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phantom-curve · 3 years

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happy second birthday!! for the prompt list, how about number 8 and willex? au can be totally up to you!

Thank you! This one got away from me a bit, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it!! Set in the gimme a chance AU, from before that fic starts, I give you flustered, protective Alex, hot for his boyfriend Willie, and some extra brown-haired himbos thrown in for fun.

#8: shielding the other one with their body (Rated T for language)

When Willie received the text from Alex inviting him to come watch his band practice, he thought it would be a nice, lowkey way of meeting the other boys that made up Alex’s family. They’d been dating for a few months now, ever since he had accidentally run Alex over while skateboarding down Hollywood Boulevard (not his finest moment, but hey, he got the guy in the end, right?), and he had heard plenty of stories about Luke and Reggie and the various shenanigans that they got up to on a near constant basis. Alex always tried to sound annoyed when he talked about his best friends and their ridiculous antics, but there was an undercurrent of true affection that underscored all his stories and told Willie how much he truly cared for them. He had been itching to meet them for a while now, but if there was one thing he had learned early on about Alex, it was that the drummer needed things to happen on his own timeline and not a moment sooner. Willie didn’t fully understand the need for a strict schedule and complete understanding of every situation, but if it made Alex happy, it made him happy. He was more than willing to go with whatever flow Alex directed.

What he was not expecting was to walk into a veritable war zone upon entering the studio the band rented out for practice.

Instruments were scattered about the space as if they had been dropped exactly where each boy had originally been standing, no regard for the guitar stands spaced out along the wall. One of the hi-hats on Alex’s drum set was overturned, the small stool he sat on to play shoved far away from the set, like Alex had stood in a hurry and not bothered to roll it back into place. There was a suspicious puddle near an open doorway at the back of the space. Not a single one of the Sunset Curve boys was inside. Willie entered cautiously, resetting Alex’s stool and righting the hi-hat. Loud yells sounded from outside, and slowly Willie made his way to the open door.

There was a small fenced in yard behind the studio, a few bicycles stacked and locked together along the outside wall. And, spread out across the yard, three 18-year-old boys with water guns pointed at each other, their hair and clothes absolutely soaked. The two brunettes were laughing, happy smiles stretched across their faces as they sprayed Willie’s boyfriend in a joint attack.

“You guys are such fucking children!” Alex was screeching, hands over his head in a pitiful attempt at shielding himself. “I told you Willie was coming by today; can’t you be normal for once?!”

“Awh, c’mon Lex!” The guy in a cut-off muscle tee lowered his water gun, grinning as he moved forward to shake his head like a dog, flinging water droplets in a wide arc. “It’s way too fuckin hot to play today. Live a little!”

Alex looked up as the other boy in a black tank top also lowered his weapon. Glaring, he whipped off his soggy light pink hoodie and threw it in the direction of the other two, smacking the first one right across the face with a loud, wet slap.

Willie’s mouth went dry. Alex was wearing a pale blue t-shirt, and the water from their fight had clearly soaked all the way through his hoodie. The light material clung to his chest and arms like it was painted on, the sight more beautiful than anything Willie had ever seen before. With his blonde hair flopping over his face, muscles glistening in the afternoon sun, Alex looked like an angel that had just emerged from the sea. Willie let himself appreciate the sight for a long moment before clearing his throat.

“Don’t stop on my account, Hotdog. Looks like you needed to cool off a bit.”

He grinned, loving the flustered way Alex suddenly stood fully at attention, running his hands through his wet hair and blessing Willie with a small peek at his toned stomach as his shirt rode up just a bit.

“Willie! Hi!”

The other two boys let out a chorus of oooooh Willie! in the background, but Willie couldn’t find it in him to focus on anything other than the sight of his boyfriend approaching, lips stretched into a cute little nervous smile. If he had known Alex would look this good all wet and ruffled, he would have dragged his butt to the beach long before now.

“I swear, I told them to be on their best behavior today, but it’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes.”

“Trust me, I do not mind.”

Willie let his gaze move slowly from the top of Alex’s head down and back up again, laughing softly as he watched Alex’s cheeks turn pink. Alex opened his mouth to say something, but then, almost as if he had a second sense for mischief, he was flinging himself in front of Willie, nearly slamming them both to the ground as he whipped his head around.

“No! Willie is off limits!!”

The warning was useless, cold water splashing along Alex’s back and splattering across Willie’s face and arms. The other two boys let out a howl of laughter, approaching fast and furious and unleashing a deluge of water that Alex’s body did absolutely nothing to shield Willie from. Alex sputtered and coughed against the water hitting his face until Willie finally reached up to tuck his boyfriend’s head into his neck, hiding his own face in the top of Alex’s wet hair. He shook with laughter, unable to be mad even as Alex growled into his neck, muttering curses against the other boys all the while. After another minute or two of unrelenting downpour, the water slowed to a trickle. Alex seemed to know what that meant before Willie did, unwrapping himself and turning around to face his bandmates.

“You are so dead.”

The brown-haired boys exchanged a look of panic, their water guns run dry while Alex still gripped one that Willie just now realized had a full tank. With a scream they dashed away, Alex sprinting after them and cornering them against the fence so he could hose them down without mercy. Willie hooted and hollered, egging him on, because it he thought soaking wet Alex was hot, soaking wet Alex as an avenging angel was even hotter. Willie bit his lip, enjoying the view for the short time that it took for Alex to empty out the tank on his water gun. When his ammo supply finally ran dry, he returned to Willie’s side, the other boys following close behind, all three of them laughing and shoving each other playfully. Alex slipped his hand into Willie’s, blushing again when Willie reached up to place a kiss on his cheek.

“My hero.”

Alex rolled his eyes, but the smile playing at the edge of his lips told Willie he liked the title. Willie reached a hand out to the other boys.

“Nice to meet you guys, I’m Willie.”

“Hey man, good to meet you,” the one in the cut off spoke first, bounding forward to grasp Willie’s hand. “Alex talks about you literally all the time. I’m Luke.”

Luke ducked away from Alex’s hand as he reached over to slap him, laughing manically. The other boy stepped forward, shaking Willie’s hand with unrestrained enthusiasm.

“I’m Reggie! Luke’s right, Alex does talk about you a lot. All good things though! It’s awesome to finally meet you!”

“Likewise.” Willie grinned, knocking his shoulder against Alex’s as the blonde slapped a hand over his face.

“Okay, okay, yes I talk about you a lot. Freakin sue me.”

“I think it’s cute. I talk about you a lot too, ya know,” Willie murmured, delighting in the pink that stained Alex’s cheeks yet again. Man, he would never get tired of that reaction.

“Oh yeah? Who are you gossiping about me to, pretty boy?”

Willie felt his own cheeks burn at the nickname, leaning in closer so his nose was nearly touching Alex’s.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Okay, as cute as all this lovestruck shit is, these jeans are not the most comfortable when they’re wet,” Luke’s voice broke the moment, and Willie coughed slightly to cover up his laugh as Alex let out an embarrassed squeak. “Let’s pack it up and go back to the apartment for dry clothes and then we can go get tacos!”

“Oooo tacos! Yes!! Luke, is that one guy selling over by the bar today do you think? His eloté is the best!”

Reggie was practically bouncing, bopping behind Luke as the other boy made his way into the studio and began to clean up the mess left from what Willie guessed was the beginning of their impromptu water fight. Willie slipped his hand into Alex’s letting himself be tugged along as his boyfriend unlocked the stack of bikes.

“I like your friends.”

Alex glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, smiling softly through the hair that flopped in front of his face. Willie moved it away, letting his hand linger behind the other boy’s ear for just a moment.

“They’re alright I guess.”

But the fondness in his tone told Willie they were more than alright. They were Alex’s family, and the love between them was genuine and ran deep. Willie grabbed his skateboard from the spot he had left it next to the bikes, tucking it under his arm as Reggie and Luke reappeared from the studio, guitars safely stowed in cases strapped to their backs. Reggie was still talking a mile a minute as Luke turned to lock the back door.

“-and then we should have a Star Wars marathon. Wait!”

Reggie turned to Willie with a serious expression that looked frighteningly out of place on his freckled face. Willie gulped slightly, sure this would be the point where Alex’s brothers would start their interrogation to make sure he was actually deserving of their best friend.

“Did you call Alex ‘Hotdog’ earlier?”

Willie relaxed, laughing loudly as Alex threw his hands up.

“God, you tell a guy about the worst food poisoning of your life one time and you’re stuck with a horrible nickname for the rest of forever,” Alex grumbled.

Luke and Reggie began laughing alongside Willie, who took advantage of Alex’s grumpiness to sneak another kiss on his cheek, lacing their hands together as the group began walking down the street back towards the Sunset Curve apartment, rolling their bikes alongside them.

Willie didn’t say it out loud, but he was pretty sure that was the moment he realized he was gonna love Alex for the rest of his life.

Send me prompts for my second birthday!

#mads writes #send me prompts for my birthday!#jatp #julie and the phantoms #willex #jatp ficlet #willex ficlet #willex week

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seokiloquy · 4 years

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Catch Me If You Can - Nishinoya Yuu

AU: Penpal / Travel

Warning: Manga Spoilers

Word Count: 7.6k+

How could he not have fallen in love with (Y/N) back then? The foreign transfer student that regaled stories of her adventures around the world with swinging arm movements and an indistinguishable accent that had been muddled over years of travel. She was a sun among stars. A linguistic animal lover that had a passion for learning and adventure. No one could resist her charm, not for long. She was expressive, loud and boisterous. But when given the chance, the outgoing girl will always sit quietly and listen with a kind smile on her face. How could anyone not want to know her?

It was nearing the end of March in 2014 when they last saw each other. Despite it being the beginning of spring, the sun was shooting down warm golden rays of light that (Y/N) happily bathed in. Nishinoya sat next to the excitable girl, looking at the various pins she had stuck into her worn down and faded hat, tired after years of travelling and use. It was spunky, out there, it suited her quite well. In her hand, she fiddled with a keychain that he had just given her moments prior. A small enamel volleyball that he had a duplicate of.

“I’m going to travel the world,” she said, leaning back against the stairs of the gym.

The graduation ceremony was long. Despite that, the volleyball team had gathered in their gym to send off the 3rd years, announcing Yamaguchi as the new captain, and making everyone cry. The 1st years were the worst, only getting to spend one year with their beloved elders.

Nishinoya smiled, stretching his legs along the steps to lay down beside her. “Where are you going to go first?”

She hummed, “I think I’ll go to Australia, I want the accent back.”

Nishinoya laughed and watched as the traveller held up the chain to her nose.

“I want to meet as many people as I can, get some new experiences,” she sighed before shooting up from her spot, nearly launching herself on top of Nishinoya’s relaxed position. Her eyes seemed to be twinkling as they looked into his, “I’m going to write you letters.”

How could he say no to that smile?

For three years they sent letters back and forth. Occasionally sending a care package, typically coming from (Y/N), who always seemed to have money to spare for the best quality of shipping. Nishinoya was always eager to open her letters. The words on the page would dance in his mind, creating beautiful images of the girl he remembered as she continued her travels. He would feel his heart squeeze with every package, carrying various treats and pictures for him to enjoy. Nishinoya always wanted to travel despite never having the funds to do so. Because of this, he lived vicariously through his long time crush’s adventures, holding every gift he received close to his heart.

He saved every last picture, letter, and gift. Yearning for when he would find the next one sitting snugly in the mailbox of his family home in Miyagi. 3 years since the day they graduated they had been exchanging letters, and 4 months since he last heard from his (Y/N), who had suddenly stopped. 4 months he waited.

Nishinoya waited desperately for her next reply, but it never came. Leaving him anxious for months as his family tried to calm him down. Nothing worked. Nishinoya spent most of his free time walled up in his room, ducked under the covers of his childhood bed, waiting.

It wasn’t until his grandfather, Mineo, knocked on his door that something happened.

It was the 2nd of July 2017 at 3:28pm.

“Eh, Yuu, there’s something in the mail for ya,” the old man teased, throwing a thumb over his shoulder.

Running out of his room, nearly knocking over his laughing elderly grandfather, the youngest Nishinoya ran out of his house, through the gates and to the mailbox. From the corner of his eye, he could see the mailman down the street. Inside the box was a neatly packaged envelope. He pulled it out gently, trying his best not to fold or mark the clean paper.

Once at the dinner table, family surrounding all sides, excitedly waiting for the boy to open the letter, Nishinoya let out a deep breath. His heart was pounding, gripping onto his ribcage like a prisoner wanting to escape. His hands shook, making the paper let out a desperate fluttering sound. He read the front of the paper.

The letter was sent from Australia. Particularly a city named Mutitjulu, which he didn’t bother to try and pronounce as even in his head, the English word seemed to only be a muffle of sounds. English wasn’t something he was good at anyway. He continued, staring at his name that was scripted on the front in a familiar style. One that he’s been reading for years.

“Well, what are you waiting for Yuu? Open it,” his mother pressured. She was excited too, tired of her son’s heaving and hawing over the past four months.

Taking in another wavering breath, Yuu opened the envelope gently and pulled out the crisp piece of paper. As he opened it, a wad of cash fell out, sprawling across the table his family sat at.

His grandfather laughed, “What is this? Some sort of ransom?”

“You’re not given money when you get a ransom note, let Yuu read the letter first,” His father chuckled as he watched his wife gather the money in a neat stack also grabbing the stiff paper ticket that had landed before her.

The first thing on the page was the date, followed by (Y/N)’s handwriting.

14 August 2014

Dear Yuu,

Australia feels like a home I wasn’t born into. It’s hot and my hair hate’s the humidity, but it’s a beautiful country. The accent makes it all worth it. While writing this, I sit at the bottom of one of Australia’s many sites, Uluru, a giant rock that would make you look like a worm in comparison. There are flies everywhere, and we’re painting stones in dotted patterns. I painted a lizard.

I’ve spent the last week in the outback with a group of born Australian’s working with Kangaroos. They are the funniest creatures, easily aggravated in the wild, but these ones have become used to humans over the years.

A man named Joshua has become my companion for the week. He’s taught me a lot, I can’t say it all in a singular letter, but here’s a funny story. One kangaroo, lovingly named Swipe, stole his hat on a particularly hot day, hiding it somewhere we never found. I had to give him my hat. When you see him, please, ask for it back, I miss it and will have more pins to add later.

Oh right, the money and the ticket. Well, I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but I wanted it to be a surprise. By the time you get this letter, it should be about mid-summer of 2017. You know how you’ve always wanted to travel the world? Well, I’m picking out your stops. You won’t be able to contact me, that eliminates the fun out of it. But, that’s your mission.

Come and catch me~

Love,

(Y/N)

Nishinoya had to give it to her, Kangaroos were soft. And even in the heat of the Australian winter, he desperately wanted to snuggle up to them and bury his head into their chests. He had jokingly told Joshua that he wanted to be a joey in his next life, to which the Australian born man laughed and slapped his back.

It seemed as though, despite (Y/N)’s appearance in Mutitjulu having been 3 years prior to his arrival, that she had planned out his whole trip. Getting Joshua to walk him through every landmark and location in Australia that she had visited on her solo trip.

He was a tall man, tanned to a golden ochre colour from his days working under the blistering sun, and you could tell he did hard physical labour from his well built physique. Nishinoya would stare at him occasionally, mostly jealous of his overwhelming height.

The two men were visiting the Sydney Zoo, watching a gigantic alligator eat a whole chicken when Nishinoya asked the older man a question in broken English. He still needed practice.

“Did you help plan everything?” he asked referring to his tour around the continent.

The Aussie shook his head, making his messed up sandy coloured hair bounce. Turning away from the reptilian show, the tanned man looked at Nishinoya with a large smile.

“She did it all herself. Every last detail. You wouldn’t believe it when she told me her plan, she was going to burst!”

Leaving their suitcases at various hotels over the 3 month period and grabbing the bare minimum so they could trek through the day felt new to Nishinoya. He had spent his whole life in one location, only ever needing to carry around a bag or two wherever he went. Joshua carried around a leather satchel everywhere. At every location they stopped at he would reach into it and pull out a photo that (Y/N) had taken while there, handing over to Nishinoya.

“Keep it, I’ve made copies,” he said when Nishinoya tried to give them back.

Noya bought a photo album after that, carefully storing the photos in the slots that were available. He would flip through the pages until late when the birds started singing. The late nights staring at your photos led to beautiful dreams of hiking through forests and petting koalas together, holding hands and watching the sunset. He wanted that. Minus the gigantic spiders.

It was at the end of September when Joshua barged into Nishinoya’s room early in the morning and threw something at him.

“Oi! Get up, get packed. You got more than just a plane to catch.”

Noya, still tired from a long night of drinking — likely being Joshua’s way of sending him off — groggily grabbed at whatever had been bounced off his head. He rubbed his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the light that Joshua had so graciously invited in beyond the curtains.

Groaning, Yuu turned his attention away from the bright sun and onto what laid in his hand. A familiar hat, worn out and covered with pins, it’s original colour faded into a dull grey. Next to it, a letter. His spine shot into a straight position as his fingers gently separated the lip of the envelope from its body as quickly as possible. Just like the one before, money, plane ticket and a letter. A noise in the corner of the room caught his attention, Joshua was stuffing Noya’s clothes haphazardly into his suitcases, throwing a change of clothes to the side for him to wear.

“Get changed Cobber, we got to go!”

Joshua steered the tourist onto his plane, not letting Noya take a detailed look at the ticket. At the gate to the airport, Nishinoya was pulled into a strong hug by the Aussie, who rambled into the shorter man’s ear about how he would miss his foreign wisdom and poorly constructed sentences (which had improved over the months).

Before he knew it, Nishinoya was on a plane, reading the note you had sent back for him.

21 February 2015

Dear Yuu,

You like dogs, right? Well, I sure hope you do. I’ve spent the last few weeks in Yukon, Canada (specifically Whitehorse) and HOLY! It is freezing up here in the wintertime. Luckily the group I’ve been working with provides the proper gear you need but still, it’s frigid. So be ready for that. Margaret will help you out. That’s not actually her name, but she says her real name is too hard for us to pronounce.

Anyway, dog sledding. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried it. It’s such a freeing feeling. Oh, and I might have given one of them the keychain you gave me. I’m sorry, but he was so sweet and I wanted to give him something of mine. His name is Mateus. Be sure to give him pets for me!

Make sure to spend that money well~

Love you,

(Y/N)

Although October wasn’t technically winter, the northern hemisphere was cold, too cold. Bundled up in thick layers, covered from head to toe, Nishinoya laid back in the tall snow, rubbing the bellies of eager huskies that rolled around next to him. Yuu laughed and one jumped at him, pushing his shoulder back into the snow and licking any visible skin he could reach.

“Ya! Mateus, please!” The dog backed off, sitting in the man’s lap, panting happily.

Nishinoya sat up, petting the friendly dog’s head with his thick glove. His other hand moved the collar so he could admire the given jewelry. The metal had oxidized, making it look brown and blue. The volleyball has definitely looked better but Nishinoya wouldn’t complain. The dog whimpered at his new human friend as he played with the chain.

Noya looked the husky in the eyes, “Awe, I miss her too bud.”

The dog whined again and pushed his head up against Noya’s hand. He obliged to the canines request, rubbing the space behind his ears. The dog lolled his head to the side, then let his body completely fall over Noya’s lap. The other’s came closer, joining the lazy dog puddle that made itself home around their new companion.

“If you keep letting them do that they’ll never let you leave.”

Margaret was a kind woman, older and a bit worn after years of working. She was ruff around the edges but as soon as she got a good look at Noya’s photo album (which now also held (Y/N)’s letters) she swept the young man into a bone-crushing hug, telling him about the memories she had from years prior. Noya listened to every story earnestly.

“She’s a natural,” she said. “Hopped onto the sled, grabbed the reins and off she went! Over the hills through the trees and the wolves listened to her every command.”

Margaret’s movements were a shadow of the girl he remembered. Large and unapologetic. He took a sip from his hot chocolate as he watched the woman’s arms wing in fluid motions. The fire that was lit next to them cast a shadow behind her, like a puppet. Other volunteers around the lodge watched in awe as she continued telling her of (Y/N). Just how did she manage to make everyone fall in love with her, would there be any room in her heart for him? Everywhere she went she seemed to take someone with her and Yuu couldn’t help but think he’d be left out. It nagged at him.

On the last day of his stay in Whitehorse, Margaret sat down next to Nishinoya and handed him a neatly wrapped pile.

“You know, I sometimes wondered why (Y/N) asked me to make duplicates of her photos. But after spending these past couple of months with you, I can understand it. You’ve got yourself a keeper.”

At the bottom of the pile of photos was the letter, sent back to Margaret from his next location. The woman patted his shoulder.

“You better pack up soon, I’ll drive you to the airport.”

3 September 2015

Dear Yuu,

I know the cold must have been ruff. Haha, get it? Ruff? Well, don’t worry, cause where you’re going next it’s all summer and sun (with the occasional thunderstorm but a little rain never hurt anybody).

The Florida keys are hot. I’ve been spending a lot of time either at the beach or indoors where it’s airconditioned, but It’s been a lot of fun relaxing in the sun here. I found a restaurant, tucked in behind the white fences of a narrow road just by the waterfront. It has a large sign saying “CASTAWAY” I think it’s fitting with the whole nautical theme. It has high ceilings and gives off a wood cabin by the lake sort of feel. All the workers are nice, I’m writing this while talking with them.

I recommend the honeybuns!

Love,

(Y/N)

The honey buns were delicious. They weren’t even something you had to order, but Nishinoya did anyway, every single time. Joe, the owner, along with his wife busted the bar table that Nishinoya sat at. He was the only one in there at the moment flipping through his photo album, adjusting all the photos in place, making them look orderly. Without looking, he reached for one of the many bread buns that sat in the woven basket next to him.

“You know Noya, there’s more food other than the honey buns,” Joe chuckled as he snatched the bun filled basket out of the grasp of Noya’s clingy hands, making said boy pout. Joe laughed again before slipping a laminated piece of paper his way, “Read the menu kid, you might find something worthwhile.”

Joe, despite his outward appearance being that of a beer drinking food lover (which he was), was an avid deep sea diver. Often going with Miranda to collect underwater treasures that could be used as decor for their restaurant.

