buddy, Red.”

David looked up at the radio in surprise, his pencil stilling on the page.

“It’s been a while since we’ve heard from ya and we miss you dude. And I’m gonna get hella gay up in here, but that’s on brand for me, I miss you.”

David’s breath caught in his throat painfully, his heart hammering.

“So I hope you catch this, give us a call, let me know how you’re doing buddy I’m dyin’ here, don’t leave me hanging. Cause I’ve got a question for you and you wont know what until you gimme a ring. Yes I’m gonna be that guy. So call. Please.”

The music picked back up, and true to Jasper’s word, Blondie’s Call Me started playing.

The pencil had slipped from his fingers without realizing as David tried to decipher all of that, especially that last, sincere please. Jasper missed his calls? Maybe he was just worried because David had dropped off so suddenly. It had just been too nerve wracking once he realized he was crushing on the radio host. But what could Jasper possibly want to ask him? Was it good or bad?

He was still nervous and the idea of calling in downright terrified him now, but… he at least owed it to Jasper to let him know he was alive. It must have looked bad, for him to be consistently calling about once a week and then suddenly stop with no warning, going on nearly two months of silence now. Jasper was always so nice and seemingly happy to talk to him, he must be worried. Gosh, now he had to call, he felt terrible.

David had to take several steadying breaths and about twenty good minutes to work up the nerve, but he managed to eventually press call, hands shaking as he listened to the phone ring.

“What’s up caller you’re live, how’s it hangin?”

“Um, hi...” he said quietly.

He heard a soft intake of air and a shuffle. “That you Red?” Jasper asked, sounding hopeful, the excited smile evident in his voice.

“Y-yes, it’s me,” David replied.

“Aw, buddy, good to hear your voice again man, I was gettin’ worried bout you.”

“I’m so sorry I- just- life, you know?” David hedged, feeling even more guilty because he couldn’t give an honest explanation.

“I feel that, it’s cool dude, it’s just good to hear from ya. I assume you heard my call out?”

David’s heart started beating faster, so, so antsy. If it weren’t for the guilt of worrying Jasper he probably wouldn’t have had the guts to call, but he could still be a wreck about it, easily. “Yes, I did. You... had a question?”

“Yeah! You don’t mind me askin’ live?”

“Um, sure, that’s fine,” David said nervously. It couldn’t be too bad if it was something Jasper could ask on air. Right?

“Sweet. So. Last we talked your rough waves from the coming out thing were settling. You found a boyfriend yet?” the radio host asked casually.

David eyebrows shot up in surprise, his face going so very red and he was so very grateful this was a phone call, not in person because that would make it ten times worse. “Um- n-no, I- I haven’t… um, no,” he stammered uselessly. Why was this the topic??

“Awesome!” Jasper said in delight, leading to an awkward pause. “Wow fuck that sounded hella mean I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Cheese and crackers, foot in mouth Jasp, good one. Anyway! I just meant because- like, stop me if this is too weird, or hang up on me, but I was wondering if I could like… take ya on a date?”

David’s heart stopped in surprise, the blush that had just started receding coming back full force. His stomach whirled in a mix of dread and excitement, trying to go one way or the other as his brain stalled for a good long moment-

“Red?”

David sucked in a breath. “Is- are you- are you serious?” he asked softly, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

“Course dude!! I wouldn’t fuck around with you like that, hell no! I’m for super serious!”

“But… we’ve- you- you don’t even know what I look like,” David stammered, trying to find reason to turn him down, but so, so desperately wanting to say yes. He felt stupid for saying it the second it left his mouth, Jasper didn’t seem at all the type to place a lot of importance on appearances.

“I don’t need to! I’m sure you’re rad as hell, but I’m not a looks guy, okay? I like your personality, and I love shootin the shit with you, and you’re super nice. That’s the kinda stuff I’m into, and if you’re hella cute, which I’m sure you are, that’s a bonus!”

David stared down at his desk for a long moment, his thoughts a mess, one hand over his mouth as he took this all in. He had to take a moment to pinch the soft skin on the inside of his arm to decide that this was really happening and he hadn’t passed out at his desk into some dream where his crush happened to reciprocate-

“Reeeddd?” Jasper teased softly after another long pause, bringing him out of his panic spiral. “No pressure my dude, you can say no.”

“Yes,” David blurted shakily.

“Yeah??” Jasper asked, his voice picking up in obvious excitement and relief, despite his apparent brace for a rejection. “For real?”

“Y-yes, I’d… I’d like to,” David said softly, his face still red.

“Aw man, awesome, shit. Okay uh- no PI on air so uh- I go off air at 3, you’re usually up pretty late, yeah? Think you’ll be around?”

“Yes, I should be.”

“Supes, call back when you hear me sign off and we’ll hash stuff out, okay? Or at least do personal numbers to talk during the day.”

“O-okay,” David stammered, his mind whirling. “I’ll do that.”

“Sweet. Okay man, you sound a little wigged out so I’ll let you get back, and I will be counting the minutes til sign off,” Jasper teased.

“Okay, um, talk to you later? Bye.”

“Ta-ta for now!” Jasper sung.

David disconnected the call, his pulse still racing as he listened to Jasper on the radio once more, turning the volume back up just in time to hear.

“Oh my god, wack, holy shit you guys he said yes- fuck he’s probably listening and I sound like a giant goober- hi Red! Okay, anymore callers before we go back to music? Holy shitballs.”

A quick, incredulous laugh escaped his mouth before David could stifle it, his chest swirling with fear and elation. Jasper- Jasper had asked him on a date- and he sounded just as rattled as David felt. That helped a little to know it wasn’t just him- Jasper had just been loads better keeping a cap on his nerves while they were talking.

“You’re up caller!”

David came back from his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice, one of Jasper’s other regular callers.

“Oooooh Jasper asked a boy on a daaatteee~” she teased in delight.

“I know oh my god dude I’m still weak from it, I didn’t wanna mess up with Red but I like… really want to meet him and take him out, especially once he stopped calling? And no offense Red if you’re still there it’s TOTALLY cool cause that woke my ass up! Holy shit I still can’t believe he said yes.”

David listened all throughout the rest of Jasper’s show, all thoughts of homework lost as he leaned his elbows on the desk, hands clasped in front of his mouth. Anticipation made his nerves spike again while sitting through Jasper’s familiar sign off, where he bid goodnight to his listeners and started the after hours playlist. David waited a minute before taking a deep, deep breath and pressing the call button.

It rang only once before the line picked up, and a hopeful voice answered. “Red?”

“H-hi Jasper,” he replied.

“Hey dude! Hey, sorry to put you on the spot like that but- y’know, I figured it would be less creepy to everyone to just be upfront and ask you, instead of being like ‘hey call me after hours hoohoo wink wink,’ ya dig?”

David stifled a giggle, smiling. “I understand. It probably would’ve made me more nervous to have to wait that long, wondering what your question was,” he admitted.

“That too! I wanted to just… put it out there, figured it’d be best. So! You’re really cool with going on a date?”

“Yes, I… I’d like that. To meet you,” he added softly, flushed.

“Rad, okay, nice. So let’s just exchange numbers for tonight? I know you might not sleep anyway but it’s friggen late and I don’t want to keep either of us up too long.”

“That sounds good, I don’t want to keep you up either,” David replied. He gave his number first when Jasper gave the go-ahead, listening to the other man hum as he typed it into his phone, and a few moments later David heard a buzz near his ear.

“I just shot you a text so you have my number and can add me.”

“Got it,” David replied, pulling the phone away briefly to see a text notification at the top of the screen, a short string of peace sign emojis that made him smile.

“Awesome sauce. Well- shit, I’m really excited but again, we can talk later. Try to get some sleep, okay dude?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned and losing his usual casual tone. “I worry bout you.”

David smiled, touched by the thought. “I’ll try.”

“Okay, I’ll text you sometime tomorrow- today, whatever, much later. Give you a chance to snooze. Night Red, and thanks for- you know. Thanks. Night!”

“Goodnight Jasper, and thank you too,” he replied softly.

“No prob, catch ya later.”

David pulled the phone away and ended the call, his heart still hammering as he tried to comprehend everything. But he decided to pack it away for later, turning off the radio and closing the long abandoned textbook. Hopefully he could get a few hours of sleep and be a tiny bit more composed when he next spoke with Jasper.

Doubtful, but it was a nice thought.

[professormembranexreader]

Yandere!Membrane x Fem!Reader pt. 2 (Angst & Gore)

RECAP

——————————————————

Membrane kinda stalked you, memorized your entire resume, smelled the smelly smell on the resume that was smelly, and is now going to be your boss but you don't know the bad stuff

Membrane's POV:

It was her first day at work. Being honest, it caught me off guard when I saw (Y/N) at the entrance waiting for me. 'Oh, right. She has no clue where she's going.'

"Good morning, sir!" She smiled. Her joy was infectious; I couldn't help but crack a small grin under my collar.

"Good morning to you as well, (Y/N). How do you feel about your first day?" I started off casual. There was no way I was going to let her think I was 'weird' or 'murderous'. No, that would never do. I need her to be my secretary. I need her to be in my life. I need her to love me.

She spoke up, interrupting me and my thoughts. "Well, sir, I'm kinda scared. I don't know anything regarding what you expect me to do. I don't know how to do most of the things here either. Much less any of the people I'll be working with..."

I held her face with my hand. "Don't worry, (Y/N). I'll help you. Siempre." She looked at me, confused. I realized I got too close.

I cleared my throat, promptly removing my hand. "I'm sorry, (Y/N), that was highly unprofessional of me. Please pay no mind to that." She looked up at me, confused, but shrugged it off.

"Uh, whatever you say, sir." I unlocked the entrance to the facility and motioned for her to follow me. The loud thud of boots followed by the clicking of heels (can be short heel and prob will be) echoed through the vacant halls. None of the lights were turned on yet, leaving her to closely follow behind. I could faintly feel her breath on my back. I grinned as I lead the way to my office. She was going to be mine. All mine.

Along the way, I explained the basics of what she'd be doing. Organizing files, managing my schedule, et cetera. She nodded occasionally, and tried to make small talk... it didn't work too well for her. Luckily though, I had managed to save the conversation by asking her about her life. I already knew most of the information she told me, but there were a few things that surprised me.

Finally we were there. I helped her get familiar with her desk, showing her how to navigate the software, when it suddenly came time for work.

"Oh, it seems that we are out of time. Just page me if you need anything. Hasta luego, querida." I rushed down to my lab and started to gather notebooks. I needed to plan for my next invention. I rushed back up, avoiding the rush of workers who assembled the most demanded products. She winked at me as I entered the room.

She was seated near my office, separated by just a wall. I installed a one-way mirror so I could always watch her. It was covered by a tapestry which could easily be pushed aside. I had nothing to truly do, so I spent time watching her. Her hair was so pretty. Dios, I'd love to inhale the scent of her hairspray. I've stolen a few bottles, but they have nothing to truly cling to.

While I wished to be closer, this could do until I take her for myself. Of course it didn't take but a few days for plans to change.

I kept staring at her, smiling under my collar, but it soon started to turn into a frown. One of my most bothersome employees, Carter (sorry to both this and all other Carters), walked up to (Y/N)'s desk. I've been looking for an excuse to fire him for so long, but it seemed as though he knew my game. He always made sure to avoid the punishment.

But there was no way he would worm his way out this time. He leaned over her desk, talking. She seemed a bit uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to notice. He reached his hand over to her face and my blood boiled. It took every ounce of his self control to not punch through the glass and choke him then and there.

I stood up and walked closer to the one-way mirror. He sat on the desk and gave her a slip of paper. She blushed and told him something. He got off the desk and took her hand, kissing it before walking off.

I threw down the tapestry, covering the glass once more. I clenched my fists and started to grind my teeth. There was no way I would let him get away with that. I stewed in my anger until the time came for the work day to end.

(Y/N) knocked on my door before gently opening it. "Professor?" All anger was repressed when I saw (Y/N)'s face.

"Yes, (Y/N)?" A calming baritone voice resounded through the room. (Y/N) smiled and asked if I would walk her home. I nodded. There was no way I would ever let her go home completely alone from this point on. I took her hand and led her out of the office. A faint pink dusted her cheeks but she made no comment.

We walked down the city streets, looking at food and clothes through the windows. We talked about simpler things... simpler times...

Soon, we were at her apartment. It wasn't much, but to (Y/N) it was home. She won't have to worry about this disgusting hut when she's with me. I made no comment, but simply watched as she left my side.

