#yes I did complain about this in two separate places on Discord AND here

[hypodermicfroggy]

The fact that my mother is watching yet ANOTHER Yellowstone marathon makes me wish for the sweet release of death the show to end once and for fucking all just so that Wes Bentley can find new work that isn't this shitshow.

I've watched some of the shittiest of shitty indie movies for that man, I watched the shit he made when he was still hooked on heroin and actually stoned on camera, I watched the absolutely DOGSHIT pre-MCU adaptions of fucking Jonah Hex and Ghost Rider out of devotion to that man, but god, I'm not strong enough for this.

[sweeethinny]

Just friends

we were talking about headcanon in the Harry & Ginny discord, when I said that there was a lack of fanfics where James and Sirius kissed, and @ginisbetterthanfirewhiskey encouraged me to write, so here it is :)

AO3

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

'Do you think you kiss well?' James asked, lying next to Sirius, the two of them with a bottle of Firewhiskey confiscated from his father's liquor cabinet, a little drunk after a few sips already taken. Sirius sighed, legs stretched out, knee scraped from when they rolled down the hill last night, taking a walk like Padfoot and Prongs.

'Nobody ever complained. Why? Afraid to kiss Evans and be awful?' He smiled, eyebrows raised.

'We are just friends, don't be stupid,' James repeated, more to him than to Sirius, however.

'Don't lie, Prongs, I know you want to kiss her.'

'Wanting and being able to do are different things. Anyway. Have you never been curious to know if you kiss well? Or if kissing a boy is different from kissing a girl?’ James asked, really curious, blaming the drink that was burning in his throat.

'Of course it's different, it's a guy.' Sirius laughed, taking another sip of firewhiskey and looking at James. 'Do you want to kiss me to see if it's different?' James felt his cheeks flush, watching Sirius look at him curiously as if it were super common to ask a question like that.

They weren't that different in height, even though Sirius had grown almost two heads over that vacation and James only one, and he admitted that Sirius was a handsome guy with gray eyes and long hair. He was naturally charming.

'You can't resist my beauty, can you?' James said, smiling at him, ignoring that moment of shyness.

'You were the one who came up with this, mate.' Sirius shrugged. 'When did you start thinking about it, after you saw me just in a towel?' James laughed.

'Don't be an idiot, I was just curious.'

'And I already said that if you want, you can kiss me, feel free, James, our friendship will remain intact.' He smiled. ‘I can tell you if you kiss well or not, and then you’ll know if you need to go back to training on the pillow to kiss Evans.’

‘Pad…’

'Prongs ...' Sirius raised his eyebrows. 'Are you going to kiss me or not?'

'You look very excited, now I'm thinking that you were the one who liked to see me just in a towel.' James smirked.

'Yes, I have been wanting to suck your dick ever since.' Sirius said, not holding back his laugh when James laughed, laughing with him. 'Don't be an dumbass, I'm just trying to help.'

'So, okay, let's kiss.' He decided, settling on the bed and placing the bottle of Firewhiskey on the floor.

'Since when are you so articulate? I see you stepping on eggs with the girls since Amelia let you touch her boobs,’ Sirius straightened up too, seeming to find it funny.

'I have improved with time.' James shrugged, and the two faced each other. He wanted to laugh. 'How do you want to do it, do you want to put your hand on my waist... ’

'Just close your eyes and kiss me, James.' Sirius stepped forward, eyes closed, and kissed him.

It was strange, but not bad.

And he also thought he didn't feel much of a difference with the kisses he had with girls, even though Sirius' lips were shockingly the softest he had ever kissed so far. None of them touched, hands firmly on the mattress, and James thought it was weird, too, but it felt weirder to take Sirius' waist than not to.

It was James who put his tongue in the middle of the kiss, even more curious to know what it would be like, and even though Sirius looked scared at first, he soon did the same, and the two were actually kissing.

Of all the people he thought he would kiss in his bed, at home, in the middle of the night, Sirius was the last on the list, but James was not sorry.

Sirius kissed well, all those girls weren't lying after all, he wasn't flustered, nor too slow, and for a few seconds, a shiver ran down James' spine, but he was pretty sure it was just the fact that he was kissing someone when he was 16, the hormones were crazy inside him, and he was slightly drunk.

James bit his lower lip, as he used to do when he kissed other girls, before completely separating himself from Sirius, his eyes still closed, feeling a little shy now that he had really evaluated what they had done.

That wouldn't change their friendship, would it? Like, James was sure they were unlikely to kiss each other again, and the thought of Sirius doing more than that to him made him feel strange. And not in a good way.

'It's different to kiss a guy,' Sirius said first. 'But you kiss well.’

'I didn't think it was any different. What do you do on your lips?’ James put his hand on his own, still feeling the softness of his friend.

'It is a moisturizing lip cream.' Sirius laughed, looking embarrassed at being discovered. 'And I? Good kiss?’

'Yes.' He admitted, without shame, picking up the firewhiskey on the floor, which was almost halfway up. 'It was a good experience, you are good with your tongue.'

'The bite at the end? I'm going to start using it.' They went back to their previous positions, legs stretched out and the bottle in the middle of them. 'But I still prefer girls, mate, no offense.'

'Me too, Pads.' James sighed.

'Don't worry, Prongs, I'm sure Evans will like it a lot more than I do when you kiss her.'

'Sirius, we are just friends.' James reminded him, for what seemed like the hundredth time in the day.

‘Now, but every couple starts like this, I’m sure you two are still getting married..’ He said, smiling.

'Haha, I think she would rather die than marry me, honestly.'

Some years later.

'I was right,' Sirius said, sitting next to James, wearing his best suit and with the glass of drink in his hand.

'About what?' James looked at him, also wearing his best suit, but his had been made especially for that date, with some details in gold thread.

'When we kissed, and I told you that you and Lily would one day get married.' James laughed, nodding and watching her talk to her mother at the other table, dressed in white and looking like a goddess, grinning from ear to ear.

'I used the lip bite technique at the end.' He blinked, smiling and feeling the happiest guy in the world.

'Good trick. Always works.'

[comelylust]

Workmates

That's right I deliver what I promise, Request through my discord, Anon asked for some Miguel with plot so I made a plot attempt haha. if you find spelling or grammatical errors sorry I do this from a tablet 👀read the warnings 👀.  

Warnings: Smut content, +18, street fights, mentions of alcoholic beverages.

 "Ugh I really can't stand it" You mention this to your boss with an irritation in your voice, pacing back and forth with both hands on your head "how the hell are you two friends?! it's so... agh"  

Seeing how frustrated you were all your boss did was scoff at it, he continues to clean the glasses and arrange them on the shelves in the back, he looked like he really didn't care that two of his workers don't get along as well as he would like.  

"You're just stressed, go take a break" Your boss laughed, gesturing towards the employee door where you already knew who was there, Miguel, chances are he was listening to everything, instead instead of embarrassing you your anger continued to rise.

"He's a nice guy, you're just not used to his temperament."  

He's right, you still don't know him well enough just a couple of months ago you moved to Spain for personal reasons, but let's say things were getting difficult and you decided to venture to a new destination in search of opportunities, at first you didn't know where you were going, you were coming and going without a previously planned route, this didn't bother you at all you felt better about yourself above all you felt free for the first time in your life.  

On one of your countless trips you heard a group of strangers talking about a certain wrestling tournament which caught your interest. You decided to join that event after they finished their talk, grabbed your stuff and headed to a new country.  

When you finally arrived in Spain the first thing you did was to look for a temporary job, difficult at first you didn't have the necessary documentation to back up your identity, yeah shit, it wasn't the best idea to leave with nothing but your passport.

You continued your search now in the slums of that country, hoping that someone would offer you help, instead the only thing they offered you was endless fights showing the wimps not to mess with you, earning you a little respect from the locals.  

"Strange" You thought "People usually loathe people like me".

It didn't take you long to figure out the reason why the inhabitants were so used to subjects of your ilk. Miguel Caballero Rojo, a subject without a shred of compassion when it came to street fights, was brutal and violent making his opponents regret it on the spot.

Going to where he always made his appearances you found on the way an old cantina: on the outside it was crumbling, but the old letters of the place were still visible. Entering with your best hard face you asked about that mysterious man, without receiving a clear answer, again you let out a disappointed sigh and a pout formed on your lips.

"Hey, don't be so sad" A middle aged man catches your attention offering you a drink which you cheerfully accept "You're not from here are you, cutie?" Your eyes widen like saucers when he found out you're just an outsider, without taking the drink away from your lips you nodded.  

"Well, I need a bartender so why don't you stay for a while while you wait for him" He offers the old rag along with the apron, you were in doubt, but you really needed this job, the opportunity to work and hit on a guy sounded exquisite without hesitating a second longer you made your decision.  

"Okay I accept, just for a while".  

"I'm Daniel by the way" The old man who is now your boss mentions it.

You worked in that bar for the next few weeks, you didn't do much, just make drinks and take out old creeps trying to be smart. Now the main issue, if you met Miguel, yes, he really looked violent, and yes he had hated you.

When he first walked into the bar he was fuming, his nostrils flared, his muscles tensed and the fingers on his hands were crusted with dried blood, in short he's pissed, to add more to the mix you lunged at him with incredible speed that even Miguel himself was taken by surprise.

"What the fuck" He exclaims as his head face down is resting on the dirty floor, you crossed his wrists and paralyzed him with a knee on his back "Get the fuck down, what's wrong with you".  

"It's nothing personal just that I liked the idea of defeating the best fighter in this neighborhood" You licked your lips forming a fuzzy smile of joy. Miguel tries to move, but you strengthen your grip, raising your hand now in the shape of a fist ready to punch him in the Spaniard's face, until someone interrupts you.

 🌒🌕🌘

 "Sorry Daniel" You fiddle with your fingers as the pout returns to your face along with a blush forming on your cheeks. "B-but you already knew what my plan was!"

"Plan?! What's going on Daniel, are you conspiring with this Chiquilla?" Miguel points at both of you accusingly, scratching the back of his neck furiously.

"Eeh, who are you calling a chiquilla, brat?"

"The only person who is behaving like a brat is you" The two begin a verbal sparring match with overly childish insults. Daniel for his part lets out a loud sigh catching both of their attention.

"You both are behaving like brats, Now Miguel she is the new Bartender she will work here for a while be nice" The last sentence was thrown remarking that she will behave "Same goes for you, Be nice he is your co-worker"

"Coworkers!? That if ever!" Both mention at the same time throwing each other murderous looks.

And here we are back where we left off at the beginning. Working with Miguel was annoying, he is always drunk, when he is lucid he gets in a bad mood and even starts fights for stupid reasons, the problem is when you have to interfere when things get too intense, this didn't bother you, you were annoyed by the idea of saving his ass.

Instead of thanking you he starts a useless fight questioning why you helped him and all the crap you decided for your and Daniel's mental health more than anything else for your boss it's better to ignore him.

But what happened?  

You were not a sports fan, much less a soccer fan, however since you arrived to this place the only thing that the bar TV broadcasts was soccer, getting used to it, you noticed that Miguel on special occasions wears a jersey of his favorite team, your lips curved into a cheshire smile at the prank you were going to do, your plan is only to support the opposing team for no apparent reason, this would annoy Miguel as a "revenge" for what he had put you through.

Tonight you put your new plan into practice, you borrowed a t-shirt from the opposing team that is playing tonight, you put it on by buttoning every button, oddly enough this shirt highlights your beautiful figure, accentuating your breasts and molding to your abdomen/torso, you hope no one notices this, but who the fuck cares, you look great.  

The bar is more crowded than it normally is, you complained about the smell it smelled too much like Cologne, alcohol and sweat hopefully your brain will adapt to it. You headed to your work station serving the drinks to their respective buyers. Until you saw him come in of course with his charming outfit, fuck, you have to admit the man is hot, his manly appearance and his well toned and thick muscles soaked with a light layer of sweat would make anyone drool, unfortunately this was his only virtue.

He gave you a small smile and of course foolishly you returned it, you shook your head forcibly bringing yourself back to reality and remembering the reason why you had decided to do this in the first place.  

"Are you kidding me?" he approaches you intimidating as always, the difference is this time his voice framed mockery as if he knew what you were trying to do.

"What are you talking about, I'm just working" you bite your inner cheek avoiding emitting a laugh, You poured him a pitcher of beer waiting for him to forget the topic of conversation.  

"Yeah right, I know what you're planning, cutie" He takes a long swig of the drink wiping the rest of it off with his arm "And it's not going to work" He winks at you you roll your eyes so much you're able to see your brain, it really is unbearable.

As the night continues, Miguel continues to make fun of you and how your "shitty" team is losing, the strange thing is that you ended up joining him, drinking the whole keg of beer answering his comments with sarcastic remarks.  

You were wrong to think that his only quality is being a handsome man when you noticed that his resistance to alcohol is quite high happened exactly with you, your resistance to alcohol was the best, however, the drinks were doing in you a kind of aphrodisiac turning you hotter as you kept talking to Miguel.

"How about...if we go to the back" your voice comes out smaller than you would have liked you play again with your fingers waiting for an answer, instead he didn't give you one he just grabbed your bicep with his hand and dragged you to the employee only room.  

Before partially closing the door, his free hand wrapped around your jaw pulling you closer to him in a hot kiss, intertwining their tongues licking every part he could, he pushed you into the room closing the door behind you. He connected his lips this time on your neck leaving you with purple and bite marks.

 He held your wrists guiding you to the lounge chair obediently sitting there, still kissing you enjoying your taste despite the bad beer you had chosen.  

"Apparently you're not a rough girl anymore" Separating slightly so he could speak.  

"H-hush don't ruin the moment" You turned into a red, stuttering mess, all Miguel did is smile at you and get up from the seat, your mind raced hoping he wouldn't leave.

"On your knees" His hoarser than normal voice made you shudder and let out a low moan, he had never been so dominant and you would be lying if you didn't say you didn't like it. You quickly went down on your knees looking up at him with eyes clouded in lust.

"Fuck" Solo said unbuttoning his pants, you helped by pulling them down along with his boxers "I'm going to punish you for being a spoiled brat."

 You finally released his cock from its confines, you gasped at the sight previously you could picture it, but your mind didn't do it justice, it's big with veins that framed its outline the red tip was already dripping pre-semen, you licked your lips and included its head between your lips, giving kitten licks.

 "Stop teasing" He growled, you opened your mouth wider with your tongue hanging out, shoving his cock in your mouth touching your throat, you looked up as you gagged which made him let out a guttural gasp.

You pulled back pulling his cock partially out before thrusting harder into your throat, you moan and the vibrations you throw are so delicious he can't take it. Getting rid of his remaining clothes he continued to pound your throat rapidly as he watched your face fill with tears and you try to breathe through your nose so you don't choke.  

"Will you stop teasing?" your eyebrows flex in anger, but this action doesn't last that long, still gagging on his cock you nod energetically. "Good girl."

Thick, hot ropes sprouted from his cock covering your mouth, trying to swallow as much as possible. Inhaling and exhaling heavily catching your breath, you struggled to stand up before Miguel lifted you up placing you face down on the couch climbing behind you, your instinct was to raise your ass and spreading your legs apart, giving him a perfect view of your already slippery pussy.

 Miguel looked at you with carnal hunger re licking his lips as he looked at your innocent form, his palm slapping against your ass in a thud, you squealed as you felt another series of spanks follow leaving your buttocks red.  

 "Remember it's your punishment pretty girl."  

He rubs his fingers over your wet folds and plunges a finger inside you, you yelp at the sudden action pulling away, Miguel firmly holds your hips so as not to go any further and continues to plunge his fingers stretching your tight walls.  

"Easy I'm getting you ready" Miguel works on your sex pulling his fingers in and out "She's too tight".  

Your legs trembled with excitement and your moans echoed in the room loudly, before you could come he pulled away from you collecting your essence smearing it on his long shaft lubricating it.  

The tip of his cock rubbed between your folds teasing your entrance, you moaned needy moving close to him.

"Don't tease" you pout and he teases you, he pushes his member slowly into your pussy. The sensation of your walls squeezing his cock made him throw his head back as you rolled your eyes at the bliss of being filled.  

Miguel pulled your hair back into a ponytail using it as leverage to go faster and deeper, the lewd noises you make are music to his ears instigating him to move.

You could feel every part of his thick cock and how it exquisitely hits that rubbery spot inside you, through your mouth overflowing saliva and your eyes still rolling back. Your walls tremble giving hints of your come.

"Cum on my cock pretty girl" his voice a few octaves lower brings you to the edge, a lewd moan escapes your sweet lips and he quickens his pace chanting your name between curses, his load shoots inside your sex painting them white.

He pulls out of you and you both catch your breath. When you realize what has just happened your face turns red and you try to hide it between the cushions of the couch. Miguel notices this and pats your head.

 "So..." You say shyly.

"Then I'll ask you out, mi amor."  

"W-what?!"  

"Ha, I really love your temper."  

"Idiota" this wasn't the plan nor much less the expected result but you're happy.

I must improve on the fast way it ended haha I hope you liked it.  

[acnelli]

Illuminating

I had a lot of fun writing this story for the 2020 HPRomione Discord Secret Santa Exchange. Thank you @remedial-potions for organising this for us. And shout out to @nagemeikenu who beta-read my story at such short notice.

[...] Ron Weasley was, without a doubt, the brightest and strongest light for her and she knew that it was everything she needed. [...]

Also avialable on FFN and AO3.

Please also check out all the other great stories that are and will be added to the AO3 collection.

 “But it’s tradition, Hermione!”

“So?”

“So, it means bad luck if we do.”

“Honestly, you can’t believe that, Ron. This is superstition at its best.”

“Better safe than sorry if you ask me.”

“Isn’t it also against tradition to have sex before being married? I don’t remember you putting up a fight against this particular case of tradition-breaking.”

Hermione crossed her arms in front her and looked expectantly at Ron, absolutely unable to keep the smugness out of her face.

She should’ve known better though because Ron never failed to come up with something in response. “Mum will insist for you to sleep in Ginny’s room tonight. I’m sure,” Ron continued, completely ignoring Hermione’s irrefutable offering of logic, “You may have noticed next to nothing slips by her and this certainly isn’t something she’ll choose to ignore.”

Ron met Hermione with an equally smug grin, absolutely positive bringing Molly Weasley into this would settle the argument.

It didn’t.

“What I indeed noticed is the inability of your family to keep their noses out of our life,” Hermione complained, blowing an annoying strand of hair out of her face, “I love your mother, you know it, but I don’t see how it’s any of her business whether or not the two of us share a bed tonight.”

“She’ll make it her business and you know it.”

