#you’ve heard of puzzle box books

[utterlymundane]

I’ve reread the novels so many times that they’re starting to make sense, and i had forgotten the deeply satisfying sense of dislocation that comes with reading a Tamsyn Muir story for the first time.

guys if we're all feeling this insane about a 32 page short story that expanded a 30 second scene from Nona the Ninth. how are any of us gonna survive when the entire full length book Alecto the Ninth comes out. there is still an entire locked tomb book that we haven't read yet. what are we gonna do.

[mamamittens]

Piece by Piece, You'll Come Back to Me

Part 9/13 of Spooktober 2023

@sunken-diver

Zoro X Reader (GN pronouns but Masc, so they are called brother)

Warnings: Kidnapping, yandere/possessive behavior, offscreen murder, and talk of corpses. Also this is inspired by the 1999 The Mummy movie, but it's pretty chopped up and loose at best. I was not writing a scene for scene rewrite lol

Word Count: 2,024

Luffy often dragged you into trouble. It seemed to be his job as an older brother. But he’d never managed to drag you all the way to a previously undiscovered section of ruins in the Egyptian desert alongside a book rumored to bring the dead back to life.

No, that was not something he’d ever managed before. Which is a little impressive if you were being honest. You’d lived in Egypt as an archeologist for several years now, Luffy naturally following and making fast friends on his own, so you feel this scenario was a tad inevitable. Robin thought so, at least, judging by her amused expression as she helped you climb onto a camel for travel to the sight. The last leg of the journey after a frankly disastrous accident on the river.

One that almost led to you being kidnapped but that was something to consider later. When you weren’t suffering under the scorching hot sun and intimately reminded that the library you were working at was perfectly climate controlled to preserve the many ancient works housed there.

Luffy laughed, punching Sanji’s arm as he saddled up.

“Ahah! Welp! That was an interesting ride, wasn’t it brother?” Luffy addressed you and you couldn’t help but smile.

“To be honest, Luffy, I really hope that’s the most exciting part of this trip.”

It was not the most exciting part of the trip.

In your defense, you’ve never liked alcohol. Let alone cheap wine. Couldn’t carry it if you had a bucket with instructions on the ergonomic handle.

Flush with the discovery of a sealed tomb belonging to a deliberately forgotten priest, you gleefully cracked open the Black Book of the Dead to see if your top-notch skills in ancient Egyptian glyphs was up to snuff. Pushing up your glasses before they fell off your nose as you did so. The heavy book almost winded you when you lifted it up to your chest, unlocking it with the puzzle box medallion to rest more comfortably on your lap.

Now, you’d read cursed scripts before. Usually promising an afterlife of discomfort and darkness or a life of having your ass bitten by fleas. Most unpleasant stuff. And you sort of expected this book to be no exception. Maybe some lines about being haunted by the inhabitants of the tomb that the book was resting in previously. Or the gods themselves cursing you.

What you instead found was a passage about the disavowed priest.

“—and he, o’ deceitful priest of the pharaoh, will be cursed to walk the earth for his greed. Banned from true rest, that foul, lustful man. Roronoa Zoro. Imprisoned forever more.”

Even more than a little tipsy you couldn’t help but frown. Luffy looking at you with his nose wrinkled.

“The hell did he do to deserve that?” Luffy muttered. You shrugged.

“Maybe he tried to sleep with the pharaoh’s wife?” You offered, personally a little doubtful you’d get a clear answer without scouring the entire complex maze buried under the earth. And maybe not even then.

That was when you heard it. Thundering hooves on the sand towards you campsite. Luffy jumped to his feet in alarm, the people further out firing at the intruders.

“Go! Hide in the tomb—I’ll come find you!” Luffy ordered, clenching his fists. “And take the book—they must be after it if they followed us all this way.”

Remarkably less tipsy than a moment ago, you closed the book and held it to your chest, running into the underground maze. Torches lighting your path as you instinctively ran towards the sealed sarcophagus of the priest. It was the furthest room you could think of and any locals so terribly interested in the Black Book would be wary of going in that far.

Only to find it empty. Totally and completely empty. Heavy stone lid on the floor and corpses of scarabs crushed at the bottom.

Obviously, someone stole the corpse but why?! Why now?! It had only been found hours ago! And it would have taken considerable strength to remove the lid—

There was a shuffle behind you and you whirled around in fright.

In the flickering torchlight, there stood a corpse. Withered and sickly gray, soiled bandages dragging as it stepped cautiously towards you. The smell of death thick in the stale air.

When you had turned around, it froze. Almost taken as taken aback as you were.

Something whispered in the air, a mumbled, breathless call.

And then the room was awash in golden light. Your clothes, modest pants and open shirt, traded for flowing silk draped over your shoulders and waist. The weight of a wig on your head with gold clicking at the end of the locks.

And before you?

A man. Tall and broad with golden skin. Green hair clipped short with modest robes bundled around his waist. Dark eyes fixed on you with a longing that made you breathless.

“After all this time… You find your way back to me. That foolish man could never hope to keep us apart.” He declared, his voice deep and resonating in the air with an almost doubled quality. English and ancient Egyptian laced together. He stepped forward as though you would bolt at the first chance. “Do you recognize me as I do you?”

You shook your head as he stepped closer still. The heat from his body washing over you as he reached out. Lifting up your face to look at him.

“I-I know your name… I think. But we’ve never met.” You confessed softly. He smiled indulgently. “Priest Roronoa Zoro… I think you may have me mistaken for someone else.” You informed him, flushed at the intimate caress of his calloused hands on your face.

He chuckled, the sound rushing over your face pleasantly.

“There is no mistake. It is not just your body that I know intimately well… but your soul. It calls to me still.” Zoro remarked, breathing against your lips like he’d die again if he had to pull away. Almost kissing you with every word. “And with my power we can finally be one. Memories can come later… for now, I just want you—”

“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM!” Sanji screamed and the illusion shattered.

Cold, withered hands held your face gently. Rot and decay filling your nose as the corpse of a man thousands of years dead nearly kissed you. He whipped around with a snarl only to receive a boot to his face. Sending him to the ground as Sanji grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the room.

“W-What the hell…?” You gasped, glancing behind you to see Zoro standing defiantly in front of his sarcophagus. Black Book in his arms.

For very obvious reasons, you could not stay there. Choosing instead to run back to the capital city.

Chopper was nowhere to be found, but Sanji assumed he made it out alright.

“He’s pretty good at finding his own way out of things, to be honest. After all, we were both in the same place but I was the only one that got arrested.” Sanji offered with a smile. “Now rest up. We’re going to have a full day tomorrow trying to figure out how to put that bastard back in the dirt.”

Ah right. The end of the world by the hands of a vengeful, resurrected priest.

Sweet dreams?

If only. Though it certainly seemed so at first once you’d settled into bed. A long few days of running across the desert with rumors of plagues and mysterious deaths in your wake left you feeling exhausted. You set your glasses on the bedside table and sighed, glad for the modern convenience of a proper bed again.

It started with the sound of falling sand. A gentle, sort of grinding sound. Too far gone to move but not enough to block out the sound with deep sleep, you huffed, burying your face in the pillow. The sound growing louder until you could almost feel the heavy weight of sleep lift off of you.

And then it stopped. And it was just you and the sound of rustling sheets in the dark room. And you drifted back to sleep.

Your name sighed into the still night air with a warm touch on your bare shoulder.

You weren’t sure what you dreamed of. A confusing, tumbled mess of sensations.

There was screaming. Firm, warm arms holding you close.

Harsh, sneered Egyptian curses.

Furious buzzing of locusts that nearly woke you. Your mumbled protests hushed with a soft kiss to your ear.

“Sleep. You’re safe here.”

Daybreak cast long curtains of warmth over you from an open window.

You shakily rose out of a criminally nice bed, bleary and half awake feeling like you’d slept for a week. Overly large shirt draped over one shoulder, the other bared. Definitely not yours, or Luffy’s for that matter. You fumbled around for your glasses carefully, not wanting to send them flying and need to search for them first thing in the morning.

“Ah!” There was a soft click of hooves. “Here. He’ll be glad to know you’re awake!” You accepted your glasses, recognizing the brown and pink smear as Chopper. His earnest expression looking up at you nervously.

“Chopper? Where am I? Where’s the others?” You asked, looking around the startlingly traditional Egyptian architecture. Smooth white walls and open windows with silk curtains billowing. Not any room you’d ever been in before, that’s for sure.

Chopper laughed nervously.

“W-Well, they’re somewhere, I’m sure. S-Safe! They are safe! I know that much. Z-Zoro wanted to ask before doing anything drastic. He’s been waiting for you for a long time, you know.” You frowned.

“Zoro? T-The mummified priest?” You grimaced.

“Well, to be fair, he’s not mummified anymore! Took some sacrifices but he looks much better now, I swear!” Chopper defended.

“Look, Chopper, I know he thinks I’m… well, someone, but he’s got to be mistaken!” You protested but Chopper just shrugged.

“He’s a pretty real priest, you know. If he says your soul is one he knows, I believe it.”

“It is. Though I don’t blame you for not remembering. Souls are meant to leave their past behind.” A deep voice called out. You whirled around and saw him standing there, just like the illusion.

Though he wore simple cotton pants now, his bared chest was that familiar golden tan. A deep scar ripping across his chest. Gold dangling from his ear as he smiled, striding towards you.

“W-What do you want?” You stammered, nearly falling back on the bed as Chopper scurried out of the room.

“This. This is all I ever wanted… you don’t remember, but in the past, we knew each other. You, the cherished son of the pharaoh. I… I was too eager to have you. If I had just waited a little longer, we could have been lovers without interference. But I was brash and the pharaoh was not pleased.” Zoro smiled helplessly. “Trying to kill him probably didn’t help my case, either. He already couldn’t stand the thought of you having suitors. Ah, but now? Now he’s long gone. And we’re free to be together.”

“…Is that really all you want? What about the plagues and the curses?!” You asked, still freaking out a little as Zoro pulled you close to him.

“I intend to rule, obviously. And who could stop me now? But above all else, I wish to have you by my side for eternity. As we were meant to be.”

You swallowed hard.

“And… if I said no? That I didn’t want that?” Zoro smiled, almost indulgently.

“Eternity is a long time to say ‘no’.” Zoro pressed his lips to yours and your heart fluttered despite itself. His eyes still staring deep into yours. “I’ve waited for thousands of years just to see you again. I can wait thousands more for you to want me.”

He wrapped his arms around you, pressing your face to his shoulder as he sighed into your ear.

“One day, you’ll wonder why you ever thought to say no.”

[ask-leashed-dreams]

Wake up kid

The first thing you hear is talking, the drone of a voice you’ve only ever heard in your dreams. You pull the blanket closer into yourself, the fabric is foreign and you are acutely aware of the couch box frame digging into your side.

“— He’s waking up.”

You are not in your room. You are not in your bed. A man sits next to you on his couch, staring down his nose at you with one of Sammy’s puzzle books in his hand. Short blonde hair peppered with white streaks, dull green eyes, and scars stretching across his face, expression unreadable. You sit up, scooting to the edge of the couch and away from him. A cup is set on the end table behind you and another person comes into view. His eyes are kind, a brighter yet softer green. The new person kneels down to meet your eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe.” He smiles softly, “My name is Ardent and this is my— my Domino. What’s your name?”

Ardent is patient, Domino looks at you in suspicion. You look around, unsure of what you’re really looking for. Your dog, maybe? It’s a beat too long, they’re staring at you. Oh, right. “Where am I?”

The man beside you frowns. Wrong answer.

“You fell asleep in our home.” The other one, Ardent, says. “Do you remember your name?”

Your heard hurts. Monsters don’t have names.

“Mellohi.”

[hackoftheyear]

If you’re worried about grandma being locked in a beige box I have some suggestions:

Send her a card or give her a call! Go visit and bring a little snack or treat! Take her out to lunch or just a nice car drive! Talk a walk or wheel about with her outside or even just a new hallway! Do puzzles and games! Look at old photos together! Read her a book! Listen to music together and let her introduce you to something you’ve never heard before! Play music for her and other residents yourself!

Bring the community to them!! You’re the community! Bring your friends!

[indecentpause]

Find the Word Tag

tagged by @thegreatobsesso to find the words might, light, sight and bright! These are from the second draft of The Most Beautiful Puzzle

cw: stalking mention, animal death mention, pet taxidermy

might:

Danny raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment. “I still think you should get a restraining order,” he says instead. “Then he can’t call or text you anymore, either.” You bite your lip and sigh. “I know, but… I feel like that would make him more insistent, you know? Like he might try to find me. Cops already don’t take stuff like that seriously. A gay man hiding from his ex? Like anyone not connected to Josselin would even care. You remember what happened the one time I did try to call for help.” Danny looks at you carefully, but doesn’t comment. “And if he does find—“ your voice catches even as it cracks. “And Josselin or his cats or any of his friends or family who might come over could get hurt, or you could get hurt—“ “Or you could get hurt,” Danny adds gently. You exhale, slow and long through pursed lips. “I’ll think about it,” you say, sand you open the back door and grab the top box.

light:

By the TV are two taxidermied cats, one fluffy gray and one short haired and white, one on either side. Above the TV is a shelf with a huge, ridiculously tacky, notably empty vase with sunflowers on it, surrounded by candles and a few incense holders, as well as a small crochet square hanging off the left side. And a small, sharp-toothed skull on either side. Did… he keep the cats’ skulls, too? Your stomach turns a little, unsettled, but it fades when you hear Josselin, still near the door, baby-talking one of the cats. He’s nice. You can tell he’s nice. He’s just eccentric, and, hey, when you end up headfirst into a hyperfixation, you can be, too. You’re no one to judge. As he settles the cats down, you look around at the rainbow of flickering light that bounces off the crystal and glass room chimes hanging from the ceiling. Along with them are a couple of bundles of lavender and rosemary and green sage hanging by their stems. His bookshelves take up most of one wall. Eddie Izzard’s autobiography. A number of books on anatomy and physiology. At least a dozen books about the Zelda games and dozen more on using herbs for magic. A bunch of violin sheet music. Tons more that could be fiction or nonfiction, because you’ve never even heard of most of them before. “Would you like to meet the cats?”

sight see:

You both continue to stand there, still not looking at each other. A crash in the kitchen startles you into a small jump. “Familiar!” Josselin shouts, zooming past you and out of the room. You follow and enter the kitchen to see Josselin wrestling her away from the trash, which has been pulled out from under the sink and knocked onto its side. She holds the plastic bin tight, yowling as Josselin tries to pry her paws off. You grab the bin and gently pull as Josselin finally gets her to let go. You pick up the single crumpled, damp paper towel that’s fallen out and get to righting it. Josselin shuts a still yowling Familiar in his bedroom. He sighs as you both move to the living room again. “She’s going to make me pay for shutting her in there,” he mumbles.

bright:

“Do you want to listen to something else?” you ask. “I just… really don’t like most ‘80s music. At least not the stuff they play on the radio. Except The Cure, I guess." You look at each other a few moments, then you burst into laughter. “Me too!” You grin brightly, trying to hold back tears. They could be happy or sad or angry or all of the above, but you have to drive and you can’t do that while you’re crying. Josselin glances to the sun visor where the indent of yesterday’s paperclip still sits. Where the picture of you and Drake used to be. “It was what he wanted you to listen to, wasn’t it?” he asks gently. You clear your throat and turn back to the steering wheel. “And that paperclip you pulled down. That was a photo of him?” “Of us,” you say softly, and you begin to drive.

tagging @winterandwords @kaiusvnoir @papercutsunset @athenswrites to find the words: tall, small, wall, and fall!