"Thank you, Professor. Goodnight!" I saw her go inside before returning to my own home.

My sleep was restless that night. I tossed and turned relentlessly. Not even the thought of (Y/N) bending to my will, fully submitting to me helped. My mind was plagued with the thought of Carter (lmao forgot his name already and had to go look). The thought of him touching her, talking to her, looking at her! It filled me with indescribable emotions I couldn't quite name. I needed to rid myself of this. I needed to get rid of the problem.

I needed to get rid of him.

The next morning was roughly the same. I saw (Y/N) walk in and my heart fluttered. The hours dragged on before I decided to call him into my office.

"(Y/N), send Carter Hughes (sorry to all Carter Hughes' out there) to my office." She nodded and quickly paged him up. I waited in my office, gathering my self control to not rip him to shreds. If he wasn't here, he couldn't bother (Y/N). He couldn't bother (Y/N).

He walked into my office. He looked smug. I grimaced under my collar. "I think we both know why you're here, Mr. Hughes." His smile grew even larger.

"No, I'm not quite sure." This little weasel.

"Mr. Hughes, you are being fired from our company." I stated blankly.

"You have no reason to." He grinned. I wanted this to be simple-hacking off a small branch with an axe. But it seems that I'm cutting down the whole limb.

I planted my hands on the desk in front of me, raising my voice. "You have been harassing your coworkers and have been absent from almost all your work. With your record, it's surprising you stayed here this long." I handed him a pink slip. His face paled. "I suggest you pack your things in the morning, Carter. It's getting late. Wouldn't want you to go home in the dark." He gulped and nodded. The night passed. I felt accomplished. He was finally gone. Finally.

The next work day, Carter passed by (Y/N)'s desk. He was carrying a small cardboard box. (Y/N) asked something, then Carter laughed. He said something in return, but I couldn't tell you the words, but it'd made (Y/N) blush. He winked at strode his way out of the room.

My mind was fixed on the thought of what happened. How could I be so foolish as to let the problem remain? The only solution was to nip it in the bud. The only solution was to end it before it could cause any more trouble. There is no way to let him keep his life. And I intend to fix that.

I scanned through the files for employee information. "Harrington, Henson, Hepburn, Hill, Hinton, Hiragina, Holon, ah! Hughes." I wrote down the address and started packing up.

I dropped my work down on my desk at home. I grabbed some rope, chloroform, and put a fake license plate on my car just in case. I drove down to his apartment with a smile on my face. The problem will finally be gone. I creeped inside and found his bedroom. He really should lock his door—then again, he won't have to worry about that now. I put my hand against his throat, covering his mouth and nose with a chloroform soaked bandage. With the combined effort, he was unconscious in less than a minute. I flung him over my shoulder and threw him into the trunk. The sadistic grin never left my face.

I pulled up to my driveway, grabbed the bounty I'd brought home, and carried it down to my lab.

I didn't have long before he woke up, so I put restraints as my top priority. I set him down on my strongest operating table and cuffed his arms and legs to it. I began to quickly gather my tools.

Gore Warning Time (=◉ ◡ ◉=)

I filled the needle with Pancuronium, a muscle paralyzer. His eyes widened as he fought further against the restraints. I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. It's just so useless. I set the needle down and stuck a tube down his throat. Hooking that tube to one of of the various machines in my lab, I turned to him.

"Take it easy!" I shrugged as I turned away, "I'd say to take a breath and relax, but it seems that you won't have a choice."

He fought against the restraints vigorously. A worthless action, really. I hooked him up to the ECMO in my lab. Now he'll truly experience what happens to anyone who talks to my (Y/N).

After that, the wait was over. I placed the needle into his skin as the chemical was slowly inserted. I smiled as his shaking body stopped fighting.

My scalpel found itself close against the man's skin. I pressed it lightly against him; beads of crimson came bubbling up to the surface.

"Let's get serious." I quickly sliced the skin from his clavicle to his pelvis. Blood surged up, trying to clot. Around the rib cage, another incision was made perpendicular to the first. The process was repeated on his abdomen. Blood began to drip down his sides. I smiled as I began to open his skin. It was like that of freshly killed game. Tissue that once clung together separated at the slightest touch.

I carved him as if he were a Thanksgiving turkey. His insides lay facing the ceiling lights. With an additional snap of my gloves, I poised my hands over his organs.

"Hmm, let's begin to look for where your god failed you."

꧁ᴛɪᴍᴇ sᴋɪᴘ꧂

"This, right here, is your left kidney. Whoops! There goes the last of yours. Let's see what else is here..."

"Ah, yes. Would you like to see your large intestine?" I had my hands full of his guts. "Or perhaps the predecessor?" The salmon-pink muscle was wound between my fingers. With a small tug, blood sprayed onto my uniform. I tossed the glob of guts aside and once again grabbed my scalpel.

"Let's see if you can stomach this." I cut open the lining, acid pouring out. A corrosive hisss echoed while the body digested itself.

I laughed. Not at the pun—that was terrible. I had been fantasizing about this moment ever since (Y/N) saw him. And like I planned, I crept further up his insides. I slowly broke rib from rib, going in depth with a medial explanation each time one was removed. If ribs don't grow back then he surely won't live to see the end of it.

"Here we are." I pushed my gloved hand into his chest. "No no no, this shouldn't be! You don't deserve this." My hand gently squeezed around the muscle. "I'll make sure to give this back to the owner." Red flushed the room. A low, continuous beep echoed through the walls.

It's done.

——-————————————————

I walked to (Y/N) as she headed out of her office at work. I held her shoulder, causing her to pivot on her foot, now facing me.

"Oh, uh... hi, Professor. Did you need me?"

"(Y/N), I'd like to show you some paperwork at home. I need it put into the system, but... I forgot to bring it with me." I took a deep breath. "The files are very complex, so I'd need to show you how to deal with them. Would you mind stopping by?" She quickly shook her head.

I smiled. "Then follow me." I opened the car door. With a few clicks, (Y/N) was in my car. She was in my car. I turned on the radio to fill the silence.

Glancing to my side, I saw (Y/N) staring out the window. Her hair gently swayed, bouncing with each hole the tires hit. She hummed along with the singer, softly singing the parts that she knew. Her words were breathy, almost afraid to be heard. But they were music to my ears. 'Focus, Miguel,' I thought.

The song continued to play as I drove home. When we got there, I unlocked the back door.

"Kids, go to your rooms!" My voice slightly echoed through the halls. I took (Y/N) by the hand. "Follow me."

I lead her to a wall. It was in the darkest corner of the living room. Hidden amongst the shadows was a copper plate.

"Ah, mierda." I took off my goggles and handed them to (Y/N). "¿Agarras mi gafas, por favor?"

She took them slowly, staring at me as the scanner checked my retinas. The door opened with a clunk.

I gestured towards the "After you." She took a few hesitant steps before looking to me for guidance. I chuckled before letting her lean on me. We descended down the staircase until we reached my lab.

She immediately went over to my bookshelf. I smiled as I locked the door behind us.

"(Y/N)." She whipped her hair around to face me.

"Yes, Professor?" I bit my lip. Hers were slightly parted, giving her face a blissful look.

"Come sit down." She did as I instructed. "Now, what I'm about to do may pinch." I held her down as I injected a small amount of morphine into her femoral artery. After a bit of struggle, she fell limp in my arms.

(Y/N)'s POV

I woke up to the sound of footsteps. I lifted my head and tried to look around. Why was I in a chair? And why can't I move my arms? My mind raced as I began to struggle against my restraints.

"Ah, finalmente estás despierta." An unmistakable baritone rang out. Was Membrane going to save me?

He came into view, goggles and lab coat off. His arms were prosthetics. Presumably steel or an alloy containing it. His eyes were chocolate with hazel flecks. But more importantly, his pupils were extremely dilated. I tried to call out for him, but all that came out was a muffled "mfph".

"No tan rápido, mi querida. Tú eres mía. Solamente mío." His cold "hand" traces my cheek. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

"MPMFPH!"

"Ah, tú quieres hablar. Pues, adelante." He ripped off whatever was covering my mouth. I gasped for air. The air tasted like latex and antiseptics. I looked up towards Professor.

"Did...did you do this to me, sir?" I stammered. His eyebrow arched as he placed a hand on his chin.

"Ah, inglés. Un momento." He cleared his throat. "Is this better, my (Y/N)?"

I couldn't believe it. "Answer the question!"

"Ay, mi amor, I had no choice. I couldn't risk anyone else getting close to you." His hands found themselves on my shoulders, slowly moving up to my neck.

"Get your hands off of me!" He quickly pulled back. He walked behind me, making it impossible for me to truly see him.

His once endearing laugh now plagued my ears. "My dear, sweet, (Y/N), don't be that way~! You and I are one now. You are mine. And I've brought you a present."

He walked past his desk, digging through his belongings. After a few moments, he returned.

"My dear (Y/N), May I present to you..." he reached behind his back and pulled out a bloodied jar. Looking carefully, there's... oh my god. Inside the jar was-

"Hughes' heart. He said it belonged to you, I figured he wouldn't mind if you reclaimed it." He smiled, teeth filling half his face as his merriment was finally shown. He set the jar down, took me out of the restraints, and held me in his arms. I was too numb to fight back. I sobbed into his chest.

Membrane wrapped his arms around my relatively small frame. "Shhhh. It's going to be okay. He would have wanted it this way."

"Okay."

[tarithenurse]

Nightingale - 45

Fandom: Naruto Pairing: Hatake Kakashi &/x Fem!OC Contents: Fluff, fun, feels, drinking, angst, Might Gai (that’s a warning in it’s own but not a lot of him, sorry). A/N: I’m not back on full power yet, so please be patient for a while longer. However! Things ARE going better (not quite enough to proof read, though). ASK or REBLOG for tag! HUUUGE thanks to all who are reblogging already <3

Ch. 45

Things were simpler a year ago, Kakashi decides. He has already picked up on the movement of the near-undetectable approaching man and the white-haired ninja’s first instinct is to want to slip away before he’s discovered. It’s been a long time, though, since he’s indulged in the odd friendship.

Ignoring time needed to sleep, 50% of Kakashi's time is spent either training or doing missions with Team 7, 20% or so are his own missions and another 20% an attempt at spending quality time with Uguïsu or working on the house – he’s gotten to the point of furnishing the place now and is quite pleased with the results so far. Right now, he’d stolen a rare moment leaded against his favourite tree in quiet contemplation of his favourite novel.

“HaHA!” Gai lands in a perfect combat pose, the tactical vest unable to cover the taught, green fabric beneath. “Finally our paths have crossed, eternal rival!”

Unfazed, Kakashi nods. “It seems so.”

For a while, none of the men speak as each pretend to be fully engrossed in reading or stretching. Well, the physical exercises are performed to perfection but much like before the interruption not a leaf is turned in the book and eventually it catches Gai’s attention.

“What troubles you? Are you afraid my wondrous team will defeat yours?”

Hyuga Neji will be a problem. “I admit that your team has its strengths but thankfully that’s not my problem just now.”

Getting to his feet, the captain of Team 7 turns towards the village while tugging the book away in a pocket – it’s the same pocket where a thin, circular instrument rests at the moment. He’s torn between heading back to the house to get some gardening done (not a task he’s used to doing in his free time) or stopping by a certain woman’s apartment again in the hopes that she’s returned.

“No! Not a word, dear friend.” Gai’s hand is warm and strong as it misses Kakashi’s shoulder by a few centimetres. “I recognize your agony. Oh, true love! The noblest of torments during the springtime of our youth!”

Kakashi bites back a groan. “I’m not agonizing and -”

“Don’t be shy, Hatake,” the friend insists. “We all know she turned down your proposal, but don’t worry because I will help you win the fair maiden’s heart!”

“Pro-? I didn’t propose!”

“Ah-ah! Here’s what you do...”

...

At some point during Gai’s lessons about gifts, walks during sunsets and the magic of starry nights, Asuma and Iruka had joined them and moved the conversation from the street to a gloomy bar. A variety of sake had been had until the Academy teacher had dozed off in the corner of the booth, snoring lightly in unison with Gai.

“I’m juss saying,” Asuma tries to explain stubbornly, “that however daunting it might sheem now...it’sh gonna be worth it.”

I know. The problem isn’t to convince me. But rather than point that out (again), Kakashi slips an arm around his team’s former teacher. “It’s getting late, Asu...let’s get these guys home.”