“Why does she care?”

“Because it’s bad luck!”

Hermione groaned and ran her hand through her hair in frustration, making it even wilder in the process. Despite them bickering over the silliest things, she certainly didn’t expect this particular topic becoming something they would disagree on. Because as of yet, they never disagreed on anything considering their…bedroom activities.

It was the day before Ron and Hermione’s wedding, and despite their recent argument, Hermione felt excited, looking forward to tie the knot with the tall, lanky redhead in front of her. It was the next milestone in their relationship, and sure enough, the most important one as of yet.

Hermione was well aware that nothing would really change after tomorrow; they’d still continue to live in their quarter of Grimmauld Place since Harry insisted for them to not rent a “ridiculously expensive” apartment in London when they could live in the former Order’s Head Quarter for free. Of course, he was right about that, but both Ron and Hermione agreed that at some point in their life they have to find a place of their own.

Yes, nothing changed. But at the same time, everything did. Marrying Ron didn’t make what they had more important or more meaningful. But there was always something strange about calling Ron her boyfriend. From the earliest moments of their relationship, the word ‘boyfriend’ just didn’t feel right because all things considered, especially the years of mutual pining and constant danger, all the things they went through together, made the word just not strong enough when Hermione thought about it.

She couldn’t help the smile appearing on her face when she thought about the night Ron Weasley stopped being her boyfriend and started to become her fiancé.

It had been almost six months ago when they walked home from Dean’s Christmas Party. The night couldn’t have been more perfect for Christmas Eve with the light layer of snow covering everything, illuminated by the bright light of the full moon. Almost every street light and every window they passed on their way back to Grimmauld Place were decorated with Christmas lights and from somewhere far away they heard a man singing, very loudly and very off-key.

“Reckon that’s one of Dean’s party guests?” Ron laughed as they walked hand in hand through a little park.

Hermione chuckled, thinking about all the booze available at Dean’s. “The only one still sober enough to stand, let alone sing, was Harry. And we know that’s not his singing voice.”

“That’s true. Harry sings much worse than this guy.”

“Definitely,” Hermione said, chuckling at the memory of Harry singing a lullaby to his Godson, “I think he scarred Teddy for life.”

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star will forever be a trigger for that poor child.”

Hermione barked out a laugh and took a quick look at her watch.

“Oh, it’s already past midnight, Ron,” she said and looked up at him, “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, love.”

Ron stopped walking and pulled Hermione against him, kissing her cold nose. “You know,” he said as he clapped his hand against his jean pocket, “I actually have that present of yours right here with me.”

“And…that present is inside your pants and happy to see me or…?”

Ron barked out that deep laugh she loved so much and she loved it even more when she was the one responsible for it. He leaned down to softly kiss her, leaving Hermione with the taste of eggnog and cinnamon on her lips.

Stepping back a little, Ron pulled out a book of his pocket, clearly too big to fit in there. Since Ron hated carrying around bags the undetectable extension charm became one of Ron’s favourite uses of magic. The book had a thick leather cover and in Ron’s messy handwriting the words ‘Our Adventures’ were dancing up and down the front.

Hermione took the diary-sized book from Ron and opened it to the first page.

‘The Beginning’ it said at the top and it showed a photograph of them and Harry in first year. She couldn’t help but smile back at the three children, especially her past self with wild bushy hair and flushed cheeks and a huge toothy grin. Little Hermione was so happy to finally have friends that it made her forget all about her large front teeth she usually used to avoid showing in pictures.

As she turned the pages, Hermione travelled back in time as she looked at all the moving pictures that showed their shared adventures. From their school years over their joint trips all around the world to birthdays, weddings and family gatherings, it was all there. Even the picture her Dad had made of them when Ron and Hermione brought them back from Australia was in there, positively unmoving, but showing a very tanned Hermione and a Ron with the worst sunburn of his life.

And when she turned the last page there wasn’t another picture of them. The words written there sent a jolt right through her heart, making it beat faster. And when she looked up, the picture in front of her matched the question she just read.

Ron knelt in front her with a small, golden ring in hand and Hermione found the same emotions in his eyes that threatened to fill her heart to bursting and that only he could give her; happiness, hope and…love. 

Back then, he asked her to start their next big adventure. When he proposed to her, something clicked into place. She already had the thing she would miss the most, but to tie the knot felt like the right step to make.

When the witch thought back at their years together as friends and a couple, she couldn’t help but marvel over how well everything worked out in the end. Because Merlin knows, they didn’t have an easy start by any means. Their romance started right when incredibly hard and dark months lay ahead of them; months and years of mourning, rebuilding, coping and one of the things she was incredibly thankful for, therapy. They all needed it, although all of them used to consider it an admission of vulnerability before they finally saw how healing it was, amongst other things.

And despite the grave times and hardships, Hermione always had her very own source of light. Among the wonderful people in her life providing her with the warmth she needed to beat the darkness, one of them stood out the most. Ron Weasley was, without a doubt, the brightest and strongest light for her and she knew that it was everything she needed.

Ron currently stood in front of his wardrobe, fishing out one of his old but still brightly orange Cannon shirts. Before he could turn around again, Hermione walked up and hugged him from behind. She pressed herself against his back, her left cheek resting right between his shoulder blades.

“Okay!” She murmured as her fingertips softly grazed up and down Ron’s sides.

“Okay what?”

“I’ll sleep at my parents’ house tonight.”

Ron turned around to her, clearly surprised about the sudden change of opinion.

Before he could say anything else, she softly kissed him. Returning and deepening the kiss, Ron pulled her closer as a soft moan escaped her. Kissing Ron Weasley most definitely will never get old.

“Are you sure?” He asked, and Hermione couldn’t help but chuckle at the not-so-subtle disappointment in his voice.

“Did you expect me to persuade you with my mediocre seduction skills? Because I think I looked right through you just now.”

With a smug and slightly embarrassed look that only Ron Weasley could manage, he gave her one of his trade-mark lopsided smirks.

“It was less expecting than hoping for it,” he answered, softly tugging some locks behind her ear before leaning down to kiss her ear lobe, “And mediocre my arse you little vixen.” “Well, I definitely considered it to be my next move, but then I thought it’s probably kind of romantic to not see each other until Dad walks me down the aisle.”

“I’ll certainly not stand in the way of this rare display of romance by Hermione Granger.” Ron winked at her as he slowly backed her into the direction of his old bed. “But if you don’t mind, I’d love to get you a parting gift before your departure.” 

*******

As Hermione lay in her bed, dressed in her most comfortable pyjamas, she finally admitted to herself why she had been against separate sleeping arrangements tonight in the first place. It was irrational and probably ridiculous considering the many days they spent apart when Hermione went to Hogwarts and Ron to Auror training, but she couldn’t quite shake off the feeling of uneasiness and unrest that settled inside her stomach.

She had gotten so used to falling asleep beside him, with his soft snoring and the warmth always radiating off him, no matter how cold of a day it was. Several night missions and other Auror assignments made Hermione miss the redhead at night, but especially today, with the excitement about tomorrow keeping her wide awake, she found it next to impossible to fall asleep without his large, freckled hand resting on her hip.

As Hermione looked out of the window beside her old bed, preparing herself to count herself to sleep with the stars she could make out from here, a small ball of light reflected in the glass and illuminated the room.

And she really didn’t need to turn around to see who just apparated inside her bedroom. That’s why she just closed her eyes, not being able to stop her face to split into a wide smile when Ron climbed into bed beside her and draping an arm around her middle, pulling her close.

For some silly reason, Ron showing up tonight made her feel so incredibly happy that she couldn’t stop the tears welling up in her eyes. Enjoying his warmth and leanness and the hot breath at the back of her neck, she marvelled at the simple fact that Ron Weasley illuminated her life in every way possible.

“I love you.”

“I love you.” 

[acciomanorian]

The One Where Cardan Got Kicked Out Of The Bar (1)

Our resident dumbass High King got himself and Jude kicked out of the bar. Thank you to everybody on the JurdanNet Discord who helped draft this entire fic, it wouldn’t be here without you. For the record, this was supposed to be a one shot, but it’s becoming a multichapter, so here you go.

Warning: Smut involved (17+)

One of the High King and Queen of Faerie’s favorite place to spend time together is a mortal bar. Doesn’t matter where the bar is, as long as there is alcohol, or so Cardan Greenbriar says. The one thing Cardan doesn’t like about the mortal bars are the people who hit on his wife. Jude Duarte, on the other hand, enjoys this very much because it gives her the opportunity to fight, one of her favorite pastimes. Of course, the sight of seeing Jude fight arouses something in Cardan, after all that is his wife, but just once, he would love to be the one to take down the stranger. 

One night at a bar located in New York City, a strange and magical place that Cardan finds so fascinating, probably because it is so different from Elfhame, Cardan is granted his wish. When Cardan had gotten up to use the bathroom, a man had come to take his spot, and for once in her life, Jude was too drunk to defend herself. Seeing this sent Cardan into a rage and he quickly came up behind the guy, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, but I believe the lady asked you to stop,” Cardan slurred. Nobody said that he wasn't drunk either, but he’s had years of experience.

“Buddy, I don’t know who you think you are, but I think you should leave me and the lady alone. I’ll decide when it’s time to stop.” The attitude of the man alone was enough to infuriate Cardan, but the sentence brought his anger to a whole other level.

“My name is Cardan Greenbriar, and that is my wife!” and the next thing the man knew he was being thrown across the bar, almost through the wall. 

Everybody around them was instantly on their feet, unsure of whether to help the man or restrain Cardan. 

“I think you’ve killed him.” Jude was looking over with a pleased smile on her face. “How does it feel to kill?”

“I didn’t kill him, there’s birds flying around his head. He’ll be fine.” Cardan shrugged it off, knowing that a knockout was better than death, especially since he was so against killing people. It was one thing for Jude to kill somebody, in the name of the crown or otherwise, it was quite another for Cardan to take a life.

“Are you sure those aren’t the splinters of wood from the wall you just threw him through?”

“Like I said, he’ll be fine Jude, darling. But… we should probably get going. Those guys don’t look too fine.” Cardan pointed at the 3 hulking mortal men coming their way. Hurriedly, Jude and Cardan exited the bar, only to have the door slammed in their faces and a rough don’t ever return shouted through it.

“Great!” Jude explained, “You just got us kicked out of the bar.” 

“Yeah, but there are a ton of other bars to go to. It’s only one bar, and besides, I don’t want to inhabit a place that lets people flirt with married women. Especially when their husband is right across the room.”

“Oh yes, so heroic, Mr. Cardan ‘that’s my wife’ Greenbriar. I could’ve handled myself.” After the ordeal, Cardan could see that Jude was sobering up, but it still wasn’t enough for her to have been able to handle herself against a mortal trying to take advantage of her. “Whatever, let’s just go home.”

Just as they were about to reach a safe place for their return, Jude received a ping on the phone that she borrowed from Vivi. 

“Cardan… look at what you did. We are banned from every bar and club in the country, possibly the whole world.”

Cardan furrowed his brow. “For one fight? That doesn’t make sense.”

“How about for the fact that you threw the guy through the wall. With one punch.”

“Oh.”

Grabbing two pieces of ragwort weed from his pocket, conjuring up two ragwort steeds for them to get home. Soon they were safely inside of Elfhame, making their way towards the palace and their bedroom.

Jude, still drunk, reached for Cardan, pulling his lips to hers. Not one to say no to his wife, Cardan greedily kissed her, pulling Jude to the bed as they removed their mortal clothing. Once they were fully unclothed, Cardan gently laid Jude down on the bed, separating their lips as he pulled the covers over her. Jude struggled, obviously expecting something more from Cardan, but he gently shushed her, with a command to stop struggling. 

Although Jude may have been the more forceful one in the marriage, there was still some stuff Cardan could get away with in the bedroom, and ordering his wife around was one of those. 

Once Jude was safely ensconced in the blankets, Cardan went over to his side, cuddling up to his wife. His full length pressed up against her, and while he may have regretted saying no to Jude mentally, his body wasn’t going to be very forgiving. Soon, though, exhaustion overtook them both, from ruling all of Elfhame and their brawl at the bar, and the alcohol in their systems, and Jude and Cardan found themselves fast asleep until late in the morning.

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

The next morning, Jude was on a mission. 

“You got us kicked out of almost all the bars in the world, now you can help me find at least one that will let us in.”

“What? Wait, why do I have to help?” Cardan said groggily. He had just woken up, and was feeling the effects of a hangover due to the cheap alcohol from the night before. 

“Because I said so, and because you are the reason we are in this mess in the first place.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Cardan grumbled but rolled out of bed, pulling on a robe and making his way to the desk where Jude was pouring over the mortal laptop she had somehow configured into working in Faerie. Not the Cardan was complaining. He was currently watching a show called Lucifer on this Netflix app and the lead seemed like just his type. If Cardan wasn’t entirely enthralled by Jude, he would probably be trying to court the Tom Ellis chap. 

As they looked over the mortal Google maps, trying to find at least a single bar, Cardan absentmindedly rubbed his hand across Jude’s back. Finally, just when he was beginning to lose focus for the fifteenth time, Jude spotted something.

“There!” she cried, although her voice was hoarse so it sounded more like a whisper. She was pointing to a spot in a remote-looking part of Canada. “It’s a biker bar, and they say that everyone is welcomed, no matter how bad, ugly, anything. There is also no notice for it saying that we are banned.”

“Guess we found our new spot, then. Now, we’ve got other matters to attend to, after all, it is the weekend, and we should have some time to ourselves.” Cardan grinned at his wife, who slowly slid her eyes to his own. There was a gleam there that had been missing moments before, which meant she knew exactly what matters she was talking about. Jude had wanted to start something last night, and Cardan fully intended to finish it now that they were both sober. 

“Yes, my king, we should,” Jude purred, rubbing her arm across Cardan’s thigh. Goosebumps formed along his arms and legs, as well as his bare stomach. The robe he was wearing really did nothing to help Jude’s advances, which was really unfair considering that she was in a tank top and mortal leggings.

Jude pulled Cardan to his feet and pulled the robe off of his shoulders. She tried to take the lead in this, and normally Cardan would let her, but he was feeling very authoritative at the moment. He grabbed Jude’s hands and pulled her to the middle of the room. “Kneel.”

At the command, Jude began to glare at Cardan, knowing full well where this was going. However, she did as he asked, getting down onto her knees, still fully dressed. 

Cardan tutted disapprovingly. “Something seems wrong with the picture, don’t you agree Jude, dear. It appears that I am fully unclothed, and you are not.” Jude’s fingers found the hem of her tank top, and she began to pull it over her stomach. From where Cardan was standing over her, he saw the swell of her breast bounce as she released them from the top, obviously not wearing any mortal contraptions to contain them. 

As she began to stand again to remove her leggings, Cardan pushed Jude back to the ground, with both tail and hands. “Have I given you permission to stand yet?” Jude shook her head. “I’m sorry, what was that?” 

“Yes, my king.” There was a tinge of bitterness in her voice at being forced to submit, but Cardan could see the full force of his actions reflected in her eyes as she looked up at him. 

“Better,” Cardan said. “You may stand now.” Cardan knew that to anyone else, he would come across as cruel, but he also knew that this was the exact thing that Jude needed in order to find release. Once she was fully naked, Cardan pushed her onto the bed, arms and legs splayed.

“Now, for a test of your control. You are not to move until I say you do, unless you want to be restrained. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my king,” Jude breathed, as Cardan began to kiss his way up her stomach, pausing to individually kiss each breast. Jude moaned as Cardan moved his way up to her neck and began slowly kissing and sucking at the point where her shoulder met her neck. Cardan’s tail slowly made its way down her leg wrapping itself around her left ankle and rubbing softly against it. True to her word, she remained still, not even flinching at his cold fingertips as they found her thighs and began to travel upwards. Cardan began to run a finger down her core, and at the same time began to move his lips closer to her mouth. 

“Remember, Jude dear, my sweet villain, don’t move a muscle.” And with that reminder, Cardan slid a finger inside of her, catching her cry of pleasure with his mouth. There was a buck of her hips, and a tightening of her hands on the sheets, but that was the only movement displayed by Jude. 

“Good girl,” he whispered as he slid his finger in and out, in and out. Once she was used to that, Cardan added a second finger, joining the first one in its ministrations. 

“Please my king, I am going to come.” Cardan knew that Jude was telling the truth, but he was still in control, and therefore he would make Jude beg for it. And beg she would.

“Cardan,” she gasped, “please, Cardan my king. Please.” There were tears beginning to form in the corner of Jude’s eyes, and Cardan gave a slight dip of his head, acknowledged by a sign of relief. Removing his fingers from between Jude’s legs, Cardan lined himself up.

Before he entered his wife, however, he paused. “What do you say, Jude dear?”

“Please my king.” With that, Cardan sheathed himself inside of Jude, allowing them both to adjust before beginning to move, sliding in and out, getting deeper and deeper. It wasn’t long before Jude was crying his name, all pretenses of control lost as she gripped his hair, and Cardan let her. He followed his wife as she went over the edge. 

Cardan remained inside of Jude long after they were done, just holding his wife, and enjoying the moment together. He finally slid out, rolling over until he was spooning Jude, and although it was only afternoon, soon tumbled into darkness. His tail had moved from where it had remained around Jude’s ankle to her thigh, brushing soothing strokes up and down, reaching the underside of her cheeks. 

This time when he woke up, Jude was still in bed. However, she was glaring at him, and Cardan could almost see the daggers in her eyes, caused by his actions from earlier in the day. 

“You are so getting paid back for that,” she said, poking him in the chest. Cardan only rolled his eyes before pulling her closer and saying “You love me.” Jude pushed him away, untangling herself from the sheets and Cardan as she got up and walked over to the bathroom.

“Now, I don’t know about you, but we’ve got people to meet and a bar to check out. I’m going to clean up, but feel free to join me.” To say that Cardan was quick to get out of bed was an understatement as he rushed to join his wife in the bathroom, preferably for a round two.

If you want to be tagged, send me an ask... some of you aren’t permanent tags, but if you want to be, just tell me. I hope you all enjoyed!

@ireallyshouldsleeprn @theoceanfaewriter @snusbandxknifewife @angelofmusic223 @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 @clockworkgraystairs @sweetlyvillainous @b00kworm

[mcrninqstar]

discord: it’s you. it’s always been you.