[haveyoureadthishorrorbookpoll]

Have you read...

note: If you did not finish but feel you read enough to form an opinion, you may choose a ‘Yes’ option instead of 'Partly' (e.g., Yes, I didn’t like it). Similarly, if you’ve never heard of a book until now but formed an opinion from this post, you may wish to select a “no” option e.g., “No, but I want to.”

Malpertuis is a puzzle box of nested narratives wrested from a set of manuscripts stolen from a monastery. A bizarre collection of distrustful relatives has gathered together in the ancient stone mansion of a sea-trading dynasty for the impending death of the occult scientist, Uncle Cassave, and the reading of his will. Forced to dwell together for the remainder of their lives within the stifling walls of Malpertuis for the sake of a cursed inheritance, their banal existence gradually gives way to love affairs and secret plots, as the building slowly exposes a malevolence that eventually leads to a series of ghastly deaths. The eccentric personalities it houses—which include an obsessive taxidermist, a hypochondriac, a trio of vengeful sisters and a former paint store manager who has gone mad—begin to shed like skins to reveal yet another hidden story buried in the novel’s structure, one that turns the haunted-house tradition on its head and culminates in an apocalyptic denouement.

submit a horror book!

[xknivesandpensx]

Like Pieces of a Puzzle

Chapter 7

Summary: What if Harry wasn't the only extra student called upon to participate in the Triwizard Tournament? Far from the most popular candidate, Draco not only has to take on the trials but also deal with his unexpected feelings for Hermione. Will he be able to face the challenges as well as follow his heart?

Chapter length will vary. I'll be referencing both the books and movie versions. Some things from what I've previously written will be mentioned, all of which you can find here.

And for those who asked to be tagged: @dayane245love

When Hermione entered the common room, Harry and Ron were finishing their Divination homework. Two volumes of Unfogging the Future laid open on the table as they spoke back and forth to one another, rattling off random unfortunate events. Only a few students remained hanging around, including Fred and George, who disappeared upstairs upon her arrival.

Crookshanks jumped from Harry’s lap and rushed over to rub against her leg. Hermione greeted him, lowering down to brush her hand over his ginger fur, causing a loud purr to be heard. He took off soon after, deciding to curl up near the fireplace.

Hermione peered over Ron’s chart. Her lips pressed together upon skimming over his work. “Not going to have a very good month, are you? You seem to be drowning twice. Don’t you think it’s a bit obvious you’ve made these up? Then again, Professor Trelawney isn’t very creditable. She’d likely believe you.”

Harry shrugged, silently agreeing per the latter. “She already told me; ‘I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass.’ I suppose I prefer that over her predicting my death all year. I think this one is a nice touch, considering.”

She read the answer, raising a brow. “Decapitation? It’s barely better than Ron getting trampled by a rampaging Hippogriff.”

“It’s not easy coming up with good ways to die,” Ron defended as she took a seat next to him. “Besides, we all know she’s a bit of a nutter. If it’s not downright devastating, she’ll think we haven’t tried hard enough.”

“It’s beyond me why the two of you are wasting your time in her class. Everything she says is rubbish,” Hermione mentioned, attempting to maintain her usual self, despite feeling quite the opposite. “You should’ve taken Arithmancy. Professor Vector is strict, but she really gives us a challenge.”

“Well, bully for her,” Ron muttered in return, picking up his quill to write more.

During a lapse of silence, Hermione put the box she carried on the far end of the table. She wanted to talk about S.P.E.W. but the urge of excitement dwindled. For some reason, a sudden awkward feeling buried itself in her stomach. And what for? A single, civil conversation?

She shook her head, as if the motion alone possessed the ability to shake Draco from her thoughts. 

Hermione noticed Harry’s slight tensing, how he hesitated to move his hand to his forehead. She ducked down, speaking in a whisper. “Your scar’s bothering you again, isn’t it?”

“It’s nothing.” He wished she didn’t look at him quite like that, with concern pooling in her brown eyes, her features softening by worry.

Somehow, Hermione was the only one who ever noticed.

Ron lifted his gaze after she spoke, now questionably regarding him too, however, where Hermione held apprehension, he took on a puzzled expression.

Harry felt suddenly uncomfortable by their stares and turned his attention elsewhere. “What’s in the box?” he asked, moving to get a better view of the contents. He took out a badge and flipped it over, merely to be interrupted before he could say anything.

Although wise to his tactics, Hermione went along almost automatically. “Before you ask, S.P.E.W. stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn’t fit. After much consideration, I decided to take a practical approach. With both of you helping, think of what we can do for them. Of course, we’ll need more than three members.”

“This again, really? It’s all you ever go on about,” Ron complained. He believed the house-elves were content, happy even, doing as they always have.

She glared at him but otherwise ignored the comment. “I’ve done loads of research. Obviously, we’ll need money. Two Sickles to join seems right to me. You’re treasurer, Ron. Harry, you can be the secretary, so you might want to write everything down I’m about to say.”

As if he’d know the important details to keep track of. He maybe even regretted asking, if not for the fact of it stealing the notice from himself. Harry took another from the box. “What happened to this one?”

“Oh, I forgot to fix it.” Hermione drew her wand out. “I banged into Malfoy on my way here. He stepped on it. I think by accident. Reparo.” It came together in an instant, now identical to the rest.

She started to wonder how he’d be next time they saw one another. To Hermione, at least, she thought something changed or perhaps it was all in her head. Draco being nice didn’t quite mean anything. But in regards to her? Who could say for sure.

She still felt the impression his hand left, how the tingling sensation raced across her skin. To think a single touch had the power to inflict such a sensation. Hermione knew if she vocally indulged in the matter to them, they’d think her as mad as Professor Trelawney.

Possibly, she’d agree given who she often caught herself daydreaming about him. And while a part of her thought it wrong to keep secrets from her friends, crushes were simply excluded from any of their discussions. Although, Harry’s interest in Cho appeared obvious, once picking up on it. His whole face lit up upon seeing her. He forgot how to speak and embarrassed himself on more than one occasion.

Ron, on the other hand, she didn’t see his interest latch onto anyone (because even he hadn’t caught onto his growing feeling for Hermione yet).

“Malfoy again? Strange for him to be roaming the halls, isn’t it?” Harry asked, figuring he may as well take out a blank piece of paper. He smoothed it out by using his forearm, struggling not to wince after he felt another dull sting.

Hermione forced a steady voice, restraining from answering too quickly. “Hardly. He just left Professor Moody’s classroom. Anyway there’s something – ”

“Does that mean he got in trouble?” Ron interjected, his mood lightening. “He deserved it in any case, on the account of Neville, of course. Hasn’t been right ever since.”

She took the badge from Harry and tossed it in with the others. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you? I’m sure Neville isn’t upset anymore. And you needn’t look so happy about it either. Points taken away would be the direct approach, not detention.”

She refrained from disclosing the details of Draco’s punishment, considering they’d only see Moody in a higher regard, lacking the true brutality of the ordeal. Telling them greatly differed from seeing the results in person.

“Defending him now?” Rom came across affronted, his gaze quick to find hers. “He did laugh after Pansy pushed you in the mud. Not to mention everything else he’s done over the years.”

“Thanks, Ron. I nearly forgot about that highly mortifying moment.” Hermione turned to the window where a snowy white owl could be spotted, any further words lost. Hedwig tapped her beak on the glass, waiting for entrance.

Harry quickly crossed the room, letting her inside before untying the parchment attached to her leg. His eyes scanned the letter Sirius sent. Both Ron and Hermione moved into the corner, away from the few students who’d possibly overhear them.

“Not now,” Harry remarked to Hedwig, who hooted for attention. He kept his summarily to the overall point. “He’s coming back because he thinks I’m in trouble.” Disbelief clung to his hushed tone. “But there’s nothing wrong, nothing worth him taking the risk.”

Hermione moved to put her hand on his shoulder in hopes of providing comfort. She instantly felt the strain pulling along his muscles. “He cares about you and it is concerning. Of course, he’d want to be closer. Your scar just bothered you.”

“For a few seconds,” Harry snapped, shrugging her off. Her pacifying voice irritated him, yet the negative emotion vanished in a flash after he caught sight of the hurt look on her face. “Sorry… I can’t lose him too.” He grabbed a piece of paper, writing a hurried reply.

Hermione trailed after him, taking it upon herself to read as he wrote. “You’re lying, you didn’t imagine it. He’ll know exactly what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. He’s probably already on his way.”

Harry disregarded her and went back to Hedwig.

“Might as well not bother,” Ron said. He returned to the table, in which Hermione followed, still casting a worried glance. “I get it, though. It has to be hard. Wanting him near but needing him off someplace else.”

Hermione nodded, aware Harry desired nothing more than to leave the Dursley’s and live with Sirius. He talked to her about it in length once, describing how connected they became in a small amount of time.

She watched as Hedwig gave Harry a rather hard nip on the fingers for having to be sent out again, despite complying. Before she managed another sentence, Harry retreated upstairs, muttering about being tired, leaving her to slump in her seat, attempting to sort through her thoughts as Ron quietly went back to his homework.

Hermione managed to talk to Ginny the next day. They left lunch early so she could send a letter to her parents, borrowing Hedwig, for Sirius responded and his answer came that morning, urging his godson to use other owls due to her bright color. And he, as she expected, knew of Harry’s attempts to downplay the pain.

The walk to and from the owlery provided enough privacy to explain the conversation she and Draco shared. A warm breeze swept past as they trailed the bridge, passing Cedric along the way, who gave a nod and light smile in their direction, having met them during summer.

“I mean, you find it odd too, right?” Hermione asked as soon as they were out of earshot. Uncertainty wormed its way inside. She fought to find a rational conclusion in means of putting her heart aside. “I think I’m making nothing into so much more.”

Ginny kept her gaze on her feet, taking a few steps to consider an answer. “Why not simply try talking to him again? Get things sorted out?”

The suggestion came off rather tempting, however, risky. “Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t get the chance. We have Potions together but only for a half hour today on account of the other schools arriving.”

The excitement over the tournament took over the school in full. Almost every student went on earnestly about the possible competitors and challenges. Hermione, alternatively, possessed no ability to concentrate on the competition.

“It’d be pretty awkward asking to speak to him directly, especially since he’s always around the other Slytherins.” Although Ginny still found her friend’s affection towards him to be surprising, she figured at least one of them deserved a chance.

“I can’t fathom a single thing to say anyway,” Hermione mentioned. “For all my logic, I’m simply lost when it comes to talking to a boy I’m interested in. And given his foul behavior, I’m better off keeping things as they are. I used to handle myself better, whereas now I’m harrowed by the very thought of seeing him again.”

He drove her crazy. Draco came off arrogant, yet it seemed to be more than that, like he was uniquely talented at getting under her skin. (Not excluding the fact of his proficiency at annoying Harry and Ron too).

Sometimes she thought herself too hard on him, given he was no different than any other teenager, blood status aside, and perhaps she didn’t hate his company if caught in a tolerable mood. Then he tended to prove her positive assumptions wrong by keeping to his typical condescending attitude.

“I’m not one to give advice on the subject, but I believe the correct thing to do is to decide. Either take the risk or let your feelings go.” Ginny stated it simply in spite of personally knowing the difficulties of confronting the choice.

“I can’t keep going back and forth, that much I know.” She dug herself too deep already. Hermione started to grow tired of the unknown, wishing to gain freedom from the conflict. “I just need to think it over, is all.”

Once more gratitude for their friendship made itself known. Confiding in Ginny proved beneficial. Plus, their discussions about either of their crushes led them to additional topics. She loved spending time with Harry and Ron, nevertheless she greatly appreciated the company of another girl.

After getting back inside they agreed to head back to the Great Hall so Hermione could walk to her next class alongside her two friends as per usual. Their topic of discussion drifted to a lighter note along the way.

Not only to preserve the privacy of the subject matter in whole, but also to the point of providing Hermione the space she required without rehashing the problem.

They turned the corner and dé·jà vu hit, having run into Draco again. All three of them came to a quick halt. His eyes met Hermione’s surprised, flushed face. A prolonged stare (which sped up her heartbeat so rapidly it fervently thumped against her chest) followed a swift continuation of strides. He walking around like they were invisible to him. His expression appeared unreadable, almost indifferent.

She turned around, losing sight of him along the corridor. He vanished amid a group of students.

“What am I supposed to make of that?” Hermione questioned, perplexed by Draco’s reaction or lack thereof.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Ginny grabbed hold of her arm, forcing her to keep moving. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss them. But I must say, he is acting strange.”

[jimsandfruit]

Dance (Illinois x Yancy fluff)

Summary: Illinois bothers Yancy for some dance lessons. Who knew giving dance lessons is so difficult when you have a massive crush on your best friend?

Word Count: 1700+

TW: None

“Oh, come on, Yance!” Illinois huffed, “You promised weeks ago”

“I know, I know. I’ll teach youse later” Yancy said, pretending to be very fascinated with his Sudoku puzzle. He wasn’t. It was one of the common activities in prison, and he had enjoyed it there. Now that he had been introduced to video games, new movies, and nerf gun battles, Sudoku was suddenly very bland.

The adventurer flopped onto the couch next to Yancy.“ You’ve been saying that every time I ask! I thought you loved to dance, so why won't you teach me?” He pressed.

Yancy wasn’t actually sure. He really did love to dance. He loved teaching people. He loved the face people got when they got a step right and lit up.

 He loved seeing people grow as he guided them from a simple step touch, to a swing dance pretzel, and even to a barrel turn, if they can make it that far.

Teaching dance made him truly happy. So why did he feel anxious when Illinois asked to be taught?

