#you could stick some googly eyes on there and IT WOULD MAKE NO DIFFERENCE

[aristoteliancomplacency]

I have died and am dead.

[a-suspicious-number-of-ducks]

Hermit-a-Day May, day 18: JoeHills. Today's style/medium is puppet-making! Or mostly sewing with a few other things thrown in. I had a ton of fun with this one, even though it took...so much time to make. I usually explain why I chose a certain medium but this one is...pretty self-explanatory, I think. If you have any Joe clips you want to see a puppet show of, send them my way! Details, materials, and a couple more pictures under the read more.

Materials: this pattern by Abby Glassenberg and all of its required components (minus the eyes), googly safety eyes from Amazon, baby clothes from a local thrift store, and white fabric paint.

I was originally going to try to get doll clothes to dress the Juppet in, since I didn't want to sew the outfit from scratch, but couldn't find any that were quite right. After a couple unfruitful trips into stores, I stopped by a local children's thrift store and poked around their newborn and preemie section until I found an orange onesie and gray jacket/cardigan that were close enough to the right colors. I know the jacket on Joe's skin is probably a hoodie, given the pocket placement, but surprisingly, few people seem to be manufacturing hoodies for newborn babies. Once I got home, I hacked off the bottom of the orange onesie, hemmed it, and painted the at symbol on the back with fabric paint. The front (now back) still says "daddy's mighty guy" with a picture of two dinosaurs on it and that amuses me greatly.

The puppet pattern itself was a little tricky, and there were a couple spots that I think could have used some more explanation, but I made it through. In hindsight, I wish I'd used bigger eyes, but I couldn't find safety eyes (the kind that pokes through the fabric and gets secured with a washer) in a larger size and the style I wanted, and I didn't want to just glue regular googly eyes on because I was worried it wouldn't be sturdy enough (and the edges might look messy). I ended up having to hot glue the felt pieces to the inside of the mouth, even though the pattern recommended normal craft glue for that part, because it would not stick no matter what I did. If I were to make the pattern again, I'd probably try to sew the roof of the mouth and tongue pieces onto the pink felt before attaching it to the head, rather than gluing them on after.

Honestly, there are a lot of things I would do differently if I were to make another puppet, but I'm pretty proud of how this one turned out, especially for my first time doing something like this! I just. have a Juppet in my house now. I don't know how to feel about this. I know this is a pretty complicated piece, so if you have any additional questions, feel free to message me (or send an ask, or reply to this post, or send the message by carrier pigeon--whatever floats your boat).

[vinnies-invasion]

🍁 Fall-Themed Activities 🍂

These hands-on activities are ones I actually use as an educator! They can be a ton of fun, great for age regression, and can apply to different age groups! Some may require some adult help, others could be done by yourself. Some of these are super simple, some require a bit more effort, but this list should provide different options!

🍁 Googly Eye Sensory Bag - Sensory bags can be fun, interesting, and easy to cleanup and reuse! For this one, fill a plastic ziplock bag with green slime and googly eyes! With this, you can push the googly eyes around, squish the slime, whatever feels right.

🍂 Fall-Themed Sensory Bins - Like the sensory bags, this is all about doing what feels right and playing on sensory. For bins, you can buy a box at the dollar store and just use that. For fall themed, you can fill bins with colored rice, plastic spiders, tiny plastic pumpkins, fake leaves, small plastic bones - go with the flow. You can then play with these bins using small shovels, buckets, tweezers, or just your hands!

🍁 Washing My Pumpkin - This is really easy! If you have a pumpkin, you can put it in the sink or bathtub and give your pumpkin its own bath! Pumpkins need to be washed, too :3

🍂 Pumpkin Painting - Buy yourself a small (or big!) pumpkin and paint anything you want on it! You can also buy plastic pumpkins!

🍁 Nature Art - You just need a paper plate or piece of paper and some glue! Go outside, collect leaves, sticks, pinecones, acorns, and glue them down to make art from nature!

🍂 Pinecone Bird Feeder - This is great if you have big pinecones where you live! You only need a pinecone, some peanut butter, and bird seed. Cover the pinecone in peanut butter and roll it in the bird seed! You can tie yarn around it to hang it up or just set it outside somewhere - watch out! This is messy!!

🍁 Corn Shakers - For a fun and noisy activity you can do, take an empty plastic bottle, can be big or small, and fill it with dry corn OR popcorn kernels. Close the top and shake! shake! shake! You now have a little musical instrument you can shake around for fun! And the best part, if you use popcorn kernels, you can always take them out and make them into popcorn (just ask for help :3)!

🍂 Shaving Cream Art - You will want a tray, maybe a baking sheet, just something big enough to cover a piece of paper, shaving cream, and paint. Pour the shaving cream onto the tray, then take your paints, could be red, yellow, orange, black, fall themed colors, and drizzle them over the shaving cream however you would like. Next, take the paper and gently press it ontop. When you lift the paper up, your colors and designs will be on the other side! You could also do this with something that is already printed on the paper.

🍁 Make a Treat Bag - All you need is a paper bag and anything you want to decorate it with! This can include paint, markers, crayons, googly eyes, glitter, pom poms, feathers, glue, and more. Make a pretty bag for holding some of your candy for Halloween!

🍂 Paper Plate Crafts - You can do so much with paper plates, like paint them into pumpkins, add tons of eyes and pipe cleaners and make them into spooky spiders, or give them pieces of cut paper to make into a scarecrow, there are many possibilities.

[onskepa]

Amber: Our little flame

Requested by: @danilezilla

request: My request is jack and netyiri adopted amber, only they know she's a dragon till their kids saw her. Is this an ok request? Because i was thinking of na'vi name for little toruk. Amber is a dragon girl who can turn into a dragon. Like your story of tirol, and for the example, her mother was once a great dragon queen but choose to be a human. She truth grace with her daughter amber to have a better future in Pandora, then that's where jack amd netyiri meet her. The rest i thought of about adopting like they adopt kiri, but amber is still young.

Helloooooo~!! Hopefully this covers all that your heart desired! Enjoy this cute little fic~!!

Glass heart

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

Amber pov

There is always that one person in every family that thinks they are either: the weirdo, the outcast, different, or adopted. If not, all of the above. While I am not the weirdo, or the outcast, I am definitely different, and very much adopted. 

Allow me to peddle back to explain. 

My parents, Jake and Neytiri Sully. I love them with all my heart. And my younger siblings, from oldest to youngest, are Spider, Neteyam, Kiri, Lo’ak, and Tuk. Yeah. I am the oldest sibling. 3 adopted, and 3 biological kids. We are one crazy, yet odd family. But we love each other. And we follow our family motto “Sully’s stick together”. We live by it every day. 

My dad is the Olo’eyktan of the Omatikaya clan. Leader, chief, however you want to call him. And my mom is the Tsahik of the clan, leader, chief. Both of our parents and very important people. And that makes us, their children, “princes and princesses”. 

Yet, despite being “adopted” there is still much more to each of our pasts. And as I am the oldest, my past is crazy all around. Let me tell you all about it, it started when I made my first fire breath.

Third pov 

“No, no no and no. There is nothing that can make me clare. Not your words, or your googly eyes or hell, your kids googly eyes. This is stupid and dangerous. She could die. Cryo sleep isn't something for kids to nap in” Grace Augustine says. 

Across from her is ‘clare’. A tall beautiful woman with bright fiery eyes that seems to glow in the dark. In her arms was her little baby girl. Not even a few days old and already the mother had to make the hardest choice of her life. 

“Please Grace, you are my most trusted friend. You know there is no chance of Earth. Look around you. It is all gray. In what I have seen from those RDA promotions, Pandora is beautiful. It is everything Earth once was. Please, take her with you” 

The mother pleads as she gently offers her little one to Grace. 

“Take her to Pandora”

Amber pov  

Grace Augustine. Or, auntie grace as I like to call her. Was a special woman who took care of me for a long time. I have little memories of her, but all of them are of warm comfy memories. Despite many of them taking place inside the cold metal walls of hell's gate. 

From what I heard, auntie grace was a fierce woman who was quick as a whip. Saw some vlogs of hers, she looked like that fun nerdy mom that would own a greenhouse. Auntie Grace juggled so many hats. Director of the avatar program, teacher, babysitter, mother hen, shit talker. There is a lot that I know of her, and a lot that I don't know. 

But among those things, I know deep down, she knew something that I didn't. If there was one thing that auntie grace was good at, it was keeping secrets.

Third pov 

“Is there anything you want to give her? When she is of age or something?” Grace asks. Holding the little baby in her arms, her bags packed in her car, ready to leave for pandora. 

Clare looked at her child one last time, gently stroking her little cheek. “I do, here” Clare hands grace a data box. It can hold loads of information on a small little brick. Grace accepts it. “Keep it with you. Please, dont lose it. This holds all the answers she will ask one day” Clare instructs. Grace nods, tucking the data box safely in her bra. 

“Is there a certain age where I give it to her?” she asks. Clare shakes her head. Looking down at her baby she replies, “When she releases her first breath, give it to her”. 

Grace pov 

“I am starting to think the cryo sleep did something to Amber. It has been 5 years since I started here at hell’s gate, 5 years. Yet, Amber is still the same as she was when she woke up. A baby, she should be a kid already, running around and talking. But that isn't happening. I did studies on her, trying to figure out why her lack of growth but the results are showing normal. Did the sleep cryo do something? I knew it was a bad idea. 

*Sighs* “Well far too late to turn back now. Yet, whenever I look at amber, it's like there is something. Something more to her, I just can't figure it out. She is a happy bubbly baby but it frustrates me that Amber is not growing. I swear, I am not fit to be a guardian. Much less a mother”. 

1 month later 

“Amber is going to be the death of me! Well, norm really. Something insane happened. Really, really insane. Yesterday I was feeding Amber when one of my fellow idiots walked out into the open field and did not see his mask broken. It was an emergency, I guess I forgot I was holding amber when I grabbed my mask and a spare and ran out to get that idiot. After helping him with the new mask, only then did I remember. I had a fucking baby in my arms. But Amber….she started to squirm, got out of my hold and…took a big breath or relief. Inhaling the native air. She was BREATHING pandora air! It was unbelievable! I took her back for a health scan, and she was alright! This kid keeps on surprising me”.

Amber pov 

Fire. For the longest time, fire was like a magnet to me. I couldn't keep myself away from it. Whenever I see fire, I get this urgent need to go to it. The need to put my hand in the fire. The way the flames sway in a hypnotizing way, never staying in one spot, always moving. And the warmth. I love the warmth of the fire. The warmth and comfort it brings. Yes, it can be destructive and dangerous, but it can also be calm and soothing. 

Whenever I get too close, someone always pulls me away. I understand, its for my safety. Yet I couldn't help but feel as though the fire would never harm me, call it a mary sue thought but I just knew fire is harmless. To me at least. 

But I remember it clearly. One night, after dinner, I was in my hammock, fooling my parents that I was deep asleep, when really, I was waiting for them to be deep asleep. Slowly getting out of my hammock, I waddled over to the pit where there was still some burning wood and ashes. 

I guess I let my intrusive thoughts win that night. 

Because I grabbed a big chunk of burning wood, and I ate it.

third pov 

“I haven't felt this much joy since the school got shut down. Look! Look at Amber! She is growing! Ever since she began to go outside with no mask, her development is improving massively. Now look! She is the size of a one year old” Grace praises happily as she vlogs. Giving amber so many kisses, making the little baby squeal in delight. 

“I began to make more scans on her, but this time outside. I learned that scanning her inside nothing happens. But outside, it shows so much of what is going on. The carbon dioxide is expanding her lungs and breathing capabilities. Somehow, it is also increasing her body mass. Had I known this sooner, I would have amber spend more time outside. 5 years, god damn it, it took 5 years for me to realize this. Well, better late than never” 

She concludes her vlog and turns it off. Lifting amber in her arms for better position as the little one just chews at a soft toy. “Come on, if your brain is growing, then its time to teach you na’vi. The people will love you. Hopefully”.

Amber pov 

I don't know how, and I don't know why. But after weeks of eating anything that was burning, one day I burped. But it wasn't just any burp. 

I burped out a massive ball of fire. 

Thankfully the fire didn't catch anything. But it scared me so much, I didn't eat anything on fire for weeks. Until the temptation won me over. And the more fire I consume, the bigger the fire becomes. I thought I could control it. But it's hard. Really really hard. I thought of telling my parents. But I know things will go nuts once say something like “hey mom, dad, I have been eating fire for awhile now I can breathe it but I need help!”. 

As if they would believe me. But ever since finding out what I could do, so many questions began to arise. 

Like my two siblings, I am adopted, but I was born on Earth. Kiri and spider were born here on Pandora. So I began to think what my infant time was like on earth, who were my real parents? Who did I come from? Did they breathe fire like me? Did they get rid of me knowing what I was capable of? 

So many questions. And the bad thing is, anyone who knew of anything was Auntie Grace, but she has long passed. My parents know less. And it frustrates me to no end. I want to know, I need to know. Just who, or what am I?

Third pov 

“Careful, she would most likely bite off your fingers” Grace warns. Jake sully was playing with baby amber. He just arrived a few hours ago and was already dumped as babysitter for director Grace Augustine. 

Little amber, already reaching the size of a 2 year old, was climbing all over Jake. Seeing him as some obstacle course to take over. Giggling and taking in the new stranger, her bright eyes bore deep into his. Which freaked him out a bit. 

“Hey, her eyes are kinda bright aren't they? It is almost like light is emitting from them” he points out. Grace rolls her eyes, “that's just how she is”. Moving away from her spot, she gets closer to Jake and picks up amber. “Come on, time for her daily walk, or the zoomies will kick in at night, that is something nobody wants”. 

Amber cheers that she gets to go outside and breathe in the air. Stretch her little legs and cause chaos. 

“Is there a mask for her size?” Jake asks, grace smirks. “Come, there is so much you have to follow”.

Grace pov 

“Her first breath, to this day I never knew what Clare meant by that. This little brick, the data box. I don't want to peek into it, it's not my business. Yet, I get the feeling clare oversimplified something that is most likely a complicated thing. Amber’s eyes, they are becoming more and more like her mothers. So bright, it's like there is light inside. Might be some rare beauty gene that passes in her family. Clare, that woman. I don't remember how or where we met. But that woman had the tongue of a serpent, yet she had the warmth of a blanket. No, really, the few times we hugged, Clare was warm. I remember during the cold winds that she didn't need thick sweaters or anything. Always summer clothing” 

“I miss her. I never knew who Amber's father was, then again, there wasn't a lot of time. Clare gave me amber and an hour later, we were in space. But I remember, Clare was fantastic for Dungeons and Dragons. A nerd for fantasy. But there was one thing she was OBSESSED with, and that was dragons. Clare loved dragons. Was an expert, wrote many books that had dragons as the main character. I read a few, and in those stories, the characters, it was so well written. At times, I think they were real. My personal favorite was Tong, an earth dragon who never liked to get dirty. He was a silly one. Another was Lavie, a dragon who loved the water. Those and others, the way clare wrote was so detailed. The descriptions, settings, world building. I feel guilty for not keeping one. If I did, maybe Amber would have had something from her mother. Something more than just this box” 

“I understand why Clare made the ultimate sacrifice. Here It's beautiful, it's alive. Earth is just a husk of what it once was.  Maybe Amber can make a life here. Where she can be free, she can already breathe the air. What more is stopping her?”

Jake pov 

“Grace is gone. We tried to save her by transferring her soul into her avatar body. But we were too late. Her wound was too great. She is with Eywa now. While she achieved a lot, I know that she wanted to do more. And amber, the little one has no one. For a few seconds at least. Its a dumb decision, but a guaranteed stupid choice. I'm going to keep amber, it will be weird. But we learn as we go. Neytiri was hesitant, I'm not forcing her to become a mother to a child she barely knows. I'm letting her choose that. But Amber needs someone. She has been alone for so long. Grace told me everything about her development” 

“There is still so much going on. I just pray that I can survive through it all. Live another day. Give Amber a chance to live here and be whoever the hell she wants to be. Before grace died, she gave me this box. I remember these things being promoted back on earth. Expensive little shits. Can hold so much information in one small brick. Grace told me that when Amber takes her first breath, that it was time to hand her this box. I asked her what the hell she meant by that. Grace didn't have a clue either, only repeating the words Amber's mother once said. Actually, I would like to have a chat with the birth mother. Ask her what the hell was she thinking”.

Third pov 

There was silence, but only for a few seconds when multiple blood curdling screams were heard. Jake and Neytiri knew those screams. It was of their children. Grabbing their weapons, they ran as fast as they could to find their children. But instead, the children ran to find them. Tears running down from their faces, fear painting their faces, the sense of urgency. 

“What!? What is going on?!” Jake asks his kids while also making sure they are fine. Tuk, between her coughs, answered “it's amber!! She is burning!! Amber is on fire!!”. Dread washed over the parents. Spider was quick to lead the way, pushing leaves and plants out of their way and in a clearing shows neteyam and kiri trying to put out the fire themselves. In the middle they can see the massive fire, and within it was a small body. 

Neyitir began to scream in a hysterical manner, trying to put out the fire herself but Jake pulled her away so she would not get burned. They are nowhere near a river or pond. Using massive leaves, everyone began to put out the fire, but nothing was working. Panic increased as they used anything and everything. But nothing. 

Until, the fire was ceasing. Slowly but surely the fire was being put out by itself. Scared to see a scorched body, no one wanted to look. Not even Jake. Neytiri was holding tuk in her arms, covering her eyes while also hiding in Jake’s neck, crying loudly. Then they heard a happy, cheerful voice. 

“Dada?” 

Jake pov 

“I'm starting to connect the dots. Well, Spencer is. Spencer is one of the science guys, and he is the definition of a geeky nerd. He knows so much shit about fantasy crap, I get more lost in that than actual science. But he observed amber for weeks. From her resistance to fire, her odd eyes, natural warmth, and the odd rough parts of her skin. And he colluded with his observatory. And when he told me, I laughed too hard. I never laughed so much in my life, my stomach was hurting and I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. Hell, norm and max were laughing too. Almost everyone was” 

“He did explain why, but it was just too unrealistic. I mean, yeah we live on an alien planet full of things that only appear in our dreams. But what Spencer said was more unreal. I couldn't believe it. So I pushed it aside, but it wasn't until I saw amber more. The things she does, what fire is to her, her choices and movement. Her recent rise of just collecting shiny things. I didn't want to believe Spencer, and I shouldn't. But now, he might be right” 

“Amber is a dragon”

 Amber pov 

While I am not na’vi, I do my best to live among them, like be, be them. And by living as a na’vi, there are rules and discipline they all live by. I do my best, I really really do. Yet there are things I struggle with. 

One of my struggles is my greed. 

