#like what do you mean you're not interested in my feline friend???

[8-rae-rae-8]

The urge to send absolutely everyone cat pictures is really hard to ignore

#like what do you mean you're not interested in my feline friend??? #jail for you

[jakeyt]

Covet: Chapter 1

Pairing: Jake Kiszka x f!Reader

Summary: 

Life was good. No, life was great. 

Was. 

Until.

Jake Kiszka crashed into the picture.

You welcomed him into your life—your home. 

Yes, he was your best friend’s twin. But, he was also the one who would end up disrupting your whole world with his attitude, his troubles, and the annoyingly natural way he lured you in. 

Jake Kiszka came with so much you really didn’t want.

At least that’s what you tried to convince yourself.

Word Count: 12k+

Genre: and they were ROOMMATES; slowburn; enemies to lovers; enemies to lovers to friends to who knows what the hell they are

Warnings: (most of these are to come and not explicitly taking place in this chapter) 18+ (minors stay away); struggles with anxiety; absent parents; use of drugs and alcohol; sexual situations; etc. *each chapter will include the warnings that you should be aware of as the reader. i promise.* <3

Covet Masterlist

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

a/n: woo! hi all! this is the very first fic that i am publishing for the gvf fandom, so i will admit, that when i say i am a little (very) nervous. . .I MEAN IT. it’s taking a lot for me to share this. . .but, i am so very passionate about this work. i am truly dying to share it with you all. 

this will be a longer, angsty, alternate universe (!!), slooowburn story (you'll have to wait for the ~stuff~, sorry). 

and this chapter is a very long intro chapter. lol. sorry in advance.

i have pictures of the boys that can accompany the chapters, if you're interested in checking those out. . .pictures that aide in showing you what the boys look like as the story goes on. (for anyone interested, the doc will be attached in the notes at the end of the chapter.)

i hope anyone who reads this enjoys this little brain child of mine. it is very special to me and i hope it is received well.

please enjoy! <3

-

Disclaimer: this is absolutely, undoubtedly 110% a work of fiction. i do not claim to know greta van fleet. i do not claim that any of this actually occurred. again, this is a complete work of fiction. And, please, DO NOT steal this work, as it is 110% mine. plagiarism isillegal. and, as our friend google puts it, plagiarism is “illegal if it infringes an author's intellectual property rights.” and, being these words/ideas are my intellectual property rights. . .don’t take them. legal action will be taken if you take credit for any of my work.

-

_ _ _

Covet: to greatly desire, yearn for, or want a person. 

And, on the same hand: to begrudge a person.

_ _ _

Chapter 1

May, 2022

Brooklyn, NY

The sun was shining brightly through the window of the Black and Gold, the cozy and charming record store you worked at in east Brooklyn. 

It was quite the picturesque morning. You had woken with enough time to make a protein smoothie and take a light jog. And after your jog, you were decently sweaty and you’d still had enough time on the clock to take a relatively long shower afterwards. 

Now, you were at the B&G, and you had about ten minutes before the shop opened. Today would be a busy one, so you took advantage of the calm before the storm. 

You were using this time to sit behind the work computer and browse Amazon. You were on the hunt for a cute little cat tree. Today, you would be adopting a sweet feline that you’d recently inquired about from a nearby shelter. As soon as you got off work, you were set to pick her up. 

You could hear the birds chirping so beautifully outside to welcome the spring day. You were glad you were opening the shop this morning. Anytime you opened, it felt so overwhelmingly relaxing and safe. 

And, it felt even better to be working the opening shift on the very first day of your summer vacation. You sighed in relief of your summer officially beginning.

Your junior year of college had finally finished. It had absolutely been the most draining of your undergraduate years so far. So, you welcomed today gladly and openly. It was refreshing. You could actually breathe again.

It was very nearly the same refreshing feeling you always had when you finished with classes. That feeling of relief and finality that could compare to little else. 

But, as much as you loved summer, you really did love school. You loved being a college girl and taking the proper steps to eventually live out your dream. There really was no question about how much you loved college. Everyday was spent pursuing your passion for writing to eventually become an author – it had been everything you’d ever wanted. Truly. 