Nishinoya nodded, thanking the kind man as he began to read. The words gave him a bit of a headache. English, definitely something he’s improved on since beginning his journey but still makes him run circles in his head. He rested his chin on the counter, squinting, hoping the change in sight would magically turn the English into Japanese. It did not, and after 5 minutes of continuous grumbling, Miranda came his way.

“Noya, sweetheart, take a look at the drinks would ya?” she laughed, towel and plate in one hand, flicking the back of the page with a long spindly finger from the other.

He flipped the page over.

The (Y/N) Special

“What is this?” he asked pointing to the only spot on the page that had kanji characters mixed in with the English alphabet.

Miranda smiled, leaning her elbows onto the counter. Flicking a chummy finger toward the page she explained, “That right there, is a drink (Y/N) made up on one of the nights she was here. She jumped over the counter and made us all one, then gave us the recipe for later.”

Joe came their way with a cheeky smile, “Give it a go. It’s got a bit of alcohol in it but not a lot, fine for a midday drink.”

Yuu gladly took the drink created and named after his beloved adventurer and gave it a big gulp. It was cold and sweet with a bit of lemon, perfect for the everlasting hot weather in Florida. He could imagine lounging at the beach or by a pool with (Y/N) sleeping peacefully by his side as he drank this, both of them soaking in the sun’s warmth. Noya sighed happily, resting his head in the palm of his hand.

“Hang in there kid. I don’t think there’s that much alcohol,” Joe teased as he flicked Nishinoya’s forehead. “Don’t go dozing off just yet, we’ve got your next letter.”

Noya didn’t even realize that Miranda had left, only just seeing her as she came back out from the restaurant’s back with a box in hand.

The pictures were of her in various places, just like all the others. Now mostly at the beach or at his current location. He didn’t hold himself back from admiring the images of your summer glow as you posed happily for the camera in your bathing suit. One image of your face stuffed with honey buns make him cackle outright. At the bottom of the box was a small corral and your note.

18 June 2016

Dear Yuu,

Oh YUU~ please don’t be mad at me! I know you probably wanted to see me first out of all our friends but I couldn’t help myself. Brazil was already on my list and where else would I go besides Rio de Janeiro?

Hinata has grown so much since high school, you’ve got to see him play. You should be proud of your Kohai, he’s gotten pretty amazing~ His roommate, Pedro, was really nice too he likes OnePiece and Spiral Knights. Reminds me of Kenma a bit. They were both kind enough to accommodate me for my stay. Oh, Oikawa showed up too.

Be sure to give Hinata a hug for me~

Love (Oh so very much),

(Y/N)

Had they still been in high school, Hinata would’ve probably blabbered about everything upon Nishinoya’s arrival. But, as you had said, Hinata had grown and thus, he learned some restraint. Managing to respect the wishes of his travelling upperclassman who insisted that he kept a tight lip about everything until Noya had begun his travels in Rio.

Noya, on the other hand, was rather discouraged that his past teammate had gotten to spend months with his girl. His girl? His girl. He grumbled, crossing his arms with a haughty huff.

Nishinoya had arrived in Rio in February of 2018, getting the chance to hear all of Hinata’s stories from the beginning of his appearance in the hot city. Heitor, Hinata’s teammate for a tournament they played a couple of months prior, listened carefully to Hinata’s ramblings as he switched back and forth between languages, translating as much as he could. Nishinoya also often found himself admiring Heitor’s coiling hair. A complete opposite texture from his own. (Y/N)’s appearance seemed to be news to Brazilian man as well, but both listened with rapt attention as the carrot head rambled.

Noya got really pouty when his friend showed him the pictures though, mostly fixating on the one that had Oikawa, Hinata, and (Y/N) all making strange faces at the camera.

“Shoyo, must you torture me like this?”

Hinata only responded with a large smile and wiggling dance.

Heitor and Pedro had become Nishinoya’s closest companions after Hinata left for Japan. Nice, Heitor’s newlywed wife, reminded him of Saeko, making her his go-to whenever he needed to rant to someone. She never understood a word he said, but would always give him a pat on the back and a warm smile. Luckily, Pedro had managed to pick up some Japanese during his time living with Hinata, making the learning curve of figuring out Portuguese a little easier.

At the near 3 month mark of his stay in Rio, Pedro came out of his room with a box that had Nishinoya’s name printed across it. “It. Yours,” he tried to say with heavily accented Japanese, which the streaked blonde man was thankful for.

The name across the top had obviously been done by Hinata, the messy script made it that evident, not that Noya could easily read it anyways. Just like the others, the box held a few remaining photos that Hinata didn’t give him during their time together and her letter. The envelope had a small crease in the top corner, likely from Hinata’s rough handling, but he was eager to read it despite its mediocre condition.

Pedro sat down next to Nishinoya, taking hold of the photo album, and offered to put them in order. Before he did though, he took his time flipping through the pages, listening to Nishinoya as he tried to explain what was happening in each photograph. Pedro smiled.

“I spoke to her quite often, she learned Portuguese rather quickly, I was surprised,” he paused for a moment, watching the memory that played in his mind from the photo he had taken of you and Hinata playing volleyball on the beach. “She is quite an amazing person.”

Despite not being able to fully understand what Pedro had said, Nishinoya could hear his feelings.

Why did she have to be so magnetic that even a near stranger felt her gravitational pull?

With an almost sad sigh, he gave Pedro a nudge and began to read the letter. It was filled with glitter. That was new.

31 December 2016

Dear Yuu,

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I might be a bit tipsy but that’s okay! I’ll write this anyway.

New years in France is filled with alcohol. I shouldn’t be surprised but the wine is surprisingly sweet? And you know me, I can’t restrain myself when it comes to sweets.

Paris is beautiful by the way. I can’t wait for you to see it. Danon has been an amazing tour guild. He even gives me a discount on the coffee from his family’s café. Despite being in the more expensive part of town the café is rather quaint. When his parents are out Donon lets me choose the music, it’s typically 70’s dance and pop music, like ABBA. Who am I kidding, It’s mostly ABBA. Sometimes other customers join me in dancing, Danon can’t because he works but I see him grooving behind the counter. I think I made it a tradition.

Ooh, I also made another friend, her name’s Brielle, she's just lovely.

It’s beautiful here Yuu~

Love you loads.

(Y/N)

Was Nishinoya jealous when he met Danon? HELL YES HE WAS. The man was their age, and undeniably handsome, clean quaffed brown hair and perfect skin. Nishinoya spent his first few days in Paris giving the other man the side-eye.

That’s how it was, until one Friday evening, when Nishinoya walked into the café he was stopped frozen at the door.

“Ah Noya, my friend! Come join us!” Danon called over the music once he saw the shorter man enter.

In the Frenchman’s arms twirled a beautiful young woman with dark skin and braided hair that swung at the middle of her back. ABBA was playing, Noya noticed as he entered, weaving through the dancing couples of men and women alike. Danon and the woman met him halfway, and Danon, being the gentleman he is, bowed slightly as he gestured to her.

“This is Brielle. I’m sure (Y/N) must have mentioned her in her letter.”

Brielle laughed, waving her hand dismissively, “The two of us only got a moment together, a week at most. But she did talk about you Nishinoya. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

They spoke in English, with French accents, but Noya was thankful for the familiarity, although it did make him notice his own mangled accent even more.

“So what’s happening here?”

Danon laughed, “It’s (Y/N)’s night! What else?!”

The day slowly turned to night and the Eiffel tower began to glow outside the window. Nishinoya tried his best to dance in the sensual duets that took place in the middle of the floor, but more often than not, he went behind the counter, taking Danon’s parent’s place and giving them a chance to take centre stage. Out of the pairs, his parents were the most infectious. But anyone could look Danon’s way and see that he and Brielle were a match made for the night lights of Paris.

Towards the end of May, Nishinoya sat at one of the tables next to the chalk wall, sipping slowly at his tea. Danon came out from the back, giving his mother a rub on the shoulder before sitting across from the Japanese tourist. He placed a clean stack of images on the table between them. Before pointing to the chalk wall with a melancholic smile.

“She wrote you a message up there, ‘see you soon’, she said that a lot about you,” the taller man slid over the stack.

Noya slowly flipped through the photos, pausing at one that captured a moment of Danon holding (Y/N) in his arms as they danced, being perfectly framed by the Eiffel tower behind them. Noya gripped the photo a little tighter. His heart clawed at his insides again. That nagging feeling was back, making the palms of his hands feel sore and warm. Danon’s voice pulled him out of it easily, the man was a siren.

“She is a remarkable woman. If I had the same opportunity that you have right now,” he trailed off, pausing to take a breath, “I would follow her off the edge of the world if she asked me,” Danon took the photo out of Noya’s hands, giving it a fleeting look before tucking it into the album that rested open on the table.

Gulping, Noya met the man’s eyes across the table.

“Aren’t you with Brielle?”

Danon smiled, “I am. (Y/N) introduced us. Brielle knows of my infatuation but trusts me and I can’t thank her more for it.”

“You two are beautiful together,” Noya said, looking up at your name on the wall. He took another long, slow sip of his tea.

“As will the both of you. If you manage to catch her that is.” Danon spoke softly, joining his new friend in staring at their crush’s smooth writing on the wall. “Can you do me a favour, Noya?”

Nishinoya hummed, continuing to look up.

“Love her for the both of us, okay?”

8 May 2017

Dear Yuu,

A kind old man was nice enough to let me spend most of my time with him and his dog at their home in Hamburg, Germany. He’s a potato farmer! But sadly he injured his back working, what a spine breaker. Anyway, I offered my help farming in exchange for a warm bed and food. He was happy to help! Oh right, his name is Adal. He’s a bit of a grouch but I know he’s secretly a softy.

I managed to get to a few places around Germany before settling down there for the rest of the trip though. My favourite by far is the torn down Berlin wall. It’s covered in graffiti and art and it’s just filled with so much history. It’s overwhelming but seeing the broken wall is just such a beautiful sight. I don’t even think I can put it into words.

Don’t let Adal be too mean to you~

Love,

(Y/N)

Nishinoya knew what you meant by the wall being overwhelming. It felt like he had the memories of generations pushing down on his shoulders all while a swell of happiness and relief seemed to lift his chest upwards. It was a sight to behold.

Adelina was a kind but blunt woman in her 40’s. Their initial interaction was a shocking one that left a bitter taste in both of their mouths. Noya, a stranger that had shown up at Adal’s doorstep that was in the middle of vast farmland was greeted with a less than welcoming hello.

“Is Adal here?”

In broken English, Adelina responded, “Adal is dead. What do you want?”

After explaining his now new predicament to the resilient woman, she had broken into a gasp eyes wide as she rushed up the stairs of the house. She nearly tripped coming back down, holding a box that was covered in dust and set it down on the wood table in the middle of the large room visible from the door.

She had sighed while she blew off the dirt, “You must be Nishinoya, correct?”

Taking his shoes off at the door, he entered the premises. Adelina had gestured for him to take a seat in the chair across from her and the box. Nishinoya was understandably nervous at the time, desperately wanting to bite his nail or crack his cold knuckles, but he resisted.

“Adal was my father, he died last year and left everything to me,” she started. “I only met (Y/N) once but she was a kind woman from what I remember. Managed to break that old man’s shell. Not many can do that,” she laughed, tucking a greying piece of hair behind her ear.

Nishinoya listened to every word patiently. Adelina wasn’t a great storyteller, she often had to cycle back, remembering events that would have been told earlier on, and sounded rather monotone as she recounted them. For what it was worth though, once she got on the right track, she seemed to be able to recall every detail word for word despite the stories not having been from her own experiences.

“I know the plan was for you to work in the field, but I sold off the farmland not too long after he died,” she said, placing a glass of water for him on the table. “If I had thought a little further ahead, I probably would have waited until after your visit,” she scoffed sadly at herself. “I guess my mind was a bit preoccupied.”

“No, no. It’s alright. I’m the one showing up unannounced. You probably didn’t even remember the plan until I showed up.”

That night, Adeline offered to take Nishinoya on a grand tour through Germany.

“I should at least fulfill some duty that I was given, he would want me to,” she said, giving him a rare smile. “Diese Dinge passieren, und das Leben geht weiter.”

Despite having given him most of the pictures in the box on the first night, the letter remained untouched until after spending three months in the woman’s care. At the airport, Adeline thanked Noya for visiting and wished him well.

“Chase your dreams,” she said, sending him off with a final wave.

1 September 2017

Dear Yuu,

Somehow a little town at Italy’s ankle has made me believe that gods exist on earth. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but these architects did an amazing job. The buildings are all colourful and beautiful to admire. Especially during the sunset. The whole town is cast with a warm glow.

I’ve been staying in Sorrento, (imagine if I was writing this from Torino! Haha). A small town by the bay known for its beautiful view of the water and 14th-Century architecture, very picturesque. I spend most of my time down by the bay, I’ve gone so often that I’ve even made friends with some of the fishermen. They even offered to take me spearfishing out in the bay. Their boats are beautiful but on windy days I definitely prefer the land.

Don’t let the marlins get to close, they’ll stab you~

Love you,

(Y/N)

“Eh, Noya! You did great! Let me take a photo for you.”

Donte was a middle-aged man that owned a boat by the pier. Often spending his weekends fishing for marlins to feed his family the following week. His hair was dark brown and mousy, slowly fading to grey at the sides of his hairline that trailed down his jaw into a patchy scruff of a beard that never seemed to grow. Quickly, the ageing man grabbed Noya’s phone off one of the seats in his large fishing boat and angled it to face the other man.

“Say: sorridi!” he cheered.

Noya dropped his borrowed trident like a spear on the tiled concrete and kicked up his left leg onto the large metal cleat at his side and balanced the weight of the large marlin between his arms. The fish’s mouth hung open, but Noya smiled into the camera of his phone, yelling out ‘sorridi’ as the photo was taken.

“Ah good. C’mon, I’ll treat you to lunch.”

It was during lunch when Donte began to entertain Nishinoya with some stories of (Y/N)’s visit. The big one was how we decided on the name of his boat. He explained that at the time, his ship was brand new when she visited, with (Y/N) being the first to book a time to experience marlin fishing on the new vessel. At the time the name hadn’t been printed on the side, and when Donte had mistakenly tripped over a loose line it sent him into the cold water of the bay. Despite being able to swim, the visiting woman had immediately pulled out the rope ladder tying to the side of the ship and dived him.

Donte laughed as he recalled floating in the water with (Y/N) staring at him with an irritated expression. “I can swim you know?” he said, making her grumble and paddle to the ladder she had set up moments prior.

“The water is nice, but you better get out soon,” she had teased. “Don’t want the marlins to attack.”

“Thought that ‘the Mad Mer’ was fitting. She did look like a goddess while swimming after all.”

The description made Noya smile happily.

Donte was starting his next story when Nishinoya felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Asahi had sent him a message.

We’re all meeting up today.

Are you coming?

A cheeky grin pulled on the corner of Noya’s face. Swiping his phone across his screen and clicking, without sending a word to his friend the image was sent.

Woah, Noya!

Are you still following those letters?

Nishinoya chuckled.

You bet!

Donte nodded his head in Noya’s direction and took a large gulp of water and a bit of food from his plate. “Who you talking to?”

“Ah, an old friend. Sent him the picture of the marlin.”

On his final day, after packing up all his clothes, Nishinoya flipped through the new photos he collected. His favourite had been taken on the same day that she had dived into the water to help Donte. It was of (Y/N) in a flowing white dress, arms spread wide open, with the sun setting in the background making her dress glow. This photo closed out the passage of Sorrento, Italy.

30 March 2018

Dear Yuu,

Hazyview is quite the sight. It’s full of green trees and large expanses of grass. Rolling hills turn into mountains with sharp cliffs and rounded tops. It’s a sight you’ve never seen before.

I got to travel around a bit before settling in Hazyview so I could learn about all the languages they speak. It’s so interesting! I swear some of the people I met probably thought I was some foreign nut job, but I had fun

Working at a sanctuary for elephants is such a rewarding experience. I wish I could have stayed a bit longer to help. Luckily they primarily used English to communicate because of all the immigrating volunteers they get, but even the diverse collection of language there was amazing. But that’s not the point. Elephants. Elephants are the point.

We managed to save a baby and his mother from poachers! The little guy was rather clingy, and I got to name him!

Work your hardest~

Love,

(Y/N)

Nishinoya was relieved when he was able to practice his English again with fluent English speakers at the sanctuary. Nearly two years of practice has shown some improvement.

Jabulani was the man that greeted him when the helicopter landed at the sanctuary. His arms were wide open and his smile was big, showing off his pearly white teeth.

“Welcome!” he yelled over the sound of the helicopter’s blades spinning.

It took a couple of days for Nishinoya to get the chance to interact with the large beasts. That time was spent settling in, getting a tour, and learning about the protocol that was held in high regard at the sanctuary (for good reason).

When Jabulani, nicknamed Jabu, introduced Noya to the various elephants that were being rehabilitated he was brought to a pause at one.

“His name is Shino?”

“Ah yes. You’re (Y/N)’s friend. I almost forgot. She talked about you a lot.”

Noya made a large gesture with his arms, throwing them in the warm air. Then he adjusted the old button filled hat on his head to block the sun.

“When (Y/N) said she named a baby Elephant I thought I was going to be small! She named it after me, and he’s that big?!”

Jabu laughed at Noya’s pain. Giving a hard smack on the back. Earning a groan from the slightly saddened man.

“Don’t look at it like that. Think of it this way,” He said as he grabbed Noya’s shoulder, straightening his back. He gestured to the elephant’s trunk that started sprinkling water over its head. “She must think highly of you. Think you can reach great heights like the trunk of an elephant.”

“That height is mediocre when giraffes exist.”

The throwaway comment earned Noya another hard smack.

“Don’t say that around the elephants. They’re sensitive creatures.”

Occasionally, at night when everyone was lounging around the common area, eating food and relaxing, Nishinoya got the chance to listen to Juba and his friends speak in their native tongue. Zulu was something he had never heard prior to coming here, and as he listened to them converse fluidly without tripping over any syllable or sound he couldn’t help but realize why you appreciated the complexities of language so much.

The last letter was short, and when he opened it a picture slipped out. You wore Karasuno’s classic colour; black. You were in a waving salute, your two fingers in the motion of pointing away from your forehead. The back of the black tracksuit was visible thanks to your slightly turned position. You stood on the steps of the volleyball gym, the doors were open. The letter was sent back to Hazyview recently.

9 April 2019

Dear Yuu,

What do you think? The newest job suits me, huh? I managed to race through school while I waited. World Cultures, I’m excited.

See you on the first day of school~

Love,

(Y/N)

April 20th of 2019 was the first day of school. Nishinoya had flown in from Hazyview the night before, greeted by his parents who pestered him about all of his adventures on the way home. Still wide awake with jitters of excitement, Noya rambled about every moment and story, flipping through his nearly complete photo album.

He was wide awake until he wasn’t. Despite his eagerness to wake up early to the following day and hopefully ambush you in the morning before classes started, he managed to sleep through most of the day. When he finally did wake up he was groggy from the jet lag but forced himself to change into something more presentable than plane clothes. Be grabbed your old hat, oxidized keychain and his photo album before rushing out.

Once he got to the front gates he breathed in deeply. It had been years, and the nagging feeling had returned to his chest. Students gave him weird looks as they left the school grounds.

How could he not have fallen in love with you back then? But how could he be so naive to believe he was the only one? He thought of Danon in that moment, letting the words replay in his head. Over and over again. For the both of us.

Taking one last breath, he ran towards the old gym he remembered. The doors were slightly ajar and the welcoming sound of air-filled balls bouncing off the wooden gym floor made his heart race. He screamed as he kicked the doors wide open.

“(Y/N)!”

A high pitch screech followed.

“Noya? What the hell are you doing here?”

Despite the change in hair, now back to his natural black, Ukai hadn’t changed a bit. The squealer, Takeda, held his chest tightly as he stood straight, recovering from the sudden scare. The players on the gym floor began to murmur, they’d ask their coaches questions later.

“Sorry, Takeda, Ukai. Do you know where (Y/N) is?” Noya asked, gripping his belongings tightly. “I thought she was going to be in here.”

Takeda let out a shaky laugh, “You haven’t changed a bit, Noya. But did you maybe consider she’d be in the girl’s gym?”

Ukai sent Takeda a confused look, to which the bespectacled man waved off as if saying ‘I’ll explain later.’

Nishinoya began bouncing on his toes, ready to move. Wearing a smile, he yelled a loud ‘thanks!’ as he bowed, before running out the double doors.

The girl’s gym, though not one he visited in his past often except for those moments he went to see (Y/N), brought a familiar feeling. The sound of balls ricocheting off of solid surfaces greeted him as he stood outside the double doors, waiting, scared.

Then he heard your voice, heavily accented but pronouncing every word with a sense of style with accuracy. Soothing and sharp with a bit of a raspy bite from years of hysterical laughter and yelling.

“Tiny Hinata! Natsu, can you do me a favour real quick?”

Slowly, he pushed the doors open.

Nishinoya didn’t even see the young orange-haired girl lift the old polaroid camera to her face. He was too busy enjoying the old familiar feeling of his girl’s hands holding his back, hardly even hearing the smack of objects fall from his hands and onto the floor. He melted. Noses brushed against each other as she pulled him into a kiss that was worth the years of patient pining. He let out a breathless laugh when she pulled away, letting his head fall back for a moment as she used her hands to lift him back into an upright position. His hand came to rest on her shoulders, massaging them gently to fully know that she was there.

That nagging feeling finally crawled away, chased out by an eruption of warmth in his stomach.

“I finally caught you, (Y/N),” he said, wearing a dopey grin.

“Took you long enough,” she teased, hitting his arm.

Picking up his belongings that he had dropped suddenly, he held the brim of her old hat between his fingers and slipped it onto her head. Back where it belonged.

The photo was a pretty one, fitting perfectly into the last page of his album.

So this onshot comes from a prompt in my writers notebook that I’ve been wanting to write for over a year. And when talking to one of my firends we got really into multiple different idea’s and then dragged Kiwi into it. So this one is sort of collaborated.

I hope you liked it! it’s the longest thing I’ve written so far and it’s about the length of a regular two or three parted story. - Bacon

Posted: 03/07/2020

#Haikyuu x reader #Nishinoya Yuu #nishinoya x reader #Haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #anime x reader #anime #manga x reader #manga

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spookyold-saintjm · 4 years

Note

#8 and #36 for Mayor Damien x Reader where the reader is already aware that Damien has feelings for them (from his body language and william and mark may or may not have told them) but they still want to hear it come from Damien himself. Thank you!