I can get really greedy. And my mom hates that. I like to collect pretty things. Pretty flowers, stones, pretty clothing, anything that catches my attention. I hoard it all. My parents tried to level down my hoarding, yet I only doubled it. Whenever I see something pretty, I have to have it. The urge to keep it forever and ever. And it gets worse when I don't want to share. 

I hate sharing. 

You will be surprised how often I fight with my siblings. I just hate sharing things that are mine. Why can't they have their own things, why do they have to use my stuff? 

Many times I even discipline myself. Greed is often associated with humans. My dad told me how greedy the humans were, always wanting more. Told me that is how the earth was dying. Because of never ending greed. I use the given context to stop myself from getting things that I don't need, or have too much of. 

But it's so hard. It is like fighting something that is part of my natural instincts.

Jake pov

“I am starting to understand what Grace was going through. If lo’ak doesn't kill me, amber most definitely. The kids were making a little fire, and amber for some reason, literally walked into the fire. The kids panicked and tried to put it out, so we came as well. We fear the worst, we thought we lost our baby girl. But no, no no, it was a giant big ass scare. Neytiri almost passed out. Amber sat on the ashes as the fire went away. There she was, acting like nothing happened.We went to mo’at so she could check on amber, no scars, no burns, no nothing” 

“I went to seek grace in the tree of souls. Wanting some answers, but she is also just as hard to seek. Hell, I am sure grace didn't know that amber is basically immune to fire” 

“But that isn't all. Amber is the gift that keeps on giving. How do I even explain this? The fire shit happened days ago, but recently as of today, more crazy shit happened. I thought I was asleep, I thought I was still dreaming but no. In the middle of the night, tuk screamed her head off. We all woke up to see not amber on her hammock, but a fucking baby dragon”. 

Amber pov 

My name is Amber Sully, adopted child of Jake and Neytiri sully. I have 5 siblings, and I am the oldest kid. As an adopted kid, it is clear that I am not like my siblings. Not even my other adopted siblings. 

I can turn into a dragon. 

I am a dragon. 

That is as far as I know. And everyday I learn so much about myself. From learning how to control my fire, How to live as myself while also living as a na’vi, and keeping a balance as a warrior while being a big sister. My life is crazy. 

But I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

And as I search beyond my soul, I have a little box. 

My dad told me that it is mine. But I should only open it when I take my first breath. Those are words repeated from my mother. My real, biological mother. I never knew her, never met her. I barely remember auntie grace. But if the little data box is from my real mother, I like to take comfort that she put something very important for me to learn later on. 

I remember a story my dad told me. Was called “Pandora's box”. Was a story of a girl who was given a box, but was told to never open it. If she were to ever open the box, it will unleash unimaginable things. And that Pandora is to never open it. 

In a way, I relate to that story. But of course, I am not Pandora. I am Amber. And the box that I have, I can open it. But when the time is right. So, I will listen to my mother. When I take my first breath. I don't know what she means by that, so I will take it as when I am ready. 

Of course, I am still young, still carving a path. With my family to support me, whatever secrets the little box has, I will embrace it. 

However, lately, I have been scratching my back a lot. I can feel the weight of something, but it's not there. I scratch and scratch, but the odd itch doesn't go away. It is like something wants to come out of my back.

Clare pov 

Hello Amber, my name is Clare Ignis. But you can call me mom. That is right, I am your mother, your real mother. 

And if you are watching this, that means you have took your first breath. And if you noticed how you are not like the other humans. It is because you are not, my darling amber. 

You are a dragon. 

A fire dragon. 

And I am one too. I can do many things. Which you will one day, with time and proper training. There is so much I want to tell you, and I am sure you have questions. So many questions. And it is best to start out with probably the most asked question. 

Why did I send you away? 

When you were born my daughter, I had to make the hardest choice of my life. You were all I had. Your father, oh bless his soul. He wanted to meet you, he was excited to see you. It was him who named you Amber. Sruthan was his name. Sruthan Ignis. 

I wonder what you will have of him. His sense of dry humor? He odd takes of puns? Or his wisdom of lost knowledge? And I wonder what you will have of me? Hopefully not my terrible short temper. Maybe better sense of style. 

Whatever you become, I am sure you will be amazing. 

My god, I am getting side tracked. 

The reason I had grace to take you with her to Pandora, it was because you would have died. Earth is dying, color has long gone, life is crippling. I did not want to see you grow in a world where life is non-existent. 

Why didnt I go with you? I wish, but I had my own reasons. I made it my mission to take down every soul draining corporations and restore what was lost. Even if it kills me. This world amber, Earth. It was not always this dead. Life thrived like how it does in pandora. 

Where the air was clean, water was drinkable, and the animals alive and free. But human greed took it away. Greed. Us dragons are naturally greedy. We hoard things, keep it to ourselves. But human greed was just on a different level. We pale compared to those disgusting humans. Did you know at one point dragons were the bad guys and the humans were heros? Now the tables have turned. 

When I was born and growing up, our kind was dwindling, what were hundreds are now single digits. I am not sure if there are more dragons out there in the world. But like the animals, we too are dying. The environment wasn't fit for us to live in. Many died from sickness, lack of proper diet, our homes long gone. I could be the last one standing. I am not sure. 

And it is cruel. When I was born, I hoped to rule our dragons in a fair world. 

That is right. Rule. 

I should have mentioned this, but. We are dragons, but amber my child. We are of royal bloodline. That is right, you are a princess. The princess of all dragons. Fire is a hard element. And only a handful of dragons can control it, become one with the fire. And that is us, the Ignis royal family. I am queen yet, I don't feel like a queen. And for sure you don't feel like a princess either. 

Our clan had a castle, a beautiful castle. What was meant to be yours is long gone. Humans destroyed it. Along with everything else. 

So, I along with your father, we wrote books. Books about dragons. In the data box that I am using, you will have access to all of the stories we have written. It is important that I tell you, those dragons were once real. All of their stories, their names, their life. We wrote their stories so that their imprint on the ground will never vanish. And that many will remember them. 

Our books were successful. The humans loved it. Yet that is all they see. Stories. Fiction. Humanity has forgotten about us amber. They forgot that it was us who ruled the planet. 

Many parents say that they would give the world to their child. Even I would say it. And I would mean it. But what use would you have to a husk of a corpse? 

There is so much I want to tell you. Thankful, I will. Every file, every video was created by me. So that you can know who you are. Where you came from. What is your history. I hope and pray that Grace has stopped smoking because even for us dragons, smoke isn't very good for our lungs despite breathing fire. 

If she can raise you well, I have no doubts she will be a wonderful mother.That is if she chooses to find someone and have a child. I can see you being an amazing older sister. 

I love you Amber. Never think that I sent you away because I hated you. No, I love you so much. Your father loved you so much. Luckily, he made plenty of videos on his end before his��.

Enough of negative thoughts. 

Feel free to explore the data box. From the stories we wrote, to the lessons we prepared for you. It has everything for you to embrace who you are. A dragon. 

So roar out your fire and let nothing extinguish it.

Aaaaaaaaaand that is all for this one! HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERONE!!! Hope this year will be epic for everyone! Until next time! see ya!

[godsgifttogrinds]

Gonna modify some shoes

MATERIALS:

-cheap shoes to destroy

-sandpaper

-xacto knife

-scissors

-googly eyes

-rubber cement

-tissue paper + another paper with different texture if desired

-Mod Podge

-Plasti Dip

-paints + brushes

-a roll of thin EVA foam (not in the pic oops)

Begin by sanding everything, it will help anything you stick on there adhere better

Start cutting. I used a combination of scissors and an xacto knife. Scoring the upper with the knife first makes it easier to cut. I got a bit excited at this point and put the shoe on the mantle with my sassy gnomes for the pic...I think they approve.

Be careful not to cut the upper/straps too thin. Breaking that would be a nightmare to fix.

I cut the other shoe up too, then glued the googly eyes to the upper with the rubber cement. Will other glue work? Probably. I chose rubber cement based on vibes alone. The paper mache technique should keep the eyes from popping off even if you use shitty glue.

Try to put the eyes on a part of the shoe that won't move or bend too much.

Next will be sculpting the teeth on the upper a bit. I probably should not have put teeth there since it will be time-consuming to make the teeth. I could have made it look more like the rest of the upper, especially since I'm going to put more teeth on the platform area. How many mouths does an amorphous monster even need?? It'll look pretty sick though hopefully!

[wibehavioralhealth]

Fun Activities to Support Summer Learning at Home

Summer break is a great time for kids to unwind. However, the time away from the classroom can lead to learning loss and boredom. This can present challenges for parents to keep their children entertained while also supporting continued learning. From exploring the great outdoors to creative DIY, here is a list of ways to keep the boredom away while strengthening developmental skills.

1. Get outside!

Playing outside is beneficial for a number of reasons. It can help children socialize, learn new skills, develop gross motor functioning, utilize problem solving skills, and engage in imaginative play.

Head outside for a neighborhood scavenger hunt. There are many examples online or you could make one of your own that could include looking for: objects of certain colors, shapes, specific animals/bugs, or street signs.

Watch the Summer Olympics and make your own “events” at home. Some “event” ideas include: bean bag toss, balance beam (using a scrap 2X4), water bucket relay, water balloon toss, frisbee throwing, and a bicycle obstacle course.

Go to a local park and climb on the playground equipment, play hopscotch, practice your basketball or soccer skills, or play four-square.

Learn a new outdoor activity such as croquet, bocce ball, jump rope, or gaga ball.

Plant a veggie garden. Not only is this a fun way to incorporate math, science, and reading, but you can reap the tasty benefits all summer long (and maybe like new veggies in the process).

2. Read, read, read!

All reading is great! This can include reading junk mail, magazines, newspapers, or even the signs on a road trip. The goal is to keep your children excited about reading.

Go to the library on a weekly basis and check out new books.

Start a summer reading challenge at home, such as reading 15 minutes a day or setting a goal of reading one book a week.

Have a family book club. Choose a book to read as a family and then discuss it together afterwards. You can talk about your favorite/least favorite parts, rate it, or if you would recommend it to others.

3. Make math fun!

Family activities are a fun, practical way to practice and apply math skills.

Bake a cake

Follow a recipe – or try to double a recipe

Learn to knit, crochet, or cross stitch. There are many videos online to assist in getting you started or check out a book from your local library.

Make Wednesday nights (or night of the week) Family Game Night! Board games are a great way to incorporate math in a fun, practical way. Some of my personal family favorites for a variety of ages are Sorry!, Monopoly, Connect Four, Trouble, BINGO, Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders, Sequence, Cribbage, and Shut Box.

4 Get creative!

Engaging in DIY/arts and crafts can help children learn patience, improve their fine motor skills, develop creativity, and provide an outlet for self-expression.

Gather smooth rocks and paint colorful designs, animals, or inspirational sayings on them. You can then place them around your neighborhood as a fun surprise for others to find.

Make sock puppets. Scour your drawers for old socks and use buttons, googly eyes, yarn, and fabric scraps to make puppets. Your children can then use their sock puppets to perform a play.

Create magic wands. Gather small sticks from your yard and use glitter, clay, pipe cleaners, yarn, and cardboard to make them colorful and unique. (These could also be used in your sock puppet play!)

Get together with friends to make friendship bracelets using embroidery floss or yarn. Check out a book from the library to learn how to make different knots.

Get creative and explore different mediums and surfaces. Try out mediums such as magic markers, watercolor paints, tempera paints, oil pastels, colored pencils, crayons, or permanent markers. Try them out on different surfaces that would otherwise be thrown away, such as paper, cardboard, plastic, styrofoam, or aluminum foil. The limit is your imagination!

These activities can be tailored to the age and interests of your child. You can incorporate open ended questions in each of these activities to further build vocabulary skills and enhance back-and-forth conversational skills. Whatever you decide to do, make learning fun! While worksheets and workbooks are also ways to continue supporting learning, they can be boring and children are less inclined to participate. Have a blast this summer enjoying the time off while continuing to support learning at home!

For additional blogs and resources, visit here.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Wonderland Monster!AU--Humans are Weird: Boredom

Inspiration has struck again my lovelies, and to keep you entertained while I work on the bigger responses I shall post them as they come to me~! Hope you enjoy the chaos~ >v> Feel free to suggest other forms of chaos to weird out the boys or cause confusion if they come to mind! ÒwÓ

Given their close bond with Heartslabyul, it wasn't any surprise that the dorm was the first to figure out early on that a bored, curious human was a dangerous thing to have around a dorm that didn't make logical sense to outsiders. They learned pretty quickly when Yuu got lost in the maze, or when they somehow wandered through half the dorm before Trey found them hanging off the side of the railing (and nearly gave him heart failure).

A visit to the Mystery Shop for some arts and crafts to keep them occupied, however, led to what would be seen as Night Raven College's most bizarre and weird day in history:

Googly eyes.

No one knows how they managed to get a hold of so many of them--let alone different sizes--or even the glue or tape in the first place. No one knows how they managed to stick a pair on almost every random surface: books, chairs, dishware, mailboxes, computers...not even posters were safe if they had some semblance of a face on it or words that could look goofy.

No one was prepared:

Jamil didn't know what to think when he opened the fridge and found every single container and piece of food staring at him with varying sizes of the cartoony eyes. Even the ladle he pulled off the rack stared back at him, making him feel unnerved.

Azul nearly had a fit when Floyd shoved the menus in his face showing any pictures of food staring up at him, the twins amused as their dorm leader went through to find more hidden around the lounge. Of course they hadn't noticed the little human sneaking around the lounge after hours, whatever are you insinuating, dear Azul~?

Deuce got spooked when someone passed the baton to him in track and field and bolted while Jack raised his hackles and growled at the creepy gaze staring at him. Ace thought it was funny during basketball club...until one of the balls came at him and he panicked the moment he saw the eyes coming straight for him. Now the stars he's seeing have big wobbly eyes, what the heck?!

Leona did not appreciate waking up to multiple pairs of terrifyingly large eyes staring at him before he realized they were his pillows. Now he has to buy a new one after he finishes plucking the thorns out of it to resume his nap.

Vil and Epel were extremely uncomfortable as Rook took a sip of tea from his cup, his eyes closed in bliss yet the cup's newly gained sight staring them down.

Idia's wings nearly knocked down his console when he finally noticed the eyes on his webcam and he panicked, thinking that the video feed was online. Ortho wasn't sure whether to tell his brother about the googly eyes on the tablet during the last meeting or not.

Sebek screeched when he pulled a book off the shelf and found the horrifying gaze rattling menacingly at him like a rattlesnake's tail. Malleus didn't know what to think, while Lilia was giggling nearby, commenting on how "delightful" this little prank was.

After the reign of terror and confusion, googly eyes were banned from the Mystery Shop and each dorm agreed to make sure to provide plenty of entertainment for the resident human to prevent more chaos...for now.

[jimblejamblewritings]

it just sort of... happened | part 5.

Summary: After Hogwarts is turned upside down after Harry Potter started attending, a new normal DADA professor seems like a Godsend.  

Warnings for the Series: age gap age gap age gap (however reader is of age because anything under deserves jail time no exceptions). student-teacher relationship. slow burn because obviously. smut at some point. honestly nothing else. forbidden love trope BUT ONCE AGAIN of age reader

Pairing: remus lupin x reader eventually, professor!remus x student!reader

Word Count: 6.3k

Previous Part | (Series Masterlist)

Three Broomsticks became a new grading spot for you and Lupin. It wasn’t ideal for super hard exams but it was fine for easier homework. While he tended to stick to his whiskey, Remus had no problem recommending the different drinks for you. Elf-made wine and butterbeer with an extra shot was your favorite so far.

“How do you sit through some of these?” You laughed as you marked someone’s paper with a D.

“You never graded a paper by Marcus Flint. Although your last paper wasn’t that good if I remember.”

“Give me a break, Moony, I still got an A.”

“Which I’ve never given you before. If the workload is too much, I can take some stuff ba—”

“No!” You yelled a bit too loud thanks to the alcohol, ducking your head when other patrons looked over. “No, sorry, the work is fine. I just… read the wrong chapter.”

“I’m sorry, what? You’re mumbling.”

“I read the wrong chapter. I don’t know. I ended up writing down chapter fourteen instead of eleven and didn’t realize it until we were already in class.”

“Okay,” Lupin took your glass. “No more drinking for you.”

“I wasn’t tipsy, just wasn’t paying enough attention.”

Remus gave you a look but slid your drink back over to you. He finished the essay in front of him before looking out the window with a sigh. It was time for him to retire to his office before the full moon came out. He thanked you again for making the wolfsbane— no matter how much he tried, it wasn’t a potion he had any proficiency in brewing.

“You will have to give me the play by play of the champion picking,” he said as he stood up.

“I’ll make sure it’s even better than Lee’s quidditch commentary.”

“Mmm, I don’t know if anyone can beat Mr. Jordan’s comments.”

With a final goodbye, you were left alone in Three Broomsticks to finish your lunch. It wasn’t like the moon was coming up right away but Remus took extra precautions to be locked up in his office a lot earlier than needed. You stop by tomorrow morning before your own classes to check on him and write his lesson plans on the board. It was a bit nerve-wracking. Because last month’s moon nights fell on the weekend, Remus was perfectly fine on Monday. Now, it was going to be three days during the actual week. You were taking over his afternoon classes because of it. He had perfect faith that you would do just fine but you weren’t so sure.

You tried to cast those thoughts aside as you made it to the Hufflepuff table for the Halloween dinner. Elbowing Cedric in the ribs, you were greeted by him with an absentminded kiss to the top of your head. If your eyes could roll any harder then they would.

“Will you stop making googly eyes at Cho if you aren’t actually going to ask her out. It’s starting to get embarrassing being seen with you.”

You heard a faint scoff escape his lips even though it seemed like he wasn’t paying attention to you. “I’m not… You know what, fuck you.”

“For telling the truth?”

“For being a pain in my ass. How was assistanting, did you see the grade I got?”

“EE.”

“I’ll take it.”

The two of you fell into a natural rhythm of conversation, occasionally bringing your other friends into it. The entire hall seemed alive, especially with the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students finding pockets of Hogwarts people to cling onto. The school had never felt properly full before and you were going to be kind of sad when the others had to go back at the end of the year.

The feast was cleared away and the goblet was rolled out. Everyone’s attention perked up for the main event. The blue flames shot up high, turning red as they did, until a single paper fluttered out.

“And the Durmstrang champion,” Dumbledore began to read out. “Viktor Krum.”

The roars from the tables couldn’t have been any louder. You couldn’t blame the man for standing up and reveling in the applause. You imagined for him that this must have been an exciting new challenge since he was already on top of the world as one of the best seekers alive. Fleur Delacour also enjoyed the applause when her name was announced. None of the tension could build up any more than when it was time for the Hogwarts champion to be announced.

“Cedric Diggory.”

