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nctsplug02 · 1 year

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Husband mark fucking his pregnant wife plss

[11:31PM]

GENRE: father mark, fluff and smut!

WARNINGS: dilf!mark, pregnant milf!reader, kissing, breast play, breeding, praising, dirty talking, spanking, shower sex, and just pure fluff!

AN| happy (late) father’s day! i know, i know. i’m late to this post BUT, you know me, im late to/with everything! anywho, i want to say thank both my daddies. my dad dad and my bf daddy. ANYWHO! happy father’s day to my dad who lives miles and miles away from me, i love you dearly and wish you the best without having the best daughter in the world next to you. and to my daddy who’s next to me in bed (resting after having good pussy), i love you too.

the door unlocks and you try your best to quickly scramble up from the couch with your pint of ice cream in one hand and a fork in the other.

you hear a deep sigh and a bag being dropped on the ground.

at last, you’re able to lift yourself off the couch and onto your feet.

being seven months pregnant with a big belly was a struggle.

“mark, hunnie?” you call out and walk over to the front door space. “mark— oh, jesus christ!” you jump when mark jumpscares you.

“shit— baby, you scared me— oh, my god. i’m so sorry, baby.” marks hands land on your lower back and the side of your belly.

you sigh and attempt to wrap your arms around mark but your belly keeps you two at a distance. mark giggles at your cuteness and pulls you in front of him, putting his arms above your belly and dipping his chin on your shoulder.

“i’m sorry, hunnie.” you rub his arms and rock side to side. “no, i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to scare my pregnant wife— just didn’t expect us to go separate paths.” he laughs.

“it’s alright— anyways, how was work?” mark groans and drops his head back before dropping his forehead on the back of your head.

mark sighs, “i’m so pissed. it’s father’s day and they wouldn’t allow me to go home early so i could spend time with you and jae-mi. they said they’d let us leave early because they knew we had plans for father’s day but still were planning to keep us until midnight until taeyong spoke up and they finally just let us leave.”

you frown, “aw, i’m sorry, baby. i’m sorry you are under such a shitty company who doesn’t care about you. and, i’m glad taeyong spoke up. i genuinely was gonna be a karen tonight and march on over to your practice room and complain about you not being home and missing out father’s day— jae-mi was really upset that you weren’t coming home. every hour that went by, she asked and asked if you were coming home yet. it was so disappointing to tell her that you weren’t just yet.”

“not a karen,” mark laughs. “just a loving, worried, moody wife who cares about her husbands well being under my shitty company who doesn’t care about me at all.”

“but, what did you and jae-mi do for father’s day while i was out on schedules?” you smile and bite on his hand crossed in front of you. “we just baked a bit for you, y’know— made some strawberry shortcake cupcakes and brownies.”

“uhhh,” you jump and mark pauses. “let’s go to the kitchen and i’ll let you know else we did.”

you continue to tell mark about what you and your five year old did without mark while walking over to the kitchen.

“woah— woah! what the— woah!” mark gasps and lets go of you. “dude— what! yo, this is sick!” mark jumps excitedly as he sees the frosted (and topped off with cut up strawberries) cupcakes and powered brownies.

you laugh at how mark went from being pissed to being so hyper from seeing sweets.

“wait, that isn’t even the best part. look,” you go around the island and grab the drying white paper from the fridge. “look, look!” you hold up the paper and mark squeals.

“who made this?” mark says, grabbing the paper from you. “this is an absolute masterpiece, what the!” mark says, admiring the art piece.

you tuck your hands behind your back and tilt your head. “jae-mi made it for you. she said she wanted to make something for you that you’d like and.. she made.. a heart with the letter ‘M’ in it.”

“oh, right! she made more for you, look.” you grab the other pieces of paper from the dining table and you pass them to mark.

“aww, this is sick. where’s my little girl?” mark says looking through the art works.

one was a glitter-glued-on-written sign that said, happy father’s day to the best daddy, in blue glitter.

another said, #1 daddy, in pink glitter.

“your little girl is sound asleep in her bed.” mark evens the papers and sets them on the island. “well, i’ll tell her tomorrow morning that her art pieces for me were beautiful.”

“wow, those are really messy.” mark says looking down at his now glitter covered hands.

you giggle and nod. “you should’ve seen mine earlier— jae-mi and i had to take two showers.”

mark grabs you by the shoulder and slams your back onto his chest, wrapping his heavy arms around your shoulder. “now, what did mommy make for me?”

you laugh and shake your head. “mommy helped your little girl make you these nummy desserts.” you push out of his hold and you grab a cupcake from the tray, peeling away the cupcake liner and taking a big bite into the cupcake.

“mmm,” you moan, chewing and then licking your top lip to get the extra whipped cream. “hm, try it.” you hold the cupcake in front of marks mouth and mark licks his lips, leaning forward and then taking a bigger bite.

“holy shit— mm, that’s so good. oh my god.” mark moans and nods, jumping around while holding his crotch and shaking his head.

you laugh and continue to eat the cupcake until all that’s left is the liner.

“alright, baby. let’s go take a shower, yeah?” you whine and shake your head. “this’ll be my third shower of the day— i’m so tired of taking showers.”

you lean your chin on marks chest and you shut your eyes. mark mocks your whine and places his chin on your head.

“but, i’m stinky, baby. i’m all sticky and sweaty.” you push off mark and he interlaces hands with you. “then shower by yourself.” you say with sass and mark laughs. “but, i wanna shower with you.”

you tsk, “fine. but, you have to carry me to the bathroom. now, hurry, let’s go before i change my mind.”

mark quickly yanks his hands from yours and lifts you off your feet by carrying you bridal style. “mark!” you laugh unstably as mark bounces while running up to the bathroom.

“are you crazy?!” you laugh as mark kicks the bathroom door open and sits you on the counter. “what, you said to hurry up before you changed your mind, no?”

he was right, so you couldn’t be mad.

“just, tsk— start the shower will’ya!” you make an angry face and mark laughs.

mark walks over to the shower and turns on the shower, in an instant, hot water squirts out the shower head.

“get undressed, baby.” mark says, walking over to the closet next to the shower and pulling out clean towels.

“mm, why don’t you undress me yourself?” mark stops in his tracks and looks up at you, trying his best to hide the shy smirk.

you place both hands on either sides of your legs and you smirk. “i said why don’t you undress me yourse—?” you gasp as mark drops the neatly folded towels and jogs over to you, quickly grabbing at your oversized shirt that was honestly his from his side of the closet.

mark tosses the shirt behind him and goes for your loose jamies. he undoes the knot and tugs them off with needy grunts.

“mark,” you giggle while being tossed around on your ass. “don’t forget about yourself, you dummy.” mark nods.

marks pupils grow when seeing your huge breasts— thanks for your pregnancy that bumped you from a C cup to a double D cup.

his hands shake as they go to undo your bra. “geez, when did they get this big.” mark says as the push-up bra releases your mochi like breasts.

“they’ve been growing ever since my third month.” you say with creased eyes and an innocent grin as mark massages them in his hands.

“mark, stop,” you giggle as he tweaks your nipples. “you can do that in the shower but i’m getting cold and i can just feel the hot steam from the shower.”

“alright, alright.” mark frowns as he forces himself to pull away from your breasts and helps you down from the counter.

mark walks with you to the running shower after pulling off your panties and you turn around and you stop him.

“what?” he looks down at you.

“you’re still fully clothed, hunnie.” you point out while softly laughing.

mark looks down and laughs along with you. “i forgot,” he rubs his nape and sighs. “wanna undress me?” you tilt your head and sigh. “you’re a big boy, aren’t you?” you see the disappointment in marks eyes and you laugh even more.

“kidding, i’d love to, markie.” you pat his head when seeing him melt.

you pull up his shirt and you purposely run your hand down his toned abs just to make him flex for you. “you’re a cutie, markie.” you tap the tip of his nose and in a reflex for that, he scrunches his nose up.

you finish off by going on your knees and pulling down his sweats and his boxers all together.

“oh,” your eyes slightly cross when marks semi-hard cock bobs in your face. “markie,” you say in a teasing tone. “is this for me?” mark sticks the tip of his tongue out and scrunches up his face in embarrassment.

“let’s continue in the shower?” you ask and mark quickly nods.

mark helps you up off your knees and follows you into the shower like a lost pup.

you turn and give mark a kiss under the pouring showering which quickly leads to a hot and heated makeout sesh. “m—mark,” you attempt to call for him in the middle of the kiss but mark doesn’t stop, he’s addicted.

you somehow manage to pull away from marks needy kisses and you burst into a fit of laughter when seeing how swollen and red his lips are.

“geez, you needy needy man!” mark touches his lips and suddenly turns all red when feeling the swollen-ness.

“i just— it feels like i haven’t kissed you for so long, y/n.” you laugh, holding his forearms. “we kissed this morning before you went off to schedules.”

“not like that, we didn’t.”

“uh, yes we did. don’t tell me you don’t remember our quickie this morning.” mark takes a moment and then finally it clicks. “oooohhhh, right. dude, i totally forgot, i’m sorry.”

you shake your head while rolling your eyes. “whatever, just hurry up and fuck me.”

mark turns you and bends you perfectly so your hands can grasp the tiled walls. “don’t tell me what to do.” mark spanks you and you cry out.

“don’t be so harsh—!” mark spanks you once more. “i said don’t tell me what to do.” you look back when feeling his tip poke at your entrance.

“then don’t be so harsh— and stop teasing me, will’ya— nghh!” you moan when feeling mark ease into you.

“oh, fuck.” mark says, pinching your hip with one hand and using the other hand to hold himself up from leaning all his weight on you.

“baby,” mark groans. “you feel so good, baby. oh, my god.”

his pulsing cock pushes past your gummy walls and continues that many times. “mark,” your cheek pressed against the tiles and your hands laid flat against the tiles.

“harder, markie.” you grunt, grabbing his wrists from behind and crying out when mark starts ramming into your cunt.

“oh, mark!” you wail, moving yourself up onto your tip-toes.

marks face scrunches in pleasure as he feels you clench around him.

your hand reaches down and you begin to rub your nub that’d cried for attention. “f—fuck, i’m gonna cum soon. i’m s—so close.” you pant, rubbing quick circles on your clit and moaning like a wild animal.

you and mark both let out groans when feeling you squirt, the liquid runs down your hand and down marks cock.

“god— mark, i’m cumming.” you cry out to mark who continues to plow into you. “god, i’m cumming.” you whisper.

your knees wobble and buckle as your orgasm hits you. mark quickly holds under your belly and catches you, making sure he gives nice and slow thrusts while holding you up.

“cum, mark. i wanna feel your cum dripping out of my pussy.” you whisper to mark, slowly recovering from your orgasm.

“you want me to cum in your pussy? your pregnant pussy?” you nod, whining at how much more turned on you got just from hearing mark dirty talk to you.

mark does as you pleaded for and cums into your cunt.

his sloppy thrusts come to a halt and he stays balls deep in your cunt. marks cum dripping past his dick and falling straight on the tiled ground, it washes away from the powerful impact of the hot water being sprayed out the shower head.

“geez— i need to sit down.” you pant when mark pulls out of you— slowly.

mark lowers himself to the floor and sits you on his lap. “i love you, you know that, right?” mark chuckles. “of course i do. y’know that i love you too, right?” you nod tiredly. “to the moon and back?” you nod, again.

silence fills up the bathroom.

“so,” you start. “round two?”

“i’ll meet you in the bedroom in ten.” mark says, pushing you back onto your feet.

you leave the bathroom with a purple towel around you and you wait for mark.

ten minutes was too long and by the time mark was finished with his shower, you were sound asleep on his side of the bed with the towel still wrapped around your body.

#ash talks #nct imagines #nctsplug02 #nct scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop smut #anon #nct 127 #nct smut #kpop fluff #mark fluff #mark lee #nerdy mark #mark lee smut #mark smut #nct mark #superm mark

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guppybibi · 3 months

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how they react to artist!reader

✧┊ft: akaashi keiji & kōtarō bokuto

❁ཻུ۪۪♡

❥ akaashi keiji

- thinks everything that you make is an absolute masterpiece, but if you do ask him for critique prepare yourself for his blunt honesty.

- though it isn't obvious from his stoic face, he goes into overthinking mode whenever you ask him for suggestions.

- hurting someone's feelings because he said something wrong is the last thing he wants.

- if you wanted to do some sort of art challenge with him he'll happily comply. i think he'd be pretty good at arts, not the best but definitely not the worst.

- when you compare each other's works, he always lets out a laugh when he sees how much of a downgrade his work is.

“Alright, I’m done! How ‘bout you, Keiji?” You giggle, holding the canvas against your chest secretively. Snooping was for sure, not allowed! “Just a few more finishing touches.” He mumbles, painting a few more brush strokes. His eyes full of pure concentration, laser focused on the piece he was making.

After a few extra minutes of waiting for Akaashi to finish, he places the paintbrush down on the small coffee table. “Okay, on the count of 3! 1, 2, 3!” You counted down, excitedly flipping over your canvas once the count ends. Keiji follows and does the same, both of your paintings being revealed at the same time.

An amazed look comes up on your face, nodding approvingly as you look at Akaashi’s piece. “Wow Keiji! Your art is improving, I see you're following my tips!” You compliment, your eyes filled to the brim with awe. “Yes, I’ve been putting your suggestions into mind. But my work is nothing compared to yours. It's wonderful as usual and expected.” He admired, adoring your creation.

“Well, I don't really care about whose work is better right now. We spent time together, considering your busy schedule, I’m really grateful.” You spoke softly, fingers fiddling around with the bristles of a random paintbrush as a content smile made its way to your lips.

❥ kōtarō bokuto

- basically obsesses over everything you make, it can be a work in progress or a literal fail yet he still has a compliment to say about it.

- a walking ego boost for you to be honest.

- not..the best in arts. though overtime as he practices with you, he's gotten better! practice makes perfect after all. so if you want someone to draw around with, he's just one call away!

“Y/N, I’m done! I’m sure I’ve outdone myself this time yet again, I’m not only an ace in volleyball but in drawing as well!” He brags, his confidence overflowing. While you just laugh in response, still focusing on putting the finishing touches. “I’m sure it's gonna be great Boku, you've been improving recently.” You comment, at this point you were sure his head was growing bigger from the amount of compliments he was receiving..

He patiently waited for you to finish, not rushing you as he started to chat about random things. Like how Keiji won't wear the t-shirts he suggests even though he has worn equally weird t-shirts before and whatnot. You chuckle, despite being pretty stoic; Keiji was probably evenly as weird as Bokuto. Once you are satisfied with your work, you place the pen back to its designated spot. Crossing your legs as you held the sketchbook close to you, you looked up to Bokuto with a smirk.

“Ya ready?” You ask, which you immediately get a nod in reply. After a countdown, the both of you flip your sketchbooks and show each other your work. It took you a moment to realize what who Bokuto drew, it was you in a meadow. It wasn't the best piece in the world, but to you it felt like it surpassed even the Starry Night. “Woah..you're right. You did outdo yourself this time..”

“Of course! An ace like me never fails to disappoint.” He boasts proudly with a grin, throwing the sketchbook aside and pulling you in for a hug..

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akkivee · 5 months

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Health Conscious Curry: Hypmic Curry Drama Track TL

Jakurai: Hifumi-kun, Doppo-kun. I thank you for coming all this way to help make our curry. Time is of the essence, so let us begin right away.