8: Do you want me to show you?

36: So when are you going to confess your undying love for me?

From my prompt list.

I’ve been wanting to try writing Damien so I hope I did him justice! This occurs during the events of WKM. Altered the prompts a little to fit my thoughts and it’s a little long BUT I loved writing my first Damien piece! I’ll definitely be doing more.

WKM Damien x reader

The butler stepped aside as you slowly entered the exquisitely decorated entryway of Mark’s home. A few weeks prior, you’d been sent a simple invitation to a poker night with Mark and some of your old friends and current coworkers who were all a part of Mark’s inner circle from various parts of his life. Why here, why now, you weren’t so sure, but you’d had a lot of stress sitting on your shoulders at work lately with your new position, so why not spend a night having a little fun?

You thanked the tall, dark-haired butler for the glass of champagne he handed you as you stepped further into the room and surveyed your surroundings. It had been a long while since you’d set foot in this place, but it seemed as if it were frozen in time, hardly changed at all. It seemed that some of the other guests had arrived as well; you’d run into William before you’d even set foot inside, and you soon found the detective (Abe, was it? You weren’t as familiar with him) was in the next room over, talking to…right.

You froze, as you watched Damien speak with the detective. Of course, you knew he would be there; you’d seen the invitation sitting on his desk the day after you’d received yours, when you’d gone into his office to deliver a stack of documents from your department. You hadn’t discussed it with him, but you knew he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have the gang all together again, despite the somewhat random invitation.

He must have been working late, coming straight from his office, as he was still wearing the suit you’d seen him in earlier in the day. Classic Damien, you thought with a small smile as you debated what to say when you approached him…

“So, the boy still hasn’t taken his shot, has he?” The colonel’s voice suddenly behind you nearly made you jump out of your skin, at which he chuckled as you spun around to glare at him.

“Oh, sorry to frighten you.” He held up his hands in mock surrender with a smile. “But I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you crossed your arms and tilted your head in question, but it couldn’t mask the color tinting your cheeks.

The colonel shook his head in disappointment. He tilted his head toward the men speaking in the other room. “Oh, please. Damien’s been fawning over you, too. Ever since you had your first class together.” His eyes narrowed at you. “You do realize that…don’t you?”

Oh? You’d always suspected, or at least hoped, that Damien maybe, just maybe, would one day consider you as more than just a good friend. He was one of your best friends, actually. You had stuck by each other through so much. But when your college years had come and gone and you’d shared nothing any more romantic than drunken kisses at one of Mark’s wilder parties, you tried to put those thoughts aside.

You had never lost touch, however, and eventually ended up working for him under his then newly-appointed title of Mayor. Even so, nothing had happened since. Damien had always been someone so intensely focused on his work; his drive to improve the world around him and while being successful in his own endeavors often overshadowed most everything else, so why would the potential of a relationship with you be any different?

Although, that would explain why he was always there to greet you when your work brought you to his side of city hall, why the usually strong-spoken and charismatic mayor would occasionally get quieter and stumble over his words at first sight of you, why your occasional, casual meet-ups for lunch always ended up lasting so long that he had to rush to get to his next meeting on time…

Something in your face must have given away your thoughts, because the colonel suddenly elbowed you in the ribs. “Ah, come now! Life’s too short for you two to keep going on like this.” He started to step away, towards Damien and the detective. “I’ll just let him know you’re here and—”

“No!” you panicked and grabbed him by the arm, yanking him to an abrupt halt. He turned back towards you, your grasp on him still tight. “William! Don’t you dare!”

The colonel cocked an eyebrow at you at the stern use of his name, and used his free hand to adjust his hat that had nearly topped off his head when you grabbed him as he waited for you to speak.

“Fine. But I want to hear him say it. I want to be sure.”

William’s smile was parts smug and relieved. “About time,” he grinned. You released your hold on him, sticking your tongue out at your old friend before turning and stepping into the next room. You took in a deep breath just before you stopped next to Damien and Abe, greeting them both.

“Oh, y/n! So good to see you.” Damien’s eyes brightened as he looked to you, a broad smile crossing his face. You returned his smile just as William strolled over, calling for the detective’s attention, who excused himself to speak with the colonel.

You glanced over at your friend with a long side-eye, and his wink and nod of his head toward Damien didn’t go unnoticed…by you, or Damien.

Thanks a lot, “Colonel.”

Damien’s smile faltered only slightly as he glanced between the now-departing William and Abe. “What was that about?“

“Oh, you know how he is.” You shrugged dismissively, hoping that he didn’t notice the faint strain in your voice as you tried to regain your composure.

Damien’s laugh was halted, somewhat nervous. “Oh, do I ever.” His eyes met yours as he reached to run his hand through his dark hair. He released a short sigh before speaking again, moving to straighten his bow tie. “Say, y/n, there’s something I actually wanted to speak with you about…”

Damien was cut off by Mark’s voice suddenly echoing through the room. You both looked up to see him strolling down the spiral staircase, his eyes bright as he acknowledged everyone and announced the official beginning of the night’s festivities, the promise of how it would be one of the most memorable nights of your lives.

Then the poker game began. You’d attempted to sit next to Damien at the table, but Mark had pulled both he and the colonel in next to him, leaving you forced to sit on the opposite side. You and Damien would occasionally exchange glances between rounds and glasses of wine, both of you knowing there was a conversation that had been left unfinished.

The game continued and the room became more blurry, the group’s voices getting louder, the game becoming less involved. Eventually, after entirely too much money had been passed around and won and lost and won over again, you decided to take yourself out of the game for a bit, excusing yourself to get some fresh air.

You weren’t at all surprised when Damien found you not long after.

“y/n? Are you out here?” he called as he opened the door leading out onto the second-floor balcony where you’d eventually found yourself. You stood with your arms resting on the balcony’s edge, your eyes fixed on the shimmering pool below.

“Hey now, be careful,” Damien’s voice was closer to you, pulling you gently by your shoulders away from the railing. He knew you well enough to know although you were still coherent of what was going on around you, you became a little more clumsy when you’d been drinking.

You sent him a small smile in thanks. His hands rested on your shoulders for another moment, his touch suddenly vanishing once he realized he hadn’t yet moved.

You tilted your head at him, getting straight to the point. “So,” you started, “you had something you wanted to tell me earlier?”

“Oh,” Damien straightened himself, finding anywhere else to look but back at you. “I, yes, well, I…” he sighed, clasping his hands together in front of him before eventually forcing himself to meet your gaze. “y/n, I’ve wanted to tell you this for some time, but it never seemed like the right time. And, well, to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what you would—”

You found yourself smiling, because you knew. You knew where this was going, he was going to tell you how he felt.

But you found your mouth running faster than you brain, and stopped him.“Are you going to confess your undying love for me?”

If Damien had had one more glass of wine, your words probably would have been enough to make him faint. His eyes widened, his mouth agape. Although the lighting outside was dim, you were certain of the rare blush that had appeared in his cheeks.

“Am I—are you—you—wh-what?”

“The colonel spoke to you about me. About,” you gestured back and forth with your hand at the air between the two of you. “us, didn’t he?”

Damien’s hands dropped to his sides. “H-how do you know that?”

“He gave me the run-around too, don’t worry.” You replied, a bit surprised at your own surge of confidence in confronting him about the matter.

“Oh.” Damien looked away running a hand through his hair and letting out a heavy breath before facing you again. “Yes, well, It’s just, we’ve known each other for so long, and I truly do care about you very much, and…”

You raised an eyebrow at him, awaiting him to actually finish his thought. You weren’t sure you’d ever seen him so flustered, which was both amusing and making your heart swell with your own feelings for him reflected in front of you.Finally, he instead just reached out for your hands, carefully, slowly taking them into his own.

“Can I show you?”

You nodded as you used his grip on your hands to pull him closer, now with only mere inches between you. “I would like that.”He softly pressed his lips to yours, and your eyes fluttered shut with the relief that, finally, this was happening. You smiled into the kiss and leaned deeper into Damien. It wasn’t the first time you’d both kissed, but the first time that you knew meant something more.

Damien reached up with one hand to caress your cheek, keeping you close as your lips danced together in a perfect match. You draped an arm atop his shoulder, letting your hand rest at the back of his neck. The scent of his cologne was familiar and new and intoxicating all at once, and you hummed happily at the contentment you felt in the moment.

Your lips parted slowly, hesitantly, but you knew you had to separate or you’d be there all night. Damien pulled you close, and you rested your head against his shoulder as his arms fully wrapped around you. You felt him rest his cheek atop your head as you both slowly started to sway to the music from the party still going on below, the sounds drifting through the door Damien had left cracked open when he’d come outside. You spent a few peaceful, silent moments just enjoying each other’s closeness.

“You know, for a thriving politician, you struggled with your words a bit there,” you eventually teased. Damien chuckled as he grasped your shoulders, stepping back so that he could meet your eyes.

"I love you, y/n. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. And I want to love you for even longer than that. How is that?”

You laughed, a sound that filled Damien with joy to his very soul. “A great improvement,” you replied. “I…I love you too, Damien.”

“Good,” he was practically beaming as he pressed another short, light kiss to your lips before he grasped your hand before he began to lead you back inside. “Now, I think you and I both have some words for our gossiping colonel.”

#too bad by the next day #at least one of you is gonna be #you know #dead.#damien x reader #mayor damien x reader #wkm damien x reader #mayor damien x female reader #mayor damien x male reader #damien x female reader #damien x male reader #requests #spooky's writing prompts #anonymous #spookyold-answers

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fataziraphale · 4 years

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The Best and Wisest Man Whom I Have Ever Known (A Good Omens Secret Santa)

Happy holidays, @ditherwings!!! I was your Good Omens Secret Santa! I had oodles of fun writing this—I too adore literary history and Aziraphale being a dork. You have excellent taste! I hope your holidays are wonderful and you enjoy this offering from me.

When Aziraphale sent a letter to cancel their dinner plans, Crowley dropped a potted plant in shock, scattering ceramic shards all over his kitchen floor. Aziraphale never turned down the Café Royal. He relished in running into all those authors he was fond of, like the unsettlingly tall one who flirted a bit too much for Crowley’s taste. Plus—and this generally piqued Aziraphale’s interest even more—their French patisserie was to die for.

Perhaps more alarming, Aziraphale’s elegantly looped handwriting announced he was cancelling dinner because he was currently in mourning.

In mourning? For a human, then? It didn’t seem in-character. Among their other arrangements, Crowley and Aziraphale had made a pact, some drunken night in 1431, that they weren’t going to love any specific humans. Sure, it was all right for Aziraphale to go the salons and debate the merits of various magazine poems, or be on a first-name basis with his local baker. It was another matter entirely for him to become attached.

It all got too messy. They’d agreed on that. They’d practically emptied out a winery after Boccaccio died—Aziraphale because the man had made such incredible contributions to the literary canon, Crowley because he’d inspired a whole generation of women to take up masturbating, but both because Giovanni was a friend. They knew what happened to humans after they died, they knew the man’s soul would live on until at least Armageddon, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that they would miss him, and they couldn’t keep going on like this, becoming blubbery messes incapable of doing their duties every time a good drinking buddy got ill. So they’d decided not to. They’d promised.

So then who the dev—who was Aziraphale mourning now?

Miffed at Aziraphale going back on his word (and certainly not worried about the angel, don’t be daft), Crowley fetched his hat and coat and set off into the streets of London. Carriages crowded the road, humans weaving in and out of the foggy air. Crowley flagged a cab and rattled off Aziraphale’s address, tapping his foot against the carriage floor as it bumped against the cobblestones.

It was awfully inconvenient, relying on humans for transport, but he had never been particularly good with horses. He’d read in the paper about a German woman who’d traveled a great distance in some sort of horseless carriage. He’d been thinking of heading to the continent to see what the fuss was for himself. He wondered if Aziraphale would like to come along—they could go hear that new Brahms piano thing everyone and their mother raved about.

But no. Aziraphale was in mourning.

Not for the first time, Crowley wondered if it wasn’t simply a euphemism. If Aziraphale wasn’t angry with Crowley but too polite to say so. Sure, they’d had that tiff in the 60s over holy water, but Crowley had thought they’d patched things up. He’d bought Aziraphale his weight in apology chocolate. So what could be the matter now?

Yet as he exited the cab onto Aziraphale’s street, Crowley couldn’t help but notice a pattern: young men sporting black armbands. Yes, there were bucketloads of them—this one hurrying into his apartment, that one buying flowers from a stand on the roadside, those two comforting a weeping woman. Crowley remembered himself just enough to push one mourner into the street, making sure to do so when no carriages where heading his way.

The bookshop was closed, but that was normal for Tuesdays. Crowley rang the bell and, when no one answered, willed the knob to turn.

The angel Aziraphale sat his desk, sniffling over a copy of The Strand.

Crowley stared at him. Indeed, Aziraphale did appear to be mourning—he wore a black crêpe around his upper arm, and another adorned the hat hanging on his hat stand. He put down the magazine with a sigh that came from the very depths of his soul, if angels had that sort of thing (Crowley wasn’t entirely sure). He removed his spectacles from his nose, tucked them into his pocket, and caught eyes with Crowley across the room.

“Oh, my dear boy,” Aziraphale murmured. “You’ve read it, haven’t you? Do sit down. Would you like some tea? No, you’ll likely need something stronger.”

Mystified, Crowley lowered himself into a chair, stopping first to lift a heap of books off its seat and onto the floor. “Read what? I saw the men in the streets. Who died? Is it someone important?” His eyes widened. “They didn’t catch that friend of yours, did they? That author who wears all those gaudy green flowers?”

Aziraphale shook his head. “Oscar is perfectly sound, though I’m not sure A Woman of No Importance was his tightest work. Perhaps he should stick with prose rather than drama.”

“Then what’s this about? Someone from your gentleman’s club? No, it’s got to be some famous bugger if everyone’s gutted about it.” Crowley cast his eyes around for inspiration. “It’s not the Queen. I would have heard if it were the bloody Queen.”

Aziraphale drew a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes. Crowley had never known Aziraphale to be a crier, but now he was getting the disturbing impulse to start saying things like “There, there” and “It’ll all be all right in the end.”

“He was a great man,” said Aziraphale. “Perhaps Britain’s finest. Crowley, I simply don’t know how I will go on without him.”

Crowley had already reached across the desk for Aziraphale’s hand before he remembered he was supposed to be a demon. “I thought we said we weren’t going to do this. Not after Joan. We weren’t going to get close to humans.”

“Oh, he and I aren’t close. Goodness, though, I should think I’m going to write the man a very stern letter. You simply can’t go playing with people’s emotions like that!”

“It probably wasn’t his fault,” Crowley said. “You know, dying. Humans tend to do it whether they want to or not.”

“But humans can choose not to murder a beloved cultural figure!”

This caught Crowley’s attention. Murder wasn’t always the work of his side, but it was certainly more in his wheelhouse than the angel’s.

“Do you want revenge, angel?” Crowley tried his best to snarl, but his tone came out more like sympathy. “Because I can help you with that. I can turn the murderer’s… undergarments into ants. I don’t know, give me time to think of something really devious, I’m a bit rusty.”

“Perhaps you could write him a letter too,” said Aziraphale, and then his eyes lit up. Something inside him clicked, and a smile lifted his chubby cheeks to Heaven—just as it had when he’d first tried bread back in Mesopotamia, or last week when he’d showed off his charmingly bad gavotte.

“We could start a movement,” Aziraphale gushed. Crowley’s heart, despite not strictly needing to beat, threatened to give out altogether. “Yes, I believe we could! One letter might not sway the man, but twenty? Fifty? One hundred? We could rally the men in the streets! Tape up posters in Trafalgar Square! I could make a picket sign! I’ve always wanted to make a picket sign.” He stood up, raising a triumphant fist as he glared righteously at a stack of encyclopedias. “Why, if we put enough pressure on the man, he’ll have to cave! He’ll bring the dead back to life in no time at all!”

“Er,” said Crowley. “I’m not sure that’s how that works.”

“Don’t be silly, dear. If anyone can think of a way to bring back the world’s greatest detective, it’s Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle.”

“Why would this Conan Doyle bloke kill a detective? Did he do a crime he wants covered up? Does the detective owe him money?”

“What? Oh, Crowley.” Aziraphale chuckled. Crowley could feel his cheeks growing pink for at least three reasons. “Sherlock Holmes is fictional. He’s Doyle’s literary creation.” He frowned. “I gave you The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes last Christmas. Did you not read it?”

Crowley stared. “Do you mean to tell me, all this time, you’ve been planning to skip out on dinner because you’re mourning someone fictional?”

“He’s a very good detective.”

“I don’t believe this! Angel, I thought you were actually depressed!”

“I am depressed!” Aziraphale scoffed. “And it’s perfectly reasonable to be affected by literature! Why, just last year, I closed my bookshop for a month to recover from The Picture of Dorian Gray!”

“I thought you just didn’t fancy dealing with customers!”

“And you, my dear.” Aziraphale jabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you! 1806 BC! You cried after reading The Epic of Gilgamesh! At seeing the humans’ first attempt at truly great literature!”

“Angel, those were tears of laughter! That guy Enkidu had a hard-on for two bloody weeks! Could you keep a straight face reading that?”

“There’s no need to be crass.” Aziraphale coughed into his handkerchief, but Crowley could recognize those upturned lips anywhere. “Anyway, I’m hardly alone in this. Plenty of readers lived for the Holmes stories. It’s a true pity there won’t be any more.”

“Good. Oodles of angry humans. Doyle did my job for me.” Crowley was already mentally drafting a very threatening letter. Naming the man’s children should do the trick. In the off-chance he didn’t have any children, well, the replacing Doyle’s undergarments with ants idea was growing on him.

“But you see, this is why I mustn’t go to dinner with you.” Aziraphale assumed his most sincere expression. “It would be disrespectful to be seen lavishly dining and carrying on when such a tragedy has befallen the literary world. Why, none of my friends there would let me hear the end of it.” He gazed forlornly into an empty mug, rimmed around the top with cocoa stains.

“What about lunch?”

Aziraphale’s head snapped up. “Oh, excellent. I’m simply starving. And a man must eat. No one could blame me for that.”

Crowley’s mouth curled into a devilish grin. He held out his hand, and Aziraphale took it. “I won’t tell any of your author friends if you don’t bring up me and Gilgamesh.”

“Perhaps only in private.”

“It’s a funny poem! The bloke had sex for two weeks!”

“Ah, that reminds me. If you truly don’t want your first edition Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, may I have it back? It would make an excellent addition to my collection.”

“You devious bastard. You only bought me that bloody book because you wanted it.”

Crowley weaved between dusty stacks of hardbacks and emerged blinking onto the Soho street. Remembering the mourner with his arm around his compatriot, Crowley vaguely thought of putting an arm around Aziraphale.

But that wasn’t the way their love language worked. Crowley’s love was showing up. Was badgering Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle to a bloody pulp until he brought Sherlock Holmes back to life, logic be damned. Was giving Aziraphale an excuse to pig out on French pastry. Was hailing a cab and taking Aziraphale’s hand to pull him up inside.

As Aziraphale’s plushy hip pressed into Crowley’s, he thought of the new electric lights they’d shown off at the Paris Exposition. He could feel that current now, running through the angel’s body into his.

He realized Aziraphale had only broken his promise if their pact not to love humans extended to fictional ones. At any rate, if it included falling in love with angels, Crowley was in an awful lot of trouble, and he owed Aziraphale about £15.

Perhaps some promises were made to be broken.

#good omens #GoodOmensSecretSanta #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #bodiekayfanfic

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suzubelle-chan · 5 years

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A Cass/Ralnor Childhood Romance Au: Someday, Someplace Chapter 1

Hello again. Thanks again to @ridersoftheapocalypse, @s-kinnaly, and @mrneighbourlove for letting me use their characters. Let me state this is AU of @ridersoftheapocalypse‘s fanfiction, and alternative time line when the Zelgan kids meet their lovers as kids. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Someday, Someplace Chapter 1 Marketplace

Even though his mama told him not to, Ralnor stuck his head out the window of the carriage. All around him, Hylians, Gorons, Zorans, Ritos, even Goblins walked around looking at all the different stalls. Merchants yelled throughout the air, trying to compete over all the laughter and talking from the guests. Every year, Daourfel just got bigger and bigger with all new people coming in for the holiday, so much so that a new section of Castle Town was built just for traveling merchants to rent. The prince bounced a bit as he scanned around the stalls, seeing all the clothes, masks, toys, especially a few tables covered in stacks of books. Just as the carriage passed an alleyway, something caught the prince’s eyes. Or rather someone.

A person who was too tall to be a Hylian, but too thin to be a Goron or Goblin and not a fin or feather in sight. The person wore a white long-sleeved dress, heading down to the knees. The dress was covered by sky blue vest and skirt apron, highly embroidered with white clouds and wind trails blowing them around, a wrap of matching fabric connected the two parts. blue and highly embroidered brown boots covered the rest of their body. They fanned themselves with a blue hat with a white veil flowing out the back. However what surprised Ralnor was the person’s brown skin and a short red hair, barely reach the neck, clinging to their head.

Ralnor knew why Papa and Klinge would try to include Gerudo traditions into the kid’s life from the clothes on their back, the stories before bed, to all the long language lessons they had to sit through. No one ever said it out loud, but there was always a bit of sadness when Papa and Klinge talked about life in the Gerudo kingdom. Like they would give anything to go back to those days. Because Papa and Klinge thought they, including the kids, were the last Gerudo in all the world. But they were wrong.

However, just as the woman slipped the hat back on, completely covering her hair, and headed towards the boy, the carriage rolled away from the alley. Ralnor started to lean out the window, hands propping him up, peering behind the way. The further away from the alley, the more the prince leaned out. Ralnor could hear his mama call out to him but all his focus was watching the way. If he could just wait, he could see the Gerudo woman again…

One of the prince’s hands supporting him slipped and he fell face first out of the window. It happened so fast, he didn’t even get the chance to scream as he plummeted down. However, something caught his back, stopping him a few inches above the wheel. Then he felt the grasp drag him upwards, back into the cart, and into his father's arms.

“Ralnor are you alright?” Ganondorf asked, worry soaked into his tone.

"Yes, papa." The boy squeaked. He could now hear again and his heart pounded in his ears.