SUMMARY: Lucifer accidently sends Maze the wrong text leading her to believe her best friend is dead. He goes to her to clarify and they end up revealing more to each other than they anticipated.  TRIGGERS: Death Mentions, Daddy Issues, Mommy Issues WRITTEN WITH: @mazikeenofmurders

MAZIKEEN: She'd been in Hell, torturing Will when she got the update from Lucifer. Charlie's dead now. She'd seen a lot of people die in her lifetime. Most of the time it didn't bother her, but Charlie was her best friend. It was heartbreaking. Her chest felt restricted, and her eyes filled with tears. She wiped them away before anyone could see them. If Charlie had ended up in Hell, Maze should've been told, but no one came while she let out her anger on Will, which meant that she'd gone to heaven and that Maze wouldn't be able to see her again. She let Belphegor continue torturing Will on their own while she went back to her own place in Hell. She didn't tell Belphegor the news yet. They'd need to figure out how to break that down to them. They were already upset enough that she'd been hurt. Maze had diverted their sadness to anger, but handling her death would be harder. Maze remained stoic until she got home and saw a picture of Charlie, Lucifer, and herself in a frame on one of the walls. She picked it up and broke down into tears, clutching it to her chest as she laid down on her bed. Now she'd really never get Charlie to sleep with her and Lucifer. That made her cry more.

LUCIFER: "Well, that was bloody awful," Lucifer lamented as he appeared in Maze's home. He needed someone to complain to about this. He'd already tried calling Linda a couple times but she declined the calls on account that it was close to 2am now. "Maze?" he called out to her. She wasn't in the living room, but he could feel her presence about. He figured she must've gone to bed. Surely she wouldn't mind being woken up to some good news. Lucifer helped himself to the bar, pouring two glasses of champagne and placing them on a tray. He carried them into Maze's room like some sort of fancy butler. He expected to find her maybe in some sexy little number or maybe nothing at all. But what he hadn't expected was to find her crying. "Mazikeen..." he lowered the tray onto the nightstand beside her. "Why are you crying? I thought you'd be over the moon, honestly..." Becoming Death was one hell of a promotion, especially for a human reaper. Charlie had essentially ascended to an angelic form of being. It was unheard of for humans to do that. It was historic and spicy and no doubt causing Uriel to panic a little. Lucifer very much liked that idea. But Maze...he'd never seen her like this.

MAZIKEEN: She heard it distantly when someone came into her home. Sometimes the other demons tried to sneak into her place to fight her when she was off guard. She was never really off guard, but she could recognize Lucifer's presence. Archangels like him radiated power that was unmistakable, especially him. She didn't move when he called her name. She didn't want him to see her crying like this, but she couldn't stop. It hurt too much. Charlie had been too important to her. "I'm not crying," she insisted, even as her voice cracked and tears spilled down her face. The picture frame she'd been clutching left imprints on her arms as she sat up. She sniffled as she wiped at her face, but more tears kept coming. She looked at Lucifer with confusion. "Why would I be over the moon about this?" she asked. Why was he? What was good about any of this? "She's gone, Lucifer." She took in a breath trying to push back the tears, but it just distorted her face. Admitting that she was gone was hard. It was possibly one of the hardest things she ever had to do, and she dealt with Cuphegor all the time.

LUCIFER: "Right, of course," he nodded and sat down at her bed side. She was too crying but he wasn't going to call her out on it. He simply pulled out the handkerchief from his pocket square and held it out to her. He had no idea what brought this on. Maze normally loved when he sent people out to be tortured by her specifically. William especially had been a thorn at her side. What he'd done now warranted permanent death so naturally he figured Maze would be happy about that but she wasn't. She was crying about someone being gone. It didn't take long to realize she was talking about Charlie. "She's not gone," he replied, placing his hands on either side of her and rubbing down the length of her arms in a reassuring manner. "I mean, I don't really know where she's at right now specifically. She's kind of hiccupping in and out of afterlives and I'm not allowed entry into some of them because of politics. But she's very much alive...unalive...sort of dead?" he sighed trying to figure out how to explain it. "She's Death now." He didn't see what was so bad about that. Maybe it was because Maze couldn't hug her? "I mean, sure, it would be ill advised to touch her at the moment but you'll be able to give her a hug when she reigns her powers in a bit. Raphael said they'd help."

MAZIKEEN: She took the handkerchief he offered her and wiped the tears off her face, still not admitting that they were tears, not that he was insisting they were or anything. He hadn't argued her lie, and she appreciated it. She leaned against him as he rubbed her arms.  She thought he was giving her some spiel about how their afterlives didn't really mean they were gone or something. That wouldn't have made a difference to Mazikeen if she couldn't see Charlie herself, but that wasn't what he was talking about. She wasn't sure what he was talking about actually. "What do you mean she's alive? You texted me and told me she was dead." Her voice was raising angrily. She'd been so upset. "You made me think my best friend died!" She hit him in the chest as she spoke. "I was crying because I thought I lost her!" She spoke with a mixture of shouting and sobbing.

LUCIFER: "What do you mean? No I didn't," he defended as she shouted that he sent her a text saying Charlie was dead. He pulled out his phone to try to get a look at what he said but she started smacking him. He swatted her away briefly to take a peak and sure enough...he grimaced. Bloody autocorrect. "That was meant to say she's Death, not she's dead," he corrected, not that it mattered in hindsight. "I wouldn't break that kind of news to you over a text message, Maze," he tried to assure her calmly. "That's Levi levels of avoidance. I'd send a carrier pigeon at least." Perhaps it wasn't the best time for jokes but that was really the only way he knew how to work through the kind of day he had. It wasn't exactly easy having to run a death scythe into an old friend and hope for the best.

MAZIKEEN: "Yes, you did!" she snapped. She'd read over the text several times just to make sure she'd read it right because that news was so serious. It didn't make a difference to her now that it was a typo. If anything, she was more furious that he hadn't noticed the typo before he'd sent it, or even that he didn't see that it had changed once he had sent it. He could've corrected it immediately and saved her the heartbreak of thinking she'd lost her friend. "A carrier pigeon?!" she repeated angrily, not finding his jokes as funny as he did in the moment when she was still reeling from thinking her friend had died. She started hitting him. "You're so stupid! I can't believe I fell in love with you, you asshole! Who jokes about that?!"

LUCIFER: "In my defense a lot was going on," he lamented, still wanting to complain about the situation. "I wasn't exactly sipping Bacardi with Raphael up there." He might've put too much faith in his phone to get the message across. "I knew you were worried about Charlie's condition and I wanted to get the news to her ASAP. I had a million and one things I needed to do to secure the veil after everything happened and I wouldn't have had time to come down to hell until well...now. I didn't think it was fair for you to wait that long." He was trying to ease her nerves but thanks to his phone he'd done the opposite. He grimaced as soon as the pigeon joke left his lips and braced himself for another round of smacking. It didn't hurt and he let her carry on. It was best to just let Maze air out her frustrations rather than let them fester. He expected her to insult him. That was par for the course. But he hadn't expected her to say the other thing. He sat up a little straighter and held her firmly so that she would stop hitting him and look at him instead. "You don't...you can't...you don't mean that, do you?" he asked her in all seriousness.

MAZIKEEN: Realistically, she couldn't blame him too much for what had happened. All in all, it was a simple mistake, and anger was the main way she knew to release her emotions. She knew Lucifer  knew that, and there were ways she could make it up to him later when she wasn't emotional. She sighed. "I guess I do appreciate you trying to tell me as soon as possible, even if you did fuck it up." She really did appreciate that, considering how worried she'd been about Charlie. "So I really can't hug her though?" She was one of the people Maze actually liked to hug. Lucifer was also one of them, but him grabbing her took her by surprise. He probably just was getting annoyed with her constantly hitting him, but most of her anger had gotten out now. She sighed. "You are kinda an asshole sometimes, but I like it most of the time."

LUCIFER: "Well, someone will suffer for the ill conceived attempts of autocorrect," he assured her. It wasn't going to be him, but someone would. Surely there was probably a demon to blame for this. "Probably Sam," he offered, hoping that would lift her spirits some with another soul to torture. "Charlie managed to separate him and his evil twin. She dragged the parasitic one here. Not sure which kingdom but when we find him, he's all yours," he replied, still running his hand up and down her arm in a comforting gesture. "No, I'm afraid you can't hug her for now. She's deadly to everything except the Archangels now." Although Charlie was young by comparison, her ranking was up there with Cupid now that she was Death. Love and Death were fundamental forces in the balance of things. "But I'll give her extra hugs on your behalf," he replied. He didn't mind it one bit. Having to stab Charlie wasn't exactly pleasant and he wanted to ensure she was okay every step of the way. His features softened and his grip lightened when she remarked he was an asshole sometimes, but she enjoyed that about him. "That's not what I meant...I meant the other thing you said. The one about falling in love with me..." he clarified so that neither of them could be mistaken this time. "You don't mean that, do you?"

MAZIKEEN: "As they should." She nodded in agreement. She smiled brightly when Lucifer suggested that it would probably be Sam. She'd always wanted to torture him. "Is it my birthday again already?" she asked jokingly. She was a little disappointed that it wasn't both Sams that ended up in Hell, but she guessed that it was good for Charlie's happiness or something. "That's pretty hot," she remarked with a smirk. "It makes me want to try it anyway. I'll tell you what it feels like." She grinned. Lucifer couldn't have all the fun in being the only one of them to be able to hug Charlie. Her smile faltered when he clarified what he'd heard her say. "Ah," so she had actually said that then? She'd thought that part was just in her head, but it was hard to keep a cap on her thoughts when she was that upset. Her chest clenched up. She was trying to gauge his reaction to that before she said anything else, but it was hard to tell how he was feeling about it. The most she could tell was that he was uncertain, but she couldn't decipher if that uncertainty came from disgust at the idea, if he wanted it like she did, if his trauma from the curse just had him scared to trust it, or a combination of a few of those. She sat up straighter, holding herself higher to make sure this confession didn't make her look weaker in any way. If he didn't like it then fuck him anyways. "I do. I've been in love with you for a while now." She let out a breath of air. That was a weird thing she never really thought she'd let out, but it was out there now. She watched Lucifer carefully for his reaction, prepared to backtrack or defend herself if she needed to.

LUCIFER: He was glad to see her smile after the particularly awful news she thought he'd delivered. He knew he'd be paying for that for the next few weeks but for now at least the storm had passed and she knew Charlie was safe. "If your birthday occurred anytime that man nearly dies, you'd be aging at twice the rate," he pointed out. He really did feel for the Winchester's Guardian. That angel had to be doing overtime on most days. "Wear protection," he teased. "Safe hugging to prevent untimely death." Maze wore enough latex that it really shouldn't be a problem. Charlie was careful too. Lucifer had instructed her to go to Val in the meantime for pointers and perhaps a pair of sturdier gloves.

He swallowed back a bit of initial panic when she confirmed that he'd heard her correctly. His automatic thoughts and fears were that his curse was back. Why else would anyone love him? He projected outward confidence because he had to. It was expected of him as King of Hell to know what to do, or at least to look like he knew what he was doing. Maze knew better than most Lucifer had no idea what he was doing. He was a mess just trying his best. Truthfully, the curses had set him back quite a bit. He still struggled, wondering if any of the relationships and connections he'd made in his life were real. Chloe had left him long before the curse was broken and he couldn't blame her. But Maze stuck around. She'd been there before he discovered his curse and she was still there afterward. She'd been there through all of his milestone and all the trials life could've thrown his way. He couldn't have imagined doing any of this without her. In fact, he was certain he couldn't have done it without her. The duties of keeping Hell running and keeping his siblings both happy and alive stretched him thin. He needed a partner and Maze was the best one he could've ever asked for.

If she really did love him, then this was a blessing because as much as the feeling scared him, he loved her too. He hadn't realized how much she did for him until she'd disappeared to the other timeline. He'd been a mess then and so had hell. Since then, he tried to show her that he appreciated her more and more. He tried to do what he could to spend time with her because he didn't know how much time they had left. He realized some time ago if the void was going to take over, she'd be the person he'd want to be with in the end. He thought those feelings were just friendship, but he knew deep down it went deeper than that.

"Okay...." he took a deep breath. "Okay..." he ran his hands up and down her arms as a soothing gesture. "Mazikeen, you are one of the most important people to me. You're the first person I check in with in the mornings and the last one I see before I go to bed. You're..." You're the one person I can see myself spending an eternity with. Just say it Lucifer. Come on. "The last time I felt like this about someone, it turned out to not be real. How do we know any of this is real?" he questioned. It was an unfair question to place on her but he wanted to be upfront with his fears. He'd known Chloe for all of 4 years when she left. And her leaving left a hole in his belief in love. He'd known Maze for much longer. If this turned out to be a curse and if she left too...he wasn't sure where that would leave either of them.

MAZIKEEN: She laughed a little at his comment about Sam's deaths. "Even better. Maybe I can catch up to you, old man." It wasn't like they really aged anyways. Birthdays were an arbitrary thing they made up just for an excuse to celebrate. They were all too old to actually keep up with their ages, and even if they did, it just made them look so much better despite their ages. "Don't worry. My strap-on has a condom and everything." She grinned. She'd be careful enough, but the thought that her best friend could kill her with just a single touch was exciting and she wanted to see what it felt like. Hopefully, she wouldn't kill herself completely in the process. She wasn't actually suicidal like some people.

Her chest ached seeing that look on his face. As a demon, she considered it a skill of hers that she could recognize the fear in her victims, but Lucifer wasn't a victim. He was her closest friend and the person she was in love with. She usually knew him better than she knew herself most of the time, but she couldn't tell where that panic came from in the moment. Was he as scared of rejecting her as she was of being rejected? Or was he just as scared of allowing himself to love as she was. She knew that with his curse, he'd been hesitant of his relationships, romantic or otherwise. It was part of the reason she'd been so hesitant herself recently about talking about it (though it was mainly because of her own fear). The way he held onto her arms, rubbing them to reassure her, convinced her that this was a rejection, so she prepared herself for it.

She had to admit, he was setting up the rejection nicely. She imagined that he was going the route of asking if they could still be friends so they could still do all of those things. The last time I felt like this about someone... So he did feel the same way about her then, and his panic was about the curse. Even so, the doubt of whether this was real or not hurt. She knew his curse was broken. Cupid had confirmed that. Maze wasn't particularly great at dealing with her emotions, so the pain she felt at his doubt turned to anger. It wasn't rational anger, considering how valid his doubts were, but she was angry nevertheless. How dare he doubt her love?!

"I'm not Chloe," she snapped. "What, do you think that just because I was with her when Cupid broke your connection that it somehow transferred from her into me? Well, it didn't because I've been in love with you for a lot longer than that. I didn't fall in love with you because of a curse. I fell in love with you because unlike everyone else you were always there with me and for me from the day I met you. It wasn't some immediate infatuation. I don't do the love at first sight thing." She barely considered the love thing until she realized it was actually a possibility. "I don't just have the feeling that I love you. I know I love you because I consider the day you picked me to be your right hand one of the best moments of my life, and maybe kicking Azazel's ass made that day better too, but that's not the important part. You are. I like working for you. I like your dirty jokes because I have the same sense of humor. And your corny jokes are awful,  but occasionally I'll find myself making them too." She sounded annoyed as she said all of this, only angry that he didn't see it. She shouldn't have been surprised though considering that seemed to run in his family. "I know a lot of people think it's a little extra the way you will do whole musical numbers. I agree, but I fucking love it!"

He looked like he was about to say something, but she cut him off. "I'm not done yet! You wanted to know how I know that this is real, so you're going to hear it all! When I was younger, and practically everyone was doubting me for being your right hand, you didn't. You never doubted my capability to kick their asses and make them shut the fuck up. I fucking love the fact that even though you're an archangel, you trust me to handle myself and fight my own battles. I'd be pissed if you tried to, but I never had to worry about that with you. I never have to worry about most things with you because I trust you. Hell, even your problems I don't mind dealing with. You self-sabotage constantly, and so do I. You've got the the world's biggest daddy issues, and I've got the world's worst mommy issues. But we know how to deal with each other's issues. The drama in your family is exponential, but I don't ever want to stop dealing with it. It's honestly really entertaining, and don't you dare fucking tell them this, or anyone for that matter, but I started to care for them too. Some of them anyways. Just a tiny barely noticeable amount." She probably shouldn't have said that, but she kept going.

"When we came up here together at first and Chloe made you vulnerable, you have no idea how terrified I was. I am your right hand and your bodyguard. I don't usually have to protect you from much because you're an archangel, but there you were getting injured constantly just because you kept going near the thing that was making you vulnerable. I was honestly glad that it was a curse just because it meant that you could be safe again." Sure there were other things that could hurt him but not many. "I was just glad that I didn't have to worry about losing you."

She continued to list off more and more reasons to prove how she knew her love was her own and not from some curse. It spanned from centuries in the past all the way to the present, including the smallest details like the way he laughed when he was scared or  the way his hair looked after sex to more major details and events like the fact that she saw him when she looked at Asmodeus or how jealous she felt when she saw the other universe's Maze seeming to have everything with her Lucifer and how glad she was to come home to her own. It took her hours to get through everything, and it was well into the morning now. "And if that's not enough to convince you that this is real, I don't know what is," she huffed. "Cupid's been trying to get me to tell you for ages now, and she wouldn't do that if she had any doubts about my feelings for you being a curse. She might be a pain in the ass half the time, but I know you at least can count on her being genuine about love."

LUCIFER: "At the rate he dies, you'll likely catch up to Aamon or Michael at this point," he joked although he really hoped Sam would slow down a little for Charlie's sake. He chuckled when she replied that her strap-on had a condom. "A paragon of safe sex. I expect no less. I'm sure Charlie will appreciate the sentiment." If anything, Charlie would at least appreciate the jokes and the company. It had been a rough few hours for her. Those hours spanned days in hell. Days that Maze must've spent feeling anxious about her friend's wellbeing. No wonder she'd reacted so poorly to his faux pas.

He was hoping to make it up to her, but it was clear his hesitation was contributing to her anxiety. Being a demon from Aamon's kingdom, that anxiety naturally expressed itself with rage. He flinched as she snapped at him. He swallowed hard when she replied that she'd been in love with him for a lot longer than he'd been cursed. Maybe they'd looked at the curse all wrong then. Maybe it was there from the beginning. Maybe Chloe wasn't the original victim, but rather Mazikeen. The thought of that ached and hurt more than anything. She was his best advisor and his closest friend. The thought of their closeness potentially being driven by a curse was a hurt that threatened to tear his chest open, but continued to listen. It was best not to interrupt her when she was in one of these passionate rages.

His features softened and his panic started to drop off slightly as she started listing tangible things she liked about him. Love curses couldn't go that deep, could they? Cupid had told him even the strongest curses can only mimic a base and superficial love. What Maze was describing didn't feel superficial. She'd also said that real love felt different. It made you feel complete even when you felt like you were falling apart. Maze made him feel that way. She understood him in ways even those around him didn't seem to get.