You screamed in delight and threw your arms around his neck. Shouts of “Cedric” rang through the hall. Hufflepuff on a whole was the most enthusiastic. Your House was never seen as the coolest but now you got to boast the Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament. The hall quieted when the goblet seemed to come to life again. You watched Dumbledore’s face pale.

“Harry Potter.”

Your head immediately turned to stare at the young boy at the Gryffindor table. Harry seemed just as shocked as everyone else that his name was called. You weren’t sure if that brought you comfort or worry. Because if he was shocked and confused then how did his name get in the goblet?

Without another thought, you raced up to your office. There had to be something somewhere in one of the textbooks about legally binding magic with underage wizards. Your feet froze in place at seeing the large werewolf curled up on the office floor. Remus lifted his head passively. He tried to stay low to the ground as he backed himself into a corner of the office. You weren’t supposed to be here. What could have happened in the few hours he was away that would have you willingly entered his office? You weren’t scared of Lupin, you meant it. The nightmares had ended before school began. But his werewolf was a completely different thing.

“I-I n-n-need— Harry’s name. Goblet,” you stuttered out.

The werewolf’s ears perked up. Remus was of no use in his current form so he turned his back on you to try and make you more comfortable. He could hear all the noise behind him as you looked through textbook after textbook, finding nothing of use. You slammed the last book on Remus’ desk.

“Damn! It’s legal, it’s all legal, he has to compete… That kid’s gonna die.”

Dejected, you walked to Cedric’s room. He was still annoyed that The Chosen One had upstaged him but he understood after you explained that you didn’t think the boy did it on purpose. Cedric drew patterns on your back, lingering on the skin exposed by your pajama tank top. You rested your head in the crook of his neck and enjoyed the comfort. There was nothing you could really do for Harry so you couldn’t dwell on it.

“You know,” you murmured into Cedric’s neck. “You could definitely ask Cho out now that you’re a champion. You should do it after the first task.”

“What if I lose the first task?”

“Wait and see?”

“Alright, alright, yeah. If I place first or second then I’ll ask out Cho… Can you find out what she lik—”

“Her favorite flowers are daisies and pink roses. Don’t bring up unicorns because Roger Davies always took her on dates to a unicorn farm. Her favorite drink is frozen butterbeer even in winter, she loves the blueberry strudel especially from Madam Puddifoot’s. She doesn’t read a lot because she likes attending plays— muggle and wizard kind. She’s a Libra and she thinks her eyes are the prettiest so you better compliment those. Oh and her favorite animal is a hedgehog. Although Marcie says porcupines sometimes take the top spot every few months.”

“Did I mention I love you?”

“What would you do without me? You literally know nothing about women.”

“That’s not true.”

“Can you remember a single ex-girlfriend’s favorite flower?”

“Uhh… Well I can remember other things.”

“Sure you can.”

Cedric moved so you were forced to look him directly in the eyes.

“Your favorite flowers are tulips. You’re obsessed with American lemonade, your favorite book changes every time you read a new one and right now it’s that Gatsby book. You’re a Scorpio and you know your lips are the most attractive part of you. Your favorite animal is our child Bennett and nothing comes above that cat except for lambs. And your favorite color is sparkles because you can’t pick a favorite. See, I know everything about you.”

You pushed him over, making him the little spoon. “Ooh, one woman. You know everything about one woman who you’ve never even kissed, I’m so impressed.”

“I’d kick you out but I actually kind of like being the little spoon.”

A short, sharp laugh escaped your throat before you settled your head against his back.

While the Triwizard Tournament seemed like fun at first, you were starting to hate it. Reporters were everywhere. And one woman got on your nerves the most. You were thankful that Harry took class with Moody and not Remus because it was bad enough that the reporter tried to hang around the classroom to snap pictures of Cedric. It felt impossible to help Lupin and even harder to teach some classes yourself. It was even worse in Potions. Snape slammed the door in the woman’s face before returning to his lesson.

“I normally do this to entertain you all on Valentine’s Day but we are doing something special with the other schools so I’ve moved the lesson to the only free time available.”

Everyone got excited. The Amortentia gossip went around each year on Valentine’s Day. What people smelled and who those smells might belong to spread through the castle like wildfire. Unless you knew intimately what someone else seemed to always be around or have that scent, it was just gossip. You already had some guesses for your classmates.

The real question that everyone was already wondering about was if the Amortentia smell that Angelina said belonged to Fred or George. They were probably the only group of friends that got talked about more than you and Cedric. Only you knew for a fact that they liked each other. You jumped off of your stool and strolled to the front when it was your turn. Leaning your face over the cauldron, you took in a nice sniff.

“Broom cleaner, chlorine, and snow cone syrup.”

Cedric was up next. “Butterbeer, chlorine, and—”

You looked up to see your friend dying in hysterics.

“Sorry, sorry. Butterbeer, chlorine, and Bennett.”

Professor Snape’s eyebrows scrunched. “What is a Bennett?”

“My cat,” you said through laughter.

“Uh, our cat. He smells like muggle laundry soap.”

Fred leaned over the table behind you as Cedric started walking back. “Matching patronuses, now each other’s smells. Something you want to tell us?”

“You act like us loving each other is some big secret.”

Cedric laughed as he watched Fred miming strangling you. It didn’t take long for you and Cedric’s Amortentia to spread through the school. McGonagall and Remus looked at all the other teachers in satisfaction that they would win the bet. While Remus didn’t care to gossip about students in his first year, he did care in his second year. Plus, you were more his assistant than his student. It looked like he and Minnie would be getting that nice bottle of wine that was on the line. He didn’t say anything when you were studying in your shared office.

“Moony, how dangerous do you think the competition is going to be?”

“Harry will be fine.”

Remus watched you set your books down and start to pace. He ignored it at first until you refused to sit back down. The amused look on his face started to mix with a bit of concern. You didn’t seem like you would stop at any moment. Remus stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of you. He settled his hands on both of your shoulders and gently pushed you until you were walking backwards and forced to sit on his desk.

“Stop worrying. He’s a smart kid with smart friends.”

“You haven’t seen him in school as long as I have.”

“It’s nice you care a lot about him.”

“He’s like a little brother to me. I just can’t see him hurt, he already goes through so much.”

“He will be fine,” Remus tried to reassure you.

You kept trying to tell yourself that as you went down to the tent where the champions were before the first task. You practically threw yourself at Cedric when you found him. He patted your back, other hand resting on your waist.

“Don’t worry about me, it’s just… a dragon.”

His eyes shut in annoyance as you both heard the snap of a camera just as he kissed the top of your head. Rita Skeeter was literally the bane of your existence. You gave your friend one last hug before clambering into the stands to cheer him on. He wasn’t completely wrong but he wasn’t completely right to tell you not to worry. He grabbed his golden egg with no problem but had gotten hurt in the process. You had seen him hurt in quidditch plenty of times before and a few of those were worse than this injury. But any idea of a dragon worried you.

Cedric on the other hand was fairly satisfied as the golden egg that screamed whenever it was opened rested on top of his dresser. It was starting to seem like a Godsend that the next task was after the break because neither of you had any clue how to start solving the puzzle.

“What do you even think we’re doing in between the tasks?” Cedric asked as he came out of his bathroom, roughly drying his hair with a towel.

“Probably something to bring all the schools together. It’s actually been a lot of fun having them here. There’s a few Beauxbatons girls that study with us in the library.”

“Yeah, I actually trained a bit with Krum. His workout is insane.” He settled in next to you, under the blanket.

You cuddled into his side with a sigh. “I’m going to miss this when you ask out Cho. Lucky you still get someone to cuddle with.”

“You’ve got Bennett.”

“Oh, please, we both know he likes you better.”

“I’m sure we’ll find you a new cuddle partner in no time.”

You hummed in agreement before closing your eyes to find sleep. In the morning, you found out exactly what was happening between the tasks. The entirety of Hufflepuffs year four through seven was gathered into some room on one of the abandoned floors. Professor Sprout announced with a lot of delight that there was a Yule Ball. Mixes of despair and excitement echoed throughout the room. On one hand, the prospect of a ball was exciting. On the other hand, the idea of getting a date was a nightmare.

There was an unspoken agreement that since this wasn’t explicitly a girls-ask-guys dance, none of the girls really wanted to ask. Which meant the fear of either not being chosen for a date or the fear of having to put on big girl panties and be the one to ask which might actually be more embarrassing if you become the only one who has to do that. You leaned over to whisper in Cedric’s ear.

“Perfect time to ask her. Then ask her out at the end of the night.”

“Just what I was thinking.”

With his Yule Ball date squared away, the only question was your date. It was something that you had ignored earlier in the year but now it kind of crept back up in your mind. Cedric still got a lot of attention this year. You noticed that yours had dropped, not just significantly, but to zero. The scars on your arm had healed. Everything else hadn’t.

You didn’t want to say that they were the reason for the sudden lack of interest but it felt like they were. The one on your face just stuck out no matter what. You tried not to look at it in mirrors and just live as if they didn’t exist. But now it was hard to ignore.

You were starting to worry that your fears were correct the closer the date of the ball came. Cedric asked Cho who obviously said yes. Lots of guys had asked other girls out. All of your roommates were asked out by Durmstrang or Beauxbatons boys except for Aggie who was going with her girlfriend. With the thought that you might be dateless, you started thinking about how to make the best dress possible. Your legs were thrown over the armchair in the office as you flipped through muggle and wizard catalogs for a dress.

“What about this one? Minnie thought it was nice.” You held up a muggle prom dress catalog.

Remus was surprised that he was even entertaining you but it was better than seeing you mope about a lack of date. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was the reason why even if you tried to act like the scars either weren’t there or weren’t caused by him.

“What about the blue one in that other book that you were looking at?”

“I heard that Hannah Abbott bought that dress which means absolutely not.”

“No?”

“Moony, I’m not getting a date so this dress not only needs to be fabulous but needs to be completely unique.”

“You might still get a date.”

“There’s a very limited pool of sixth and seventh year men that are into women. The fifth years are all too intimidated to ask out someone older and the fourth years are like babies to me. I mean I’d go if one of them was brave enough to ask but everyone knows after balls are after parties and that’s the real in—”

“Ah! Ah, ah, ah, don’t want to hear it. Do not want to hear about any of that. Just keep showing me dresses.”

You chuckled and held up another one. McGonagall didn’t mind knowing all the tea about students that you had to give. Remus definitely still cared about not needing to hear everything. You dog-eared a bunch of pages with dresses that might be the perfect option. Remus gave you a fake smile when you announced that your picking of dresses was nowhere near over.

He wasn’t sure when he got roped into such a task. You weren’t sure either considering you didn’t actually think he could dress. But you just valued his opinion, wanting to hear it even if you weren’t going to use it. So even if he picked the ugliest dress imaginable, you would still dog-ear the page despite no intention to buy it.

You showed some of the dresses that you and Remus picked to Cedric and your roommates during Study Hall. As long as you weren’t talking too loudly, Snape didn’t seem to care that none of you were doing work. He only strolled over once to see if you were grading any of his Slytherins and to double check that Remus didn’t give you any of your friends’ papers.

You blinked in surprise when a crumpled up ball of parchment paper hit you in the face. The paper landed pathetically on your dress catalog. You opened it in confusion when you saw nothing written down. The moment your eyes looked up, you found a bunch of Gryffindors staring at you intently. Your favorite little fourth years were staring intensely. You seemed to catch on when you caught Ron’s eyes flitting from you to George constantly. You rested your chin on your hand and tilted your head as you looked at George. The goofy charades to ask you to the ball were hard not to laugh at.

Even if he wasn’t your friend, you would have nodded your head yes in an instant. Having a date made you instantly perk up. Cedric gave a wink to George in thanks and appreciation. He would have asked you, even if that meant not going with Cho, but he knew that would make you feel worse. In the end, you had a lovely date, and most importantly a sparkly dress that made all of your roommates gasp.

“Alright, let’s go.”

You met Cho and her friends who were waiting at the barrels outside your common room to be let in. She followed you, Beatrice, Magnolia, Aggie, and her girlfriend straight to Cedric’s room. You leaned against the doorway.

“Wow, Mr. Diggory, looking dapper. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you clean up this nice for a girl before. Now, get out, please and thank you.”

“Excuse me?” He watched you usher all the girls in. “Wait, what is happening?”

“Remember I said we were using your room to get ready. Come on, you have a private bathroom, please. Girls, puppy dog faces. Please!”

“Fine, fine. I’m leaving.”

“Thank you!” You called as he walked away.

The privacy of Cedric’s room allowed you and the girls to enjoy getting ready. Steam rolled out of the shower as the prefect’s bathroom counter became covered in various makeup compacts. Cho and her friends seemed to enjoy talking with you and your roommates. You could see the Ravenclaw start to relax the more you all got ready together. This was nothing new to you but it was still nice to see her open up to you, especially body language wise. You and Cedric had a set routine of befriending or at least being friendly with each other’s future significant partners. It was to make them more comfortable with how close your relationship was. You felt it especially necessary after the Amortentia class.

“Turn that up,” you encouraged Cho when a song you liked that she chose came on.

Getting ready took significantly longer than it should have because none of you had the ability to only get dressed. You jumped with joy as you made your way to the Great Hall. Ever the gentleman, George offered an arm and escorted you into the ballroom. You gave Cedric a little wave before entering with the other students that weren’t champions.

The professors watched all the students enter the hall, most with dates. It was expected that a lot of the fourth years didn’t have dates but their attention was caught by the few sixth and seventh years that came with no one. You were one of the shockers. The first surprise was when they heard Mr. Diggory hadn’t asked you. The second was you saying yes to George. Remus snorted into his drink.

He remembered how you came back to the office shortly after being asked and after a brief visit to McGonagall. You were now adamant about having the best dress ever and wouldn’t let him rest until you had only three options to choose from. The dress you chose was your second favorite if he remembered correctly. No, it was your first favorite. Something about sparkles which if Remus was honest he didn’t understand at all. Sparkles weren’t a color so how could they be someone’s favorite? You were hesitant about it because it was strapless which meant the scars you could hide with the uniform would finally be seen.

He would always be sorry about the incident but Remus thought you had nothing to worry about. You were gorgeous with or without them. And your dress just enhanced that beauty as you smiled with your friends.

He was momentarily revolted with himself, eyes quickly averting. Whatever he was thinking surely couldn’t have been his true thoughts. He simply meant you looked as sweet and lovely as the other young women and girls at the ball. It was nice as a professor to see his students let go of the stress of school and doll themselves up to their desire simply to have fun and be happy. That was all he meant. That had to have been all he meant.

George was a great date. You kind of already knew that would be the case. He was one of your friends after all. The two of you were tearing up the dance floor with lots of laughter to accompany your moves. You were sure that you would have enjoyed the Yule Ball without a date but it was fun to dance to the slow songs instead of sitting awkwardly on the sides. It only got better when The Weird Sisters came out. Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons truly felt like one giant school with how much you all were having fun and mingling with each other.  

The more he found himself watching you, Remus realized he needed to leave. At least momentarily, just for some air. What he was thinking was so over the line that he couldn’t believe himself. His mind kept screaming at whatever part of his brain was still trying to argue that you were pretty.

She’s our student

And colleague

Absolutely not. I’m her professor

What? She’s an adult.

The fact that we even have to think that means we know there’s a problem. She hasn’t been an adult for terribly long

And?

And I am her professor!

It’s not like we knew her when she was a first year or even a fourth year, that would be wildly inappropriate.

That would? But not this?

Is our age really the problem?

What?

Is that or are we scared? We’ve always cut off our relationships because of our condition.

That can be discussed after we talk about the first problem. Y/N is no—

What if she likes us back? She hangs out in our office for much longer than necessary and likes going to the pub with us.

Oh, please, Remus. Pull yourself together!

He stumbled back a little when he saw you sitting on the ledge of one of the windowed archways. You jumped up abruptly to stand in front of him, seeming to block something from his sight.

“Moony! You look very dapper in the new robes. You should wear more dress robes in class.”

“Thank you, (Y/N). Your dress is very nice.”

“Thanks. How are you, shouldn’t you be having fun at the dance? Chaperoning and all th—”

“You should stop trying to lie, you’re shit at it.”

You deflated. “I’m not, you just caught me off guard ‘s all.”

Almost like he had forgotten about his entire mental argument, Remus moved to lean against the ledge that you had been previously sitting on. “What am I pretending not to notice?”

“I, nothi—”

“Y/N, I’ve seen that look on Sirius and James’ faces enough times to know trouble.”

“George is just going to the bathroom, so is Fred.”

“The bathroom right there or…”

“The bathrooms in Slytherin.”

Remus just sighed but left it at that. You watched him take a sip of his drink that was in all the flasks the professors had been holding. You were positive once you saw Professor Moody had passed them out and only the house-elves were refilling them that all the flasks contained alcohol. The real question was what type? Remus cocked an eyebrow as you made grabby hands at his flask. With a slight roll of his eyes, he took a final sip and passed it to you. You gave him a cheeky grin that for once he wished you didn’t aim in his direction. There was a reason he was your favorite staff member in all of Hogwarts— aside from Hagrid who let you go with him into the Forbidden Forest just to try and find unicorns.

But Remus was a close second, if not tied for first. He let you do what you wanted… as long as it wasn’t illegal. You suspected that he must have been the same way during his Hogwarts years with the other marauders. A breath hitched in your throat when you noticed his eyebrow still raised as he watched you put the flask to your lips. You weren’t sure why. He had done it plenty of times before, whether to you or other staff or other students.

It was just the atmosphere of the dance. It had to be. Of course the snow outside and all the fancy outfits painted Remus in a very romantic light. You internally gasped at the thought that came from nowhere and quickly drank some of the alcohol in the flask. Remus laughed when your face scrunched up and you handed the flask back.

“You could have warned me it was whiskey. I thought it was just some of the punch but spiked.”

“Sorry,” he responded rather apathetically as you moved to stand next to him. “How much longer are you on lookout?”

“Why?”

Remus scoffed. “Didn’t I just say I was going to act like I didn’t see anything. Minnie makes rounds in fifteen minutes, Karkaroff in twenty-five.”

“To make sure students don’t sneak away? Because I’ve already seen like four couples, you guys are doing a poor job.”

“More like letting you all think you’re getting away with your fun. It’s one dance, we’re more invested in making sure all the young students don’t sneak out or find any alcohol we know you all have on you.”

“Oh… well, George said it was kind of elaborate but they’ve been gone for a minute. They’ll probably be back in ten minutes or so.”

“It’s nice to see you enjoying yourself.”

“Mmm hmm, George has actually been a pretty nice date. I mean he’s my friend so of course it was nice but— I don’t know. Do you get what I mean, Moony?”

“He’s treating you as if it’s not just a friend date.”

“Yeah! It’s nice, especially since I thought I wouldn’t even have a date.”