“I do love dance,” Yancy said defensively. “I’ve uh… Just been tired.”

“Mhm, you seemed super tired last time I asked. You know, the time when immediately after you joined an intense game of hide’n’seek tag with Bing and the Jims. Yancy if you really don’t wanna teach me that’s fine. Just stop saying later and say no.”

Yancy looked over at Illinois. They all had the same base, physically. Yet everyone had differences. Illinois had a scar on his cheek, already making him feel different from the rest. Like he had more depth. The mostly tan outfit made Illinois feel warmer, in Yancy’s opinion. More approachable. Yet he had the confidence of a lion. Yancy’s stomach fluttered a bit and he looked away.

“No, I wanna teach youse. I just… I will later” He repeated.

“Later, later, later.” Illinois huffed, waving his hand in the air as if swatting away the word. “Why not now?” he looked at the Sudoku “You’ve been sitting here for half an hour and the page is mostly blank. It’s not like you’re having fun with that”

Illinois was right. He was bored. He had grown to hate Sudokus. Hours of staring at paper for nothing at the end, but 81 boxes now filled with numbers that really meant nothing. He used to feel satisfaction at the flawlessly lined-up numbers. Now they just made him feel pathetic. He shut the small Sudoku book.

“Fine, you win” Yancy huffed out, tossing the book and pencil onto the cushion beside him and standing up.

Illinois grinned and got up, excited, “Where too?”

Yancy thought for a moment. The whole manor had space, but for some reason, the garden sounded nice. It had recently been cleaned up. It was pretty.

Wait, no, there was space. That was why he wanted to do it in the garden. Not because the pretty vibrant flowers looked so beautiful and Illinois seemed like a sun among them whenever they were out there. Not because dancing in a beautiful flower-filled garden with Illinois sounded absolutely magical.

Of course not. It was only because there was plenty of open space, and room for error.

“Let’s go out back” He said, heading out quickly, avoiding eye contact with the adventurer.

Illinois nodded eagerly, before taking Yancys tattooed hand and rushing out into the manors garden.

When they left the house, the midday sun hit Illinois making him look even warmer and more radiant than usual. Yancys breath hitched for a second, but he was able to catch it before Illinois noticed.

Illinois came to a stop in a clearing among the flowers. “Alright Yance” He said happily. “I'm ready to learn”

It took Yancy a moment to remember any good places to start, but after a moment he remembered some foundations. Illinois never said what type he wanted to learn, but Yancys mind kept flicking back to waltz. 

“Youse ever heard of a box step?”

“Nope” Illinois told him.

“Okay” Yancy said with a small nod, noting that he would have to teach everything from scratch. He kept mentally flicking all the ways he could mess this up. He stood in front of Illinois “So what youse wanna do is…”

He taught Illinois the basic step, but only part. After a moment, Yancy realized the very obvious fact that to properly teach a waltz, he would have to waltz with Illinois.

It was a two-person dance, which both terrified and excited him.

Yancy hesitated, as Illinois soon did as good as one could with no partner.

“Alright there's two parts,” Yancy said. “There's the traditionally guy part of the dance, and traditionally girl. The biggest difference in the basic steps is hand placement”

The adventurer nodded lightly, eager to learn all he could.

Yancy's heart fluttered a bit, realizing how perfect it all was. The beautiful light filtering though the trees. Flowers flickering around them. Illinois full attention. Butterflies in Yancys stomach. Yancy forced himself to recover from his trance, and took Illinois hand.

“This step is common in ballroom dance, but we’re goin for waltz, so the main difference is still hand placement,” He said, putting Illinois hand a little above his waist 

“Youses right hand goes here,” He said. 

Illinois nodded “Alright,” He said, taking a mental note. Yancy saw his small smile he almost always had. It seemed like his resting face was a forever genuine hint of a smile. And when it wasn’t a gentle hint-like smile, it was a large, shining smile. A breathtaking display.

Yancy shook his mind from it. He took Illinois’ left hand “And this one holds youses partner's hand”

“And then we start just like you said right? You said start with… right foot forward?”

“Left foot forward” Yancy corrected. “I start with right foot back”

Illinois nodded, “Alright, so I just start?”

Yancy nodded “Whenever youse ready”

Illinois smiled, and started the dance. Yancy tried to pay attention. The teacher should be aware of the class, or student, but he got lost in the movements. He got lost in every sway, and every synchronized step. He didn’t notice how every step brought them closer. Not until their chests were practically touching, at least.

He came back to the moment and looked at Illinois, “Youse pretty good for a beginner. Smooth movements…” He said.

Illinois smiled at him, “Thank you” 

Yancy knew he should teach Illinois more, now that he had the box step down, but he couldn’t bring himself to bring a stop to the closeness they had in that moment.

He had always wanted to be this close to Illinois. Sure, they had watched movies, leaning on each other. Sure, they had been physically near before, but dancing with synchronized moments brought a whole new connection. Yancy felt it, but he was sure Illinois didn’t.

Illinois wasn’t the type to date, he reminded himself. Illinois had said it himself before. Illinois was Yancys best friend, and Yancy was his. He wouldn’t break that because of some silly crush.

He pulled away, causing Illinois to look confused, “Did I do it wrong?”

“No, youse got it right, so I’m just gonna teach youse the next step”

Illinois took Yancys hand and smiled, “Yance, can we talk for a moment?”

Yancy froze up, “Is somethin wrong...?”

Illinois smiled, “Of course not, nothing is wrong. I just gotta be honest with you”

Yancy looked at Illinois's hand around his own. There were a few small scars on Illinois’ hands, from small scratches here and there which happened on no doubt exhilarating adventures.

“Okay” Yancy said, his tone nervous.

Illinois nudged him softly, “Nothing bad, have a little trust in me”

Yancy laughed softly “Fine, fine, I trust youse”

Illinois smiled “Great. Was gonna wait to say something but I dunno what I’m waiting for. This moment seems as good as any to say that… I really like you, Yancy. I thought asking you to teach me to dance could make a good moment to say it, and I guess it did.” Illinois said, as he put his right hand on Yancys waist, and started a gentle waltz.

To Yancys shock, Illinois was taking steps beyond the box step, and was doing very good at them. He blinked as Illinois lead the dance into slightly more complicated steps than Yancy had taught. Illinois liked him? It was mutual?

“I didn’t know how to ask you… but I knew you loved to dance. I started to teach myself in hopes that someday there’d be an excuse for us to dance.” He spun Yancy

 “I kept watching videos, and practicing some steps from different styles in my room” He gently pulled Yancy back into the dance. 

Yancy couldn’t hide the red blush that tinted his cheeks, nor the smile that showed that he felt the same. He also felt breathless, not from the dance, but from the realization that this was everything he wanted. It was more perfect than he had let himself ever hope for.

Illinois cared for Yancy in the same way, nothing was ruined, and now they were dancing among the flowers. Illinois had taught himself to dance for Yancy. Illinois had worked to make this moment. This beautiful, perfect moment.

Yancy smiled, “I really like youse too,” He said. “I was never gonna tell youse cause I was scared I’d ruin what we did have”

He felt his heart flutter as he let the moment sink in. 

Illinois dipped him for a moment, before pulling him back up.

Yancy realized their faces were inches away. Nothing but a few inches of nothing separating the two. His eyes flicked to Illinois’ eyes, then to his lips. The world felt like it had paused. As if it politely put everything on hold for the two to have the long awaited moment.

There was no more dance, just undeniable closeness.

Yancy closed the distance, and finally kissed Illinois.

Later they would have to tell the others, who would of course accept them, but the moment wouldn't be private anymore. Later they would have to do chores. Later they would have to go back to the real world and have to leave this picture-perfect moment.

But later wasn’t now. Now was beautiful. Now was more than Yancy had ever let himself wish for. Now was all that mattered.

[punk-in-docs]

Hi! What do you think of an idea of Eddie as a secret admirer? 👀

❤️My Funny Valentine❤️

The sickly horror of St. fucking Valentine’s Day. Ugh.

Everywhere at school is all fluffed up and candied. Tongue red and rose pink with Valentines Day mushiness. The worst. The hallways are lined with craft paper cut out hearts and tacky glittering sentiment.

You’d rather eat pebbles.

You’d not wanted to take part in this ridiculous farcical holiday. Really it was hideous enough that your mom giggled like a ten year old girl this morning when your dad slid her a candy pink envelope. Her name looped on the front. Feigning surprise that she has a mystery man in her life.

They shared a silly kiss that has you cringing into the bowl of your honeycomb cereal. Slinging your eyes up and rolling them over. School was bad enough. Suffering the indignity of romance over the breakfast counter too, was just entirely nauseating.

You literally have to shoulder your way past couples making out to get to your locker. Some springy haired cheerleader and her letterman clad jock. There’s posters up about the Valentine’s Day dance in the Gym. It will be wall to wall slow dancing and pink confetti and red foil curtains shimmering off the walls. Those sad foil wrapped heart-shaped chocolates on the tables.

It’s all going to be predictably over stuffed with couples. One of which you are not and you’ve never felt it more keenly than today. Everywhere else is pink hearts. Yours is content to remain throughly charred black and miserable.

You manage to peel your locker open. Batting away the paper hearts. Let’s be real, you wanted to rip them up really.

You won’t get asked to that dance. You won’t get any invites or cards- or anything. You’re resigned to your singledom.

That’s the worst thing of it all. If you had someone to share it with, you may have been able to hate it less.

A small slip of wonky paper flutters out your locker and dances, arches and dips, across the air to land at your sneakers. Puzzled, you heft your books down and reach down to grab it.

When you lift it up you don’t recognise the hand. But there on the jagged paper is a line of spidery scrawled words in chicken scratch red biro. Your stomach swells and swoops with the words:

“Hey cutie. Wanna go to the dance with me? EM.”

What? EM. Your brain flips and rattles around like that Rolodex your mom uses. Sheets of card and names and flicking around trying to locate one.

EM? Who is EM? And why do they want to go to the dance with little old you-

You weigh the paper in your hand and dart your head over your shoulders. Twisting around to see if you can catch sign of anyone. Anyone at all.

Lip locked couples around you. Gaggles of friends huddled close. Chatter and bubbling noise and sneakers on Lino filling your ears. Laughter and gum chewing and gossip and-

Oh-

About ten lockers down from you, someone is leaning against theirs. Arms folded. Eyes flicked fully forwards to land on you.

You know full well whose that locker door is from sight alone. The one plastered in heavy metal bands you’d never heard the names of. Rock star. Devils, skulls, forked tongues and Hellfire-

Eddie Munson is stood there with his puppy dog brown eyes and a completely smug grin on his smart mouth. Such a pretty mouth. His face is entirely framed by that spill of wild dark curls. Big broad leather-denim meshed jacket made his scrawny frame look good.

You catch his look and it’s purely confident. It oozes with charm and you swallow all sticky cause. Holy shit is this boy cute.

He jerks a nod to your hands where the paper is. You look down and at his urging turn it over seeing you had three options sat by the wonky row of boxes. No, Yes, and Hell yes.

You laugh at the absurdity of it. Your cheeks fill with naked heat and he’s stuck his eyes to the line of your teeth in your dazzling smile. Gorgeous.

When you look up. He raises his brows. Slanting them up under his wonky bangs. An expression and a question sloped into one.

You cannot bobble a nod at him fast enough.

Oh and he grins and your stomach is thrown into a sudden lurching tilt-a-whirl. Arcade music and fun and games, and cotton candy.

You look down again at the note and rub your thumb over the letters. You’re going to the Valentines dance with Eddie Munson. Dreams do come true-

A cool shadow falls across you and you only register it’s him when you look up, and he’s close and he’s mesmerising to be so near. Leather and brown eyes and swirling cigarette ash. Spun on that sugar coated smile. He whispers to you and you alone.

“I’ll pick you up at eight, Valentine.”

~

Needless to say, he’s ten minutes late to pick you up but god love the boy, he made an effort and dressed up real nice. Sneakers and an old suit. It’s my uncle’s. Had to dust it out of mothballs.

He may have been forcibly wrangled into a suit. But there’s no doubt he made it his own rocker style. Still wore his wallet chain, and his bow tie was black with little white skulls on it. He ran a brush through his curls - made them fluffy. And slapped a handful of stinging cologne on his cheeks.

He buys you a corsage with peach and pink flowers on it. You never want to take it off.

He kisses you on the cheek and lingers a second as he opens the van door for you. Too sweet for words this metal head.

He spikes the punch with vodka. Shows you the bottle. Brings it out and wiggles it at you as he waggles his brows. Drawing it from the place in his jacket pocket. He slow dances with you to Simple Minds and Cyndi Lauper.

Your arms looped around his neck as time after time blares through the gym hall. Hands resting near the nest of his wild hair. He kisses the inside of your wrist and holds your elbow. Looks you deep deep in the eyes. You’re awful glad he’s holding you up, actually.

I’m really glad I asked you. Valentine.

Your heart glows.

My dress is horrible isn’t it? You ask him with a scrunched nose and a grin. Cause it was. It was a duck egg blue ruffled monstrosity your mother paid for and insisted would be just lovely.

Nah baby. It’s cute cause it’s got you in it. He smirks. Cups the back of your hair all gentle and you swear, he’s like a drug to be hopped up on. And you never wanna quit him. Shoot him directly in your veins.

Then, he scoops you outta there, your hand clutched in his. Warm skin. Cold rings. You both share a sneaky smoke in the parking lot. And then he spends the rest of the night kissing your damn lips off as you stargaze at skull rock.

Listening to shit crackling seventies golden oldies on the static flickering radio. He dances with you then too. Skanking it around to The Clash. Police and Thieves. Sipping more warm vodka til it starts to slip down way too easy.

You don’t dance pretty and neatly, you thrash around like idiots and you both laugh your heads off. And it all ends in sultry slow kisses that taste like Marlboros.

He returns you home way past curfew. And you’re giddy, a little wobbly drunk, heels in hand, and you’ve taken your hair down.

You’ve laughed and smoked a cigarette and danced with him holding you close by the hips. Sure you’ve slurped vodka from the slim bottle smuggled in his pocket tonight, but you’re way way more dazzling drunk off the sensation of kissing him.

Maybe St. Valentines Day isn’t so bad after all.

~

More Eddie stuff? Come take a look-

[sugamamacustard]

Come see me

Pairing: Alpha! Tetsuro Kuroo X Omega! Reader

Genre: Minor Angst, but other than that, fluffy cuddle piles. 