“Ralnor I’ve told you not to lean out the carriage window. You could have been seriously hurt,” Zelda scolded lightly, cupping her son’s head.

“I’m sorry mama, papa. I promise I won’t do it again.” The boy admitted and stretched his arms out wide over his father’s chest and enjoyed the embrace for a moment. However, he gasped and pushed himself up. “But you wouldn’t believe what I saw out there!”

“Okay Ralnor what was so important?” Zelda asked.

“A Gerudo! I saw a real Gerudo out there!” Ralnor pointed out carriage.

Gasps filled the air. Kanisa’s hands flew to her cheeks. Zelda's hand flew to her mouth. Orana’s jaw dropped. Covarog clutched his hair. Tebanam just tilted his head.

“Did you really?” Kanisa asked.

“Yeah, she had brown skin and red hair, really short though, but I know she was a Gerudo!” the boy beamed.

"Wow, another Gerudo! Isn't that amazing Papa?" Covarog asked.

All of the children looked up to their father, expecting a smile. However, their father wore a frown and a glassy look in eyes. Like as if he was looking for something far away, rather than his own kids.

“Papa?” Ralnor asked, tapping on the man’s face.

Ganondorf lifted his head, now wearing a sad smile. He set Ralnor on one of his knees and patted the boy’s head. “I’m sorry my boy, but I know you didn’t see a Gerudo.”

“What?” Ralnor asked. “But I did! If you outside, you can find her. She’s wearing a grey dress and hat and…”

“I’m sure you thought you saw a Gerudo.” The king affirmed. “But I have been all over the continent and I have never met another Gerudo.”

“I’ll look for you papa!” Orana offered, sticking her hand in the air. She then stood up and started to look out her own window. Tebanam wobbled to his own feet and leaned in next to her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Zelda declared and snatched the two children in her arms and sitting down. “One child endangering themselves is enough for one trip.”

“Aw mama,” Orana grumbled, crossing her arms. Tebanam just turned around and hugged his mama back.

“But I did see her Papa. I really really did,” Ralnor implored.

"I'm sorry son," Ganondorf replied. "But it's just not possible.

For a few moments, a heavy silence hung in the carriage. Only the squeaking of the wheels was the only sound.

“How about, while we are out and about, we keep an eye open for her?”

The family gazed at the queen and her suggestion.

“Zelda…” the king started.

“We’ll go throughout our day, looking at all the stalls just like we planned. We’ll just look around to see if we can find the woman Ralnor saw. If we don’t find her, then nothing is lost. And if we do find her, we’ll invite her over for dinner or something. Besides, Daourfel isn’t for another two months so we might see her sometime if not today.”

“Okay!” the children chirped.

Zelda briefly stuck her head out of the window and requested, “Ralu. Stop the coach please.”

A wobble and a whoa later, the carriage completely stopped. The servant opened the door and the children spilled out, heading out to various stalls.

“Children, dears, please stay close to us!” Zelda yelled as she stepped out. However, something caught her shoulder. She turned to see her husband, a sad look in his eyes.

“Please,” he asked. “Don’t give them false hope.”

“You mean don't give you false hope," Zelda commented. “Don’t worry. He could have been wrong and we’ll have a fun day out, just like we planned. Just keep an open eye for a tall woman in blue to amuse the children all right?”

“All right,” the king agreed.

“Besides, you might be hoping he is wrong. Just so he doesn’t get to tell you, ‘I told you so,” Zelda let out a chuckle.

The king huffed, “Ralnor takes a lot after you dear, but I don’t think that much.”

At first, the children passionately looked for the Gerudo woman, but after seeing so many toys and clothes, the woman faded from their minds. They instead searched around for new things that they would use their cute smiles and wide eyes to convince their papa to buy them. The king indulged in quite a few whims, but he mainly satisfied his own desires by buying the finest fabrics he saw.

“Dear I wish you wouldn’t stress yourself about the children’s’ costumes. We do have a tailor who would be happy to work on a few.”

“They are my children, who deserve the best. What is better than their father’s handmade creations?”

“I’m sure the children won’t mind if you don’t make them all. Besides you ran yourself ragged making costumes last year, the year before that, and the year before…”

Ralnor tuned out the rest of his parent’s discussion, slowly turning into one of their little spats they had, in favor of scanning the different stalls. What caught his eye were several tall palm trees, their tops covered by a white cloth, with several lattice walls between them, covered in vines.

“Hey Mama, can I please look at that plant stall over there?” the prince asked.

“Yes dear,” Zelda called out before resuming her point with her husband that yes, he should delegate at least one outfit to the tailor.

Ralnor beamed and dashed over to the stall, taking it all in. It was the same size as the stores, but it felt bigger without traditional walls. The white cloth darkened the entire stall with the holes in the lattice letting light through. Four palm trees stood at each corner, connected by lattice walls, these covered in vines and flowers blooming from several plots at the bottom. The first half of the stall several large pots of various colored roses stood in five rows, spaces in between them for customers to walk in. The second half held five tables spaced out, covered in colorful pots with many plants. Many held flowers, some herbs, and Ralnor even spotted a few tiny cacti sprouting. At the very end back of the stall, sat an elderly woman, with giant glasses, head tilted, eyes closed, and a bit of drool coming out her mouth.

The prince paid the little old lady no mind and entered the stall, strolling amongst the newfound garden. He headed down to the rightmost row, gazing at all the vines. Some grew on the castle walls, but none of them had flowers. Some were small clusters of tiny flowers, some blue flowers that drooped open, and quite a few orange ones shaped like trumpets. He gazed at them, smiling and slowly strolling. Then he collided into something, causing him to stumble and fall on his butt.

“Ouch," he squeaked out.

“Ow!” Another voice called out.

As the prince rubbed his aching head, he gazed upon the other person he blinked and looked across the way. His mouth opened up a bit at the sight.

Before him stood a young girl in an outfit much like the Gerudo woman he saw earlier, but in a green vest and skirt with embroidery in the shape of blades of grass. She wore a round green hat that covered up much of her head, with a veil covering her neck. Green pants with vines peaked out of her skirt and embroidered boots covered her feet. However, there was nothing to cover up her brown skin and the opened yellow eye open as she rubbed her head.

“Whoops! Sorry about that! I guess I didn’t see where I was going!” the young girl stated as she stood up and dusted herself off. She stepped over to the boy and offered him her hand. “Here let me help you up.”

Ralnor glanced between the hand and the girl’s face for a bit before taking it. She quickly pulled him up on his feet. “Nice to meet you.” The girl stated shaking their still holding hands.

He remained silent. His mind, however, raced out in a million directions, “Oh Nayru, Farore, Din it’s a real Gerudo girl! She’s my age! Maybe we can be friends? I bumped into her! Does she not like me now? Would she ever like me? Where did she come from? What do I say to her? How long have I been standing here? I don’t know what to do!!! AHHHHH!”

"Um…anyone home?" With her free hand, she made a fist and she pretended to knock against his head. "I wonder if I hit you harder than I thought…” and then she sighed. “Ah yes. Town folk manners, stranger danger. Well, my name is Cass, I am eight years old and I have two dogs and you?"

This snapped the boy out his mind and he started shaking her hand fiercely, “I’m Ralnor. I’m seven. I don’t have any pets. Sorry about bumping into you.”

“No, it’s alright I hit you too.” The girl stated. “So, what’s a townie kid doing here without your parents? I thought you folk never left your mama’s skirts.”

“My mama said it was alright if I looked at the plants by myself…” then a thought occurred to the boy. “If I really did see a Gerudo woman before and now I found a Gerudo girl so maybe…” He decided to ask, “Where’s your mama? Is she walking around looking at the stalls too?”

“Nope. My mommy and me are merchants. We have our own stall lots of things to sell.”

“So, you two are here for Daourfel?”

"Duro-feel?" the girl attempted.

“It’s a Gerudo holiday, where everyone gets dressed up in costumes and goes around to different stalls to win candy and toys and lots of other fun things!” the boy explained. “You’ve never heard of it?”

“Nah, my mommy and me don’t celebrate too many holidays ourselves, we just join in wherever we go.” Cass shrugged.

“Okay…” Ralnor stated. He wanted to know so much about the girl before him, but his words all stopped in his mouth, not sure how to get them out. He instead held his hands behind his back and started to shift his shoe into the ground.

“Do you have a question for me?”

The prince stiffened up, “What makes you say that?”

“I’m a merchant," Cass stated, puffing up her chest and placing a fist over her heart. “I know how to read people’s faces. And you got these really big eyes saying to me that you want to ask me something.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Nah, I get a lot of questions. You can ask.”

“Thanks, okay,” Ralnor took a deep breath. He knew the answer but he just wanted to be sure, “Are you a Gerudo?”

Cass stiffened up, almost frozen. She started to glance around the stall. Then she dashed off.

“Wait!” the boy called out and charged after her.

Cass raced down the alleyways and spotted Ralnor following her. She then turned and continued down another path. Ralnor quickly followed. This continued on for several minutes. For a moment, Ralnor thought she had left the stall, but still heard footsteps. He decided to crouch down, underneath one of the tables and wait. After a few moments, Cass zipped by and Ralnor caught her by the leg, causing her to trip.

Cass turned to the boy, arms up, tears dewing up her eyes. “Please just let me go! I promise I won’t steal or hurt anyone!”

Ralnor asked, “What makes you think, I think you’ll do that?”

The girl sighed, “Because I am a Gerudo. And when people think of Gerudos they think of liars, thieves, and murderers."

“That’s not true,” the boy protested and then thought a moment. “While not so true. I mean we did do that stuff, but that was a long time ago.”

“But that’s what all the stories say about us. Wait…we?”

“Yeah. You see I’m a Gerudo too!”

The merchant girl put her hands on her hips. “No fooling?”

The prince started to rub the back of his head, "Well I know that I don't look like a traditional Gerudo, but I swear I am. And I know people say mean things about us. People are always mean to my siblings and me, calling us all lots of mean names. But I know they are wrong. My papa and mama said so. Please believe me.” He stretched out his hand, “If anything, I want to be your friend.”

Cass blinked, slowly rising up. She dusted her skirt off and crouched down. She stared at him right in the eyes for a few moments and then smiled. "Okay, I believe you."

“Really?!?” Ralnor exclaimed.

“Well I mean Zorans come in all kinds of colors and even Hylians can have brown skin. So, who’s to say Gerudos can’t be the same? Besides, if you were pretending you would have made yourself look like the rest of the Gerudos. And I’m always up to for making friends, especially in places where I probably can’t find any.” She took his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you, new friend.”

The prince beamed. “Nice to meet you too!” Once he stood on his feet, he asked, “You know, once the market place closes, would you and your mama like to come over to my place for dinner? My papa would love to have you over.”

“That sounds great! I bet your mama and mine will have lots to talk about!”

“Okay, let me just tell my parents first.” The boy dashed out of the manmade garden. “Papa! Mama! Look who I found!” he declared.

However, his family wasn’t there. Ralnor scanned all around the street, but he still didn’t see them. No brothers and sisters weaving into the alleyways. No papa standing about the crowd. No mama calling out and trying to get everyone to stay together. All around him were a group of strangers, paying him no mind and continuing on with their lives. The boy stared at the ground, tears dewing up in his eyes.

“Hey Ralnor, did you find your folks?” Cass called out. She walked into the street, stopping right next to the boy. She leaned down so she can look him in the eye. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“My family isn’t here. Mama said it was alright, but maybe she didn’t really hear me at all…” the boy sniffled, a few tears pooling at his eyes and sliding down to his cheeks. “They left me behind and now I’m alone.”

“Hey!” Cass declared, “What happened to me?”

“What?” the boy asked.

“I am here. And I am your friend. And friends are supposed to help other friends. I’ll help you find your Mommy and Daddy.” She tugged on her sleeve so that it covered one of her hands. Then she used that sleeve to wipe the boy’s tears away. “Okay?”

“Okay,” the boy agreed, sniffling and trying to suck back in his snot.

“Need a sleeve? I don’t mind,” she offered her sleeve.

“No, I’m good,” the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a light blue handkerchief. He quickly rubbed his face and blew into it. Then slipped it back inside his pocket.

“So, let’s think? Any idea where your family was going?”

“We were just looking around, not really heading anywhere.”

"Okay then…" the girl pondered and then snapped her fingers. "I've got an idea! How about you come and stay at our stall for a little while? Mommy and me got a great place, with lots of food stalls and people walking by. I’m sure that your family will walk by there soon.”

“I think my family brought our lunch.”

“And would that really stop you from begging your parents for snacks?” the girl asked.

"No, but that was Mama's plan. Not ours.” The boy shrugged.

The girl chuckled, "So what do you think? Wanna come over to my place?"

“Sounds good. Lead the way,” Ralnor stated.

Cass grinned and took his hand and started to drag him behind her. Just as they ran off, the elderly lady in the stall smiled at them. “What a nice couple,” she murmured before nodding back to sleep.

The two children weaved through the crowd, Cass leading with ease, Ralnor clinging to her hand to keep up. After several minutes, the two stopped at the side of a large building, with stalls on either side of the first story. When Cass let go of his hand, the first thing Ralnor did was lean over, placing his hands on his knees, and panted-trying to catch his breath. “Your stall is in this building?” He asked between gasps.

“Yep!” She declared.

The boy straightened up, recovered a bit. He leaned around, looking all over the wall they stopped at. “But how do we get in? I’ve never seen a door to one of these places before.”

"That's because you don't know where to look," Cass replied. She walked over to the middle of the wall and gave it a few knocks. There was a creak and that part of the wall opened up, revealing a doorway.

“Woah…” the boy awed.

"They make buildings like this for us merchants so that way thieves can't break in so easily," Cass replied. "After you."

The boy walked into the building. On either side of him, there was a line of doors. Each had a number painted in black paint and a small window at the top. Some of them were shut, other open allowing all kinds of fragrances in. “So, all of these are traveling merchant shops?”

“Well some of them. There are a few chefs who travel around in the caravans and they use stops like this to get more business.”

“A caravan is a group of merchants traveling together right? Do you and your mama live in one?”

“That’s right and yeah. My mommy and me live with a few other ones. They got a different building than us so I’ll have to introduce you to them later.” The girl replied as she walked down the hall. She stopped at a door and knocked on it. Several barks and several shushes followed. Then the door’s little window was filled with a brown face with two yellow eyes looking down on the children. “Who’s there?”

“It’s-a-me!” Cass called out.

“I only know one me and that’s me.” The person replied, a twinkle in their eyes.

"Mommy, it's me, Cass. And a brought someone with me." The girl replied with a giggle.

The door opened and two balls of fur poured out and tackled Cass to the ground, knocking off her hat. Once they settled, Ralnor made them out to be two dogs-one white with almost green spots with large floppy ears that eagerly licked Cass’s face. The other was a slim black down with small pointed ears licking Cass’s round ones. Then Ralnor turned to see the woman in the doorway, his jaw dropping.

It was the same Gerudo Ralnor saw earlier-he was sure of it. Being closer, he could now see how tall she was, probably up to Papa or Klinge’s neck. She also had muscles, bumping through her sleeves. She just filled in the doorway and had to crouch down to get out. "All right you two mutts. Leave her alone now, she feels your love." She stated as she pushed the dogs away with her two hands. Cass rose up, quickly wiping her face with her sleeve. She then ran up and hugged the woman’s leg. The woman crouched down and wrapped her arms around the girl. “Hey there, little monkey. Did you have a good time exploring the market?”

“Yeah, I saw lots of cool things. And I met someone really cool!” She walked over next to Ralnor, stretch her arms out, and waved her fingers. “Ta-dah! Introducing Ralnor, my new friend.”

The group’s attention now turned on Ralnor, making him blush. He wrestled around with his shirt hem as he squeaked out a “Hi.”

The woman grinned, offering one of her large hands to the boy. “Nice to meet you Ralnor. I’m Cass’s mom. But you can call me by my real name Ukuri.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ukuri ma’am.” The boy stated, placing his palm in the middle of hers. She grasped around it and shook their hands.

“Well looks Cass is rubbing elbows with some fancy folk. And some really cute ones too.”

The boy blushed a bright pink turning away from the group, he stammered, "Thank you, ma'am."

“What’s wrong hun?”

“Well…no one outside my family has ever called me cute before.”

“Then you must be surrounded by a bunch of blind folks not to notice. Speaking of which where is your family? Don’t tell me Cass kidnapped you.”

“Hey!”

“No, I went to look at a stall and when I came out my family was gone. Cass was there and she offered to let me stay with you until I could find them. Is it okay?” He gazed up at her wide-eyed.

“Please Mommy, Ralnor’s my friend," Cass added her own big puppy dog eyes and even added a little pout.

The woman rolled her eyes, “Enough with the cuteness. I was going to say yes anyway. Any friend of Cass’s is a friend of mine.”

The prince sighed, “Thank you.”

Cass beamed, “That’s right! Ralnor is a really special friend to me." She looked at her friend, head tilting and bobbing towards her “Now you tell her.”

Ralnor asked, “What?”

“You know the thing you told me. About you and your family.” Cass stated. “It’s your thing so you gotta tell it.”

The boy blinked and then he let out an, “Oh!” He turned to Ukuri and started, “Well actually Mrs. Ukuri, I am a Gerudo. Just like you and Cass are. Well quite not like you. But I swear I am.”

“Well well, today’s just full of surprises.” The woman touched the child’s golden locks, gently rubbing. “Well, well I guess a couple of hundred years of having kids with Hylians, I guess it’s bound to show up sometime. I bet you’ve got some magic from the blonde side of the family too.”

“You can do magic?” Cass beamed, she clutched his hands. “What can you do? Can you make fires? Storms? Make people disappear? Can you show me? Please?”

Ralnor fumbled a bit, "Well I can do a bit of fire magic, but my mama said I'm not supposed to use it inside."

“A wise woman,” Ukuri commented. “How we head inside the store? We’ve got a family to find.”

“Thank you, ma'am," the boy agreed stepped into the doorway. The dogs followed him and then lied down near the wall, watching the door. While he followed Ukuri and Cass, he glanced at all the items around him.

All around him were highly colored fabric hanging on the walls. Everything, from animals to gods were depicted in the colored threads. Some were held on large giant squares that might even take up a wall in the castle others were pieces of clothing like Ukuri’s and Cass's. Lots of boots stood straight up on shelves, walking to just walk up. On the other shelves, several swathes of cloths, like the ones in the tailor’s office, piled up in a way the boy could tell the different colors and styles with just a glance. Lots of boxes piled up, some having words like earrings, necklaces, and other accessories. Several pots littered near the front of the stall, where a curtain hung wide enough to hide all the wears from the public eye.

“What’s in these pots ma’am?” the boy asked.

“Some preserved food and spices.” The mother replied. “We keep them in pots to make sure they stay clean and fresh.”

The girl picked up one of the pots, plucked its lid off, and pointed it towards the boy’s face. “This one is full of pepper. See?”

The boy peeked into the pot, seeing it full of little black grains. However, some of the powder got into his nose, tickling his senses. “Ah Ah…” he started and then buried his nose into his elbow. “Choo!” he finished. “I can see it and smell it.” He said with a sniff.

The two Gerudo women laughed as Cass put the lid back on.

The group continued until they reached the very front, a large rectangular window, a couple of boxes stacked up with some cushions on top. The two women sat down. Cass scooched over and patted on the free area and the boy sat down next to her. He looked out and he saw all the people he had seen earlier, but it somehow different looking at them before they walked away from view.

“Any sight of your folks’ kid?”

"No, ma'am."

“It’s alright. It’s early still. I’m sure they’ll turn up eventually. And they’ll probably be easy to spot.”

“That’s true.” The boy smiled and then looked out of the window. He let out a sigh. That’s when he spotted a knight in armor and beamed. He pointed out to the man, “Look a knight! Maybe he can help me! Hey Lord knight!”

The two other Gerudo blanched. Cass grabbed him by the shoulders, “What are you doing?”

“Asking for help?” the boy innocently replied.

“He’s heading over!” Ukuri declared. “Cass take Ralnor in the back. Ralnor please stay there until the knight goes away please.”

“Wha-“but the boy couldn’t finish the word before being shoved into the back, past the curtain.

“Please Ralnor. Stay quiet for us please,” the girl pleaded.

The boy nodded, “Okay.”

The girl smiled and gave a boy a one-armed hug, wrapping him around the shoulders, before dashing back.

Ralnor heard the clang of metal armor as the knight walk up to the booth. A rather heavy voice asked, “I believe I heard someone call out to me.” That’s when he saw a stack of items, just ending where the gap between the curtain rod and ceiling. He quickly climbed up the boxes until he could peak over the rod. He could see the man's face, mainly covered in a bushy mustache. He couldn't see Cass's face, but at the angle, he could see part of Ukuri's.

“I’m sorry good sir. I know you have some important business, protecting the people and all that. It’s just that my daughter loves knights.” The woman patted her child on the head.

“Mommy look!” Cass pointed. “It’s a real knight! Like in the stories! Can I touch your armor Mr. knight please please?”

The man smiled, “I see no harm in that.” He set out his arm, laying it across the counter.

The girl squealed and started to pat the metal. “This is so cool!”

Ukuri sighed, “Sorry about her enthusiasm. She really likes men in shining armor. Takes after my side of the family.” And gave the soldier a wink and a smile.

Now Ralnor had seen this behavior before. Mainly from the ambassador men who came over every now and then. Mama just ignored them and Papa glared at him, causing them to shake. Occasionally he saw Vridi wink at his mama, but he always got a heel to the foot. She always claimed it was an accident, but Ralnor and his siblings he knew better.

So Ralnor was surprised when the man’s face lit up, turning bright red. He let out a slight chuckle, “Well, I guess there is something dashing about it. But I’m just a humble soldier, trying to protect the people.”

“And we should let you go back to do that. Come on Cass, let the man go.”

"Aw!" the girl sighed, taking her hand back. "Goodbye, Mr. Knight!"

"Goodbye to you sir." The merchant woman nodded her head.

“Good day to you ladies.” And the knight walked away.

The two women sighed.

“All right, Ralnor,” Ukuri declared. “It’s safe to come out.”

Ralnor climbed down the boxes and came out of the curtain. "Why did you make me hide like that?"

The two Gerudos looked at each other, long and sadly. Ukuri knelt down and taking his hands. "Sorry, hun. It is a bit selfish of us but we didn't want to get in trouble with the knight."

“Why? You two aren’t doing anything wrong.” Ralnor said.