“You didn’t actually believe that, did you?” Remus looked at you as you shrugged.

“I’m not an idiot. Part of the reason people think Ced and I are hot is because we’re confident, I haven’t exactly been that this year. I’m still getting used to seeing myself with this.” You gestured to the scars. “Most people think they’re ugly too. A date to this ball isn’t like the Halloween or Valentine’s dance. This is a vanity game.”

“They aren’t ugly.”

Your eyes widened. “Moony, I didn’t mean scars are ugly. I’m just— my—”

“Y/N, I didn’t think you were talking about all of them. It still doesn’t change my stance. Yours are fine, still delicate somehow. Nothing like mine.” He closed his eyes as your fingers touched one of the scars on his face.

“Yours are perfect. They don’t take away how handsome you are or how nice you are. They don’t mean anything, just a part of you.”

You looked at where his jaw clenched underneath your fingers. Even his side profile was handsome as he just breathed under your touch, his mouth in a hard line. It wouldn’t hurt if he smiled more. You loved his smile— the one that he always showed when you two were grading papers in Three Broomsticks. Without any thought, you reached up to kiss the scar that you had just been touching. The smile you liked slowly plastered itself on Remus’ face. He turned his head to look at you. His free hand gently traced your chin and turned your head a bit. He kissed the base of the scar on your face.

“Yours is a part of you too,” he murmured, lips still grazing your skin. “You’re still beautiful.”

Remus kissed the scar again before leaning down a little more to press a simple kiss to your lips. The lingering taste of the fruit punch was on your lips. Your hand reached up once again to rest against the side of his face, wanting to deepen the kiss. You had plenty of experiences snogging before but this one was different. There was extra experience with Remus. He wasn’t in a rush. You gasped a bit as his hand went to caress your waist, the sound making you both aware, pulling away with a vengeance.

Remus cleared his throat and looked away while you wiped at your lips as if that would get rid of what had just happened moments ago. He did the same when he found it in himself to move again. You two just looked at each other. Both of your mouths opened and closed, unsure of what to say or do.

“I’m going to go find George,” you said quietly.

Remus nodded. “You should go find George.”

As if summoned, the redhead and his twin appeared in the hallway. George started talking about the prank before suddenly shutting up at seeing Remus, trying to act as if he didn’t just admit to breaking into Slytherin with Fred. You pulled at his hand.

“I’m tired of the dance. My room?”

The twin blinked. “Wait, for real? You wan—”

“Just kiss me, George.”

“Gladly.”

A hand gripped your waist while another gripped the side of your face as his lips smashed against yours. Your fingers almost faltered at the smoothness of his skin, choosing to tangle in his robes instead. George laughed as Fred gagged and said to get a room. Remus, under the guise that he was pretending not to see what you were doing and wouldn’t punish any of you, put the flask back to his lips as he started to walk back to the hall. Fred followed behind him, while you and George went towards Hufflepuff.

Cedric came in many hours later, a bit surprised to see you in his room and completely changed out of your dance attire.

“Heard from Weasley number two that you left with George. I thought you’d be with him.”

“Is Cho with you?” You moved to look behind him.

“No, I walked her to Ravenclaw.”

“Oh, good, I need you right now.” You flopped back onto the bed. “I sent George back a little before you came in.”

Cedric nodded as he closed his door. He started taking off his robes to change into pajamas when he paused and looked at you with a scrunched up face.

“Was he in here? You did change the sheets af—”

“Oh, I didn’t fuck in your bed! And of course I would have changed the sheets.”

“Okay, then.” Cedric laid next to you, pulling you into his arms. “What’s up?”

“I kissed Professor Lupin… I snogged Professor Lupin.”

Your friend almost shot up. “You what?!”

“Don’t make me repeat it.”

“Did he force you becau—”

“No! No, it was nothing like that. I actually kissed him first.”

“Y/N.”

“I know, I know.”

“I mean,” Cedric started trying to rationalize. “Your parents have the same age gap. Your mum’s older than your dad by almost as much as Professor Lupin is you. I guess it’s not too bad?”

“You can say it. I snogged our professor like he was some seventh year boy because I’m an idiot.”

“Yeah, pretty much… Did he kiss back? Merlin, he kissed back! Did you like it?”

You looked up at Cedric before dropping your head on his chest with a groan. “I can’t like it.”

He patted your back. “Well, I will support whatever you do.”

“You will?”

“We’re both adults, as long as your choices aren’t hurting anyone, especially you, I’ll support you.”

Cedric was already playing his supporting role to perfection. He waited outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom despite it being the morning after the dance and everyone else was still asleep or waiting for the special breakfast. You stopped yourself from knocking on the door. You had never knocked before. Remus’ eyes passively looked up when his office door was opened before he shot to his feet when he noticed it was you.

“Y/N,” he stuttered out. “Um, do you want tea or are you here for the grading papers?”

“Both.”

“Good, both.”

You sat in the arm chair behind your desk, graciously accepting the tea. Remus went back to his own desk. The slurps between the two of you were obnoxiously loud. You still looked beautiful to him and he still looked handsome to you. Neither was willing to say anything, to break the tension. You both knew with one word that you would go into irreversible territory with dangerous consequences if the path is veered off of for even a moment. Remus set his cup down first.  

“Last night, what we did was…”

“Inappropriate.” You answered.

“Yes. I would like to apologize for even making an advance in your direction. That was recklessly out of line for me to do. I know our relations— work partnership makes things a bit different between us but I am still your professor so I’m sorry for kissing you.”

“I’m also sorry for encouraging it… I think maybe we shouldn’t have tea over the break.”

“That might be best.” Remus leaned over to take a box from his desk drawer. “Since we aren’t meeting for Christmas, I should give this to you now. It was just a present I prepared last month for my assistant.”

You pulled your own gift for him out of your bag. “I did the same, buy you a present last month.”

The two of you were careful not to brush fingers as you exchanged the gifts. Remus held up the little box.

“Thank you, Y/N. I’ll see you after the break.”

“I’ll get these papers graded and see you after winter break, Professor.”

Remus hung his head down to get back to work as you walked out of the office. Both of you tilted your head when out of each other’s company, wanting to go to the other and say something else. Instead, you both let the thoughts pass and continued on your day prepping to go home for the holidays.

(Part 6)

[novelconcepts]

FOUND IT!!! Consider this an official ask for 3 and 14 combined! #wheee

smiling into a kiss and play wrestling

Having a best friend again is strange. She’d gone so long imagining the phrase as a sort of neon sign staked firmly in the past: Best Friend, already spoken for. Eddie had always been it; no other volunteers need apply. 

But Eddie’s gone now, out of her life, living out wherever his might go in another country altogether, and Dani finds the position has--slowly, without really planning for it--been filled once more. Not that she planned for it. Not that could ever could have. 

She didn’t come to Bly looking for Jamie, and if you’d told her the gardener who refused to so much as meet her eyes, much less introduce herself, would become the most important person in her life--well. Life is full of surprises.

There is so little of Eddie in Jamie, she sometimes wonders how both could have occupied the same shape in her heart. Sometimes wonders how Eddie--who prized cleanliness, routine work hours, dinners at his mother’s once a week--would look at Jamie, if he could see her. Jamie, all tousled hair, happiest with a cigarette between her teeth and both hands buried in soil. Jamie, who has never kept a nine-to-five, never craved Sunday afternoons with her parents, never looks at Dani like she expects firm posture, bright smile, neat clothes. 

They couldn’t possibly be more different--and yet, somehow, Jamie is��her best friend. Unfair to think it, maybe, but she might be the best friend Dani’s ever had. Her sense of humor is dark, her vocabulary wallpapered with curse words and shorn letters; she smells of nicotine and sunscreen, dresses in wrinkled flannels and torn jeans. Where Eddie looped an arm around her shoulders, Jamie nudges her with bony elbows; where Eddie pressed his lips to her temple, Jamie leans carefully away. Different, in every measure. 

And it isn’t that she likes Jamie more. That wouldn’t be fair--not after so many years in Eddie’s company. It’s just that when Jamie looks at her, eyes bright, dirt smudged on one cheek, sometimes, she feels...

“You’re thinking,” Jamie observes. She doesn’t say it the way Eddie would--the way he always pointed out when she was clenching her fist under the table, or picking at her nails, his voice edged with concern bordering on condescension. Her voice is light, her lips curved in a small smile. 

Eddie never quite smiled at her like that. Or, if he did, it didn't pluck the same chord in her stomach. Not that that matters. Not that that affects the sincerity of friendship. 

Not that it’s making her feel weirdly flushed this afternoon. 

“Am I not allowed to think?” she asks. The sun, she thinks, is responsible for the goofy smile on her face. The heat of the day, which stretches on and on the way only early July knows how.

“Not arguing,” Jamie says. “One of us ought to.”

She’s on her knees, pulling weeds, her face shining with sweat. There’s something about days like this--afternoons where the kids are occupied helping Owen bake cookies, leaving Dani to nurse a glass of water and pleasantly-meandering conversation--that feels almost too good to be allowed. Eddie would have wanted to do something with a day like this: hike, or clear up the yard, or go visit family. 

Jamie, on the other hand, pushes to her feet and surveys the bed she’s spent all day working. “Think that’s good enough for a break. Here, budge over.”

Dani obediently scoots to the edge of her seat, amused when Jamie flops down half in her lap. A year of working at the manor, and Jamie’s gone from a woman who couldn’t make eye contact to save her life to this: gangly limbs tossed haphazardly over Dani’s, sweat-slick skin sticking where it lands against Dani’s shoulder. It’s too hot for cozying up like this, but she can’t seem to convince herself to push Jamie away. 

“There,” Jamie sighs, tilting her head back against the plastic of the lawn chair. “Christ, feels good just to breathe.”

“You breathe,” Dani says, “and I’ll think. Together, we make an almost-functional human being.”

“Almost,” Jamie says wryly. Her hand loops around Dani’s, teasing the sweating glass out of her grip long enough to take a sip. Dani nudges her. 

“Could get you one of your own, if you ever learned to ask politely.”

“Don’t like me polite,” Jamie says with a shrug. “My brand is prickly-yet-charming, and we both know I’m your favorite for it.”

“Technically,” Dani corrects, “Flora is my favorite. Mainly because she doesn’t make me remind her to say please.”

“Please,” Jamie says without missing a beat, “keep pretending you aren’t captivated by my winning personality.”

Dani laughs. “Oh, is that what I am?”

“Mm.” Jamie takes another sip, reaches over her to set the glass down on the table, closes her eyes. “S’what you were all pensive about just now, I’m sure. How entranced you are with my witty banter.”

“Entranced,” Dani repeats.

“Beguiled. Mesmerized. Drunk with adoration.” Jamie’s face is pink, a bead of sweat neatly lining her upper lip. Dani only realizes she’s staring a fortunate beat before Jamie rolls her head to the left, peering at her with lazy amusement. “Go on. Tell me how much you love me.”

“Love how ridiculous you can be, maybe.” And how sweet, and how unquestioningly soft, though she doesn’t see a need to put that into words--or a way to do it without sounding entirely out of her head. The heat, she thinks, is absolutely getting to her. 

It���s the heat, making her want suddenly to slide an arm between the plastic back of the chair and the cotton of Jamie’s tank top, pulling her even closer. The heat, making her want to displace the normal back-and-forth ease of friendship with something else entirely. 

She’s had a best friend before. She’s never quite wanted to do with Eddie what she is, more and more, thinking about with Jamie curled up beside her. 

Distract, she thinks, because Jamie is still watching her with that half-lidded expression she gets when the sun is particularly bright, the day’s work has been well-tended, and Dani’s shoulder is a cushion beneath her head. More and more, it’s been feeling like a dangerous sort of moment, Jamie’s face lingering near the crook of her neck. Jamie’s breath coasting down the neckline of her dress. Jamie’s smile sweeter than should be allowed, given the grumpy way she slouches around the grounds. 

“Thinking,” Jamie says, her voice almost soft. Dani shakes her head. 

“It’s not illegal.”

“Is,” Jamie says, “if you’re gonna just stare at me all googly-eyed while you do it. C’mon, what gives? Is today some holiday I’ve forgotten?” She sits up a little straighter, her face comic in its sudden concern. “Shit, Poppins, it’s not your birthday.”

She almost wants to say it is, just to watch Jamie turn fascinating new shades of maroon. “No--just--it’s hot.”

Jamie sags back with palpable relief. Her arm is freckled, Dani notices, beyond the norm; the summer is drawing all sorts of secrets from her skin, and it’s suddenly painfully tempting, the urge to trace her nail along these newfound constellations. 

Distract, she thinks again, more urgently this time. Without thinking it through, without considering the consequences, she dips two fingers into the glass of water and flicks the still-cool moisture directly into Jamie’s face. 

Jamie, to her credit, hardly jumps. She’s just blinking at Dani like their conversation has taken an unanticipated left turn into another language, water dripping from the end of her nose. 

“Okay,” she says. “If that’s how we’re playing it.”

Her arm reaches across without hesitation, replicating Dani’s playbook: two fingers dipped, flicked, landing back in her lap as Dani sputters. 

“You got me in the eye.”

“Cooled you off, though?” Jamie asks, almost politely. Dani laughs, and suddenly, it’s war. There’s barely enough room on the chair for the both of them to sit like adults, much less to squirm around, hips knocking, legs tangled up as the remainder of the glass finds its way--droplet by droplet--into Jamie’s face, down Dani’s neck, sometimes missing entirely and disappearing into the sizzling summer air. 

Dani is ultimately the victor, an upset decided when she grasps the glass--now containing maybe two inches of water--and upends it directly over Jamie’s head. She’s laughing almost too hard to breathe, particularly when Jamie gives a firm shake of her hair, looking like a rumpled dog after a bath.

“That,” Jamie says in a low, dangerous tone, “cannot stand.”

She’s up before Dani can stop her, sprinting toward the garden hose uncoiled in the grass. Dani twists in her seat, knees drawn up to her chest, arms extended.

“Don’t you dare!”

“All’s fair,” Jamie says, almost apologetically, depressing the trigger. 

They are, Dani notes somewhere in the back of her mind, full-grown adult women. They are thirty years old, gainfully employed, responsible for the upkeep of an entire house and the well-being of two small children. 

They are also now chasing one another across the lawn, Dani sopping wet, Jamie laughing so hard she nearly trips over her own feet taking a corner too fast. The hose is growing more and more tangled by the minute as she dashes in a zig-zag pattern, periodically firing a jet of water over her shoulder, and Dani has no prayer of catching up--not with her shoes squelching, slipping on wet grass, her lungs clenched around a soundless jag of laughter. 

Adults, she thinks, as Jamie makes the insurmountable error of trying to bolt past her like a quarterback dodging a tackle; she makes a successful leap over the tangled hose, but forgets at the last second to factor in the edge of the lawn chair. Dani has her around the middle before she can dart out of reach, the both of them tumbling over in a cackling heap of grass clippings, puddled hose water, freckled limbs. 

They’re rolling, shouting wordlessly around giggles, Dani struggling to pry the hose out of Jamie’s hands. It’s harder than it looks; Jamie is small, but strong in an annoyingly wiry sort of way. Even when Dani manages to get her onto her back, the water is inescapable, dousing in short jets across her chest, down her arms, pooling awkwardly between them. 

“You are,” she laughs, “a child.”

“Could a child do this?” Jamie replies, jerking upward at the hips with unexpected force. Dani rocks up with her, one hand grasping the sodden front of Jamie’s shirt for balance, and drops back down without budging from her seat. Jamie releases an oof as her back makes rough contact with the ground again, giggling too hard to successfully shove Dani over.

“Yes, actually, I think a child would be exactly that effective,” Dani informs her. Her body has never felt quite this alive, her muscles aching with the effort of an unplanned run. Jamie, chest heaving for breath, is practically glowing. 

“Just want to remind you,” Jamie says, “you did start this.”

“Does that mean I win?” If she hasn’t, she can’t imagine it would feel any better than this: straddling Jamie’s hips in the soft grass, cool water seeping down her back, her dress sticking pleasantly to warm skin. Jamie allows the hose to drop from her grip at last, her head tipped back, eyes closed.

“Call it a draw.”

“What if I wanted to win?” She slides a hand up without thinking, pinning Jamie by the wrist before she can decide to take up her watery weapon again. Jamie draws a deep breath, face flushed, grinning. 

“Guess you’d have to work harder for it.”

Children, Dani thinks--but suddenly, it doesn’t feel childish anymore. Suddenly, she’s overly aware of her dress rucked high around her thighs, of how short Jamie’s shorts really are, how her body is considerably less obscured than usual with her shirt plastered to her frame. Suddenly, she’s aware of Jamie’s hand flexing against the grass, pinned beside her head with a loose enough grip to break--though Jamie isn’t breaking it. Isn’t even trying.

Jamie is, instead, gazing up at her with hair mussed, eyes bright. Jamie, whose free hand is sliding up to rest along the curve of Dani’s hip. 

She’s Dani’s best friend, like he was, but this doesn’t feel like it belongs in the same category as late-night stories swapped by the fire, or letting each other steal the vegetables the other doesn’t care for off their plate. This feels like a category all its own: the way Jamie licks her lips as Dani’s head lowers, the way Dani’s fingers graze the freckles painting her wrist on the way up to notching her palm against Jamie’s. 

Her hair is wet, and Jamie’s face is sweaty, and there’s so little romance to the whole picture, it takes her by surprise. She’s always thought there should be talking before a thing like this, at least--a decision made on equal footing. 

“I don’t have to,” she says, even as Jamie is saying, “Do you want to?”

Children would laugh again, go back to wrestling, go back to how it all felt just a few minutes before. They are not, Dani notes as she lowers her head--as Jamie shifts up at the shoulders to meet her--children. 

She’s hyper-aware of all of it now: the sun beating against her shoulders, the hand Jamie is using to grip the back of her dress, the exact angle of Jamie’s mouth parting beneath her own. Her tongue is gentle, brushing Jamie’s, and the sound Jamie makes into her is anything but. 

She’s smiling, she realizes, so hard, it hurts--that deep, wonderful hurt of laughing too hard for too long, of slipping in the grass and landing in a heap with someone who couldn’t help catching her on the way down. She’s grinning into Jamie even as she’s kissing her, even as she’s letting her body stretch out to press Jamie more firmly against the damp ground. 

And Jamie, fingers curled between her own, making soft sounds of appreciation into the kiss, is grinning right back. 

“This was your plan all along,” she accuses, brushing the hair from Dani’s eyes when they break for a breath. “Awful lot of work, for a kiss.”

“All’s fair?” Dani suggests--and she genuinely, honestly cannot decide which she likes more: the way Jamie kisses, or the way Jamie kisses and laughs at the same time. All of it, she feels, goes a country mile beyond best friends. All of it goes a country mile beyond anything she could ever have dreamed up, walking away from him the way she did. 