Request: Hi kinda nervous to request this since I'm very shy but..Is it okay to request a scenario where omega reader is feeling very insecure and jealous after idk like some new person comes in the pack and everyone is paying attention to them and reader feels very neglected but keeps quiet, starts spending more time with their friends and avoids the pack and their alpha. And then the pack plus alpha notices and drags reader back, and reassures them, and the entire pack cuddles and hug reader. Kinda like angst to fluff. Could be any team and any alpha. Though I prefer kuroo and nekoma. Sorry if it's too long I've always wanted an imagine like this. You don't have to do it if you don't wanna tho! I was just asking :)Have a good day💜

Summary:  Being a manager for Nekoma was a thankless job, but one you were proud to do. You were surrounded by alphas who wanted what was best for you and in turn, you wanted what was best for them. However, sometimes what’s best for them...may not be best for you or your omega.

Warnings: Jealous omega! reader, reader almost goes into an omega depression, small angst,

Author’s Note: No need to be shy, darling! This is my first request for this blog so I’m super excited to write this and to fulfill my first request.!

Requests: Open!

Tetsuro Kuroo

➵ Originally, the idea of another manager for the Nekoma team excited you.

➵ You were really pumped to have an extra set of hands on board to help keep scores, or pick up balls, or put up and take down nets. 

➵ To have someone else to joke and laugh with on the sidelines while Yaku was yelling at Lev, or to assist you in prying Kenma’s switch from his hands so he can eat.

➵ Having another manager seemed like such a good idea. A new friend for the pack. 

➵ Until it wasn’t. 

➵ Ichika was a kind and sweet girl in class 2-B (You were in 2-D), and originally you and her got along well.

➵ Your omega didn’t outright hate her, more of an indifference, and your personalities melded well together.

➵ And from what you’ve heard from her friends, she talked about the boys on the volleyball team a lot.

➵ So you figured she would be a good fit. 

➵ However, you weren’t certain on it anymore.

➵ Maybe she was too good of a fit. 

➵ ‘You’re being silly’ You told yourself. 

➵ ‘She’s getting to know the team, that’s all’ You practically chanted in your head like a mantra.

➵ ‘She’s honing in on our pack. Our alpha.’ Your omega sneered, padding in a circle before flopping down, growling lowly.  You tried reminding her that Kuroo was nothing more than a captain. 

➵ An attractive captain who who you found yourself finding every opportunity in the book to talk too. But that was fine print. 

➵ He was not your alpha. He was the commanding alpha of the volleyball team, but not yours. 

➵ And maybe that was what hurt most. Knowing you had Zero claim on anyone in the pack, therefore you had no right to demand the attention.

➵ They gave their attention to who they wanted. 

➵ Even if nowadays, it seemed to be Ichika more and more often then not. 

➵ It hurt, when you both would be sitting on the sidelines and Inuoka would brush right past you to chat with Ichika.

➵ Or when you both would be passing out towels and water bottles and they only thanked her. 

➵ It began hurting to the point you had to bite down whines or whimpers. Your omega was upset, therefore you were even more upset. But they seemed happy,

➵ Who were you to ruin that? 

➵ Just because you saw them as pack, doesn’t mean they saw you in the same light. 

➵ You tried pushing away that god awful thought, but it was planted and nothing was moving it. 

➵ And whether you noticed it or not, you were acting on that thought.

➵ You didn’t stay after practice for anyone, instead cleaning up quickly and efficiently while the boys were in the change room. 

➵ Leaving behind your notes for that day’s practice along with the gym keys right in front of the door. 

➵ You didn’t wait for anyone and took a different way home so no-one would try to walk with you.

➵ You needed to separate from them, even if it hurt. Even if you cried on the way home. Even if you stayed in your nest from the minute you got home to the minute you had to leave for school the next day.

➵ Even if your meals got smaller and smaller. 

➵ You never sat with the team anymore, Ichika taking your spot like she belonged there. 

➵ Instead you sat with a group of friends from your class. They never asked any questions, which you were thankful for. 

➵ You began wearing scent blocking patches to hide your scent, hide the sour note that almost always accompanied it. 

➵ You just...tried to disappear. You still fulfilled your manager duties as you always did, but never more. 

➵ Never gave words of encouragement. No pointers on how to improve. No jokes on Lev’s behalf. No nothing. 

➵ And holy shit, that Irked Kuroo. 

➵ He was always so excited for practices at the end of the day because that was when he would get to show off in front of you. 

➵ Prove he was a strong alpha. 

➵ He would admit, he liked you...A lot. He was even working on a future courting gift (It was a bracelet with intricate beading that looked almost like a cuff) but was having a few difficulties so couldn’t gift it to you yet.

➵ However, you were pulling away. 

➵ Away from him. Away from the pack. Just away. 

➵ You barely even glanced their way anymore.

➵ During practice, you just sat there, completed homework, then took notes. He never saw you after that.

➵ He tried to pack up as fast as he possibly could at the end of practice but was always late. You were always, without fail, gone. No trace of you ever being there except the notes you left in your wake with the keys. 

➵ His alpha kept barking at him to stop you. To come up with any excuse to keep you here long enough for him to walk you home in the very least. But you were always gone.

➵ He tried everything, but you seemed one step ahead of him. 

➵ His alpha blamed Ichika. Ever since she showed up you began pulling away.

➵ Were you jealous? Were you angry with them for trying to keep her away?

➵ They only put up with her because it was obvious you didn’t like her. So they tried keeping her away. 

➵ Was that backfiring on them? 

➵ Kuroo didn’t even know why there was another manager. You were perfect for them. Like a puzzle piece. Their personal cheerleader. 

➵ Maybe school was piling on you?

➵ No. You always went to him for help.

➵ Maybe the duties were too much?

➵ No because you were still doing them all.

➵ Come to think of it, what was Ichika even doing? 

➵ She did nothing except fawn over them and purr over their skills, which was nice for the ego boost at first, but soon just got annoying when she tried scenting them.

➵ It seemed she was fixated on him especially, trying to rub her neck all over him only for him to push her off with a growl. He had only scented two people in his life. 

➵ Kenma, because he needed the practice, and you, which was why he practiced. 

➵ And he planned to keep it that way. 

➵ But you were still staying away. So he scented no one. 

➵ The final straw was a Friday practice. 

➵ You were sitting a ways a way in the corner, doing your work with your jacket wrapped in front of you like a boundary. 

➵ His heart hurt at the thought of you feeling the need to recluse yourself like this.

➵ He made a motion to Kenma, his co-commanding alpha, who nodded before making his way to you. 

➵ As he should’ve predicted, Ichika intercepted him. She tried to hug him, but he dodged, side stepping and trying to get to you, but she persisted.

➵ “Why don’t you give me the same attention you give her, huh? Rumor has it she’s been bordering on dropping for days, nothing but attention seeking in my humble opinion.”

➵   He paused in his efforts, looking down to her once more.

➵ “I’m sorry?” 

➵ Ichika rolled her eyes. “It’s been all over school. Surprised you haven’t heard. She skips lunch more often than not, nowadays. People have even started bets as to when she finally drops. Real shame though. Gonna miss having someone else do all the work.”

➵ You were missing lunches. Lunches were meals he could guarantee you ate, and you suddenly weren’t doing so anymore. He was failing you.

➵ You were dropping right under their noses and as your pack they were watching it happen. 

➵ As your head alpha, and hopefully future alpha, he was watching you drift away and ultimately fade from him.

➵ He was watching this happen?!

➵ What part of this was okay?! None of it. 

➵ He was loosing you. Hell, if he hadn’t lost you already. 

➵ No. You were here, at school, He still had time. He still had a chance. He still had- his jacket and bento. 

➵  Turning tail, the alpha made his way to his bag, digging out the bento (Come to think of it, he hadn’t been eating much since this whole debacle started anyway) and grabbing his jacket before making his way to you once more.

➵ He didn’t pay any mind to Ichika, this time fully shoving past her to get to you. 

➵ You looked up to him skeptically, watching as the alpha, the head alpha, bent to lay on his knees, slowly putting the bento on his jacket and sliding it in front of you. 

➵ Your heart and mind were going a mile a minute as you watched the commanding fucking alpha of the pack, bow to you. Ask for your permission to get close to you. 

➵ What-

➵ “Hi?”

➵ Kuroo said nothing in return, only lowering his chin to the ground, looking up to you. Almost waiting for you to allow him closer. 

➵ When you said nothing he motioned towards the bento with a nod of his head. He was almost like a pup with how minimal his actions were. 

➵ When you slowly took the bento, he raised in time with the box, watching you open it. when you popped a small bit of rice into your mouth. He purred loudly, slowly inching closer. He laid his jacket over yours, adding another layer to your barrier, which you slowly moved to allow him in. 

➵ He crawled into your space, slowly moving your books and bag to nuzzle into your neck. You allowed him to, eating more rice-- which seemed to appease him. 

➵ One by one, more of the teammates came by, offering their jackets to your now makeshift nest, joining in on the cuddle pile. 

➵ All but Ichika, who seemed to angrily stomp about while cleaning up the few stray volleyballs. 

➵ But you didn’t really care about her at this point. 

➵ Your omega was at peace, especially with the alpha you’ve been pinning after purring into your neck, scenting you and pressing small kisses to your neck.

➵ This was your pack. Your home.

➵ And they wouldn’t let you fall behind. 

[differentkettleoffishalltogether]

Work It Out

Summary: Spencer realizes that he might just have feelings for his neighbor after seeing her in her workout gear.

A/N: I boofed it. Trying to write a blurb and I ended up writing a whole fic. I will never learn.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader (Implied that reader is athletic but no mention of her body type)

Category: Smut, Angst, Fluff

Warnings/Includes: bad communication, cursing, smut, graphic descriptions of sexual acts, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, light spanking, please let me know if there’s anything I’ve missed!

Word count: 2.7k

Masterlist

Requests Filled: 

“blurb idea that’s been living in my head, rent-free: reader is spencer’s neighbor and a dancer, who he has a huge crush on. spencer goes over to her apartment to borrow something and interrupts her daily stretches and spencer gets all flustered because she’s wearing leggings and a sports bra, and she’s so flexible”

“okay so this next thought came to my mind while i was doing some exercise lol: imagine that u started a new routine and you feel super tired at the ten minutes of the video haha, then spencer came back to work and when he see u doing some squats he's so turn on and then he just get close to you from behind and whispers "c'mon bunny, u can't with this, the only thing that u can handle is my cock" and then he just fuck y/n so hard aaaaaaaaa btw i'm the anon who sent that visual the past week of Twitter about the flowery lingerie 😌🙏🏻 —🥀”

“okay so like reader working out in Spencer’s apartment and he’s just watching her and getting all worked up. reader noticed and starts teasing him until he can’t handle it - 🐍”

-- -- --

They’d struck up a friendship almost instantly, from that first day that she moved in. He tried to help her with her boxes but he almost felt like he was holding her back, he got winded just going up and down the stairs on his own, let alone while he carried an entire box he later found out had been full of books. She laughed at him when he placed it down on her kitchen table and read the permanent marker label on the side. He still remembers how light her laugh had made him feel, how perfect it was.

From that first day things were just easy, effortless. He liked that he didn’t have to think around her, about work, about anything, he always felt so comfortable around her. Until that day.

The day that he couldn’t find his dustpan and brush after breaking a glass, so he went next door to see if she had one he could borrow. When he knocked on the door and heard a small ‘it’s open’, he walked in as normal, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the sight.

The furniture in her living room was pushed to the walls as she stretched in the centre of the room. He was sure there must’ve been a name for the pose she was in, but all he could concentrate on in that moment was how her body looked in the spandex of her leggings and sports bra. The smooth way her body contorted into strange shapes, the way her back arched so perfectly, and the way he could make out every curve of her body in a way he’d never really noticed before.

Thankfully she didn’t seem to notice his staring as she concentrated on her movements before finishing up her pose.

“What’s up Spence?” she breathed once she relaxed, turning her eyes to him.

And for a moment he wanted to turn around and run away. He was almost positive that his face was a glowing shade of pink, he could feel the heat as it radiated off of his cheeks while she looked at him expectantly.

“Uh, I um- A glass!” he stuttered out, “I broke a glass” he finally managed but she still just looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

“Okay, we’re really low on news today I see” she laughed, and he sort of wished she hadn’t, because it’s his absolute favorite sound.

“Sorry, I wanted to- I uh- I came over to see if you had a sweeping brush?” the words almost get caught in his throat but he fights to get them out, and he’s more proud than he really should be.

“Oh, under the sink!” she tells him, and he makes quick work of finding it before mumbling his ‘thanks’ and rushing back to the safety of his own apartment.

It’s a day he could never forget, even if his memory was normal. And part of him wished he could forget, because he knows that that’s the day he started treating her differently. It wasn’t easy or simple anymore. It was awkward and strange and he had a huge, stupid crush on her.

-- --

It doesn’t take long for her to notice the little changes in his behavior, the way he avoids her in the halls, or always seems to be inexplicably busy whenever she tries to make plans. And on the odd occasion that they do speak he never seems to be able to hold eye contact. It continues like that for a while until she just can’t take it for another second.

She waits until she knows he’s home, staring out the peephole at the door opposite hers until she sees him open it up and walk inside. She gives him about 5 minutes before she marches over and slams her fist against the door, a lot more urgent than necessary.

When he opens the door he looks tired and deflated, and his tie is undone, hanging around his neck. She can see the fatigue leave his features a second later, only to be replaced by a look of pure shock.

“Y/N?” he asks, like he’s not sure she’s really even there.

“Yeah, can I come in?” she asks, but she’s already maneuvering past him and into his living room like she’d done so many times before he’d gotten strange.

“What are you doing here?” he manages to get out once his shock subsides.

“What’s going on with you Spence? We’re best friends until one day you decide you don’t like me? What’s that about, I just have to pretend like I live next door to a stranger now?”

He looks like a deer caught in headlights. She’s not even sure she can see him breathing as his face begins to flush.

“I’m sorry” he breathes out first, “I wasn’t trying to- okay I was avoiding you, but it’s not because I don’t like you”

“Sure seems like it” she sighs, and for a second he looks heartbroken.

“No!” he blurts out, “It’s not that, I swear” he shakes his head, reaching out to touch her before retracting his grip, thinking the better of it.

“Then what is it Spence?” she looks at him with a softness now, with a pleading behind her eyes, and he can’t hold back anymore.

“It’s because I do like you” he says it like he’s relieved, like it had been gnawing at him, “Because I really like you”

“Like me?” she asks, the realization finally dawning. “As in...”

“As in... romantically?” he can’t look at her when he says it, closing his eyes as if he’s bracing for impact. But the next thing he hears is his favorite sound once again. She laughs at him. It’s not cynical, or rude, it’s the kind that’s filled with joy, and maybe just a little exasperation.