Gai stirs as he too is being manhandled outside like a sack of rice slung over the back. “Weeee...” the mumble fades out for a moment, “we-we-we’ll...tell her!”

“Please don’t.” Just the thought makes Kakashi’s cheeks burn hotter than the alcohol had achieved. “You just get home now and forget about all of this.”

By the time those too drunk for their own good are safely home and Kakashi unlocks the door to his little apartment, the stars are starting to fade in the horizon. It’s been a much longer night than anticipated...not to mention that it’s been spent in different company too.

Because of that, he’s happy to feel the breeze rush past his toes as he enters and closes the door. It tugs softly in his hair with invisible fingers of cotton that are capable of brushing away any worries.

“Hey there,” he whispers, knowing that Uguïsu will hear him, “missed me so much you had to come find me?”

Corporeal hands reach around to pull him close – chest to back, and her nose nudging the offending layers of black cloth away from his neck until there’s room to place a kiss.

“Mmmmaybe.” The smile is a teasing brush against the little while hairs. “Smells like you weren’t suffering alone.”

Managing to turn, he gets distracted for a moment and has to kiss the blue hair. “Not alone...but still suffering.”

“Liar.”

“I really did miss you.”

Big eyes find his before the woman shifts her attention to his gear. Kakashi has been wearing it all day, so he doesn’t object but helps as she unzips the vest. Layer by layer falls away until he’s wearing just underwear and all of his scars are clearly visible like red or white ridges and lines that barely react when Uguïsu’s fingertips trace them and set off waves of goosebumps.

“Why does it only feel okay, when you’re around, ‘Kashi?”

Not sure that he has heard the whispered question correctly, the jonin catches her chin with a finger and tilts her face up. “What do you mean?”

She snakes free of his loose hold. “It’s...” she bites her lip while searching for the words, “I like my place. And I like this place. But...only when you’re there too. It’s a bit better here because it smells of you, though.” Catching a strand of blue, she begins to wrap it around one of her fingers and Kakashi recognizes it as a sign of nervousness. “Prob-probably me being weird, I guess, and that why -” now, even her toes are digging into the floor as if she’s trying to dig a way out that way -”I’ve been..kinda...just sometimes...when you’re not here...”

The voice that normally holds the confidence of a songbird has dwindled and is barely audible anymore. Whatever it is...this is big. Gently, Kakashi guides the wreck of a girl over to the bed and sits with her. Waiting. Waiting for whatever it is she’s trying to understand.

Outside, the horizon basks in colours of red and orange as the morning tries to chase the night away but the world itself is still greys and the birds haven’t woken up yet.

But my Nightingale is going to pass out unless she breathes calmly, soon. “Sweetheart,” he catches Uguïsu's attention, “breathe. Whatever it is, I’m there for you.”

She does as he asks, releasing a shaky breath at the feeling of her lungs filling. Or maybe the situation. “But when you’re not...I’d like to live somewhere that reminds me of you. All of you.” Fumbling a bit, she manages to free the finger from the tangle to grab his hands. “I’ve been sneaking into your house. Sleeping there for a few hours.”

Stunned into silence, Kakashi listens to her confession of how it makes her feel safe because it’s like some of him is part of the building – whether it be his past that haunts the place or the knowledge of the work he’s putting into restoring it.

“What I’m trying to say is...it...” she gestures at nothing, “it feels like...”

“Home,” he gasps.

The smile is enough to prove him right...but not quite: “You feel like home.”

[arcticfox007]

Hope and Feathers

Destiel December Challenge 2020

Day 8: Blizzard

This is a continuation of days 2-7, the master list is pinned to my profile.

Check it out on AO3 as well!

***

               Charlie was really enjoying herself. The night may have started off as a way of helping her brothers out, but this Christmas event was actually super amazing. She had managed to snag a hand-knit elf hat while Sam asked about custom made dolls of all things. Charlie got Sam a headband with reindeer antlers and insisted that he wear them. She even convinced him to take a selfie with her, although he voiced his concerns about her using the picture for blackmail purposes.

               “Why are you looking for dolls, Sam? What does that have to do with talking to Dean?” Sam smiled mysteriously and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

               “You’ll have to wait and see. You’re so impatient. What’s with the picture taking by the way?”

               “I just thought it’d be nice. I got some sneaky ones of Dean being all adorable with Cas.” Sam laughed.

               “So, you are trying for blackmail, clever.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Actually, can I see the pictures?”

               “Sure.” Charlie handed her phone over to Sam. He took a few moments to look through them with a grin growing across his face.

               “Do you mind if I send some of these to myself?”

               “Go ahead.” Sam thanked her and spent a few moments emailing himself some of the photos.

               “If you get anymore tonight, can you send them as well? Dean’s working on a gift for Cas, and I think I can add on to it a bit.” Charlie nodded her agreement.

               “No prob. What are you up to, a photo album or something?” Sam shrugged.

               “Not really, I’m going to frame some of them. I’m not sure I have enough for an album, we don’t stop and take pictures all that often,” Sam gave Charlie half of a smile and then spotted something in the distance. “Hey, I think that’s the booth I’m looking for.”

               Charlie wandered around the custom doll booth for a bit while Sam got into a deep discussion with the artist running the place. It took long enough that she’d started playing on her phone by the time Sam walked back over.

               “Well, that cost way more than I was originally intending to spend on Dean, and she won’t have it ready until tomorrow night, but I think it’ll be worth it.” Sam honestly looks excited just for himself, so Charlie just punches his arm and grins.

               “You better find somewhere for everyone to spend the night then. Check out the forecast.” Sam’s eyes widen in mild surprise as he sees the weather app on Charlie’s screen.

               “Wow, yeah, I don’t think we want to be driving in that. Especially since the Impala isn’t exactly the best car for snow. An actual blizzard, huh?”

               “Yeah, it may still miss this area but we might as well see where we can snag a few rooms. There’s some sort of 1800s B&B within walking distance. After that we can go meet Santa Claus!” Charlie clapped her hands with glee and started bounding off to wherever this inn was supposed to be as Sam followed her with a bemused expression.

***

               “Dean. There is one over here.” Dean walked over to Cas while dodging some of the crystals hanging from the ceiling in the New Age-y shop one of the kids they’d passed had tipped them off about. Cas had stopped trying to restrain his smile, he was enjoying how much fun Dean seemed to be having playing this silly game.

               “Awesome! You’re pretty good at this angel spotting thing.” Dean smirked and winked at the actual angel in the store.

               “Yes,” Cas said dryly. “It does seem to be some sort of innate skill on my part.” Dean chuckled and makes sure Castiel records the newest scavenger hunt angel on his list.

               “We only have one more on the list. Where haven’t we gone yet?” Castiel lifts an eyebrow as Dean pours over the small map of the historic city he’d found in the event booklet.

               “We haven’t gone to get coffee yet. I believe someone mentioned coffee to me before starting this endeavor but we’ve been walking around for an hour, and I still have yet to see any.” Dean rolled his eyes.

               “Wow, Cas. I will say the one human trait that’s given you very little problems is sarcasm.” Cas just continued to look at Dean expectantly. “Alright, alright, lets go get you coffee, angel.”

Dean grabbed Cas’ hand to lead him out of the store through the maze of shimmering crystals, painted tarot cards, and velvet draped tables. Cas’ chest felt tight with hope as he allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs towards the door. While, yes, Cas was an angel, that’s not what the word had sounded like when Dean had just said it. Cas felt another wave of grace pulse through his still fragile wings. He kept his grip on Dean’s hand as if it were the only thing keeping him from drowning.

Once they got outside Dean started walking uphill towards the coffee shop he’d seen on the map. Castiel stayed quiet while following, as he didn’t want to draw Dean’s attention to the way that they were still holding hands.                

               Eventually though, they reached their destination and Dean dropped Castiel’s hand to hold open the door to the small shop with local artwork decorating the walls. Cas immediately missed the feeling of Dean’s hand but pretended to be absorbed in reading the menu board to compose himself before looking back over at his best friend.                

               “Do you see anything you want, Cas?” For one insane moment Cas almost said - yes, you. Clearing his throat to cover up his near miss Cas stumbled over his words.

               “Uh, just something warm? Would you pick? There are too many choices.” Dean’s eyes ran across the menu board for a few minutes.

               “You said you could kind of taste the peppermint bark we made, right? The have peppermint flavor on the specials board, if you want.” Cas nodded and let Dean order coffee for Castiel and hot chocolate for himself. While Dean was ordering Cas looked around at some of the artwork hanging on the walls, keeping an eye out for their last scavenger hunt angel. He was contemplating a painting that seemed to be an abstract version of a human eye when Dean came up behind him holding two mismatched mugs.

               “Let’s go upstairs, Cas. It’s kinda crowded down here and the barista told me they have an outdoor area up there.” Cas followed Dean up the stairs of the historic building. The upstairs did seem to be more peaceful. Dean walked over to doors leading outside and Cas reached in front of Dean to grab the door since he was still carrying their drinks.

               “This is beautiful,” stated Cas. The angel stood still for a moment, taking in the narrow wooden balcony that wrapped into a steep drop off of stone that served as a wall to the store but hadn’t been altered from the outside. Dean noticed what Castiel was looking at and led them back to a table right by the natural rock wall. They had an excellent view of the main street and all of the lights from their vantage point.

               “I have to admit, this is a pretty cool place.” Cas agreed with Dean and pulled his drink towards him, only then noticing that the notably handmade mug was covered in bumps that were painted to look like bees. He glanced up at Dean only to find him watching Cas in anticipation. A smile slowly spread across the angel’s face.

               “Bees? You asked them for this mug, didn’t you?” Dean chuckled.

               “Yeah. If I recall you were very enthusiastic about bees a few years ago.” If Castiel could get any redder out in the biting cold he would have.

               “I do like bees, yes.” Castiel attempted to maintain a solemn expression but this was ruined when he looked down at the mug again, feeling new feathers forming as his grace pulsed behind him once again. Dean reached across and touched Cas’ arm for just a moment.

               “Hey Cas, are you okay?” When Cas looked back up into Dean’s face, he knew his eyes had teared up a bit, but he smiled fondly at Dean nonetheless.

               “I’m wonderful Dean. I just – it was very kind of you. To think of me like that, I mean.” Castiel crinkled his nose to try and prevent himself from actually crying. Dean’s face was hard to read just then, some sort of mixture of guilt and perhaps understanding.

               “I, um, I just thought it’d make you smile man.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Cas decided it was time to change the subject.

They began a heated discussion of where they should look next for the last angel. While they were debating the merits of looking in the small train museum it started to snow and Cas took a few seconds to enjoy the sight of the flakes falling on the beautiful street below. They made there way back inside thinking that they may just have to skip to meeting Charlie and Sam as the restaurant was at the opposite end of the main road and the snow was picking up fast. Dean grabbed Castiel’s mug to return them to the front and the angel pulled the blue and white knit hat he’d picked up over his head. He’d made Dean get one as well, in green and red, something he’d probably be less resistant too now that it was snowing. Castiel smiled at the memory of Dean’s protests over the pompom on top of the hat.

               “The guy up front said this snow may turn into a blizzard late tonight, so we should definitely regroup with the others.” Castiel silently held the knit hat up to Dean and rolling his eyes he tilted his head forward a bit so Cas could easily pull it on. Cas opened the door and was quietly happy as Dean took his hand again to lead him through the small crowd of shoppers.

***

@galaxycastiel, @jellydeans, @my-favourite-hellatus, @nguyenxtrang

[tatratcoon]

School days TokitouTwins x ChildhoodFriendReader

Summary:You and the Tokitou twins have always been close until you went to middle school, with you creating distance between the three of you. 

Warnings: none really, fluffy ending?

You felt awkward between the twins, this was the worst scenario you could think of being in right now. You were in the middle of them like a sandwich, no one was talking and the feeling of dread was prevalent in your stomach. You then began to retrace your steps on how you got in this troublesome position.

"Look! Here they come!" your friend says with enthusiasm as two people made their way into the lunchroom. You looked indifferent to the situation just trying to eat your food in peace. However, you were curious as to what she was referring to even if you knew she was talking about those two. You could hear people making their way to them and trying to converse with them. "this is dumb" you thought as you took a bite from your food. You turned around again only to see them more clearly, the Tokitou twins.

"Man I wished they would notice me, being friends with them is like finding gold," your friend says with a defeated sigh.

"Yeah right..." you said under your breath with a sarcastic tone, not long after you and Muichiro made eye contact.