It couldn’t possibly be more different.

[gravesofheirscog]

How would the ROs react to an MC who finds pompom revenant or any forms of the revenant to be adorable? Like, “look at how adorable he is” holding the pompom revenant in their hands while shaking him like a magic 8 ball while his googly googly eyes start going googly while they’re shaking him.

Vitalius/Astasus: Astasus is enchanted... with you. You are the epitome of kindness, looking upon such a pitiful creature and managing to find something to love. Your excitement has him feeling excited too, but he'd be remiss if he didn't admit that your pet is a bit unnerving to look at.

Eratine: You're insane - that's the only explanation. To look at... that, and find anything redeemable is something not even a blind man would be capable of. The fact that you've glued googly eyes to it and are shaking it like it owes you money is a whole other problem! He can barely bring himself to look at it - the glee on your face, the excitement has nothing to do with it! He is not blushing!

Bernadine: She's captivated, and the sight of the googly eyes bouncing up and down along with your lit up face has her laughing. The curious thoughts that normally overtake everything else are pushed away as she listens to you wax poetic about the creature in your arms. She doesn't find it adorable, no; it is something, and so are you.

Brigid/Hesychia: Is somewhat enamored, both with how you can find a creature such as that adorable, how you managed to stick googly eyes on it, and what the hells it is in the first place. Honestly, it creeps her out but she'll be a good sport, especially with how excited you are to show it to her. After the shock wears off, she'll glare at it behind your back. How dare this creature take up your attention and time!

Miki-Tane: He loves the googly eyes, and loves you for thinking to put them on... that. He'll try and understand what you love about it, tilting his head to look at it from different angles. When he decides it's a horrifying nightmare creature that should be killed with fire, he'll simply laugh and nod along with you. May poke it with a stick when you're not looking, just out of curiosity.

Diacinth: You ever see those videos of cats who bring live mice into their home and the owners jump onto furniture to hide from the mice? That's Diacinth. The googly eyes only make it worse - why are they all looking at him? He has climbed up onto a bookshelf, invisibility in full effect to hide from it. After the fact it makes him feel somewhat good that you have so much love to give, especially to something so grotesque. If you could love that, maybe you could tolerate him?

Nonnatus: Despite thinking it has to be some kind of affront onto God, Nonnatus is somewhat curious. He'll poke at it with his finger, inspecting almost as if he were planning to eat it later. After looking at it, and seeing how happy you are to show him, he thinks he gets what's charming about it. While he won't ask, Nonnatus will secretly hope you ask him to play with it together. Nothing would make him happier.

Bonus - Revenant: He's regretting every decision he's ever made as you shake him about. Will throw up, and he will direct it at you.

[botwstoriesandsuch]

10/6 Age of Calamity Trailer Analysis

It’s only 44 seconds but there’s stuff to be analyzed so let’s just jump into it!

First opening shot is of a familiar fade in, similar to that of the memory cutscenes in Botw, BUT, you’ll notice there Sheikah Slate marks covering it. Either meaning this cutscene is some flashback through a video on the Sheikah Slate, OR (the more likely option) it’s just a reference to the fact that the two focusing characters of this trailer (Robbie and Purah) and Sheikah Researchers. Neat detail nonetheless!

King dude sitting on his throne. From the lighting and referring to the layout of the room in game, this scene takes place sometime in early morning 

Similar to that, if we stick to our 180 line film school rule, Zelda standing below her father (symbolism of power dynamic but that’s a given) is also in the early morning. Given she’s in her researcher/field blouse, I’d say she’s going out to do a mission, and not doing any ceremonial pomp and stuff. I think this scene is her getting a stern talking to by her dad before she goes

Despite the overlap of the King’s dialogue here, this above shot is undoubtedly of a different scene all together. They’re [Zelda, Link, and Impa, who’s behind Zelda] outside of the Sactum/Throne Room, rushing off somewhere to do something. AND Zelda is holding some unknown device

Is this an instrument?? It looks like there’s holes in it like some sort of panflute. Could also be a gear? An Ancient Sheikah piece? Perhaps they’re bringing this to Robbie and Purah to look at?

I’m hesitant to put this shot in the same scene as the previous one because the lighting is different, but judging from the stone walls and his sigh, I’m thinking this is the “I see my daughter is rushing off to research guardians again even tho I told her not to” look of disappointment. Or the “I don’t wanna be harsh on my daughter but I’m the kind and we have duties” sort of thing. It’s something angsty at the very least, just look at the foreboding walls and shadows

He’s arrived! Electric guitar riff and all! You can also see eggbot on the table there, deactivated I assume. The egg bot isn’t glowing or anything, and from the looks of the above lamp thingy there is a source of Sheikah power somewhere so perhaps they’re trying to turn it one, or open it up and see what’s inside

I am 50% sure that this is at the Royal Ancient Lab. One because...he’s a Royal Ancient scientist...there’s a Royal Ancient Lab...so. Ahem TWO, because BRICKS!!

Make like Purah and CHECK IT because the wooden scaffolding and bricks in the background are of a different work than that of Hyrule Castle. Comparing the wall in the background with the models of the Botw game for the Royal Lab Ruins 

The style is much more similar, with smaller, alternating bricks rather than the Castle’s larger, parallel brick work. But I’ll explain why I’m only 50% sure in a bit. 

I can only assume they are looking at Robbie in disappointment both because of the editing of the shots, and because of the lighting. You’ll notice in my last screenshot that above you can see a distinct Sheikah-blue lamp.

Also, those models of paper and bookstacks in the background are the same/very very similar ones used in Hyrule Castle in Botw. So, if these guys are with Robbie, I’m inclined to believe this scene takes place deep in the Castle somewhere.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this part. I’m thinking the front of Hyrule Castle’s entrance, given the soldiers and the towering height of the wall behind them. Plus the style of the bricks in that classic fortress jutting brick style. This is at the time of day similar to the later shot with Urbosa and Purah, but I can’t define the orientation to see if this is sunset or sunrise. I’m inclined for sunset.

Also Purah and Robbie both have the same two red pins [THEY’RE NOT CHOPSTICKS PLEASE STOP SAYING THEY’RE CHOPSTICKS PLEASE] in their hair because of course our chaotic duo should match. I’m also very glad I can confirm pens exist in Hyrule so I can stop double guessing myself whether to use “quills” or “pens” in my fic. 

Also similar to Botw, Robbies googles are powered by the battery pack on his back, as you can see with the wire. We can even see it twitch in this scene, although it lacks the glowing googly eyes as the Robbie we see 100 years later. Safe to say he’d probably modified it by then.

Another reason why they’re probably not at the Royal Ancient Labs, the floor is different. The ones in the botw ruins are more of a naturally cut stone, rather than the rigid smooth squares we see in the trailer. I wouldn’t put it past Nintendo to completely ignore their canon and old details (even though it pains me) but I’m working with what I got here. Different floor, same blue musky lighting from the Sheikah overhead lamp, I’m 50% sure it’s Hyrule Castle. 

Guardian in the background, same wooden scaffolding as seen in Robbie’s initial appearance, plus the same lamps which are the same type you can find in the houses in Hateno, and in the Hateno Ancient Lab. 

Oh my god she is so cute I love her I am simping way to hard oh my oh my gosh

It’s Purah! Check it! She’s got her iconic glasses, the previously mentioned red pins, plus a cut red highlight ohhh mmy gogsh she isso prettby I-- She’s also got the Sheikah slate, and I can only hope with all my heart that in this moment she is taking a selfie because that would be so iconic. (But I doubt it because the orientation is the wrong way, you can see it’s the handle side up)

It’s a different brick type in the background now it’s exactly like the ones in the Castle interior with the wider width and shorter length the lighting is the same but is this really the same location as the one Robbie was shown in Nintendo what is the truth please

Maybe Purah and Robbie just have different offices, with the same blue musky overhead lamps. Then again...the only sources of the Sheikah Power/Blue Flame are in Hyrule Castle, Akkala, and Hateno, so maybe this really is in the Castle.

Anyhow, Impa looking embarrassed because of her sister’s antics is a mood.

This definetly takes place much later in the game. Link has the Hylian Shield (something only attained through trial) and Urbosa has already been made Champion at the Sanctum. This is around the front of the Castle Town wall judging from the style of the bricks and the rounded areas for the lookouts areas atop it. You can also see Sheikah working on fixing a wagon or something in the background

Don’t let Purah and her beautiful face distract you from the destruction in the background! Some walls or something have collapsed, and people are looking up at the wall and....

You can see the faintest glow of Sheikah blue as Purah moves her head. I’m thinking this is some sort of Guardian destruction, perhaps a test gone wrong, as I doubt they would be acting so casual if this was the work of the Calamity. 

The final shot fades to the same Sheikah Slate filter as the beginning of the trailer, and you can see Purah’s expression change in surprise because of something on the slate..hmmmm

Anyhow, moral of the story is: I am way too attracted to Purah, and I need Nintendo to keep consistent architecture and bricks please it’s the only thing I’m good at don’t take this away from me please I beg you I-

[soukokuwu]

hi rachel, i love ur work. i was wondering if u could pls write an angst to fluff scenario for ada dazai w a fem s/o. it’s always been a huge fear of mine to get cheated on because my parents never had the best relationship. i was wondering if u could write something about the reader talking w dazai about it and him initially thinking she doesn’t doesn’t trust him because of his past, but it actually being due to hers? sweet ending? tysm and i hope u have a good week !! much love

Dazai Osamu

➥ slight angst to fluff

➥ dazai x reader

➥ word count: 1.7k

➥ a/n: i’m sorry this took a long while, hopefully you’re still here, & i’m sorry to hear about that! my parents don’t have the best relationship either so i hope you’re doing okay 🤍

Your masks & mine

Insecurity kills all that is beautiful.

In this moment, you’ve never felt it to be more true. In this moment, as you look at the man you love, getting googly-eyes from the bartender. In this moment, you feel the fear, the anger, the upset, all creeping up on you. In this moment, even as the man you love has no one in his eyes but you.

It isn’t fair. This isn’t fair to him.

You try to talk yourself into concentrating on the conversation at hand. It’s something about Kunikida forcing Dazai to do things he didn’t feel like again. But even as you try your best, his voice sounds muffled at best. You continue to sip on your wine, your own thoughts eating you up.

Random memories flash across your mind.

That time when Dazai first brought you into the office and introduced you as his girlfriend. The look of shock on everyone’s faces you did not miss. They recovered quickly, but it still worried you.

That time when you were helping him with some paperwork, when he left to go to the restroom and only you and Atsushi were there. The weretiger had asked how you were doing, being with someone as suicidal as he. That wasn’t your concern though, because you already knew how Dazai felt about life and death. No. What concerned you was when Atsushi had so casually remarked on how astonishing it was that Dazai would even find a girlfriend, given his womanising nature.

A bandaged hand waves in front of your face.

Dazai asks if you’re alright, and what other answer is there than “I’m fine”? So you say it anyway, even if it’s an obvious lie.

And there it is again — Dazai believing you. Going back to the previous conversation. Not even so much as an “are you sure?” You know what he’s like — Kunikida and the others have always given his mind praise, even if his work attitude seems to be a total miss. They always mention how he’s able to see through people and their lies, how he’s always one step ahead of everyone else.

Then why? Why, if he truly was able to see through you — and you’re sure he can — why does he leave you be? Does he not care? Did he already know somehow and doesn’t bother to say a thing?

Images of your parents flash in your mind. The fake smiles, the happy charades, the “joyous” moments you thought you would all be able to recreate. You remember your mother smiling through the nights your father didn’t come back. You remember how tirelessly she worked for you, to support you. You remember her coming back after work, all despondent, but putting on an act the moment you came out of your room. But you knew, of course, that she was putting on a mask.

A mask — just like your father did.

When he came back smelling like women’s perfume, and your mother didn’t even question him. When he rarely came back at all sometimes, and she greeted him all the same. When he got angry and told her she didn’t even look like a woman to him anymore. But the moment you came out? There they were again — the masks. Your parents would hug each other and assure you everything was alright, giving each other pecks on the cheeks.

And just like your mother, you ignored the problem. Because you were afraid. Afraid of what might happen if it’s confronted.

But everyone breaks. And so did your family.

The masks never helped — they were but a hindrance. The masks they wore made them unhappy for years, unhappy ever since you were a kid. Those masks, those cursed masks, delayed their happiness.

A mask — just like Dazai always wears.

That thick comedic mask of his. Is there anything else he hides? He’s much more intelligent than you are; even if there is, you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell.

No, no, you convince yourself. He’s not anything like your father, he’s not wishy-washy, especially not when it comes to relationships. If he doesn’t like you, he won’t even bother. You’d be able to tell. So why? Why is the fear still here?

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Dazai’s voice snaps you out of your reverie. A worried expression is plastered on his face, and only then do you realise you’ve started tearing up. Your mind tries to think up excuses to mask your insecurities — and then you realise it’s you. You’re the one with a mask on this entire time. You’re the one who’s afraid to voice out your feelings. You’re the one not being fair by not being truthful with the man you love.

And you find this laughable. If you truly love him, why are you so afraid?

In a moment of panic, you run out the bar doors, never looking back. Not even when you hear his footsteps hurriedly chase after you, not even when you start to get drenched in the downpour, not even when you hear him yell out for you. You just know you hate yourself in this moment, and that you definitely don’t deserve someone like him. He’s always tried his best to be open with you about everything — his thoughts, his attempts. But you? You hide behind your walls, and then you even try to blame him for not attempting to break them down, when in reality, he’s just trying to give you space in case you feel uncomfortable. You know that. Why do you shield yourself so?

Dazai isn’t the despicable one here, so is it you?

You shut people away, then blame them for not coming close. You yell at the voices in your head to stop, but you’re the one making them. You blame yourself for everything, yet you still do nothing to change it. You —

An embrace from behind steals all the strength from your knees and you buckle to the ground, your wails — and your thoughts — being drowned out by the sound of the cars driving past. You choke out an apology to Dazai for being like this, and your heart aches when you realise he’s not even mad. The tone in his voice is just that of concern; his embrace nothing but warm and comforting. And as you force yourself to turn back and look into his hazelnut eyes, all you see is love.

“Let me take you back, okay?” Dazai tells you, his brown hair sticking to his face in this rain, his smile nothing but genuine as he looks down and waits for you to answer. In that moment, you know he’d do anything for you. Even if it is something this trivial, like squatting in this pouring rain and listening to you rant — he’d do it.

And as you nod, his smile gets a little wider and he presses his lips on your forehead.

“My precious belladonna.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You realise then, that your biggest insecurity is that Dazai would view you how you viewed yourself.

Your parents didn’t have the greatest relationship, and you blame yourself for it. And god knows why. But it makes you feel like you ruin relationships, that it’s because of you that they put on those masks in the first place. If you weren’t there, maybe they could’ve been happier sooner. But who can tell? Because what’s happened happened. And you still blame yourself.

But your fears prove redundant, because Dazai doesn’t feel the least bit repulsed that you are feeling insecure over the smallest (in your own words) things.

You spill the beans as soon as you’re both changed out into more comfortable, dry clothes. The heavy downpour caused a power outage, but neither of you cared. In the spill of the moonlight, Dazai holds you in his arms as he listens to you, in a way to shield you from how concerned he looks as he does. He did guess it has to do with your family, but never did he consider that you blame yourself this much.

He regrets not pursuing the matter, not asking you about it. He had assumed you needed time alone to get over it, that maybe it’s something personal you wanted to handle yourself. And so he tries his best to really listen to you tonight.

Dazai doesn’t understand, no matter how hard he tries. He doesn’t understand how it feels like to miss a happy family. His life has been enshrouded in darkness since he can remember. At least, until he joined the agency, where the light started peeking into his abyss. And it got even stronger the moment he met you.

There is one thing he understands, though.

When you say you ruin everything you touch. Every relationship, you ruin it. Even if you don’t mean to. And you lose people because you just aren’t enough. It reminds Dazai of someone who was once dear to him, but he shrugs the feeling away. Now, in this moment, he needs to be there for you, to be strong for you. And he smiles thinking of the reason — because he loves you.

This mask, the one he wears this time, the strong front he puts on — this one's for you.

“My lovely belladonna,” he whispers in your ear once you’re finished. You look up at him once more, and it’s like there’s even more love in his brown orbs. “I promise you, I will never do anything like that to you. I will always be honest with you, because I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”

It’s true, because you’re different from other people. Not that Dazai is going to pour his feelings out and explain it to you, because it doesn’t come naturally to him, but a fire is burning within him; a strong desire to make sure you know you’re loved, and that he’d always try to make you happy.

Your masks have finally come off, and Dazai can see the relief in your eyes as they do. He presses his forehead against yours, and gazes at you, praying that you can feel his sincerity in his words.

“I’m sure your parents never blamed you for anything, and that you’re actually the light of their life, the one regret they never had, because I feel the same,” he assures you, his voice low and steady. “I love you, and I will put everything I have into never letting you down, for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of your life?”

You can hardly believe it. Dazai hardly makes promises about anything, let alone anything to do with the future. And yet here he is, putting his all into making sure you wouldn’t feel like this anymore.

“The rest of my life.”

And he does.

tags: @yokelish @gogolparadise @fyowyn-writes

[omgreally]

The Apprentice Read on AO3 Pairing: Din Djarin/F!Reader Rating: E for Explicit, Soon Wordcount: 5k+ Summary: Peli Motto took you off the streets of Tatooine to become one of the best apprentices she's ever had - but honestly, the DUM droids are setting the bar pretty low.  Still, you work out well for the first few months until an armored Mandalorian stranger lands with a busted-up ship and a strange magic baby and, well, you're intrigued. Even though you know you shouldn't be. Peli's always teling you to keep away from anything hot but sometimes, to fix something, you have to stick your hand straight into the fire.

Chapter Two - The Beholder

The Mandalorian is always watching you.

You’ll be working on something on his ship and feel it - like standing with your back too close to a fire. The heat of his gaze gathers between your shoulder blades, amplified by the blankness of that damned visor. 

He doesn’t give a flying kriff that you notice, either. You’ll glance over your shoulder at him and he’ll be there, lounging against something, effortlessly casual, and he’ll just look at you and shrug, as if daring you to say something.

You tell yourself that Mando is just protective of his ship. There’s a lot of surprisingly expensive hardware on it - the contents of that weapons locker, for example - and he doesn’t want you to fuck something up. After all, you are the apprentice. Peli vouching for you doesn’t make a damn lick of difference. This floating metal trap is his home, and the first time you met you spent some time insulting it. It’s understandable he’d want to keep an eye on you after that.

And you tell yourself you don’t like it.

At first you try to ignore it. You work, and you work hard because Peli expects nothing less. You end up with the arms of your coveralls tied around your hips, your tank damp with sweat and sticking to your skin, your hair an absolute mess, covered head to toe in engine grease. 