“Well I wish you’d’ve told me that sooner” she says once she’s calmed down, and when he opens his eyes she’s smiling at him, taking a step closer.

“You do?”

“Mmhmm” she nods, “That way, I could’ve let you know all about this crush I’ve been harboring on you for a while now.”

He doesn’t have time to think before she’s got her lips on his, soft and delicate against him. For a minute he can’t really understand what’s happening as her hands reach up to cup his face softly, and they stay there after she pulls back. Her thumbs gently grazing his cheekbones as she admires his shocked expression.

“You’ve had a crush on me?” is the first thing he thinks to say, and she nods, smiling up at him.

“Since that first day when you helped me move in” she admits, and the timeline clicks in his head. She’s wanted this longer than he even had. Something about it puts his mind at ease, the though of being desirable to someone like her just makes him swell with pride in a way he’s not even sure he understands.

“Oh” is all he manages to get out though.

“I know, we gotta work on your self confidence because you, Spencer Reid, are a catch” she smiles at him before diving in for their second kiss.

-- --

It’s probably too crass to say out loud, but his favorite part about moving in together is undoubtedly, her daily exercise routine. Sometimes it’s in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, sometimes the evening. He’s actually starting to suspect that she times it for when she knows he’ll be around to see it.

He waited a little while to confess just know much he thought about her in those leggings. The lilac ones that were still in her rotation. Not that he didn’t find her sexy all of the time, he really did. But there was just something, maybe pavlovian, about seeing her in those lilac leggings. The way they hugged her body, he always found himself staring more than he was proud of.

Whatever routine she’s following this morning has her just a little out of breath. And he pretends to be reading the paper at his desk while she pants less than 10 feet away from him. The sound alone is distracting, but when he glances up and he can see her doing squats, all he can focus on is her ass in those fucking leggings.

“8, 9.... 10″ she breathes out, finishing off with a small groan.

“Too hard?” he chuckles, giving in and laying his paper down.

“No way, I can handle it” she turns around to grin at him before turning back around, starting into another set, counting them out slowly.

He seizes the opportunity and gets up out of his chair, making his way quietly over to her while she concentrates on her form. When he’s finally behind her she’s nearly out of breath again, pushing through the last rep when his hand snakes around her waist and pulls her back against him. He leans in to her ear as he whispers.

“C’mon Bunny, I guess you can handle your squats, but can you handle this” he almost moans it as he presses his already hard cock right up against her ass.

“Fuck” she breathes out in a little gasp, her hands moving up into his hair to pull him closer.

“Do you think you can handle it Bunny?” he groans again, grinding himself against her this time.

“Yes! Yes Spencer please, I can take it” she moans out as his hands begin to roam over her body, gently tracing along the exposed skin between her bra and her leggings, feeling the warmth of it.

“Then be a good Bunny and bend over for me, okay?” he growls against her ear and she moves fast, bending over the back of the sofa, and presenting herself to him. He takes a step back to admire the view for a moment before he’s got his hands on her body again. His fingers go straight to the waistband of the leggings, tugging the smooth fabric down, pulling it until it's gathered around her feet, quickly doing the same with her panties until there was nothing in his way.

“Fuck, you look so good like this” he groans, a soft hand caressing the smooth skin of her ass before rising up and coming back down with a loud slap, followed by a high pitched whine from her.

“Did you like that Bunny?” he asks, gripping a rough handful of her ass as she moans out a meek ‘yes’

So he repeats the action, pulling his hand up only to slam it back down again rough and excited against the now sensitive skin.

“Fuck” she purrs, her legs closing, thighs moving together in an attempt to get some friction. But he puts a stop to that right away, placing one of his feet between hers and kicking them apart so her legs were spread for him.

“If you wanted something Bunny, all you had to do was ask” he teases, moving his hand along the curve of her ass until it was hovering between her legs, where she was desperate and wanting. He purposefully lingers just a moment too long before pushing two fingers inside of her. He’s rewarded with a low moan that pours out of her.

“So wet from just a little spanking, you’re so good for me” he groans, “Do you think you can handle my cock yet sweetheart?”

She can’t help the way she clenches and tightens around his fingers at the very thought. It’s not like they didn’t fill her up, they were so much longer and more agile than her own fingers, but nothing could really compare to his cock.

“Fuck, please” she whimpers, wiggling her hips just a little as though that might help convince him that she deserved it.

“Such a good girl, I think you’ve earned it” as he speaks he pulls his fingers gently out of her, and she forces herself not to while at the loss of contact. He pulls his cock out of his boxers, pumping it himself a few times before he lines up behind her. Though they both love this position, she can’t help but miss watching him. The way his eyes close and and he bites his perfect plump bottom lip. But then he’s easing in and the feeling of him is enough to eclipse every other thought in her head.

“Oh god! Spencer!” she stutters out a moan, her hands flying forward to grab at the cushions on the sofa, digging her fingers into the soft down.

“You feel so good Bunny, always so wet for me” he groans as he pushes the whole way in, burying himself right up to the hilt.

His hands make their home on either side of her hips, his grip is tight as he pulls her back against him at the same time that he pushes his hips forward, slamming in on each thrust with everything he’s got.

Hips hit against her ass each time, rocking right up against the quickly forming handprint there whenever their skin collides. The slight burn only intensifying the already overwhelming pleasure.

“So- ah- I’m so close” she manages to moan out in between all the gasps and pants, and without speaking Spencer reaches down to grab the straps at the back of her sports bra, using the leverage to pull her back up. Meeting her halfway he presses his chest right up against her back, one hand snaking around to loosely grip her throat. The other making its way down between her legs.

“Fuck- Spencer- I-” she gasps at his fingers start to run in small circles around her swollen clit, his hips continuing their motions at the same time. All of it building dangerously fast.

“What’s the matter? Too much for you Bunny?” he teases with a groan, right against her ear.

“No!” she rushes out, one of her hands bracing herself against the back of the sofa, the other draping itself loosely over his hand between her legs, encouraging but not interfering with its movements.

“That’s a good girl. Are you gonna cum all over my cock Bunny?”

She doesn’t have time to answer his question before she’s putty in his hands. Melting into his grip as he continues to move inside of her and against her. The only thing keeping her from falling to the ground is her loose grip on the edge of the sofa and Spencers hand around her neck as she moans out his name.

It’s only a few seconds later that his hips begin to stutter and both of his hands are on her hips again, pulling them tight against his own as he grows closer and closer. And then he’s cumming with a rough groan and a bunch of shallow breaths, filling her up entirely as she begins to slump against the sofa once again.

“Spence, fuck” she says with a deep breath, “That was unbelievable”

They’re both covered in a layer of sweat now, and Spencer can feel the hair that’s probably stuck to his forehead. In his exhausted state all he really wants to do is lay down against her back, gathering their breathing again. But he knows that’s just his cloudy mind talking. So he manages to loosen his grip on her hips and pull out slowly before rushing to the bathroom to get a warm washcloth.

He takes it and gently cleans the mess that he made between her legs before it gets the chance to drip down. Once she’s clean he helps her stand upright once again.

Although he’d come a long way with his self confidence there were still times like this where he let himself feel awkward, or unsure. Especially right after he’d just been so bold. But in times like this she knows exactly what to do. Rising up, she places her hands on either side of his face and kisses him, soft and gentle, just for a moment, before pulling back again to look at him.

“Shower?”

-- -- --

Thank you so much for reading x 

-- -- --

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[ladybugout-au]

Dear. GOD. After seeing Furious Fu, I would honestly love to see LBO!Marinette just chewing out Su-Han for all his canon-to-fic BULLSHIT. Like, I know you’ve already got a plan to incorporate Feast into LBO, which I’m super excited for, so this asshole showing up with all his nonsense after the new Team Miraculous is set, hell maybe even after they’ve already retrieved the Butterfly and the Peacock, and watching Marinette (and possibly Fu since he has the memories to stand up for himself) tear this dude a new one would really be the cherry on top of an already awesome fic. Sorry to rant in your inbox lol but the new episode just made me so. ANGRY.

In the lounge room of the Liberty, everyone jumped as they heard a noise from up above deck, as if something heavy had fallen or been dropped. Marinette briefly pulled away from Luka’s hold, staring up at the ceiling and wondering aloud, “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Juleka admitted, exchanging concerned looks with Rose.

“That definitely wasn’t Mom,” Luka noted with a tilt of his head.

Pounding footsteps followed, making it clear that a person had clearly gotten on the houseboat without the gangplank being there.

Nino jolted on alert, turning to Duusu with a hushed whisper. “Hide!”

“All of you,” Kagami began, standing up and looking around vaguely at every kwami. “get out of sight.”

The kwami, breaking out of their trance after the brief scare, scattered in every direction to find their own individual hiding places, some choosing to hide with their respective holder and others preferring to hide behind or inside objects. Ivan went into his usual protective mode, wrapping an arm around Mylene while she clung to him.

Marinette stood up, rushing over to the table and picking up the Miracle Box to stow it away. She looked around, then dashed for the microwave and stored the box inside.

She shut the door just in time for the intruder to descend from the staircase: an old man, dressed in Chinese garb and carrying a strange mystical-looking staff. He had a stern expression, his brows knitted together as he scanned the room like none of them were even there. He raised his staff, his gaze eventually locking on the microwave the Marinette was standing near.

Without a word, he pushed Marinette aside, earning an offended, “Excuse me—hey!” from her as he grabbed the microwave door and tugged it. When that did little more than jostle the microwave itself, he tried blindly tampering with the buttons to no avail.

Marinette slapped his wrist away, standing with all her pride as guardian as she asked, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

He glared at her in response. “Young lady, I demand you open your magical sealing chamber and return what’s rightfully mine!”

She blanked, the words catching her completely off-guard. This guy thought their microwave was a magical sealing chamber?

In response, Marinette gave a brief glance to the others, who were all looking back at her with equally puzzled expressions, any tension from before completely gone.

An unspoken question echoed throughout the room: Is he for real?

Before Marinette could ask any further, Tikki emerged from her hiding spot, flying over and explaining, “Marinette, I know who this is! This is great master Su-Han, the guardian of the Miracle Box!”

Marinette raised a brow skeptically. “But I’m the guardian?”

“He was responsible for the box before the incident that Master Fu caused,” she corrected.

Su-Han looked down at Marinette condescendingly. “So you are the current holder of the box.”

“That’s right,” she confirmed unapologetically. She gave a side-glance to Luka and the others, seeing that they were prepared to stand up and fight for her, but she gave a subtle gesture to let them know that it wasn’t necessary. Resolving to deal with Su-Han herself, she faced him again. “How did you find us?”

He held out his staff, the jewel on it mere centimeters from her face. “Guardian scepters are equipped with compasses that can find their Miracle Box at any given time.”

“In case you lose it?” Marinette blurted out, but didn’t apologize or try to take it back.

“Insolent!” Su-Han gasped. “You are not even a proper guardian. I can tell that this box hasn’t even been properly passed down to you!”

“Because Master Fu gave it to me,” she explained, “and we agreed that he should keep his memories.”

“Fu?” Su-Han echoed. “You mean Wang Fu? Chicken legs?”

Is this guy five? Marinette wondered.

Orikko popped out from their hiding place, waving a paw at Su-Han as if in warning. “I take offense to that!”

Su-Han glared at Orikko at the comment, and Orikko quickly ducked back down. Turning his attention back to Marinette, he continued, “Wang Fu is a student who wasn’t even able to fast for a day, nor do a thousand finger-pushups. He was never a rightful guardian, and he failed to fulfill the hope we’d seen in him.”

“Master Fu may have made mistakes, but he’s done his best to make up for all of them!” she argued. “He protected the box for over one hundred years and it’s because of his choices that our team was able to defeat Hawk Moth!”

“Team?” Su-Han asked, his face scrunching up as if he were piecing something together.

“Yes!”

Marinette gestured to her boyfriend and friends for emphasis. Luka, Ivan, Kagami, and Juleka stood while Rose and Nino pinched and stretched their shirts to show off their respective miraculouses.

“Children?” Su-Han gaped. Glaring at Marinette, as if she had personally given out the miraculouses herself, he declared, “Children are never meant to hold miraculouses, especially from the first and most powerful Miracle Box! Kwami are extremely powerful, cosmic creatures!”

A voice piped up from across the room. “Y-you say that, but—!”

Marinette and Su-Han turned to look at Nooroo, who had peeked out from behind Rose’s shoulder. He breathed up, seeming to gain some confidence, then floated out to the center of the room.

“They saved me and Duusu from the hands of evil! We would still be in Gabriel’s clutches if not for them!”

“What?” Su-Han asked. Just when Marinette thought they might be getting somewhere, he turned back to her and accused, “The peacock and butterfly were lost?!”

“Fu lost them when he was escaping the temple,” Marinette explained, a mixture between unphased and annoyed at the man’s outbursts, “but we got them back and everything’s okay now.”

Luka chimed in from his place near the couch, “Marinette has been an incredible leader, as both Ladybug and the guardian.”

She smiled at him in thanks, but Su-Han was clearly focused on anything but the positives.

“Ladybug? You’re even wearing a miraculous?! Guardians aren’t meant to hold miraculouses!” he said, throwing his arms out for effect.

“What—why?” she asked, genuinely confused.

Instead of answering her, Su-Han pulled out a book, shoving it pointedly towards her with the cover facing downwards in his palm. “Let me remind you of a few important rules you’ve violated.” He flipped through a few pages, then pointed at one of them. “Rule fourteen: Kwami must not live outside of the box.” He flipped through a few more. “Rule fifty-two: Guardians must never lose a miraculous. “He flipped to a page near the end. “Rule one hundred and thirty-three: Guardians must never, under any circumstances, wear a miraculous.”

“Master Fu wore a miraculous,” she argued, having never heard of any such rule from him.

“And that proves exactly what I’m talking about!” Su-Han retorted. “Neither you nor Fu are capable guardians because neither of you have respected the rules of the order!”

“...”

When Marinette initially imagined the Order of the Guardians and the people who ran it, this was not what she’d pictured. She had pictured zen and calm, not belligerent and immovable. She was reminded vaguely of her grandfather when she first met him, and that wasn’t a good thing.

She tossed another gaze at everyone, who gave her the same look and nod in response: let him have it.

“Young lady, I’ll repeat myself once,” Su-Han warned. “Return the Miracle Box and the miraculouses to me before--”

Marinette grabbed the book out of his hand, shut it with a satisfying “clap,” then set it back in his hand. “No.“

“What did you say?” he asked, aghast that she would speak to him that way.

“I said no.” Marinette advanced on him, the sheer force of her presence making him take a step back. “Now let me remind you about everything you must’ve missed this whole time.”