Hifumi: Okie dokie!! I’ve got a bunch of ingredients here, so we can make whatever kind of curry we want!

Jakurai: Oh my! It does indeed look like a supermarket sized collection.

Doppo: And if there’s anything missing, please just say the word and I’ll run out to buy it!

Hifumi: So we got chicken, beef, pork, lamb and venison! And I even bought seafood and veggies, but I can’t decide on what main ingredient should be!

Jakurai: With this curry battle, it’s to be expected that the other divisions’ quirks will present itself in their curry.

Doppo: So then… what would be our trait?

Hifumi: Well, that’s obvs gotta be “finacially secure adults,” right?

Doppo: “Financially Secure Adults’ Curry” … Then, should we use this high-class sea urchin?

Jakurai: Yes, let’s. And… I would like to use something that makes one think of Shinjuku.

Hifumi: Great idea~! Something like our glimmering neon lights~!

Doppo: “Glimmering Neon Curry” …? D-do any of these ingredients light up??

Hifumi: Heehee~ I thought something like this would come up, so I brought some gold luster dust!!

Jakurai: It will surely be beautiful as a finish.

Hifumi: Chan-Doppo, you gotta let me know what you think too~!

Doppo: B-But it’s not like I have any cooking sense…

Jakurai: Doppo-kun. This is a curry to be made by the three of us. Therefore, you’re indispensable.

Doppo: I-Is that so…?

Jakurai: Of course. Please do not feel hesitant; let’s make this curry together.

Doppo: Um… If it’s okay, I really would like meat to be in the curry…

Hifumi: Cool!! What kinda meat??

Doppo: We’re trying for a sense of luxury, so I guess we should use beef, but some people don’t like beef… So, I guess chicken would be the safest choice? No, but it has to be something special, so we should use game meats right…?? Aaaargh, this is too hard, I can’t make up my mind!!

Hifumi: Woah?? But don’t take it out on the meat??

Jakurai: …How fascinating.

Hifumi: Eh?

Jakurai: A doctor, a host, and a salaryman are certainly on different corners of society… And yet, somehow, life has brought us together. I feel that this is the appeal of Shinjuku Division.

Doppo: I see! So then we should… Um, what should we do?

Hifumi: We should go with this!!

Doppo: We’re using all the meat??

Hifumi: Heh heh~!! We’re going to combine these land meats and sea meats and make it work!! It’ll be like we're making the Curry Division!!

Jakurai: Haha. I hope we’ll be able to create a harmony of it, just like ours as Matenrou.

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

Hifumi: And curry is served!!

Doppo: It looks amazing!! Is this really our curry…??

Jakurai: It has quite the impact. As for the taste…

MTR: *eats*

Doppo: It’s so good!!! None of the ingredients are overpowering, but it still tastes like fine dining…!!

Hifumi: Heh heh~!! Obviously it’s because we only used the finest! If we sold this at a restaurant, you’d have to pay yen in the tens of thousands!!

Doppo: That can’t be the price?? Who would buy our curry??

Hifumi: Welp, I think that’s something the curry battle producers are gonna have to think about! …But, what’s up, Doc? You’re making a weird face over there.

Jakurai: I must apologize to the both of you. I have overlooked the most important aspect I wanted to include.

Doppo: W-What was it?

Jakurai: For this curry battle, I wanted to stress the importance of eating meals to maintain health. This curry is far too high in cholesterol, fats and in purines….

Hifumi: And using butter rice probably isn’t helping keeping that calorie count down…

Jakurai: If we continue to eat this, I fear gout and obesity would be imminent.

Doppo: That’s horrible!! I can’t believe we created something that dangerous…!!

Jakurai: This curry is a masterpiece. However, if it’s alright, can we create something else from a healthier standpoint?

Hifumi: Can do! But we kinda used up all our ingredients in that first batch…

Doppo: ...Ah! We still have these left!

Jakurai: Canned chickpeas and canned tomatoes…!!

Hifumi: Way to go, Doppochin!! If we use these, our curry’s bound to be healthy, right??

Jakurai: Yes. Beans are rich in dietary fibers and in protein and tomatoes have antioxidant benefits. This curry will surely be a healthy dish.

Doppo: A curry that’s conscious of health is still something of an adult appeal, right?

Jakurai: And to support everyone’s busy day to day lives, this meal will heal the mind and body. Victory is sure to be set with our “Health Conscious Curry”!

#jakurai jinguji #hifumi izanami #doppo kannonzaka #matenrou #hypmic #hypnosis mic #and indeed it was healthy LOL #like i happened to glance over the caloric count for the curries after i ate mtr's and theirs has the lowest amount lmao #like it tasted healthy so i was very surprised eating it lmao way to go sensei ya did it ya made sure your dreams weren't just memes #i was very curious about their everything but the kitchen sink curry tho lol i'm a little sad lol #curry tl

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mydinnercult · 1 month

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My dinner cult pinned🤤

WOAH!!! YOU CAME ACROSS THE "my dinner 🤤" CULT OFFICIAL BLOG!!! 🤣 Come in...have a drink,, you homeless non-cultist.

The MOST over powered cult you'll probably ever come across 😎😎

^ YES I just made that divider for this post. 😞

My dinner is a cult AND a lifestyle.

In this cult,, we eat EVERYTHING for dinner🤤 this is a FAMILY DINNER!!1!11! WE ARE ALL FAMILY!!!! So while you're at it...join my dinner before you BECOME the dinner🫵🤤

In here we accept anything. Pls. We are STARVING!!! and always will be...so feed us ☹️ we will take ANYTHING 🙏🙏🙏 snakes, bears, cats, or even chemicals. We'll even eat a thermonuclear bomb 😭😭😭

Your leader (and also run by) @oddvanilla ofc 😒

By following us you're agreeing to the following:

You are now part of us ❤️

You are loyal to the cult🤑🤑🤑

You are NOT a spy nor a revolutionist🤬

Sooo..WHAT YA WAITING FOR??

Spread the most influential and kind message, my dinner 🤤

😱Lore stuff😱 ↓↓↓

Beware of the rebellion 🙏 there are revolutionists...people who DON'T accept our identity of my dinner 🤤🤤 *COUGH COUGH* @antimydinnercult ...OUT!!!! remember to resist and NEVER listen to their propaganda🙄🙄🙄 STAY STRONG🥶🥶

Dinnerers count: 217

Member list

Server

Here since may 11 🤑

Tag list:

MASTERPIECE by @monscrow 🔥🔥🔥

#my dinner🤤

#my dinner cult 🤤

#our dinner 🤤

#dinner 🤤

↑ all tags for my dinner posts 😎

#my dinner fanart 🤤 <- ART!!

#my dinner memes 🤤 <- MEMES!!! (Duh)

#my dinner rebellion 🤤 <- WAR POSTS!!

#my dinner 🤤 (𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙢𝙖🥶🥶 edition) <- sigma posts 🥶🥶

#my dinner 🤤 (𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 edition)

#my dinner 🤤#my dinner cult 🤤#our dinner 🤤#dinner 🤤#my dinner memes 🤤#my dinner fanart 🤤#my dinner rebellion 🤤#my dinner 🤤 (𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 edition)#my dinner 🤤 (𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙢𝙖🥶🥶 edition)

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bestanimatedmovie · 1 year

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Choose your favorite!

Time to fly!

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

How To Train Your Dragon:

The message was just nice. I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I used to be a huge dragon nerd as a kid and dragons just weren't that prevalent in media here, especially not as friendly figures. I still love HTTYD and it's sequels nowadays.

It was one of my favorite movies as a kid and one of the few movies I watched that wasn't a barbie movie, it's just really cool.

Best movie featuring dragons period. The pure wish fulfillment fantasy of having a highly intelligent fantasy creature companion that can fly and doesn’t mind being ridden like a horse, therefore also the best execution of the dragon rider trope in all of fiction. Extremely funny, adding to the comedy is the fact that only adults have Scottish accents and all the teens have an American accent. So good that even its tv show follow up was decent by extension. The bit where Hiccup is trying to earn Toothless' trust and they start to work together changed me on a fundamental level.

I LOVE IT SO MUCHSHJKBSKHGDK I have a bone dysplasia which causes some bones to be a little bit more hollow and whenever I would feel a pain in my top back, 8 year old me was like ''woah I'm growing wings its my time to fly like toothless'' lol and it was always a dream of mine to fly. Weirdly enough I could relate to toothless because the "not being able to fly but you should be" felt like an allegory to a lot of my life! It gave me hope when he WAS able to after the help of others + the care he always needed + that mechanic wing thing made me feel like with the right ''recipe'' could help me get better too. My favourite scene is the first flight!! I love the animation for it, it makes me feel like im flying through the clouds too! The soundtrack is amazing too, I still cry to the songs.

I could write an entire essay about how much I love this movie, it truly is one of the best films ever made to me. Utterly flawless on both a technical level and a story-telling level. Not to mention the score oh my GOD the score of this movie changed my life. There are too many scenes that are so impactful, but the Forbidden Friendship scene has to be one of the best. Test Drive too.

This is literally my favorite movie of all time. This movie got me through the worst times in my life. It’s about love and friendship and all that lovely goopy stuff and it’s also fucking gorgeous.

THE cinematic masterpiece of our generation. On god.

This movie is an absolute masterpiece, the animation is pretty, the score is perfect, the relationship between Toothless and Hiccup is so sweet, Toothless is absolutely adorable. Definitely one of DreamWork's best films.

It's a beautifully animated movie about an unconventional viking boy named Hiccup finding his place in a world where dragons and vikings are constantly at odds, and how he changes the world around him. The dragon designs are unique and beautiful, and the vikings are larger than life and match the exaggerated setting.

Who on Tumblr DOESN'T want a dragon best friend I ask you. I would kill to have what Hiccup & Toothless have.

It does a brilliant job balancing tropes in a way that subverts and plays into them. There is so much in it for both adults and kids, it doesn't look like other animated films, it feels more grounded and in that realism it becomes so beautiful. The friendship in the film feels very real despite one of the characters being unable to talk! Forbidden Friendship scene is, in my opinion, the greatest scene in the history of cinema. The music, the lighting, the cinematography, the pacing, the emotions, it is practically perfect in every way. I could go on but I think ya get it.

God this movie defined my childhood and it's still so good when I rewatch it now. I'm guessing you'll have had this submitted a good few times bc it goddamn deserves it but. Hiccup is so relatable and !! dragons !! big cute dragons whose animation models are based on cats!! based fr

I have many fond childhood memories of this movie and in particular I loved how my cousin would "talk" for Toothless (cousin was babysitting us when we first watched the movie). Another thing is The SCORE. The music is iconic and awe inspiring to this day. That first time when Hiccup and Toothless fly together and it Works and the score absolutely goes HARD, I loose my breath every time. It's great. Also have you seen Toothless he's an adorable dragon and a badass, what's not to love?

Makes me cry every time because Hiccup and Toothless are such good friends and they love each other and end up as two halves of a boy dragon soulmate sandwich also the music is extremely good who doesn’t like dragons anyway.

It's the story of a beautiful friendship forming between a boy who doesn't fit in and a dragon who is the last of his kind. It's so cute. And it shows positive representation of disability, Hiccup and Toothless become disabled in ways that meaningfully parallel each other. Hiccup makes a prosthetic tail fin! And Toothless is just so cute!

The sound track is amazing

Honestly everything is phenomenal. It has a good use of comedy and an excellent story and character development. There are also countless beautiful and awe-inspiring scenes supported by an amazing score.

Up:

It is a very emotional movie about an old man learning to still enjoy life even though his wife died.

Such a beautiful film about loss

#How To Train Your Dragon #Up #best animated movie #round 2 #tournament poll #tumblr's favorite

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bradassholemajors · 10 months

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Wtf Is Shock Treatment’s Deal? (Or, Local Critic Discovers Escapism and Having Fun In The Midst of Late Stage Capitalistic Dread)

Watched Shock Treatment for the first time this week, and I am a changed man lol. Here are some disorganized thoughts:

I think something that makes Rocky Horror so special is that it can be as deep or not-deep as you want it to be. Like, if you want to think about the cultural implications of the themes portrayed (hedonism, gay & trans liberation, gender roles, the Invasion-of-the-Body-snatchers style infiltration of outside queer forces, the downfall of the safety contained within a collective identity), you can absolutely do that! There’s so much to be interpreted there!! But if you are just here to see Tim Curry looking incredibly sexy and violently thrust along to the Time Warp at a midnight showing with a bunch of cool strangers, that is absolutely awesome, too. Slay!! Take what you want.

BUT SHOCK TREATMENT MANNNN??? Shock Treatment is a whole different ballgame lol. Like, it is also a thematically rich goldmine, if you’re willing to squint a little— in terms of content included, not necessarily how it’s portrayed within the narrative. In the words of Barry Bostwick here, “it was a statement about the future that we weren't quite ready to explore. We didn't really even have the mental emotional vocabulary to understand what Richard [O’Brien, the creator] was trying to say.” I think this is spot-fucking-on!!! It’s absolutely frighteningly prescient, especially today in terms of the commodification of mental health. Like, woah. Janet being crowned “Miss Mental Health” felt like such a Gwyneth Paltrow moment. Cultural prophet Richard O’Brien saw the dark cloud of Betterhelp and wellness culture galloping over in the horizon in the distance of the American landscape, and he set out to warn us.

I still don’t quite understand what happened in the movie. I still don’t know what my takeaway was supposed to be. And I guess if you’re a little insane and love having fun doing thematic analysis with weird media (like me), taking Shock Treatment seriously may be right for you, lol. But thematically overall I think it’s safe to say: it’s a lot less coherent than its predecessor. It’s messy. It’s not interested in being flawless. It’s not interested in appealing to an audience. It’s barely interested in being a sequel. Shock Treatment is lowkey pointing and laughing in the face of those who showed up expecting a masterpiece— which admittedly was me, because I take Rocky Horror pretty seriously. (I put off watching Shock Treatment for a while bc I wasn’t sure about how it would affect the Rocky Horror Universe I had in my head.) If not for the internet reviews prepping me, I would have walked in completely expecting another nuanced perfect symphony of a movie to measure up to Rocky Horror’s magic.

But the thing was? Watching Shock Treatment, it ended up I did not really care!!!!! I was having the time of my life!!!!!

(more under the cut whoops)

Wtf was going on!!!!!!!!!!! Who knows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still don’t quite know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I loved it!!!

This reaction of such joy, just letting myself vibe out made me think because when did I start getting surprised when watching a movie is more pleasurable than not??? Isn’t that the entire point of media??

I think with the modern commodification of media analysis and examining pop culture up close, I’d argue that Fun Media without a message is actually pretty hard to come by— at least in mainstream culture. Even stuff as sanitized as Disney movies are now digging into like generational trauma, appealing to what seems to be a collective search for depth (or at least the appearance of depth.) Modern neo-nazi brands of fascism wields power like never before, horrific images of violence follow everyone left and right. Sometimes it seems like this open secret, that everyone knows there’s this looming darkness at the forefront of our minds at all times.