Ukuri sighed, “You know that. We know that. But if we say we found you, there’s nothing stopping the knight thinking we kidnaped you and get us in trouble.”

“But that’s wrong!” the prince declared.

“Knights don’t care about what’s right and wrong for us Gerudos," Cass added, crossing her arms. “They hate us and think we are nothing but a bunch of criminals. They throw us in jail for anything they can think of, just because we are here.”

“I thought you liked knights?” the boy asked.

“No! I hate them! They are all bunch of meanies!” Cass stated, stomping her foot.

The prince thought for a moment and declared, “But my papa wouldn’t let that happen. Even if a knight tried to arrest you here, he’d help you. And my mama says knights help people.”

Ukuri placed a hand on his cheek sadly smiling. “Ralnor there isn’t a man, king, or god that can help us Gerudo. Not anymore. And while knights are supposed to help people, they also get to decide who are people too. But if you really wanted to see your mama and papa again, we can take you to a knight.”

Ralnor stared up at the two, Cass now clinging onto her mother. Although she still glared, he could just see her shake. And Ukuri suddenly looking a lot older than he thought, wearing a worried frown with a tight grip on his shoulder.

“No.”

The woman and girl stared at the boy, blinking in amazement.

"While I would like to see Mama and Papa again, I don't want to get you two in trouble," Ralnor admitted. “I know that people will say Gerudo do bad things. A lot of kids pick fights with me and my siblings, and then if we try to fight back, they go crying to their parents about how we were mean. And then their parents yell at us and our parents about how we are like barbarians. Mama and Papa always believe us first though. And I believe you too. So, no knights, not unless I know they will believe you. I know a couple of really good knights and I’ll keep my eyes open for them, but only them.”

Ukuri smiled, “Thanks a lot kid." She rubbed his hair and hugged him. "Sorry, we are making it tricky to find your folks."

Ralnor eagerly returned the embrace. “It’s okay. Anything for a friend.”

Cass clamped down on the boy too, “Thank you Ralnor! I’ll make sure we find your mommy and daddy in no time! And then she brightened, “I’ve got an idea!” she then jumped out off the box and dashed away. She opened and slammed the door behind her.

“What’s she doing?” he asked.

Ukuri replied with a shrug, “Kid, I’ve known her before she was born and I still don’t know what goes through her head sometimes.”

The door opened quickly, Cass yelled, “I heard that!” and she slammed it again.

The two other Gerudo looked at each other and then started to laugh hard, clutching their stomach.

A few minutes later, Cass burst through the door, she held a hat very similar to her own. She dashed through the room, jumped back on the boxes, and plopped the hat down on Ralnor’s head at a rather tilted angle, covering one of his eyes. “Ta-dah your very own hat! Now you match us!”

The boy adjusted it so he could see. “Thank you, but what’s it for?”

“So that way you can help us sell things and find your parents faster! Two birds with one stone!”

“What?” the boy asked.

“Again kid, I have no idea what goes on in her head.”

The girl groaned, “It’s simple. Ralnor can start hawking out to the customers, drawing them in. And what Mommy and Daddy don't know the sound of their kid yelling? They’ll come running when they hear your voice.”

“By goddesses, that’s brilliant!” The woman patted the girl on the shoulder. “You know, you get this from my side of the family.”

“Good thing, or else I’d get Daddy’s good looks and his brains, not the best combo.” She smirked up at her mother.

“Oh you,” the woman picked up the child and squeezed her tightly.

“So, I just have to yell out to the crowd out there?” Ralnor stared out to waves of people. Even though he knew they weren’t, he swore he saw them all staring at him. Giving reports to his teachers, siblings, and parents watching him was one thing. Yelling out loud to a bunch of strangers was another. His throat ran dry as he started to sweat. “I’m not sure I can do it.”

The girl gave him a pat on the back, “No worries. Just watch a pro in action,” she patted herself on the chest. She then spread her hips out wide and took a deep breath, hollering, “Hello people of Hyrule! We’ve got goods from all over the world! You want leather! we’ve got leather! You want silk? We’ve got silks! You want spices? We’ve got that and more!. You don’t want to miss out on these amazing goods. Once they are gone, they will be gone! Hurry up and come on down!” The girl then turned her head, holding her hand out. “See really easy!”

The boy gulped and trembled, still staring out of the crowd. He jumped a bit when Ukuri placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, she was born yelling. Trust me I know. Just start with something simple like pretty jewelry for sale.”

“Okay…” the boy sighed. He took a deep breath and yelled “Pretty jewelry for sale!”

This caught the attention of three maidens, a blonde, brunette, and a redhead, who walked by, and they headed over to the stall.

“Hello there, lovely ladies! What can I interest you in today?” Ukuri asked.

"Well, I just heard you had jewelry. Would you happen to have anything for my hair?" the blonde asked.

“I’ve got plenty of those! Just give me a moment!” The merchant requested and left to the back end of the store. She came back with three boxes. She slowly opened them all, revealing various combs, pins, clips, and other various items. Some came in the shape of animals, their eyes or spots shining jewels. Others looked like flowers dipped in gold or silver. Others came in twisted shapes that Ralnor didn’t know how they would be worn, but he still thought they were pretty. “Wow…” Ralnor stared, eyes shining. “I don’t think my Mama has nice jewelry like this.”

“Say Ralnor, how about you pick out something for the lady?” Ukrui asked.

“Me?” the boy jumped and glanced around the boxes. “Um…” he gazed up at the woman. “What would you like? Do you have a costume ready?”

“No. I can’t figure out what I want to wear. I am thinking about something blue though.” She replied.

“Okay,” the boy scanned the boxes, looking over every item. Then he saw what looked like a golden bracelet, the outside covered in pearl-like gems, the clasps two blue clam shells. He picked it up and offered this to the woman. "What do you think? Maybe you could be a mermaid this year?"

“A mermaid! That’s perfect!” the woman clapped her hands. She then took the hairpiece and let down her hair and set it into a high ponytail, the clasp now holding it in place.

“How about you take a look at yourself?” Ukuri offered the customer a mirror.

The woman took a look in the mirror and beamed. “It’s perfect! I’ll take it. Thank you so much, kid."

Ralnor blushed a bit, “Thank you. I just thought I’d pick something that would help make a good costume.”

Cass smiled, hugging her friend. "Way to go! Your first sale! You were amazing! I couldn't have done it any better."

"You've got a knack for this kid," Ukuri commented patting the boy on the shoulder. She offered her hand to the blonde, "I can take that hairpiece and wrap it up for you. Just to keep it safe."

“Thank you, do you have any blue fabric I could use?

“Do you happen to have any silk gloves?” the redhead asked.

“I would love to see your fans!” the brunette inquired.

“Alright. Ralnor, would you mind helping Cass bring out some items?”

Ralnor smiled, “No problem, ma’am.” Ralnor agreed and he headed into the back with Cass, still smiling.

Kanisa sat on the bench, contemplating the issue at hand. She looked over to her mother, trying to round Orana and Tebanam together. She took in a deep breath and called out, “Mama?”

“Orana please don’t mess with the bird cages. You might break them and release the birds,” Zelda commented.

“Mama?” Kanisa tried again.

“Tebanam don’t climb on that table!” Zelda yelled.

The youngest princess sighed as her mother dashed over to her baby brother, making sure he didn’t climb up one of the legs. She then spotted her father and eldest brother looking at some wooden swords and walked over to them.

“What do you think son?” Ganondorf asked.

Covarog paused in swinging the toy, “It feels like the ones at the castle, although the handle feels a bit softer.”

Ganondorf smiled about to turn to a merchant, standing a bit away and shaking just a bit, when a tugging at his leg caused him to look at his daughter Kanisa.

“What is it dear? You find a pretty cloth for your costume or a new book of fairytales?” He asked.

“No, I was wondering why we haven’t gone back for Ralnor yet? It’s been a while,” Kanisa replied.

The king blinked for a moment and then asked, “What?”

“Mama let Ralnor go off to a stall and then we just left him there," Covarog commented, giving his sword a few times. "Remember Papa?"

He then stood up and turned to his wife, holding a pouting Orana’s hand and trying to balance Tebanam on her hip. He took the toddler into his arms before asking, “Zelda have you seen Ralnor lately?”

“Of course, I have.” She stated. “He’s right…” she twisted her head around for a few moments, looking every which way to find her son and then she stopped. “He’s not here.”

“That is obvious.” The king huffed.

“What happened to him?” Zelda now started to scan all over the market for her boy.

“Well the kids say you let him go to a plant stall somewhere,” he replied. He then turned to his children, “Does anyone know where the stall is?”

The older three of the children shook their heads, but Tebanam stuck up his hand declaring, “I know!”

“Oh good, where is your brother darling?” the queen asked.

The boy pointed to his left hand and announced, “That way!” with a wide smile on his face.

Zelda’s face fell a little. She sighed, “All right, anything else?”

“I don’t know.” The youngest stated with a shrug.

Zelda felt a warmth on her shoulder. She looked up to see her husband smiling at her.

“Don’t fret,” Ganondorf said. “This is my fault as well. I should have been paying attention to him too. We’ll find him soon.”

"Thank you, dear, I do hope so." The queen touching the hand on his shoulder. She turned to her other children. “Alright kids, we need to go find your brother.”

Orana asked, “Is he alright?”

"He will be when we find him," Zelda commented.

The royal family set off in the direction of the youngest finger, hoping to find Ralnor soon.

Link to the previous chapter: Prologue A Prince’s Day, A Merchant’s Night

Link to the next chapter: Chapter 2 Evening Encounters

#my writing #fanfiction #somedaysomeplace #ralnor #cass #ukuri #zelda #ganondorf #covarog #orana #kanisa #tebanam #tw police brutality #tw police brutality referenced #if you like this please leave a comment #questions are also great #childhood romance au #zelgan children au au #casnor

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placetobenation · 6 years

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Welcome to Seinfeld: The PTBN Series Rewatch! On a regular basis, JT Rozzero, Aaron George and Andrew Flanagan will watch an episode of TV’s greatest sitcom and provide notes and grades across a number of categories. The goal is to rewatch the entire series chronologically to see what truly worked, what still holds up today, what feels just a bit dated and yada, yada, yada it will be a great time. So settle into your couch with the cushions flipped over, grab a Snapple and enjoy the ride!

Best Character

JT: I liked Kramer the most here. He had some real funny lines and physical comedy throughout this one. His buried conversation enders are so good, especially slipping in that Newman was sleeping in Jerry’s bed. I also loved the delivery of his “for a fat man” line to Jerry. He was on his game in this one.

Aaron: You’d think a pile of lesbians were fighting/lovemaking on stage if you were reading my mind, sifting through the depravity and listening to the “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” chant. In an episode full of characters trying waaaaaay too hard, Jerry delivers with one liner after one liner. Imagine an episode where Jerry Seinfeld is the most grounded of the actors. This is it. Wait till you see the score.

Andrew: I think it was Elaine. The obsession with proving someone wrong, even at great cost to yourself, always gets me. Also, I’m a sucker for Elaine annoying people with a cigar.

Best Storyline

JT: I liked the blood the most. Jerry was annoying at points by being such an ungrateful bitch but he had some good dismissive lines and watching battle the Mandelbaums again was well done. And like I said above, I really enjoyed Kramer and this was the story he lived in for most of the episode. The meat sex stuff had funny moments but not much of a story to it and the Elaine stuff was fine too but didn’t have as many laughs.

Aaron: Polish, sausage, dancing.

Andrew: I’ll go with The Blood. I wasn’t a fan of any of the storylines, really, but the return of the Mandelbaums was my favorite part of the episode.

Ethical Dilemma of the Week

JT: If someone saves your life, you should probably not be a dick to them as soon as later that day.

Aaron: I’m going to go the opposite of JT and ask: even if you’ve saved someone’s life (which us debatable considering they were in a hospital full of blood) how do you live with yourself bringing a sworn enemy literally into someone’s bed? I get that these guys share a lot, but do they not even have a bed for that beast of a mailman to sleep in? If anything Kramer STILL owes Jerry favors for years of mooching and advantage taking. Has he ever borrowed that car without completely destroying it?

Andrew: What is the limit of the obligation when graciously accepting a gift from one’s parents? I’m going to say it’s somewhere short of “tying myself to a car”.

Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)

JT: Kramer and Jerry, finally brought together by blood. A love made official. Relationship Grade: 3 Pints of Kramer/10

Aaron: George should keep banging that Vivian like a middle aged Neil Peart stuffing his face and trudging his way through YYZ. Relationship Grade: Boun ba ba boun ba baoun baoun baoun, ba ba baoun, ba ba baoun. Baoun badrrruuum. Down da down da down daaaaun. Dawn da down de daoun daounnnnnnn.

Andrew: I know the kid is presented as a burden, but I’m into the George and Vivian pairing. I just like the thought that there is a match for every kink out there. Relationship Grade: 10 sensual cured meats/10

What Worked:

JT: The plum diet seems like a good one; I always mark out for Morty saying “Mister Kramer”; Jerry’s point about responsibility is good one; George’s bus transfer excuse made me laugh; Jerry and George’s conversation about George bailing on Tara was really funny; Kramer going all in on calling Jerry fat in various ways was great; I enjoyed Elaine shoving Kramer into the bushes and smacking him with the broom as he yelped; I liked the payoff with the exacto knife, it was set up well earlier in the episode; Kramer demonstrating how he would rip out his kidney was great; Canadian Parliament; Newman sneaking in to watch the movie; Izzy putting the hurting on Jerry with his training was well done; the sausage making scene is a classic; Jerry calling George “Caligula”; Newman giving Jerry his blood was a good capper

Aaron: All of Jerry’s analysis and pleading with George to, for once think of someone’s else’s needs. The group screaming and Kramer’s messed up justification for needing to store so much blood in a blood bank. As someone who has watched Canadian parliament it busted me up to learn that Kramer not only watches, but records for later viewing. It’s not nearly as polite as one would imagine. Think more childish, with a lot of high pitched voices screeching “MISTER SPEAKER.” George’s series of lies, which inexplicably won over Vivian, were great and the only thing that felt anywhere in the realm of reality.

Andrew: There’s not much to praise here, story-wise, but the episode still has some memorably great dialog. Kramer’s “for a fat man, you’re not very jolly” is excellent, and George and Jerry have some great back and forth in the diner (“I’m not suggesting getting rid of the girl”, followed by the “needs” line, is the high point for me). Elaine being compelled to prove her responsibility, and getting stuck with a permanent babysitting gig as a result, was well done. I enjoyed seeing the Mandlebaums again, and Kramer’s screen door callback got me.

What Didn’t Work

JT: Tara saying “love making”, eh; Jerry being so insanely afraid of Kramer’s blood was a bit much, just way too over the top; someone should pull a President Lincoln on that kid; I also thought Jerry was really ungrateful for Kramer’s blood, dude saved your life… stop being a bitch; who fucks a random at their kids’ birthday party?; The Izzy voiceovers at the end were terrible; why is Jimmy wearing that hat? Is it 1954?

Aaron: Is Jerry dead? They dragged him for a quarter mile which was way longer than it took to kill that dog in National Lampoon’s Vacation. This whole episode felt fake. If the paragraph above is what I felt worked then you can comfortably put the rest here. I know George has pulled some schemes but are we really to believe that a man whose entire mission in life has been to get laid, is now trading that for food and television? What kind of animal is this man? What’s wrong with Jerry? I get he’s a germaphobe, but he can’t be in a building with blood. A building???? Elaine would rather raise a child than tell a woman she barely seems to know or care about that she hates her son. Her son might be the most hateable character in western civilization. Even Kramer felt forced. I get he’s dumb, but blood in a car? Come on writers. Do better. I don’t want to go on any more. This was a mess. Also Mandelbaum sucked the high hard one.

Andrew: Vivian is wearing a gray pantsuit the first two times we see her, which seems pretty unimaginative. The dubbing of Mr. Mandlebaum’s dialogue at the end has always seemed really distracting to me.

Key Character Debuts

– Vivian

Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes

– “That’s why we joined a program. We walk once around the block three times a week.” – Helen “And every morning I eat a plum.” – Morty

– “Did you give blood?” – Jerry “No, not giving. hoarding. I’m storing it in to a blood bank. Just in case.” – Kramer “In case of what?” – Jerry “Jerry, I know myself. If I’m out on the street and it’s starts to go down, I don’t back off until it’s finished.” – Kramer

– “I know, I’m glad I got to see him before he hit puberty and got, you know all lurchy and awkward.” – Elaine

– “Who wants to responsible? When ever anything goes wrong, the first thing they ask is: who’s responsible for this?” – Jerry

– “So, she didn’t appreciate the erotic qualities of the salted cured meats?” – Jerry “She tolerated the strawberries and the chocolate sauce, but eh, it’s not a meal, you know? Food and sex, those are my two passions. It’s only natural to combine them.” – George

– “Maybe instead of trying to satisfy two of your needs, how about satisfying one of somebody else’s.” – Jerry

– “You know, for a fat guy you’re not very jolly.” – Kramer

– “You? I’m more responsible than you are!” – Elaine “Don’t be ridiculous. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to fill my freezer with my own blood.” – Kramer

– “Oh yeah, you’ve got three pints of Kramer in you, buddy.” – Kramer

– “She’s right, I heard Kramer got mugged out on the suburbs on a baby-sitting gig.” – Kramer

– “So, my blood is not enough. Would you like a kidney too, because I’ll give it to you? I’ll rip it out right here and stack it on the table!” – Kramer

– “So, the free love buffet is over?” – Jerry “I got greedy. Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami.” – Jerry “Yeah, that’s what you did…I can’t believe I got another session with Izzy Mandelbaum, he’s probably makes me box a kangaroo.” – Jerry

– “All right, Even Steven. Oh, by the way, when you get back to your apartment try to keep it down because Newman is taking a nap in your bed.” – Kramer

– “Yes it is. I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats. Hungry?” – Vivian

Oddities & Fun Facts

– Lloyd Bridges was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Izzy Mandelbaum

Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)

JT: This wasn’t the strongest episode we have watched and did fade at the end but there is some quality dialogue peppered all through this one. It is definitely an episode carried on the back of actors that know their characters and relationships on a top notch, deep level because it was often the timing and delivery that made the big lines pop. The Mandelbaum return was a nice surprise but that really just kind of ends too, as do all of the stories here. Nothing quite paid off in a satisfying way. Also, that stupid fucking hat that Vivian’s kid had on was obnoxious. Fuck him. I am off to box a kangaroo. Final Grade: 6/10

Aaron: This episode sucked. It felt like a different show devoid of the characters we know and love. The writing was forced and I feel worse for having watched this one. Final Grade: 1/10

Andrew: I didn’t really care for this one. None of the storylines do it for me, which makes it hard for me get into the episode. And there are no big moments to make up for the less-than-inspired writing. But there are some genuine laughs and quality dialogue to be found, so the episode isn’t a complete disaster. Final Grade: 6/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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myselfinserts · 3 years

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“This is a thing called a present.”

Eri arrived not too long after the metallic menace had been taken out. The first thing she did was check on everyone, starting with Renegade. While the robotic arm worked perfectly, she offered to reverse his injury if he wanted.

He had thanked her for the offer, politely declined, and asked to see Odette once classes had let out for the day. The teachers were all a whisper about it. The support student were curious, but none of them dared to try to find out what was going on. The rest of her friends asked to come along, but she’d asked to be left alone with the Technonaut for a bit.

And so, she met with Reginald Gladstone after class let out, and followed him to the little cabin out past the dorms. The two went inside, and Regi immediately made a b-line for the master bedroom as he put his hands into his pocket.

“Come on. We’re going to the lab. I need to show you something.”

Odette followed Regi to the door in the closet. She'd been there many times before. Every time he took her aside for tutoring in coding, they would go to his lab on the UA grounds. The students had taken to calling it "The Renegade Cabin", and none of the teachers seemed bothered to try and change it. Often she'd find herself there when in need of something a little closer to home. Mither had opted not to use it when she joined on staff, even after having kids, because of the lab. And before she'd started school, Odette had been shown changes to the living area. It felt less like Elspie, and a bit more like Paris. So sometimes, if she needed time away from the other students badly enough, she'd often find herself in the Renegade Cabin.

And now, she was back again, standing in front of the door in anticipation as Regi handed her a small, garnet crystal on a silver chain. Odette held it up to the light, turning it slowly in her hands as she looked through it. She could just make out small gold lines in between the shimmer.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked.

Regi smiled. "Go ahead and try it."

After a moment more of analyzing it, Odette took the crystal and inserted it into the hole beside the door, giving it a slight twist to the right. The panel light up with a soft blue, and her name appeared on the digital screen. The door to the lab opened with a soft hum as R.A.I.N.E.E.'s voice called out softly.

"Welcome Lady Odette."

"You are not serious right now." Odette stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on in his mind. "You're giving me access to your lab?"

"I talked it over with your parents and the school. It's your lab now."

She looked at the open door, shaking her head in disbelief. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. Slowly, she stepped inside, walking down the stairs to the bottom.

The lights came on as soon as they both entered. A little hologram of R.A.I.N.E.E. sat on the edge of one of the work benches, humming softly as they looked around the room. Odette noticed that it was cleaner than last time. Photos of the family were in protective frames on the walls near the entrance, with Amarylis’ signature black poncho hanging on a mannequin in the corner. It’d been painted a soft white, easy on the eyes and perfect for drawing on in an emergency. The coding-dance board was newer, with red detailing as opposed to the usual blues and greens. She could make out the doors to the training area, the changing room, the storage areas. There was a door marked ‘Emergency Exit 1′, which she knew lead to the teachers’ dorms. The second emergency exit door lead outside the grounds.

The lab had everything she’d need. Tools, testing grounds, supplies, what was essentially a super-computer compared to her old set up back in her room. It was so much. And he was just giving it to her?

“Uncle Regi, what is this?” she asked.

He smiled. “This is a thing called a present, Odette. A gift from me to you.”

“No, I get that. I know that. I don’t understand why. I’m still a student.” She crossed her arms. “I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t understand why you’re giving me this lab.”

Regi shrugged and walked over to the photos. His eyes wandered over all of them before settling on one. It was of him, and her papa, both sitting at a work bench. Working intensely on what appeared to be a variation of Salt Apple. Oddly, his hair appeared shorter in that photograph. Odette had seen it once or twice, but never got an answer when she’d asked about it.