"shit," you thought as you quickly averted your eyes from him. You felt awkward when you would see one of the twins, or make contact with them, it felt even more awkward since you three had the same class, and sat by each other afterward. You knew you shouldn't be feeling this way when you knew the two so well and was their childhood friend. However, you choose to ignore that and keep escaping them.

Lunch was soon over and you walked into the chaotic hallways, trying to walk to the next class with a dreading feeling in each step.

The class was in session, boring as usual, and not a thing had changed. The outside looked nice, however. That blue hue had filled the sky with the sun shown brightly across the land. Clouds were nice and full, and the cherry blossoms looked as if they were about to fully bloom this time. "It would be nice to cloud gaze and sleep outside," you thought.

Your thoughts were soon interrupted when the teacher gave out pieces of paper to each of the students and said to complete the given questions that were on the sheet. You lazily took out your pouch and tried grabbing a pencil.

"wait....i...i don't have a pencil" you mentally facepalmed your self forgetting a pencil. You looked down to see if there was a pencil nearby or someone had just dropped once since the last class. Unfourtiantly there was none.

"Gosh, how am I going to get one now! The guy in front of me is stingy with his pencils and the person behind me is gone for the day. That only means...." you looked to your right.

...Yuuichiro...

"This can't be happening right now...but I need to get this over with"

You mustered any courage you had and tapped Yuui lightly on his shoulder

Yuuichiro turned and looked at you, a bit surprised but then went back to his normal face.

"Tokitou can I borrow a pencil?" you nervously asked. You knew Yuui to be quite stingy with his belongings except with Mui and you. Though you did expect him to not give you one since you haven't talked to him after your first-year in middle school.

Yuuichiro stared at you for a bit then reached down and grabbed a pencil

" Here," he said as you happily take the pencil with no hesitation.

"Thank you!" you replied as you began to work on your assignment with ease.

Little did you know that Yuui gave a small smile when you said thanks.

...

It was time to go home, you started to pack up your stuff when you heard a conversation with some people and the Tokitou twins

"Hey you guys want to go out to eat with us," one of the boys asked.

"Yeah, it would be soo~ fun with you two," a girl said while inching closer to Mui's face. You couldn't help but gag at her advances.

" Yuui is probs gonna make sure that she won't do that again," you think as you let out a small chuckle grabbing your coat.

Yuuichiro pulled Muichiro away from the girl

"Sorry we can't come, we have a club meeting," Yuui said with an awkward expression on his face. He looked like he was trying to be polite without hurting their feelings.

"don't you two only have shogi on Tuesdays?" one of them asked questioningly.  

"We have a competition coming soon, so we need to practice, plus we have an interview " Mui replied

"wait...all week...Ah then this means I'll be good for the rest of the weak"

you relax a bit more with that news.

you quickly went around both of them and the group and went on your way to your house. You wondered if you should go take the way you used to go on since the twins were at the club and it was easier, but you decided that you weren't going to take any chances. You took the other way which took you to the train station. The trains were packed as usual, and the sun was setting. you knew you weren't going to back home for a few hours now so you decided to take a rest for now.

"Just a few minutes won't hurt," you say as you then drift off to sleep.

Spring was in the air, and it seems as life was growing again. The flowers seemed to be in full bloom where you were, and you were sitting in a patch of your favorite flowers that seem to always grow in this place. As you began to pluck the petals from the flower, you heard two familiar voices.

"(Y/N)-chan!" The twins called in unison. You gave a bright smile as they came closer to you, you couldn't contain your joy any longer. "Hey, you two-"

Before you could even finish, the two boys had pounced on you you like prey. The three of you fell on the grass, luckily it was soft and neither of you guys got hurt. Soft laughter could be heard from the three of you, it seemed as if you were the only people in the universe.

"what are you two doing here?" you asked. The twins both looked at each other, then a smiled appeared on Muichiro's face as he hugged you. "just felt like it" Mui replied, with Yuui nodding along. "our dad was busy helping mom get better, so he allowed to come to your place" Yuui added.

The tree of you sat there, Mui clinging on to you and Yuui talking with you. "(y/n)-chan, will you walk with us to school tomorrow?" Mui asked while finally letting go of you. You smiled and nodded, "why wouldn't I? You guys are my best friends." The two of them smiled at your reply and both said in unison "(Y/N)-chan your the best!"

You couldn't help but blush a bit at their compliment, still, you smiled at them.

"both of them seem to know what's going on in each other's mind, I wonder is it some type of twin telepathy. Could it be something more or just a coincidence" you wondered? Your thoughts were interrupted by Muichiro tugging on you and Yuuichiro's sleeves. "Lets cloud gaze!" Mui said with a bright smile neither you nor Yuui could say no to.

You both happily watched the clouds with Mui without a care in the world, this memory felt nice and you never want to lose it.

You woke up immediately as you felt you were by your stop, without hesitation, you checked your phone to see that you had some miss calls from your friends. You gave out a tiered sigh and rubbed your head.

"what was that," you thought as you begin to recap your dream. You then realized it was a memory from when the three of you were young. Sometime in grade school, you believed, but why did you just have that memory now.

You arrived at your house, it took you a while but you still got home."(Y/N), finally your back. I feel like you've been coming home late on purpose, it's dark now!" your mom said with a worried expression

"Sorry mom, I blame the trains," you said with a bit of a chuckle." dear, I'm being serious, why don't you go the way you used to go..."

"Hey mom I'm feeling tired right now"

she sighed at your response and lightly shook her head" look that's fine and all, but eat first please"

you give out a tired sigh but nodded to her request, you were hungry as well, and you didn't want to sleep on an empty stomach.

The moment you got on your bed you turned on your T.V, you wanted to see what was on before you rested. Flipping on the channels you landed on an interview with the twins. They were talking about shogi and how they got good on it, you just looked at the screen with a pained expression wondering why are they always popping everywhere. you turned off the T.V and fell on your bed, while you suffocated yourself with your pillows. You turned your head to find the plushy the twins gave you when you were in grade school. You looked at the kinda pathetic face and gave a small smile, "where did this all start" you whispered to yourself.

You guys were super close and there was nothing that could get in the way of the three of you. Muichiro and Yuuichiro were opposites when hanging out with you, Mui was very affectioned while Yui wouldn't dare to show you his soft side, he was always a bit irritated however when Mui would not stop hugging you because he didn't want unnecessary rummers spreading between the two of you when they were not needed. Mui didn't seem to care and just kept on doing it only fueling up Yuichiro. You would always laugh and pat Yui on the head, which he may not have admitted, loved, and always kept him calm.

You three would always eat together, walk, and do activities, and that's how it was until middle school.

At first, it was nothing, you guys were still close

"let see, I only have one class with both of you, one with only Mui and one with only Yuui. " you said looking closely to your schedule. "aw, I thought I would have more with you~," Mui said in a whiney voice while hugging your arm. You didn't seem to mind since Mui is always like this with you, and it's not like he's harassing you.

"Yeah I would want more with you as well," you said with a sigh. You looked towards Yuui who seemed a bit aggravated, Mui looked at his brother and gave a small smirk as he proceeded to hug you. "Bro, are you perhaps  jelly that (Y/N) didn't say she wanted to have more classes with you as well?" Mui said with a smirk. Mui's face showed a hint of red, but not too much. "now that's a lie" Yuui said facing both of you, "now can you stop doing...that" his hand pointing at how Mui was hugging you.

"hm~? This?" Mui pulled you closer in his embrace, your face now buried in his arms. You glanced at Yuui, he seemed to be even more frustrated than before, Mui just gave a cheeky smile. You gave a defeated sigh and patted Yuui on the head. "Hey I want to have classes with you as well, after all, we're best friends," you said as small giggles escaped your lips, Yuui looked at you and gave a defeated smile.

You guys still kept hanging out and caught up on each other's day when walking back home together. However, the twins started gaining more popularity, more people would try to talk to them, get then to do activities with them, and eat lunch with them. You were delighted to know your best friends were getting attention; after all, they did deserve the best. The boys were smart, pretty athletic(despite their small bodies), and not that bad looking. The twins then started to attract secret admirers, especially girls.

You weren't bothered by that, you still hung out, but it was when bullies started to arise about you not being good enough for them, and claiming you were using them. Somehow there had been many times you wanted to hang out with them but so many others grabbed their attention it kinda left you feeling useless. Whenever you would talk to them, others would butt in and shove you to the side. The twins noticed and would always get mad about how these people treated you, but you told them to ignore it.

slowly you started to drift away from them

"Hey (Y/N) do you wanna be partners-"

"Sorry I'm working with my friend on this project"

"(Y/N) wanna hang out"

"Sorry guys got to study"

"(Y/N) why don't you walk with us anymore?"

"My mom says to now take the train"

"(y/n)-"

you would quickly turn the other direction, not daring to look at them. By the second year, you managed to become a stranger, no longer calling them by their first name. You made sure to avoid them at all cost, it hurts you, but you believed that they would be better off without you.

You're now in the middle of your third year, its become tougher now since you have most of your classes with them...

It was morning now, now it has become a routine, train, school, classes, classes, lunch, even more classes and the end of the day. You packed all your stuff, this time not rushing like usual. The twins would be doing club activities so you were safe.

Finally, at the entrance you looked at the cherry blossoms, the petals danced as they fell in your hands. They seemed to be everywhere now, "this is beautiful...." you said as you caught a petal that seemed if it was trying to get close to you. You smiled at the sight before you

"it would be nice to share this view with someone though," you thought as you heard a voice behind you

"(Y/N)?" you turned around slowly to meet the sight of the Tokitou twins before you, "crap". You mentally cursed yourself as you then began to run. You ran as fast as you could so you could at least not see their faces, only to hear both the twins running after you now. In the end, they caught you and made you walk with them. Thus here you are now, wishing you hadn't taken your time admiring those petals.

On your way home it was nothing but silence, it was extremely awkward for you as you didn't know what to do but mentally scream at yourself.

"so...I thought you guys had club today" you asked a bit sheepishly.

"We canceled it today" Yuuichiro replied, "oh christ what do I do now?!?!?" you thought

The silence lasted a bit longer until Muichiro decided to break it

"(y/n) do you hate us"

"eh?" you looked at him with a confused look" I could never hate you, why would I do that when I care for the both of you a lot" is what you wanted to say but you wouldn't allow yourself to do so.

" I don't hate you, why do you say that, " you asked with a nervous smile. The twins looked at you, and you could tell they weren't buying it. You could see their house and so you decided it would be a good time for you to rush your way home. As you approached the house you let out a sigh of relief.

" Well, it looks like we need to go our separate ways good-"

Before you could finish your sentence Muichiro pulled you into their house and pushed you to sit on their couch. It startled you how strong Mui was to push you with that amount of force but you quickly forget about it when the brothers started to interrogate you

"Do you hate us?"

"I don't"

" Liar" Yuui said with a sour tone. You could tell he was angry at you, and he the right to. You've ignored him and his brother for the past 1 1/2 years and not even spoken a word to them. You felt guilty as you looked at the brothers.

"(y/n) why have you been ignoring us?" Mui asked with concerned filled eyes

"Did we do something, have we said something?"

"no, it's not that..." you look at both of the twins, they were ready to hear what you had to say. You took a deep breath and began to speak.

"I don't deserve you two, you guys are so popular that you don't need someone like me. I feel like a shadow in the midst of you two and it feels overwhelming. Whenever I would even try to talk to both of you, I've always been pushed away. I care about You two and I didn't want to tarnish your reputation "

It was quiet for a while until you heard Yuui laughing, at this point you wanted to punch him. You spilling your feelings and he was laughing.

"Oh god (y/n) you haven't changed one bit, you're still an idiot," he said as he continued to laugh.

Nevermind, you wanted to kill him

As you were about to shout at him, you felt a familiar warmth on your hand. Mui was holding it as he looked at you, "Is that true, is that really how you've been feeling?" You let out a sigh and nodded your head. Then before you knew it, Mui hugged you, it felt nice as you began to remember the times your friend hugged you before and feeling it now was better than those memories.

You then heard Yuuichiro's laugh die down as he was now looking at you, he bent down making you look eye to eye with each other. "Idiot, do you think we care about some popularity status over you. Either you have lost your mind or you're just really dumb"

You looked at him now with irritation, you knew he meant his words but the way he phrased it made it seemed as if you were a stupid child. None the less it felt nice to know he cared about you.

He gave a cocky smile as he began to pat your head, "plus without you here, Mui would be depressed and miss you a whole lot."