She didn't try to change him or insist that he be someone else, someone more mature or someone she felt he needed to be in certain situations. She trusted his judgement even when he didn't trust himself necessarily. Apparently not everyone was the same way though. There were people out there that didn't like his musical numbers? He was about to open his mouth to retort, but she cut him off. He closed his mouth and patiently waited as she continued, a smile growing on his face.

Just as he'd been reminiscing about how she never doubted his abilities, it was clear she felt the same way about him never doubting her. He always knew that she was capable. His siblings might have been more powerful than her, but they always knew that Maze was an extension of Lucifer. She wasn't a subordinate, she was family to them. And it was clear Maze felt that they were her family too. That made Lucifer brighten considerably. He knew Maze didn't have a good relationship with her family and sometimes his own relationship with his family was rocky too. But she found her place among them and that was important to him.

She was as afraid of losing him as he was of losing her which was both terrifying and a relief. When she was off in the other timeline, he'd been a mess just thinking about it. It wasn't just the daunting task of finding another right hand if she never came back. It was the inexplicable pain of losing someone whom you couldn't imagine your life without. There was no one in this world or the next that could replace Maze.

"Mazikeen," he cupped her face as she finished, letting her take a few deep breaths to calm down. She looked like she needed a drink too. "I believe you," his voice was soft and gentle as he spoke. The previous panic that it carried was now gone. He really did believe her. He knew Maze well enough to know cursed or not, love was the last thing she wanted to admit to. It took guts to get this far and now it was time for him to show the same kind of bravery. "And I love you too," he smiled. "You make me a better person without trying to change a single thing about me. You listen to my fears and insecurities and you don't let them be the only voice inside my head. When shit hits the fan you are the only person I know I can count on. It's always been you," he replied as he leaned in and kissed her gently. "It's always going to be you."

MAZIKEEN: "He's really got issues if he's going that far." Maze could see the appeal of getting close to death. She liked pushing things that far all the time. Having sex with archangels who could easily end your existence provided a similar thrill, but Maze didn't actually want to die. "Yeah," Maze agreed. "Hopefully becoming death doesn't autocorrect her sense of humor." She was joking just to pick on Lucifer's mistake, but she was a little worried about how this change would affect Charlie. She didn't know everything about what becoming death entailed. She had always been closer to Charlie than Azrael, and Azrael wasn't very social. She hadn't talked much about what being Death was like either. Maze didn't know how much she could help Charlie, or how much any of them could.

She looked at Lucifer angrily as he cupped her face, waiting for him to make fun of her or say that her explanations weren't enough to prove that this was real even though she knew it was. Her expression softened when he said he believed her. "You do?" She asked, relaxing into him now. He'd gone through so much lately that she really didn't expect him to take her at her word. "You do?" She asked again as he told her he loved her too. She felt warmer, and she was smiling brightly. She didn't think she'd been in love before him, and just getting that confirmation was such a relief. She felt lighter and happier. She looked at him in awe as he explained just what made him love her too. "I don't need to change anything about you," she said in defense of him, but she couldn't counter the rest of it. She deepened the kiss. Her hands moved into his hair, pulling on some of the strands, but this kiss was different than their usual make-out sessions. It wasn't just from lust, though she was feeling hornier now. Adding an emotional extension to kissing someone was . . . Interesting to say the least. She might've loved him before, but loving him and knowing he loved her had the most thrill she'd ever known. Cupid could never be told that. She'd never hear the end of how right Cupid was, but this was something Mazikeen had needed to do on her own anyways. Maze smirked as they pulled out of the kiss. "If it's always going to be me, do we need to discuss anything else, or are you going to get me out of these clothes?"

LUCIFER: "There's minor death kinks and then there's whatever Sam's got," he chuckled. He would pass off Linda's number to Sam and maybe even introduce them. She'd get a kick out of an interdimensional client and Sam could really use the help after all of this. He groaned at the joke Maze made about Charlie's humor getting autocorrected. If course she wasn't going to let him live it down. Despite her ribbing at him, he knew there was some truth hidden in her jokes. She was afraid that this whole transition to becoming Death would change Charlie. "She's a little overwhelmed right now, but still Charlie. It's like the second Frozen movie where Elsa transitions into the fifth natural force," he giggled to himself. "You know, that sort of makes you Anna. I've seen dark before..." he sang through his giggles, ducking away before she could smack him.

"I do," he nodded. "It doesn't mean I'm any less scared about it or that I even know what I'm doing, but I believe you and I love you," he assured her. Admitting it out loud again felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulder. The more times he said it out loud, the more sure of himself he felt. He did love her. This wasn't the curse talking, this was him. He smiled when she replied that she didn't need to change him. He'd gone a good portion of his life thinking there was something wrong with him. He didn't fit the mold his Father intended for him. He never accepted him for who he was and simply wanted to beat him down until he was a perfect soldier like Michael. But Maze never tried to change him. She never made him feel like he was built wrong or that he was too soft, too hard, or too much for the role placed on his shoulders.

As she deepened the kiss, he pressed her against the wall, wanting to feel every inch of her. Having aired out how he felt, and having her accept it and feel the same was exhilarating and quite frankly more of a turn on than anything else he'd ever experienced before. He could hardly focus as she pulled away. "Well," he smirked, trailing kisses down her neck as his hands explored her body. "I do have some making up to do for my previous faux pas." He gripped her tightly and picked her up before plopping her down onto the bed. "You know what they say, no time line the present," he smirked, dipping down to kiss her again.

[superfanficnatural]

Fact, not Fiction

Well it’s been long enough and I’ve decided to just write this all out so everyone doesn’t have to read a series of reblogs and that they can have all the information in one place. Without further adieu *cracks knuckles* let’s get started.

So this entire story between Beka (Impala-dreamer​) and Vanessa (flamencodiva) is being told one sided, so I’m here to tell the other side and yeah.

Vanessa had unfollowed Beka, not blocked, unfollowed because she didn’t appreciate the way that she did things and who she is as a person. Beka had messaged her asking why and the entire thing was born. 

“I blocked you because you ruined my night, by writing me a 90 page essay on why I’m terrible and called me a Narcissist who only cares about people who kiss my ass.” Now, I want all of you to pay attention to how Beka so expertly framed her message to make her out to be the victim. Vanessa had unfollowed her, not publicly said anything, not messaged her anything because she wanted to keep from conflict and not make it a spectacle. Then, Beka makes a post that includes the above quotation making Vanessa out to be the villain. Beka had asked exactly why Vanessa unfollowed her and she told her why, she didn’t sugarcoat it because if she did, then that would be unfair to Beka. Beka then proceeds to post about it in order to make herself out to be the victim, once again claiming, “You are a very mean, heartless person, and you think the world revolves around you and it does not. Not everyone has to like you.” I had initially made a reblog of that very post including this quote and I had responded with -

 “Please allow me to bring to light a situation that had occurred about a month or two ago. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but you had posted something that required follower interaction and after only a single hour, you had ran to the pond discord server and began complaining about how no one looks at your account and your followers don’t like you. From then on, you had gotten a lot of support from a lot of the writers in the pond. I did not want to say this because of privacy, but the fact that you have given zero privacy to Vanessa with this post, I’ve also decided to shed light on something as well.”

This was one of the many situations and events that Beka had complained about her followers. Unfortunately, I have nothing but my own word along with others that have been subjected to or have witnessed events like these. Constantly, I have found Beka complaining about how one of her fic’s flopped, how her followers don’t interact with her, and how she doesn’t like the drama from Tumblr. I think we can all agree with not liking the drama on Tumblr, but when you yourself are creating that drama, it makes it nothing less than hypocrisy. Throughout the entire post of Beka’s response she never explained anything and only told her side of the story - meaning that she is playing the victim. She expertly weaved her web of deceit and left things out on purpose to gain the support of the public so she can have all of the attention. Another thing both myself and MANY other people agree on is that Beka loves attention, constantly posting about things that make people feel bad and send her messages of encouragement even though the very things she’s complaining about, she has started. Allow me to provide some examples.

The fact that she included her almost getting into “two accidents” already makes everyone feel bad for her, getting roped into her web. The repetition of her saying that she’s the “bad guy” implants into everyone's head that she’s pleading. What else screams out “Guys come support me because everyone is making me out to be the bad guy.” Maybe you really are the bad guy, ever thought about that? The “she” that she is referring to is Vanessa and I don’t think I can find a single example of her “terrorism” ever. Oh do you mean when she “terrorizes” other writers by reblogging their stuff with encouraging messages? Is she “terrorizing” her friends when she tags them in a funny gif set? If so wow, she really does terrorize people, you’re right! 

This really made me laugh out loud.

Let me start off by reminding all of you that Vanessa is also considered a “big blog” so you going after her for doing everything you have listed here is wrong, but when you do it, you’re allowed to complain about it? Let me also direct your attention over to the hashtag, “I’m out” The sheer amount of times I have witnessed Beka hashtag something with “I’m out” is abysmal. It’s another technique she uses to get people to message her going “oh no please don’t leave!” And what makes me know that for a fact is that every single time she says that she’s “out” I see her responding to asks from people sending encouraging messages. I’m really fed up about it and I just want to share it with all of you who might not be aware of all of these things so you don’t blindly follow and defend her. I used to follow her myself, but when I realized all of these things, I separated myself from that negativity and attention seeking. 

The second I had made my initial reblog, Beka had blocked me even though I had said nothing negative and only shed light on something. That shows that she’s trying to cover it up so her image doesn’t get tarnaged. Does this not show how desperate she is to play victim? In this entire little post, she didn’t address a single thing that anyone had responded with and instead found more things to complain about, once again leaving things out to keep her status as the victim. 

Now, some people might take what I’m about to say as insensitive but I’m really only stating the facts because I am not appeased by Beka’s self victimization. 

#fine if you want me dead, ...who said that they wanted you dead? I apologize but I don’t remember a single person saying that. This is yet ANOTHER way she is trying to get people to go “Oh no! Don’t think like that! Don’t listen to the haters!” It really baffles me how good she is at playing the victim but also at how ridiculous her antics are.

Another thing I want to add in is a post that Beka had made however many months ago talking about how the “SPN Family” was becoming negative and toxic. 

Now to be honest, I think that we can all agree with this at least somewhat and I was actually proud of Beka for writing and posting this. That is, until she made it ALL about herself again.

The second that post was posted, many people tried to spread positivity and love to a lot of others by tagging all of their friends and saying that they are grateful for them and that they love them. Beka then posted the picture above. That’s when I knew she really hadn’t changed at all. She’s proving herself that she just wanted attention in that post by saying “Beka who?” Meaning that she wanted everyone to go to either her DM’s, the comment section, or her asks to send words of encouragement as ALWAYS. 

The reason this is so long is because if I simply claimed that Beka was an attention seeker, it wouldn’t make sense to have no evidence or even just a single piece of evidence. So I’ve provided many, and trust me, there are more.

This entire thing is simply to educate everyone who is either involved or is curious in the current situation, even though it seems like a diss, it’s really me just exposing Beka with facts, not fiction. 

Since Beka deleted my reblog off of her page, I’ll just paste what I said here.

This entire situation really disheartens me.

Let me start off with the fact that Vanessa (flamencodiva) has DELETED her account because of this.

The fact that you came after her for wanting to be Tumblr famous is really wrong and allow me to explain why it is. Vanessa is a close friend of mine and I talk to her almost every single day. She is THE most selfless person I have ever met and is always trying to make others happy even if it makes her sad. She constantly reblogs everyone’s writing to encourage new and upcoming writers, and writers who have been around for a while to spread POSITIVITY. She has never once complained about notes, likes, or follows so I genuinely want to know why you felt the need to say she wants to be Tumblr famous. The only reason she went on anon for that message is because you blocked her so she had no other way of contacting you about why you had blocked her. 

She had privately messaged you to keep this between the two of you but you decided to turn it public, which doesn’t make her the victim, it makes YOU the victim. Right now, everyone who have seen this post knows YOUR side of the story but not hers. Yes, she comes across aggressive, but that’s only if you give her a good reason because you had upset either her or one of her friends which she cherishes. 

“You are a very mean, heartless person, and you think the world revolves around you and it does not. Not everyone has to like you”

Please allow me to bring to light a situation that had occurred about a month or two ago. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but you had posted something that required follower interaction and after only a single hour, you had ran to the pond discord server and began complaining about how no one looks at your account and your followers don’t like you. From then on, you had gotten a lot of support from a lot of the writers in the pond. 

I did not want to say this because of privacy, but the fact that you have given zero privacy to Vanessa with this post, I’ve also decided to shed light on something as well.

Her deleting her account ABSOLUTELY discredits your argument of her wanting to be famous because now she has no account, no followers, no fics, nothing.

I’m not writing all of this to create more conflict, only to further educate a lot of the people reblogging this and supporting Beka and being extremely negative to Vanessa right now. I personally have unfollowed you for personal reasons but I have not blocked you because I do not deem it necessary and I do not encourage negativity. This post really just oozes negativity and self victimization so I had decided to throw in my ten cents. You can come after me for this or not it’s really up to you but I did not write this with the intent to attack or diss, only to educate. Have a nice day everyone ❤

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY LiveThoughts: V8E7

Since I finally have time for it today, lets make sure Im all caught up for the hiatus. 

Before we get fully started, an idea; Its not a war crime if they’re Grimm. Then its just self defense. So break out the napalm, the cluster bombs, the chemical weapons, the fun stuff. Make em regret it, yeah?

And we start off...on a farm. Looks like my moms old farm in South Dakota. Even on Remnant, hay is best used in bales.

Waiiiit. Thats the place the Whale set down isnt it. I see a Sayber running. Ah, and the Atlas military! Surely, the vanguard of a massive force to hold the line! Also Im glad to see a close up of the helmet for once, I want to make my own. Also, the gloves, and the rifle itself. Not sure why it doesnt have a stock, seems kind of silly...

And airships too, so they got some fire support...whats that wall behind them though?

Also it TOOK US 8 FUCKING SEASONS to get a close up of these FUCKING Weapons. 8. FUCKING. SEASONS. Okay maybe more like 5 cause they didnt first appear till 3 or so but come on. Im so picking this shit apart later. 

Pfft, bros got some nerves going on. Come on man, its just some Grimm, you’ll be FINE.

Atlas field harvesters resemble Halo’s JOTUN Farming equipment. As wel as our own. No surprise there.

Alright, bunch of Saybers, not seeing much of a threat here.

Hey, Paladins! Damn, they...look way different than I remember them to be. 

I wont lie, I dont like the Paladin design. Way to much visual noise, I cant tell where anything IS. 

Also that is the most 2D grass I have sever seen in my fucking life. What the hell are they growing here...

Huh, the whale has two sets of teeth. Wait, its just there? And its wpewing out Grimm. So...why isnt the air force firing on it? 

Yeah its not moving, its just raising its head and slamming down and vomiting out more Grimm. Im not sure what the issue is here, just...seal the mouth. 

Oh, huh. Apathys. Let me guess, RTs gonna try and tell us depression is going to kill most of Atlas. Oh for fuck sake. IM NOT IMPRESSED RT. IM REALLY NOT. IM MORE FUCKING ANNOYED THAN ANYTHING

Okay so...I see what this is. Its farm land outside of atlas proper and there’s an additional wall behind them, plus the power lines I guess? Seems like a viable place to make a stand. 

...thats it. Please tell me this is just a single detachment of the Atlas military because there is less firepower here than a NATIONAL GUARD UNIT ASSIGNED TO ONE CITY

Im fairly certain there are more people assigned to ONE UNIT attached to JBLM then I amm seeing here. 

Not to mention this is an OPEN FIELD the Grimm have to run through. This is a literall fucking TURKEY SHOOT. Running across an open field anywhere is a ticket to DYING.

Just ask the poor fucks on D-day.

Also uh...why is everyone in line formation? What is this, fuckin’ 18009s combat Napoleon style?

And did the distance suddenly change, I feel like the whale suddenly got a hell of a lot closer.

Just...I dont get this. This makes no sense. Did Ironwood learn how to deploy forces from a fairy tale book? This is legitimately some fuckin Lord of the Rings shit here.

RIP that one specific trooper hit by that Behemoth though. Dont worry friend, the thing walked next to a Paladin. Its getting its eye blasted out

And cut back to Ironwood. Doing...fuck if I know what.

Staring angrily it seems.

“Dammit, my tactical deployment by line formation and parade ground tactics isnt holding back the Grimm, curses!”

Well MAYBE IF YOUD THOUGHT TO INVEST IN SOME FUCKING AIR SUPPORT...Seriously.

I know people have told me why this is. I understand myself why this is. But it really just...does...not...jibe with me. At all. 

Okay so more details; first, apparently Atlas has a subway. Makes sense, its a big island. Inter-system transits probably a given. Second; Was that Mantis Squad Omega? Some kind of unit maybe...interesting.

 Also I love how this guy just questions Ironwood. Like, bro, if the General says do it, do it.

Hold the fuck up, why is everyone outside? It looks like fuckin’ Cali during our lockdowns...what ever happened to martial law huh?

Also “underground subway stations”. Yes, thats...kind of what a subway IS. I guess maybe they have overhead ones like New York does. Mass transit be weird like that.

I mean HELL the signs on it are almost identical to the ones in NYC too! Even with the colored circles and train cnumbers. 

According to the sign here they’re at Pickens Square Station. 

Oh boy. Ironwood just fed these poor bastards into a meat grinder. Anyone here ever played the Metro game series, or read the books?

Remember the Dark Ones? The Nosallias? Yeah. Tight corridors and monsters only work out well for angry vodka fueled Russians.

Didnt see it very well but I THINK those Mantas had some kind of wing gun. Either thats new, a separate armament setting, or RT forgot what ind of weapons they gave their ships AGAIN.

Cant get the shields back up, yeah, no shit, they DETACHED ONE OF THE FUCKING PILOTS YOU IDIOTS.

Also hah, they arrested Yang, Ren and Jaune. Not surprised.

Beta squads apperently been hitting the whale. ‘Bombs, missiles, we cant make a dent, sir.” ...while Im not surprised by this, I also hear shades of the opening of Halo 2s level Metropolis. “Where’s the rest of your platoon?” “Wasted, sarge. Blew right through us. Rockets, fifty cals, didnt do nothing.”

Honestly they could have SHOWED THAT too. Them just saying it feels like a cop out to me. Take that as you will. But if you want us to see the things hard to kill, show it. 