“A long time ago, before you were born, your papa and I were working on a project together.” His metal fingers lightly touched the frame, both matching the gleam of the glass. “There was an accident, caused by a villain who’d snuck in. Étienne was physically unharmed, and I got the brunt of injuries from it. Though we didn’t both come out of it unscathed. Our friendship nearly died that day.” His shoulders seem to relax more, his voice soft and nostalgic. “At my lowest point after that incident, I has seriously considered quitting. But your papa dragged my ass out of the lab and we sat down and talked. Must have been hours. If he hadn’t rented out the restaurant for the night we’d have been kicked out from all the fighting.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Hard to imagine you and papa fighting. Debate, yes, but fight?”

“It was complicated,” Regi chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll tell you the full details of what happened someday. I’m only telling you the bare bones of it.” He turned back to look at her, and the man in front of her seemed completely different. Tired, but happy. As though he had no regrets. “That day, we talked everything out. And we made a promise. I’m not allowed to quit until he does, and he’ll try to be more...gentle, for lack of better words.” He glanced at his metal hand, lightly opening and closing his fist thoughtfully. “It’s why I turned Eri down on getting my arm back. This arm you and your papa made for me is a symbol of two important things I can’t let go of.”

“...And what are those two things are?” she asked slowly.

He smiled. “The first, the promise Étienne and I made that day. The promise I was afraid I’d have to break. And two-” Regi looked her in the eye, a proud gleam in his stare “-the hope of this world and the future of support design.”

Odette scoffed. “The what?”

“You’re planning on taking over from your papa someday, right?” He smirked. “Aiming to surpass him and become the best? As much as I believe in you, I know it’s going to take longer if you’re limited to only the school work spaces. A mind like yours needs a little more space.” Regi flicked open the wrist of the arm, automatically bringing up a holographic screen with lines of code. “This is the Labradorite Code I’d been working on the last two years, isn’t it? I’ve only shown you it once, and yet you managed to memorize and complete it with no issues. Neither I or your papa managed that.”

She shrugged. “It’s not that impressive.”

“On the contrary, it rather is.”

Regi walked over to another door near the far end of the lab. It was one she hadn’t seen before. Had it always been there? Regardless, Regi held up his own crystal, lightly tapping it against the keypad beside the door. Odette took the hint and used her own, sticking it in the hole and turning it. The door slid open slowly with a soft hiss, revealing a small library of various books and disks along the wall. Some were obvious; a stack of video games and cds, comics and films, shows she’d never even heard of. There were also a lot of novels and binders among the stacks as well.

“In here are copies of my old study papers,” Regi explained. “I’ll leave you to go through and see what they are, but they are yours to use as you see fit. The copies of the Coding Grimoires are in the safe behind the anime section, along with a few other things that might interest you.” He lightly pat her head before turning to leave. “Some areas of the lab aren’t accessible with your crystal until you reach those areas in your study, but everything else is fair game. Go on and have fun. Oh, and Odette?” He stopped for a second, looking back at her one last time with a loving smile. “Thank you for helping me keep my promise to your papa. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come. I look forward to seeing the next rising star shining in the sky.”

She smiled back at him, standing tall. “I’ll be sure to impress.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Odette woke up to the scent of a home cooked meal coming from the kitchen. Normally this wouldn’t surprise her. She was used to this coming from the kitchen back home. But this wasn’t home. This was The Renegade Cabin on campus. Quickly, Odette reached for her phone and was about to call, when she saw the texts.

> Hey mind if I come over tomorrow morning? I’ll make you breakfast.

> Sure. Just text me when you get here. You still have a key, right? So you can let yourself in.

> Okay, sounds good. See you in the morning then! Good night!

> Good night, Clement.

...

> Hey, I’m here. I’ll get started on breakfast. Hope you don’t mind omurice.

Ah, that’s right. Clement was coming over.

Quickly, she got up and dressed in a red flannel top and dark jeans. It was Saturday, so there were no classes to worry about. Just homework. But Odette had a lot more to do. She didn’t want to go back to the dorms, but she’d have to in order to retrieve all her things. She’d only packed enough for the night. There was a lot to move and very little time.

Once she was dressed, she hurried out and over to the kitchen, surprised to see the dining table already set for breakfast. Clement was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, his usual hat replaced by a small headscarf to tie his hair back. She tried not to laugh at it.

“You look like a rabbit with that on,” she said.

Clement glanced over his shoulder, smiling brightly. “Good morning.” He looked up towards the headscarf, chuckling fondly. “I guess it does. My hat needed a wash and I ran out of hair ties, so sis lent me one of these.” He turned his attention back to cooking, quickly preparing to flip the omelets. “Breakfast should be done soon.”

“Sounds good.” Odette went over to the fridge, smiling when she found it already stocked. She reached in and pulled out the orange juice. “Did Renegade tell you what happened yesterday?”

“The entire campus already knows. I’m really happy for you.” He carefully finished plating the food, turning off the stove and taking the omurices to the table. “Kumamaru and Fujisaki said the class should be finished moving dorms themselves by lunch, so if you want, the new Hero kids can give you a hand.”

“You not going to help?” she teased.

Clem smiled. “Nah. Wish I could, but I can’t do much heavy lifting right now. Anything more than my cat is too much. I have three weeks left of physical therapy and then I have to start hitting the gym to get my strength back.” He looked back at the stove briefly. “I can still cook though, so after breakfast I’m heading back to the dorm to make a big soup for the class to eat at lunch.”

“I see...”

Clem looked at her, smile melting to worry. “Odette? Are you okay?”

Odette felt a pit in her stomach. She’d felt something similar after seeing her brother’s injury. But this was different. There was a twist in it she didn’t recognize. It was brief, but she could see for a moment the dazed, injured lad from the sports festival again. The unconscious, broken rescued student in the hospital bed.

“Odette?”

“You are never to do anything like that again. Do you hear me, Clement Gladstone? I don’t ever want to see you broken like that again. So help me, I’ll....”

Clem’s eyes went wide in confusion before the realization set in. He went over to her, taking the juice from her hands gently and setting it down before wrapping his arms around her.

“I promise,” he said softly. “No more recklessness. No more danger. No more attempts at heroics. It’s over now. I won’t make you worry like that ever again.”

She buried her face in his shoulder. “Glad we’re on the same page. It’d be disappointing if you died. Especially after all the hard work I’ve been putting in to repair your father’s support item.”

“Thanks for that. I really appreciate it. I’ll try not to die before then.”

Odette glared at him. “Wrong. You’re not allowed to die until I say so.”

Clem smirked. “Is that a threat?”

Odette returned the smirk, lightly tilting his chin up and placing a quick peck on his cheek, right near the corner of his mouth. Clement’s eyes went wide in shock as a vivid blush coated his face.

“It’s a promise,” she stated bluntly. “You’re not allowed to be reckless and won’t die until I say so. Do that, and I’ll be as honest as I can with you. Within reason.”

Clem blinked a few times before managing to smile again. “O-okay. It’s a promise then.”

“Glad we’re in agreement. Now.” She pulled away and went back to getting a drink. “We should eat before breakfast gets too cold.” She took her seat and proceeded to dig in. She had a lot of work to do, and she wasn’t going to waste a second.

Clem took his seat and started cutting into his omurice. “Hey...do you...want me to come over and make dinner tonight?”

“I have a lot of work to do today.” She thought for a moment. “I suppose two hands would be better than one, if you’re offering. Can we have some kind of pasta?”

His violet eyes brightened. “Sure. How does lasagna sound?”

“Sounds perfect to me.”

She nodded, turning back to her breakfast without another word.

She had a lot to do today.

#myselfinserts #mybnhaocs #friends ocs #the au of class #days of future class #odette gets spoiled and she deserves it #Anonymous

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fanfic-inator795 · 7 years

Text

WoY Oneshot: The Cool Guy(s)

Plot: A lot has changed in the past several months, and it’s pretty obvious that his ex-rival isn’t quite as ‘lame’ as he once thought. In fact, he may just be cool enough for another night out. (Well, that and, Awesome just needed someone to hang out with.)

((Part of the Awesome Arc. Finally got around to getting back into this, thanks to some encouragement from @paperbooart. Check out her WoY art, it’s really great! ^v^ Anyway, enjoy!))

“Ugh, come on! I know I packed it when I moved in! It’s gotta be here somewhere!” There was plenty of stuff he did still have, despite Peepers’ insistence that he ‘not move his whole limo into their ship’. His spare make-up case, about a dozen pairs of shoes, old tickets to various events, a feather boa that he had decided to keep just in case they went back into style, CD cases, hats, tees, belts, even a few protein bars!

All of it got tossed over his shoulder and onto the bed as he continued digging through his suitcases, until - finally - he found what he was looking for. “THERE you are!” Grinning, he held up the pair of pink headphones victoriously. Of course he always had to bring a spare pair of headphones, since they usually had an annoying habit of breaking. And, with the Skullship having a ‘no loud music’ policy for everyone but Lord Hater, Awesome knew he couldn’t just hope that one pair would last the entire time he was there. He had to plan ahead.

“Can’t live without my tunes, after all.” Standing up, he carefully placed the back-up headphones on his dresser and tossing the old ones (ones that had just started only playing through one side. UGH, so annoying) into the trash. “Heh, that was a close one.” But now it was time to just lay down and chi-

He stopped, and looked down at his almost completely covered bed. “...Oh. Right. Ugh...” Not so awesome... But hey, he could fix this problem too. So, with little concern for organizing, he began tossing the various items back into his closet, not really caring where they landed just as long as they were off his bed. If he was back at his limo, he would have just simply told Handy to put it all away for him.

But he wasn’t at home... But, he could deal with that. As long as it was worth it in the end, he could deal with it.

“Tc’ch, besides,” he started to tell himself, “What’s it matter if my clothes and stuff are buried if I hardly wear them.” He was stuck on the Skullship most of the time. Stuck in a uniform. And, while there were certainly worse things, it was still aggravating at times. “But it’ll be worth it.” He just had to keep telling himself that. “Once I get stronger... I just have to get stronger. Be a better fighter. Be truly Awesome again! And then-”

He felt his hand touch something, and glanced down at it just before he could toss it away. “Then...” He blinked, staring at the object. It wasn’t anything too cool, really. Just a pair of dark red, shutter-shade sunglasses. Seriously, those weren’t even in style anymore! Which was probably why they had been buried at the bottom of his fashion collection.

...However, it wasn’t any of that stuff that caught Awesome’s attention. No... Instead, it was the memory that came with the sunglasses. “...Heh.” The shark-man began to smile, just a little. “Maybe I should just give these to Hatey, then... They did work pretty well on him.” Honestly, he had nearly forgotten about that night. The night that, for the most part, had actually been pretty enjoyable.

Rather than complain or try to control the night like Awesome would assume he would try to do, Hater had just followed his lead. Going to all the clubs and parties that Awesome had wanted to go to and happily joining in on all the cool activities without a single glare or groan. Honestly, it was the first time the Emperor of Awesomeness had ever seen his rival actually enjoy himself and not just be an angry, annoyed, sad sack of bones.

And really, it was nice. It had actually been fun! ...Well, up to the part where Awesome had started messing with Peepers and pretty much got electrocuted for it. Hard to forget that part.

Awesome sighed. And, after one last look, he put the sunglasses to the side and continued with his ‘cleaning’. “...That really does seem like forever ago...” So much had happened after that, and so much had changed since... Grop, he knew he had thrown or went to parties after that night but, had that been the last time he had a wild and crazy night out on the Galaxy before-

He froze. But just for a moment. Still, he made sure to take a deep breath afterwards. “...I guess that was the last time I had a night out. Huh.” Though, as he flopped down onto his now-empty bed, his mind reminded him of one other, more recent (and much less thrilling) night out.

“...Just let the party end...”

Scowling, Awesome clenched his fists. No... No way. He couldn’t let the party end. Not yet, anyway... Not yet...

And, in one fluid motion, the shark-man was back on his feet and heading down the hall.

()()()()()()()()()

“...Wait, what? You... You’re serious. You are serious, right?”

“Yeah Hatey!” Awesome grinned, “I mean, I’ve got a day off coming up and you- tc’ch, well, you can pretty much take whenever off since you’re in charge so, why not go out? You know, for old times sake? Come on Hatey, I remember how much fun you had LAST time~”

The skeletal lord scowled, a slight green blush crossing his cheeks. Okay, yeah, Hater had to admit... That night HAD been pretty fun. Jumping through hoops, carving their faces into moons, partying with cool and really pretty ladies, even playing pranks on people! Needless to say, it had all been pretty amazing. However, the way their night ended had been anything but... Hater’s glare deepened. “This isn’t just something you’re doing to get back at Peepers or something, is it?”

“No way, man! Peeps and I are co-” He paused, thinking about it. “...MOSTLY cool with each other. I don’t really have any beef with him at the moment. Heck, if you’re sure he won’t slow us down, he could even come with us!”

“Come with you to do what, exactly?” a familiar, nasally voice asked. Both of them looked towards the door where Peepers now stood, the usual stack of papers and plans in the commander’s arms.

“Just have an awesome night out,” Awesome explained, crossing his own arms as his smile widened, “You know, go to clubs or parties, meet cool people, do cool, sweet and/or crazy stuff, that sort of thing.”

Peepers’ look flattened. It took all his willpower not to roll his eye. Instead he just replied with, “I see...”

“And like I said, you could come with us. You know, just to show there’s no real bad blood between us, bro. Just, you know, don’t act like a chaperone.”

“Hmm...” Keeping an eye on them would probably be a good idea. However, dealing with all the loud music and obnoxious laughter would NOT be worth it. “Ugh, thanks for the offer but I think I’ll pass... Just promise me that it’ll actually be a NIGHT out and be back at the ship by around midnight.”

“Suit yourself, dude,” Awesome shrugged, “And yeah, heh, we’ll try not to stay out too late.”

That time, Peepers did roll his eye. “Just make sure you try as hard as you can, Private.”

“Yeah yeah. So-” He turned his attention back to Hater, “Are we doin’ this, Hatey?”

“Well...” Hater furrowed his boney brow in thought. The idea was pretty tempting, and Awesome had become less of a jerk... “Alright alright, fine. I’m in, but-!”

“YES!” Awesome yelled, grinning as he threw up a ‘rock on!’ gesture, “Great! I’ll see you back here on Friday, say at six or so?” A bit earlier than when he usually started but, hey, if he had to get home around midnight, he’d have to get a head start if he was going to make their night as great as it could be. “Trust me, dude, this is gonna be AWESOME!” With that, the shark left Hater’s room practically in a run (or maybe even a dance, just by how excited he was) already planning what they would do on their big night.

And this night WOULD be awesome, he would make sure of it!

The rest of the week seemed to go by at a space slug’s pace, but Friday eventually did come. Once he finished with his training and chores for the day, the shark-man went straight to his room. Handy had already wired over a couple hundred bucks to his account (much less than what he usually worked with, but he could deal with it), so all Awesome had to do now was just get dressed!

After about half an hour, he decided on a neon purple v-neck top with dark blue pants and his favorite pair of white heeled boots. He also grabbed a tiger striped blue and green down vest, just in case wherever they went was a bit chilly. A quick sweep of pink lipstick and some purple eye-shadow, and he was ready to meet his ride/bro for the evening!

Unsurprisingly, Hater had decided to wear his usual cloak. But hey, Awesome wasn’t going to judge. After all, he wanted to stay on the skeleton’s good side. “So dude, as it turns out, there’s a club over Stratusoose 4 that’s having it’s grand re-opening tonight, so you know it’s going to be rockin’! We’ve definitely got to hit that place up!”

“I, I guess, but-” Hater started to say, but Awesome wasn’t even looking at him anymore, instead choosing to look at his phone.

“And, after doin’ a bit of snoopin’ around, I’ve found some great places we can go if we wanna get a bite to eat! Really top notch eats, trendy AND tasty!”

“But Awesome-!”

“Oh, and after the club, we can totally head over to Stratusoose’s moon! There’s supposed to be all these great bars and a water park and-!”

“AWESOME!”

The former emperor flinched, and finally looked up from his phone. “...What, dude?” He asked.

Hater crossed his arms. “Just because last time was fun and cool doesn’t mean it’s going to be EXACTLY like last time!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m going to pick some of the things we do, since you picked everything last time!” He then added with a mumble, “And when I DID start suggesting things, that’s when you were ready to go.”

Tc’ch, can’t help it if those ideas were lame and not worth staying out for. He didn’t dare say it outloud, but Awesome certainly thought it. Comic book stores? Pizza eating contests? Night riding?! SO lame! ...But, what choice did Awesome have? He was sure he didn’t have any fans that would see him and want to join him, and he definitely didn’t want to go out alone... “Ughhhh, fine. You can choose some of the things we do,” he agreed reluctantly, “Heck, I’ll even let you choose the first thing we do, alright?”

“Hmph, good.” Satisfied, Hater slammed his bedroom door shut, and the two of them headed towards the ‘face’ of the ship.

“So Hatey, you’ve got personal transport for us, right? You know, like a hot rod or van or-”

“Not the van,” Hater said suddenly, “That’s just a me and Peepers thing.”

“...Uhhh, okaaay...”

“But, we do have mini skulls that can go just as fast as the main skullship.” “Eh. Works for me, bro.” The style of the ride didn’t really matter, just as long as they could easily take it around the Galaxy.

Speaking of which... “So Hatey,” Awesome said, glancing back over at him, “Where are you planning on taking us first?”

“Hmm...” He thought for a couple minutes. It wasn’t until they reached the mini Skullship port that Hater finally replied. “I think I have an idea.”

()()()()()()()()()()

“...Seriously, dude?” Awesome stared at the sign with a flat, VERY unimpressed look. “We’ve only got, what, five hours until Peeps starts textin’ and telling us to get back to the Skull, and this is what you want to do with part of our time?”

Hater looked back at him, equal parts confused and offended. “What’s wrong with going to the movies?!”

“Dude, you have, like, two movie theaters in your ship! You could watch movies anytime!” He then added with a scoff and a mumble, “Besides, we’re supposed to have a night out, not a night sitting on our butts in a dinky theater.”

“Yeah well, THIS theater has a movie that I’ve been waiting to see for forever!” the skeletal lord retorted, pointing at a nearby poster of a pretty intimidating demon guy who was shooting electricity out of his fists and riding a skateboard that made electric tracks wherever it went. In other words, it wasn’t too hard to figure out why Hater wanted to see this movie in particular... “And you said that I could pick the first thing we could do, and this is what I pick!”

Awesome groaned, dramatically slouching back. For a moment, he wondered if just being alone would just be better. But, eventually, he gave a reluctant “Fine, whatevs,” and followed Hater inside the theater. At least the movie was only about two hours along, so even if he was bored out of his mind, it wouldn’t be for too long. And then it would be back to what they were supposed to be doing - what normal, cool people did on their night out.

With that problem taken care of, the two of them bought their tickets. And, once he had his in hand, Hater made a beeline for the concessions. “One extra large, super buttery popcorn, and two cherry slushies too! Hey-” He looked over his shoulder, “You want anything?”

Awesome shrugged. “I dunno, does this place have shrimp cocktails or jello shots?”

“Uhhh, there’s cherry and blue slushies. Pop too, I guess, but...”

“...” The shark man gave another sigh. “...Give me the blue slushie.”

Eventually, the pair of villains (well, former villains, really) made their way to their seats, with Hater insisting on sitting in the middle of the row for the best view. Thankfully, the theater itself wasn’t too full - and therefore not too noisy - and after a few minutes, the curtains lifted and the film began.

“Mm, so-” Awesome whispered, once he took the last sip of his slushie, “What��s this movie even abo-?”

“SHHH!” Hater shushed him, “It just looked cool and it took forever to get released and I just want to finally see it, so SHH!”

“Ugh...” Rolling his eyes, Awesome slouched in his seat, putting his feet on the back of the chair in front of him. “Yep, deeeefinitely starting to regret this...”

The movie began typically enough. Some dude with a bad attitude made a deal with a devil, and now he had to hunt demons and bad guys for a living. Still, in exchange he got lightning powers so, not that bad of a deal. But, even so-

“Pfft, dude, did you see that?” Awesome snickered, “You could practically see the string dragging his skateboard along! What, could they not afford an actual electric skateboard? So weak!”

“And did you see his lightning?!” Hater replied, pointing up at the screen, “Look at that! It’s so fake! It doesn’t even look like it’s touching his hands!”

“Tc’ch yeah! And- OH MY GROP LOOK AT THAT GUY! Dude, who looked at that costume and thought ‘Yeah, okay, a bad guy would TOTES wear that’!”

“And he’s not even the main bad guy! Just some dumb grunt! Come on, Bolt Boarder! Zap him already!”

“Um, excuse me, guys?” Awesome blinked. Glancing over to the side, he could see a teenage theater worker now standing in the aisle. “Sirs, I’ve been getting complaints about some rowdy movie goers and-”

Hater sat up a bit straighter and leaned forward, allowing him to send the worker a quick glare. The teenager gulped. “A-And, uh, if you two could just, just tone it down a bit i-it would be greatly appreciated!” he quickly told them before running off.

The skeletal lord huffed, turning his attention back to the screen and grabbing another handful of popcorn. Though, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Awesome staring at him. “...What?”

“Nothin’. Just, kinda thought you were doin’ the whole ‘good guy’ thing now, so-”

“Hey, if I was still a total bad guy, I would have just zapped him,” Hater argued, “And besides, just because I’m a good-er guy now doesn’t mean I still can’t get annoyed at peoOH YEAH! GET HIM, BOLT! WOO!”

Awesome snapped his head back to the screen, just in time to see the badly dressed villain explode in a huge, sparking explosion. “Ohoho, NICE!” he grinned.

Other than a couple quick scenes with Bolt Boarder moping around or talking to his one dimensional love interest, the rest of the movie followed the formula of introducing an over-the-top bad guy, having an action-filled fight scene with effects ranging from alright to downright laughable, and explosions. And honestly, that was just what Hater and Awesome wanted.

“Alright, alright,” Awesome chuckled as the credits began to roll, “That was actually pretty fun.” He stretched slightly before standing up from his seat and heading down the aisle, with Hater right behind him.

“Hmph, told’ya it’d be great,” Hater smirked, “...Well, obviously not GREAT but, you know what I mean!”