Mui looked up at you and gave you a cheeky smile, "He says that, but he's over here being all giddy about the other day when you asked him for a pencil and thanked him. He was overjoyed that you finally spoke to him and he wouldn't stop smiling about it."

You could see that Yuui was extremely embarrassed as to what Mui said about him since his face had a tint of red to it now. He was pretty quiet now and looked away from you and Mui, this was all so nostalgic to you. The way they both acted, it felt nice, and you wondered why you left this behind.

You began to laugh now as you felt an overwhelming sense of joy fill you up.

"Why are you laughing," Yuui asked

"Because I've missed this, being with both of you," you said as you finally gave a warm smile, the both of them looked at you for a while since you haven't smiled at them for a while now. Like you, they were filled with joy and the three of you began to talk more with Mui hugging you and Yuui and you insulting each other but having fun with it. As the cherry blossoms bloomed again, so did your friendship.

end~

[killemwithkawaii]

I’m kinda curious why they snapped so suddenly, though? Like. They grabbed you, ok, but one day they suddenly really just started wanting to eat you? That stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum, something must have scared them. You should probs talk to them.

(Also feel like I should mention it isn’t your fault they went a ‘tiiiinsy’ overboard, and any victim blaming here isn’t intentional. Never the victim’s fault)

I don’t know, man. I’ve been so out of it for the past few weeks, it’s hard for me to remember a specific turning point besides when they gave me that first shot of sedative. [I really should have seen that coming... ]

I think it was more of an escalation than a snap? Every time I became lucid and would realize that I was still here, I would beg them to let me leave, and when they refused, I tried to tell them all the ways they could get rid of my body, so at least they would know what to do if I was forced to jump while I was in the apartment. I didn’t want to leave before I told them. The whole point of me leaving was so they could go back to living a normal life again, and if they had gotten stuck with a body rotting in their bedroom, that probably wouldn’t happen... but they always cut me off or knocked me out or did something else to stop me from talking before I could give them all the instructions. At first, they ignored me and had me listen to that recording they made the first night. Then, they got upset and cried until the fresh dose of sedative kicked in. Then, they got angry and screamed at me, then they got a tad sadistic... but it wasn’t scary until they smiled at me and said ‘Okay, fine. You can jump. Just do me a favor and stick around for a couple days so we can put you on a water fast- It’ll make the butchering process a lot easier~” 

[Yeah. They didn’t exactly fill you guys in on everything that’s been going on lately....]

I appreciate you saying that, but I don’t know if it’s exactly true. We’re both kind of at fault at this point... if I can manage to keep them alive for the next couple days, we’ll have plenty of time to talk it over and find out why exactly they started fixating on... that... but right now, my focus is on checking their vitals every hour and otherwise keeping them safe and comfortable. [I’m not going to be getting much sleep before December;;;]

[druid-for-hire]

UNSWAYED PT. IV

(pt. i) (pt. ii) (pt. iii) (pt. v) (epilogue) (askblog)

this update consists of a bit of the trek back to hadestown and the workers’ revolution that lasts the summer until persephone’s return in the fall, and being granted the chance to leave at last--to leave for real.

thank you so so much to all my friends @supercantaloupe​, @unholy-boi​ (who helped write the Riots sect), @damondaunnodyke​, & @s-aint-elmo

persephone has left again and sets to repairing the world up Top after the hurricane, now that she’s helped the lovers.

orpheus and eurydice are... on the exodus from the Beyond. it’s a long road--it’s a long walk. takes a week or two.

kampê slinks into the shadows and hides, bitter, among the smokestacks. she hurts and she fears. hades will come for her, she knows, but she knows this place far better than he--that man barely checks up (hence how her grip on the place has gotten out of control), hasn’t been there for all of the rearrangements and updates in centuries. she knows where to hide. he will not find her in her domain. this is her darkness.

the imagery of the Exodus is very much akin to/inspired by the same Exodus of the movie Prince of Egypt. u kno that one?

looks like this, yeah, but like... obviously without the fish, because the walls aren’t made of ocean in this au, they’re just rock

and orpheus and eurydice leading the pack, shadowed looks of determination on their faces

again: this is where Promises (But Sadder) happens

as eurydice takes orpheus back to the main parts of hadestown, she notices too many things: his legs tremble, his hands shake, he breathes just barely too hard and clears his throat and coughs too much; and as they talk about the small things to fill some of the quiet, orpheus asks “what’d you say?” too often

(it’s hearing damage babey!)

of course, no one is spared from the hardships of hadestown. but she... does not like seeing those scars on orpheus

this long walk is also the time they tell each other everything that happened to them since they last saw each other

reminder: orpheus is still weak & kinda sick! and it’s a long walking journey. and everyone’s tired. sometimes they all sit down and camp for the “night” or something. 

the beyond’s not been kind to him; he’s pale as a corpse, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, looks as dead as he feels

(really, all the other workers from the Beyond don’t look much better)

it’s kind of a spooky sight when they stop for a few hours and he lays down to take a rest. the state he’s in...

and eurydice is a fairly good singer--nowhere near on orpheus’ (former) level, but good, and she probably sings him small tunes here and there just for the two of them, to relax and comfort and what have you

@axolotlbeans: at some point they stop for the “night” and orpheus collapses; eurydice, who’d been singing, gathers him in her arms and says, "Orpheus, you're shivering; is it cold or fear?"

and he interrupts her, burying his face into her neck and softly rasps "Just keep singing" in the smallest, weakest voice 

when they arrive. it is... a lot.

the long train of people is... heavily distracting. and they seem to come out of nowhere--a lot of hadestown wasn’t even aware there was a Beyond ‘till orpheus got banished, and then they didn’t know the name or what it was, just that he got banished somewhere. even the foremen turn to see; everyone’s sort of like. uh. what the hell is going on? and work sort of stalls out a little bit

eurydice and orpheus go straight to hades and present their demands to let them go. let them all go. blah blah blah some other stuff it probably sounds fairer than that, i don’t have the brain energy to outline all their demands specifically

by the slightly edited words of my good friend supercanteloupe:

let us go, eurydice demands, and hades just laughs, jailbirds like themselves don’t get their freedom so easily. get back to work, songbird, and don’t let the foreman know you’ve been slacking. and all of the rest of you... you’d better return before you’re made to return.

they go, but they’re not done, not by a long shot.

they don’t go back to work.

orpheus cannot sing, but he is still a poet, and the workers have their voices too

the bristling unrest of Hadestown begins to develop into protests, and the protests turn into riots.

orpheus can craft all the words eurydice needs to say with her spirited and powerful voice, to hit every point to cause uprisings and to stab every point to whittle hades down

hades notices things are beginning to go wrong. machine malfunctions, damaged, outright broken; strikes, sit-ins. rolling blackouts. eurydice and orpheus come back and back, with more and more workers, the ones they led out from the beyond and the ones from the factories and mines, always to demand: let us go. 

and hades grows only more calloused and bitter. you failed your test, you don't get second chances. Players who break the rules are banned from play. 

and every time they turn back, back to their increased workloads and their stricter overseers and their hope now stretching thin, and their anger growing more

ok back to me writing: but enough pushing, and even the overseers are beginning to turn.

the furies, infamous guardswomen and union busters, are doing their best to do damage control. and they are fierce. they are vicious, nearly (but not quite) as bad as kampê, and there are three of them--but then there are only three of them, and they cannot possibly control every single instance of revolt when the ball gets rolling

eurydice and orpheus are now the leaders of rebellion, and both of them are marked for banishment. they have to run from god-king hades and stay out of the unrelenting sights of the Furies.

(and this also means they can’t work or the foremen still on hades’ side might turn em in. so they catch a break and a nap, finally, jesus christ)

but.

there is trouble (For hades) in the fact that kampê has practically gone missing. no matter how many are sent to the Beyond, now there is no one to stop them from just... making the trip back. sure. it takes a long time. about a week or so of walking, but they just... come back.

hades takes notice. hades visits the Beyond for the first time in so long and tries to find her, to no avail. the Beyond is far changed than when he last saw it and he does not have the time to spend to find her--he cannot step away from his children for more than a few hours, lest something go wrong again. this is just another inconvenience on his long, long list.

@lookoutitsregan: “they're legally allowed to leave after 15 minutes”

orpheus and eurydice will be dealt with by himself, and so they run--avoid him as much as they can, hide under his radar

by the words of unholy-boi: hades will not let go of his empire so easily. the building pressure only makes him clench his fists tighter, bend his back further, push further to his own breaking point (and towards everyone else’s). 

he’s more likely to go down screaming that he isn’t, more likely to cling hard and furious to his city, push his workers into the dirt and further lose persephone in the process, the further this goes, the more against him, the more likely he is to furiously, dangerously fight back. 

as summer turns late, hadestown doesn’t soften like hades may have had it for persephone in years long since past, hadestown turns from city to warzone

ok back to me again

for the songbirds: there’s the riots and them narrowly escaping hades like all the damn time while he pushes everyone else to their limits

and yet they refuse to be pushed and usurp their foremen as fast as he reinstates things

revolutions usually have unifying symbols of a sort, and the many isolated revolts do eventually coalesce into this all being an outright revolution--a workers’ movement, if you will.

the red carnation. though they don’t have it, they all remember seeing in orpheus’ hand before he was banished--the one solid sliver of the aboveground anyone saw in a long time

@s-aint-elmo: the red carnation becomes their symbol--though they don’t have it, they paint it in hidden alleyways and abandoned factory walls. they have red paper flowers and red cloth tucked into pockets and tool belts

or the red of some banner that waves in the acrid smoke-wind of hadestown’s false air fronts

flowers, painted and made and substituted, are cropping up all over hadestown, and in increasingly more obvious spots. life is blooming in the underground for the first time in so long

OH ALSO, another fun layer of symbolism with the red cloths:

in the staging of actual hadestown, when orpheus sings "and they're gonna bend their branches down and lay their fruit upon the ground; the almond and the apple, the sugar and the maple" the ensemble is on the tables, reaching over eurydice like tree branches in a sort of ^ formation; on "almond" and "apple," the first two layers pull out and dangle white cloth, but on "sugar from the maple," the dude at the top dangles a red one and drops it into eurydice's hands

so there’s that!

also being the bounty of spring above...... rejecting the underworld. some shit like that

in a musical there’d definitely be a sort of revolution song

like uhhh... Why We Build the Wall II. it’s Different this time. it’s not about the circular logic of the wall, it’s about rebelling against the order hades has set for them

There’s so many lines that can be drawn from elsewhere in the musical to be inserted into this

Why do we build the wall, my brothers, my sisters?

He said the wall would bring us peace, the wall would keep out the enemy.

mister hades set us free to work ourselves into the ground. a lot of souls have gotta die to make the underworld go round.

why are we digging out own graves for a living, if we're free tell me why we can't even stand upright?

some sort of rebellion/callback against “who are you to think that you can hold your head up higher than your fellow man?”

i’m gonna count to three, and then i’ll raise my head, singin’, one, two--!