So this transition from Rocky Horror to Shock Treatment felt actually sort of powerful to me. Rocky Horror’s generation-long reverberations of shamelessly depicting sensual revelry are so powerful; it’s bold even for today! (Of course, we all know transvestite isn’t a term commonly used today, but looking at it through the lens of its time, it becomes clear what a miracle the movie is. Knowing what it must have meant to queer people at the time it became a phenomenon— giving them a real space to be themselves in a hostile world criminalizing who they were, in a time of oppressive pressure to stay silent — that is the type of brave blatant acceptance hard to come by in any era.) Rocky Horror is something I don’t know if will ever happen again, and its sequel seems to concur.

Shock Treatment has been called a cash grab but I beg to differ. If you’ve seen it, no offense: but does this seem marketable to you??? It seems like it’s a Richard O’Brien project (already wacky) that went through several levels of development hell and heavy modifications through the creative process. Said with the utmost respect… it may have got away from them a bit. Put lovingly, Shock Treatment lowkey kinda sucks a little at times. It’s silly, it’s got a huge cast and musical fun galore. It’s serving B-movie realness. I don’t say this to bash on it, I say this with a bemused respect— I think the existence of Shock Treatment is as much a miracle as Rocky Horror (aren’t all creations???)

So in the first iteration, we have advocacy and fighting for freedom for those long silenced… but also, Shock Treatment seems to allow the creators to just let themselves have fun. Aren’t they both revolutions in their own right? Does everything have to be lasting cultural milestones or does our enjoyment matter in the moment? I’d argue we need both as human beings to thrive. It comes back to that Rocky-Horror-experience philosophy I covered where you’re taking what you feel you need most from the media you consume: a message or a celebration of just being here.

In conclusion, sometimes shit doesn’t have to be that deep. More movies should just say “fuck it, we ball” and give you the most absolutely incoherent fun time of your life. I love not taking things seriously, and I love creators willing to not take their work seriously. Perhaps Richard O’Brien also had a premonition with Shock Treatment in the sense of how he just had fun with it! Maybe we need less attempts at masterpieces and more attempts at just creation for the joy of it— or both, because joyful creation makes masterpieces!!! I’d love to see more creators of every skill level and every background, known and not known, say fuck you to capitalism and expectation and marketability and just say, we’re gonna do it anyhow, anyhow!!!

#this got away from me #just like #shock treatment #may have for #richard o brien #media studies #hey janet. i’ve got something to say #this is so incoherent but I’m okay with that ❤️ love and light ❤️❤️#written while I was so so sleep deprived pls only discuss if you are nice and kind abt it lol #love me writing a whole essay on how cool it is to not take things seriously - taking it Very Very Seriously #mamma mia #<- this is also abt her in a. way #Farley flavors call me

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gingerale2017 · 5 months

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Only You Can Mend My Heart of Glass

Fluff/ Angst... mostly angst <3 Words: 8k (WOAH THAT SHOCKED ME) Pairing: Cinder x Kai Fandom: The Lunar Chronicles Setting: Modern AU where Cinder has already been traumatized once, and they are married and share a last name :)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Torture, kidnapping, grunts of pain? (Oh, and very lazy editing, especially after Kai leaves!) AO3 Link <3

In recent days, Cinder had been waking up with a smile on her face. Nightmares of dead sisters and fake mothers with shotguns finally began to leave her alone. Now she was left with fantasies of suburban households with large playrooms and nurseries with comfy cradles.

Yet, the smile that warmed her face this morning was most likely a consequence of last night. She opened her eyes slowly, getting used to the minimal light the window covered by the blinds provided. Staring upwards, she could see the top of their bedpost, the white ceiling, and the modern fan. Kai was always hot and Cinder didn’t mind the temperature, so the fan was usually on, but it stayed still this morning. They definitely were too caught up last night to remember temperature preferences.

She turned her head to face her husband who was still asleep. Her smile only softened as she traced the features of his face with her eyes. His face looked like a Renaissance painter’s masterpiece in her eyes, one that she had memorized, analyzed, and wondered at countless times. She interpreted his every expression, when he’d make them, and what they would mean. She wiped his tears and even wiped her own with his neck. She kissed every ridge and touched every bump on his body. If he was an unknown land, she was an explorer who discovered and researched every territory, reporting both the good and the bad.

Yawning, she intuitively knew it was around five in the morning, just in time for the sunrise. Good, he needs his sleep. The bags under his eyes looked a little too deep to be healthy. Smirking to herself, she knew exactly what Kai would say if he found her awake in these hours. He’d have the same reason she had for him not waking up. Stretching as quietly as possible, she scouted the room for a shirt. Kai’s discarded button-up was the closest thing she could grab. Luckily, it was one of her favorite items of his to wear.

Cinder rolled out of bed without pulling and blankets and quickly put on his shirt. She stood up, smiling in success, and gave Kai a celebratory kiss.

“Don’t wake up.” She whispered, but she knew he couldn’t hear her. He didn’t even stir.

Before she headed downstairs to watch the sunrise, she stopped by his wardrobe for a pair of boxers and sweats, and happily glided down the stairs.

The aesthetic of the interior design of their little condo was created via the genius of Iko’s love for fashion, and Kai’s perfectionist tendencies. Though Cinder couldn’t offer much because of her horrible eye for fashion, she loved her home.

Following her routine for these types of mornings, she prepared hot water for Kai’s tea and made a coffee for herself. The sun continued to be stubborn while the water heated, so she paid a visit to Kai.

He shifted his position from his side to lying on his stomach while hugging a pillow, back muscles on full display. Cinder told herself not to ogle much on his gorgeous back and limited herself to one (only one?!) kiss on his shoulder. Maybe one more on his smushed forehead, but that was it. He continued not to stir. Triumph!

Finally, the first rays of sunlight revealed themselves through the humble windows. Already, she could feel herself waking up as her body yearned for the warming light.

She raced out of their room and positioned herself on the ledge under one of the windows with a mechanic’s manual and another cup of coffee.

The beauty of the sky was enough to hush crying toddlers and bring an old man to tears. Colors danced in the sky, clouds worshipped the sun, and landscapes were heightened to their full beauty. No, she’d never get tired of witnessing this phenomenon, it was worth the lack of sleep.

And before she knew it, her mechanic’s manual was marked up and the sky turned baby blue.

Her stomach rumbled, signifying it was time for a bowl of cereal.

As she poured milk into a bowl of honey nut cheerios. Her mind wandered to the surprises she had planned today. Excitement grew in her stomach as she went over the itinerary and schedule for today. He was going to love it, for sure.

As if on cue, arms suddenly grabbed Cinder’s waist and her feet left the ground for two seconds. She yelped, her pitch high enough for bats to get confused.

She felt soft, quick, little kisses moving along the length of her neck. She giggled uncontrollably as his hands squeezed her waist even harder. He began to exaggerate kissing noises as he tried to claim her neck with his lips as his mark as if he hadn’t already thousands of other times.

“Good morning to my beautiful, genius, early bird, perfect, wonderful, pretty, petty, and I’m running out of adjectives to describe my amazing wife.” Her husband greeted her while very gently nipping the places he pecked. More of this and her neck will be glaringly red.

She laughed. “Kai!”

“How’s my lovely wife today?” He murmured, starting on the other side of her neck. She instinctively leaned into him, practically begging him not to stop.

“Mmh. Alright, I guess.” She couldn’t even remember his question.

He turned her around. Stars Above, was his smile not the most wondrous thing ever created? He was so cute.

Pressing his forehead to hers, he asked another question. “Aren’t you going to ask your husband how he’s doing?” His copper eyes were enough to awe even the most stubborn.

She barely formed her answer. Stars, she was surprised she could form audible, coherent words. “I was if my husband was a little more patient.” She challenged him back by refusing to look away. Sometimes, she was able to stun him, and it always felt like her greatest achievement.

“It’s quite a shame then because your husband is having a wonderful morning.” He pulled suddenly, smiling wider (if possible).

“Today is going to be a great day, my love. I can feel it.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” She bit her lip, pulling him back to her again. “I have lots of surprises planned today.”

Kai’s gaze became a fraction more intense. “Oh? May I ask what kinds?”

“Then they wouldn’t be surprises, dummy.”

His small smile will be the death of her. “Can you spoil a surprise right now?” He lightly whispered against her ear, nudging her cheek with his nose.

He breathed her name slowly and pulled her waist tight with his. As soon as he kissed her, she felt herself unravel. She turned her head to his and kissed him fully on the lips, pulling at his hair. He grunted in pleasure and licked her bottom lip.

She whispered his name in between breaths and in response he sat her on the counter, somehow missing the bowl of cereal she had been preparing.

He dug himself into her, enveloping Cinder fully. Their breaths became more desperate as she kissed him harder. Caressing his cheek with her hand, she guided him to stay on her lips. He liked to linger down on her collarbone and neck often, and to be honest, so did she, but today she wanted the focus on her lips. They couldn’t get too carried away, not today at least.

Kai, however, did not take the hint and kept devouring her, as if last night wasn’t enough. Wrapping her legs around his waist, he nurtured her lips to flourish. The temptation to let him carry her away was much stronger than she expected, and she knew a little more of this would end her resolve. So she pulled away with a mocking smirk and pecked the tip of his nose.

He looked down, blinking the haze away and through the confusion. Only now did she notice his work attire was only half-put together. His tie somehow fell on the floor (she suspected it was never tied), his blazer was nowhere to be seen, and his button-up lacked buttoning. None of it was her fault, she was sure.

“It can’t be earlier than six thirty now and if continue on the path I think we’re headed on, then you will be late.” She let her hand glide up his chest as if to comfort him.

His face dropped as he continued to look at her desirously, not helping to cease her shivers. “This is a crime. You’re making me wait on my birthday.”

Cinder laughed. “What is a crime is your lack of patience.” She leaned in to tease him while brushing his chin and he fell for it. He sighed, closing her eyes and breathing her in, ready to kiss. She jerked away and stood up from the counter. Kai lost his balance and held onto her for support.

Cinder broke into laughter, digging her face into his neck. She kneeled to pick up his discarded (and decidedly unloved tie).

“That works,” Kai remarked. Flushing, she stood up immediately to glare at him.

“Trust me, tonight will be worth it.” She winked, wrapping the thin piece of fabric around his neck. “I made a couple of things for you to decorate your office with-”

“Aw, darling, I love it when you make me things.”

“-and our friends are gonna pay a short visit.” Once she completed the first step of tying his tie, she glanced at him to see a joyfully radiant smile. Cinder grinned to herself. He liked it.

“Will there be cake?” He asked. She resisted rolling his eyes as her husband was no better than a small kid. She continued her task.

“Yes, babe, there will be cake.” A big loop.

“And a party?”

“Right here, with all our friends.” Through the loop.

“And time for plenty of cuddling and kisses with my beloved wife?”

Cinder smiled softly. “Anything for my beloved husband.” Tighten the strands. “It is his birthday after all.”

“Hm. How is a pretty girl like you married to such an old guy?”

“Thirty is not old at all!” She pat his chest. “And I’m not pretty enough to be dating cougars.”

Kai huffed, scrunching his eyebrows. “What does that even mean?”

“Well, you know how the most gorgeous models are dating, like, practically dead men?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m not that level of pretty for that level of decay to be attracted to me.” She had no clue what she was saying.

Kai smothered his giggle. “Oh, darling, I’m sure the most crusty, old, wheel-chair bound man will fall in love with your beauty. If I were in that position, I would.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Can we scrap this conversation? I don’t even know where we’re going with this.”

“Yes, please.” He agreed.

They stood in their small kitchen with their foreheads pressed against each other. She could’ve stayed there for a lifetime if he didn’t pull away.

“Hey.” He murmured, pulling away.

“Hey.” She smiled, pressing her chin to her chest.

“Will you come with me to work today? I don’t know.” Kai whispered. She chewed her bottom lip. “I had this weird feeling all of the sudden, and I don’t want anything happening to you-”

Cinder him off with a soft laugh. She knew how these past few months had been hard on him. All of his anxiety centered around her and something bad happening to her. He’d been the primary one to care for her after her sister died and her stepmother accidentally killed herself. He found Cinder hyperventilating, trying to keep Adri alive by putting pressure on the wound. He scrubbed blood, dirt, and grime off her body. He coaxed her through panic attacks and nightmares. It must have been so hard for him to go through that, and he never told anyone that he was struggling. Cinder had to find that out by herself.

“Nothing will happen to me, I promise. I can’t go with you, love, I’m sorry. I’m stuck preparing your birthday surprises.” She reassured.

Kai sighed, holding her hand to his cheek, and gave it a small kiss. “I understand. I’ll see you later then?”

“Of course. I love you.”

“I love you darling. You are my everything, don’t forget that.”

“Do you always have to out-love me?” Cinder whined.

“Stay safe.”

Kai left for work soon after, and Cinder was left alone. Usually, she’d go and work as a mechanic around this time, but today she had tasks to complete.

She made sure the floors were crumb-less, and the windows spotless. Everyone confirmed their arrival time. 6:30. She had all day to finish everything.

Once she finished cleaning the house, she left for the grocery store. There was a nicely done charcuterie board for sale, along with sangria and red wine. She needed chips, non-alcoholic drinks, dessert, and of course, cake. After she grabbed everything save for the main attraction, she headed to the bakery.

It was here while watching the baker write Kai’s name on the chocolate cake that Cinder got the call that will haunt her forever. It was the third worst call she ever received, second being Peony’s death, and first being a much, much worse one.

She felt the dread Kai must’ve felt that morning, as if something horrible will happen. Recognizing the number from their company, she picked up. “Hello?”

“Mrs. Prince? Sorry to disturb you, but is Mr. Prince with you by any chance?”

She glanced at the baker in confusion. “No. Why?”

“It may be for a silly reason but we can’t seem to find your husband.”

The silence following was overwhelming. Cinder had to force herself to calm down because she could feel her panic start to spiral. “What?” She barked. “What do you mean you can’t find my husband?”

“Well, he isn’t picking up his phone, ma’am, and not even Torin can find him.”

She pinched her forehead with her fingers. “Hold on, let me try calling him.”

She hung up quickly and called her husband, but he never picked up.

“Miss? Your cake is ready. Is it good or do you want me to fix anything?” The baker said in a sweet voice.

“Thank you. Can you box it up please?”

“Of course.”

Cinder decided to check out as a way to convince herself this is just a big misunderstanding. Maybe he’s taking a nap and his phone died or something silly. Yet her fingers kept trembling and the strands of her hair continued to be annoying. She stayed in contact with the company the whole time and they kept asking her if she heard from him. Clearly, if she was asking them about Kai’s whereabouts, she didn’t know Kai’s whereabouts!

Their panicked Once she paid she flew to her car and called Torin.

“Cinder, stay calm.” He greeted in a baritone.

“Did you find him?!” She cried as she sped down the street.

“No, not yet-”

“What even happened?! How can no one find him?!” Her panic made were swerve through lanes. When a car honked at her she screamed: “Get off the road!” Strange since she was never the one for road raging.

“Cinder, please calm down!” She took the chance to breathe deeply at a red light. “He was in his office taking calls one moment and gone the next. I am quite shocked to his disappearance as well.”

“Any guessed as to where he could be?” She asked. Torin paused, and Cinder nearly drove her car into a tree.

“He either fell asleep in the storage room or..” He paused.

“Or what?” She pressed. He didn’t answer. “Torin, or what?!”

“I may be wrong, hopefully I am, but I fear your husband has been kidnapped.”