She raised a finger at him, raising additional fingers as she went on. “One: You intruded on my boyfriend’s house without any sort of permission. If you’d actually called out to us, we might’ve actually been willing to come out and listen to what you had to say. Two: You wouldn’t have even been able to be here in the first place if not for me using Miraculous Ladybug after our team took down Feast, which you weren’t able to do. Three: We aren’t children, we’re teenagers, and the fact that you can’t tell the difference or bother learning what technology is shows that I shouldn’t trust you with the Miracle Box even if you had a right to it. Four: You didn’t bother to listen and blamed me for losing miraculouses when it was you and your order who didn’t keep an eye on a poor boy who didn’t want to be there. Five, last but not least: I say the kwami are allowed out of the Miracle Box because I am the guardian. You and your order have been gone for over one hundred years and you can’t go making demands after I brought you back. You told me rules I didn’t even know about and didn’t explain why you have those rules in the first place. The kwami are my friends and they have feelings and I’m not going to shut them in a box because you told me to.”

Silence filled the room, no one saying a word and Su-Han’s face contorting between shock and outrage.

Marinette took a step back, standing at the ready and gesturing to herself. “So if you want the Miracle Box, you’re going to have to go through us first.”

She tossed a look at her team, all of them doing a synchronized, confrontational motion to face Su-Han.

“Tikki!”

“Plagg!”

“Wayzz!”

“Pollen!”

“Trixx!”

“Nooroo!”

“Duusu!”

They then shouted in unison, “Transform me!”

Several individual flashes meshed together, overtaking the room and then fading to leave several heroes behind, their weapons equipped for battle.

Su-Han looked amongst them, a flicker in his eyes that hinted that he knew he would be outmatched, but also wasn’t willing to admit it. He retreated a few steps back, hands out to show that he was prepared to defend himself.

It was at that moment that Ladybug heard and noticed movement from behind him, realization striking and a smile overtaking her face. Pulling back from her fighting pose, she placed a hand on her hip and stated confidently, “Captain Anarka will escort you out.”

He looked confused, and he was only able to let out a, “What—?” before a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Su-Han wasn’t even able to turn around before he was pulled backward, a jewelry-adorned fist decking him in the face and sending him flying into the staircase. His scepter fell to the floor and he could only gape at the woman standing there, cracking her knuckles while he was sprawled out on the stairs with all air having been knocked out of him.

“A trespasser on my ship, eh?” Anarka asked, a grin on her face but her eyes glinting with malice. “I don’t take kindly to ship rats who threaten my crew and think they’re too good to walk the plank.”

Su-Han hurried to get up, only for Anarka to grab him by his shirt and haul him up the stairs, a rapid shuffling noise following as Ladybug went over and shut the door.

A few seconds passed and the atmosphere shifted to peace, everyone mutually releasing their transformations and relaxing. Marinette smiled reassuringly at everyone, letting them know that things were okay, but then jumped as she heard a resounding, “Marinette!”

The kwami all emerged from their hiding places, Marinette having no time to react as they all charged at her, their tiny bodies clinging affectionately to whatever they could grab of her.

“You’re amazing!”

“Thank you so much!”

“You stood up for us!”

“You’re the best guardian ever!”

Marinette gasped, finding it hard to move without disturbing any of them. Trying hard not to laugh, she protested, “Aha—hey! Stop, you’re all tickling me!”

She blushed, looking over at her teammates who were only staring at her with pride, which just made the pink on her cheeks turn red. “This is so embarrassing!”

Once the kwami had their fill of thanking her, they finally obeyed and flew away, each giving her smiles of approval. She covered her face with a hand, waiting for the shyness to die down, then noticed the guardian scepter out of the corner of her eye, still lying on the ground.

She approached, touching the scepter at first to make sure it was safe, then properly picking it up and letting it stand next to her. She tapped the gem on top, eyeing the compass that Su-Han had been talking to her about, then followed its direction back to the microwave. She walked over, opening it up, then took out the Miracle Box and held it in her free hand.

Looking back and forth between the two clearly ancient objects, she couldn’t help chuckling. “They don’t really suit me.”

Her friends giggled in response, Luka in particular shooting her a warm smile and approaching. One of his hands went to the scepter and the other went to rest on the Miracle Box.

“I think you make them work, actually,” he replied.

Marinette beamed at him, thoroughly warmed by the compliment. It didn’t feel like that long ago when her support was lacking and defeating Hawk Moth seemed like a pipe dream.

Now, holding the Miracle Box and scepter in her hands, she didn’t know why she’d ever doubted herself.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Then, looking at the Su-Han-less room, she gave a shrug and walked back with Luka to the couch. “So, where were we?”

[robininthelabyrinth]

For your prompts: Mingjue is ace or demi, and somehow between taking over the sect at a very young age and never displaying interest in it, no one ever gave him The Sex Talk. All the aunts and uncles assumed someone else took care of it. Then Huaisang gets to that age. He seems to be very interested in sex. He needs The Sex Talk. Mingjue feels like that should come from him (he's taken care of all the rest pf raising him after all), but he doesn't have the info to do that.

How does Mingjue give him The Sex Talk? Or alternatively, does Huaisang end up already knowing and giving The Talk to his big brother instead?

ao3

“All right,” Nie Mingjue said, sitting down and gesturing for Nie Huaisang to sit down across from him. “I guess we’re going to have to talk about this.”

“I knew this day would come,” Nie Huaisang said, looking unbearably tragic. “I’m going to die of embarrassment before the day is through, da-ge. Won’t you have pity?”

Nie Mingjue knew him too well, though.

“Okay,” he said.

Nie Huaisang frowned at him.

“If it’s too embarrassing to talk about sex, you’re not ready to talk about sex,” Nie Mingjue said with a casual shrug. “We can postpone the conversation to –”

“No! I want to hear about it!” Nie Huaisang scowled at him. “Da-ge, everyone else got the sex talk! You wouldn’t want me to fall behind, would you?”

Nie Mingjue blinked innocently at him. “But Huaisang, you said…”

“Never mind what I said!”

Nie Mingjue tried to maintain his façade of innocent neutrality but quickly cracked in the face of Nie Huaisang’s exasperation; he started laughing.

Nie Huaisang grumbled.

“There’s not much to say,” Nie Mingjue said, wiping his eyes. “And it’s not as if you can’t get by without it, you know. I mean, no one ever gave me the talk.”

Nie Huaisang frowned. “No one? What about A-die? I mean, before…”

“He was busy, and kept postponing it,” Nie Mingjue said, shrugging. “And then he died, and everyone assumed he’d done it already. It’s fine. Everything I needed to learn, I learned from books, and you’re going to do the same.”

“…books.”

“Yep, books.”

Nie Huaisang heaved a sigh. “You’re going to make me learn this incredibly important subject from textbooks? Really, da-ge?”

“I am,” Nie Mingjue said.

“You’re robbing me of a valuable life experience here.”

“I’m so sad for you,” Nie Mingjue said dryly, pulling out a box and spreading out the books he’d obtained just for this purpose. “Now, I know you hate studying, I know you think it’s boring and a waste of time, but I really think in this instance –”

“It’s fine,” Nie Huaisang said quickly. His eyes were fixated on the books in front of him, and for some reason he’d flushed bright red, even though it wasn’t all that hot in the room. “I don’t mind. I’ll study hard, da-ge.”

“I feel like I’ve heard that before once or twice,” Nie Mingjue remarked, then shook his head. “Anyway, I think just one or two –”

“I need all of them.”

Nie Mingjue blinked, sincerely this time. “All of them?” he said, and looked down at the books. “Huaisang, I don’t think you understand. I got a selection so that you could have your pick, but they’re by and large very repetitive; each one more or less describes the same basic acts –”

“I need all of them. For reasons.”

“…all right,” Nie Mingjue said, bemused but generally pleased by Nie Huaisang’s highly unusual enthusiasm for study. “I thought I was robbing you of a valuable life experience?”

“That was before! I didn’t realize the books were going to be spring books,” Nie Huaisang said. He’d grabbed one and flipped it open, staring wide-eyed at one of the illustrations.

“What type of textbook would there be for this subject other than a spring book?” Nie Mingjue asked, wondering – as ever – if he’d missed something. Raising children was hard, and raising Nie Huaisang was harder; everyone agreed. “Anyway, I’m given to understand that the art is a bit exaggerated, especially in terms of proportion, and the accompanying text can use some rather strange metaphors, but fundamentally the acts described appear generally consistent throughout the various sources. For example, if you look at this one, you can see that the woman has –”

“Yes, da-ge, I can see.”

“I’m just pointing it out,” Nie Mingjue said defensively. Nie Huaisang was being especially impossible to understand today. “Anyway, it’s all a bit weird, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Nie Huaisang said. “Very weird. Incredibly weird. You know what, I think I need to think about this privately for a while.”

“I…are you sure?”

“Very sure.”

“If you insist.” Nie Mingjue stood up. “If you have any questions –”

“Yes I’ll be sure to ask you please leave now thank you good-bye.”

Nie Mingjue found himself outside the door to Nie Huaisang’s room, not entirely sure how his much smaller younger brother had managed to push him out so effectively. Maybe some of that saber training was actually having an impact, however spaced out and half-hearted Nie Huaisang’s efforts were.

Cheered by the thought, Nie Mingjue headed back to his office, feeling very good about himself: that wasn’t nearly as awkward as all the other people had made it sound. It’d been no problem at all!

Of course, a few months later, he found out that Nie Huaisang had started buying up spring books like he’d developed a mania for it.

“That seems fine,” he said to the disciple who’d reported it. “I mean, it’s a bit strange, yes, but he’s always been fond of hobbies that involve collecting things. Birds, weird rocks…that sort of thing.”

“I’m not sure it’s…exactly the same,” the disciple said carefully. “But if you’re not concerned, Sect Leader, we’ll just leave it be.”

“…I’ll talk with him,” Nie Mingjue decided, mostly because of the weird expression on the disciple’s face, and the disciple looked relieved.

Later that evening, he followed up on his word.

“Huaisang, I heard you’re buying spring books,” he said, and Nie Huaisang nearly choked on his soup.

“You can’t just bring that up over dinner!” he hissed.

“…why not?”

“You just – can’t!”

“I can, and did,” Nie Mingjue said. “Some of the disciples have expressed some concern about it.”

Nie Huaisang’s shoulders went up by his ears defensively. “Is it because I’m buying cutsleeve books as well as regular books?”

“They sell cutsleeve books? Really?” Nie Mingjue said blankly, temporarily distracted. “I wouldn’t have thought there’d be enough of a market to make the printing worthwhile. Aren't they supposed to be relatively uncommon? …anyway, no, it’s not about that.”

“…you don’t mind?”

“Why would I mind?” Nie Mingjue said, puzzled. “I’m glad you’re expanding your horizons.”

“You…are?” Nie Huaisang was blinking rapidly.

“I mean, you’re reading? Reading is good. I’m always happy when you advance your scholarly pursuits,” Nie Mingjue said. “I mean, I’d still like it if you spent a bit more time on your saber…”

“Wait,” Nie Huaisang said hastily, clearly wanting to avoid the subject of his saber training. “If you don’t mind the fact that I’m buying them, or the content, what is the concern?”

“Mostly quantity, I think?” Nie Mingjue hadn’t been able to figure it out either. “You’ve exceeded your allowance twice already, and really, how many books recounting the same exact content can you really need?”

“It’s not quite the same content,” Nie Huaisang said. “There are different…scenarios.”

“Yes, but it all leads to the same place in the end, doesn’t it? Hand, mouth, front, back, inside or outside; you read one, you’ve read them all. Though I guess the cutsleeve ones are different?”

“Not really,” Nie Huaisang admitted. “But maybe take a look anyway? Maybe you’ll like those better…here, come up to my room.”

Nie Huaisang had, apparently, started in on making quite a collection, and from the way he puttered around trying to find the right ones to share, seemed to be in the process of becoming a little connoisseur. It was pretty adorable, actually; Nie Mingjue couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Nie Huaisang so enthusiastic.

“Having two spears involved does seem to make it a bit more awkward,” he concluded after paging through a few. “And obviously you can’t do it from the front in the same way, but other than that the mechanics generally seem the same. I suppose there’s really only so many ways you can twist the human body…”

“How about this one, then?” Nie Huaisang said, offering up a book about mirror grinders sharing a toy between them. “Twice the young ladies involved!”

“That seems even less efficient. If they wanted to be penetrated, why be a mirror grinder instead of finding a man?”

Nie Huaisang seemed somewhat taken aback by the question. “Maybe they just fell in love with another woman first?” he eventually suggested.

That seemed reasonable enough, so Nie Mingjue nodded agreeably. “Makes sense that they’d use a toy, then. Otherwise wouldn't they be stuck with using just mouths and hands? Though I suppose there’s always the eponymous grinding motion, too.”

Nie Huaisang reached over and put his hand in Nie Mingjue’s lap.

“Huaisang! What are you doing?”

“Just checking,” Nie Huaisang said, rubbing the back of his head. “You’re really not…Wait, let me find you some others. Maybe you’ll like these better – they have more scenario involved.”

Truly Nie Huaisang had a wide collection. There were solo stories, coupled stories, stories involved groups of three or more, stories involving people being tied up or doing the tying, one story involving whips and pinching nails that Nie Mingjue initially thought was a torture manual that had gotten mixed in by mistake except for how the receiving party seemed extremely enthusiastic about it. There was even one involving –

“Fish?”

“Tentacles.”

“People want to fuck fish?”

“It’s not – you know what, I don’t know, maybe they do,” Nie Huaisang said, throwing up his hands. “Octopi are a surprisingly popular subject along the coast, and some of the artwork from Dongying features it.”

“You have works from Dongying?” Nie Mingjue asked, impressed. It wasn’t every young man’s hobby that involved international commerce. “You’re really turning into a collector, Huaisang.”

“I’m not – it’s not –” Nie Huaisang grimaced. “You know what, maybe the disciples are right and I should cut down on purchasing so many.”

“Why? If you’re enjoying your new hobby –”

“There’s a difference between being known as the guy who has some good spring books and being known as the guy who collects spring books as a hobby. The latter just sounds pathetic.”

Nie Mingjue wasn’t entirely sure about that.

“Well, it’s up to you,” he said, and started to get up to leave, only to have Nie Huaisang tug on his hand.

“Da-ge, I have a question.”

Nie Mingjue sat back down.

“Have you ever…?” Nie Huaisang nodded at the books.

“No,” Nie Mingjue said, wrinkling his nose a bit at the thought. “It seems like more trouble than it’s worth, really.”