Not that I figure Atlas’s rockets are much more than Dust in a propellent tank. Not exactly a Hellfire or TOW.

Nice to see proper military talk for...a moment anyway.

Or what I figure RT figures is proper.

Oh so now the whales moving. Okay...huh.

Jaunes commentary is the same as mine. Though I guess the size seems to shift depending.

Ohhh. Its MANTA. As in the gunships. Alright, sure that works. And this guys making a good call. If you cant hit the big one go after the smaller. Of which there seems to be a HELL of a lot. Actually holy fuck that Grimm spew is across like...ahlf the fucking island right now. Time to fuckin torch and burn people.

Ahhhhhh and they get to the proper idea.  If you cant punch it from the outside, hit it from the inside.

I knew a crew...three madmen, names of Keegan, Lahni and Mac. The Hivebusters. Something tells me a Venom bomb would do the trick...if it can rip apart Swarm creatures as big as a Snatcher or a Swarmak and reduce them to green slime, I think it’ll work on Grimm. 

Something tells me RT isnt gonna give em a bomb though. Too obvious.

NEVER MIND. “Science team is putting together a bomb.”

Also I LOVE how Winter’s pupils expand and retract in fear as she realizes what Ironwoods asking her to do.

Awww now shes getting the shakes too.

Salem directing this shit like shes some kind of orchestra leader. I mean it FITS but...I dunno.

Ah so the command deck is directly behind the whale’s glowing nose. Basically inside where the spermacetiy organ would be in a real sperm whale.

What the fuck is Emerald doing there?

Sneaking I guess. Huh. Why’s she sneaking around the whale. Also, huh. guess seeers can get fooled by Emeralds semblance.  Is HE STILL BEATING UP ON OSCAR? Jeez dude. Take a breather.

Honestly if this was TRUE I would be okay with it. Replace the Huntsman with, I dont know, a massively overequipped military for each Kingdom, let them run rampant...stomp the Grimm out or push them back to nonexistence...everyone lives happily ever after

Lets be real here, the idea of the academies? Really really fucking dumb. Its cute. Fairy tale like.

But if theres one thing this show has taught me its that fairy tales SUCK. Reality...tends to be worse.

Ah theres one of those torture hooks they mentioned a few episodes back. Nice of the whale to have a specific interrigation room.

And at last we get some information on how Salem works. Alright so...what happens if you seperate the parts then? Sink one in the ocean, launch one into space.

Sounds like Oz/Oscars telling the fans what we’ve been saying forever, Companion Book be damned; Salem wants to die.

These mind games bore me. Its cute, but I dont like it cause I cant follow that shit. Give me a straight up fight any day, fuck this sublty backroom fuckery

No lies from them both here honestly.

Medical supplies in Atlas seem almost the same as here on earth interestngly. Also, soup. Or...coffee, tea?

Blake with the obvious here. But I mean thats not really saying much cause...well. Not hard to outfight the Atlas military it seems like.  (Long suffering sigh)

Im gonna make a seperate post about my frustrations with that and leave it there. But dont expect me to stop fully complaining about it because everyones gotta have something to bitch about with this show, and I’ll be DAMNED if I start joining the BB whiners.

Good question, Ruby. Might be that YOUR NOT LIVING IN A FAIRY TALE

I’d like to see these people dying in Mantle. I refuse to believe that there isnt SOMEONE in the nation that once brought Remnant to its heel that wont stand and fight. Unless Im wrong about that too...

May backstory? May backstory. Yeah.  Not amazingly complicated but it works. Cant tell if shes Henry though...or was. 

Dramatic lightning flash

Cute you think that Ruby. Theres sides. Always are.

Further proof honestly.

Hazels look of though is amusing. Cant tell if he doesnt believe Oscar, or if his tiny peabrain is runing full bore to think this through.

Coordination between farm boy and professor.

Oh. OHHHH. Plants the seed of doubt in Hazels tiny mind, he uses the last question for himself, sees the truth... Clever, Oscar. Clever.

Hazel peabrain go THUNK

Ah so Mercs going off to Vacuo. Guess that means everyone else is going there next too. Eat that, random Discord person, I called it.

Course, CFVYs there so...maybe we get to see Yats beat up on him.

Oh hi Tyrian. Do you just...randomly roam the halls of the whale waiting to DRAMATICALLY REVEAL YOURSELF and give violent expositon? Im very much okay with that.

Also I love how he just...accepts this. Totally fucking bonkers, totally down with it. 

Oh shit, Tyrian and Mercury going to Vacuo? Damn thats gonna be INTERESTING. I guess Tyrian’ll fit in well enough honestly.

Flying Beringal literally out of the roof. 

I remember back when this season first started and I said those weird bone platforms looked like VTOL launch bays. Guess what? They are.

Merc and Em emotion blah blah DONT CAAARRREEE

Jaune thinking tactically for ONCE IN HIS FUCKING LIFE. An I mean military tactical of course.

Also I like how the Aces say they dont let emotions cloud their shit WHEN THEYVE BEEN DOING THAT THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME.

This ENTIRE PLANET is emotionally run. Thats why the Grimm are such an issue! Makes small note to make Remnant Adeptus Mechanicus cult

Seriously though...

I wont lie though, Hare isnt wrong. Wonder what happened to that Tortuga guy. Tyrian, is my guess. Love how Ren interrupts the moment they almost mention Clovers name.

Expendable, yes. Replacable, no. You should have a talk with squadron leader Grey from Star Wars Squadrons Ren

ANNNNDDD SEMBLANCE EVOLUTION. Or the edibles just kicked in.

This is cool and all but its really fucking dumb and hamfisted. Explain all you want. Mention emotions all you want.

The Aces are fucking huntsmen. HUNTSMEN. FUCKING. SUCK. They always have. Its a dumb idea. Yes, lets stop the hordes of monsters invading this world BY SENDING IN SINGLE OPERATIVES WITH FUCKING MELEE WEAPONS

I’ll make this clear to you, Ren, right here and now. If you faced a REAL elites, you wouldnt have stood a chance. Nor would RWBY. Their bodies would have been three-shot from 20 meters out with a breach and clear and stacked against the wall like cords of wood, one final shot to the dome to make dead sure they were down. None of this stupid flipping and acrobatic crap, none of this clashing weapons and Dust and semblances...no. 

You’d be dead before you knew they were there and they would move on. You’d just be another body to the pile, one more faceless corpse to add to their kill count. A meatgrinder in human form. 

Professionals. Dont. Lose. AND THE ACES ARE NOT PROFESSIONALS!

Because thats not what RWBYs about, never has been.  And that is what annoys me slightly. That and the fact I cant distangle what I know of other universes and our own from RWBY’s. Its hard to hold a universe on its own when everything they make points towards it being like ours, but they change it when they see fit. 

I feel like thats bad writing.

Hehehe. Winter touched Elms boob.

Glad to know that Winters got her priorities right. Course, that bomb probably aint gonna do shit cause its Dust based.

...again, hoping its a chemical weapon...

Wait, the Atlas forces from earlier are STILL FIGHTING? Damn, these Grimm must suck if they couldnt wipe them out in that little time...

Also I cant tell if its getting dark cause of the storm or if its the dawn of the next day.  Or did...they shift time around? I lost track. I SWORE the sun was setting the last time we saw everything.

Also return of the shitty 3D grass...

Marrows gonna defect.

Awww poor Winters got emotions. HEY MAYBE DONT SEND A MENSTRATING WOMAN OUT ON A FIELD OP, ATLAS!

So according to May there’s still front lines. Cool. 

AYYY ITS KLIEN! HES BACK

Oh, I guess hes a doctor too. Oh he MAD.

Ayyy Whitleys being USEFUL for fucking once in his shitty life.

Shes gonna hug him isnt she.

CALLED IT. For fuck sake...whatever. Cute. But whatever.

Oh annnnddd now Grimmquake?

No. It stopped...Bolide?

No. PENNY.

Annnnddd shes leaking coolant. And sparking. And dead.

RIP Penny.

The concept art of the beached whale looks so fucking silly. Seriously, just...detach the whole section there. Drop the fucking thing. 

Oh well.

And thats it for almost two months! Be prepared for me to BULLSHIT MY WAY THROUGH ALL OF IT and continue on with my military fanwank because THATS HOW IM SURVIVING 2020!

[solest]

I don’t know what happened but I wrote something again. Just thought about Crowley and Aziraphale remembering the influence they had on some artists in the renaissance (well, actually it’s most about Aziraphale’s influence on a certain work of Michelangelo). Thanks to folks in the /r GO discord server for helping me out at some point and a big thanks to @seraph5​ for letting me using the bit about Crowley and the statue at the end (it was her idea while I babbled on about this) and for always reading the shit I write XD.

It is 4 am right now and I’m not a native englishspeaker, so I bet there are some mistakes along the way

Here you go:

It was a lovely afternoon for a visit of the museum. The weather was not so much for a walk in the park, so this was a nice way to get out on a little date and reminisce about things one or both of them had a hand in.

Today there was an exhibition about the art of the Renaissance and both, Aziraphale and Crowley remembered one or two things about a lot of it.

Aziraphale came to a halt in front of a prototype of a pietá that was accompanied by a photoset of Michelangelo’s work. The smallish statue showed the depiction of Mary, holding the dead Jesus in her arms. On the right side of Mary’s feet you could see the rest of something that looked suspiciously like a little cherub looking creature but the head was missing and only one wing was still intact.

Crowley stopped when Aziraphale did and eyed him from the side, seeing the fond expression forming on the angel’s face.

“You were involved in this too?”

Aziraphale didn’t look at him when he answered, his gaze still on the statuette. “Ah, I guess you could say that. I just encouraged him to do what he wanted to anyways.”

“That’s a cupid there, isn’t it? And I always thought that Mary looked quite young and not very - you know- motherly.”

Aziraphale chuckled and turned to Crowley, still a smile on his face. “You’re right. But like I said, I only encouraged him. I remember visiting him on a particular evening when he was in one of his foul moods. He wasn’t very happy about me laying eyes on this draft, given that I was just presenting myself as someone from the clerical staff and all…”

He was interrupted by a snort from the demon and Aziraphale frowned at him.

“What’s so funny?”

“One of his foul moods. As far as I remember, he was a walking mood swing. No fun at all.”

“Not everyone could be as flashy as Leonardo. And you know,” Aziraphale raised one eyebrow at the demon, “I guess I have a thing for moody people, my dear.”

Crowley opened his mouth to tell him that he wasn’t moody at all, but Aziraphale turned back to the exhibit and just offered, a smidge smugly “you want to hear the story or not?”

Well, Crowley was curious by nature, so he just let that pass (for now) and Aziraphale remembered.

  Michelangelo’s Workshop 1497, Rome

“Oh, what’s that? Is this a draft for Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas’s commission? You were quite fast with that my friend”

Aziraphale wanted to take a closer look at the statue on the work bench, but the young artist took a step to block out the view.

“It’s only draft, as you say. It’s not ready to be inspected yet”. Michelangelo’s voice was strained, and Aziraphale wasn’t sure if this came from his already not so good mood or the fact that he had seen the unfinished statue. In most cases, it wasn’t much of a problem for Michelangelo to show his progress to the friendly priest, he actually shared them quite readily with him. So it must have been something about the statue itself that made him so nervous.

“You know that you don’t have to hide anything from me, dear boy. I won’t say anything about it if you don’t want to hear my opinion, I swear.” Aziraphale tried to give this a bit more weight with a reassuring smile.

Michelangelo scrunched up his face at that but more in a thinking manner than distaste, the marble dust on his face giving him deeper lines than a young man in his mid-twenties should have.

Aziraphale waited, knowing the process behind the artists thinking now for a while and was rewarded with a deep sigh, followed by a “All right, but no word to anybody Aziraphale! Swear it!”

 Well, it must have been something really important if he was asked to do that, but he did it to ease his companions mind. “I swear by everything that’s holy to me. Enough for you?”

Michelangelo nodded and stepped aside, giving Aziraphale the opportunity to watch his work closely. It was a depiction of Mary, holding the dying Jesus in her arms tenderly, quite more so than he had seen on other depictions of that particular scene. The details were breathtaking as always, even though this was only a mere draft for the project; Michelangelo was a perfectionist after all. Mary’s face was fair and young, showing a delicate sadness.

It wasn’t uncommon to interpret the holy mother as young and fair, but something about this one seemed to be a different. The way she was holding the body, draped over her lap had an intimacy to it that was not meant for a mother and her son. Aziraphale’s noticed something on the right side of Mary’s feet and his eyes widened as he realized it was a little cupid, a sign for lovers.

Michelangelo watched Aziraphale closely, wringing his hands nervously and waiting for the priest to say something. “That’s gorgeous, as always, but…I assume that this is not the mother of Christ you’re showing here. It’s Mary Magdalene, isn’t it?”

Aziraphale was saying this just matter of fact way, no judgment or anything suspicious in his voice. Why should he be, he had known that woman, quite a nice young lady. Michelangelo seemed to be in a mix of relived and confused, still tense and brows furrowed.

“Y…yes… I know it’s blasphemous to do such a thing, I won’t do it for the actual statue but…I heard things, Aziraphale, back in Florence, and I just can’t make them unheard!” he nearly whispered this, like he was concerned to get caught at something forbidden. Well, it actually was, for the humans at the Vatican anyways.

Aziraphale had heard about that too, the thesis that Jesus had actually loved and married Mary Magdalene, which would have made him more of a human and less of the holy son of God, untouchable and above the human desires. The angel sighed at the thought of that and smiled fondly at his young friend, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“You don’t have to fear anything Michelangelo; I’m not going to tell anyone about this. I’ve heard that too and who said that there’s no truth in that? Well, beside the pope and all, but as a scholar I have to say that rumors always hold a spark of truth within”.

He knew that terrible things had happened to people with that mindset, so he tried to sooth the young man as good as possible.

Michelangelo’s eyes grew wide as moons, hearing that from an actual priest of the Vatican and he grabbed Aziraphale’s other hand in both of his. “You did? Oh tell me, tell me what you’ve read!”

Aziraphale was a bit startled by that outburst but he was relieved that the young man was just showing unbound curiosity now instead of that dreadful anxiety and bad mood.

He suggested to sit down and have drink, while Aziraphale told him about the son of god and Magdalene as if he had read about it somewhere.

He remembered them talking intensely, sitting close to each other and growing closer and closer over the time they spend together. Never once Magdalene forgot who that young man from Nazareth was, but Aziraphale could tell that there was something more. He remembered one conversation with her on a brief meeting, talking about love. She simply said that Jesus loved everybody equally, but Aziraphale could tell from those stolen glances between the two and the waves of a more personal love that he felt that time. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but in the far back of his mind a small voice was telling him, that he sported some similar glances whenever meeting a certain demon.

Michelangelo hung on his lips while he spun that tail, not saying anything to interrupt the priest, which was very unlikely for him. Eventually Aziraphale came to an end.

 “And you know, in the end there was something greater than them, I think they both knew. You can’t be selfish when you’re the messiah and all; he had a destiny to fulfill, and she knew that too.” He looked up from his cup, still having all of Michelangelo’s focus on him who had absorbed every word.

Silence fell over them for a moment before the young man spoke again. “That…that sounds very romantic _actually. Where have you read that again?” _

Aziraphale looked back into his cup, trying to come up with something. “Oh a very old scroll. I don’t think that it’s still in the library, something scandalous like this and all. But I hope that this ensures you that your secret is well kept. I wouldn’t recommend the cupid on the actual commission though”

He grinned and Michelangelo answered it with one of his own. After that evening they became actual friends; the young man was always eager to see Aziraphale and complain about that damn bastard da Vinci or he showed him his sketches and drafts. Sometimes he seemed to blush and at one occasion he even asked if he could sketch Aziraphale. But as it always were with the fleeting live of humans and Aziraphale’s duty as an Angel he couldn’t keep that friendship up for too long and they paths separated eventually.

 Back to London, present day.

Crowley actually listened to all of this without interrupting. It was quite a nice little story and he remembered his days with Leonardo vividly, also his complaints about this youngsters who behaved like he was walking around with a stick in his arse.

They kept on walking after Aziraphale had finished, when another presumably work of Michelangelo let Crowley stop this time. It was an unfinished statue, not too big but out of the white carrara marble as all the other serious works. Crowley knew why he was drawn to it when he took a better look, growing a grin on his face that showed more teeth than necessary. “I think you left quite the expression, Angel.”

Aziraphale stopped in his tracks and looked at Crowley, quite confused. “What do you mean? We were good friends I…oh…oh no”

He looked at not quite finished statue of a man that could be some depiction of a saint or an antique figure from roman mythology for how he was shown, but Aziraphale was staring back at his own face, adorned with a soft smile, a scroll in hand and draped in a tunic.

“Well…that is a bit embarrassing. He sketched me once, but I thought that was just for a study and he never told me that he was actually doing, well, this.”

  Crowley just laughed at this, thinking of Michelangelo looking longingly at Aziraphale while the angel was oblivious. Well, Crowley got the Mona Lisa so why not an unnamed statue for his angel.

Aziraphale looked at the statue of himself a last time, smiling fondly and moved on then. Crowley just stayed a moment longer, taking in all the details and the love that must have been involved in the process of making this. The artist must have had quite the crush back then. Crowley laughed to himself, muttering a “Me too Michelangelo, me too…” before catching up to Aziraphale.

They stayed in the museum for a little longer, even holding hands at some point and on their way to the Bentley.

Shortly before they reached the car Crowley stopped.

“Ah…I know it was much later, but do you remember Bernini, angel?”

“I do. What are you up to Crowley…?”

“You do know the Statue ‘ecstasy of Saint Teresa’? I may have drunken a bit too much with the guy responsible and I may have told him a little story about you and the good old Teresa…”

He grinned again, all teeth, while Aziraphale was going through pictures of statues in his mind. He watched in delight as the angel found what he mentioned and looked up at him in a mix of shock and embarrassment.

“Crowley! I told you about that in private and it was a very awkward situation. I never looked like…like that while doing it!”

Crowley opened the door on the passenger side for Aziraphale while laughing and they kept on arguing about this all the way back to the bookshop. He had not forgotten that commentary about the mood swings.