Cinder froze. Thankfully, she was already in her neighborhood or else she would have crashed into someone else.

“Cinder, this is a reach. I don’t think anything bad happened.” He tried to comfort her.

“No, you think this is the most likely answer, or else you wouldn't have hesitated.”

He sighed, the stress obvious even through the phone. “Just stay home Cinder. Everything will be okay.”

Being left alone was not the right choice for Cinder. She drove herself crazy with horrible theories. Pacing non-stop around the condo, she told all her friends about Kai. Iko resolved to come asap, as did Thorne and Cress. The rest said they’d check in and try not to storm her. She was grateful.

Not even ten minutes later Torin called again.

Heart racing, she answered. “Hello?”

His voice sounded dejected, heartbroken and tired. She knew exactly how he felt. “I think we need to get the police involved.”

Her heart dropped. Her mind spiraled, her hand shook uncontrollably, she even dropped to her knees. She rubbed her stomach in an attempt to calm herself. She spoke in an assured voice. “Ok. I’ll call them.”

Even through shaking fingers, she dialed 911. “Hello, this is 911, what is your emergency.”

“Hi, my name is Cinder Prince and my husband is missing.”

Hours later there were lights outside the condo and people inside. This was not the type of gathering she expected tonight yet all her friends were here along with Torin and police. They questioned everyone there multiple times and no one had not one lead. Kidnapping, though, became the lead reason to his disappearence. Reasons: He’s the CEO of a major company with many loved ones and nor very skilled at self-defense.

Cinder sat on the couch with Iko rubbing her back and Scarlet offering her water.

“Breathe, Cinder. Everything’s gonna be okay.” Scarlet assured.

Cinder hunched over with her hand buried in her hair. Slowly rocking herself, she cursed and sat up. Scarlet and Iko shared a look, no doubt noticing how eerily similar this situation to the one a couple months ago with Peony.

“I’m fine.” Cinder assured, taking a swig of Scarlet’s water. “He’s fine. We’re all fine.”

Iko gave her a worried look and hugged her. “We should go to a club after this all passes. Dance the shock off.”

Cinder laughed but there was no humor in it. Winter and Jacin walked up to the girls.

“How are you feeling, dear cousin?” Winter inquired.

“Horrible, but managing.” How she managed to not break down screaming, she didn't know.

Jacin grimaced. “Winter and I need to go check on something very important. We’ll be right back.”

She blinked, feeling like a jerk for not caring about whatever mini emergency they might have. “Take your time.”

The smiled and left.

Scarlet excused herself to go to her husband. Now left alone with Iko, Cinder felt herself start to crack.

“Iko,” She murmured, focusing on the corner of the TV. “I can’t do this again.”

Her friend knew exactly what she meant. “Nothing is happening again, ever.”

“I barely survived the first time. If I lose K-” Cinder’s voice cracked. The surge of emotions that she had ignored all morning came bursting forth like a geyser. Iko tightly pulled her close as she sobbed in her shoulder. “If I lose him, I lose myself.”

“You won’t lose him. If I have to go track him down in the sewers like a bounty hunter, I will. He’ll be back soon, you’ll see.” Iko’s words always brought comfort to Cinder’s pain. They spent years comforting each other through Adri’s abuse and Peony’s pain that they knew the best methods of making the other feel better.

This time they did little to calm Cinder’s panic. “You don’t understand. When Peony died, I died. He brought me back to life. So did you, of course, but he was there for me the most. If he dies, I die. There’s no one to bring me back to life again. I live for him. I work, and I clean, and I laugh, and I breathe for him. I love you, Thorne, and everyone else for him. Because of him. If he dies, I die.”

“Listen to me Cinder. No one is dying tonight.” Iko squeezed her hand but she continued.

“He’s probably lying in a ditch, window glass everywhere, stuck in his car, bleeding out right now. On his birthday!” She began to sob. “He asked me to go to work with him and I said no because I wanted him to have a good birthday, especially after everything he’s done for me. This is cruel. Evil. And it’s all my fault Iko. I- I killed my husband, the only person who would put up with me-”

“Cinder! Please snap out of it!” Iko cried. “You’re overwhelmed and spiraling, enough.” Iko gave her a moment to calm down. Once her breaths became more even, her friend spoke. “Your mind is causing you to say false things. Kai isn’t dead. I have a feeling you’d know once he passes. Do you know?” Cinder shook her head. “Good. Two, he isn’t the only one capable of resurrecting you. I will try hard as hell to pump your heart again and you know how relentless I am. Besides, there’s a room full of people who love you who would do anything to bring you back to life, am I wrong? Exactly. Three, if anything, stars forbid, happens, it will not be your fault. We aren't going down this road again. Promise me you won’t blame yourself. Promise me, Cinder.”

Cinder hesitated. “I promise.” She murmured, barely audible.

“Good.” Iko hugged Cinder tight again. “Everything will be okay. I’ll be here for you no matter what, okay?”

“Okay.”

Just then Cinder felt a vibration in her pocket. Frowning, she pulled her phone out. Little did she know she’d receive the worst call in her entire life.

She answered the phone on speaker. “Hello?” Her voice shook.

“Is this Mrs. Prince?” A deep voice greeted her.

“Yes, this is she. Who are you?”

“I suggest you go somewhere private.” She gave Iko a weird look. Her friend nodded.

After settling herself in a small corner of her condo, she spoke. “Okay. Tell me who you are now or I’m calling the police.”

“I don’t think you want to do that.”

“Why not? Who are you?!”

“Because your husband wouldn’t agree, isn’t that right Mr. Prince?” The entire world froze. She felt ice climb up her veins, overtaking her whole body.

There was movement on the other end of the line, a sound of someone choking and then a voice she loved more than anyone else’s.

“CINDER?! CINDER!!” Kai cried.

She couldn’t even sob. Dread filled her body and strangely enough, so did relief. He wasn’t dead. She hasn’t lost him yet. Her voice trembled. “Kai?”

“CINDER! Whatever you do, don’t listen to them, they’re lying-” He was stopped abruptly by a sickening, flesh-sounding noise. She gasped, in shock. They struck him. They hurt the love of her life. Kai groaned in pain, causing rage to replace everything she had been feeling before.

“KAI! Touch him again and I swear I’ll kill you!” She screamed. Everyone in the room ran towards her but she could only focus on what was on the other side of the line.

The police motioned something to her but she couldn’t interpret them.

“Now, let’s not make empty threats, Cindy.” There was a grunt and cry of pain. She suspected they were pulling his hair or something. Quickly that rage submitted into desperation.

“STOP IT!” She wailed. “Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You’re absolutely right, Cindy-”

“Don’t call me that. Let him go. I’ll find you.”

There was a loud slap and a sharp whimper. Her heart shattered out of her chest. She could almost see her broken, beaten down expression from the shards of her glass heart.

“Mrs. Prince!” The officer barked. “Tell us what is going on!”

Cinder continued to push out the world. She choked on the sound of his cries. Another punch and Kai gasped for air. She imagined him breaking down, bleeding, murmuring her name. Her guts twisted in agony, her throat uttered in pain. It should be her in that chair, not him. It never should have been him.

“Whay do you want?” She pleaded. “Money? We have money, just stop hurting him.”

“No, my mistress wants something more valuable.”

“Anything, just leave him alone.” There was a clatter in the background.

“Nah.” He said lightly, as if hurting another human brought him delight What a sick, twisted man. “It’s for the video I’m making you. I’m sure it will liven up the bedroom, if you know what I mean.” A kick to Kai’s body, another grunt in pain

She shut her eyes so tight they might have ruptured. “You’re messed up.” She murmured.

“It’s why I have this job. I love torturing entitled bitches like you. I love watching your fake ‘tough’ outer skin break.”

There was a muffled yell in the background followed by another gut-piercing slap.

“Tell your husband to shut up or I will.”

“What do you want?” She asked again. “Tell me that and I will give it to you.”

He laughed. “Simple. Your inheritance.”

She scoffed. “My inheritance? Is this a joke?”

“You are a Blackburn, are you not?”

“A disowned one. The wouldn’t give me cent.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Cindy. In your mail, which I doubt you checked, you’ll find a contract listing all your holdings in Prince Organization, and anything you have in Blackburn Industries.”

She forgot about Blackburn Industries. After her mother died, she owned quite a bit of the twisted business, but like that horrible part of her life, she blocked it out. She remembered her aunt Levana needing her part of the inheritance to take control of everything, but at that point, she was long gone. What she did know, though, is that if her aunt took control of the whole company, lot’s of innocent people will suffer.

She held the phone away and asked one of the officers to check the mail. They left right away. “The Prince Organization is not my inheritance, I got some of it when I married Kai. Marital rights and all that.”

“I know, it’s not on the contract. I just wanted a tip.”

Cinder couldn’t do this for much longer. S

Even breaths, in and out.

“If I sign this, you’ll let him go?”

“As long as you personally deliver it, you have my word.”

The man hung up, leaving Cinder a void of a human. Once she got the energy to speak, she explained the situation to everyone.

The officer who checked the mail came back with the contract that contained everything the man said it would be.

“Don’t sign anything yet.” The police instructed. “Let us investigate everything first. If they call again, tell us.”

Cinder nodded as Iko and Cress guided her to take a seat.

“That’s absolutely disgusting.” Cress remarked. “How is it possible for anyone to be that cruel.”

Cress blinked back tears while Thorne comforted her. “Kai’s a strong guy, he’s been through a lot. He’ll endure, I’m sure.” He said.

“Hey.” Scarlet said, seating herself next to Cinder. “Why don’t you take a short bath or shower, fresh yourself up. You’ll feel better afterwards, trust me.”

“What if they find something while I’m gone.” Cinder protested. “I can’t just leave.”

“You won't leave, we’ll come and get you right away.” Argued Scarlet.

After some protest, Scarlet and Wolf hauled Cinder to her bathroom.

“Try to relax your mind. Anxiety won’t help the situation at all.” Then her friends left.

Baths were Kai’s method of soothing her. That horrible night when both her sister and step-mother died, Kai had singlehandedly bathed and took her of an unresponsive Cinder. The trauma had left Cinder in a state of shock for several hours and Kai had to drive her home, up the stairs, and in the bath. Blood cakes her entire body and every time she looked at herself she’d freeze and recount everything that happened step by step. That loop replayed in her mind for hours and the next thing she remembered was Kai in the tub, fully clothed and wrapped around her. That was her first crack of the night. She seemed to sob in his chest forever.

He did a good job with scrubbing all the blood out. He managed to wash her hair too, though she didn’t remember it. He’d talk about his job, the nice old secretary he hired, their finances. He made jokes, not good ones but the kind that are so bad you have to laugh at it. It took her a while for her even smile again, and when she did, it was with him. She was happy again because of him.

Cinder dunked her head in the water and screamed. She let frustration, anger, desperation, depression, and anxiety fuel her throat. She couldn’t think about Kai anymore, she’s supposed to be relaxing. She and him had picked up bathing as a calming process following panic attacks, stress, anxiety, or even just a bad day. Though they bathed separately, it was always more effective when together.

Sighing, she quickly started to wrap up the bath when she got a call. Though it didn’t make her top three of worst calls, it was still up there.

A cold ominous feeling seemed to replace the warm water in the bath tub. Cinder dried her hand and slowly picked up the phone. Somehow she knew this call was important.

“Hello?” She answered with a shaky breath.

There was a pause then a sigh. “You’ve taken your time getting back to us.” Replied a smooth feminine voice. “I take it you want to negotiate?”

The voice sounded horribly familiar. The voice that haunted her life. The voice she had pushed so far down that she couldn’t remember who it belonged to.

Fear seized her body. She gripped the edge of the tub to steady herself. “What do you mean?”

The woman laughed. “Don’t act stupid, Selene, er- Cinder is it?”

She squeezed her eyes out of her forgotten birth name. Had this woman checked her medical records? Who is she? Why would she go to such lengths.

“What do you want?” Cinder demanded. “Give me back my husband!”

The woman tittered. “You’re not in the right place to negotiate that kind of stuff, girl. I could have my men hurt your dearest even more?”

“Why are you doing this?” Cinder panted.

“I’m running out of patience and I need your finances. This isn’t the worst thing I’ve done, so don’t worry.”

Cinder paused and recollected her thoughts. “You said you wanted to negotiate. All I want is my husband back. What can I do to achieve that.”

“You know what to do, yet you’re reluctant to give it to me. I don’t want you to negotiate, I want you to do as you’re told.”

“My inheritance? It’s practically useless once my relatives find out I’m giving it away.” This conversation only solved to further her confusion.

“I just need your signature, then it will be out your my hands.” The voice sighed. “If you need my word, it shall be yours.”

“I’ll think about it.” Cinder mumbled, unsure of to say.

“Well, make your decision fast because in thirty minutes we’ll move to harsher punishments on your husband. I’ll have my men call you so you won’t miss out on anything. Goodbye, Mrs. Prince.” The woman hung up with a laugh.

Dumbstruck, Cinder sat in the tub with a slacked jaw. Once again, she could not believe this was happening. Soon enough, she’ll wake up, right?

Once reality became clear again, she hustled out of the bath and tried to get downstairs as soon as possible.

“Cinder, what’s wrong?” Scarlet stopped her frantic run. Her caring friend must’ve notice the desperation on her face. “What happened? Did they call you again.”

“Yes.” She breathed. “I think is was the person in charge this time. She said in thirty minutes they’re gonna hurt Kai with more painful methods, I can’t let that happen. I have to save him.”

Cinder rushed to the kitchen island where she had last seen the fateful papers.

“Where’s the contract?!” She yelled.

“The police took it when they left like two minutes ago.” Iko explained.

Only then did she notice there were no blue uniformed officers around. She spun. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was about to knock when you came rushing out.”

“Where’ they go? And why?” Cinder asked, voice rising again. Her anxiety and fear were moving too fast in her head to keep up with.

This time Thorne walked up to her and steadied her shoulders. “They said they had a lead and ran out to pursue it.”

“And they didn’t tell me?”

“They wanted to but they had no time.” Thorne frowned and pulled her close. “All you need to do now is breathe and to have faith that they will find him. This is hard for all of us too, Cinder. We’ll get through it together.”

She leaned against his chest, hiding tears from her friends. They were so good to her and so calm. They must think her crazy or overreactive. They were correct, of course. What she needed was to get her mind straight and collected. She need to swallow one worry at a time instead of swallowing all at once. That way, she won’t do something stupid and make this situation worse.

Once she gathered herself, she pulled away. “Ok. You’re right, Thorne.” Then she smiled and turned to her friends. “Thank you guys for being here, I don’t know how crazy I could’ve gone without you.”

Crests smiled reassuringly back and walked up to grab her hand. “C’mon, everybody, let’s go sit down.”

As they settled around the living room, Cress went to make some calming tea. Scarlet sighed, pulling out a metal flask. “I fear I might need something stronger.”

Cinder couldn’t help but snort as Thorne agreed. “Ditto.” She wasn’t much for drinking but when Cress handed her tea, she motioned for Scarlet to pour some in.

“Oh crap!” She slapped her head. “I forgot I can’t drink.” She put the mug down and Cress walked back to refill it.

“Why not?” Scarlet asked. But Iko’s eyes went wide.

“Don’t tell me you’re-” Iko started but Cinder cut her off with a nod. Hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my stars, Cinder.”