“What about…uh…” He gestured at one in particular. Nie Mingjue leaned over and checked; it was one of the ones featuring a single man touching himself. “Do you…?”

“Oh, sure,” Nie Mingjue said. “Every once in a while. Don't most people? But there’s rather a difference between doing that and having to get up close and personal with someone else’s genitals, isn’t there? We all wipe our own asses after we shit, but that doesn’t mean we do it for other people.” He gave Nie Huaisang a pointed look. “Present company excluded.”

“I was a baby, it doesn’t count,” Nie Huaisang hissed at him. “Never bring it up again.”

Nie Mingjue smirked at him.

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes dramatically. “Da-ge, you’re hopeless. One day you’ll find someone you like enough to try it with!”

“Maybe,” Nie Mingjue said. “Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Uh, yes it does! You’re going to have kids, aren’t you?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Nie Mingjue said, hesitating a little. “Huaisang, you’re my heir.”

“I know that! I’m in line until you have kids of your own to inherit…why are you shaking your head?”

“You’re going to inherit after me,” Nie Mingjue said, as gently as he could. “I’m probably not going to have kids, but even if I did, I’d arrange it so that they’d be part of the branch family, not the main line. I want you to inherit.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes were going wide.

No, it was too early to tell him about the saber spirits, Nie Mingjue thought to himself. About their family's horrible temper and his private suspicion that the temper and the qi deviations fed into each other; his conviction that Nie Huaisang would be a better sect leader than him, a better continuation for their line than him, and his determination to make sure that the next generation of Nie sect leaders didn't have to fear a shortened life the way he did. He’d tell him that later, sometime. Today was a good day, there was no point in spoiling it.

“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked instead. “I mean, you have such a wide variety here; don’t tell me you’re solely interested in cut-sleeves…?”

“No,” Nie Huaisang said. “No, I like – everything.”

“Well, then,” Nie Mingjue said. “There should be no problem, then. If you end up with a woman, have some kids; if you end up with a man, take a concubine. Either way, you’ll get an heir.” He frowned. “Assuming you don’t mind –”

“No, da-ge,” Nie Huaisang said, and he sounded incredibly long-suffering. “I think I’ll manage to have sex, somehow.”

“Well, I mean, if you’re thinking about actually going ahead and trying it out, that’s a whole different conversation we need to have, as opposed to the talk about what it is. You need to be careful about it –”

“Ugh, da-ge, please, no –”

“I’m not going to lecture! Just don’t overdo it or anything. You don’t want to end up with a thousand bastards like Sect Leader Jin –”

“Gross! No!”

“– or with all sorts of diseases –”

“Da-ge!”

“– or with a reputation for being a dissolute or a –”

“I will only have sex with someone I love,” Nie Huaisang announced. “Or at least mildly care for. A nice clean person who likes me back. Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“More or less,” Nie Mingjue said, and glanced down at the books. “Say, Huaisang. You know so much about this. Have you ever…”

“Do you have a question?” Nie Huaisang scooted forward. “Ask away, da-ge!”

Nie Mingjue flicked his forehead. “Not a substantive one. But have you ever thought about making your own? You’re a perfectly good artist, and you’re very imaginative; I’m sure you could come up with some scenarios of your own that might be very interesting.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes were wide. “I could, couldn’t I?” he said, marveling, and then suddenly jumped up and dashed over to grab some paper. “Oh, I could! I could – and that – and – and..!”

Nie Mingjue decided to retreat, smiling proudly to himself.

Reading and writing, he thought happily. They’d probably never get a warrior out of Nie Huaisang, but there might be a scholar in him yet!

[rynne311]

Pizza and Beer

Summary: When friends move, you help out in exchange for pizza and beer. Those are the rules, even when you don't like beer and you like your friend way more than just a friend.

Word Count: 1353

The offer had been simple enough. Jason offered you pizza and beer if you helped him move. You weren't sure how much help you could actually be, but you weren't about to pass up the chance to spend the day with your friend. Deep down, though, you wished this was a moving in together kind of move instead, but for as well as Jason knew you, he was no mind reader, especially when it came to your feelings for him.

You were surprised when you got out of the moving truck he'd rented to find all of the big furniture had already been moved in. You assumed that meant he'd already moved his gear to avoid any wandering eyes as well. Together, you spent all morning moving all of the smaller boxes in tandem. The time flew by as you both joked around with each pass in the hallway and stairwell.

Before you knew it, every last box was upstairs and you were busying yourself unpacking them while Jason took care of grabbing the pizza he'd promised you. This may not be your home, but you tried to add your personal touch to the apartment.

"Helping reward's here," he announced as he set the pizza box and a couple of beers on the empty coffee table. You made a mental note to grab some large decorative books for him to put there. With a smile, you got up from your spot in front of the bookcase and joined him on the couch for a well deserved break.

The two of you had finished most of the pizza, and were quite satisfied you'd found the best pizza spot in the neighborhood, before Jason noticed he was the only one with an empty bottle. When he looked a little closer he realized you hadn't even touched the beer he'd grabbed for you.

"You good over there?" he asked. You almost thought he might still be joking around and about to make some crack about some pizza spilled on your shirt. When you looked down and confirmed nothing had fallen onto your shirt, you couldn't hide the confusion that painted your face and furrowed your brows together.

"Yeah," you confirmed cautiously. "Why?"

"I mean you've busted your ass all day and now you won't touch your beer," he explained. "You usually go drink for drink with me and now you're not so it seems like something's wrong."

"I'm fine, I promise. I just don't like beer," you explained. His puzzled look begged you to continue. "When we're at the bar I always get mixed drinks or wine. Now if you'd made a pitcher of margaritas, you never would have had a chance to even try them. But a blender really isn't the top of the list to unpack."

You may have answered his question, but you left him with so many more. He brought his own drink to his mouth in an attempt to hide his visible confusion. It almost worked, but you caught the way his brows furrowed from above the bottle.

"It's probably safer this way anyway," you remarked, trying to inject a bit of humor. "You know me and tequila are a dangerous combination. Just like the song, sometimes it just means clothes start falling off."

Jason hummed in absent agreement, but you could tell you'd already lost him. He'd jumped down the rabbit hole of questions, and he wasn't going to be really listening, or at least processing what was said, until he reemerged.

"So why'd you come today?" he asked. "When I asked you, I told you I'd get pizza and beer, so you knew I didn't have anything else to offer, but you still accepted."

It felt like a now or never kind of moment. One of the ones where you could be bold or you could be practical. You mulled over your options for what felt like an eternity, and while you wanted to be bold, you didn't want to lose what you had. Instead of answering, you grabbed another piece of pizza to buy a little time. The eye roll you got in return told you Jason knew exactly what you were doing.

"I thought I could be helpful," you finally answered as you finished your slice.

"That doesn't feel like the whole answer," Jason scoffed.

"Maybe," you confirmed. "But it also begs the question why you asked me to come help today if you already had everything moved in up here but some boxes in a half empty moving truck, or why I'm the only person you asked to come help you?"

Taking a page out of your book, Jason snagged your untouched beer to avoid having to answer.

"You want a full answer? I'll give you as full an answer as you'll get for right now," you began. Now it seemed you may have finally found the courage to be bold. "I wanted to spend time with you. You're always off wrangling supervillains and drug lords, which don't get me wrong is great and all. It has dropped the number of break-ins in my building to almost none. But that doesn't mean I don't miss you, because I do. I always do. A lot."

He started to choke on his drink, telling you you'd given a little more of an answer than you'd wanted to give. You couldn't say you were a fan of this emotional vulnerability, but your chest did feel ever so slightly lighter. You tried to read his face for a moment for some sort of reciprocation, but feeling the heat rise in your own face forced you to turn back to your empty plate. Your eyes only darted back over to him once you heard the bottle connect with the table.

"Maybe I wanted to spend time with you too. Maybe I didn't want all of the noise with my brothers and Roy around, especially when they manage to break something." With each 'maybe,' his voice grew a little more pointed and defensive, and you thought you could see a vulnerability that mirrored your own in his eyes. "Maybe I wanted this place to have your touch and feel like you. Maybe -"

You cut him off, leaning across the couch and kissing him. It was too rare in life that you got a second chance on a now or never moment, and you didn't want to squander it. You could only describe the feeling as a wave of excitement followed by a rush of relief when he raised his hand to your face and pulled you closer, returning the kiss.

"Maybe," his voice was softer now, almost cracking, "Maybe I've wanted that to happen for a very long time."

You felt breathless, but that didn't stop the smile from growing across your face. This time when you looked in his eyes, they seemed to share your mixture of excitement and relief. You couldn't help yourself as a small chuckle broke through.

"You like me, you really, really like me," you teased in a sing-song voice, only pausing to make kissy noises in the air. "You like -"

Having had his own feelings confirmed, Jason cut off your teasing as he pulled you into another kiss. When you both finally let go, he kept his forehead pressed to yours, watching as your eyes shifted back into focus. He wore a self-assured grin as he said, "There's no maybe about that."

"No, I don't think there is," you agreed. You sat back a little, trying to sear this moment into your memory forever. "Who would've thought a stupid beer could make this happen?"

"I should have brought you some beer to not drink ages ago," he joked, pulling you into his side and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. You settled into your contentment in his arms, knowing now you may never have to leave this feeling again. "Next time I'll have tequila, it sounded like those consequences are fun."

You rolled your eyes in response as you wiggled a little closer into his side. Yeah, some post-margarita consequences now sounded a lot more appealing.

Tags:

Everything: @societiesholyskittle @pickyblue12 @icycoldbeanieweanies @thoughtfullychaoticdreamer @bloatedandlonly @sakurafille @jason-todd-squad @childofposeidonforlife @webcraft4eveh @bookish-and-shy @dnarez @thirstiestpotato

Jason: @jason-todd-rh @princessowly1234 @manymanyenvelopes @drarrylov3r @axa-vega

Want to be tagged? Let me know via message or ask box!

[orphicrose]

The Only One

Rick x Reader Fanfiction

Summary : life is strange in the rick and morty universe, as we all know. But things get just that little bit weirder when Rick meets you. Something seems oddly familiar with you, but for once In his life he has no idea why. So he searches from reality to reality to try and see if he had met another version of you, only to realise there where none. You where the only one. That’s when it finally hit him…

This is inspired by a song from Rick and morty that I think is beautiful https://youtu.be/epiOcz3HXNo

I accidentally got carried away and wrote too much, so I will probably just do a part 2 so it’s not to much to read if anyone is interested <3

_________________꧁♥︎꧂_________________

Humans are such fragile creatures, always have been and always will be. You knew that, but you refused to surrender down to it. Not wanting to be included In whatever earth had to offer, so you ran away. And not like how a silly fourteen years old runs away from home, Hah… no.

You left the fucking planet, not leaving behind a single trail or speck of dust for someone to follow you with. Your intelligence and ambition was all you needed to carry yourself through life. Travelling the infinite void of space, soon making a name for yourself. For good and for bad. An ordinary person couldnt even dream nor comprehend the things you’ve experienced or seen. And that’s just how you liked it. Being different. It was truly a gift to be intelligent.

And then there was rick, high IQ and normally not happy about it. Seeing his intelligence as a curse. Rick hadn’t seen it all, it was impossible, but he thought he had seen enough to make a valid opinion on life.

It’s pointless.

Such a bitter man with a bitter view on everything, including himself. You see, when you have an overwhelming amount of knowledge weighing down on your mind, you can go two ways. The first being ricks way, not caring about anything since he has seen how big the universe is and doesn’t see a point.

Then there’s your way, feeling blessed to be able to see things that no one else can, and finding a new reason to live every single day.

You two where polar opposites, but also the same. You where both alone in a universe you felt didn’t need you anymore.

The day both of your worlds collided should have been written down in the history books. It was the day both of your beliefs where almost questioned. Wondering whether fate really does exist.

————————————————

Out of the many things you have done, you’ve never visited the same place twice. Making everyday an adventure, as much of a cliche as that sounds it’s true. Not only that, but you seem to have people after you almost everywhere. For your intelligence, or for revenge. But there is one particular spot you cannot get enough of. Finding yourself there when you lose yourself.

It’s an isolated planet in the middle of the andromeda galaxy. It’s a newly ‘emerging moon’ as you like to call it. In fact, you pretty much founded this planet, since its a recent creation. This also means there is no intelligent life yet evolved, so it is safe for you to do what you please.

You go there often, to watch the two suns set over its small horizon and the thousands of stars come into view. Giving you time to reflect on your life. To appreciate it, but not to regret anything. The stars are far to beautiful to bring your mind to anything negative. The planet itself seems to project the meaning of peace and tranquillity even without life. Maybe that’s why it’s so comforting.

Your thoughts where leaving your mind, as you held your eyes closed. Feeling the breeze brush through your hair gently. That beautiful, genuine smile found its way to your face without you noticing. You where to lost in the feeling of relaxation.

But that soon came to an end. That euphoric state was snapped out of you when you noticed a bright light coming towards you. Getting bigger and bigger in just seconds. Until it became more clear, it was a spacecraft of some sort. A poorly built one to say the least. You sat and watched, mesmerised, as the flames from the object slowly engulfed it. Burning in the atmosphere. Finally hitting the ground, you shook your head and sighed. Being brought back into reality.

The flames took a second to fade after the ship had crashed. And it was clearer to see, it was the stereotypical UFO. The type you’d see in cheesy ski-fi films. But it had encryptions written in English. Which was very unusual, especially for it to be in this part of the galaxy.

What was even stranger was that it didn’t have even the slightest burn mark to it’s metal. Your vision of it became clearer and clearer the closer you got, slowly creeping past the incredibly green trees towards it. But just before you got too close, a figure fell out of the vehicle. Swearing like a drunken sailor.

This is what really messed with you, it was a human. You gasped quietly, not being able to remember the last time you saw one. A mix of feelings rushed over you; confusion, fear, excitement? You couldn’t help but stare, his unique blue hair bounced as he picked himself up, not even bothering to dust off the dirt on his lab coat.

“Fuck! You fucking piece of shit spacecraft. You’ve really done it this time Rick you fucking…” he didn’t finish his sentence, as he kicked the lump of metal. Screaming at the top of his voice.

“Fuck!”

You caught a small glimpse of his face, and recognised him. But you weren’t sure where from. You had met millions of people over the years so he could really be anyone. But there was something so compelling about his character. Something that felt like you where being pushed towards him. Or pulled, by a red string perhaps. Something that was just telling you to interact with him.

You stayed hidden behind a rather tall tree, still collecting your thoughts and questioning whether you should help him. Rick had slumped himself against the ship, putting his hands to his face and grunting. Pausing his breakdown for a second to take a sip from his flask, then proceeding to carry on.