“Heh, yeah bro. I know.” The shark-man still couldn’t help but snicker to himself as he thought about all the terrible scenes, though admittedly some of the action (the bits that didn’t need CGI) was pretty well done and pretty cool to watch. In between these thoughts, Awesome’s legs seemed to move automatically. Entering the lobby of the theater only gave them more room to move, allowing him to walk and practically dance circles around Hater.

“...Okay, what are you doing?” the skeletal lord finally asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

“Sorry bro, can’t help it,” Awesome shrugged, still strolling and twirling along, “Unless I’m in a hot tub chillaxin’, I’m not used to just sitting and watching for so long.”

“Then fine,” Hater crossed his arms, “It’s your turn anyway. Find something for us to do that involves moving and just stop circling me already!”

Reaching the theater’s outer doors, Awesome glanced back and grinned. “Can do, Hatester~!” He then led them outside, looking all along the city streets for familiar details and keeping an ear open for dubstep and electronica.

After walking about a block, he found what he was looking for. It was a medium sized building, two floors. Definitely enough room for at least a bar and a pretty decent dance floor. There was no line or bouncer outside, so it wasn’t too exclusive. But eh, it still seemed pretty cool. Besides, beggars couldn’t be choosey. “Of course you’d want to go to a club next,” he heard Hater mumble behind him as they went inside, though at least he didn’t seem too annoyed by it.

The club actually had a pretty nice rainbow-like aesthetic to it, with the bar area being yellow while the lounge and sitting areas were red or orange. The dance floor had emerald green tiles on it, and near the upper half of the club - which featured a karaoke machine - were blue and purple lights. The disco ball and the multi-colored swivel lights on the dance floor just tied everything together.

Awesome smiled, his body relaxing as if he had just stepped into warm waters. Maybe it wasn’t as wild and crazy as the clubs he usually went to, but it was still a club. It was still a type of place that he was used to, a place where he could cut loose and enjoy himself. A place that felt like home.

With light steps and a bit of a shimmy thanks to the music pumping all around him, he strolled over to the bar. “Think you could rustle us up some snacks, brah?” he asked the bartender, flashing his teeth in a grin, “Maybe some fries and your best margarita?”

The green skinned, multi-legged man behind the counter gave him a bit of a look, but before he could ask any questions, Hater added, “And just a Thunderblazz for me. Uh, thanks.” At the sight of the infamous skeletal lord, the bartender’s expression instantly changed. But it wasn’t like before with the theater worker, the man certainly didn’t look scared of Hater. ...In fact, it sorta looked like the opposite, like he seemed happy to see him. Honored, even! Admiring Hater like he was some sort of he-

...Oh. Right. He was a hero.

“Of course, Lord Hater, sir!” the bartender chimed, with two of his hands giving the skeleton a thumbs up, “And it’ll be on the house, of course!” “Really? Cool, thanks.” “Yes, and thank YOU!”

“Heh.” Even if the music in the background wasn’t his cup of tea and the club was a bit too colorful for his tastes, Hater still managed to give the man a smile and a small nod as he sat down. Awesome on the other hand just focused on holding back a sigh.

The fries would be a bit of a wait, but their drinks came quickly so neither one of them really minded. “You know, Hatey, there are other drinks out there that aren’t Thunderblazz,” Awesome lightly teased, “That aren’t even soda!”

“Hmph, then you can drink those,” Hater told him before chugging about a third of his pop.

Awesome shrugged. “Suit yourself. But I’m tellin’ ya, bro. You’re missing out.” Though, despite this claim, Awesome only took a couple small sips of his own drink. Not really to enjoy it, but just enough to bite back any nerves he might have had...

He glanced over at the dance floor, already feeling like it was calling his name - especially since there were only a few people on it. The shark-man smirked. Heh, perfect time to get a crowd and show off. Maybe bust out an old routine, or try to see if the owner would let him plug in his MP3 player. Oh yeah, if anyone here thought this place was rockin’ now, they hadn’t seen nothing ye-!

“Oh wow...” he heard a waitress say as she walked behind them. On instinct, Awesome turned to look at her, but the woman was already walking back towards the lounge area. Oh wow... Tc’ch, what had that been about? Had she been referring to him? Maybe she had been a fan? Though, her tone didn’t exactly sound fanatic, or even amazed... At most, it just seemed like she had been surprised to see him.

And, as his eyes followed the waitress while she worked, Awesome quickly noticed that she wasn’t the only one there surprised to see him...

He could spot people stealing glances, raising eyebrows, and some even rolling their eyes. No one dared to say any of their comments out loud, but Awesome could see them whispering. ...Maybe they weren’t talking about him. But then, what else could they be talking about?

The infamous party shark who had been captured, quit being a villain, and hadn’t even gotten on social media since his disaster of a comeback party was now suddenly just at this random club? No wonder they were surprised to see him. Heck, he wouldn’t have even been surprised if there were some people who thought he simply OD’d after the party or something like that. “Hmph.” What a way to go...

Seeing as he was looking at them now, most people quickly looked away, focusing on their drinks or decor and trying to look as innocent as possible. Conversations put on hold, but interests not forgotten. Part of him told him to just ignore the ‘haters’, but these guys weren’t exactly haters. Nah, they were just curious critics. A galaxy that had witnessed the hard fall of one of its biggest stars in terms of both villainy and coolness, and that wasn’t something people just forgot about overnight, unfortunately... He could easily imagine what they were (or would be) saying.

“Whoa... Isn’t that Emperor Awesome?” “I guess so. Not much of an emperor now though.” “I thought he died.” “I thought he ran away.” “I heard he went crazy.” “Why would he come here?” “Yeah. Not like anyone cares about him now.” “Maybe he’s trying to win back some fans?” “Ha, good luck with that.” “After everything he’s went through? He’s better off retiring.” “Might as well. He’s hardly the emperor of anything now.” “Heh, no doubt about that.”

“So Awesome, how long did you want to stay here? Cause I think I saw a-”

Awesome set down his drink, hard enough make a loud *clunk* on the counter while still not making the glass break, thankfully. Hater blinked. “...Uhh, Awesome? Are you-?”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Huh? But, I thought you wanted to- And, hey! We haven’t even gotten our fries yet!” Hater argued. But Awesome just ignored him. He got out a handful of credits, not even bothering to count them before putting them down by his drink. With that, he stood up and walked straight out of the club. He knew they’d be whispering again. More rumors, more of his reputation ruined. But what did it matter?

...What did it matter?

“Hey! HEY! Awesome!”

“What, Hater?” Awesome asked, stopping for just a moment as he stuffed his hands in his vest pockets.

“Hmph, well for one thing, thanks for waiting up!” Hater glared, but Awesome could only offer a shrug and a mumbled apology. Perhaps that was what made the skeleton’s gaze soften, just a little. “...You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Awesome replied, despite his tone saying otherwise, “Come on, man. We’ve only got a couple hours left. Go ahead and pick the next stop.” Hater still didn’t look too sure, but it was obvious that the shark-man wasn’t in the mood to talk. So, Hater took the lead once again.

By this point, they were in the center of Stratusoose 4′s entertainment district, so they didn’t have to walk nearly as far before Hater found something that caught his interest. It was a three story building, with bright letters on the front of it that read “WOWSER’S”. From the windows, they could see several game machines and big wheels filled with numbers, as well a few game tables where rounds of blackjack or air hockey were being played.

A casino/arcade, huh? Well, Awesome could believe the arcade part at least, and he made no arguments as Hater took them inside. Neither of them made a move towards any of the gambling related games. Awesome didn’t really have the money to spare on them , and Hater- Well, save for a few victories, Hater just had bad luck in general. So instead, the skeleton went straight to the nearest fighting game while Awesome simply hung back and observed.

"Heh, I can ALWAYS beat these things," Hater insisted as he selected what looked to be the strongest character in the game's roster (a monster with fire powers and a giant sword).

"Oh, really?" Awesome asked flatly.

But Hater barely noticed the shark's tone, his fingers already on the buttons and at the ready as the game loaded. "Yeah! So just stand back and get ready to be blown away!" In a flash, the screen revealed a colosseum-like background with Hater's character on the right and his opponent, a dark haired knight, on the left. And, as soon as the game's countdown reached one, Hater began to mash the machine's buttons as hard as he could.

"Go go go! Yeah! Get 'im! Fireball! Haha, yeah! That-! Wait! Seriously?! Oh yeah well-! GRAH! Stop using your shield, you stupid knight! Come ooooon! Come- NonoNOOOO!" From behind him, Awesome simply raised an eyebrow. So, exactly when was he supposed to be blown away again?

After about five rounds of the fighting game (with three of those rounds being losses for him), Hater decided that it was time to move onto other games. After all, the arcade had plenty of them. Racing games, throwing games like skee-ball, claw machines, shooters, even some VR games! ...And yet none of them seemed to interest Awesome whatsoever, nor did the shark bother to make any comments.

He just followed Hater around like a shadow, and it was getting to the point where even Hater couldn't ignore it. "...I thought you said you didn't like to just 'sit and watch'?" he finally questioned after making his way through about a dozen different arcade classics.

"Yeah well, I'm not really the gamer type, dude." Awesome replied as he casually leaned on a pinball machine.

"Hmm... Oh yeah? So, you don't want to play ANY game here?" Hater started to smirk a bit. "Not even... that one?"

He pointed across the room, and Awesome followed his direction - and immediately groaned when he saw the machine he was point at. Standing near a wall, with a huge plastic platform in front of it. "Ugh, DEFINITELY not. FYI Hater, DDR is for people who don't know how to dance, not for people who are great at dancing."

Hater humphed, crossing his arms. "So, if you DID actually play it, are you saying that you'd get a hundred percent score or whatever just cause you're 'so great' at dancing?"

"Uh, yeah bro, I would," Awesome insisted, taking a step forward.

But Hater's smirk just grew. "Then prove it."

"...Fine." Sticking his nose up slightly, Awesome coolly strolled over to the dance machine. "...Oh, and hey, don't think I don't know what you're doing," he added as he selected his song and difficulty (expert level, naturally), "Trying to get me to join in on the fun or whatever by challenging me to play one of these games? Heh, way to take a page out of the furball's playbook, Hatey."

Hater shot him a glare. "Just shut up and dance. And don't complain when you get less than a perfect score!"

"Tc'ch, not gonna happen, brah." It was at that moment that the game began, with the the electronic, Zetuon music now playing as various directional arrows began flying upwards at what looked like lightspeed. But Awesome didn't even flinch! He just jumped right in, his feet as light as an orbubble as he tapped each space beneath him. He was in perfect sync with the game, even bobbing his head along with the beat of the song. At least the game had good taste in music.

"Not bad, I GUESS," he heard Hater say after about a minute. Awesome grinned slightly.

"This is nothing!" He shouted back, "Watch what a real dancer can do on one of these things!" Raising his arms, Awesome began using them, throwing them up or waving them slightly to make it look more like an actual dance rather than simply jumping around on light-up tiles. He even a added a couple high-jumps and spins, and did all this while still keeping an eye on the screen.

The song was nearing its end, there were just a couple dozen steps to go. But Awesome didn't let himself lose focus, not even for a second. Back, forth, left, left, right, back, back- jump, hip thrust, slide to the next step, do a twirl! He was completely in the zone! And honestly, he couldn't have been happier. The final note played, and after hitting the last step, Awesome fell into a split and threw his arms up in a victory pose while Hater clapped and cheered.

...Wait, that wasn't Hater. And that definitely wasn't just one person.

Quickly getting back onto his feet, he looked out at a crowd of about a dozen or so people. Though thankfully he wasn't stunned for too long. He just gave them a quick wave and a charming smile before hopping down from the platform.

"Guess you can still attract crowds, huh?" Hater asked, trying not to look TOO impressed, or too happy for the shark for that matter.

"Yep. Guess so," Awesome nodded. He took a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead before looking back up at the dance machine. "Oh uh, say, dude? Could you tell me what it says on that DDR screen? That one right up there? In big bold letters?"

"..." Hater sighed, his scowl deepening. "It says 'perfect'."

"Oh yeah~ What can I say? I-" Awesome stopped, grimacing. He put a hand on his stomach as he felt it contort and growl. "...Can work up an appetite, apparently."

"Ugh, then let's go find something to eat already before we starve to death!" Hater told him, already making his way back towards the front of the casino with Awesome soon following his lead, still clearly pleased with his 'performance'.

If all else failed, at least he would always have his dancing...

()()()()()()()()()

Balancing himself to keep from spilling his dish, Awesome went into a squatting position, leaning up slightly against the parking lot’s chain-link fence. Without further ado, he picked up his food and took a bite. “Mm... Not bad, Hatey. Not bad.”

“Ha! Told you food trucks were good!” “Yeah yeah, heh.” Change or no change, the skeletal lord would probably always be smug about being right. But whatever, that wouldn’t stop Awesome from enjoying his meal. Quickly, he took another, much bigger bite of his calzone, humming happily at the mix of anchovies and cheese.

Beside him sitting cross-legged, Hater was nearly finished with his meat lover’s calzone, and already eyeing the food truck and wondering if it would be worth it to buy another one. “You know, if we hadn’t left that rainbow club place before we got our fries, we wouldn’t be as hungry,” he complained.

“...Yeah man, I know,” Awesome admitted. He broke the remainder of his calzone in half and tossed one of the halves into his mouth.

“So then... Why did you want to leave?” Hater asked, his annoyed tone now replaced with a more curious one, “What, was it not cool enough for you?”

“Nah, it was pretty cool... It’s just- Look, I wasn’t- Ugh.” Awesome huffed. “Dude, it’s complicated, alright?”

“Oh yeah? How complicated?”

“...” The shark-man sighed. “Okay, okay... This is the first time I’ve really gone out since my epic fail of a comeback party, you know? So... Now when people see me, that’s the first thing the think about. First thing they talk about...”

“Then make them talk about something else,” Hater told him, “That shouldn’t be too hard. I mean, you did a pretty good job of doing it back at the arcade.”

A hint of a smile appeared on Awesome’s face at that. “Heh, yeah, I guess... But, one sweet performance on a DDR machine isn’t gonna fix my rep, bro. And like, I know it’s not gonna happen overnight, but...” He groaned again, moving his head back in frustration and fatigue. Opening up at the murky sky above, he stared at the few stars that dared to be bright enough to be seen in spite of the bright city lights.

“...Come on, Awesome,” Hater insisted, “What’s going on?” Awesome didn’t answer. “Ugh... If you’re worried about being called a loser or whatever because of what happened, then stop. Because it’s not going to happen. ...Remember all those months ago? When you first asked us to train you?”

“...Yeah,” Awesome eventually replied, though he still kept his head pointed up.

“Yeah, me too... And you said you wanted to get some power back, to stop feeling weak. Well, you’re doing that! You actually know how to fight now! You’re stronger, and Peepers even told me that you’re starting to run lava bot simulations without freaking out! So, yeah, if you’re think that you’re still the same fish-man that you were after that party, then knock it off. Cause you’re not, alright?”

“...Heh.” Awesome’s smile grew a bit. “Heck of a pep talk you give there, Hatey.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled back, though even he couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “So yeah... I mean, it’ll probably take forever but, people will forget about all that other stuff, you know?” It had happened before, Hater knew that first hand. So why couldn’t it happen to Awesome? “And then you can just, you know, show them how you are now! Stronger, better, and... Well, I GUESS still kinda cool and awesome.”

The shark-man chuckled. “...Thanks, man. And yeah, I know that things have changed. ...I know that I’ve changed. But... I dunno. Maybe that’s part of the problem...”

“...What do you mean?” Hater asked, confused yet concerned.

“I mean that... that it’s not just my rep that’s changed, or my fans, or even the whole Galaxy. It feels like my whole life is changing... And there’s nothin’ I can do to stop it. Sure I can try to get back in the game, be able to fight people for planets, maybe even manage to win people back, but...”

Hater scowled. “Awesome, just spit it out already! What are you talking about?!”

Silence fell between them. Awesome felt the last of his dish getting cold in his hand. He dropped it on his paper plate and crossed his arms, holding himself close.

“...’Let the party end. You’re never as cool as you think you are. Eventually people will leave. You can’t force them to stay, and you can’t keep it going on your own forever, otherwise you’ll just be stuck in the spotlight all alone. So just let the party end’... That’s what my dad told me that morning before I got back to the Skullship.”

“...” Hater could only stare at him. “Awesome... I, I don’t-”

Awesome choked back a laugh. “This has been my life for so long. For, like, forever! It’s the life I’ve wanted ever since I was crowned Emperor! Yeah, sure, maybe it wasn’t the greatest. Maybe I wasn’t the greatest, but it was still what I wanted! But now... Heh, now everything’s just so different and so flarped up. No matter what I do it’ll never be the same, and I don’t know which new parts are good and which are bad! ...I don’t know if I can keep living the life I wanted before, or if I even should. But... But if I shouldn’t, or can’t, then... then what the hell AM I supposed to do?!”

“...I...” That was all Hater could really say. Part of him suddenly wished Wander was there with them, if only because the nomad would surely know what to say to something like this. Even Sylvia would probably be better at this than he was.

“...So, yeah,” Awesome said after a moment, “Long story short, that’s what’s wrong... And it’s sorta what I’ve been hoping to forget about and why I was so desperate to have a night out. Tc’ch, guess that turned out well, huh?”

“Right...” Hater’s horns folded down. “...No offense but, that was sort of a jerky thing for your dad to say.”

Awesome’s expression didn’t change. “But he’s right, isn’t he?”

“...Not really.” Setting his plate down, Hater stretched his legs out, and looked up at the skies as well. “Sure, you shouldn’t party all the time but, there’s nothing really wrong with still partying some of the time, you know?”

The shark-man rolled his eyes. “Hater, that’s not-”

“I’m still me.” Awesome stopped, looking at him. “Yeah, I’m a ‘good guy’ or whatever now, but I definitely haven’t been Wanderized,” Hater told him, his voice quiet, yet still as confident as ever, “I’m still me. Still do what I want and try to get what I want, I just do it in a better way. That, and I try not to hurt people who don’t really deserve it. Which is waaay harder than you’d think, especially when people are annoying or huge jerks. But... It’s also usually worth it, I guess. I feel a lot happier now, but I don’t feel like my life is totally different. I’m just being me while doing different things. So... maybe that’s what you need to do too?”

“...Huh.” Awesome thought about it. And then, he smiled. Just a little. “You know what, Hater? You’re a pretty cool guy.”

Hater’s eyes widened slightly. “...You’re being serious, right? You, you’re not just saying that?”

“Heh, yeah man. I’m being totes serious.” Taking a deep breath, Awesome let himself actually sit on the ground, dirt and dust stains be darned. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re still sort of a dork - no offense. But... Your powers, all the stuff you’ve done, the guy you’ve become... I’ve gotta respect it. Heck, I’m actually sort of jealous-”

“Okay, now I know you’re lying!” Hater accused, raising an eyebrow, “You? Jealous of ME?” Sure, it’s something he’s always wanted, but-

“Believe it, bro,” Awesome nodded, “You’ve got a lot for people to truly be jealous of. A lot to be proud of. And, like, you did just take the time to try and cheer me up so, yeah. You’re pretty cool.”

“...Hmph. Yeah well, I still think you’re pretty cool too,” Hater mumbled.

The two smiled at each other. “Thanks, dude...” “Yeah. Whatever.”

Before continuing their night out, Hater did end up getting one more calzone, eating it as they walked down the city streets and passing by numerous stores and stops.

Awesome hummed, glancing over at a small make-up kiosk. “...Say, Hatey, you ever think about changing up your look a bit?”

“Hm, why? What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothin’! But there’s also nothing wrong with a bit of eye candy to catch a special girl or guy’s attention~”

Hater blinked. “Eye candy? But what do the Watchdogs ha-”

“Like, I could totally see you with some gold eyeshadow, bro,” Awesome grinned, “Gold goes great with green, so it’d match your eyes perfectly, helping them stand out even more! It’d also go with red, plus your horns, so it’s pretty much the perfect color for you. Though, I guess silver could work pretty well too.”

“Huh. I guess...” Though by this point, the skeletal lord wasn’t even looking at the kiosk.

“You could probably do some pretty cool stuff with eyeliner too. Add a bit of color, or even just some accents. Make your eyes sharper, you know?” His grin widened. “And you know, if you’re gonna get a new look for your face, you might as well go all out and get a new look for your bod too! So, what do you say we spend our last hour or so shopping around? Get us some new digs, see what works and-”

“Orrrrr we could do THIS instead!” Hater yelled, practically shoving a flyer he had found right in Awesome’s snout. Not having much of a choice, the former emperor quickly read it: Howard’s Hoverkartz trackz! Half price admission Tues. and Thurs.!

Awesome made a face. Hover go-karts? Really? But they could fly and race ACTUAL ships. And even if they couldn’t, he was certain the track would just be some dinky little thing with karts that barely went over twenty miles per hour. Ugh, it would be so weak! So lame! So-!

He looked back up at Hater, who was smiling as if he had just found the coolest and most fun thing ever. And soon enough, Awesome found himself mirroring that smile. “Heh. Sounds good to me.”

()()()()()()()()()()

It was a widely (yet reluctantly) accepted rule that everyone on the ship should be up by 7 am. Of course, there were still the stragglers and the ‘Five More Minutes’ers, but Peepers was more than happy to give them a personal wake-up call.

“Come on, come on! You all know the drill,” he told them firmly, ignoring the muttered comments and yawns of his troops. Once everyone was out of their little oven-beds and the Commander was satisfied, he then started to make his way towards his lord’s bedroom.

Of course Hater was totally excused from the 7AM rule, but Peepers still wanted to check up on him. And besides, there was still one private who needed to wake up...

According to the security camera footage, the two former enemies had been about an hour late getting in, though they had seemed to be in good spirits. Happy, rowdy and a bit loud, but not drunk at least. “And thank grop for that,” Peepers mumbled as he reached the door.

The commander knocked, but (as to be expected) there wasn’t an answer. Feeling a bit cautious now, Peepers slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

Awesome’s MP3 was sitting on Hater’s bedside table, quietly playing some pop song. There weren’t any Thunderblazz bottles or beer cans on the floor (another good sign) but there was Awesome, lying practically facedown in a pile of pillows and blankets while Hater (as well as Captain Tim who slept on Hater’s chest) took up the bed.

Peepers rolled his eye slightly. “Sir? Awesome? ...Hey, Private Awesome? Lord Hater?”

Both of them groaned slightly, sinking further into their respective beds before relaxing once again. Of course. Whatever they had done last night must have been exhausting in some regards. But, also satisfying... A truly fun night out, just like Awesome had promised.