[zwiezraczek]

Two Hearts One Home: Green and Panda love story

Note: I promised it, and it is now here! I’m sorry for the delay dear nonnies but well... Life I guess ^^’ It was super fun and fluffy to write! So here we have my favorite ship of all times, aka 💚🐼 my star crossed lovers! I hope you’ll enjoy this lovelies! 💕 I kept it gender neutral because you're nonnies, so... Well, if it bothers you just drop me an ask!

~~~~

“Both fandoms, both alike in dignity

In fair Tumblr-land where we lay our scene

From ancient fandoms break to new relationship,

Where users bloods make the writer’s mid go insane

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers (m)ake their life”

It was three in the morning and Panda was still reading. They weren't even as tired as they should be, with the fairy lights above their head and the delicate music playing in their ears as they rubbed their eyes when they looked at the illuminated screen. This fanfiction couldn't end here, it wasn't possible, and as the chapter ended the book ended too. It was three in the morning and Panda finished this fanfiction, with a void left in their heart. They decided to leave a little comment, something nice and sweet to the author of this story, their comment was the purest comment in the world and after they pressed send they turned off their phone in order to go to sleep, dreaming softly about what they had read during that night.

But in the morning, they found out two replies, not one, but two to their comment. The first one was from the author, thanking them and the second one was from another reader. Something sweet and calm came from their words, and Panda couldn't resist the smile that was slowly drawn on their face.

Their fingers were happily clicking on the keyboard as they wrote the message, with a happy feeling burning in their chest they had answered to this person under one of their favorite's fiction on this site. It was nothing, but seeing that the person replied was a kind of nice feeling. The words of Panda felt so calm and composed, and truly nice. It felt like a summer evening and its swift breeze while the words came up one after another filled with heart shapes to enhance what they were writing. And it was probably at that moment that Greeny knew that they wanted to message this person to talk with them, for longer than in a comment.

~~~~

The great rush of laughs and emotions began from the very day they spoke together, finding out about each other even more every time they exchanged texts. Panda played it cool, and Greeny did too, put neither of them wanted to admit that they loved this friendship more than anything. Being able to bond over one commune interest was hard, especially in their own fandom. It was like fighting in an never ending story, but finding a shelter to spend the night in next to a fireplace while drinking chocolate and sharing a laugh. It felt like home, as if their hearts found a common ground, a place to be together. Their fingers were what connected them during a long moment, a longer time than they expected.

And then, they decided to call each other. To hear their voices, and probably to fall in love with the sound of the other's voice as if it was the most melodious sound they have ever heard. They couldn't gather themselves to imagine what the other looked like with the sound of their voice, but god, both knew that this was one of the best day of their lives.

“You there?” Panda asked after a longer silence from Greeny, a silence that made them miss their voice for a quick moment.

“I was just... Really Panda, it's so nice talking with you, texting or talking over the phone. And you have such a cute laugh,” they said while feeling their heart pounding faster and faster as they couldn't repress a smile on their face.

“Says the one with the cutest laugh on Earth, you shouldn't lie like this Greeny,” Panda jokingly said with a confident tone. A tone that covered their happy feeling.

“You can't take a compliment, as usual,” Greeny complained.

“You know me now,” Panda replied.

Indeed they knew each other, but not too well to know what was underneath.

~~~~

It was the deepest shade of blue that covered the sky on that night and the fairy lights were shining bright in their separate rooms, far from each other. But their hearts were closer now. It has been months they had been speaking about everything and anything, and their hearts racing everytime they spoke about something, their mouths went dry when the other complimented some of their features of their voice. It became a game, but neither seemed to be willing to win. Well, Panda kind of was.

“I love talking with you,” Green wrote with a little smile on their face as they buried themselves deeper into their matters.

“I always thought that the best conversations were made in the a.m because we never know what we're going to say,” Panda replied with a sappy tired smile pressing their fingers on the screen.

“It's always so unpredictable!” They yawned, fluttering their eyelashes.

“I could for example tell you that I love you very much,” Panda wrote, maybe a bit anxious but helped by the soothing lights above their head.

“What,” Green wrote back, feeling their eyes open up instantly as they sat up on their bed, their thumbs on both sides of the screen. They were surprised, and knew how deep their conversations had been during the night, but they never expected Panda to tell them that. It was surreal, mostly because of the heart emojis and the constant compliments that they received and probably made too.

“I... Forget it? Maybe? Unless?” Panda felt anxious for a second, trying to hide their concerns with too many questions, and probably knowing that they wouldn't sleep during that night because of what they have said. Yeah, conversations in the a.m were bullshit.

“Love you too, Panda-boo,” Greeny wrote back with a fond smile and butterflies in their stomach. It was a pure feeling of joy, of happiness that was born thanks to a comment a few months ago.

“Greeny-boo,” Panda wrote back with a little heart-shaped emoji as they wished to hug their significant other as tight as they could.

The best conversations were made in the a.m, when two hearts found one home against all the odds.

~~~~

“And honestly, they are like, ugh,” Panda complained during another skype call they had and noticed that Greeny made a funny face. But not as funny as Panda wished. “What's going on Greeny-boo?”

“Not all of them, “Greeny retorted softly while looking away.

“Not all of them, but most of them and that makes them often so unbearable.”

“Am I unbearable to you,” they asked coldly.

“Boo, there's no need to react like this,” Panda said, looking a bit concerned through the camera.

“Yeah, as annoying as the ones I told you about?” Greeny retorted more angrily now.

“Greeny, don't make me tell you this,” Panda warned them.

“Because what? You have the right to insult me and my fandom but I can't tell anything about some random guys? Is that it?”

“You're insulting me,” Panda blurted and Greeny made big eyes at them.

And the moment of the biggest discord came right in front of them. They looked into each other's eyes, not knowing what to say. They've fallen in love, from two households fighting against each other for no other reason than being right. And them, Greeny and Panda were the ones that fell in love with each other, despite their beliefs. They looked into each other's eyes again, not believing what had just happened to them, not understanding. Because they were fighting, for the first time, as if they were on two different sides of the road, shouting obscenities at each other, throwing dirt as their fandoms did. But they weren't like the others, they had so much in common, they belonged to one family, their hearts had one home and a nice one. They had plans, they wanted to be together, despite all of this, despite their destiny.

“Boo I'm... I'm sorry for saying these hurtful things, I... Don't want to argue with you, not for this,” Panda said with a faint smile. “I fell in love with you because of who you are, and not because of what you like but for your personality, for your laugh and your smile and I don't want that to be taken away from me because of some fandom-war, because I love you too much Greeny-boo.”

“Panda,” Greeny whispered with a bigger smile on their face. “I love you too, even if you think that my fandom sucks, but for real yours does,” they teased them.

“For fuck's sake boo, I'm going to murder you with all my love but before I'll marry you,” Panda joked before dramatically blowing a kiss towards their camera. “Just say you love me, and I”ll never be in this fandom again,” they quoted even more dramatically.

“Who are you, why are you hiding in the dark, beautiful stranger,” Greeny asked squinting their eyes.

“How do thy know I am a beautiful stranger but thy eyes cannot see?”

“Oh don't you outsmart me, you...”

“Love you too Greeny-boo,” Panda cut them off with a loving gaze.