You descend the recently-repaired ramp wiping your forehead on your arm, and here he is, leaning against one of the landing struts. “What are you doing?” he asks, making you jump near-out of your skin; you whirl to glare at him, clutching at your pounding heart.

“Taking a break,” you say, when you’ve recovered enough to speak. “I’ve been working all day.”

He surveys you impassively. Is there anything under that helmet, you wonder? Or is it just air and wires? Just like one of those droids. But no, the way he moves - all coiled, unreleased power, the potential for violence - you can feel he’s more than that.

You’re not sure if it terrifies or intrigues you.

You tell yourself it’s fine, that it doesn't really bother you. That every time he appears behind you your heart doesn’t skip a beat. But the sheer physicality of his presence is full of a devastating uncertainty and potential that you don’t know what to do with.

And he’s always watching you.

He says nothing, and you turn and shake your head, stomping off away from the ship. Razor Crest, it’s called. You think it should be called Tetanus Crest.

“What’s his deal?” you ask Peli as you grab some water inside. Your boss still has that weird green baby, but she’s given back your shirt, although you’re not sure you’ll wear it ever again. The thing coos and surveys you with googly eyes that creep you out only marginally less than Mando does.

“Whaddaya mean?” Peli’s only half-paying attention, too busy rocking the kid - Grogu - as she tries to get him to sleep in her arms. He waves his stubby claws, evidently enjoying himself too much to do so.

“He’s...very intense. Always watching me.”

“Well, he is a Mandalorian. They’re not exactly a friendly people. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s personal, Peli,” you say, shaking your head, “Every time he looks at me, I’m not sure if he wants to shoot me or fuck me.” 

You expect Peli to tell you off for your mouth. She only covers Grogu’s ears and glances around to make sure Mando isn’t listening when she says, “Careful, Girl. It could be both.” She laughs as you blush, from cheeks to collarbones, and she wriggles her hairless brows at you suggestively. Then, her fun had, the mechanic shakes her frizzy head and sits back, her tone turning a little more to the serious.

“Don't worry yourself too much. I trust him. Mando won’t hurt you. If he did, he’d owe me even more credits'n he already does. But he’s...he’s a good man, kid. Grogu here is proof of that.” The stubby creature makes a happy burbling noise and claps his tiny hands together. You can’t help but smile a little.

“Plus, if he hurts you, he’ll be answerin' to me. And you can remind him of that, too.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind him hurting me in a couple of ways,” you say breezily, if only to see the shocked look on Peli’s face. You walk away laughing. 

Well. Overall, that was...unhelpful.  You grab a discarded rag and wipe sweat from your brow, probably only succeeding in smearing black grease all over your forehead. War paint, you think, not with a touch of irony.

You’ve had a few tumbles in the sand in your time.  Nothing permanent, few even memorable. You even considered doing it for credits, when things started to get really bad, before Peli came along. But you’ve never been confident enough in yourself to just go for what you want, and you waited until the boys or the men or the women came to you with hooded eyes and soft, promising touches and you went along to see where it led you. It’s been a while, and sometimes the urge strikes you to head down to the Cantina and find someone for a night, but you always end up alone in your bunk with your hand in your pants and your lips clamped shut so you don’t wake Peli as you work out your own frustrations.

You could be wrong. You hope you’re wrong, in this case. Fucking a regular customer, much less one who is a Mandalorian, sounds like trouble. But it also sounds like a lot of kriffing fun.

The Mando in question is nowhere to be seen outside. You ascend the ramp slowly, cautiously. How a big, shiny, broad, tall, menacing Mandalorian can hide in a tiny little krill can like this is beyond you, but he manages it. He’s not in the cockpit when you ascend the ladder, but that’s fine - you’ve been working on the busted nav computer for the last couple of hours and it’s been impossible to concentrate with him breathing down your neck.

It’s been disassembled into a pile of wires and cables  and circuitboards that make sense only to you. You sit in the pilot’s chair and pull it into your lap, humming to yourself as you tweak and twist things into place. You’re not sure how long you’re there for - long enough to rewire it into something that starts to make visual sense, long enough for your fingers and neck to cramp. Long enough to calm down after a very weird day or two.

“You’re good with your hands,” says a smooth, filtered voice by your ear.

You jump and the circuitboard almost slips from your fingers - you catch it pinned between your knees at the last moment, half-twisting in the chair to glare up at the Mandalorian who stands eclipsing the hatchway, leaning a forearm against the bulkhead, helm tilted as he watches you. 

“How long have you been there for?” you ask, trying to keep your aggression levels down, but damn it he startled the fuck out of you and almost made you undo all the work you’ve been doing for the last - you check the nearest chrono - two hours? Have you really been up here that long? 

Outside the viewport, the suns are starting to set, and the fading orange-purple light paints the brushed durasteel interior in hues of silvery midnight, lit only by the standby lights. It would be peaceful, if not for the metal hulk boxing you in and making your heart beat twice as fast at his proximity.

“Not long.” Mando nods to the boards between your knees. “You fix it yet?”

You draw a small, calming breath, hoping he doesn’t notice. “The computer? Sure. The ship? You’re asking a bit much for a day. Got at least a week’s worth of work left to get this thing into shape.”

“Will it fly?”

You snort. “Yeah, it’ll fly. Might explode or crash at any moment, but it’ll fly.”

He makes a sound like a displeased grunt, but it’s hard to tell through the vocabulator. Then he stills, just looking at you, and you turn your back, discomfited as always. You resolve just to keep working as best you can, even as his gaze bores into you.

The board is ready to go back in - you slide off the chair and onto your knees, carefully setting aside the mass of circuitry. Then, grabbing the front of the panel, you swing yourself underneath it on your back. 

“Hey, uh - Mando? If you’re still there, can you hand me that board?” You hold your hand out from underneath the panel. Then you clear your throat and add, “Please.”

The wiring board is pressed into your palm, and you relax a little. You fit it into place - a lot easier now with the cables organized - and examine your handiwork for a moment. Then you run into a problem. 

Easing yourself out of the cramped space proves to be more difficult than getting in had been. You realize you’re stuck about halfway through trying to ease yourself out on your back, and you end up jammed between the bottom of the seat and the top of the panel.

“Fuck!”

“Need a hand?” Mando’s filtered, scratchy baritone sounds amused, or maybe that’s just your imagination. You can see the edge of his gloved fingers hovering within reach. The muscles in your neck and back are burning and your hip is aching - if you stay there any longer, twisted up like a pretzel, you’re going to pull something. So you take his hand.

He doesn’t just pull you up, though, no. He reaches down with his other hand and a strong, metal-encased arm circles you, and you’re maneuvered out from under the panel, onto your feet and straight into his arms in one smooth movement.

You splay your hands on an impossibly shiny, smooth expanse of Beskar, your breath held up in its journey on its way from your lungs. He seems to eclipse your entire horizon, an expanse of silver and black. 

This close, you can smell him, a mix of gun oil and cordite and oxygen that makes your mouth water. Everything about him speaks to the part of you that craves danger, but there’s no little warning voice in your head telling you that this is wrong.

He is the one to let you go - to pull back, almost apologetically, placing his hands on your shoulders and stepping back to extend the distance between you. “You okay?” he asks, for all the world sounding unconcerned, but there is something knowing in the tilt of his helm when you look up into his visor.

Kriff, he is so much bigger than you. You should find that terrifying. You should find this whole situation dangerous, alone with a strange, masked man in his ship where Peli wouldn’t be able to hear you scream if something went wrong.

But Peli trusts him, you tell yourself. And, evidently, he trusts Peli.

So where does that leave you?

“Nav computer should be fixed,” you say, and your voice is smaller than you would like. “Anything else you want, Mando?”

There is a moment that is far more heavily charged than it should be. Mando’s helmet inclines a little. His hands are heavy on your shoulders, and they slide slowly down, over your bare biceps, heedless of the buildup of sweat and grime as the leather drags roughly over your skin. It makes the hair on the back of your neck lift, a flush beginning somewhere in your chest and spreading outwards in both directions. 

“Passive sensor’s acting up,” he says then, and the tension in the pit of your stomach fades, replaced by frustration. “Could you take a look at it?”

You sigh heavily, trying to contain any obvious display of emotion. “Sure,” you say, managing a smile. Then you realize his hands are still on your arms, and you don’t know what to make of that. “Where is it?”

The helm nods towards below the pilot’s chair.

You groan. “I gotta go under there again? Damn it. Let me go get my tools.”

Unexpectedly, Mando volunteers. “Wait here. I’ll go get them.”

“But you don’t know which ones I’ll-” need. You call after him but he’s already down the ladder. Sighing, you plop back into the pilot’s seat.

Now you have to add sexual frustration to your lists of complaints about this job. You never thought a fully-armored bounty hunter would do it for you - maybe it’s just been too long.

Shit, you’ve got to make an effort not to be alone with him, you think. Because if he’s just being a  Mandalorian and he doesn't mean anything by it, it’s going to be embarrassing if you end up slipping up in front of him.

Soon he returns, a bag of your tools in hand, and surprisingly it looks like he’s found all the right ones. You nod appreciately, sliding off the seat and into the footwell again. 

“Mind giving me what I need while I’m down here?” you ask, and there’s a pause where Mando’s helmet shows absolutely nothing, and your face threatens to flush again. “The tools, I mean.”

“The tools,” he repeats, his voice flat, emotionless. “Right.”

Fuck, you think. This is a bad idea.

Nevertheless, you forge on. You’re not going to run screaming from the ship and tell Peli it’s because the sexual tension - probably imagined - is too much for you to bear. You’d be fired and back on the streets in a heartbeat. So, you’re going to try to remain professional.

You move forward on hands and knees underneath the panel, until only your ass is sticking out from underneath it. You try not to imagine the Mandalorian’s gaze on you now . You concentrate on opening the little access cover to the passive sensor array, reaching into your coveralls for a clip-on flashlight which you fix to the strap of your tank top. 

Yeah, it’s a mess in there, all right - corroded to hell with carbon scoring, probably from a glancing impact in a firefight. You don’t know why you find that thought exciting. You’ve repaired ships that have been in battle before, but - to be fair - none of them had been piloted by a Mandalorian.

“Hyperspanner,” you call, holding your hand out backwards. The smooth handle of the correct tool, thankfully, is placed in your palm. “Thanks.” 

You forget the weird tension as you work, the immensity of the Mandalorian’s presence, your nervousness around him. You think only of what’s in your hands, the intricacies of electronics and wires and switches, the zen-like process of focusing on finding what’s wrong and fixing it. 

In this case, it’s mostly a cleaning job. You end up covered in black carbon soot, coughing as you scrape clouds of it from the affected components. None of them look damaged, though, which is a good sign. 

Eventually, you emerge, wriggling backwards hip-first until you can sit on your haunches with an elbow braced against the pilot’s seat. Half to your surprise, half-not, Mando is still there, though he’s taken up residence on the passenger seat instead, and he sits comfortably with an ankle crossed over his knee and his helm cocked at an angle to watch you work.

You flush as you realize he’d probably been watching your ass that entire time, even while handing you tools. Say what you like about them, a Mandalorian is definitely still a man. It’s right there in the name.

“Anything need replacing?” he asks, all business - but can you detect a warmer buzz in the modulation of his voice? Or is that just your imagination?

“Just my clothes,” you say, dragging up the bottom of your tank top to wipe your face. A little deliberate, since doing so reveals some of your stomach, but Mando’s only reaction is a small lift of his chin and a slight shifting in the chair. “Sensors should be fine now. And I’m gonna call it a night.”

He rises at the same time you do, and before you register what he’s doing, he’s in between you and the hatch, so large he covers entirely your only method of escape. You swallow the sudden lump in your throat, your hand tensing around the handle of your toolbox.

Peli trusts him, you tell yourself. He won’t hurt me.

“I wanted to...thank you,” he says and that is definitely not what you’re expecting. You blink a couple of times and he continues. “I’ve been watching you, and you work hard. You might even be able to get the Crest flying in better shape than before.”

“Oh,” you say, unsure. “Well...What can I say? I like fixing things.”

He nods. You think then that he’s done, he’s going to move out of the way, when he speaks again. “What’s your name?”

You shrug. “Peli just calls me Girl.”

“You don’t have a name?” If you could see his face, you’re sure Mando would be rasing an eyebrow at you.

“Do you?” you fire back and that silences the helmet for a moment. Then it shakes from side to side slightly.

“Fair enough...Girl.”

“Fair enough, Mando,” you echo with something like a smile. He moves away from the hatch and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. As you move past him you stop and turn, seized by a sudden impulse.

“Hey, we’re having a barbecue tonight with some deep-fried gorg, leftover krayt jerky and pika fruit. D’you...d’you want to join us?”

He's silent for a moment, processing that. Not looking at you. Then: “I eat on the Crest. Alone,” he says pointedly. 

Peli had told you he never takes off the armor, on penalty of his Creed - whatever that is, it sounds sacred, and you don’t mess with anything that’s sacred. So you don’t take too much offense at the rebuff. Instead, you opt for a compromise.

“You don’t have to eat in front of us. Just come grab something and take it back with you. Or I could bring you something before I go to bed?”

The visor stares at you blankly for several long moments before inclining in a nod. “Okay,” he says. You’re not sure what he’s agreeing to, but at least he’s agreed to something. You find yourself oddly eager for his company, and try not to read into that too much as you smile and nod at him.

“Great! I’ll see you then, Mando.”

You sling the toolbox over your shoulder and descend the ladder, eager to get out of the Razor Crest and under a shower for at least fifteen minutes before dinner. 

Maybe then you can work off some of the weird tension before you have to see him again.

[haroldtea]

i wrote something!!

soooo I’m a pathological “i have a fic idea and i’m never going to write it or I write a few pages and then fall off” writer buuuut I had this very cute idea and wrote 4k words of it! I wanted to post it here before ao3 because 1) not sure if I’m a fan of starting a multichapter WIP because I still may abandon it like my other stuff 2) i want feedback before i continue!!

here’s the gist: it’s princess prom except it’s a high school au and princess prom is actually homecoming. Adora is very happy and supportive of Glimmer and Bow running for king/queen. Glimmer is very, very passionate about winning. The problem is they’ve naturally got competition, in the form of Perfuma (who is equally as passionate about winning, for her own reasons) and her new girlfriend Scorpia. In a sitcom-style mishap, Adora sort of accidentally signs up to run as well...with Catra, Scorpia’s best friend who Adora doesn’t not have a crush on. The two decide to go through with it with the intention of getting eliminated from the race as soon as possible. Then, their friends come up with a different plan for them.

so, take a read below at 4k of stupidity and let me know what you think, and if you would be interested to read more :) (fyi there is a lot of swearing lol)

“I’M GONNA BE THE QUEEN!”

Adora shrieks, flailing her arms and almost knocking her lamp over in the process. She whirls around in her desk chair to face the intruder, arms raised in karate chop form (she does not know any martial arts), and finds Glimmer, who has flung her bedroom door open and has that crazed Glimmer look in her eyes that only means trouble.

“Fuck! Glimmer, you can’t just sneak up--wait, how did you get in my house?!”

“Didn’t you hear what I said?! Also, the door was unlocked,” Glimmer replies, kicking off her shoes and launching herself onto Adora’s bed, which she had just painstakingly made.

Adora presses her hand into her face, sighing. “I was kind of busy trying not to piss myself. Haven’t you heard of knocking? What if I was, you know...” she says, gesturing vaguely.

Glimmer rolls her eyes. “Please, Adora. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Anyway--the student council decided to bring back the homecoming pep rally!” she squeals, gleefully kicking her feet in the air.

Adora leans back in her chair, brows furrowed. “Bring back? Didn’t we have one last year?”

“Yes, but after the water balloon thing they weren’t gonna let us have it anymore, but it turns out that one senior who wasn’t gonna graduate did graduate so I guess they figured it would probably be fine, ‘cause like, who’s ever gonna try and top that?”

“Right,” Adora hums, thinking back to last year’s pep rally. Just before homecoming court was announced, a group of rogue seniors had risen from the bleachers, unleashing dozens of water balloons they had stashed in their backpacks. What ensued was a pandemonium Adora could only remember in flashes, resulting in almost the entire student body and the school’s hallways being completely soaked.

The catch was that the seniors had filled the balloons with blue paint. It had taken the janitorial staff weeks to get the gym bleachers, the lockers in the science wing, and the cafeteria ceiling (don’t ask) to look normal again. Classes were cancelled for almost an entire week because the paint had messed up something with the internal plumbing. It was single-handedly the coolest thing Adora had experienced in her living years.

It was all led by the legendary Mara Hart, notorious for sticking it to the man during her K-12 years. The prank had all but gotten her and her friends expelled, but given that she was otherwise an A+ student and no one could technically prove who was behind it (her friends were loyal to each other to the bitter end), she walked at Bright Moon High’s graduation to uproarious applause from her classmates.

Adora knew some of the more grisly details because Mara had been captain of the girls’ lacrosse team last year--effortlessly cool Mara, endlessly caring Mara, definitely part of Adora’s gay awakening Mara--but it had become something of an urban legend at BMHS over the past year.

“Wait, how do you know any of this?” Adora asks, because while she was personally connected to Mara in a small way, she hadn’t been aware that they were going to cancel the pep rally indefinitely.

Glimmer arches an eyebrow. “Um, hello? My mom’s the principal?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And Mermista totally let it slip when I asked her about it after the student council meeting,” Glimmer adds, then pauses. “Okay, it was more like I didn’t even wanna be there and I wish no one had ever voted for me and I’ll tell you whatever, but still. I’m...” she props her face in her hands and bats her eyelashes, “in the know.”

Adora smirks and rolls her eyes fondly, turning back to her desk to shut her textbook and put her notes away. She can never get anything done when Glimmer’s around. “Okay, so, pep rally’s back--that’s cool,” she says.

“It’s not just cool, Adora,” Glimmer scoffs. “Being homecoming queen is literally all I’ve wanted since I was a kid. I thought my dream had died with Mara’s academic career, but now there’s hope again--it’s meant to be, Adora. It’s destiny.”

Adora had literally never heard Glimmer talk about this, but, “Um, okay.”

Glimmer huffs and dramatically rolls onto her back, flinging her arms out and further messing up Adora’s sheets. Lesson learned, it isn’t worth the effort for Adora to make the bed anymore. “My mom was the homecoming queen like a hundred years ago, and my aunt was the homecoming queen before that. It’s, like, my birthright!”

Adora lifts a shoulder, twisting around in her chair to look at Glimmer. “Okay, then we’ll just get you to be the homecoming queen too. Can’t your mom just...make it happen?”

“Ugh, no,” Glimmer sighs. “I already asked. It’s a student vote.”

“Oh!” Adora brightens. “That’s easy, then. Everyone loves you.”