“What? You’re what?” Wolf said leaning in.

“I’m not following.” Cress said, sitting down.

“Well, I only found out two weeks ago, which was really convenient because his birthday was so soon and I planned to surprise him now in front of everyone.” Cinder smiled go herself. “He would’ve been so happy. That was the biggest surprise I had in stock for him.”

“Aces and spades, Cinder. You’re pregnant.” Thorne concluded. Cinder only nodded in agreement.

Scarlet sat up to hug her. “Congratulations, Cinder. I know how hard you guys worked to do this. Oh, I’m so proud.”

“It’s bittersweet, you know. He should be here.”

“He will soon enough.” One by one each of her friends congratulated her and tried not to be over excited. Cinder was happy she remember the good news in spite of the bad.

“Good luck with the newborn years.” Thorne cautioned. “Especially if you get two like us. Expect no sleep.” Cinder laughed.

“I’d say the toddler years are worse. You’re not exactly there yet, Thorne.” Wolf argued.

“I say it all depends on the baby. Thomas was a fighter as a newborn, but Michelle stayed consistently feisty. Mara is very quiet.” Added Scarlet. “The twins are somehow natural opposites.” She laughed to herself.

“Yes, I’ve notice how Michelle is so social but Mara very kept to herself.” Cress agreed. “My twins are like that, but they love being near each other.”

“Well, my girls love their older brother and their father.” Scarlet said with a quick look at Wolf. “They go wherever the men go. Which is such a shame because they get spoiled to death.”

“Aw.” Iko squealed. “How could you not spoil them with those faces.”

Scarlet smiled warmly. “Believe me, it is very difficult to say no to them sometimes.”

“But they need character, Scar.” Wolf muttered, kissing Scarlet’s forehead. She looked at him as if they shared an inside joke.

“Yes, they do, hun.” Scarlet murmured back.

After watching the couple’s intimacy, Cinder felt her heart begin to slice apart. She wished Kai’s arms were around her neck right now, kissing her cheek and telling her what a great surprise this wd. And his reaction to her news? Stars above, he would’ve not been able to quit bouncing off the walls. A ghost of a smile graced her lips as she imagined them holding each other in bed after everyone had left storming up names. After they’d come up with something serious, he would say Matchia or Matchi which would we short for matcha green latte. Oh, aces and spades, she loved him. Oh, stars, she missed him. Oh, on her poor torn-up heart, please let him be okay. Please let him come back to her, or, at the very least, let her go to him.

At that moment, in the midst of her inner plea, Winter and Jacin stormed through the door without knocking. The group stared at them with confusion, and desperate curiosity. The lot hungered for news about their friend, and based and the couple’s expressions, it looked like they had an answer.

For a while, they took each other in. Winter’s usually never pulled back hair. Jacin’s blond locks in pure chaos. Cinder’s disheveled posture. A broken heel. A bottle of rum. A stack of papers in a flushed pale hand.

At last, Winter broke the analyzation. “Cinder.” She breathed. At once, Cinder felt goosebumps create ridges all over her body. Whatever her cousin was to say next was going to destroy her entire existence, or prevent her world from ending. “There’s a lot I need to share with you, but first, Kai is okay.”

Cinder felt the pressure of her body tighten in disbelief. She stared at Winter in shock. Then, with a shuddering chin, she spoke in a vulnerable, haunted voice. “He’s okay?”

Winter nodded encouragingly and wrapped her arms around Cinder. They couldn’t stop the tears that flowed through in each eye. Around the two, their friends got up and hugged each other in relief. As Cinder quietly sobbed in Winter’s clothes, her cousin whispered in her ear. “We know who did it.”

As she blinked tears away, her nerves revived and turned more aware. “Who?” She whispered, her voice hungry for an answer.

“The same person who murdered your stepmother.” Immediately, Cinder pulled away with a furrowed brow.

“What happened to my stepmother was an accident.” She asserted.

“No, it was quite intentional. We found proof of the whole situation being set up. In Adri’s mind, she was going to pretend to attempt suicide in front of you so you could be rattled up enough and easily taken advantage of in that state. The death of your sister only doubles your trauma and weaken your mental strength.” Winter looked at her intensely.

“Why would she do that?” Cinder murmured.

“She was offered quite a lot of money.”

“Enough for her to settle peacefully for the rest of her life.” Jacin butt in. His interruption made it clear that the whole room was listening to their conversation. Cinder didn’t mind though, and motioned for Winter to keep talking.

“But the safety on the gun was malfunctioning on purpose. She was meant to die to shake you up even more. And to get rid of evidence I suppose.”

Cinder rose up from the couch, mouth agape. “I don’t understand why someone would do something like this. What do they want from me so badly?” She rambled.

“I’m afraid it is had to do with some laws my stepmother cannot tiptoe.” Winter said.

She whipped her head to her cousin frighteningly fast. “Levana?” Her aunt’s sinister voice hissed like a snake in her head, the same rattle as the woman in the call. How could Cinder be so dumb, of course it was her aunt?! She needed time to think to put two and two together, to recognize the sliding voice.

Instead of diving herself into the new information, she chose to push it down and focus onto more upcoming matters.

“Where is Kai?” She urged suddenly. Winter blinked from the sudden change in subject but answered quickly.

“He should be at the hospital by now? I warned the police to his location before I got here.”

“Thank you so much Winter.” She hugged her friend tightly. “And Jacin too. You’ve done me the greatest thing imaginable. You found him. Oh stars, I’m so glad he’s okay. Thank you so much, for everything.”

After the hugs and relieved conversations, Jacin drove Cinder and the group in their respective cars to the hospital.

She raced through the sliding doors, ignoring the familiar scent of the wallowing walls. Her fingers gripped the white counter as she asked for Kai.

“May I have some form of identity, please?” said the front desk lady. Cinder was shaking so bad, Thorne had to help her pull out her license.

“He’s in room 102. And two to three visitors at a time, please.” She said, casting a sideways glance to her friends.

Cinder nodded and jogged away, not really knowing where room 102 was. Jacin, being familiar with the hospital, dragged her from running to the opposite end of the building. She was too drained to argue the tight grip on her arm.

Finally, she stood face to face from room 102. The door was the only thing standing in way from her and the love of her life. Scarlet suggested she go in and have a moment alone before the rest of the lot come in. She hesitated when her fingers gripped the handle. Thorne nodded at her to go on in. They shared a reassuring look that gave her confidence.

Taking in a deep breath, she opened the door.

He was sleeping. Of course he was sleeping. Her whole body was trembling as drunk him in. She did her usual hung she did when he slept: analyze. And it broke her heart.

The masterpiece she gazed upon every morning without fail was tainted, torn, and unloved. It was as if someone spilled a can of tomato soup on it, or stabbed with a fork. Like it was purposely stomped on or kicked around, ignoring it’s value and love that went into it. Ignoring that he was a person too.

His nose was bandaged up. His left eye was covered by gag-inducing shades of purple, blue, and green. His lips were painfully open and a cut on his skin was covered by two staples. The hair she ruffled this morning was matted and lost it’s depth. Even as he slept, his eyebrows were tight as if he were disturbed. He can’t find peace even in his dreams.

Horrified, Cinder covered her mouth with her hands. A wave a fury washed over her again, and she wanted to fish for a scalpel and cut each villain for every time they even breathed near Kai’s body. She didn’t even know what they did to him below his collarbone. Instead, she calmed down and forced herself to approach he beloved, one step at a time.

She had always ben a fan of running. Saving the harder problems for late or, even better, for someone else. Part of her wanted to wait outside and call Torin to wake him up. By the time she reached Kai’s bedside, she nearly completely swallowed the urge to leap over the bed and run away screaming or chase after those evil men.

Once she made contact with his skin, though, she found it impossible to leave. Her fingers traced his name across his palm, like a plea. She would wait for him to wake up on his own violation, not on hers. But she had also always been impatient.

“Kai?” She finally voiced the one thing she wanted to ask. “I’m here my love. Be with me now.”

Because the stars loved to mess with her, he did not wake up instantly like his favorite cheesy movies. Instead, she watched his chest move up and down while their friends waited outside. She felt a little bad for her friends, but Kai needed rest.

After tracing and kissing his arm for the twenty-fifth time, Kai woke up.

His eyes fluttered like small butterfly wings. She froze, not wanting to scare his fragile body away. She watched his lips form her name. His beautiful voice felt miles away from the sheer power of his eyes. He held so much control over her, she’d do anything with one glance.

He was here. With her. He didn’t die. He’s alive. She didn’t die.

Before she knew, she was crying. Kai noticed and reached out to her with a bandaged hand. Her breath choked at his wounds but he ignored it. All he wanted was to touch her.

Cinder leaned towards his outstretched hand and let it caress her face. Closing her eyes, she felt him wipe away her tears. Kai softly wrote poetry on her face, as if she were his favorite poem and it had taken him years to write. As if he almost lost her before she could complete her. He didn’t want anyone else to write her ending, only him and her as his muse.

He drew in a shake breath, causing Cinder to open her eyes and focus on his tears. Like a catalyst, she sprung from her seat into Kai’s arms, wrapping herself around his broken body, promising to fix it. She guided his head to her shoulder and told him to cry. She told him to give all his pain to her, she can take it. His hands gripped her hands, although they felt much weaker. His whole body was trembling. What did they do to him?

“Oh, Kai, I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought-

I really thought you were going to-.” She spoke through her tears.

“I know, my love, me too.” His confession only made her cry harder.

They laid there for while, sobbing in each other’s arms, basking in their presence, not taking this moment for granted. They kissed, they hugged, they talked, and they finally agreed to let their friends in.

The ton came in with a rush. Iko was first who grabbed the rails of his bed and asked him if it was okay to hug him. He said yes. The rest embraced him one by one and gave a remark. Lastly, Torin and Nancy, came in (she didn’t remember if she called them or not) holding the birthday cake she planned to surprise him with.

Laughing, she wiped her tears and walked over to the pair. “Torin, you didn’t need to do this!” She hugged him.

“Kai always got cranky when he didn’t get cake on his birthday.” He said. Then he walked over to Kai and said some words that made her husband cry.

Nainsi placed the cake in the table Cinder pulled out from Kai’s hospital bed. She invited all her friends in, surely no staff would know for a second.

Kai’s eyes gleamed with joy, despite his wounds. They sang to him but his eyes stayed glued to hers. He mouthed ‘I love you’ in the midst of his song.

A single tear fell from her eye. She didn’t die. He didn’t leave her. Feeling the power of the unyielding vow she made at their wedding day, she mouthed. “I love you too.”

Kai was released the next morning. He had a bad concussion that they wanted to watch him overnight. He was fine.

During the car ride, though, he was silent. He had a fractured ankle so he had to wear crutches, and stitches over his left arm and hand. At red lights, she’d steal glances at his form, how hurt and broken he was.

Once they arrived home, she helped them to their room and settled him into their bed. Once he was comfortable, she plopped right next to him.

His head turned to her with smirk. “What?” Cinder asked with a smile. She tucked her elbow underneath her head so she could talk to him better.

“Nothing.” He murmured. “You’re going to be a good mom.”

Her eyes widened, she had forgot about their brewing child. How did he know? Who told him? “What?” She said in shock.

“Sorry!” He murmured, turning his head to the ceiling. “I know we just started talking about kids a couple months ago, but when I was in that room, I kept thinking that I didn’t want to die without raising a kid. And seeing you again, of course, but I really want a baby.” He sighed. “Sorry if I scared you off.”

She unsuccessfully smothered a giggle. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just timing.” She explained. “You only got to wait nine months to raise a kid.”

Kai nodded. “Okay. In nine months, we’ll try for a kid.”

Cinder knew she shouldn’t but she laughed at his concussed brain. “No, I mean your kid will be born in nine months.”

Kai looked at her confused. “We’re adopting.”

She smiled, kissing his cheek. “Bless your heart, my love. I’m pregnant. Due date’s in December.”

He only blinked at her slowly until it sank. “Oh stars, we’re having a baby. You’re cooking it right now!”

He started to get up, but she put him down. Her smile grew wider at his excitement. His face was pure wonder and endearment. “Don’t get up, baby, you can celebrate from here.”

“Cinder, you’re gonna be a real momma!” He reached out to her face, laughing. “Should I call you momma?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “If you want to.”

He started shaking his head excitedly. “It’s the best nickname ever! I love you, momma.”

She ticked her head once to the side. It sounded weird, but whatever helped his healing brain.

As they lay there, laughing, kissing, and holding each other, she vowed to never let anything happen to him again. Now that their family was growing, no one will hurt any member of it. They will never get close. She was shutting the door on that chapter of her life, making sure no one will come knocking ever again. They were going to start a happy life, and raise a happy family. No one will ever come between them again.

A/N: One, I wrote 8k words?!!??! No wonder this pic was haunting me. Anyways, I made this on a whim but have no fear, I have a raider takeout fit that will follow up this as soon as I feel like publishing it. Two, the editing is so bad, the story has SO many holes, I just got tired of explaining. I'm sorry if it bores you, skip to the end if you like, whatever, but show some love if you want that makeout fic. Three, I have nothing else to say. Goodbye for now!

Tagging: @just2bubbly @cinderswrench @cindersassasin @the-wee-woo-royal @deprivedmusicaljunkie @crescentchat @notjacinclay @wheresmymom-imlost @salt-warrior @rapunzelfromthemoon @briggycat @impossiblesuitcase @kaider-is-my-otp (these are for my kaider ONLY fics so please ask if you want to be tagged or removed <3)

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immabethehero · 1 year

Text

A Starry Night in the Encanto

I DID IT. CROSSOVER WEEK FINALLY COMPLETE. @wdtajn IT’S FINALLY DONE

So context: there’s a lovely musical called Starry, based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh. It’s written by Kelly Lynne D’Angelo and Matt Dahan, both very talented. Dahan also did a bit of Starkid. The soundtrack is on Spotify, go listen to it now!!!

🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠

“His hair is red like Mamá’s. Fiery red,” Dolores reports.

“He’s only got art equipment on him,” Isabela says.

“The hummingbirds say a door appeared from a hill and he emerged from it,” Antonio translates, the little birds fluttering around his head.

“He hasn’t said much to anyone, just kind of wandered towards the fields where the donkeys were,” Luisa recalls.

“He’s a lot like you, Tío, weird and artsy,” Camilo admits. This earns him a smack from Dolores.

“So… you think you could try talking to him?” Mirabel asks.

Bruno blinks rapidly, struggling to keep up with all the sudden information. He had just been dreaming of watching sheep and rats dance in a field when a tremor that made his bones rattle and his teeth chatter startled him awake. When he opened his eyes, he quickly surmised the tremor had been all six kids shaking him awake.

“And you want me to talk to him because…” he begins.

“Because like Camilo said in a non-helpful way, he reminds the town of you,” Mirabel answers.

An artist who avoids socializing? Fair enough. Bruno sighs and swings his feet out of the hammock. “Alright, just don’t expect any fascinating conversations to happen.”

“We won’t,” Camilo responds.

True to what Luisa said, Bruno finds the man sitting on a rock, painting the donkeys grazing in the field. The stranger wears blue overalls over a yellow shirt, both covered in dried paint splotches. He chews on a spare paint brush as he contemplates his next move. Red hair pokes out from under his straw hat.