“Love you too, Panda.”

~~~~

“From the star-crossed lovers to our fandoms:

Finding love is difficult, but it is even more when your loved one is from another, enemy, house. You have to prove to yourself that your love is worth every single minute of it, despite being on opposite sides because, at the end of the day, we're all fans after all. We've learned a lot about the fandom we hated so much and found out that behind these names there are nice people, just like us. We would never have thought about talking to someone from another fandom, an enemy one but becoming friends and bonding over something we had in common and then falling in love was the best thing that had happened to us.

So yes, we are the Capulets and the Monatgues, but hell how we do love each other and how alive we are! Don't let hate consume you, love one another!

From your favorite star crossed-lovers, Panda and Greeny.”

Send post.

[animes-trash]

LawLicht - Medieval AU

Hellooooow~ Here’s the fic I wrote with @karmakitty’s help (aka @kavourikarma​) for the Event in the SL  Discord Server~  (Long Post /!\)

Enjoy !

"Wait for me, Lichtan !" Hyde said, chasing after Licht who was walking too fast for Hyde's legs. During his tour, Licht had a weekend off. Kranz, Gil and Hyde took hours to persuade him not to practice for these two days. Licht, being as stubborn as always, protested but they ended up finding a kind of compromise: a medieval festival.

Hyde was the one who proposed this idea and explained that music had a big place in Medieval times and that there are inevitably activities or things to see in connection with the piano, and there were surely stables with horses, and Licht loved them. Even though Licht didn't say it, he really loved this idea. His father showed him a lot of hero movies, some taking places in the Middle Ages with knights, princesses and beautiful white horses. Certainly it was a bit cliché now, but Licht didn't care. He was also happy to go with Hyde, but he'd never admit it, let alone to this Demon.

"Walk faster, Shit Rat." They woke up early in the morning, on Licht's demand. Kranz drove them there and would pick them up later in the evening. "Hurry up. I want to feed Mr. Horse, " Licht said as Hyde managed to follow his brisk walk.

"I know you want to see the horses, but you could at least wait for your poor hedgehog!" Hyde whined as Licht rolled his eyes. They finally arrived at the entrance. It was a well-known festival that moves from city to city, they were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

The venue was originally an old castle with a very large park, today it was filled with different stands related to Medieval times. Fake weapons, fancy clothes, replicas of old books and other stands for eating or drinking. Other places reconstructed Middle Age moments or facilities such as a pillory, a guillotine, a system for pumping water from a well and more. Places in the castle were also used for the festival, tours were organized and stalls were set up.

Most of the people were costumed. Licht, having no idea how to dress, kept his usual sweatshirt. Hyde, meanwhile, put on a typical villager costume of the time, although he kept complaining that these clothes were not true to reality. Sometimes he regretted not having kept his clothes from that time.

Once at the festival, Licht was already looking for the stables. They had a program but no map of area, so Hyde went to ask for one at the info booth. Licht took it from his hands and made a beeline for the animals. Hyde stood in front of him to prevent him from moving forward. "Lichtan, what’s the rush? The stables are at the other end of the park! Come on, let's do things in order. We can start by seeing the castle, a visit just to start. " Licht agreed and followed Hyde toward the big castle. A guide was ready to start the tour and there were just a few places left. They signed up and waited with the other people.

It was a large castle that was renovated not long ago, but still kept its old decorations, explained the guide. Most of the secret passages have been condemned but some of them are always accessible. Once the last latecomers arrived, the tour began. The group entered the castle with the guide's comments.

Licht had to admit that he was impressed by all these paintings and antique furnitures. "Things were really like that before?" Hyde wore a bored head "Basically, yes, even if this one has been modernized almost everywhere, if you like the old castles, I'll show you much bigger and more beautiful." He winked at Licht . Licht was always amazed by all the things Hyde had to show him. Whether it was places or others, he always finds a way to surprise him.

"On your left, the ballroom." says the guide. Licht turned his head and saw a magnificent period piano, obviously very well maintained. He imagined himself playing it in the Middle Ages, during a party filled with people dancing. He approached it but had to stop when he saw a barrier with "do not touch the instrument" written on it.

"Looks like we aren’t allowed to play it." Hyde said as he glanced at Licht, who looked upset.

"That’s stupid. As an Angel, I should have the right to play whenever I want." He tried to cross the barrier, but Hyde stopped him before the guide brought them back to order.

"Angel-Chan, I'm sure there's a piano to play outside. Maybe that one's too old to be played ?"

"A piano is never too old." Licht said to himself. But before he could reply, their guide called them.

"Gentlemen, here please, the visit will continue."

Licht reluctantly left the piano. Hyde wanted to find a way to make Licht happier, and he thought the horses would surely cheer him up. Continuing the visit, Hyde was lost in his thoughts. But when he returned to reality, when the guide announced that they were going upstairs, he realized that Licht had disappeared. He blinked to make sure he was not dreaming. How could Licht have disappeared ?!

He started to panic, maybe he'd been kidnapped by one of Tsubaki's subclass hidden in the group? When the guide had his back turned, Hyde snuck away from the group. Maybe Licht had just gotten lost? He prayed that was the case. He ran, looking everywhere he could, then heard a noise coming from the wall.

Intrigued, he knocked against the wall. "Hum, is there anyone in there ?" A silence ensued, then a blow was heard, followed by a voice.

"Shit Rat, is that you?! Where the hell am I?!"

Hyde was surprised and relieved at the same time. "Y-you're in the wall, Licht ! What did you do ?" He searched for a way to open the wall, or anything to get Licht out.

"Nothing !" He stopped, and after thinking, continued. "Well, I found an open closet and wanted to know what was inside, but it wasn’t a closet. I went in and the door closed, and now I'm stuck in this weird dark passage."

Hyde sighed. "You must have fallen into one of those old, secret, condemned passages that the guide was talking about earlier ... Wait, I'll get you out of there! Where is the closet you found?" Licht told him where it was, a few feet to the right. Hyde found it and tried to open it, but it was securely shut. He returned to the part of the wall where Licht was stuck. "Lichtan, the door doesn't open ... Stay there, I'm going to search another entry!" He began to look for logical places where a passage could be hidden.

"There's no way I'm waiting here, Shit Rat. I, as a pure and true Angel, am going to find the exit by myself." Hyde would have bet that Licht was doing one of his angelic poses. But he refused to leave Licht alone in a place like this without protection.

"No! It's too dangerous, Licht ! This passage has probably not been used for centuries! Everything is decrepit inside. Without light, you could hurt yourself, or worse, something could collapse on your head." He began to imagine the worst scenarios. He could hear Licht sigh.

"If you don't find a way in 5 minutes, I'm searching for the exit alone."

Fine, Hyde thought. It's always better than nothing. He recalled the times when he lived in such places and where these passages were generally hidden. Maybe pulling one of the candlesticks on the walls ? No, he wouldn't have the time to try them all. He remembered that hatches were often used and rather easy to spot, if we knew how to find them. He ran to the top floor, taking care to turn himself into a hedgehog to go unnoticed by the group, who was still visiting.

Once he was where the passage was supposed to be, he searched the corners of the rooms on the floor. He was relieved to find a latch that he pulled. Without having the time to understand what he was going through, the floor opened under his feet and he fell. "Ouch!" He yelped, rubbing his back. Even Licht's kicks were less painful than that. He shook his head to regain his senses and got up. He grunted, there really was no light here. He got up and hurried to join Licht. He called his name, paying attention to the volume of his voice. They could get in trouble if they find him there. He was careful not to break anything.

"Lichtan? Where are you ?" Hearing no answer, he was afraid that Licht had left by himself. But his fears stopped when he felt a kick in the back.

"I'm here." Hyde reached out and grabbed Licht's shoulders to make sure he didn't leave.

"Why did you hit me?! I'm already hurt here!" He whined.

"Oh, so the big noise was you."

"Yeah ! I came here to save you~ I deserve at least a kiss, don't I ?" They were still in the dark, but Hyde could easily guess that Licht was rolling his eyes.

"First of all, let's get out of here, where is the exit ?" Hyde took Licht's hand in his to make sure they were not separated.

Surely thanks to the fact of being a hedgehog, Hyde was able to see well enough in the darkness.. But when he was back to the hatch, it had closed. "Wait, the hatch was there !" He searched for a way to re-open it, but found nothing.

"You idiot rat, you knew the doors were closing behind you but you didn't do anything to keep it open ?" Licht tried to hit him, but given of the lack of light, it was the wall that took the hit. Licht groaned in pain.

"Hey there, Angel-Chan, you'll hit me as much as you want outside, but be careful here, please. I don't want any risk for you to be hurt." Hyde took a minute to think. They were in a hidden passage, and a passage inevitably leads to a place, it only remains to hope that it is not catacombs or dungeons, he thought. He took Licht's hand again and started walking.

"Wait, where are you going ? If I take a wall in the face, I kill you right here." Licht said.

"Let's follow the passage. With a bit of luck, it'll take us out of here." Licht nodded and they followed the path. Without realizing it, Licht grabbed Hyde's arm, who smiled. "Be careful here Lichtan, there are stairs."

He obviously warned him too late, because Licht missed the first step and slid forward. Luckily, he was holding Hyde's arm which, after a mini heart attack as he felt Licht fall, grabbed him by the waist. "What did I tell you? If you wanted me to grab you, you should just have said it~." Licht could tell how close Hyde was, because he could feel his breath on his lips. His teasing tone did not help his blush going away.

"Shut up, Demon! Let me go!" He said a bit too loudly.

"There's no way I let you fall again." Hyde smirked as he lifted Licht into his arms.

"H-hey put me down !"

Hyde went down the rest of the stairs. It must surely lead to the ground floor. "Mmmh, let me think about it... no."

"I'll kill you if you don't !" Hyde had to be careful because Licht was moving a lot, and he wanted to avoid a fall.

"Come on, we both know you won't kill me, you love you too much~." Licht wanted to answer but didn't know what to say. He just groaned and swore to hit Hyde the second they'll come out of here.

After a few minutes of walking, Hyde still refused to put Licht down, even if they were no longer on the stairs. They finally arrived in a dead end. "Great ! And now, we're stuck." Licht complained. Hyde put him down.

"No, we're not, watch this." He scanned the wall and found what looked like a door handle. In texture, Hyde guessed that it was very rusty. He had to break the door so that it opens, looking out to the back of the castle. They both took great breaths of oxygen, happy to breathe fresh air again.

Visitors to the festival saw them coming out of this old door, astonished. But they quickly traced their paths. "So, can the brave knight have a kiss from the princess, n-" a kick cut off Hyde's question. He ended up on the ground. "Why so much hate, Lichtan ?" He whimpered again, but got up quickly when Licht started to leave without him. They went back to the entrance of the castle and saw their guide, visibly panicked.

He ran to them, asking where they have been. Licht hesitated to tell them to watch their doors but withdrew. He ended by saying that they were lost and had to find the exit all alone. Now, to the delight of Licht, they went to see the stables. But before that, they stopped at a few booths on the way. They had different games related to the Middle Ages. But Licht turned his head when he heard music.

"Shit Rat, where is that music coming from?" Hyde looked at the festival schedule and saw that it was time for a small concert of about an hour of music with old instruments. Licht decided that they would go see the horses later, so they headed for the concert. Although it was nice to hear, Hyde had to admit that he spent more time looking at Licht's adorable expression when he listens to the music he likes rather than watching the musicians themselves. Hyde even caught a smile as he looked at Licht's eyes and the childish glow that shone inside.

At the end of the concert, they decided to go for a drink before going to see the stables. Licht even bought food to give the horses. On the way, Licht asked "Was the music really like that in those times ?" He really liked it, it was very different and the same at the same time. In addition, there were instruments he had never heard of.

Hyde took a moment to answer. "Kinda, yes. I have to admit that I'm surprised they still have these old instruments. I used to play one of them but I stopped when it became old-fashioned." Licht stopped walking, surprised. Hyde raised a bow in confusion. "You can play an instrument ?" He chuckled, amused by Licht's surprise. They started walking again as Hyde answered. "Yeah, even more than one. I was quite versatile back then. But now these instruments doesn't exist anymore, or are only played at festivals like here. I guess the only one who remains is the violin now." Licht's heartbeat fastened as he heard that Hyde played.

"You can play violin? You? A demon can play such an angelic instrument?"

Hyde laughed. "Well, yeah. I was a pretty good player. Even though I surely wasn't as good as you." He winked at him. "But I haven't played in ages. I'm kinda rusty now."

"Why did you stop ?" Licht asked him, still confused.

"Well..." he paused, as if he was searching for the right words. "I guess that, after Ophelia's death, I lost taste in pretty much everything, music included." Licht suddenly felt dumb for making him remember those painful memories. When he looked at Hyde, he saw his empty eyes. Not knowing what to say, he took Hyde's hand in his and held it tight as he interlaced their fingers. Hyde's heartbeat quickened, surprised but happy by this sudden gesture of affection from Licht.

They continued their way to the stable in silence, holding hands. They finally arrived in the stable. The horses were hitched with the equipment of the Middle Ages, there were also small ponies, here for the tourist attraction and the children could take a ride. Licht was amazed by these horses, which had nothing to envy to the proud steed of yesteryear.

He went to feed the horses after asking permission from the manager, then stopped in front of a big white horse. "Hello, Mr. Horse. There, eat this food. You are as white as an Angel. You could be a horse of Heaven." Hyde giggled as he watched him pet the horse. Licht glared at him. "Don't listen to this rat, Mr. Horse. He's dumb."

Hyde faked an offended look. "Hey ! I'm not dumb !" This time, Licht was the one laughing.

They saw people arrive on horses, and others leave. Hyde went to ask the manager if it was possible to go for a ride. He answered that yes, the horses knew the route and made a tour of the festival returning to the stables. "What do you think, Angel-Chan ? Wanna ride on a horse ?" Expecting Licht to be happy, he was surprised to see him pale, with fear on his face.

"Er, no, I’ll pass." He stuttered.

"What? Don't you love horses? It could be fun!" Hyde insisted.

"No, thanks. It... scares me."

A blush appeared on his face as he said the last two words, whispering them, almost as if he was ashamed. Hyde had his eyes wide open. Licht? Scared of something? He stared at him, as if waiting for an explanation. After a little while, Licht started. "When I was around 10, my parents took me to a riding stable. Riding a horse seemed fun to me, but when I was on it, it moved a lot and I fell. I had my helmet but I still ended up with a broken arm. I haven’t rode a horse since then."

Hyde understood, as a pianist, breaking an arm must be really terrible. He didn't want Licht to be scared but he still wanted to do the horseback riding. He had an idea and went to ask the manager, after he agreed, Hyde came back to Licht. "Well, if you're scared of riding a horse alone, then you'll ride it with me !" Licht raised a brow. "The manager said we could be two on one horse. You can go behind me ! I swear I won't let you fall."

After hesitating, and being influenced by Hyde's incitement, he agreed. The manager wanted to help them get on the big horse, but seeing the ease that Hyde had, he withdrew and told them that the ride lasted about half an hour, then he left to take care of the other horses. "How do you even climb up there ?" Licht asked, impressed by the size of the horse that passed him.

"It's like riding a bike, hard to forget." Hyde answered as he reached out his hand to Licht, to help him up. A small stepladder was also placed beside the horse for assistance. He finally managed to get behind Hyde, with his help. Hyde took the reins and, as the horse started to walk, Licht became frightened and wrapped his arms around Hyde's back. "Don't worry, Angel-chan." said Hyde, as he turned his head to smile at Licht.

"Look at the road, Shit Rat. Of course I can't get hurt. I'm an angel, after all." Hyde chuckled and nodded.

The horse trotted and Licht was surprised. It wasn’t as scary as he would have thought. He rested his head on Hyde's shoulder. With the slow pace of the horse, he found it kind of relaxing. He also found the ride interesting. To tour the festival on horseback, it doesn't happen every day ! After about 45 minutes, they were back in the stable.

"Mr. Horse, don't get me wrong, I love you, but why are you so tall?" Licht asked the horse as he was trying to climb down. Hyde had a devilish grin as he held Licht in a "princess style" before setting him back on the ground. Licht blushed as he yelled. "Will you stop taking me in your arms?!" He struggled, but Hyde had a too strong a grip on him.

"We'll see, maybe if you stop moving." he grinned at him. Licht sighed and stopped, but Hyde was having way too much fun to put him down. He waved at the manager as they were leaving the stable.

Licht gave Hyde a death glare that almost made him shiver. "Fine, fine. I'm letting your down. But you must admit that you would make a perfect miss in distress and me a perfect knight~ !" Hyde set him on the ground or else he knew Licht would murder him. They spent a moment looking at the different stands and the different activities the festival had to offer. The end of the day arrived fairly quickly. "Is there anything else to see now ?" Licht asked Hyde, who looked at the planning. "Well yeah, it's written 'Surprise Event : reconstruction of a Middle Ages scene by a troupe of actors', it could be cool, what do you think?" They agreed and made their way to the place indicated on the map.

A small crowd surrounded the square, which made Licht and Hyde sneak between people. Once they were able to see the scene properly, Licht was surprised. "Looks like it's an execution." He turned to Hyde and did not expect to see his face as it was. He was stiff and his face was as pale as a ghost. His eyes were wide open and visibly filled with tears that were obviously waiting to roll down his face. His expression was panicked.

Licht became very worried for half a second. "Hyde? Are you okay? Why are you like that?" His first question was stupid, obviously he wasn't okay. Hyde stuttered a few incomprehensible words and was shaking with tremors as his tears began to roll down his cheeks. Licht didn't know what to do, but he did not have time to think anymore. Hyde took his hand and ran as fast as he could, knocking people over, probably without noticing.

But at the moment, he didn't care at all. His gestures were directed only by two thoughts: to flee and to protect Licht. Once out and far enough away from the festival, Licht ran out of breath and stopped, forcing Hyde to do the same. "Hyde! What happened?! Why are we running?!" Hyde didn't answer and, still in panic, summoned his rapier. He held Licht tight against him in a protective way with one hand, and held his rapier on the defensive with the other.

Licht tried to say something but was soon cut off by Hyde's voice, broken by sobs and panic. "Are they still here?! Where are they?! Stay close to me, Licht. I can't-- I won’t let them get you!" Licht, deciding that he had to do something quickly, grabbed Hyde by the shoulders and slapped him hard enough to shake him.

"Hyde! There's no one here ! We're alone and far away from the festival! I am not in danger and neither are you! Now, breathe. There's a bench near us. You'll sit, take deep breaths and tell me what happened."

Hyde stared into Licht's eyes, he looked frightened now, but he seemed to have regained his senses. After a few seconds, he burst into tears. He took Licht in his arms as hard as he could and buried his head in his neck, shedding all the tears he had. Licht wheezed, due to the force with which Hyde hugged him. Surprised at first, he quickly wrapped his arms around him.

As carefully as possible, Licht made sure to sit on the bench next to them. He ran a hand through Hyde's hair to try to calm him down a bit. "Shhh, everything is going to be okay. We're safe here and there's nothing to worry about." He whispered in his ear in the softest voice he could manage..

As he spoke, Hyde hugged him tighter. A few minutes passed like that. Hyde crying and Licht stroking his back and running his hand through his hair. After a little while, his crying became sobs, and his sobs grew smaller, until it became a mere sniffle. When Licht felt that his breathing was calm, he asked him the question, still in a soft, calm voice. "So, you want to tell me what happened ?"

Hyde took a moment to think, and then began. "When I saw the guillotine, it reminded me of Ophelia's death and how I was so... powerless. I had the flashbacks of her head rolling to the ground..." His voice broke as he spoke the last sentence. Licht took his hand and held it tight. After a few breaths, Hyde continued. "And then, instead of seeing her, I saw you. Being the one who'll get your head cut off. I saw those people, who're only actors, killing you. It scared the hell out of me. Because I don't want to be powerless like that ever again. I want to move forward and be able the protect the one I love. And I-" His voice broke again and he began to sobs again. He buried his head in Licht's neck again, mostly because it was warm and reassuring but also because he was a bit ashamed of being seen like that.

He tried to speak again stammering but Licht cut him off. "Hey, Hyde, listen. I won't get hurt. I won't get killed. If something tries to attack me, I can beat it because I am strong enough to protect myself." He paused,  breathed and then continued. "And think, if things gets more complicated and it appears that I can't handle it myself, I know you'll always be here to protect me just in case. Think of how strong you and I are. Together, we can beat anything. From the most dangerous subclasses to the old demons of the past. You don't have to worry about me, I am safe and I will stay safe, because you're by my side."

Hyde looked up to look Licht in the eyes. To his surprise, he was smiling at hi . One of those smiles he used to give him when he still thought he was a hedgehog. A small smile that, coming from Licht, represented a lot more. Licht wiped Hyde's tears away with his sleeve. He left his hands on Hyde's cheeks, causing Hyde to smile weakly. "I love you, Licht."

There was no need to say more. Although both of them had realized their feelings ages ago, Hyde was now the first to say them out loud. In a natural tone, Licht answered him. "I love you too, Hyde." With a blush on his cheeks, Hyde leaned toward Licht and, seeing he wasn't backing away and that he was blushing too, placed a kiss on his lips. A kiss that became longer than he expected, given that Licht was kissing back.

It was as if the kiss was the last thing they would do in their life. They put as much of their passion and love for each other as they could into the kiss. Hyde placed one of his hand behind Licht's neck, deepening the kiss.Their tongues met. Hyde knew one thing, he’d only tasted Licht's lips for a few seconds but he was already addicted.

They had to separate when they ran out of breath. They looked into each other's eyes, smiling. But that moment did not last long, a flash of light stopping him. Surprised, they turned and saw Kranz with a camera in his hand with Gil behind him.

"HA! I KNEW IT ! SEE GIL, I WAS RIGHT! AWWW YOU TOO ARE TOO CUTE. GIL WE SHOULD HAVE COME EARLIER I'M SURE WE MISSED IMPORTANT THINGS." Licht retreated at least three meters away because of his embarrassment.

"What are you two doing here ?!" Licht yelled.

"Well it's time. We came to pick you up. We're a bit late, though. We didn't find you at the festival so we searched for you and found you two here." Said Gil, in his usual calm voice.

"Oh... yeah, makes sense." Licht said, still embarrassed and red as hell.

"Anyway, let's get going, I'm hungry," said Hyde, who was almost as embarrassed as Licht. He grabbed Licht's hand and began walking toward the car, followed by Gil and Kranz who didn't forget to take pictures of them holding hands. "Wait, I'll be right back." Said Licht quickly as he went toward the festival again, though it had already ended. They watched him, confused. While waiting, Hyde asked Kranz, blushing. "Don't tell Licht I said that but could you... send me the pictures ?" Kranz had a wide smile. "Of course ! I can even send you more if you give more things to photograph." He winked at Hyde, who was definitely embarrassed to the max.

He turned to Gil, who had been staring at him for a while. He did not need to ask him what he was thinking. He has been with him for hundreds of years, after all. He just smiled. After a little while, Licht came back with something in his hand, which he gave to Hyde. It was a sandwich with ham and cheese.

Hyde had his eyes wide open. "What ? You like that, right ? Stop making that face. And could the three of you stop watching me like that? Kranz, for the love of God, please put that camera away!" He blushed and got in the car, followed by Kranz and Gil, and finally Hyde, who gave a last look at the festival. "Well, even if it wasn't always good, that day was kinda awesome." He thought as he bit in the sandwich and got in the car, next to Licht.

Fin~

[rkcarts]

Alpha

By the same author of “First Impressions” who wishes to remain anonymous 💖

Leo was sick. It was a damn inconvenient time for it to happen, of course. Leo had just turned fifteen a few months before, which meant he could officially apply for advanced classes with the instructors at the vocational school in town. Mum did his part by reading him flash cards at lunch, and Mama and Dad were helping him through his reading list, but it just didn't feel like there were enough hours in the day.