Glimmer pouts. “I know, but it’s not just a popularity contest--it’s, like, a whole thing. Me and Bow are gonna have to do a talent show, and there’s a relay race, and other stuff that if we don’t do well in we won’t even get to be in the final vote.”

“Wait, what?” Adora doesn’t remember any of that from last year. “What do you mean, Bow? Is...he's running for homecoming queen too?”

“Ha! No,” Glimmer laughs, then her expression darkens, eyes narrowing. “I would crush him.”

“Right...” Adora says. Actually, Bow would make a pretty good homecoming queen. But Adora values her life, so she decidedly does tell Glimmer this.

“No, every queen nominee has to also have someone to run with them as their ‘king,’” Glimmer explains, making air quotes with her fingers. “There’s no boy/girl bullshit, but you do have to be in a pair.”

“I don’t remember any...talent shows, or whatever,” Adora points out. “I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of one of those happening in real life.”

“Well, obviously you never went. It would’ve all been during your lacrosse thingies and you would've been too busy making googly eyes at Mara Hart,” Glimmer replies, wiggling her fingers at Adora.

Adora crosses her arms and blushes a deep red. “I would not. I would’ve been playing lacrosse. And stuff.” Okay, maybe she did make googly eyes at Mara, but only sometimes, as a treat, and Glimmer doesn’t need to know that.

Glimmer flips back over on her stomach and levels Adora with a pout. “Adora, this means a lot to me. We’re gonna need your help to win this.”

Adora has no idea how she could possibly be of any help with this, but hey-- “Of course, Glimmer. Whatever you need. I’m there.”

Glimmer grins, eyes sparkling. “Yaaaaay. Also, my mom’s making meatloaf tonight, you in?”

Adora pumps her fist in the air. “Sweet. Hell, yes.”

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

“This is a joke, right? Like, you’re joking?” Catra says into the receiver as she shoves another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“I am usually a pretty funny gal, it’s true--but, ah, no. This time I’m serious,” Scorpia replies on the other end.

Catra hoists her phone higher up on her shoulder while she adjusts her grip on her Xbox controller. “Okay, please explain,” she says between chews.

Scorpa sighs, and Catra visualizes her sitting cross-legged on her bedspread, hugging one of her many stuffed animals to her chest. “I know it’s kind of silly, but Perfuma sounded really excited about it, ‘cause I guess if you win, you get to pick what charity the proceeds from the dance ticket sales go to, and...I just couldn’t say no?”

Catra smirks, mashing a series of buttons on her controller as her TV screen lights up in front of her. She’s been trying to get past this level for weeks, but she’ll probably die right before the end again whether she’d answered Scorpia’s call or not. “You are so whipped,” she says.

Scorpia sighs again, but this time Catra can hear a smile in it. “I guess so, kitty cat. Still, it sounds kinda...fun? I mean, it’s more time spent with her, if anything else. She’s talking about writing an original song together for the talent show and incorporating her Tibetan singing bowls into it.”

Catra takes that in and barely suppresses a laugh. Her New Year’s resolution was to make fun of her friends less. Some days are harder than others. “Um, wow,” she says instead. “That’s, uh...that’ll be interesting. Do I have to call you Queen Scorpia if you win?”

“Oh, Perfuma doesn’t believe in gendered royalty,” Scorpia replies. “She wants us to be known as Homecoming Monarchs.”

“Of course she does,” Catra mutters. Perfuma is endlessly kind and patient and makes Scorpia smile, so by default Catra likes her, but otherwise they...don’t exactly share identical values, let’s say. Catra brings her own point home by pressing a button on her controller and chainsawing an alien in half on screen.

“Do you...think it’s a stupid idea? The whole...running for homecoming thing, I mean.”

Catra hears the telltale signs of Scorpia-doubting-herself in her reply, so she pauses the game. “Nah. If it’s something you guys wanna do, you should go for it. Fuck what anyone else thinks.”

“Okay, thanks,” Scorpia says, sounding lighter. “I think it means a lot to Perfuma. It would be cool to win it for her.”

“Well, hey,” Catra continues, un-pausing her game. “If you need any help, let me kn--oh, fuck!”

“Catra?” Panic sets in Scorpia’s tone. “Kitty cat, speak to me--do I need to call 911?!”

“No, no, Scorpia, please don’t do that,” Catra groans, tossing her controller aside. “I just got blown up in my stupid game again, that’s all. I’m never gonna beat this final boss.”

Scorpia sighed in relief. “Aw, don’t give up, kitty cat. One of these days, you’re gonna really give it to--what’s the dude’s name again?”

“Prime something-or-whatever,” Catra grumbled, reaching for her popcorn.

“Yeah, that guy. He’ll never know what hit him.”

Catra snickers into the receiver. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Scorpia.”

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

The lunch period at BMHS is, naturally, chaotic. Being a regional high school, every inch of the place is usually crawling with students, and the cafeteria is no different. The student population is small enough and the cafeteria big enough to condense into one lunch period, although Adora has oftentimes heard Perfuma lament about the ethics and health concerns of overcrowding.

Adora likes chaos. She likes that the overlapping sounds of chairs scraping and garbled chattering combine to form a comforting din that allows her to drown out whatever weird TikTok plans Bow’s making (ok, to be real, she will be asking about them later) and quietly observe the antics happening at tables around them.

She takes another bite of her pudding and her eyes land on the table to their right where Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio from her math class always sit together. Lonnie is mechanically chewing her gum as she stares into a compact mirror, examining her eyebrows with fierce concentration. Across from her, Kyle is holding up something on his phone to Rogelio with one hand and gesticulating wildly with the other as he holds a corn dog. Rogelio is nodding along but is staring down fondly at Kyle rather than at the screen Kyle’s pointing to, one arm hanging loose around Kyle’s shoulders. Lonnie slaps her compact shut and shouts something at them, pointing emphatically to her eyebrows. They all pause for a moment before bursting into laughter. Then Kyle drops his corn dog.

Adora pointedly does not observe the table across from theirs. She’ll gladly watch the Star siblings silently and intensely do their homework for the next period, or listen to Mermista fight off Seahawk’s PDA attempts, but nothing could compel her to look at the table straight ahead.

That table was where Catra Weaver and her friends sat.

Including: Perfuma’s new girlfriend, Scorpia Garnet; Entrapta Dryl, who was dating one of the Hordak twins (Adora was ever completely sure which one); the Hordak twins in question, one of which who usually broods silently and one of which who usually stares around smiling at nothing and everything; the stylish and blonde ruler of the theatre kids who has been nicknamed Double Trouble for as long as Adora can remember; and finally: Catra Weaver. Effortlessly cool, effortlessly gorgeous, effortlessly effortless Catra Weaver, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, coolly regarding the rest of the cafeteria as she holds court at her table of wonderful misfit toys.

Today’s effortless ensemble: cool jean jacket, a cool crop top, cool black jeans, cool combat boots, she got a haircut recently so--

“Um, Earth to Adora?”

“Huh?” Adora says, jerking her head up.

This is why she avoids looking at Catra Weaver’s table. Or Catra Weaver in general.

“We were talking about homecoming,” Glimmer says from her seat across from Adora, raising an eyebrow. “You were totally spaced out.”

Adora clears her throat, willing herself not to blush. “Sorry,” she replies, digging back into her pudding.

“Glimmer’s trying to convince me not to run for court,” Perfuma continues, crossing her arms.

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s totally lame and stupid and a waste of time,” Mermista answers from beside Perfuma, inspecting her nail polish. She glances up when she senses everyone at the table staring at her. “What?”

“Mermista, you’re on the homecoming committee,” Bow says.

Mermista shrugs. “So? I said what I said.”

“Look, Perfuma,” Glimmer starts, sliding her hand across the table toward Perfuma. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed if you lose. Homecoming’s a really big deal to me, and I really want to win.” She smiles saccharinely, tilting her head at Perfuma, eyes gone wide. Bow and Adora exchange a look.

Perfuma smiles back. “Oh, don’t worry about me, Glimmer! I’m sure our classmates will select the most deserving and talented couple to win,” she says, then goes back to stabbing a fork into her salad.

Glimmer’s eye starts twitching. Bow slowly and gently takes Glimmer’s hand and slides it back to her side of the table. “Glimmer, we’ll do great. The most important thing is to have fun,” he says, patting her hand.

“The most important thing is the charity,” Perfuma mutters.

“That too.”

“Is anybody else we know running?” Adora asks. Glimmer and Perfuma both shake their heads in response, until Mermista sighs dejectedly.

“Unfortunately,” she groans, raising her hand.

“Wait, what?! You just said it was stupid and lame!” Bow squawks.

“It is,” Mermista rolls her eyes. “But the rest of the student council said it would look really bad if I was on the planning committee and didn’t run. I was forced against my will.”

“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Glimmer asks, gripping her lunch tray so tight Adora wondered if she was going to launch it at Mermista’s head.

“I don’t know? I guess not? I’m planning on getting cut as soon as humanly possible though, so whatever,” Mermista replies, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.

“We won’t win with that attitude, my love!” Seahawk roars, throwing his arm around Mermista’s shoulder and raising a fist triumphantly. “You and I are going to be the greatest King and Queen this school has ever seen!”

“Oh my god, please stop,” Mermista groans, hiding her face in her hands.

“Picture it: you, me, newly crowned, gliding down the science wing--the students stop and stare! Could it really be our King and Queen in the flesh? The teachers stare too! I am going to give them both straight A’s!”

“Please just sit and eat your sandwich,” Mermista begs.

“Never,” Seahawk says, then kisses her on the cheek and acquiesces, taking a big bite of his sandwich. Adora tries to hide her smirk when she sees Mermista blush a deep red. She elbows Glimmer and nods in their direction so she can see.

“Aw, how cute. I’m going to destroy them,” Glimmer whispers in Adora’s ear.

“I know,” Adora whispers back. “But try to at least be nice about it.”

“No promises.”

“Ok, I have to pee,” Adora announces to the table, grabbing her lunch tray as she stands, grinning at Bow’s groan of TMI, Adora!

She makes her way over to the trash cans by the cafeteria exit, waving to her friends on the lacrosse team as she dumps her leftovers in the trash and sets the tray in the dish bin beside it. She should probably go over and check in with them about practice tonight, but she really has to pee, which reminds her that she forgot her water bottle all the way back to the table and needs to refill it before her next class.

“Damn it,” she mutters to herself, still smiling at her lacrosse friends as she whips around to head back--

And crashes right into someone, their heads knocking smack together.

“Ow!” Adora yelps, losing her footing for a moment. She rubs at her stinging forehead, glancing up as she apologizes, “Shit, sorry, sorry, that was totally my fault, I--”

And stares right up at Catra Weaver.

“I...I...I...”

She blinks a few times, but yes, that is Catra Weaver, rubbing at her own forehead and fixing a few strands of hair that had come loose from behind her ears. Catra Weaver, up close and personal, who she hasn’t talked to since...

“Your forehead is fucking hard. And big,” Catra says, holding her tray in one hand as she narrows her eyes up at Adora.

“Oh, um, you too...I mean! Thanks? I grew it myself,” Adora replies spectacularly, and then promptly wants to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Catra raises one eyebrow at her. “How hard did I hit you?”

Adora scrambles to answer. “Oh, not at all! I mean, not hard. It was my fault. Are you, um, are you okay?” This is going amazingly.

“I’m fine, Greyskull,” Catra replies, sending a tingle up Adora’s spine. She goes to deposit her tray. “Just watch where you’re going.”

Adora grins dopily. “Yes. I mean--I will. Sorry. Again.”

Catra glances Adora up and down, eyebrow still raised, and goes to say something else, when they’re interrupted by a foreboding, familiar voice.

“Ah, Adora! I’m so pleased to see you taking an interest in student affairs.”

Adora turns to see Glimmer’s mom looming over them, hands neatly clasped together. Maybe looming isn’t the right word as she’s smiling brightly down on her and Catra, but she’s tall, ok? “Oh, hi Ang--,” Adora starts before remembering they’re at school, “um, Mrs. Moon. What’s up?”

Angella gestures between her and Catra. “I was just observing how wonderful it will be that Glimmer will have a friend to share the homecoming experience with.”

Adora tenses again, remembering that Catra is still standing very close to her. “Oh, haha, yeah, super great. Wait, what?” Sharing?

Then she notices that her and Catra are standing in front of the wall where the Homecoming Court Signup Sheet is hanging. A sparkly pen tied to the clipboard is dangling within Adora’s reach.

“Oh, um, actually, Perfuma’s already--”

“I think this activity will make a fine addition to your college applications, Adora. And you know how Glimmer gets,” Angella leans in conspiratorially, not bothering to lower her voice. “I think it will calm her nerves to have a friend by her side. A bit of friendly competition, even!” she claps her hands together, delighted. “I remember having so much fun with my friends back in my day.”

“But, I’m already on the lacrosse team...” Adora mumbles, scratching the back of her neck. She glances down at the pen.

“Oh, but you know schools these days, always looking for that something that makes a student stand out,” Angella says, waving her hand dismissively. “And don’t worry, I’ll speak to Coach Huntara about any scheduling conflicts. You’ll get to have the best of both worlds!”

Wait, but lacrosse was Adora’s whole thing--does she not stand out enough? Will she seem boring to UEternia? “I...”

“Oh, Ms. Weaver!” Angella says, as if she’s just now noticing Catra. “I didn’t take you for the...school spirit type.”

“I’m not,” Catra replies, crossing her arms. She smiles saccharinely and adds, “ma’am,” for good measure. God, she’s cool.

“Ah,” Angella says, creating an awkward pause before brightening again. “Well, still, here you are. Are you Adora’s running mate?”

So, sometimes Adora panics.

Look, she’s in a high-stress situation. The girl she doesn’t not have an embarrassing crush on bumped into her, talked to her, and then her best friend’s mom swooped in basically saying that lacrosse is boring and dumb and running for homecoming court will get her into UEternia. At least, that’s what Adora got from all that. And then she insinuates that she’ll be doing that with Catra Weaver.

So, she panics. She panics, and she grabs the glittery pen, and she continues to panic.

“Yep! We’re running together!” she says, grinning.

“Say what?” Catra hisses.

“Oh, wonderful!” Angella squeals, clapping her hands together again. “I must say, I think this will turn out to be a very interesting competition. You’ll have to come dress shopping with us, Adora.”

“Haha, yeah...” Adora says, quickly scribbling Adora Greyskull & Catra Weaver on the signup sheet. Oh fuck, oh god.

“Hang on a fu--” Catra starts, then clamps her mouth shut, because the goddamn principal is still talking to them.

“Oh, I wonder what you’ll do for the talent show! I can’t wait...well, I’m off. It was great catching up, girls!” Angella says, and winks, and does weird-mom-finger-guns, and then she’s gliding away as quickly as she came.

Adora continues to grin and wave awkwardly until Angella is out of sight, then she deflates. That was so weird.

Then she turns and sees Catra reach for the pen that’s still in her hand. Adora has half a mind to snatch it away. Or half a brain cell, at least. “Hey!”

“Cross our names out. Right. Now,” Catra growls through gritted teeth, still trying to grab the pen. Adora tries to hold it up out of reach, but it’s still attached to the clipboard, so the best she can do is weave her hand in and out of Catra’s way.

“Um, no? I just told her we were running!”

“Well, we’re not. Give it to me!”

“No!” Adora grunts, yanking the pen away. “You heard her--she’s gonna talk to Coach Huntara. I can’t back out now.”

“Well, I can!” Catra says, grabbing at Adora’s arm, where she has the pen tucked under her armpit. “Find someone else to run with you!”

“I can’t! They’ll want to win!” Adora says, twisting her body away from Catra. She’s having a slight meltdown over Catra touching her so much, but she’s focusing on the pen for now. “No one’s gonna want to run with me anyway.”

Catra mutters something under her breath that Adora doesn’t catch, then she snakes her hand under Adora’s and takes hold of her wrist. Adora stifles a gasp. “Wait, you don’t want to win?” Catra asks, eyebrow quirked.

“Noooo,” Adora furiously shakes her head. “No, no, no. Glimmer would kill me. She wants to win. I just, um, panicked. I guess?” The heat from Catra’s hand is searing into her wrist.

Catra glances down at their hands and back up at Adora. “So, your friend will kill you if you run for homecoming. And you just signed up in front of her mom?”

“Um...” Adora thinks for a second. “Yes?”

Catra huffs out a laugh. “Wow, you’re even more of an idiot than I remember.”

Adora feels her face redden, shocked at Catra’s casual mention of the past, and glances away. “Look, let’s just get eliminated as quickly as possible and then we can forget it ever happened. Deal?”

“Ugh,” Catra lets out a groan, leaning her head back. She tugs at Adora’s wrist a few times, finding that she isn’t budging. “Fine! As quickly as possible.”

“As quickly as possible,” Adora nods, finding herself grinning as Catra loosens her grip and pulls away. “I’m gonna take this pen home, by the way,” she calls out as Catra begins to head back to her table.

“Fuck!”

After Adora finally pees and refills her water bottle, she gingerly sits back down beside Glimmer. Poor, sweet, deadly Glimmer, who’s chattering away excitedly with Seahawk about some new music video or something.

She says, in a very tiny voice, “So, um...I think I’m running for homecoming queen?”

Glimmer whips her head around, nose flaring. She stands up, slamming both hands down on the table with a smack.

“You WHAT?!”

And then the bell rings.

[drawlfoy]

Mirror, Mirror Finale (P.1...)

masterlist (catch up on parts 1-5 here!) request guidelines

pairing: draco x ravenclaw!reader

summary: y/n has had a crush on draco malfoy from afar since--well, forever. what will happen when they’re paired up for prefect rounds and run into a special mirror?

warnings: language

a/n: heyyy guys...how are you doing...so i’m sure you’ve noticed that i have p.1 added into this even though it’s marked as a finale...yes i am aware of the fact but it is not even close to being done and i do not want to give this a half baked ending. i thought you guys might like seeing what i’ve been sitting on for a long time. more writing will be coming soon! i promise! i’m actually working on another oneshot soon that’ll be fun to put out there !

overall tags:  @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry 

mirror mirror tags:  @theres-a-dog-outside-omg @mey-rapp @kaibie @blackpinkdolan @the-wiener-soldierrrrr @sugarbby99

word count: 2.9k

music recs: i sink i sink -- living hold ; wishes -- beach house ; could this be love? -- saturn 17

Y/N played with the cup of tea that sat steaming before her, running the tips of her fingers around the golden rim. The soft chamomile scent rose up to her nose in charmed yellow tendrils, something that would’ve been calming had she not been sat in front of Professor Trelawny, answering uncomfortable questions and averting her gaze from her loony eyes.

“Dearie, I know that you may not want to share, but it’s incredibly important for the healing process. Even more important than the potions and the tea leaf readings.”