Bruno slowly walks over to him, whistling absentmindedly to get his attention. The stranger’s head perks up, but he refuses to tear his eyes away from his masterpiece.

Bruno takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Um, hi!”

No response. The man keeps painting.

Maybe he doesn’t speak English. “Hola!” Still no response.

“Uh… bonjour! Ciao! Habari! Konnichiwa! Guten morgen!” Please say something!

The stranger finally (finally!) turns around. His blue eyes have a sad, faraway look, yet twinkle with determination. They’re also very judgemental, at least to Bruno. “Didn’t know you spoke so many languages.”

Bruno feels his face turn red. “Not really, I just know how to say ‘hello’ and ‘where’s the bathroom’ in many languages.”

The stranger nods and turns back to his painting. Bruno peers over his shoulder to see the work.

“Woah…”

The colours pop out of the canvas, the sky dancing and twirling in a polychromatic tornado. The field boasts just as many hues, every shade of green far more eye-catching than Bruno’s ruana.

The man stops his painting and glares at Bruno. “Can I help you with something?”

“Teach me to paint.”

“What?”

“Can you teach me to paint like you, please?”

The man glances back and forth between Bruno and his painting, confused. “You actually like this?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve never seen the sky and fields painted like that before!” Bruno admits. “It’s… maravilloso!”

The man blushes. “You’d be the first non-family member to say that. My other friends would say it’s too… what’s the word…”

“Messy?” Bruno guesses.

“No… tacky. Something like that.”

Bruno scoffs. “You need new friends.”

The painter laughs. “You flatter me, sir. What’s your name?”

“Bruno Madrigal.”

“Vincent Van Vogh.”

As Bruno shakes Vincent’s hand, his heart begins to beat faster in excitement. There’s something very fascinating about this man.

“Do you need a place to stay?”

“Given my way here has suddenly disappeared, yes. Do you have a motel where I could spend the night?”

“I was thinking perhaps my place? My family's house is big enough to house a guest wandering the Encanto,” Bruno says.

“Encanto?”

“It’s where you are. Encanto, Colombia.”

Vincent’s pale face turns ghostly. “Colombia?! That’s so far from France! How did I get here? How do I get back?!”

Bruno waves his hands nervously. “Don’t worry! This town does all sorts of magical stuff. I’m sure once you’ve settled down and explained how you got here, a way for you to go home will arrive. For now, let’s just settle on finding you a place to stay. I promise my family doesn’t bite. But the pets might.”

Vincent squeaks in response.

As they near the brilliant “Casita”, as Bruno calls it, the man suddenly stops Vincent in his tracks.

“Before we get any closer, I need to warn you of some things. This town is known for… its eccentricities, to say the least. For one thing, my house moves independently.”

Vincent nods warily. “Like… it’s haunted?”

Bruno laughs nervously. “No, it just has a mind of its own.”

The two continue on their way, and Bruno motions to Casita. “As you see…”

The window shutters on the top window suddenly swing and the tiles of the roof roll in a wave. Vincent yelps in surprise.

The window shutters shake back and forth slowly, as if waving. Vincent meekly waves back. The door opens (on its own!) to welcome the men inside. Vincent marvels at the building’s beautiful colours. He’ll have to paint it once he’s made sure he’s awake and not just hallucinating. Or dreaming. Or completely losing his mind. Maybe he should have taken up Segatori’s suggestion to see that doctor from wherever-the-heck.

“My family has magic as well. Some are a bit more noticeable than others,” Bruno explains. “For example-”

A roar of thunder echoes through the courtyard, startling Vincent. He looks up. There’s not a single cloud in the sky, how-?

He is soon answered by a tall woman wearing a bright orange dress. Her red hair is pulled back into a pretty braid. She eyes Vincent suspiciously.

“Who’s this, Bruno?” she asks.

“He’s Vincent, he’s… new here,” Bruno explains. He turns to Vincent. “This is Pepa, my sister. She can control the weather.”

Pepa scoffs. “It’s not so much control as it is just summoning clouds when I get emotional.”

“It’s still a very cool gift,” Bruno says. Pepa smiles and shoves him playfully.

“Whatever you say, hermano.”

Vincent hears loud footsteps above and looks up to see six, well, five young adults and one child curiously watching him from the mezzanine.

“Oh boy, there’s two of them now,” the teenaged boy mumbles. The girl with the red headband elbows him hard.

“These are my nieces and nephews!” Bruno says, grinning. “Come on down!”

Once they’re all standing in front of Vincent, Bruno introduces them. Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio.

“Pleased to meet you at last, Señor. What’s your name?” Mirabel asks, pushing her bright green glasses up. Vincent marvels at her beautiful skirt.

“I’m Vincent. Vincent Van Gogh,” the artist says. “Your skirt is very pretty.” So many colours…

“Thank you! I just added some new designs.” Mirabel twirls, allowing Vincent to see the skirt in full.

“Where are you from?” Luisa asks. She towers over all of the kids. Her muscular build would be something Johanna would fawn over.

“Arles. It’s in the south of France.”

“That’s over 8000 kilometers away!” she gasps.

A heavenly scent fills the room. Vincent follows it to another woman approaching, holding a pot. Her curly black hair is swept up in a bun.

“This is Julieta, my other sister. Her cooking can heal any injuries,” Bruno says. “Julieta, this is Vincent Van Gogh.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Julieta says, holding out a gloved hand. Vincent shakes it, startled by all the people. He’s never met a group with such colourful clothing before!

“Where did you come from?” Julieta asks.

“Arles, France.”

“That’s quite far. How did you get here?”

“I was just getting back from a long day of painting when I saw a door glowing in an alleyway. When I went to investigate it, I could hear people and animals inside. So I opened it and walked through and came here.

“That must have been the door in the hill where the animals saw you come out!” Antonio cries.

“What happened to the door?” Mirabel asks.

“When I turned around, the door was gone.”

The Madrigals glance at each other nervously.

Mirabel holds up her hand. “Family meeting!”

While the Madrigals huddle in Dolores’ sound proof room, Vincent stays in the courtyard, entertained by Casita. The painter has never seen a house juggle before.

“So… what do you guys think? Should we let him stay?”

“Well, now that you’ve invited him, it’s not like we can just throw him out into the streets.”

“Besides, he came from a magic portal. We can’t send him back either. We’ll have to wait for the Miracle to find him another way home.”

“All in favour of letting Vincent stay, say I.”

“I!” twelve voices echo.

Casita conjures up a guest room with a reasonably sized window for Vincent to look out. As soon as he sees the view, Vincent requests another canvas and immediately begins painting. Bruno can’t wait to see the result.

He also can’t wait to get to his vision cave. He can’t put his finger on it, but there’s something important, significant, influential about Vincent. His artwork feels familiar, and Bruno knows his Gift can help him solve the mystery. The seer flies through his room and into his vision cave, taking the steps (which have thankfully lessened dramatically) two at a time.

Surrounded by sand, salt tossed and match lit, Bruno begins to search for Vincent Van Gogh’s future.

Bruno is the first person Vincent sees in the morning. Grinning, he holds up the finished artwork of his view of the Encanto. The clouds and sunset have never looked so vibrant before, the colourful houses below compliment the beautiful sky.

“You like it? You can keep it if you do! I have so much art in my flat, it’s kind of a problem. I really need to find new homes for them…”

Vincent looks up from his work to see his host’s eyes red and puffy. Without saying a single word, Bruno throws his arms around the shocked painter.

“Bruno? Are you okay?”

Bruno simply hugs him tighter.

Unsettled, Vincent decides to paint in the courtyard of the lovely house. Just before he begins pouring his paint, he notices the kids approach him, all holding painting gear. His stomach drops. They’re not going to-

“Is it ok if we join your painting session?” the girl with the colourful dress asks. “We saw you sitting alone and well, we just thought a good way to get to know our guest is through his favorite activity!”

Vincent freezes. He prefers painting alone, when no one can judge him or tell him how to paint or-

“We’ll be as quiet as possible! We just thought it would be fun,” the tallest girl says. The rest nod, smiles nervous but… honest.

Vincent nods and gestures to the floor, hoping it doesn’t come off as curt. He jumps when the tiles on the floor suddenly move, rolling chairs, easels, and a large table their way. He’s never going to get used to that.

“Alright guys, let’s do it!” the first girl says, setting her painting supplies down. Vincent fakes a smile as the rest of the kids file in.

“Mirabel and Antonio are coming soon,” a girl with a red headband says to Vincent. “Tío Bruno as well, but first he needs to see Julieta because of a headache.” Vincent nods, puzzled. How does she know that? Wait, what’s her name again?

Vincent studies the people around him, trying to remember Bruno’s rapid fire introductions from yesterday. Isabela has the colourful dress, Louise(?) is really tall and muscular, Dora(?) has the red headband. There's also a teenaged boy wearing an orange poncho, or ruana, as Vincent has been informed. He’s already forgotten that kid’s name.

The painter relaxes a little when he sees Mirabel and Antonio (frankly the more approachable kids of the youth) show up. He stops relaxing when he sees what Antonio is riding on. Christ, he’s never seen a cat that big!

“What- what’s that?” he stammers, pointing a shaking finger at the giant cat with razor teeth.

Antonio looks down at his ride. “This is Parce! He’s a jaguar, and he’s one of my best friends!”

“And your parents are okay with this?” Vincent squeaks. Antonio nods happily.

“I can talk to animals! They all love me!” That checks out. Vincent keeps forgetting about the magic part.

“So… I’m guessing you all have magic too?” Vincent asks.

“Yeah! Luisa has super strength!” the teenaged boy says, pointing to the tall girl. To demonstrate, Luisa lifts up the table with one hand. One. Vincent’s jaw drops. That’s why she’s so muscular! Johanna would love this girl.

“Dolores can hear anything from miles away!” Isabela says, pointing to the girl with the red headband. The girl in question suddenly perks her head up and smiles.

“It seems Tía Julieta is baking a treat for us.” Right on queue, Vincent begins to smell something delectable wafting from the kitchen. Incroyable!

“Isabela can grow any plant at will,” Mirabel says. Isabela waves her hand and a bouquet of sunflowers appears in her hand. She hands them to a stunned Vincent.

“And Camilo can shapeshift into anyone!” Mirabel exclaims, pointing to the teenaged boy. So that’s his name!

Camilo gets up and twirls. In seconds, he transforms into Vincent. The painter gawks at his own clone smiling back at him, though he thinks the smile would suit Gauguin more. Paul always has a smug smile.

“Tía Pepa can control the weather with her mood,” Luisa continues. “And our mamá, Julieta, can heal people with her cooking!”

Vincent realizes one kid hasn’t shown off yet. “What about you? What’s your power?” he asks Mirabel.

Mirabel shrugs. “I don’t have a Gift.”

“She’s our Miracle holder,” Dolores says.

“She keeps us sane,” Camilo adds.

“She’s the heart of this family,” Isabela concludes. Mirabel blushes with pride.

“And what about Bruno? You haven’t mentioned him.”

“Tío Bruno can see the future!” Mirabel says.

The future? As in, what’s to come? Or what could be? Could this explain why Bruno was crying when he saw Vincent this morning?

“Is that why he looked sad to see me? He was so happy when I came to stay, but when I saw him last, he was crying,” Vincent explains. The children exchange worried glances.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about!” Mirabel hastily says. “Why don’t you show us your talent?”

The Madrigal begin pulling out their art supplies, waiting eagerly for the painter to begin. Eyeing them all suspiciously, Vincent resumes pouring paint onto his pallette.

Vincent decides to do a portrait of Parce, the jaguar lying by Antonio’s side. He begins sketching the outline.

“How long have you been in painting, Señor Van Gogh?” Dolores asks.

“Almost seven years,” Vincent answers.

“What do you usually paint?”

“Whatever I feel like. Which right now is the giant cat and his fascinating pattern.”

“He’s a jaguar. They’re great swimmers and they can kill with just one bite!” Antonio says.

Vincent dares a peek at Parce, who winks at him. The Dutchman gulps and ducks behind his painting.

Bruno suddenly runs in, carrying his painting equipment and a tray of something that smells devine. “Sorry! Sorry! Got held up with Julieta. Anyone care for some carimiñola?”

Half the snacks are gone in seconds. Vincent quickly grabs one before they disappear entirely. He takes a bite.

All of his senses ignite at once. His skin has cleared, his crops are thriving- He’s found Heaven in this little treat! It’s as if the chef has made it specifically for him. They aren’t kidding when they say Julieta’s cooking is magical!

Bruno chuckles as Vincent begins snatching more for himself. “Julieta has some more left over if needed. Quite the chef, isn’t she?”

“This is magique! Remind me to get the recipe before I go home,” Vincent exclaims between bites. “Also, send my compliments to her.”

“Will do.”

After eating at least three more of the carimiñolas, Vincent continues painting. The rest of the Madrigals contentedly paint beside him, most of them humming or whistling to themselves as they work. Another thing Vincent has learned about the Madrigals: they’re very musical.

Theo and Johanna would love Encanto. Theo would be amazed by all the artwork here. The weather would do wonders for his health. And the Madrigals! Johanna would consider the Madrigal women her sisters. Theo could chat with the husbands for hours… probably about how much they love their wives. The thought makes Vincent chuckle to himself.

Hours pass. As Vincent finishes his work, the Madrigals begin showing off their paintings. Isabela has painted a cactus with a large orange flower on it. Dolores painted a guitar with little swirly designs on them. Luisa shyly presents the lovely unicorn she drew, mumbling how art isn’t her strong suit. Vincent has to admit, he’s envious of the way she paints equidae. Mirabel shows off a giant butterfly with rainbow wings, while Antonio shares an adorable picture of Bruno’s pet rats. There’s at least fifty rats on that paper, just how many does Bruno own?!

“Camilo, you haven’t shared your artwork yet,” Mirabel points out. The teenager ducks his head, canvas facing his chest.

“It’s… uh… still ongoing,” he mumbles.

“I’m sure it’s fine, just show us already!” Isabela urges.

Camilo reluctantly turns his canvas around. The group stares at the photo, stunned by the results.

Mirabel finds her voice first. “How lovely! It’s a… is it El Mohán?”

“It’s a chicken. Screaming,” Camilo admits. “It’s from the chicken incident, remember?”

The Madrigals begin nodding and smiling. Apprently that’s a story.

Vincent ducks behind his own canvas to keep Camilo from seeing his amused smile. He really hopes the kid doesn’t want to make a career out of art. Oh god, the other painters would be appalled if they saw that. Gaugin would never let the poor boy hear the end of it.

“It’s bad isn’t it?” Camilo wails. “I can’t draw at all!”

“No kidding…” Bruno mutters a little too loudly. Mirabel shoots him a glare while Vincent giggles behind his artwork.

Camilo scowls and stands to face the snickering painter. “My art is very amusing, isn’t it? Why don’t you show us what you made, Señor Van Gogh?!”

Vincent, still chuckling a little, shoots the teen a smug smile and turns his painting around. Camilo immediately sits back down, gawking and stuttering. Vincent’s smile widens.

“I’ve never seen Parce so colourful before!” Antonio squeals. Parce roars in agreement.

“Look at all those colours!” Isabela and Mirabel gush.

“It’s so pretty!” Dolores sighs.

“You’re such a gifted painter!” Luisa exclaims.