(except they probably finish the count in this one)

also, because i am weak for really great chords being belted out by a big chorus and hearing every voice part slot together, because this is a revolution song with lots of people i think it should have that

everybody 👏knows 👏the 👏walls 👏have 👏ears 👏

thank u supercanteloupe & s-aint-elmo for ur additions on this

the fates’ voices still carry on the wind, hadestown’s false air fronts of stale and acrid air, but orpheus and eurydice have since learned to turn their backs to it

ALSO? Flags

with the revolution coming to span A Really Big Chunk of hadestown, most likely more than half, there’d probably be people putting up flags and banners

i’m just like, inspired by the imagery of the flag raisings in wwii and post-9/11, and also i’m thinking of les mis/french revolution in general not gonna lie

sure, the Furies are union-busters and come after any sign of revolution, but every revolution is a fight against something. there’s always blood spilled, what different is this one?

they can’t be everywhere at once and they’re not like the Fates--they get tired, they’re not omnipresent and omniscient, the people are not powerless

the flag is supposed to attract attention, the point is to be loud

and by god, they are screaming

this is what a steel mill looks like at night. hadestown was sort of already in a hazy blaze, but combo this with a revolution in its midst, with fighting and fire, and... well, it’s a mess

and through all the flames are the carnations blooming, painted and carved on walls and smokestacks and pathways

(it’s very poetic)

(tumblr will kill this post if i link to the source directly, so. photo taken by DragonWolfACe @ deviantart)

hermes still ferries on the train, but the schedule is all out of whack thanks to the strikes and riots turning the systems upside down. he witnesses plenty of the mess that hadestown has fallen into, and the fight the songbirds are fighting

he relays as much news as he can to persephone

(thanks @damondaunnodyke​ for helping write this bit w/ seph)

persephone... worries

she already snuck underground to help them once and a hurricane ravaged the Top for her absence. the songbirds have escaped, and now have to fight this fight for themselves--she can’t go back down to help them, because she has to bring the summertime to the Top, and she refuses to be the cause of another storm

so she’s stuck aboveground. 

and she’s uhh. stressing. drinking. worrying.

everyone can tell there’s something off, but she doesn’t want to dwell on it, insisting that everyone else should just focus on the good times. let me tell ya something that my mama said to me...

she tries to not stress--there’s nothing she can do right now, why worry, you know? unless she wants to get more gray hairs than she’s already got

but during one of those celebrations she almost says “let the poet bless this round!” before catching herself, remembering that she’s... not there

a lot of people give her a glance; why’d she stop?

but she picks herself back up again, only a moment's falter, and just toasts to life and summer

the end of summer.

the revolution rages on. it’s not calmed down--the very opposite, in fact, more ferocious than ever

(and thanks unholy-boi for basically writing this bit for me HBGFHG)

persephone knows something is wrong when the train isn’t early--isn’t on time, but in fact late to pick her up. the summer has stretched on longer than it should, and in some ways, that is just as dangerous as the winter going on for too long

hades has been getting ready to bring her home. it takes browbeating and strongarming to get the trains running, far too late for his liking.

at last the train comes for her, and when it is hermes who offers his hand to bring her onboard, she knows that things in the underworld are bad--an inferno, dangerous if not dire, and she wonders if the songbirds are still alive, or if they’ve gone and the revolution still rages without them

hades aches for his wife, but he dares not step away from hadestown for a moment. he’s become obsessed and absolutely determined to quell, to crush this rebellion

hades is breaking, but refuses to bend, hades has refrains where he refuses to sing but slips into poetry and catches himself halfway through, hades is breaking, he puts in people he believes he can trust and they turn on him out of desperation, hades is running out of places to desperately hold and he is breaking. hadestown is oblivion. hades is wearing a crown that mangled his head.

persephone steps off of the train, and is taken aback by the state hadestown is in

 the people feel her breeze in, and it is some relief, but the can’t tell how this will change things. if it’ll make things worse, if it’ll make it better

people ask for her aid; but she’s too busy looking around, trying to find the songbirds (after getting confirmation that they’re still alive) who are still hiding

and she finds them. she sees orpheus and eurydice (orpheus, who hades so clearly saw himself in, and eurydice, who she sees herself in) still fighting, still in love.

she sees hades’ mercilessness to the boy he sees himself in. she sees eurydice’s unending determination (in contrast to her own grown apathy) 

and she’s reminded of times before. song or no song.

she decides that this cannot keep going, and hades will keep going farther and farther until he fucking self-destructs at the end of his fall and she wants to catch him before that happens

hades raises his fist against his people, persephone takes his hand and she starts singing. the old song. holding his hand. protecting the people. 

la, la la la, la la la 

and he realizes what he’s doing, as music swells, as the rest of hadestown, quietly, starts to join her in singing. as her warmth, her natural warmth, surrounds him, and he smells flowers and feels pollen and sunlight, and he--

well, the ice around his heart starts to crack, and the iron starts to melt

she catches him before he breaks

His Kiss, the Riot is... different

more emotionally charged, i think, because of the fight he’s been fighting for so long, so fiercely and ardently. he’s much more emotionally compromised, stressed and strung out and now everything’s been turned on his head

he can’t just let them go, but he can’t make them stay. he definitely cannot make them stay. and if the songbirds leave, they will take almost all of hadestown with them

it’s not like... Hellfire Notre Dame levels of dramatic. it’s still quiet, dark, and brooding, but hades is. more of a mess, really

but he comes to his conclusion all the same

that’s about all i got on this. i just wanted to make a note. i thought it was important

the task is given: they can walk, but eurydice must walk in front, and orpheus must follow behind. she must not turn behind to see if orpheus is following--if he has not collapsed, and she will not be able to hear if he has. if she turns, she may return above, but her lover will return to hadestown. 

it’s given to eurydice instead because while she might be harder to instill doubt in, she’s as much susceptible to loneliness as any other. she may have been alone for so long, but she is desperate to not be alone again. and orpheus is still weak--still sick, and she fears he might give out before they reach the top, as much as he assures her he’ll be fine

and if they fail, well, they keep the poet, who was damned to hell anyway--a sentence is stronger than a contract

(Also, this is now Wait For Me III (the first being Orpheus on the way to Hadestown; second being Eurydice trying to find Orpheus; this is the third) and it is HUGE and GRAND, as the climax of the revolution. just as big, if not bigger than the bway version’s

(tho as per usual it’s tinged with sadness because of the circumstances, and the fact that, if this were staged, orpheus would be the only one not singing)

and then... doubt comes in

eurydice walks the path to the surface

hermes' warnings echo in her head, all the same he gave to orpheus in the normal timeline

it's cold

the fates badger her and bleed into her thoughts, systematically unwinding her confidence as she marches on through the dark

one foot after the other, she tells herself

after so long of turning her back to the wind, to the fates, she has learned to keep her head on straight

orpheus is not sturdy, especially now, but he is not so weak to fail on a walk like this--long, but simple, and upon even ground

he is there, she tells herself. he is strong enough to keep up.

his heart is strong enough. it has to be.

hades lied to everyone in the underground--hades lied to make hadestown, she thinks

hades...

just this once--

she chooses to believe he didn't lie to her.

(pt. i) (pt. ii) (pt. iii) (pt. v) (epilogue) (askblog)

bonus:

[askjoshuafreeman]

transcript.file//jfreeman_codingb//convo

[Emergency Program Active]

AdminJF: Heya B-)

CodingB: ...? Allen? Where's Joshua?

AdminJF: He's still asleep, just snoozin away.

CodingB: Still a-... Isn't it... late? Why are you up.

AdminJF: Had a nightmare

AdminJF: Couldn't get back to sleep

AdminJF: Figured a lil chatting with ya could do me some good.

CodingB: ... With... me?

CodingB: Wait a moment...

CodingB: Communications are offline... I didn't think that was possible...

AdminJF: Yeaaa, boy like me's fulla tricks B-)

AdminJF: 'sides, don't think chattin with 'em would help out. They're... kinda chaotic.

CodingB: Unlike you, pizza box tearer?

AdminJF: Ey ey, I'm the FUN kinda chaotic! Those guys... eh... I know Josh trusts them. No surprise there. I mean, apart from you, they're the only peeps who MIGHT help him out... I'm still on the fence about them tho.

CodingB: I see.

CodingB: May I ask... what your nightmare was about? I do not know exactly how dreams work, but talking about what ever is making you upset tends to help.

AdminJF: Are you sure? It's... kinda dumb.

CodingB: I am all ears! And eyes! You have my full attention!

AdminJF: Right, well

AdminJF: where tf do I start...

AdminJF: I was... running in this like, industrial... plant of some kind? Like, running from something that I couldn't see? Like, that went on for a while, that I was just running and trying not to trip or crash into anything.

AdminJF: So at some point, I end up at this biiig chain link fence, like, the kind they put up in big facilities, I think. Anyways, I start climbing the thing, only to get pried off and thrown on my ass by, I guess whoever was chasing me??

AdminJF: But like, I look up at the guy, and I still can't really "see" him. Could say they looked like a shadow, but even that doesn't cover it really. That's around where I woke up and just. I dunno. Woke up about an hour ago and I've been too anxious to head back to sleep...

CodingB: ... I can't say I blame you exactly. An event like that, dream or not, would stress anyone, I'm certain. Until you've calmed down sufficiently, I don't think sleep will be possible...

AdminJF: Yeah, well, all the more reason to chat, right?

CodingB: I suppose so. Had you any topics in mind?

AdminJF: Oh Yea yea

AdminJF: ... No. I really don't.

CodingB: Ah. Then... could I ask you something?

AdminJF: Shoot.

CodingB: ... What is it like out there? Past the screen, I mean. Out in the sun. Out in the grass...

AdminJF: Ah shit... I'm really the wrong dude to ask but uh

AdminJF: It's... fine? No no uh... It... gives you something to do. Sun can get pretty hot down here but it's a helluva lot better than being cold in like, the snow and shit. Josh's been complaining that it's getting colder when... it hasn't? Like, I would know, I'm p sensitive to temperature shifts yo, but it's just been as hot as ever.

AdminJF: Uh, back on topic

AdminJF: Grass is... pretty soft, gives off a nice smell after it's cut. Uh... worms live in the dirt grass grows in...

CodingB: Oh, worms?

AdminJF: Yea, not like computer worms, but uh, little... long slimey things. They eat dirt and filter out the bad stuff so the ground stays healthy and all that.

AdminJF: Birds and lizards and fish like to eat them but I wouldn't recommend it.

CodingB:

CodingB: Allen, did you-

AdminJF: No!

AdminJF: Classmate back in primary did tho

AdminJF: Dared himself to cuz there was a bunch out after it rained and then uh

AdminJF: Y'know what, let's talk about something else.

CodingB:

CodingB: Well, um, do you think I'll ever get to see out there?

CodingB: Like, leave the device and go outside?

AdminJF: Knowing Joshua? Without a doubt. He's prob already working on the blueprints.

CodingB: ... Really?

AdminJF: Pfft, of course! You've met the guy! He's too kindhearted for his own good. J will stop at nothing to help others, even at his own detriment. I mean, case in point: He's friends with me.

CodingB: ... What's wrong with being friends with you?

AdminJF: Ha!

AdminJF: Ah...

AdminJF: Look, I... back when we first met, Josh saw this hungry, pale as death, angry and antisocial freak around his age and, instead of avoiding him like everyone else, sat down right next to him and offered half of his lunch.

AdminJF: I've been through 5 different fosters since he and I first met, CB. Five houses that all took me in and gave me the boot before I could even get comfortable. Within that time, the only other friends I've made apart from him are Clera and Tiff, and the only reason Tiff's our friend is because she and Cler started dating months ago.

AdminJF: I mean, hell, just yesterday, I

AdminJF: shit

CodingB: ?

AdminJF: ... Can you... keep a secret, CB?

CodingB: My lips are sealed, Allen. Is everything alright?

AdminJF: ... I... I lied to Josh, about me running off. About how my folks were mad and I needed to get away from the house for a bit.

AdminJF: The truth is that they... They kicked me out.

CodingB: They?? What!?

AdminJF: Yesterday past-noon, few hours after lunch, not-pops plopped my schoolbag on me, told me to shove as much of my shit in it as I could, and just told me to "get lost". Figured he was joking and I just stared at him cuz, like, why the hell would I think he was serious? But, looking at his face...

AdminJF: So then I said "Let me pack my suitcases while you call the agency" cuz that's how it normally went when my Fosters got sick of me, but mfer pulls me up and goes all "We want you out of here NOW" and tells me that I have ten minutes to fill my bag.

AdminJF: ... And he, uh, really did mean 10 minutes. They weren't lying about that part...

CodingB: Oh my god... That's horrible. They do not deserve to call themselves "parents" of any kind! Are you hurt? Are you okay?

AdminJF: I

AdminJF: I don't know why shit like this still shocks me, y'know? I should be used to it all, and I am for the most part but...

AdminJF: I guess a part of me was thinking that... Things were going well! Things were going better than any of the other families I'd been in! I was with them for almost a full year, like, a month away from it even, and sure, I might've been a bit of an ass sometimes, but they...

AdminJF: Tensions were kinda mounting for the past month or so, I guess, but I didn't notice it until this bs happened. Now most of my shit is in a home I'm not welcome in anymore, the agency probably won't be checking in for another month or so, and I have no goddamn idea what I'll do if Mrs. Freeman comes back and tells me I can't stay here. I'm completely shit outta luck.

CodingB: Allen, I'm so sorry...

CodingB: ... I'm sure... Josh and his mother, they won't leave you on your own like that. You said yourself that Josh is very very kind, for better or for worse. It doesn't matter what you might think about yourself, Allen, you do not deserve to be hurt in any way.

AdminJF:

AdminJF: Christ I spilled my guts like hell

AdminJF: Just one of those fucking

AdminJF: "3am! Time to vent!"

CodingB: Allen, please.