And now here Leo was, arms full of Aurum and Angelum's dirty laundry, feeling like a rash was threatening to break out over his skin. "You know," he said, as Aurum flopped in the bottom bunk bed, skimming through a comic book, "you can help me out sometimes." "Why?" Angelum asked, lying upside down on the top bunk. Long blond hair swung in the space between the beds. "You like cleaning." "It's all part of your fourth century nobleman cosplay," Aurum added, flipping a page. "It isn't a--" Leo paused as the twins stared at him, brows raised. Leo hated losing his temper. It made the pit of his stomach drop, all churning dread and guilt, so he always kept his voice as even as possible. Clara liked to joke that they should switch places when she had to go with their daddy to royal functions: She always spoke out of turn, too loud and brash and boisterous, while Leo was a well-bred shadow in the back, making himself as helpful and unassuming as possible. "I'm sorry," Leo said. "Wow," said Aurum. "You almost showed an emotion." "Ha, ha," Leo said, and Angelum cackled. "And don't worry, I'll wash your shirts separately this time." "Thanks," Aurum said, without looking up. "I hate it when my clothes and Angie's touch." Leo dropped the laundry basket next to his and Serenus' room, and quietly snuck in. Sure enough, his thirteen-year-old brother was asleep, a wolf-shaped lump under the covers. Leo grinned and started picking up Ren's side of the room, finding shirts and trousers that needed constant mending, thanks to his brother's habit of shifting without warning. He sat down when a wave of dizziness hit him, pulse hammering in his ears, and the lump on the bed moved. "You smell gross," Serenus said. He hadn't even bothered to shift all the way--The hand that peeked out of the covers was half covered in fur and sharp with claw-like nails. "You should lie down." Leo opened his mouth to say that he was fine, then closed it. It was no use lying to his youngest brother: He always knew how Leo was feeling, even when he'd hidden it so well that even Mama couldn't tell. "I feel kind of gross, too," he said. Serenus grunted. "Still gonna clean the whole house, though," he said. "You know me." Leo got up, gritting his teeth through the twist of his gut, and started picking up clothes again. Serenus rolled over and shifted to human, dark hair stuck to one side of his face. "You don't have to be useful all the time, Leo," he said, in his dreamy, half-awake voice. Leo shrugged and carried his finds to the sewing table, where he dumped them in a plastic bin. "I like you anyway," Serenus said. "Thanks, Ren. I like you, too." Leo crossed the line of tape in the middle of the room and ruffled Serenus' hair. "How long d'you think it'll be, though?" his brother asked. "Until what?" Serenus blinked slow. "Until you stop pretending like you're Ardyn?" Leo froze. Bile stung the back of his throat, sharp and sour, and the itch that crawled under his skin felt electrified, burning a trail up his back and neck. A strange sound broke into the room, low and discordant, like a car backfiring. It took Leo a moment to realize he was growling. "The hell was that supposed to mean?" he shouted. His throat hurt--he hadn't raised his voice in so long, it was like his lungs were being scraped dry. "You're apologizing," Serenus said, in that same dull tone. "All the time. You're working yourself to death cause you think it'll make Mama forgive you." He sat up on one elbow. "He won't." Leo's breath caught in his throat. "It's cause you aren't Ardyn. You're Leo, and we like you. You don't have to try so h--" "The fuck do you know?" Leo cried. Serenus blinked again, and Leo scratched at his arms, holding down nausea with every breath. "You don't know anything! You just hunt, and sleep, and bake shit with Mum." "I'm your best friend," Serenus said simply. "Yes. Well. Well!" Leo slammed his hand on the sewing table, and felt wood crack under his palm. "I'm applying for a new one!" "Doesn't work that way, dude." "Hey." Regis appeared at the door, hands on the frame on either side, eyes glinting. He pushed out his scent, a commanding calm like Noct's, and drummed his fingers. "What's going on in here?" Ren shrugged and rolled over. Leo slowly lifted his hand from the table, and looked from his youngest brother to the oldest, uncertainty unfolding amidst the pain in his head and the nausea in his stomach. Regis sniffed and frowned, stepping forward. "Hold on," he said. "Leo, are you... seeing someone? Is that what this is about?" He sniffed the air again. "You smell like an alpha. It's not like you to sneak around--if someone came onto you, you need to tell us." The world fell out from beneath Leo's feet. Suddenly, it all made sense. The sickness. The spike in his temper. The feeling that he'd grown too large for his own skin. He wasn't sick. He was presenting. "Leo?" Regis asked. Leo stumbled past him, numbly tripping by the laundry basket in the hall. He heard Clara get up from her lessons with Noctis as he raced through the living room, heard his father's voice call out, saw Ignis stand from the garden where he was working with Prompto-- Who looked at Leo, face tight with concern. "Kit," he said. "What's--" Leo ran. It was Serenus who found him, in the end. Leo was sitting in the high, twisting branches of an old oak by the river, throwing twigs and strips of bark into the water. Serenus climbed up the sloping trunk until it leveled out, and curled up with his head on his paws, watching Leo carefully. "He's gonna hate me," Leo said. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, which did nothing but spread the mess of his tear-streaked face around. "I thought. I thought maybe I was a beta. It'd be okay if I was. It'd make me less like. Like." Serenus whined, and Leo shook his head. "I know. You were right. You're always right." "But what if as soon as I go alpha, I start to hurt people? What if it's like, like one of those switches in the movies, where the robot goes on a killing spree? What if I'm programmed that way?" "The fact that you're asking yourself this should be your answer." Leo nearly fell out of the tree, holding onto the branch as he stared down at Prompto Caelum, barefoot in the mud of the river. "Mama, I'm. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't've yelled at Ren, and I, I'm..." "Come down, baby." There was nothing Leo could say to that. He slithered down the tree, and Ren came after him, bounding to the earth with an easy grace. "I'm an alpha," Leo whispered. "I know." Prompto smiled, and even though it shook a little, it was still real. He opened his arms. "And I'm so proud." Leo fell into the embrace, resting his head on Prompto's shoulder. "Don't know why," he mumbled. "Oh, well." Prompto tilted his head, and behind him, Serenus did the same, opening his mouth in a wolf's smile. Leo tried not to laugh. He knew what Serenus meant. Leo tilted his head the same way, even squinting his eyes the way his Mama did, whenever he had to really think about something. "You have all the best qualities of an alpha," Prompto said. "You care about your pack. You volunteer at the children's center even though you have exams coming up, you're kind..." "Only because I try to be," Leo said. "Yeah. It's a choice." Prompto tapped him on the forehead. "Trust me, you're miles above Gladio when he was your age. He spent the first few months after he presented snapping at everyone, according to Noct." "You're kidding." "Is this the face of a liar?" Prompto pulled back, and gently turned Leo around. "Come on, kiddo. Ignis is making a cake for you, and Gladio's got a birds and the bees lecture all prepared." "I'm fine without," Leo said quickly, and his mama grinned. "Sorry, baby. You're doomed." Late that night, when Leo collapsed on his bed with the despairing groan of all fifteen year olds who had to listen to their dad fumble his way through a talk about sex for two hours, Serenus turned on the lamp. "Kill me," Leo moaned. "Try having Daddy tell you about heats, then you can complain." Serenus propped his arms up on the sewing table between their beds, his small face cast in shadow. "Sorry about earlier." "That one was my fault." "Not really." Serenus tapped his fingers on the table. "I kind of guessed what was happening. Like, days ago. But you were holding it back, and it was making you sick, so I thought, I dunno. Maybe I had to shake it out of you." "So you pissed off a new alpha," Leo said. "Are you... Why would you..." "It's cool." Serenus shrugged. "Not like I was in danger or anything." He slipped away, wriggling under the blankets. "Night, alpha kitten." Leo sighed, waited for Serenus to cover his head completely, and turned off the lamp. "Night, Ren."

[segadores-y-soldados]

Personal and Fic Updates

Hey everyone!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these personal update messages.  I’m trying to get my stuff in order but life continues to outpace me, it seems.

The quick and dirty: Fic Stuff:

Moira has been integrated into the overarching plot of “And Overwatch For All”

Because of this, I am currently rewriting major portions of Old Habits.  Yesterday, I finished a major rewrite of chapter 10 (the “evil council is introduce” chapter).  I have the majority of chapter 11′s rewrite done and hope to finish that today as well.  With luck, I will start working on a rewrite of Chapter 13.

Shockingly, I’m keeping a lot of the “present day” plot elements the same (aka, all the stuff leading up to Recall).  But several major “past events” have changed, including Reaper/Gabriel’s backstory.

More on this later.  I will also be writing a separate post JUST for fic stuff, if you prefer to read only that.

Personal Stuff:

Extra expenses have started showing up in my life.  Details are under the cut.

My job has not yet promoted me and a coworker the way they said they would in the timeframe they gave us (1 year).  Because of this, I am starting the job hunt again.

I have created a Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/U7U063ZJ)

More under the cut

Alright, so here’s the longer version of what my last like...three months have been like, with both personal/work stuff and fandom stuff.

Personal life/Work:

I have said this in a few places, but I currently work as an entry-level archaeologist for a state department in California.  Full disclosure: I and my fellow coworker are underpaid for our work, which is as variable as conducting documentation research through databases and organizing research on behalf of our higher-level archaeologist and historian supervisors to performing surveys and actual fieldwork digs in every type of weathers in California.  As an example, two weeks ago (the week of Thanksgiving here in the U.S.), myself and one of my supervisors did an 8 hour fieldwork day which consisted of 3-4 hours of surveying through waist-high grass in pouring rain at 55 degrees F/12 degrees C.  This upcoming week, I and (other underpaid) coworker will be doing two 12-hour days of construction monitoring.  Our work consists of traveling all over the state, with driving that can take a full day to get to a work destination (these are charged to work, don’t worry - I don’t have to pay for that, thank god).

The reason I’m explaining this is because this is a huge reason why some days (or even some weeks) my activity on tumblr, twitter, and AO3 will take a straight nosedive.  On Thursday of this past week, I spent 8-10 hours without checking my phone and came home to 4 missed calls, 8 “active chats” on messenger, 600 messages on discord, and basically a whole day of “social media-ing” missed out.  

If you’re rolling your eyes over this, I get it, I really do - it sounds like all the stuff that older people complain millennials “overvalue,” but (for example) one of those phone calls was from my dentist’s office saying that they will not serve me because (after three months of them NOT checking) they realized that I don’t have the right dental insurance for them.

Fun.

I don’t make enough money to switch to higher, “better services” health and dental insurance, but since I work a job that requires physical labor, I’m scared to cut them from my life.  Said coworker twisted his ankle earlier this year, and work only compensated him for 1 week of “missed” work, when in reality he was walking with a slight limp for 2-3 weeks.  Because of our low-level, we are not given access to benefits that many other state workers get.

Moreover, our sub-department has been promising that the two of us would get promoted “within the year.”  We reached a year working with them in mid-November, and that promise still hasn’t been reached.

So in terms of my personal life, I’m at a cross-roads: I will tell them that they need to promote us, even to the next “low-level position” because that will give us just a few more $/hour which will help A LOT when accumulated, or I’m going to tell them that I’ll have to search for something else.

On top of this, my parents have decided it’s time for me to “pay rent” to live at home with them - a discussion we, frankly, haven’t had on a serious level yet and one which blindsided me this morning.  I am looking into my options but without a better job, they’re not good.

This also doesn’t cover whatever it will take to help me start the legal and medical processes of transitioning, which are, frankly, the main things I’ve been saving money for.

What does this mean:

I’m looking for places to cut costs, but the combination of current expenses + what my parents want from me will take 1/3 to 1/2 of my current monthly paycheck.  I already spend next to nothing on personal stuff, so all my current expenses are “necessities” such as food, gas, and insurance.  I’m looking to cut down on gas costs but it may be awhile before my daily schedule gets adjusted.

The alternate is taking a second job that will permit me to only work my free three days a week.

Doing this means I will have zero time to write or produce content.

For now, I’m not jumping out to do that.  I’ve made a Ko-Fi account (https://ko-fi.com/U7U063ZJ) that I would greatly appreciate any spare money you’re willing to contribute.  Something as simple as a few dollars can go to me covering the cost of my health insurance per month, while I figure out the bigger problems of searching for a job.

The reason why I started with this is because:

Fic Stuff/Writing Stuff:

I do the equivalent of 3-4 full days of “writing” for fandom stuff per week: on my days off, I can write anywhere from 8 to 14 hours a day.  Using just Friday and yesterday as an example, I wrote 9k words, and with whatever I do today, I will likely push that to about 11-12k.

Yes, it is all voluntary, and I do not have to write at the pace that I do, nor the amount that I do.  I do it because I enjoy it, and because, honestly, writing for Overwatch has given me some of the biggest joys and happiness I have felt in like, a decade.  And that includes writing the long essays.  My last big R76 post (http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/167321630835/everything-you-want-to-know-about-reaper-and) spans a whopping 67 pages and 7.5k words in Google Docs (that includes pictures and sources/credits/links/references).

Again, this isn’t to brag, but just to put my writing into perspective, I guess.  This is the equivalent of doing a second part-time job, which was something I attempted last year but was unable to balance my current archaeology job + a part-time retail job + writing.  I dropped the second one because, at the time, I finally had the luxury to choose a job in my profession and writing on the side.  This is a luxury I was fortunate to enjoy for the first half of 2017, but it is steadily becoming undoable as my work increases my responsibilities without increasing my pay.

Fic Updates:

For those of your who have been waiting patiently for information on “And Overwatch for All” I do have some good news that I’m finally ready to share:

Moira has been integrated into the plot.

I got a number of comments here and on twitter that were really supportive of my current version of “AOFA” and I just want to say, thank you all so much.  It means a lot to me that you guys have liked the version of Overwatch I’ve built up and that you found all the characters, including my silly OCs, to be engaging and well-written.  It was soul-crushing to think I would have to lose some of them, but after some time and doing more research on Moira, I feel ready to talk more about her and how she’s going to factor into the updated plot.

To start off with:

None of the OCs will be cut, but some of their roles will change.

Lmao, this surprised me as well, but I’ve figured out a few different ways to make all of the OCs, especially the very obviously contrived “Death Agents,” stick around in the updated plot.

Only one OC (and you can probably guess who, if you’ve started “New Wars”) will change names: the character called “Reaper” in “New Wars Chapter 1″ (the “young Hanzo chapter”) will be called “Reaver.”  This is due to his updated role in the plot.  His background has changed only slightly.

If it wasn’t apparent, this “Reaper” was meant to act as a plot device to cause confusion over Gabriel/Reaper’s actions after the fall of Overwatch, but that has changed because:

I’m switching to Crisis-era and “undercover mercenary” Reaper.

If you’ve read some of my more recent posts on Moira, you’ll know that I’ve switched over to supporting the idea that “something went wrong with Gabriel Reyes during SEP/the Crisis.”  This is due to the fact that you can find a folder labeled “Soldier ID: 24″ in Moira’s Oasis lab, that Michael Chu said that Reyes was interested in getting her help on “matters of genetics,” and that this appears to mesh the “Reaper has existed for decades” concept in Reaper’s hero profile.

Truth be told, I’ve actually been a supporter of this idea of “Gabriel has been Reaper behind the scenes for decades” plot point for a long, long time, almost as long as I’ve been posting Old Habits.  “Reaper”/“Reaver” was semi-messy OC that attempted to bridge Reaper’s original hero profile with the “Old Soldiers” explanation that Gabriel/Reaper gave that “Jack and Overwatch ‘left [him] to suffer.’”  However, I also knew when writing Old Habits that the “Mercy is evil” theory was ALSO not true, so I was kinda stuck:

“If Gabriel = Reaper for decades, why did he appear to blame Jack and Overwatch for his current condition?”

My original solution was to make “Reaper” a different character and have him operating the situation in the background (like a mystery story), but over time this solution got trickier and trickier to work with.  With Moira, I have a chance to rework much of Old Habits/AOFA to better suit some of the details that have come out since drafting it.

This does mean, unfortunately, that all the “76+127″ content is going to become its own, standalone series.

To switch over to integrating “Soldier: 24,” the “76+127″ stories will have to become their own standalone series.  Don’t worry - I’m not deleting anything.  Old content from “Old Habits” will be moved to their own fics, so you can read the whole thing in chronological order.

A new version of my updated ideas on SEP has already started being drafted.  Writing it out is just a matter of time at this point, haha.

The conspiracy/Talon council “mysteries” will become more transparent almost immediately.

With Moira, I finally get the chance to explore some of my ideas in “full format” instead of the kinda awkward “Sombra hacking a chat log” parts yall originally got.  This DOES mean that written portions will suddenly be much, MUCH longer.  For example:

Old Habits original chapter 10 (Sombra hacks an SSO chat log): 17 pages

Old Habits revised chapter 10 (Moira discusses the Route 66 battle with council members + Sombra hacks a chat log): closer to 34 pages

The explosion fight has been changed.

Because of the changes to Gabriel’s plot, the nature of the explosion fight between him and Jack has changed significantly.  It does incorporate new information that Moira revealed.

If it wasn’t obvious, I’ve had a draft version of my ideas for the fight sitting in GDocs for about a year now, and I use that for all my flashback/memories, and also for when Reaper and Soldier: 76 are arguing in the present.  There was a major plot point in the explosion fight that I was extremely uncomfortable with, but found it to be “solid angst material.”  In retrospect, I dislike this plot point and have removed it for another plot point that sits better with me, and fits the overall story more comfortably (I think).

So yes, I DO have a new draft of the explosion fight - written completely from scratch, 100% different in tone and emotionality.  Parts of this should begin to show in updates to Chapter 13, when Soldier: 76/Jack reflects on some of the fight.

The Goal:

The goal for AOFA right now is to update Old Habits in “two big batches” - update the first half (Chapters 1 - 15) within 1 - 2 weeks, and then update the second half (Chapters 16 - 31) shortly after.  Optimistically, before January, but realistically, closer to late-January/early-February.

Thanks for sticking with me - both with this post, and with my life changes.  Things are incredibly and often overwhelmingly busy for me, and I don’t really know where many of these things (both personal stuff and fic stuff) will end up.  I really do appreciate any and all support, even if I’m not able to respond to comments.  You guys make it worthwhile to keep writing, and I apologize for how distant I’ve been with this stuff.

[swan-archive]

@herowndeliverance continues in her fine tradition of generously allowing me to plagiarize the ever-loving shit out of her works! i thank the jesus baby EVERY day and hope that at some point i will Git Gud enough to do them justice.

anyways here’s Patsy teaching a fish to play the harpsichord

--

“What is that?”

Patsy yelps, mid-measure, and slams her hands down on the harpsichord keys. The instrument lets out a dreadful ploing and the interloper leaps out of sight behind the doorframe with a yelp of his own.

“Alexander?” Patsy asks, when the discord has died down to a ringing twangggggggg and her heart has settled down a bit. Rhetorical—Mama and Papa would never sneak up on her like that while she’s practicing, and Jacky wouldn’t bother hiding after jumping out at her. Her suspicions are confirmed, though, when Alex pokes his head around the doorframe, wincing at the racket.

“You scared the sh…y-you scared me, Alex,” Patsy says, a little annoyed at the interruption. “I didn’t even hear you come up!”

“I didn’t mean to surprise you,” he says, hovering in the doorway. Patsy knows she ought to be nervous, caught alone with him, her mother’s warned her enough times to just be careful, please, your Papa trusts him but I worry, all right, you can never really know with a creature like that…But it’s very hard to be scared of Alex when he’s twisting his hands like that, shifting from foot to foot like a schoolboy who’s been put on the spot before the whole class.

“Did you need something?” Patsy asks pointedly, after they’ve stood there considering each other for several long, awkward seconds.

“No, it’s, I only wanted to know…I was in the other room reading and I heard you in here. And I just wanted to ask what that was.” He gestures at the harpsichord vaguely.

“It’s a sonata I’ve been learning in my lessons. Scarlatti. It’s not ready to show anyone yet,” she says, with a little frown. “Not ready to perform. I’ve just learned it. It’ll sound better when I’ve figured out the fingering on this middle section. That’s why I was so surprised when you popped up out of nowhere, I didn’t want someone hearing it before I’d really worked through it.”

“I see,” says Alex, with that look on his face that means he’s trying to decide between asking for clarification and looking like a fool or pretending he understands what’s being said to him and risking being called out. He stands there mutely for a moment.

“…Oh,” says Patsy at last. She pats the cover of the harpsichord. “You mean this—? Um. It’s a harpsichord. A musical instrument? You press the keys here and it makes notes with the strings inside…” She trails off, hoping Alex won’t enquire as to how the mechanism works; her mother is indulgent with her, as a rule, but even Martha might be given pause if Patsy and Alex dismantle the harpsichord for a science project.

Alex seems satisfied with that explanation, though, and strays closer, peering under the cover. He runs his fingers over the strings, producing a soft shimmery sound. “It was nice,” he says at last. “That song from before. Scarlatti. What does it mean?”

“Mean? Well, Scarlatti’s the composer, he was from Naples…”

“No, like, was it a hunting-song, a warning-song, an—um—a l-loving-song…”

“There aren’t any words to it, Alex, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just music. Just a song. A song-song.”

“Really?” Alex comes around and examines the keyboard. “I would’ve sworn—there were parts of it that sounded almost like words.” He reaches out and depresses one of the higher keys, pling. Hums a little, high in his throat, in that surprisingly sweet contralto of his, and examines the sheet music on the stand. He traces his finger along a run of sixteenth notes. “Is this the song? You can read this?”

“Yes—”

“Show me.”

“Show you, please,” Patsy says, sarcastically—Papa’s wrestled enough with Alex’s lack of manners for it to have become a household joke—but Alex hunches his shoulders and looks at Patsy with a shy, tentative expression.

“Show me, please,” he says. And, okay, maybe it’s a good thing that those lessons in deportment haven’t taken yet, because that was…kind of charming. Patsy finds herself softening against her own will.

“All right, here.” She takes Alex’s hand and places it on the keys. “All the notes have letter names, A through G, the lines for treble clef are E-G-B-D-F, that’s every good boy does fine, and the spaces spell out face, F-A-C-E…”

“I can spell,” Alex complains, but he dutifully plays each note along with Patsy. His skin is cold under her hand. “And these ones, the in-between notes?”

“Those are the flats and sharps. See, here—this little symbol. This means the F note, but a half-step sharp. So the key between F and G.”

“Wait, but surely you could—there’s no key between these two.” Alex taps the middle C and the B just below. “So you could call this C a B sharp?”

“You…could,” Patsy allows. “But most of the time you wouldn’t. It’s easier to just call it a C.”

“You could even call it an, um—” Alex does a quick count of the keys. “An A-sharp-sharp-sharp.”

“That’s stupid.”

“An E-sharp-sharp-sharp-sharp—”

“Stop, now you’re just being ridiculous!” says Patsy, laughing and swatting at his arm. Alex grins at her with a mischievous air; he’s warmed to her touch and her proximity, and his eyes are very big and dark, and—why is she blushing all of a sudden?

She coughs, stares very intently at the sheet music, willing the heat to go out of her face. “Right. So. Those are the notes. And there are key signatures and time signatures and things. I can teach you those next, if you want. It’s all quite simple.”

Alex chirrups to himself, executing a half-tempo, clumsy approximation of the run he’d pointed out before. “And this line, here—it’s the same as the first one?”

“No, that’s the bass clef, the notes read differently for the left hand.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, why would you write it so you have to read two different things at once?”

“It’s because the lines overlap, sometimes, so you have to be able to read them separately or together, like this…” Patsy plays a short passage from one of her other pieces to demonstrate.

“Oh. Huh.” Alex cocks his head at the sheet music. “It just seems overcomplicated to me, that’s all. The way we do it, you don’t even have to write it down, you just hear and you remember—” He snaps his mouth shut, darts a guilty glance at Patsy. Tries again. “I mean, um, the way mermaids do it—”

There’s a bizarre flush rising on his cheeks, splotchy and varicolored like an old bruise, green-brown-purple. It’s very unpleasant to look at. Perhaps it’s better to move past this quickly. “Yes, I’m sure that’s all fine for you,” says Patsy, shuffling through the sheet music on the stand, “but humans can’t just memorize a song after hearing it once.”

“I’m not a—”

“It’s fine, Alex. I know you’re a mermaid. I’m not stupid, after all. And you’re a terrible liar. So why bother pretending?”

“But the Colonel said—that is, I’m not to—” begins Alex, miserably.

“Never mind what Papa said. That’s for other people, not for us. I certainly won’t tell anyone about you. And I don’t care what you are, as long as you don’t try and eat me. So it’s not worth worrying about, not now. Not here. Not with me.”

Alex bites his lip, but relaxes slightly, enough to tap out a few more notes on the keyboard. Patsy shoots him an encouraging smile.

“Anyway,” she says, “I taught you this, now you have to teach me something. You must know an awful lot of songs that nobody’s ever even tried to play on a harpsichord.”

Alex looks at her in surprise before barking out a genuine laugh. “You couldn’t play them,” he says. That grin from before is back. “Not even close.”

“Oh, yeah?” Patsy meets his eyes in challenge. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”