“...You get half an hour,” Peepers quietly told the sleeping shark-man, his gaze softening a bit, “At most. And this is the last time you’re going to be allowed to sleep in on a work day, so enjoy it while it lasts.” And with that, the commander quietly shut the door, allowing the two new friends to just get a few more minutes of peaceful slumber.

THE END

((Heh, hope this was worth the wait! Also, it’s not part of the Awesome Arc, but Hater’s speech did end up relating to what he learned in another fic I wrote - “Better” - which is basically focused on Hater’s redemption and how he tries to work inside his new ‘hero status’ after saving the galaxy. So yeah, check it out if you’re interested, and thanks again for reading! ^v^))

#wander over yonder #emperor awesome #lord hater #oneshot #the awesome arc #my writing #fanfiction

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mollymauk-teafleak · 7 years

Text

On taking relationship advice from kindergarteners

I wrote a little thing for @oversaturated-ocean and our Alex/Eliza teacher AU! It follows on from their amazing fic, Staples and involves over enthusiastic kindergarten teacher Mr Hamilton attempting to start a relationship with the very kind and very pretty Nurse Schuyler. Which is a little tricky given that the last time they interacted, he fainted...

Most adults who met Alexander Hamilton, who knew him from his college days or bumped into him at the bar or at various rallies and marches and demonstrations would describe him as volatile. Argumentative. Hot tempered. And they wouldn’t exactly be wrong. Alex lent himself that brand from a single glance, with his wiry frame and his dark, dramatic eyes and mouth that was usually twisted in a frown and always ready to espouse opinions. Every inch of him, every brief conversation (as few people got away from Alex without hearing his sharp, animated voice) left most adults commenting that he was an angry man. A loud, brash and forceful kind of man who wasn’t particularly good at or bothered by getting people to like him.

These adults would probably laugh aloud if they were then told what Alex actually did for a living.

The embittered, impulsive liberal scholar was how most people knew him. Unless of course they were one of the five year olds he taught kindergarten to at King’s Elementary.

Those little kids all knew Mr Hamilton to be one of the sweetest and kindest and funniest teachers there ever was. The guy who taught them geography by proudly sporting an old explorer’s hat he’d bought from a thrift store and took them on a grand Jules Verneian tour of the world and math with such patience and attention that no kid felt left behind or confused. The guy who always made time for a story at the end of the day, telling them with huge theatrical gestures and a whole cast of different funny voices, pacing around the room until every little set of eyes was on him. The guy who never, ever raised his voice when he was angry, he’d always sit and explain and listen and talk until following his word just made logical sense. The guy who accepted every flower and bottle cap and feather he was brought after playtime with a huge smile and a hug of thanks. Who tried to implement a Gold Star chart, with tiny stickers awarded to each child for good behaviour, but his definition of ‘good behaviour’ extended so wide that within a week there was no more room for any stars by anyone’s name. The whole thing was full up. So, he’d let the children go home on Friday afternoon with the gold stars decorating their cheeks instead, alongside huge smiles. To the kids, Mr Hamilton was the teacher who peppered his lessons with a little Spanish, who gave them all personalised nicknames, who let them sit on his knee and dry their eyes on his sleeve when a scraped knee or a too hard piece of homework or something at home made them cry. He would never press for details, not until the kid had them freely to give, the hugs and the tissues and the cheer up high fives always came first.

With his funny ties with cartoon characters and brightly coloured hair ties in his pony tail, his bright grin and his bouncy attitude, to his class Mr Hamilton was a hero.

It had taken Alex a whole evening to decorate his classroom for Valentine’s Day; even after pulling a begrudging Peggy away from the secretary desk to help, it had taken hours until there were enough red streamers and craft paper hearts and pipe cleaner roses for Alex to be satisfied. The looks on the kids’ faces in the morning had been well worth the many paper cuts on his fingers and having to yet again explain to Principle Washington, yes this is vital for the children’s learning, no I won’t go overboard again like last year, yes, I’ll restock the stationary cupboard with glue.

Of course, Alex still taught them their usual lessons in the morning, helping them learn how to tell a triangle from a square and how to count to ten without using fingers and how to get a capital S the right way around. But he did do the whole thing with flashing love heart deelyboppers waggling away on top of his head, so he reckoned he was still on theme. But after lunch, the formalities were out of the way and the kids could really get into the spirit of things with making their own Valentine’s day cards. Of course, Alex made sure to explain that their cards could be for anybody, that there were lots and lots of different kinds of love for different kinds of people and they could celebrate any kind they wanted today.

Now usually during craft time, Alex would be weaving his way through the tables, picking his way around the mounds of glitter and growing swamps of paste and so many scraps of brightly coloured paper it looked like someone had fired off a confetti cannon. He’d be full of smiles and appreciation, oohing and ahhing and every little creation he was proudly shown, not minding in the slightest when he ended up with red finger paint prints on his shirt.

But today, he stayed at his desk, with his own little stack of card and pot of glitter and coloured pencils, frowning and concentrating so hard his tongue was poking out of the side of his mouth. Which of course caught his students’ attention immediately; when did their teacher ever sit still willingly?

“Mr Hamilton? Mr Hamilton?” one of the bolder girls called out, waving a pudgy little arm in the air.

Alex’s eyes flickered upwards briefly, “Need some help, Ruthie?”

“No, sir,” the little girl’s braids bounced as she shook her head, “Whatcha doing? You making a card too?”

Her question came with a dozen different interested little murmurs from the rest of the kids.

Alex actually blushed a little, another very unusual thing for him, “I, ah…I might be, sweetie.”

“Who’s it for?” little Julio asked, adding brightly, “Mine is for my dog!”

Alex gave him a crooked smile, though his blush got deeper, “That’s great buddy, I’m sure he’ll love it. Um…mine isn’t really for anyone, not in particular. I just thought I’d, ah, give it a go?”

Now, the children were young but not so young they couldn’t spot an obvious lie like that.

“Do you have a girlfriend, sir?” Ruthie pressed.

None of the children missed how their favourite teacher jumped a little at that question and was suddenly fidgeting, “No! No, I don’t! I…I don’t.”

“Do you have a boyfriend then?” little Yolanda asked, pushing her glasses back up her nose like she had to do about a thousand times a day.

“No, mija, I don’t have one of those either,” Alex answered a little more easily this time, very pleased they’d listened to him when he’d explained that their cards could be for boys or girls.

“Then why you making a card?” Ruthie still demanded, “If it’s not for anyone?”

Alex had to marvel at their tenacity but he was eager to steer the conversation somewhere else, “I’m not sure I really am making a card, apparently, arts and crafts isn’t my thing…”

He showed the students the evidence, a pretty pathetic looking piece of pink card with a wonky heart drawn on the front. Sure enough, he got a lot of little wrinkled noses in response and disapproving shakes of the head. Sometimes Alex found it hard to appreciate the honestly of small children.

“Sir, that’s not very good!” Julio told him plainly, “Don’t give that to anyone.”

“Well, I’m trying…and it isn’t for anyone, I told you!” Alex defended himself with a small smile, “I’m just not super creative like you guys are…”

“Oh, we’ll help you then!” Yolanda offered, her smile shy and sweet.

“Yes!” Ruthie jumped up onto the chair eagerly, no matter how many times Mr Hamilton begged her to be careful, “We’ll help you, sir!”

Twenty other little excited voices rose in a clamour until Alex was chuckling, holding up his hands in defeat and coming to join them at the craft table, pulling up a chair that was so small his knees almost came up to his ears when he sat on it.

“Alright, alright, I’ll let the experts show me how it’s done,” he smiled.

The bell eventually rang for the end of the day, surprising them all. They’d all been having so much fun, they’d barely noticed the clock hands going by. There hadn’t been too many incidents, save half a tube of red glitter ending up in David’s lap, Jasmine insisting on sticking googly eyes on her own eyelids much to the amusement of everyone and a hair-raising moment when Mr Hamilton accidentally drank a mouthful of the water they’d been washing the brushes in rather than his coffee. But a card had been successfully made, the kind of very loud, very glitter covered, very…unusual Valentine’s day card that twenty kindergarteners and their teacher would put together. It could probably hang in the MoMA, Alex thought mildly, without raising too many eyebrows. The crudely drawn crayon dinosaurs could represent capitalism, the many googly eyes could mean government censorship…

Alex just hoped it would do the trick.

“Okay guys, that’s home time! Off you go…” he jumped up at the bell, steering all his little students towards the coat room, getting them as cleaned up as humanly possible, making sure nothing got left behind (he’d once had to drive to Yolanda’s house to return a much-treasured stuffed rabbit she’d left at school, knowing fine well she’d never be able to sleep without it). He did his usual thing of standing by the door and high fiving each one of them as they filed out and wishing them goodnight before the classroom door swung shut. There was always that one moment at the end of every day, where Alex would lean against the door and sigh tiredly but happily, knowing he’d successfully completed another day and relieved to have silence back in his life. Only for a moment though. Then he’d miss the kids.

He pulled the classroom together as best he could but it was inevitably going to be another day when the janitor was going to greet him with an exasperated look. No matter, he’d apologise profusely but for now, Alex had a job to do before he lost his nerve.

“No harm in trying,” he told himself firmly, looking at the pretty garish card in his hand before sighing and starting to stride down the hall.

Alex probably made more visits to the nurse’s office than any other teacher, for several reasons. One being that his students were the youngest so inevitably ate more unusual objects without thinking, walked into more doors than others, tripped over tables more. Another was that Alex could maybe, possibly, potentially admit he was a bit overprotective when it came to his class, bundling them in his arms and taking them down to be seen to when maybe the need actually wasn’t too great?

But recently there had been another reason why Mr Hamilton seemed to be haunting the school’s little sick room, why he seemed to be making excuses to hang around there and knock on the door, why his playtime duty always seemed to take him down that particular corridor. A reason he hadn’t been able to admit to himself at first, only after his friends in the staff room had told him quite plainly that he needed to grow some balls, it could be seen from space, for God’s sake!

It was the same reason he was shaking with nerves as he pushed back the door, decorated with the little plate that read ‘Nurse E. Schuyler’ and flowers that she’d painted herself.

“Uh, Eliza?” he called out, hoping his voice didn’t shake, “Its me.”

Eliza swivelled round in her chair, her heart shaped face lighting up, “Alex! Hey!”

God, that smile could knock the breath out of him, Alex thought as he grinned and came in, leaning against the examination table with the card hidden behind his back, where it might stay depending on how his nerves held up.

He was a little gratified to see that Eliza had decorated for the holiday too, with strings of heart shaped bunting around her office and she was wearing a smaller string of them around her neck, even though they clashed with her pale blue flowery scrubs. Take that Mr Jefferson, it wasn’t just him being ‘a childish idiot’…

“So how was your day?” he asked, attempting a casual air, like he’d just dropped by for his usual chat. Like there was no potential awkwardness between them at all. Like last time they’d talked he absolutely, definitely hadn’t accidentally let slip about his huge crush on her while under the influence of pain meds she’d given him, after he’d accidentally stapled his hand…like he hadn’t passed out immediately after so he hadn’t been able to gauge her reaction…like he hadn’t also thrown up in front of her a bunch…

“Not too bad,” Eliza allowed, getting up and automatically going for two mugs to start making coffee, apparently on board with the ‘pretending that everything is all fine’ plan, “Poor Elliot had another asthma attack but he’s okay…Mr Madison got another nosebleed, scared the living daylights out of his fourth graders, he is okay, no matter what you hear from him…had lunch with Angelica and Peggy…so yeah, pretty good! One sugar or- wait,” her hand froze on the tin of coffee beans, she turned and eyed him suspiciously, “How many have you had today? Be honest?”

Alex grinned sheepishly and shrugged, “You got me. Sixteen.”

Eliza shook her head in mock despair, “Apple juice it is then…”

As mildly annoying as Eliza’s new ‘Mr Hamilton can only have fifteen coffees per day’ rule was, Alex would gladly have drunk anything if it meant he got to sit with her. And surely it showed she cared about him? That was a good sign, right?

“So how about you?” Eliza asked, eventually handing him a juice box. Her eyes travelled upwards to the little love hearts still merrily bouncing around on the springs on his headband, her grin getting brighter as she reached up and tweaked one, “You got into the spirit of things, I’m guessing?”

Alex went red, covering it up by taking a long pull on the straw, he’d forgotten he was wearing the damn thing still…

“Good!” he nodded, “Really good, the guys loved it…um…actually…while we’re on the subject, I have something for you?”

Now or never. Do or die.

Eliza blinked, tilting her head a little, “Oh?”

Alex bit his lip and nervously produced the card from behind his back, offering it out to her, “Happy Valentine’s day?”

Eliza’s jaw dropped a little at the sight of the card, still dripping glue and shedding craft feathers, but she had the grace to get over it quickly, showing nothing but delight, “Oh, Alex!”

“The, ah, the students helped me,” he confessed, her positive reaction encouraging him, “But I…I wrote the inside myself…”

He let her take it, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched her open it and read his careful handwriting.

Second date, you and me? Friday night, coffee after work? From, Alex

Eliza read the words a few times just to make sure that it said what she thought it said, her smile growing wider, willing herself not to giggle like a complete love struck idiot.

“Second?”

“Well,” Alex rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “Seeing as the first was technically you driving me to the hospital to get a staple pulled out of my hand and to check I hadn’t given myself a concussion by passing out. Sorry about that by the way.”

“It’s no trouble,” Eliza laughed, her eyes bright and wide as they met his, “Second it is. I’d love to, Alex.”

The urge to whoop and punch the air was strong but Alex managed to resist. Just about.

“Great!” he jumped up, suddenly animated, like her yes had flooded him with energy, “We’ll go to that stand by the gates at central park, the one that you said does the right amount of cinnamon and then we can walk or we can sit or whatever, anything, whatever you want!”

Eliza watched him, grinning, “Sounds utterly perfect.”

On a complete impulse, seizing a whim, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, brief but so sweet and so gentle, it froze him in place. She had to laugh a little at his expression when she pulled away, he looked like he’d been shell shocked.

“Don’t faint again,” Eliza implored, springing his deelyboppers again.

Alex managed not to, he even managed to keep his feet for another kiss before they parted. He manged not too as he strode back to his classroom, feeling so light on his feet he wasn’t completely convinced he wasn’t floating.

He wasn’t sure if he should tell his students. He wanted to thank them for their help, after all, but if they knew that Mr Hamilton did in fact have a girlfriend and it was their beloved school nurse, Ms Schuyler, well, they’d have the wedding planned before playtime.

#hamliza #ficlet #teacher au #elementary school au #fluff #cute #alexander x eliza #my friend has the best aus guys seriously

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cannibalisticskittles · 7 years

Text

better late than never

pairing: saeran/reader notes: did a fic trade with @kirachama and @zentherainbowunicorn! (both v v lovely people and wonderful writers.) my prompts were ’discounted advent calendars’ and ’a slippery patch of ice.’

When Saeran asked you to stay over with him at his brother’s house for the holidays, you were thrilled.

Well -- actually, he’d been so hesitant about asking, hunching his shoulders and averting his eyes so that you initially thought something terrible had happened. When he managed to mumble out the question, though, you were quick to assure him that you’d be delighted to go.

He, in turn, seemed pleased by your answer, enough that only moments later he was acting as though there was never any doubt you’d say ’yes.’

When you arrived, it was… well. It wasn’t quite what you had imagined. When you walked into Saeyoung’s place with presents and overnight bags, you were struck dumb at the sheer number of lights strung up.

Saeran’s brother apparently goes a little bit… well, overboard for the holidays.

“Is he… always like this for Christmas?” you murmured as his fiancee came to greet you.

Strangely, she shook her head. Huh.

Well, regardless of what he’s usually like, this year, at least, he went all out for his brother’s arrival.

Every possible box there is to check was covered. Lights everywhere, garlands too. The biggest tree, barely fitting in the room. He passed out ugly (and slightly itchy) sweaters, and oh, the hats.

It could be worse. It’s obvious how fond Saeyoung is of his brother, and he’s absolutely thrilled to have you both there. Saeran, to his credit, is putting in an effort to deal with it all, but it’s fairly clear that he’s overwhelmed by it, anyway. Enough protest from Saeran is enough for Saeyoung to scale things back, at least temporarily, and thank god; you’re not sure what would have happened if he hadn’t vetoed caroling so quickly.

Still, it’s all a little much.

He makes it through the days leading up to Christmas, and through the day itself, but when it passes and he still seems wound up, you suggest stepping out for a while. You decide to head out in the morning to avoid running into Saeyoung or his fiancee, trying to see if space helps at all.

The two of you end up just walking for a while, enjoying the freedom of being out and the chance to be alone together, even if you’re not exactly alone with pedestrians milling about around you.

It still is cold, though, so you duck into an unassuming shop along the way. Of course, despite the comparatively plain windows of this store next to all the others, there’s Christmas stuff all over here, too.

You wander over to the first display rack that catches your eye.

Just about everything over here is discounted. They don’t seem to have had much luck pushing the last of the Christmas stuff; most of the shelves are still pretty full.

“Hey.”

“Hm?” You glance over at him. He’s holding a package of fake mistletoe, a little sprig of green on a string.

“Think we should get this?”

You stick your tongue out at him, though you pink, thinking of the last time you two encountered mistletoe. He laughs softly and puts it back, and you continue to rummage through the shelves.

“Hey babe, think your brother needs any more decorations?” You hold up a set of festive gel window clings. Saeran makes a face, apparently not deeming that question worthy of a reply.

He picks up a weird-looking snowman toy and within seconds it’s singing -- though to be honest, the sound is more like screeching. He places it quickly back on the shelf.

“Let’s... look at another aisle,” you suggest, trying not to laugh at the look of disgust he’s sending to the toy.

You turn the corner and -- oh, wow. You blink in surprise.

“Geez,” you say, “this place is a couponer’s paradise. Is that wall just discount candy?”

You wander closer to look. He’s quicker, of course. Nothing gets his attention like sweets.

You examine the rows with a faint sense of awe. “It is all candy. That’s… incredible.”

Mmmh. Not all of it.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not all candy.”

You blink. “Preeeeeetty sure it is.”

He glances from you to the shelves, then plucks a -- what is that, an advent calendar? -- from it and shoots you an unimpressed look.

“Babe, it’s discount, not -- used or expired. The chocolate in it is probably still good. So… yeah, I think that still counts.”

Saeran tilts his head, then peers at the package. Now he looks intrigued.

He flips it over in his hands. “...in the little flaps?”

It’s like he’s never seen a -- oh. Right. Right, right, right. Boyfriend’s still got a few gaps in his cultural knowledge due to the whole cult thing. Alright, no big deal.

“Mmmmhmm.” You step closer, poking at one of the numbered doors. “I mean, they’re small pieces, and not, like, godlike quality, but 24 pieces of candy are exciting to kids. …or, uh, anyone,” you amend quickly. “It, uh, counts down the days. Till Christmas. It’s just… a fun little countdown, giving you a piece of chocolate every day to reward you for being patient.”

“Hmm,” he says.

And then he starts grabbing a good dozen or so, stacking one on top of another.

“Babe, hang on--”

He murmurs something that sounds like, “Chocolate every day.”

You shake your head. “Look, you can’t just… just have chocolate every day, that’s not -- it’s -- I mean… huh.” You attempts to come up with a reason are for naught. He looks smug at your lack of answer. “...well. Guess maybe you can. But you don’t need an advent calendar for that, you can have candy all the time, anyway.”

It takes you a moment to realize the magnitude of what you’ve said. “Wait wait wait--”

It’s too late. There’s already a glint in his eye. Shit, there’s no way he’s not going to take you up on that.

“Noooo no no, that wasn’t permission--”

No, don’t turn puppy eyes on you, you’re not going to be able to resist, you’re going to --

Be found minutes later grumpily shouldering two very full plastic bags of advent calendars and various other sweets. You’d worry about how to get all this home, in addition to the many bags he’s holding, but you have a feeling he’ll manage to go through most of it before you leave for home.

“Babe, this is sooooo much candy,” you complain.

He hums a little. “Mmhmm.” He looks pleased, at least. Any irritation you might have felt melts away in the face of fondness.

“Let’s maybe head back, I… don’t think I wanna go anywhere else while holding these.” You lift the bags higher to indicate your point.

There’s a pause, and then he says, “...we can go somewhere else after we drop these off.”

You grin. You know it’s partly because he doesn’t want to be around his brother’s enthusiasm just yet, but it’s still nice to hear him say he wants to spend time with you.

You spin to face him and give a mock salute. “Sure thing, babe!”

He makes a face, but you’re pretty sure you see a hint of a smile there, too.

You turn back, intending to ask if he thinks his brother will be up when you get back, but when you take another step, your foot slides forward, more than you meant to, and then both your feet slip out from under you.

Oh goddamn it, you should have anticipated some of the sidewalks would ice over.

You yelp as you lurch forward, flailing a little, squeezing your eyes shut as the ground nears -- and then your arm is yanked back, so sudden as to be slightly painful, as an arm wraps around your back.

It takes you a moment to collect yourself. Hesitantly, you open your eyes. He’s staring back at you, pale eyes wide, startled.

Saeran is holding you in... almost a ballroom dip, except that it was sudden and unexpected and your head is still spinning, and he’s wobbling a little with the effort of holding you.

“Nice catch,” you say in a shaky voice. “Th-thanks.”

He tugs on your arm and pulls you upright and, ridiculously enough, casts a brief baleful glare at the patch of ice you slipped on.

One of the bags apparently slipped off your arm when you fell, spilling out its contents onto the pavement. “...sorry about that,” you say as you bend -- carefully -- to help him pick it up.

“You’ll make it up to me.”

“I will?”

“Mmmmmhmm.” He reaches into one of the bags and pulls out the fake mistletoe, which he shakes in your direction. How the hell did he manage to sneak that by you?

You narrow your eyes at him, flushing. “Youuuuu’ve got another thing coming if you think you’re going to hang that up at home.”

“Oh no? Don’t I deserve a little something for that daring rescue, hmm?”

“Well--” Damn. “--maybe.”

You’d be lying if you said the grin that spreads across his face wasn’t attractive.

You start back on your way, slower than before, standing closer to him.

“...so am I going to get to eat any of that c--”

“No.”

#saeran choi #mystic messenger #mystic messenger spoilers #mystic messenger unknown #mine

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