“Er...when I first fell asleep, all my dreams were just of past memories. Aft--”

“Excuse me.” Trelawny held up her hand as she scratched a heading on her parchment. “If you want to get better, you must add more details. What memories? Of what?” 

Y/N swallowed, casting her eyes to the ceiling. “Erm...I saw Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.” Her breath hitched as the professor furrowed her eyebrows. Suddenly the teacup felt scalding in her hand. “I saw our rounds together. When we ran into the mirror, that is.”

“What mirror?”

“The Mirror of Erised.” 

Trelawny raised her eyebrow--a quick motion but not entirely unassuming. “Interesting. Very, very curious indeed. Go on.”

“I saw us...together. I didn’t think that it was a special mirror until afterwards because it looked the same. We were...uhm...together.”

It took a few seconds of staring at Trelawny’s googly eyes before she realized she’d just repeated herself.

“And after that….” Y/N pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to draw out the rest of her memories. “I don’t remember everything else. I’m sorry. It was just everything that I remember about Malfoy in particular...like, the first time I saw him, what it was like to talk to him for the first time, running away from him in the Slytherin dungeons that one night I had to stay overnight for potions...that’s it.”

Her professor nodded gravely, shifting in the only chairs that the hospital wing provided to visitors--hard, cold mahogany wood. “Well done. And after? Once Miss Severyjn woke you up?”

Her throat felt dry. Of course I’d have to recount what happened. Of course I have to tell them about how I had a dream about making out with him in my dorm. Of course. Just my luck.

“I’m sorry,” said Y/N. “It’s just...weird. It felt too private.”

Trelawny seemed slightly empathetic at this; her eyes seemed even kinder (albeit still dreamy) than usual. “I’ve heard it all, love. No need to be ashamed.”

“Okay.” She took a steadying breath. “I...well...it’s fuzzy. I can’t remember exactly why we ended up ditching our rounds and why we decided to go to my dorm instead.”

It was difficult to continue when she saw her companion’s eyebrows shoot up a few inches, but she steeled herself. 

“It took me a long time to unlock my dorm door--I think I was nervous, or something, because my hands were shaking too hard to hold my wand steady. He moved my hand aside and said something--I can’t quite remember what--and he just unlocked it himself. I think I dragged him in by his tie, and he told me that I was trembling, and then before I knew it he was cupping my face. I remember being surprised by how warm his hands were. I thought they’d be colder.”

“Go on, doll. I only need a little bit more.”

“It’s awfully embarrassing, you know,” said Y/N. “I hardly know him.”

“Don’t you worry. Your dream was created by whatever traces of magic the Mirror of Erised left on you. This has nothing to do with how you view Malfoy.”

She dared to smile at this point, mostly as a way to pretend like she wasn’t mortified recounting her tale. “He kissed me. I don’t know if you need any more details, but that’s the grand picture of it all. He kissed me, and I didn’t stop him, and now I feel like a proper creeper, having fantasies about a boy who wants nothing to do with me.”

The wrinkles on Trelawny’s forehead deepened. “Don’t fret. The Mirror of Erised is a very powerful thing. You couldn’t have influenced that dream to work any different than it had. On that note…” She brushed herself off and rolled up the parchment. “You’ve given me enough to work with. The reason why I ask is because sometimes certain dreams can be prophetic--sometimes regarding important wizarding events that the headmaster ought to be aware of--or potentially deadly. Both instances require a bit more...of an intensive treatment regiment, if you will. I’m happy to report to you that your bout of Dream Sickness shouldn’t develop into anything more sinister. I’ll recommend that you stay here for a bit longer, just to ensure that you don’t slip into it again, but you should be able to have visitors and wean yourself off of Dreamless Sleep. Rest up, darling. You have a lot of sleeping to do.”

Y/N smiled weakly as she allowed Trelawny to pluck the teacup from her hands and swirl the leaves about.

“Nothing but good news in your future, just as I suspected. Good night!” 

oOo

Life in the infirmary led Y/N to walk a wobbly line of consciousness. Once Madame Pomfrey lowered the doses of her potion, dreams began to once again tickle at her sleeping mind. Sometimes people she knew would appear next to her bedside, and she was never able to tell if it was real. During one of these instances, Rena appeared to hold her hand and recount the hottest gossip that she missed.

“...And after that, Parvati told Lavender Brown that she was nothing but a ditz whose only acts of Gryffindor bravery had to do with the fact that she left her room every morning wearing THAT disaster of a cloak…but I’m boring you, I can tell.”

Y/N, or perhaps Dream Y/N, whichever one she was, sent her a soft smile. “S’okay. Tell me more.”

“Oh, I totally forgot!” Rena squeezed her hand. “I talked to Flitwick about the whole incident. He sends his condolences. He also says that you’re excused from rounds until we reassign partners. No more late nights with Malfoy!”

She rolled her eyes, shuffling further under the blankets. This was just a dream, just a dream.

“Sucks to be him. He’s gonna have to walk all those big, scary halls alone at night.” 

Rena cracked a grin, but something flashed across her eyes that Y/N couldn’t quite decipher. “Yeah. He already had his knickers in a twist over having to do it the first night. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he missed you.”

“He missed having someone to harass, you mean,” corrected Y/N. 

“Yeah, I suppose so. He’s not all bad all the time though, you know. I mean, granted, he is a rich little prat, but he has some good in him.”

“Got a crush, hm?” 

Rena’s eyes shifted again. She was nervous thought Y/N. But why? She quickly decided to ask Madame Pomfrey for a higher dose of Dreamless Sleep the next time she saw her as a lucid member of society. This stuff is getting out of hand. 

Before Dream Rena left, she dropped off a bouquet of flowers--white roses, her favorite. Y/N tried to thank her, but she felt herself being tugged softly to a different dream, away, away, away from her dear friend. 

It took a rough shake of the shoulder from Madame Pomfrey before she was awake again.

“Drink,” she said, forcing a goblet of something foul into her hands. “You’ve been delirious. You need to wake up.”

The taste that hit her tongue was bitter and laced with the nostalgia of O.W.Ls season last year--Wide-Eye Potion. Her consciousness came crashing down on her like a cool tide and she became aware of how much sweat was dripping down her back.

Gross.

“Feel better?”

Y/N nodded, but as she turned to set her now-empty goblet on the table next to her, her stomach lurched. 

A vase of white roses stood, unimposing in nature but anxiety inducing when she considered the implications they carried. Rena’s visit hadn’t been a dream--and her last excuse to see Draco, the boy who had made her life hell for the last few weeks, was gone. 

So why did it feel like she’d just been punched in the stomach?

oOo

Exactly a week and one day after she had been admitted to the hospital, Madame Pomfrey allowed her a special privilege--the chance to take a walk around the castle grounds. After breathing the same stale hospital wing air, Y/N was eager to fill her lungs with something colder and fresh.

“Stick close to the gravel path,” said Madame Pomfrey, the wrinkles in her forehead deepening with each word she spoke. “Do not, and I mean, do not, get near a single magical artifact or so help me Merlin. If you feel the slightest bit feverish, you will come right back here and you will not--under any circumstances--lie down and shut your eyes. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Madame Pomfrey.” The words fell out of Y/N’s mouth without her really taking any notice; instead, she watched the way the trees moved outside, swaying softly with the wind. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

The nurse nodded--a brisk, tense motion. “Good. Be back here in 30 minutes. Any later and I will employ the entire staff of this castle to come track you down so I can personally drag you back here.”

Y/N had forgotten how air could be crisp--crisp she thought giddily--as she waltzed her way down the steps and into the courtyard. Her loafers made a satisfying tap on the stone that she almost missed when the pathway turned to gravel, the rocks crunching under toe instead. But regardless, she was stoked. In that moment, she had never felt more alive, not even after she’d gotten near straight Os last year...but seconds later, she was hit with something other than euphoria: namely, a silk clad black shoulder. 

“Ow.”  Y/N went face first into the ground, her cheek bouncing off the hard floor.

“Ah, fuck! Fuck! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” A posh voice, no doubt the owner of the silky shoulder, sounded from above her. “Oh, oh my god, Y/N? Is that you?”

She rolled over on her back and looked right up into the concerned eyes of Draco Malfoy.

“Er...Hi,” she said. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

His eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at her. “Are you alright? Why are you out of the hospital wing?”

“Madame Pomfrey let me go for a walk. She said that it’s good for me. Also she told me not to...fuck, I’m not supposed to lie down!”

The flash of terror in her eyes seemed to say enough, and before she knew it, he was hauling her up off the ground.

“Why are they letting you walk out all alone?” asked Draco, his tone demanding but not entirely uncaring. 

“I think they presumed that everyone on the path would have the common decency to avoid a poor sick girl coming out for her first walk in a week, but clearly they thought too soon.”

Draco still hadn’t completely let go of her shoulders, where his hands were clasped firmly around the sides in a gesture meant to steady. He snorted at that moment, a bit of his old self shining back through as he narrowed his eyes down good-naturedly at her. “It’s hardly like the entire school has been issued a warning that you’ve been released.”

“Oh, quit stroking my ego like that.” Y/N tilted her eyebrow to examine him. For the most part, her old rounds partner looked no different--same strikingly light eyes, same aristocratic features, same expensive and fashionable apparel--but the bags under his eyes were new. “Have you been sleeping? Like, at all?”

“Me?” 

“Yeah, you. Who else?”

His hands moved away from their supporting position to scratch the back of his neck. “Oh, er, not much. I keep worrying about getting what you came down with. Rena told me about the Dream Sickness and how it was because of the mirror, and it’s just hard for me to sleep.”

“Oh. I’m sorry about that.”

“Yeah.” He shifted his weight back and forth, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

“What exactly did Rena tell you?” Y/N’s words snapped Draco back to attention. “And if you say everything I will lie down on the ground, go back into my dream coma, and tell everyone it’s your fault.”

“Well, then.” A smirk danced across his lips. “Nothing. Rena told me nothing.”

Y/N stared at him for a few seconds before lowering herself to the ground, never breaking eye contact. 

“What--what are you doing?”

His face went out of her eye line as she lay flat on the ground, stretching her limbs out to vaguely resemble a starfish and exhaling a heavy sigh. “I’m going to sleep right here. When Madame Pomfrey finds me, barely toeing the line between life and death, I’ll have rehearsed a speech in my mind about how Draco Malfoy knocked a poor sick girl over in the gravel pathway and then harassed her to the point of exhaustion.”

When Y/N opened her eyes, she could see Draco come into vision. His green and silver striped tie swung in the air above her as he leaned over her, a slight grimace on his face.

“I don’t think you were sorted into the right house.”

“Keep your comments to yourself,” she said, shutting her eyes again and taking in a deep breath. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”

“I thought you were--Y/N, wait!” A hand reached out to gently shake her shoulder. “Wait! I thought you were kidding!”

“I never kid. I’m very serious. Leave me be, now. I have a speech to write.”

She heard a loud and rather over dramatic sigh above her before a hand started tugging at her arm, lifting it up over her head and pulling.

“Draco! Stop!”

“Calling me Draco, now, huh? Awfully intimate when you’re about to frame me for attempted murder,” he said, his tone surprisingly consistent and clear for someone hauling a whole adult woman off the ground. “Can you at least try to help me? A little bit?”

“Fuck off,” was the only thing coming out of Y/N’s mouth as he pulled her to her feet for the second time in less than 10 minutes. Once they were both standing, just barely a meter apart, Y/N found herself at a complete loss for words. Draco was looking down at her with an emotion displayed across his features that she could not quite place, and it made her stomach twist. 

“You have gravel stuck in your hands.” 

His voice took her by surprise. It had softened considerably, almost to a whisper. There was none of the usual snottiness or nasal judgement present--just a breathy declaration that made her knees weak from the sudden shift in energy.

His hand moved towards hers, and he met her eyes with a gaze that asked “is this okay?” Y/N couldn’t help but just stare, wide-eyed and unable to blink, as he gently took her hand and began pulling out the rocks. 

“I have to tell you something,” said Draco, still quiet and unimposing in tone. “I...I know that this might come as a surprise, and I know that you...er...probably don’t care to hear this, but, erm…”

Y/N just stared.

“I’ve been feeling this way for a while, and I just didn’t really figure it out until you, uh, you got sick, and I know I’ve been a proper prat to you and that you have no need to reciprocate anything, truly, but, ehm…”

His adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he squeezed his eyes shut, like he was in pain or something. 

“Spit it out, Draco, I don’t have all day,” added Y/N lightly. 

“Miss Y/L/N!” 

A voice boomed across the courtyard, making Y/N nearly jump out of her skin. A quick turn revealed that it was Madame Pomfrey. And a furious Madame Pomfrey at that.

“You foolish, foolish girl,” said Pomfrey, seizing her by the arm and dragging her away. “Speaking to the same boy in your dreams? Why don’t you just go and lick the Mirror of Erised and fall asleep right after? You give me migraines.”

“I’m so sorry Madame Pomfrey! I didn’t mean to!” Apologies rolled out of Y/N’s mouth at a rapid-fire pace, not stopping until she’d been escorted back to her bed.

“I am so disappointed in you,” the older lady snapped as she stormed over to the neighboring bed, angrily wringing out a washcloth. “No visitors. Not until you have a perfect bill of health.”

Hospital air had never felt so stale.

final a/n: whew this was a long one and definitely not all. this was about half of my draft and i’m still working on it, so we’ll see how long the next one is. i hope that you guys enjoyed! comments/thoughts on this chapter will definitely give me more motivation to finish this series strong, so i’d love to hear what you guys thought of this :) thanks for reading!

[sisterkosho]

Modern!AU Headcanons | Geto Family

Credits: Y'all know the drill. Ayume art in the header by @hiikkups on Instagram. Go follow her. 🔫👁👄👁

Warnings: None today. Just some modern shenanigans for your reading pleasure.

Notes: Y'all also know the other drill. I procrastinate and don't write Ayume's bio, and y'all get some random fic/HC post because I gotta keep y'all fed somehow. With that being said, here's some modern HCs for the SuguYume fam while I work on the Discord, because we were talking about it again last night and it's honestly one of my favorites + another coping mechanism so yEET--

It all started when Ayume Nejireta Geto moved in next door with her husband and two children.

What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, their elderly neighbor, Rui, was none to thrilled about their house having been built on top of one of her flower gardens. Despite it happening decades before they even arrived there.

Grandma holds a grudge ok.

Thankfully, she didn't scare them off like she did any of the previous families who had lived there.

You get used to her after awhile.

The one person she happened to take a liking to was Satoru of all people, who she met during one of the family's backyard BBQs. Which are always a mess btw, needless to say.

She even made cookies for him.

Ayume and Suguru were extremely confused because of this. How did he manage to get on her good side?

"She never gives us cookies, wth."

Turns out he had been flirting with her. Big surprise.

Though in his own defense, you'd never guess Rui was a grandma just by looking at her. The neighborhood is convinced she's immortal and doesn't age.

Ever since that day, Satoru made it a point to stop by Rui's whenever he's visiting. Just because he knows flattery will get him free food.

He's rarely allowed to visit specifically for that reason. Well, that and the fact that he's just a bad influence on the girls and everyone knows it.

Then again, the family friend, Juno, isn't much better.

He somehow got ahold of the spare key, and will randomly just let himself in.

They once woke up at 3 A.M because they heard rummaging around coming from the kitchen.

Suguru instinctively grabbed a bat and went to go switch on the lights.

Only to find Juno eating out of their trash like a raccoon.

This lead to the girls new favorite excuse.

"Juno ate my homework."

We don't talk about the time he brought a rock over claiming it was his son.

Sometimes they question why they still associate with him, but still let him stick around for whatever reason.

At the very least, he's intimidated by Ayume. So he doesn't cause too much trouble.

The family has a wide array of strange decorations in their home. Most of which they don't even recall buying.

Such as the weird plant in their dining room that sorta looks like it has a face...

There's also the model volcano the girls made for a school project.

For some reason, they had stuck one singular googly eye on it and named it "Jogo".

Ayume and Suguru were understandably a bit concerned, but It's fine as long as you don't make eye contact with it.

Ayume runs a little Etsy shop where she sells stickers she made. Along with some other little aesthetic items like pins.

For designs inspired by various curses, they're surprisingly cute.

The girls like to help her make some of the designs from time to time.

Since it's more of a hobby than an actual job, she always makes sure the money earned from the things they helped with are spent on them.

Shopping trips tend to be the most chaotic.

And that's not even considering the encounters they have with Mahito. The hobo that tends to hang around the entrance.

We don't talk about him.

Somehow, the trips always lead to Ayume running around while pushing the girls on the shopping cart.

Suguru always ends up having to chase after them because plz they're gonna get hurt--

Heaven forbid they run into Rui somewhere along the line, because it only gets 10x worse. She offers to push the cart and ends up almost knocking down every shelf and person in sight.

There was one instance where she ran right over Satoru.

After all that, Ayume and the girls end up making Suguru push them around in one of those carts with the seats on them for the rest of the trip because their legs got tired from running around.

They eventually end up getting kicked out.

Suguru sometimes has to wonder what he's doing here.

"How? How do you get us kicked out of WALMART?"

"Beats me. Hey, let's go to Ikea next!"

They are currently banned from 3 different Walmarts, two Ikeas and a McDonald's.

The McDonald's was from the time Satoru had come to visit and got stuck in the play place.

Suguru had to climb up there to try and get him out, but also got stuck.

Turns out, Rui had gotten stuck before they even got there. Which they only learned after hearing a faint "So. You too huh?" from the the next tunnel over.

In the end, they ended up having to call the fire department to get these two grown men and one grandma out of the play place.

It was on the local news and everything.

The footage had been provided by Nanako, who had recorded the entire incident while Ayume and Mimiko giggled hysterically.

You better believe they were never able to live it down.

After that nightmare, Suguru had tried to make dinner but ended up setting off the smoke alarm.

All he was trying to do was put a frozen pizza in the oven...

Needless to say, it was a rough day for everyone.

Date nights for the couple are rare and reserved for special occasions. Mainly because they hardly trust anyone to babysit.

Rui doesn't seem to understand the concept of children, and it would be a cold day in hell before they'd ever ask Satoru.

But sometimes, they manage to convince Kento.

He's the only one they find trustworthy enough for the job. Because although the girls find him a little boring and strict at times, he's the only responsible person they know.

At least with him, they can rest assured that the house will still be standing by the time they get back.

And on the plus side, the girls love Yu. Because let's face it, he's the fun uncle. So when Kento makes it a point to bring him along, there's always plenty of fun to be had.

Even if it feels like he's stuck babysitting 3 kids instead of 2 at times...

In case it wasn't already obvious, they're one of the most chaotic families in the whole neighborhood.

But that's what makes them interesting, so they somehow manage remain on good terms with everyone.

If one thing is for certain, it's that there's never a dull moment when it comes to the Geto family.