He stayed like this for a good few minutes, before you had decided to approach him. Your curiosity and questions where burning at the edge of your mind. You just had to investigate. Keeping a hand on your weapon tucked neatly in a pocket behind your back. You slowly walked towards him, not even being able to speak before he noticed you.

A gun had been pulled to you, aiming directly between your eyes

“What do you want? I’m not in the mood so just tell me in advance if I should shoot you or not..” his eyebrows furrowed, looking at the hand tucked behind your back.

You rolled your eyes, putting your hands up in surrender. Just how you remembered humans to be. Aggressive and impulsive.

“Calm down, I saw your ship crash. Thought you where in need of some assistance. And put that gun down, god…” to your surprise, he did. With a loud grunt he put his gun back into his pocket and turned away. Usually, he probably would’ve shot on site. And who’s to say he still won’t, but right in this moment he is too preoccupied to care.

“God doesn’t fucking exist…” he mumbled “and I definitely don’t need any assistance!”

You raised an eyebrow at him, watching him as he attempted to fix his broken ship. Opening the lid to the engine and being greeted by a storm of smoke. Now Seconds away from another breakdown.

“Are you… okay?” You hesitantly asked, daring to inch closer to him. Probably was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. He threw the wrench down at the engine as he exploded.

“No, I’m not fucking okay. I lost my grandson, the entire galactic government is after me, I broke my portal gun and I just crashed my ship into a planet with no helpful resources to fix it.!” His speech sped up, and he went dead silent when he stopped talking. Clearly regretting telling you anything. He is usually good at keeping his mind together and keeping his problems to himself. But he had so much adrenaline pumping through his blood, he could barely concentrate.

“I’m, i’m sorry for your loss” is all you managed to get out

“What? Oh no, my grandsons not dead. I just left him somewhere and forgot exactly where…” he spoke slightly softer, still grunting as he tried to analyse his engine.

There was a small silence while you processed everything he had just said. Moving closer to get a look at his engine, you shook your head.

“You’ve burnt it out…”

“Yeah, no shit smart ass” he bit at you

You rolled your eyes and snatched the spanner from the place he had dropped it. Not using it to fix his engine, but you pulled out a small metal box from your pocket instead. Fixing a few pieces together. Rick stood there and watched with a puzzled look on his face. Moving his eyes from the gadget, then up to get a look at you.

His eyebrows softened as he took in your features, the creases in his forehead disappeared. A rush of a strange feeling replaced the adrenaline, not being able to pinpoint what it was but he didn’t like it. He could only describe it as his heart softening, and getting lost in a place that was familiar to him. Thats what he felt when he looked at your eyes, reflecting off of his.

“Hav-have we met before?” He said in a much calmer tone

You placed the gadget on the engine and pressed a small red button on the top, looking up at him.

“I don’t think so?” The box moved around the engine, like a shield. Fixing it effortlessly, Ricks eyes darted from you, to the engine, then back to you. Now with amazement written all over his face.

Deja vu was the only state good enough to describe what he was experiencing. You broke the silence by holding a hand out to introduce yourself.

“I’m y/n”

It took a quick second for him to respond, still trying to process your face and remember how he knows you.

“I’m… Rick” he finally shook your hand.

“Rick Sanchez..”

That name was oddly familiar to you. Like you’d heard it in a dream. Or it was a loved ones name in a past life. You felt like you had heard it before, in a very distant memory. But no recollection of the connection.

“That seems…familiar” you tilted your head, squinting your eyes at the old man who gave you the same look.

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew me. I am the smartest man In the universe”

[wisterialilies]

Event Special for @thecurrator !!

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Hello hello! Thank you so much for your sweet words and thoughtfulness! I wasn’t expecting to receive anything in return when I wrote these event matchups, so I was really touched by your message. I look forward to seeing you again when I reopen my regular matchups! <3

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You’ve got a letter from…Jamil Viper!

After a busy day at school, you’re finally back in the comfort of your dorm room, unwinding with a nice book and some music in the background. But it’s not long before you’re interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Glancing at the time, you wonder who it could be. Opening the door, you see a Scarabia freshman standing there with a bag in his hands. He greets you with a bright smile and asks, “Aurora, right?”

When you nod, he hands the bag to you. Wait, is that chocolate you smell from it? “It's from Jamil. He wanted me to deliver this to you.” Finished with what he came here for, the students begins to head back the way he came. But he pauses after a few steps, turning to cheerfully call out, “Oh yeah, come join us next study session. Jamil would be really happy to see you there!”

Study session? What study session? Puzzled, you close the door before reaching into the bag, pulling out a box of chocolates with an envelope on top. Ah ha! So you smelled it right after all! After taking a peek into the box – the confections look absolutely scrumptious – you turn your attention onto the envelope that came with it. The color scheme matches that of Scarabia, with the envelope being red and your name written at the front with golden ink. And to make it even fancier, there’s a wax seal at the back with a snake design stamped on. Opening the envelope, the letter inside uses white paper instead of red, but has an intricate gold-red boarder and is written with black ink.

The contents of the letter read…

My dearest Aurie,

I hope this letter finds you well. Goodness, I make it sound as if we haven’t seen each other in months, when we just exchanged greetings earlier today in class. I do apologize for being so brief then. With our exams coming up, things have been so busy among us Scarabia students – even more so than last year. But I’m glad that you seemed to be doing just fine.

Have you heard? Octavinelle decided to challenge Scarabia to see how many of each dorm’s students can score a full mark on the exams. I’m rather surprised at how forward they were with their challenge. Well, no doubt they have some trick up their sleeve to make sure they win. Not that it’ll matter, since we at Scarabia have been doing intense study sessions every night. Kalim has insisted on serving a variety of snacks during these sessions, so I’ve been staying up late to cook for everyone. It certainly is tiring, but if it can help them stay awake and remain energetic enough to study, I suppose it’s worth it. If you’d like, you’re more than welcome to come and join one of our study sessions sometime. The boys will be delighted to have your support and I’ve been testing out some new recipes that I’m sure you’ll like.

Oh, but no need to force yourself if you’re already preoccupied with other things. I know a couple of the exams will be on some of your least favorite subjects. How are you doing, preparing for them? I can lend you my notes if you’re having a hard time with it. Make sure you don’t stress yourself out though. You know the chocolates I got you? They’ll be good at helping you take breaks and release any tension you’ve built up. They’re a new product at Sam’s shop and they apparently have various potions mixed into them. There are many types in each box and every box has different kinds in them, so you won’t know what you’ve got until you open it. Just yesterday, Deuce was going around and singing like a siren for an entire hour thanks to these chocolates. It may sound a bit risky, but you can rest assured that whatever type of chocolate you get, all the effects will be pleasant. If you like them, let me know and I can get more for you. I heard Azul wants to gain the exclusive selling right to the chocolates, so we best get them before he starts selling them at marked up prices.

Once our exams are over, I want to take you on a date to town. You can consider it as an apology for not being able to spend so much time with you lately. There’s this book café that opened up recently and I think you’ll love it. They have a large collection of books we can choose and read from while we’re there. I took a look at it on Magicam and I saw some books you’ve been wanting to read. We can also go to be the beach and the sunset afterwards.

I must start preparing those nighttime snacks for everybody, so I will end the letter here. I hope that tomorrow, we’ll have the chance to talk more. Enjoy the chocolates, try not to overstudy, and rest well. I know you’ll do great on the exams, Aurie.

Yours truly,

Jamil

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What your relationship would be like with…Azul Ashengrotto!

- Considering how intelligent and well-read Azul is, you’ve found yourself a great partner to discuss various things with! Name any topic and there’s a high chance he’ll have some knowledge about it – if not plenty. You can bet that he highly enjoys holding these kind of conversations with you, especially since there aren’t many others in the school he can have such a chat with. I have a feeling a lot of your dates will consist of holding a deep discussion over a light meal at one of your favorite cafes. And if you’re looking for new books to read, he’ll have plenty of recommendations for you.

- Your habit of daydreaming and often being detached from reality is something that Azul finds both endearing and worrisome. Endearing in a way that he thinks the dreamy look in your eyes that appear when you get lost in your reverie is quite cute. It can also be rather amusing watching you get physically lost in new environments – not to worry though, he always makes sure to help guide you back onto the right path. Now, at the same time, he gets concerned about your safety when he sees you daydreaming. What if you get so absorbed into it that you fail to notice danger in front of you? Though he won’t voice his worries out loud, he makes sure to keep an eye on you whenever he notices you beginning to daydream. He’s also made sure to tell Jade and Floyd – not that he holds much confidence in Floyd for this – to help you out if they see you getting lost, or if it seems like some sort of harm will befall you (yes, that includes the small instances where you might bump into something and bruise yourself).

- Although Azul may have a silver tongue when it comes to talking business, I feel like he can actually be pretty blunt when it comes to personal relationships. He’ll still be charming but at the same time, he won’t sugarcoat things. The way he sees it is that since you’re someone dear to him, there’s no need to hide what he really thinks with sweet lies and flattery. And the thing is, because he often deals with Jade and Floyd whom both have quite thick-skin, he may not always realize how hurtful something he’s said may sound. Like, he could be trying to give you some constructive criticism on something, be too forward with it, and end up coming off as extremely insensitive. So, that being said, he probably ended up unintentionally angering and made you cry quite a bit at the beginning of your relationship. While he’s gotten better at taking a softer approach, he still struggles from time to time at making sure he sounds sincere rather than sound as if he’s trying to smooth talk a prospective client or business partner.

- However, just like how everything has two sides of the same coin, his forwardness also means that he doesn’t shy away from giving you words of affirmation. Whether it’s compliments, words of encouragement, or expressing how much he treasures you, he’ll tell them to you every day without fail. He especially loves to shower you with compliments. Are you wearing a new outfit? Did you style your hair differently? You look amazing. And even if you appear the same as usual, Azul won’t hesitate to tell you how wonderful you look. Like, you could just walk into the room and Azul go over to you, take your hand, then in a very gentlemanly manner, kiss the back of it while saying, ‘You look stunning today, my love.’ Heck, you can dress as sloppily as you’d like and he’ll still find some way to compliment you. Oh, but don’t be surprised if he holds back when you’re in the presence of others (Jade and Floyd excluded). He does have a reputation to maintain in school, after all. Besides, his words of affection are for your ears and your ears only.

- And while we’re on the topic of love languages, Azul is very appreciative of your acts of service. As both a student and business owner, Azul is a very busy person. Sometimes he gets so absorbed in his work that he fails to take care of himself (such as skipping meals or forgetting to do basic chores like tidying up his room). One would think that with Jade and Floyd around, they’ll help when he gets too swamped. Unfortunately for Azul though, Floyd loves to dip whenever possible and while Jade does stick around to assist, there are just some things he won’t do. So whether you’re helping him sort through his paperwork, doing the chores that he’s forgotten, or even just bringing him some tea and snacks while he works, he is really grateful for you and always makes sure to express his thanks.

- Since he is very good at reading people, it’ll come as no surprise that he can tell whenever you are in a bad mood. He’ll also be able to sense that you don’t wish to talk about it, so he’ll respect your feelings and give you time to yourself. Afterwards, unless you bring it up first, he won’t say anything about it. Being very observant, he probably would have already figured out what made you upset in the first place, even if you don’t mention it. If it’s something he can help resolve (like if someone or a certain situation upset you), then he’ll do his best to help without making a big fuss out of it. And if he happens to be the one who upset you, depending on what caused it, he’ll either promptly apologize or try to talk it out with you. If it was severe enough, even if you may not want to talk about it, he will, as he wants to make sure any problems that pop in the relationship are fixed as quickly as possible.

- You like cafes? Great! You’re more than welcomed to become a regular at Mostro Lounge! As a matter of fact, if you go there often enough, Azul will have a certain table reserved for you at all times. And of course, as a perk of dating the owner, anything and everything you order is on the house! You’ll also be the first to get to try new dishes that Azul wants to introduce to the rest of his patrons. Though, your feedback plays a pretty big part, so if you don’t like a dish, there’s a high chance it’ll never make it onto the menu.

- As someone who’s originally from the ocean, Azul knows how to appreciate many things on land, including the small things that normal land-dwellers never give much thought about. An example of that would be sunsets. Most people just go about their evenings without sparing a glance at the beautiful hues in the sky. Azul, on the other hand, will almost always take a moment to stop what he’s doing and just admire the scenery. He’s seen plenty of sunsets before he came to NRC, but it’s just so different being able to watch it on land versus at the ocean’s surface. So when he learns that you share his appreciation towards sunsets, he is delighted. Whenever he’s not busy, he enjoys taking evening walks with you around the campus and watch the sky change colors. One of the dates he took you on happened to be a picnic set up at a perfect location to view that day's sunset. Of course, the sunset itself didn’t last very long, but the sight of the stars and the moon shining above made for another beautiful sight. Curfew who?

- Your fondness towards plushies will, at one point, give Azul inspiration for a new business idea: to sell plushies on Valentine’s Day! You’d think that at an all-boys school, this kind of sale would flop, badly. But surprisingly, plenty of students bought plushies. Some bought them to send to their sweethearts back home or to their family, some got them simply because they were cute (Kalim definitely would), some to prank others, and some hoping to win a consultation with Azul that’s supposed to be gifted to a lucky plushie buyer. Well, whatever the reason people have for buying them, Azul will end up making quite a bit and he has you to thank for it. Of course, we can’t forget his Valentine’s Day gift to you! Matching plushies that resemble the both of you, made with the highest-quality materials. How cute~

- While there’s almost nothing that Azul would nag you over, one of the very few things that would cause him to do so would be your disinterest of studying certain subjects. Now, if you dislike them but are still pretty diligent in studying them, he won’t say anything. After all, everybody is allowed to have their likes and dislikes. But, if you try to avoid studying them altogether or procrastinate as long as you can on doing them, that’s when he’ll start getting naggy. To him, knowledge is power. No matter what kind of knowledge it is, there’ll always be some sort of situation in the future that’d call for it. So even if you may not like studying those subjects now, who knows when the information will come in handy in the future? Bearing your future and best interests in mind, he will persistently nag you until your studying done. If need be, he’ll help devise a special study manual on those certain subjects just for you. Who knows? Maybe with his infamous study guide, you’ll come to view the subject in the different light and may even begin to enjoy studying it.

- With how horrible he is at PE, it’s safe to say that he shares your dislike of exercising. Other than taking those evening sunset strolls, he’d much prefer reading a good book with you over any sort of exercise. You’ll never have to worry about him trying to get you to do some workouts with him. As a matter of fact, even if you dislike exercise, you’d probably even be more athletic and active than Azul!