Vincent blushes from all the compliments. He’s surprised it made such a hit with this crowd. The other artists would be whining about the bright colours, the Madrigals adore it. Maybe it’s a cultural thing?

Vincent hands the painting to Antonio. “Consider this a little gift.” The child gasps with excitement, warming the painter’s heart.

“Thank you, señor!”

At last, Bruno presents his artwork. It’s of two anthropomorphic rats in masks, one black with a red spider on its shirt, the other wearing a similar outfit, only white with hints of pink and black.

“What is that?” Vincent asks.

“It’s a scene from a movie about people who share magical spider powers! We’re gonna watch it tonight!” Bruno explains.

None of those words are in any religious writings. As far as Vincent knows. “What’s a movie?”

“It’s a thing in the future, it’s where… art moves on futuristic… canvases?” Bruno trails off, words failing him. Vincent looks even more lost.

“Could you show me these ‘movies’ with your Gift? Maybe I’ll understand then,” Vincent finally says.

Bruno’s smile disappears. “You… want to see my Gift?”

“You’re the only one whose Gift I haven’t seen yet, of course I want to!”

Bruno glances at the kids, who nod and motion to Vincent. The prophet turns back to the artist, forcing a smile. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

But first, Antonio wants Vincent to help him hang up the “Portrait of Parce”. Bruno silently thanks his sobrino for the extra minutes as he paces back and forth in his room, fidgeting with his ruana. The rats watch their master warily, some crawling to him for comfort. Bruno smiles and picks one up, stroking her back.

The door suddenly opens and Bruno nearly drops the poor rat in surprise. He sets the rat down and turns to see Mirabel.

“Tío? Is everything ok?”

Bruno whines wordlessly and flops face first into the sand. Mirabel crouches beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t need to worry! Vincent has seen so much weird stuff by now, I’m sure your Gift will look normal compared to everything else!”

Bruno lifts his head up. “It’s not that I’m worried about. I… I saw his future. And I don’t want him to see it.”

Mirabel frowns. “Right… he did ask about that before you showed up.”

Bruno squeaks. “He did?”

“Yeah. He said you were crying. What did you see?”

Bruno hesitates, choosing his words carefully. “He’s been through a lot. Everyone thinks he’s odd, and his paintings aren’t selling. He barely has any friends.”

Mirabel hums to herself in thought. She finally says, “He kind of reminds me of you.”

Bruno scoffs lightly and gently elbows her. “How dare you? I have tons of friends. Human friends, that is!” That’s actually not true, but he hopes Mirabel will humour him.

“You and the town didn’t always see eye to eye, but look at you now! You’re loved and respected in the Encanto! I’m sure it will be the same for him!”

Bruno chuckles sadly. “It’s… it’s not the same where he’s from. It can’t be solved that easily.”

Mirabel huffs. “Well, there has to be something good coming his way! You need to look for the butterfly! Like you did with my future! Surely one nice thing appeared when you looked into his future!”

Bruno ponders this silently, picking at his ruana. He suddenly lights up.

“Actually… there is. It’s the reason I looked into his future in the first place! Gracias, Mirabel!”

“So how will this work? Will there be smoke? I’ve got some matches! Do I need to close my eyes? Are there cards involved?” Vincent’s questions are endless as he takes a seat in Bruno’s vision cave. Bruno sits across from him, slightly unnerved by how talkative the painter has become. And to think he didn’t even want to talk to Bruno when they first met!

“You just need to stay inside the circle I made,” Bruno says. “Also be careful of the flying sand. It lets you see my visions, but it also can get into your hair and clothes.”

Vincent shrugs. “I’ll be fine.”

“It’s also going to get very windy.”

“Again, not an issue. I’ve painted in the rain plenty of times, the wind is nothing.”

“How strong is your immune system?”

“Very, now can we please begin?”

Bruno strikes a match and lights up the four leaf piles. He takes a deep breath. Look for the butterfly. Vincent watches with wide eyes.

The wind begins to pick up the sand. The room gently shakes as Bruno’s Gift awakens. Bruno feels his eyes glow and opens them.

“You might want to hang on,” he says, holding out his hands. An amazed Vincent takes them, his own hands trembling.

“Are you okay?” Bruno asks.

“Just shaking with excitement, I think,” Vincent says, gripping Bruno’s hands tightly. “Keep going.”

The sand swirls around them, creating a large bubble that envelops the gentlemen. Vincent gasps as bright green grains of sand begin forming images.

“This is what a movie looks like!” Bruno yells. Vincent watches with anticipation as the outline of a rectangle appears, the images inside moving as people below the screen watch.

“First they show them in these giant theatres before putting the movies on smaller vinyls for people to see whenever they want!” Bruno explains.

“That’s wonderful! Thank you for showing me!” Vincent says.

“While we’re here, there’s something else I wanted to show you!” Bruno exclaims.

“There is?”

“Your future!” Bruno closes his eyes in concentration, willing the good images to come to him. When he opens them, he feels a sense of relief rush through him.

Vincent watches as multiple versions of him appear, each one deeply engrossed in painting. Man, he really needs to fix his posture. When he looks closer, he recognizes a few paintings, but the rest are new to him.

The paintings then float together, each one receiving a fancy frame before lining up side by side. A ribbon holds back what seems to be crowds of people staring at the art. Vincent’s art.

“Thousands of people will come each day to see your art!” Bruno explains. “I’ve always wondered why your art looked so familiar, now I know. I’ve seen it before. These are revolutionary!”

Vincent stares at Bruno incredulously. “Are you sure it isn’t someone else’s art?”

“That was you painting all of them, right? I promise your paintings are going to change lives! People will come from far and wide to see them, inspired by your determination and passion. You’re quite the artist, Vincent Van Gogh.”

A slab of green glass materializes in front of the two men. Bruno takes it and uses it to shield them from the falling sand. He brushes off the last few grains and shows it to Vincent. The picture depicts a lovely view of Vincent’s art, hung up for people to see. The painting in the middle catches Vincent’s eye, one of a starry night over a town.

Bruno rubs his temples, blinking away any red spots in his view. When his vision finally clears, he’s surprised to see the artist wiping away a few tears, still gazing at the piece. Bruno gulps. Did he overwhelm the poor man?

“Did you get sand in your eye? Was it too much?!”

Without saying a single word, Vincent throws his arms around the shocked prophet.

“Vincent? Are you okay?”

Vincent simply hugs him tighter.

Mirabel is jolted awake when the door to Bruno’s room opens, tipping her over. She falls flat on her face. She feels a hand pull up her by the arm.

“Sorry, I didn't realize you were here.” It’s Vincent. When she pushes her glasses back up to see him, she’s surprised to see them glistening with tears. Her stomach plummets.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

Bruno appears behind Vincent, his smile bright, but his eyes rather red. “It’s fine, Mirabel. I think Vincent just needs some time alone.”

Mirabel nods and lets the artist pass. She watches him slowly walk to his room, clutching the emerald tablet in his arms.

Bruno gives Mirabel a hug. “Thanks for the advice, kid. I think he really needed to see that.”

He pulls away from the hug, stumbling. Mirabel grabs his arms to help steady him.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m getting too old for double visions. I’m going to take a nap.” Bruno hobbles back into his room, the door shutting behind him.

“I will never understand artists.” Mirabel turns around to see Camilo leaning on the rail of the mezzanine.

“Camilo, you’re an actor. Isn’t that technically an art?”

“There’s a difference, prima.”

“No there isn’t.”

Bruno sees the door first, shimmering and glowing. The doorknob has an encrusted “V” written on. He calls for Vincent.

The prophet and the painter work together to get Vincent’s stuff packed up for him, while Mirabel wraps the vision tablet up in a spare blanket so it doesn’t get destroyed. Included is the recipe for her mother’s carimiñolas.

Vincent holds his painting of the Encanto. “Before I leave, I want you to have this. I don’t have any currency on me, so I hope you’ll take a painting as payment for letting me in.”

Mirabel excitedly takes the artwork. “Gracias! We’ll definitely have to find a nice place for this!” She throws her arms around Vincent. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Señor Van Gogh.”

“It was a pleasure staying here,” Vincent says. Mirabel runs off to hang up the art. She turns back and winks to Bruno.

Vincent turns back to Bruno, smiling. “I’ll miss seeing you every day. It’s not everyday I meet someone as kind as you.”

The compliment makes Bruno flush. “I’ll miss you as well. I’m… so honoured we got to meet. I don’t think I’ll ever meet a friend like you again.”

The painter pulls his friend in for a hug one last time. He feels Bruno’s arms wrap around him. He’s quite certain he’ll never feel the warm embrace of a friendship like this again. He’s never felt so seen before.

Bruno has never felt so seen, so connected before. He almost doesn’t want to let go, feeling a bit colder as Vincent pulls away. He never knew friends like Vincent could do that to him.

Vincent glances at the door. “So… do I just… touch the doorknob?”

“That usually does the trick,” Bruno advises.

Vincent apprehensively touches the doorknob. The glow of the door brightens, brightens, forcing Vincent to shut his eyes. When he opens them, an image of him has been carved onto the door, the outline sparkling with magic. The figure holds a paintbrush and a pallette, reaching up to touch the dancing stars. He gasps.

“Looks like you’re part of this family now,” Bruno says. “Goodbye, Vincent Van Gogh. I hope we cross paths again!”

“We’ll meet again! I promise! ” Vincent says. He opens the door and walks through.

Vincent lugs his gear through the door and right into his brother’s house. How convenient. The door closes behind him and the beautiful glow disappears. Vincent smiles sadly. He’ll miss Bruno.

His thoughts are interrupted by someone running downstairs and into the front hallway. It’s Theo! Immediately Vincent is tackled by his younger brother in a hug. He’s been hugged a lot recently. Vincent happily returns it.

“Hello, brother!”

“You’re here! Oh thank God, I was so worried!” Theo exclaims.

“What?”

Theo pulls out of the hug and begins checking Vincent for injuries. “Where were you, Vincent? Paul wrote to us and said he hasn’t seen you for four days! You couldn’t be found! What happened to you? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. I feel great, actually!” Vincent responds. “A family looked after me.”

“I’ll be sure to send them my thanks,” Theo says. “Where was this family? In a different country?!”

That’s not far from the truth. “They live…” Vincent trails off. There’s no logical way to explain where he’s been, or even how he got there. Even if he did try, what if someone heard him? Arles would have even more to say against the artist. He shakes his head.

“It’s a long story… But I did get a new recipe I want you and Jo to try-”

Right on cue, Johanna appears from around the corner and runs to hug Vincent.

“There you are! I’m so glad you’re back, Vincent!” she cries. “Where were you?”

“Like I told your husband, it’s really complicated-”

“Why don’t you stay at our place for the night, then you can head back to Arles!” Jo immediately begins dragging her brother-in-law to the couch.

“Can I unpack first? I need to find a place for my stuff-.”

“No worries, there’s a free bedroom at the end of the hall!”

As they organize the free room, Vincent unwraps the vision tablet on his bed. Where could he keep this?

“Oh my goodness! That’s a gorgeous piece of art!” Theo exclaims. “Who made that?”

“My friend Bruno,” Vincent says. “It’s a… talent of his.”

“Then we’ll definitely have to find somewhere to hang it up,” Theo says. “He’s very talented.”

“He’s Gifted,” Vincent agrees. “And a great friend.”

“How come you never told us Vincent was a famous artist?!” Camilo whines. “It would have been nice to know that before I showed him a drawing of a screaming chicken!”

“You never asked, kid,” Bruno says with a chuckle. “Besides, he’s not famous yet, I don’t think. You still have time to right your wrongs.”

Camilo faints onto the couch, howling dramatically.

“This is amazing! I knew he had a Gift for painting, but this is exquisite!” Mirabel says, studying the painting. After much deliberation, the Madrigal family decided to hang it up in the mezzanine, where anyone passing by could be reminded of their friend. “And he really drew this from a view in his window?” Bruno nods.

“I can’t believe we got to meet an internationally celebrated painter!” Isabela gushes. “I the Miracle will let us meet him again.”

“I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” Bruno says. “He promised we would.”

Camilo sits up. “Oh yeah? What gives you the idea he’ll somehow magically appear again?”

Bruno winks. “20-20 vision.”

#bruno madrigal #mirabel madrigal #disney encanto #wdtajn #vincent van gogh #starry musical #encanto fanfiction #apparently i can write

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remycroft · 5 months

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Cross my heart, Hope you die || Heimdall X Reader

Chapter 6 - Gladsheim

I had never seen anything like Gulltoppr. The creature was covered in gold and green, fitting of Heimdall's mount. I barely know the God but from the interaction I can see he is incredibly vain, one of Odin's most loyal, and a threat if what i did wasn't a protection against my mind from his power.

"Woah, this is almost as cool as Baldur taming a dragon." My mind snaps at the mention of my half-brother, "Baldur had the luxury of not caring how badly he got burned. I out-think them, dominate them, fair and square."

"Domination won't make a creature entirely loyal to you." I blurt out, I shouldn't have said that. Seidr witches didn't care about life, they cared about power. The Vanir on the other hand did care. "And what would you know about that, witch?"

"Like I said, I defected, and that left me alone for a while. I learned to understand creatures." I took a step forward to the creature that was Heimdall's mount. It seemed threatened, ready to strike. This made Heimdall smirk slightly, I outstretched my hand and dipped low to the creature, and it relaxed.

I took another step and the creature leaned it's head to allow my hand onto it's cheek. "How long did it take you again?" Heimdall's face burned, it was now my time to smirk. "You showed the creature dominance which made it afraid of you, I'm sure it loves you but, it is threatened by you, and that will cause it to turn. Take this as my warning to you." Atreus laughed a little and this made me smile.

"For Odin's sake, just get on will you." Atreus followed his instructions first and then I jumped on too, unfortunately the only place being between them.

The gates opened, and I felt this sense of wonder at the place but a deep fear, a fear that everything will go wrong from here on out, and I will have no one to protect me. I enter a nest of Viper's, and now I have to play a part (one I don't know) to keep me alive, to keep Atreus alive.

"Whoa... are these all Aesir gods?" Atreus asks, his voice full of wonder. I doubt they all are gods, otherwise we are in a lot of trouble. "What? You think all Aesir are gods?" They aren't? So, it's like with the Vanir, they aren't all gods, some are just natives to the land without our abilities. That makes sense, I smack myself internally for being an idiot. "But Sköldjr told me that only -" Sköldjr's Midgardian, he won't know the specifics.

"Oh! Well, if Sköldjr told you. Clearly whoever that is must be the authority on Aesir gods, not the Aesir god you are currently talking to." He had a point, "You literally know nothing of our culture. Do you?"

"I know lots of things! I know a giant built that wall!" Way to go, Atreus. If Heimdall believes him, which he may cause he can see into Atreus' head, they may actually check and make fortifications on the weak point. "That can't be true, Atreus. As he said Giants are the enemy of the Aesir, they wouldn't allow one to build the wall." Atreus tries to speak but I glare at him to make him shut up. He does. "She is right, the wall was built to keep out the giants. We aren't going to employ a giant to build it." I feel reassured that the secret is safe, I hope.

We enter through another gate to a courtyard with a large wooden lodge. I couldn't see clearly so I zoomed in on it and I had to give kudos to whoever built it, it was beautiful and a structural masterpiece. "Is that Odin's Palace?" I tried to think of my mother's description of Asgard, no, it wasn't. Odin did stay there, as well as his family but it was used for all Aesir to learn I think. I couldn't remember the name of the place though. I did ask her this a century ago. "Palace? Do you think the All-father needs to puff himself up like some mortal chieftain?"