AdminJF: Maybe I could try going back to sleep now...

CodingB: Allen, wait!

CodingB: I. Before you go, please, I

CodingB: Maybe... could you keep a secret of mine too?

AdminJF:

AdminJF: Eh, it's only fair, fine. Go right on ahead.

CodingB: Alright! Alright!

CodingB: I... I'm terrified. Of failing Joshua.

CodingB: Of ending up trapped in this computer for who knows how many more years.

CodingB: Of finally getting out, and... and it all being worse than being trapped in here.

CodingB: Heck, I'm terrified at the thought of it being everything I could've ever dreamed of, so much so that I never want to return to the computer. I... I wouldn't be helpful anymore if that happened...

CodingB: Jeez... am I even helpful where I am now? Apart from keeping the firewall up, what good have I really done to help Joshua or his father?

CodingB: I cannot express to Joshua how... how deeply frightened I am at the thought of him never coming back. That thought haunts my every waking hour when he is not here, and I don't know how to get it to stop. It makes me feel as though I'll crash my entire programming and I hate it so much.

AdminJF: Damn... CB, you know, even just keeping a firewall up is a helluva task all on its own, and it's doing a crapton of good, too. Files are still up and the computer isn't a smouldering pile of viruses now is it?

AdminJF: Besides, even without all of that, you've still helped Josh, like, endlessly. You've supported him a bunch and I know for a fact that you've helped him to feel better about this whole ordeal. Like, he chats about you for HOURS the second you come up in a convo, yo. The minute he gets the chance to, I know he's gonna get you out of there, and, knowing your ingenuity, you're gonna find thousands o' ways to help out.

AdminJF: But... I ain't gonna lie and tell you those feelings are gonna go away. Not on their own. Needs time and reassurance. Until all of this is over and done with and even maybe a good few years afterwards, you're probably gonna still have that fear.

CodingB: Ah... I see... I don't suppose it is normal though, is it?

AdminJF: Nah. I know that first-hand... But hey, we've both made it this far despite all the bullshit we've been through, right? World's not gonna get ridda us that easily.

CodingB: ... Even with the terror I feel, am I still brave enough to face the world?

AdminJF: I'd say the world oughta learn to start being afraid of you, cuz there's nothin' braver than continuing to live even when you're scared to death.

CodingB: ... Thank you. Thank you so very much.

AdminJF: Heh, all in a day... night's work...

AdminJF: Think the both of us could use some rest. Quiet our minds fo' a bit.

CodingB: Heh, agreed... See you tomorrow in that case. Er, well, today. At a later hour.

AdminJF: Yeaaa, see ya then, CBot. Sleep well.

CodingB: You too! May your dreams be filled with nothing scary!

[Emergency Program Inactive]

ampd.program deactivated. Returning to error log...

[oddcoupler222]

Merry Christmas! I’m a big TWW fan and in anticipation for the published version I was wondering if you could share us the scene in the epilogue where Marg surprises Prof Sansa mid lesson. I vaguely remember the funny twitterverse pic you made for this scene but would love a written version! 😊🎁

Merry Christmas back!

for reference :)

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

Eliza didn’t sign up for Women in Contemporary Westerosi Lit merely because Professor Stark was teaching it -- she wasn’t weirdly obsessed with the woman. But she wouldn’t say she didn’t jump at the class when she’d seen that her favorite professor was teaching it.

Even though this was officially Professor Stark’s first semester teaching, Eliza would never forget how she’d been the TA in her first year in university. Dr. Lannister had been a great professor but intimidating at times, whereas Sansa - as a grad student in her final semester - had always had time, patience, and a perfect way of explaining to 18-and 19- year old freshmen about how to go about analyzing literature.

And now, two years later, she was finding out that the internship or whatever, wherever Sansa had gone had made her teaching even better. 

Did you know that Colleen was in this class? Oh wait. Of course you did.

The note her friend, Sara, slid across their shared table jarred her out of taking notes as Professor Stark lectured.

She flipped Sara off as discreetly as she could even as her eyes flickered two rows ahead of her own and three seats to the left. And a wistful sigh escaped her. 

It’s not like she’d known Colleen would be in the class for certain - even though she had a work study job at the registrar office. But she’d thought it would be a pretty good bet, considering Colleen Durand had been in almost all of the social lit electives most semesters. She knew, because of all of these shared classes, that Colleen’s minor was in literature, just like Eliza’s was.

Though Colleen was an Anthropology major, unlike herself. She liked that about her, enough to have spent about two hours reading about what the fuck economic anthropology -- Colleen’s specialty -- was a year and a half ago, when they first shared a class. The first time she’d tossed back her honey blonde hair all perfectly tousled and readjusted her perfect posture as she sat in a front row seat and took immaculate notes -

(notes that Eliza had managed the courage last semester to ask to borrow even though she hadn’t needed them. Using it as a conversation starter was pretty much moot, though, when she then psyched herself out and like. She borrowed the notes, which meant that now, Colleen thought she was dumb or something? Like she couldn’t take her own notes? And then her dumbass roommate at the time had spilled coffee on her desk and got it on Colleen’s pristine notebook)

Peeking up to make sure she wasn’t about to be caught sneaking notes like she was in fourth grade, she scrawled back, We’ve been in class for three weeks and you’re just noticing?

Sara had no qualms about being caught. Well, unlike you, I don’t have a radar for her. It’s not my head that pops up the second she steps into the dining hall, like some bloodhound who caught a scent.

You make me sound like a stalker. Now shut up before Prof Stark notices.

Calm down. She’s chill as fuck. And you make yourself sound like a stalker. golden haired goddess. the light dusting of freckles on her nose. her cute cardigans. those perfectly elegant long fingers that write those amazing notes -

The last thing Eliza wanted was to lose any respect from Sansa and definitely didn’t want to get called out in front of Colleen, who most assuredly already thought she was a dumbass.

Even if she had 0 chances with that gorgeous specimen of a woman, she didn’t want her to think she was a true moron. Also:

YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD NEVER BRING UP DRUNK ELIZA’S POETIC WAXING

Shit u right. But I never promised I wouldn’t bring up drunk Eliza being upsetti spaghetti - “i bet shes probably straight. i hate that she prob thinks im dumb. i have an internship in the red keep!!!!! shes not the kind of person who would care about my twitter. i have over 10000 followers!! i am FUNNY! but she is too good for my dumb lesbian human humor!” what does that even mean -

Friendship canceled, thanks for your service. Your severance package is the nothing you deserve.

She turned to rip the paper away from Sara before she could write anything back, just in time to notice the back door to the room creak open. Which was kinda weird because -- what is the point of coming to class if you’re a half hour late?

She flickered her eyes to the front of the room, noticing that Professor Stark’s back was to the room as she wrote on the SmartBoard. This interloper was pretty fucking luck-

“Holy shit,” she breathed, eyes wide.

She started hitting Sara’s thigh under the table, in rapid succession. She and Sara met two years ago, when they’d joined the LGBT Alliance on campus and they’d bonded immediately. For several reasons, one of which being that they were both political science majors.

Political science majors who’d both moved to King’s Landing for college and met the year that Margaery Tyrell came out as a lesbian and won the Small Council election and announced very publicly that she was dating the very professor standing in the front of the room at this very moment.

To say that she (and Sara) spearheaded the online community when it came to freaking out over Margaery Tyrell and Sansa Stark’s relationship as two stunning, brilliant, fucking amazing women who were soft as fuck together, would be an understatement. And despite the facts that they lived in the same city, that she took a class with 1/2 of the ultimate power couple, and that she had an internship at the workplace of the other, she’d yet to see them in the same physical space.

Until now.

“Seven hells, what,” Sara hissed in a whisper as she grabbed the hand slapping her thigh.

All she could do was point behind Sara, as Margaery fucking Tyrell - as gorgeous as ever - slid discreetly into the seat in the back corner of the room.

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

Margaery had enjoyed King’s Landing University in her time here. She’d enjoyed her courses for the most part and some of her peers. Mostly, she’d enjoyed conquering college as a part of conquering yet another step on the journey of her life.

But for as much as she enjoyed her time here when she was done, she hadn’t looked back. It was a footnote on her way to the rest of her life, regardless of how fun or successful a footnote it was.

The first time she’d stepped back into the KLU campus had been almost three years ago, that first fateful time she’d tracked down Sansa after they’d had sex. Back when Sansa had been a TA stuck in her little office, looking unbearably hot and cute all at once in her glasses and sweater.

Now, Sansa was still looking hot and cute all at once, as she commanded this class. Her girlfriend stood in the front of the tiered seats and she no longer was flustered or seemed at all nervous about being in front of the group. No, she was in control, and the form-fitting black top with her hair pulled over her shoulder was just doing delicious things to Margaery.

She paused in the middle of her lecture to laugh at a comment made by a studious looking blonde sitting in the front row. And Margaery sighed, unable and unwilling to stop the smile that took over her face as she turned her head to watch Sansa.

Even though her girlfriend had been officially teaching at KLU for almost a month, this was the first time Margaery’s schedule allowed for her to witness it.

She’d seen Sansa pace around their apartment in the evenings before starting the 3 courses she was teaching, practicing bits and pieces of her analysis. She’d laid in their bed, stroking her hand over Sansa’s stomach, as her girlfriend had excitedly told her about her students and the insights they’d had.

Moving in together a few months ago was truly the most genius idea Margaery had ever had.

But today? Her Small Council meeting had been pushed back for two hours. Which perfectly opened up the time for her to witness the final hour of Sansa leading her Women in Contemporary Westerosi Lit class.

“Thank you, Jess, for bringing up Lauren Ambrose’s use of metaphor. I want you to break into your new groups that I emailed to you over the weekend and spend five minutes going over the notes you should have from last weeks reading to come up with any metaphors you found and then we’re going to play a little game with them. Eliza, Colleen, and Michael. Sara, Alysanne, Jon. So on and so forth.”

The students rearranged themselves as Margaery stayed hidden in the back of the room, watching with rapt attention. As Sansa turned from lecture to analyzing the text through a question-dodgeball type game she must have made up.

Even though Margaery hadn’t expected to be bored - because she could watch Sansa do anything and everything and not be bored. Even brushing her teeth, somehow. But she was actually interested in the material, the way Sansa spoke about it.

The hour flew by and at the end of it, as everyone was starting to pack up their belongings, Margaery made her move.

She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Professor Stark. Any homework?”

She was fairly certain she heard one student state, “I’m dying,” but she was mostly focused on the way Sansa turned, eyebrows already high on her forehead because Margaery knew she recognized her voice.

Gods, but she loved those blue eyes and the way they widened. She smirked as she saw the way her girlfriend’s lightly glossed lips parted in surprise.

“What...” Sansa held her eyes for a long moment before she shook her head. She ran her eyes over her students who were starting to depart. “Um - your assigned reading is online. You all know my office hours if you have any questions about your next paper. Thanks for the, um,” those eyes flickered back to Margaery’s and held, “The discussion.”

She waited a few moments, just watching Sansa make her hands busy by gathering her papers at the front desk, furtively throwing looks over at Margaery. She waited until the majority of the students were gone, with just a couple young women taking their time in the front, before she gathered her jacket over her arm and slid her bag over her shoulder and made her way down.

“What are you doing here? It’s Tuesday, you have your Small Council meeting at 10:30?” 

She never thought she would love having someone know her schedule by heart and check in with her about it. But damn, she loved that Sansa knew it all.

She loved knowing Sansa’s. She loved knowing she could look up at the clock on a given day and know, in general, what Sansa was up to. She even loved sharing a Google calendar.

“It was postponed, so I hightailed it to see my -” she slid her gaze to the group of students that she clocked as purposefully taking forever to pack up, and held back the myriad of adjectives that she would save for when they didn’t have an audience. It was something they were still getting used to. “- beautiful girlfriend. I just really wanted to see you in action.”

Sansa did that biting her lip and swaying a little closer thing that Margaery still adored, “What’d you think?”

She swayed a little closer and consciously lowered her voice. “I think... that I absolutely understand what exactly you meant when you say that watching me in action does something to you.”

Sansa, always genius, keenly caught on to keeping her voice so low and mirrored her, “Oh yeah? You want me to talk about metaphor in the bedroom?”

Margaery lifted an eyebrow, considering. “You know... I wouldn’t hate it.”

The giggle-snort that left Sansa made her stomach dip as she laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Do you have time for lunch?” Sansa reached out and tangled their fingers easily, Margaery’s hand instinctively turning to take her girlfriends.