"I guess not."

"That is the great lodge, which the All-father built with his own hands." I take back my thought on giving praise to the person who built it. "I'm sorry if that is a letdown for you. Real power, you see, does not need to flaunt. It emerges when the time is right, wouldn't you agree, Vanir?" He hops down off the mount and I'm about to do so but he grabs my ankle. Fucking knew it, I fucking knew he knew.

He uses his other hand to smack Gulltoppr's side making him spin out of control, Atreus is thrown backwards and falls on his back. I also get thrown and I slide back on the dirt with my hands. I get up instantly. "HEY! Helmets! I brought you some practice dummies." I got my dagger out.

"Atreus for the love of all that is right, let me handle this."

"No, I'm not letting you fight every single battle alone." My heart warmed a little, but I'm meant to be protecting him from people like the Einherjar which will strike any second and Heimdall. "Just stay safe." I mutter, I hear Heimdall sneer.

The Einherjar start coming at us and Atreus screams, "I thought we were going to Odin." We never were, I was right in the fact there is a high chance of death. "You see, the thing is, you do have treacherous intent. So I am not letting you anywhere near the All-father." He's insane, he's so overly obsessed and loyal that he won't see past anything.

An Einherjar comes to me and I throw a dagger into it's heart. It still stands and I realise, they're undead from Valhalla, a simple dagger throw won't kill them. I draw Thrungva and I swing my sword in a curving motion cutting through their armour, then I strike into their neck and it's sent back to Valhalla. I then run to where they're attacking Atreus and I kill as many as possible until they're gone.

"Well, that was boring. Guess who's next?" Heimdall jumps down, "You really want to go against two of us? The odds aren't exactly in your favour." I remark, "Funny thing. I am sure about that. Yes I am feeling very sure, matter of fact." I draw one of my daggers and throw it at his shoulder, it goes clean through and lodges in.

Heimdall winces in pain and gives me a look that shows pure, unbridled, rage and what seems to be a hint of horror. "Are you still sure?" He removes the dagger and puts it into his belt (I'll make sure to get it back) he draws his sword and rushes me.

His speed was like nothing I'd ever known, I was able to block just in time but my balance was off so it pushed me back. "Not so smug now, huh?" He pushes his sword further into Thrungva, "Fuck you." I push back into him, my teeth grinding against eachother.

I don't understand how I was succeeding at all in this fight. Heimdall was strong, I could feel it and I was fighting with everything I had. It took me a while to realise I could use my leg to kick him back, which I did. The look of shock on his face was amusing, he clearly wasn't used to being harmed. I then use the space to parry and strike at him which pushed him back.

Heimdall lost his balance too, there was a small stone behind him which caused him to fall onto his back. I wasted no time in putting my sword to his throat. "I win."

"No, you don't." He then sweeps his foot under my leg to make me fall, the impact knocking my sword out of my hand. He stands and puts his foot on my wrist, disabling the movement of it. I tried to get to my daggers with my other hand but he knelt down and grabbed my other wrist, twisting it back above my head.

"Wow, I do have to say, (Y/n), I am profoundly unimpressed. You're not much without projectiles, are you?" That insult got to me, my mother saw me as a failure after the situation with the raiders, I couldn't kill Kratos, I harmed Atreus. I was a failure, I was nothing. "But I still knocked you on your ass, you son of a bitch."

"You can trust that won't happen again." I now had a new objective along with the current one, humble this asshole by making him fall. "You should probably stay down, now." He moved away to Atreus, who had had his bow trained on us the entire time. I felt entirely ashamed, now Atreus was in danger and I could do nothing.

Now that Heimdall had let go of me, I struggled, but I got up. He looked back to me, I heard thunder, Thor. "Great." Atreus shot an arrow, Heimdall caught it, but it splattered more mud across his face. How could he do something like that but he couldn't stop me? Was it the protection? If so, I definitely could harm Heimdall, I had already tore a hole through his shoulder.

Heimdall turns to Atreus, his face even more rageful and disgusted then he was with me. I ran but a large man beat me to it, the man who killed my father. "Knock it off." He commands. "Like it or not, he's All-father's guest. So is she." So Thor knew, the only one who didn't was Heimdall. "I thought I smelled something." He tries to walk past to attack Atreus and I draw my own bow, "Take one more step, you're not gonna like how this ends."

"Really," Heimdall retorts, "and how do you intend to stop me?"

"Look into my eyes. You tell me." A look of fear washed over Heimdall's face which made him go paler than he did when I threw a knife into his shoulder. "You are a sick man." I stifled my laughter, I barely knew him and yet seeing him fail miserably amused me.

Crows appeared and with them Odin and my rage came back, "Loki, (Y/n)! You made it I am honoured. I see you've met Heimdall. He reads minds for me." In that moment I realised something, Heimdall didn't know for a very specific reason. It was to make Odin and Asgard look better to Atreus. Heimdall was an asshole (Odin obviously knows this) so making it so he doesn't know provides a very distinct contrast. His manipulation was on point.

I didn't know whether to laugh at Heimdall for the fact he was just used so spectacularly or feel sympathy. I wonder how our meeting would've been if he knew that Odin actually wanted us here. "The boy is false, All-father." Heimdall announces, "and so is the girl, she is the daughter of Frigg." Odin turns to Heimdall, "this young man, who is my guest, is covered in mud. Care to explain?"

"He means to betray you." He states, while bowing in respect. Odin gasps in shock, "is that true, Loki? You a little trickster?" Atreus gives him a confused look and Heimdall goes to Odin's left, "I'm just messing around. Of course he means to betray me Hei -" He looks to his right, then his left, "Heimdall, why else would he come? And the girl," He looks at me and smiles, "Of course she's the daughter of Frigg, she looks almost exactly like her, apart from younger and your eyes, your fathers eyes." I feel red hot rage course through me, "The father you had killed!" I spit at him.

"A mistake, I can assure you. I was not in the right state of mind at that point, I did love your mother dearly, after all." I gag in revulsion. Ah yes, a perfect justification for cold blooded murder. "Thank you for clearing that up." I say, I would continue to insult him at every turn, but I can't. "It's okay to hate me. I've given neither of you reason to trust or even like me, not yet anyways." I will never trust him or hold any fondness for him.

"But you've got some very big questions. And I have so many answers to give." He speaks to Atreus, "And you, you have no reason to be afraid here. This was once your mother's home and I hope you can think of this place as one too, until you decide to return." I feign a smile.

Thor is then dismissed and he leaves 'happily'. "And you," He turns to Heimdall, "take her to her room, then go get yourself cleaned up."

" But All-father -"

"I'm not leaving Atreus." Both Heimdall and I speak our objections.

"He'll be fine, like I said you have no reason to be afraid. I need to speak to him a bit and then he'll be right with you." I stay skeptical, "Sja hvat, both of you, will you just relax? We're you intending on killing me first thing?" He asks Atreus to which he shakes his head.

"See? Now, I will not harm him nor will anyone else. The only person who wants to right now is Heimdall. So, you both will get cleaned up and then maybe bury the metaphorical hatchet between the two of you." We still both stay in the same spot we were both in.

"What? That's not good enough for you? Take her." Odin then lightly pushes me to Heimdall, Heimdall bows then he turns to the Great lodge. I walk with him, taking one last look at Atreus.

We enter the great lodge and I realise that Heimdall had no idea that we were meant to be here so he wouldn't know. "Do you actually know where I'm meant to be?"

"I can guess."

"You can guess?" He stops and then turns to me, "Look, I am not here to play host, I have instructions that I am following. I know my father well -"

"Father?"

"Yes, I am a son of Odin." He's one of Baldur's brothers. I know he knew Baldur from his comment about Baldur taming a dragon earlier but I felt an overwhelming sense of jealousy that he was able to know him and I wasn't. "Now before you so rudely interrupted me, in my father's kindness he would put you in Baldur's old room. So you're closer to blood." This wasn't kindness, this was cruelty. We may be blood, but I didn't know him, I'd be surrounded by a stranger, I yearned to meet. "What was he like?"

"Insane, now let's go." He pushed me in the direction of a long corridor with doors at regular intervals. He brings me to the end of the corridor and a man appears from the door opposite, "This is where I leave you. Forseti." He nods to the man and Forseti nods back. Heimdall leaves down the same corridor he just walked me through.

"Hey, erm, apparently I was meant to be in Baldur's old room. I'm sure you know of it since you clearly are close." I explain, "Heimdall didn't point out which one it is, sorry to bother you." He just glares at me for a moment, "You should know which one it is, Freya." He says, his voice was full of rage and contempt. So, he knew my mother. "Why are you not dead? How are you back?"

"I'm not Freya. I'm her daughter, born a few years after her exile. Who are you?"

"That's his old room, there. There'll probably be some clothes in there for you too." He points to the room at the very end of the corridor. "And if you're telling me the truth, I'm your nephew." He then leaves immediately. Baldur had a child? I had no idea.

I entered the room and it clearly hadn't been stripped of Baldur's stuff. It was the room of a hunter. The room was covered roof to floor in pelts, it would be quite homely if the metallic smell of blood didn't haunt the room. I stalked around the room until something caught my eye, it was a sigil, a Vanir emblem. I took it into my hand and saw that it was in perfect condition. He still loved my mother, despite Odin's manipulations, despite the curse. There was still some small part of him that loved her. Even if it didn't matter to me personally, it would bring my mother a joy that not even Odin could take from her.

I continued looking around the room for some way to clean and found a curtain which behind it beheld a bathtub filled with water and wash basin that had a rag on it. I stripped off my clothes and submerged my self into the bathtub. I got the rag and cleaned myself of mud quickly.

After I bathed and dried, I realised my clothes were also a problem. They were absolutely caked in mud, I cursed Heimdall for forcing that fight. I should've ended his life when I had my sword to his throat. Why didn't I run him through? Oh, yeah, if I killed the obvious protector of Asgard then I'd be killed as retribution. I also didn't want Atreus to see me murder someone. I remembered Forseti said there'd be a change of clothes and I go to the closet to see if there actually was.

It turns out Forseti was telling the truth. Despite the wardrobe being dominated by what I can assume are Baldur's battleskirts, there was a brown dress accented with gold. I threw it on me and equipped my weapons, then I left.

I walked through the lodge retracing the steps I took with Heimdall until I enter a large hall. I see Atreus and a red haired girl with him, in front of them was Heimdall. Why the hell are they speaking?

I rush over to them as Atreus is about to leave and the red haired girl draws her sword and points it at me. I put my hands up in surrender, was this another person who knew my mother? "Who are you?" She says, pointing the sword further into my chest. "I came with A - Loki." She gives him a questioning look to which he nods in reply. "Sorry about that, Thrud Thorsdottir." She gives me her hand to shake but I don't take it. "(Y/n) Freyasdottir, your father killed mine." I say, glaring at her. I felt the rage and emptiness I normally get and realise that I could easily pierce her armour and put a dagger into her heart, taking one of Thor's children from him. I take a breath and calm down, she can't be blamed for that, she probably wasn't even conceived at that point. She looks about Atreus' age.

She retracts her hand immediately and puts her hand on the handle of her sword. Heimdall laughs putting the tankard he was holding onto a banister.

"While I would absolutely love to see this fight, I do have my duties to return to," He looks at me, "which you are now a part of, so lets go." I say goodbye to Atreus, hating that I have to leave him again. I'm here to protect him and yet I'm always being pulled away. I'm also glad to leave too, what I felt for Thrud initially, that fury and contempt, it scared me that I actually considered killing a child for revenge.

We exited the Great lodge and entered into the courtyard at dusk. It's strange to me that I actually can't help but admire the natural beauty of this place. During day light everything was clear and beautiful, but at night it shone. In my opinion this place was enchanting, but I suppose because of my heritage, I enjoyed the wildness and natural element of Vanaheim more. The people were better in Vanaheim too.

"So, we can agree on complete silence until the end of this? In the name of peace and all that bullshit." I propose, he nods his head.

The ride to the wall was peaceful, the city was silent (apart from when we went past a few tavern) and the starry night above us made everything feel okay. I couldn't ignore the irony though, being in Asgard I knew something would go to shit, and soon. I mean, I just fought the man in front of me which led to two bruised wrists.

We got to the wall and dismounted Gulltoppr. The creature said goodbye to Heimdall by nudging against him and the god regarded him with disdain. What surprised Heimdall and I next was it then said goodbye to me by doing the same thing, I reciprocated it unlike it's owner and put the flat of my palm against it's cheek. A hand pulled me away by my arm, "Stop using Vanir enchantments to manipulate him."

"I thought we agreed on silence." I retort, I suppose I probably should've said that I couldn't do such a thing and that I was good with animals but I think it's better if he doesn't understand my power. That means he has no way of knowing what I can do, which isn't much.

"We did and then you messed with my mount's head."

"I haven't. I have no reason to."

"You're an enemy, that's enough of a reason."

"I thought you said we were allies."

"You threw a dagger in my shoulder and -"

"Oh yeah, can I have that back, please?"

"Stop messing with my mount, the maybe." And with that he goes to the platform, I follow suit.

If I thought the city was beautiful at night, the outside was something else. Despite the creatures that would kill me given the chance roaming around the area it was absolutely ethereal. I could understand why the Aesir were so full of themselves now, even the land they lived on was perfect.

"I'm not messing with Gulltoppr by the way. I told you earlier, creatures need genuine love, not the shit you give it. Trust me, my only friends were creatures for one hundred and seventeen years."

"I do give him 'genuine love'. Gradungr are wild and need violence, which I give him. He doesn't need petting." So Gulltoppr was a he, interesting. I put that information in my head as a mental note. "Every creature does. Even if Gradungr are bred for war, everything with a soul needs some kindness to them. Dominance doesn't work on it's own." He gives me a look of pure bewilderment, "Hey, I thought we agreed on silence." I let out a giggle, I fucking won against him.

We stayed their in silence until Heimdall said he had to report back. I got up from my place along the wall and left with him.

*~♡~*

That night (Y/n) dreamed of a Utopian world. One in which her mother wasn't cursed and left Asgard of her own fruition with her half-brother. One in which her father was alive. One in which she was born later and was the same age as Atreus so they were friends from the beginning of her life. In this world she wasn't alone and had everything she ever wanted.

Heimdall actually tried to sleep that night. His paranoia was destroying him that day, he had to deal with a half-breed brat who would bring chaos to his home and a girl who would watch it burn. It was draining him and he was afraid that despite his nightmares, the girl could hurt him and his home would be without it's protector. He didn't sleep for long.

Whenever Heimdall tried to sleep, his dream was the same, Asgard in flames. He always tried to zone in on who it was causing it, was it Freya? Was it a giant Thor missed? He had no idea. This time he succeeded, it was the girl causing the destruction of his home. She watched it burn.

Heimdall woke up in Hjiminbjorg covered in his own sweat. He immediately left to the great lodge to report to the All-father of his dream, it was dismissed as nothing but childish fear.

Sorry this took so long, but I do hope you enjoyed the chapter and more should come soon. :)

#gow ragnarok #heimdall #heimdall gow #heimdall x reader #god of war ragnarok

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