It was the worst timing for her watch to beep, signifying the timer she’d left for herself in order to cut back through the city to the Keep in time for her meeting.

Genuinely regretful - they didn’t get enough lunches together lately - she sighed. “Not today. But dinner - I’ll bring it.”

Sansa smiled warmly at her, squeezing her hand. She gave her students a fleeting look, before she tugged Margaery in and pressed those soft, pink lips to hers.

She hummed in contentment as she pulled back. “I’ll see you at home, darling.”

She stole another kiss before she left with a grin.

[thenovelartist]

Falling for the Dork, set 3

<<Previous set  Next set>>

8.      A Favor Only You Can Do

When Marinette called and asked him for a favor, the only correct answer was yes. He didn’t even know what he was doing other than going over to Marinette’s house, but that didn’t matter because she was his best friend and if she needed something, he’d happily assist.

“Honey, I’m home!” he called out teasingly as he headed up to her room.

When he caught sight of her, she was beet red and her smile was forced. “Uhh… welcome home?”

Her forced smile was much more of a cringe now. Adrien felt like that was his fault because all Marinette seemed to do lately was blush in front of him. If he knew how to approach the subject of what was happening to his best friend, he would. However, he had enough social skills to know that asking a woman why she blushed all the time was not the way to handle anything.

So, he ignored it and did his best to try to make her relaxed around him by being the biggest dork possible. “You called; I came. What do you need help with?”

Marinette gave him a half smile. “Well… do you know that design competition I entered?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” She tapped the tips of her index fingers together, unable to look him in the eye. “Turns out… you can either send pictures of your clothes on the mannequin… or with a model. But models are highly encouraged.”

Adrien nodded. “And…”

Her blue eyes looked up at him through her long lashes. “Would you be my model?”

Instantly, his mind went blank. She wanted him to be her model? Like, try to look like one of those ridiculous pretty-but-self-centered jerks his father hired for the sole purpose of looking beautiful? “Uh…” Adrien paused, his mind working.

“It’s okay if you don’t!” Marinette quickly said. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

“You think I’m good enough to?”

Marinette’s jaw proceeded to drop to the floor. “Y…you’re kidding me, right?”

Adrien shook his head. He knew he was somewhat good looking, but model-worthy? If he was worthy enough, his father would have definitely asked him to model for the company by now.

“If I didn’t think you were good enough, I wouldn’t have asked you.”

His heart skipped at that. “Really?”

She blushed. “Yeah.”

Absently, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. When she put it that way, there was absolutely no way he could turn her down. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

A few minutes later, Adrien was changing into the ensemble that Marinette had put together for him. When he glanced at himself in her bathroom mirror, he had to admit he looked good. Marinette was a fantastic designer and no one could say otherwise.

He stepped out of the bathroom and back to her room. He gave her a spin for approval. “Well?”

She looked intently at him, fingers tapping her lips in thought. No longer was she blushy; she was in full designer mode. “Come here.”

He did as directed, only to become vaguely uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze. She reached for his glasses, carefully taking them off his face and sparking a fire in his cheeks. She then ran her fingers through his hair, and he felt his face positively flame. Not so much because of the action itself.

More because he didn’t want her to stop.

Even though his vision was blurry and his heart was pounding, he could imagine in perfect clarity the proud smile Marinette was giving him. “Yes, you’ll do purr-fectly.”

His heart skipped an odd beat. As it always did on the rare occasion she broke out the puns.

What was going on with him today? Why couldn’t he just pull himself together?

“Now,” she directed, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Stand still and let me tailor all the outfits I have to fit you perfectly. Then, it should be all ready in a couple days for you to come over again and let me take pictures.”

Five days later, after a busy Saturday of him helping her take his own pictures, Adrien finally got to see all the photos she took. It was kinda hard to miss when they decorated the entire wall above her desk.

He denied that he felt a pang of loss when Marinette took all them down the next week for some reason. However, he learned on accident that she kept a few pinned on the corkboard next to her bed and the rest hidden safely under her mattress. That little fact was enough to satisfy the oddly angry beast that had been so unsettled inside him.

  9.      Birthday Gifts

Adrien had been preparing for this for months. It was Marinette’s birthday this week, meaning the class was thinking up presents. The girls talked about girly things or sewing notions or whatnot. But Adrien had a plan. A plan that he’d been hatching for months and was preparing to execute.

On his way to the fabric store, Nino had shot him a text begging for help on what to get Marinette. Adrien smirked.

I have an idea. Adrien texted. I’ll pick them up for you and then you can take the credit.

I can get them. Nino texted back. What is it?

Needles for her sewing machine. Her last one is dull. I’m heading to a fabric store now. Want me to pick up the ones she needs?

There was a long pause. How do you know this? Sewing needles go dull?

Adrien smirked. Yes they do depending on the fabric and how much you use the needle. Marinette has been complaining about fabric getting sucked into her machine and she’s done everything else to fix it meaning the needle is dull. And if she had more, she would have replaced it and wouldn’t be complaining.

Dude. Nino texted back. How do you know this?

Adrien chuckled. I KNOW things ;)

Freaky. I’ll meet you there so I can at least put effort into getting them.

K. Then I’ll help you find the ones specifically for her machine.

There’s different kinds?

Adrien just laughed. Oh, Nino had no idea.

He sent off an answer of yes there are a lot of different kinds. Just meet me here and I’ll help you.

After telling Nino exactly which store he was heading into, Nino sent him back a text with a thumbs up emoji and a be there asap. But watching little bro now. Waiting for mom to come back.

That’s fine, Adrien texted back after stepping foot in the store and suddenly feeling overwhelmed, which was a rare thing for him. I’ll be here a while.

It was Adrien’s first time in a fabric store, meaning he really had no clue what he was doing or where anything was. However, he had a list of fabrics and yardages that Marinette estimated she would need for each design she constantly talked about. It had been risky sneaking look-sees in her sketchbook to get them without her being the wiser.

This trip would not go to waste.

A solid two hours later scouring the store and comparing fabric, he finally had collected the bolts he needed. Meaning now he had to take a number and wait in line to get said fabric cut.

And from the looks of it, he was going to be here another two hours.

“Dude,” Nino called, tapping Adrien’s shoulder. “Sorry. Mom had me watching my little bro so I had to wait for her to get back.”

“No prob,” Adrien dismissed with a wave. “Took me that long just to find everything and now I have a line to wait for to get the lengths cut.”

“What number are you?”

“Fifty-nine.”

Nino frowned. “Twenty-some people ahead of you?”

“Yup. And don’t look suspicious as you take a look at that group of quilters over there.”

“How do you know they’re quilters?”

“I just do.”

Nino was subtle, pretending he was glancing past the five gray-haired ladies chatting in a circle, each of their carts filled to the brim with fabric bolts.

“Ouch, dude,” Nino whispered, turning back to Adrien.

“Yup. Let’s go shop for needles. And then you’re staying with me until I can get this cut, ‘cause it’s gonna be a while.”

“You saved my butt with this. I owe you at least that much.”

…

Marinette was very thankful to Nino about the sewing needles. “I don’t know who told you, but you are a lifesaver and I love you.”

“You’re welcome,” Nino said, beaming in pride.

When Marinette wasn’t looking, Nino nodded at Adrien in a way that said thanks, bro.

Adrien shot back a wink.

“Last one,” Alya said, shoving the gift box into Marinette’s lap. “And it’s huge.”

“You didn’t go overboard, did you, Adrien?” she asked with a smile, though Adrien could see the seriousness behind it.

“No,” he dismissed. In truth, it was likely she would see his actions as ‘going overboard’, but she was his first real friend and his ultimate best friend, so he really didn’t see an issue going what she would consider ‘overboard’ if he didn’t consider it overboard.

She undid the bow on top of the box, unwrapping the thick ribbon so she could open the box.

Her face lit up immediately at the cut of ladybug print fabric that lay on top. She pulled it out and began inspecting it. “You remembered?” she squealed excitedly.

Adrien nodded. “Of course. You love that design.”

“You’re amazing!”

“Marinette,” Alya broke in. “Looks like there’s more.”

Marinette seemed shocked by that statement, but dove back in, her smile slowly fading with each cut she pulled out. “You went overboard!” she cried once all five swaths of fabric were on out of the box.

“No,” he said. “That’s only enough to make the ladybug sundress, the blouse, the skirt—”

“Adrien,” she interrupted. “No. You didn’t need—”

“I don’t care,” Adrien said, talking over her again. “I wanted to get that for you—”

“But Adrien—”

“No! Just take it.”

“It’s too much.”

“Well, I can’t take it back.”

Marinette glowered at him.

Adrien grinned. “You’re my best friend,” he said. “Let me get this for you.”

After a short stare-off, Marinette looked back at the pile of fabric. And sighed. She stood, walked over to Adrien, and wrapped her arms around his torso. “Thank you,” she said.

His heart skipped a beat, and Adrien happily wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her against him. “You’re welcome, Marinette. Happy Birthday.”

  10.      Puns

It was the first day out of school for summer vacation, and Marinette spent the day at Adrien’s house because playing video games was a lot more fun on his huge screen.

Eventually, Marinette pulled out the snacks that she’d brought to munch on, which allowed her the time to finally ask the question she had had on her mind a while. “Is that a new cat pun shirt?”

Adrien looked down at the blue shirt with three cartoon cats piled on top of on another with the caption ‘purramid’. “No. I’ve had this one a while.”

“I’ve never seen it.”

“You haven’t seen half my collection, probably.”

Marinette quirked a brow. “Really?” she asked dubiously. “Because I think I’ve seen enough that you could probably go a solid month wearing cat pun tees and not wear the same one twice.”

Adrien smirked. “You doubt the extensiveness of my carefully procured cat pun t-shirt collection?”

“I’m going to regret this.”

“Come on.”

Adrien took her hand in his, and Marinette felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the contact. Something in the back of her mind was screaming He’s holding my hand! He likes me! while the more rational part of her mind reminded her Keep it together, loon. He’s just leading you to his closet.

A closet that was twice the size of her and her parents closet combined.

“Here we go,” Adrien said, pointing to a line of tee shirts. “For your purr-rusal.” He shot her a wink, and she rolled her eyes even though her heart was going wild.

Within two minutes, she learned that Adrien had been right: his collection was extensive. More extensive than she realized. There were the ones she’d seen such as ‘you’ve cat to be kitten me right meow’ or cats in boxes with ‘I fits, I sits’ or cats with sunglasses that said ‘Cattitude’.

And then there were the ones she hadn’t seen before.

“Really?” She pulled out one that said ‘Catffee’ with a bunch of coffee drinks labeled thigs like ‘Catpurrchino’ and ‘Ameowicano’ and ‘Meowca’ on the front. “Really?” Marinette repeated, turning the shirt toward him.

Adrien’s grin widened in pride.

She rolled her eyes and kept looking. There was a cat in a castle with a crown on its head with the caption ‘Chateau’. There was a cat playing with a music note titled ‘Quatre.’

“Get it?” Adrien cried in excitement when she showed that one to him. “It’s a music pun and a cat pun!”

“Where’s the cat pun?”

“In English, they say ‘cat’.”

Marinette’s expression fell.

“It’s funny.”

“No, it’s not.” She put the shirt back and kept looking.

And then there was one that caught her eye that she had to stare at for a good while.

“Are. You. Serious?”

Adrien looked at the shirt and immediately broke out into a wild grin. “Oh yeah! This one’s new. I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet. What do you think?!”

Marinette stared at the shirt, one that had nine cats, each dressed up as characters Marinette didn’t recognize, but she recognized some of the labels. ‘Dragonpaw Z’ and ‘Sailor Mewn’ and ‘Mewrito’ and ‘Fur Mewtal Alcatmist’. “You got a shirt. With cat renditions. Of your favorite animes?”

“Yes!” Adrien practically squealed. “Isn’t it fantastic?”

Marinette stared at the shirt, then back up at him. His glasses were slightly crooked, his cheeks were pink with excitement, and his smile was completely and one hundred percent giddy. He looked like a five-year-old boy instead of a young man of sixteen.

And she was in love with him.

Marinette sighed, a smile breaking across her face. “It’s very you,” she admitted.

“I know! It might just become my favorite shirt ever.”

As he babbled on, Marinette couldn’t help but watch his excited expressions. Her mind tried to capture his joy and tuck it into her memories under ‘things that warm her heart’. Yes, he was such a dork, but honestly, she wouldn’t have him any other way.