But, you were human. A human with anxiety at that. So, you loved times of peace and low stress. 

Now, all you’d have to worry about was: reading and writing in your spare time; seeing your wonderful grandparents more often; and getting to hang out with Josh. 

You grinned when you thought of the goofy, curly-headed man. 

Josh Kiszka was your best friend in the city. You had been close for a few years. You had met each other at the Black and Gold about three years ago when you first walked into the record shop, asking if they were hiring. He had been the manager on duty that day. He’d taken little time that day to find the proper application for you to fill out, and had basically hired you on the spot. Now that you were so closely friends with him, that instance was so characteristically Josh, it brought another small smile to your face. 

You began your job here almost as soon as you graduated high school. Your grandparents hadn’t allowed you to have a job in the city while you were still an ‘impressionable’ high schooler. Though, as soon as you turned eighteen and you walked the stage, diploma in hand, you bet your ass you started seeking out record stores to work for in the city. You loved music as much as you loved to write, so a record store was the only viable job option, in your opinion. 

You had been determined to have a job nailed down before you ever stepped onto the campus of the Pratt Institute. Pratt had been the object of your desire ever since your sophomore year of high school when your sister, Elsie, who was then still a junior, had decided to attend there to maintain a degree in journalism. 

Then, last year, you had watched Elsie so gracefully cross the stage and switch her tassel from one side to the other at that very Institute. She had given you a double thumbs-up and one of the dumb little faces you two would often exchange. And in that moment, you’d been so proud to have followed in her footsteps. She was your closest confidant, Josh coming in second. 

While you both attended school, she had been your roommate. The summer before freshman year, you’d moved all of your necessary belongings into the apartment your grandparents had chosen for her the year prior. Living with her had been what all dreams were made of. It had been the two of you against the world – just like always.

But, last May, when she graduated, she’d officially left you. She had started traveling the world to be the best journalist the world would ever see. (You were, admittedly, a bit biased, but almost everyone who knew her knew what a fantastic writer she was.)

She was a hard worker, and as genetics would have it, so were you. You always had been the hardest worker in your class. You’d been a straight-A student as far back as you could remember. Your senior year of high school, all of your teachers had been beyond thrilled to write recommendation letters for you to submit with your application to Pratt. 

Your teachers had waited with you, on baited breath, to receive the acceptance letter. 

You had waited a few (long) months to receive the letter that answered every prayer imaginable. Pratt’d accepted you, and it was history from there.

You had then gotten your job here, at the Black and Gold, moved in with your sister to her apartment, and started school that August. You had decided several years prior that anywhere you went, you’d major in writing and minor in music (the latter falling under ‘media studies’ at Pratt).

And, even though you missed your sister, living alone had been an almost exhilarating experience for the past year. You were able to live life for you and you alone. It was wonderful. And, now, you were almost done with school, on your way to becoming an author. 

And you had a cat on the way. 

Life simply couldn’t get any better. 

🌼  🌼  🌼

Like you knew it would be, this Friday in the shop had been a busy one. Everyone on this side of Brooklyn knew you got shipment in on Thursdays, and Josh always featured the best records to lure customers in further.

You weren’t unhappy to see all of the customers, though. You loved people. You loved getting to see regulars and meet new people. As did Josh. 

At this moment, there was a lady in front of you both, asking if the record she was holding was ‘worth a shot’. It had been one that Josh had deemed appropriate for the ‘Featured Wall’ (a pegged wall with display hooks for the vinyl). Naturally, he was ready to talk it up. It was a film score. Of course.

“Now, this one is quite exquisite,” Josh said, in his mature voice, he held the vinyl with one hand. His other hand was flourishing as he spoke. “You see, this film was filled with such sorrow and heartache, but redemption all the same – the music from the feature reflects just that. It’s stupendous, really.”

Of course, the woman instantly became convinced. He had such a way of talking to people. Charisma was the word for it. You admired that about him. Though, there were many qualities you admired about the man. You could hardly begin to list them all. 

You could easily say that being a good friend topped the list of wonderful things about him. 

He had been the main person (besides your sister) that you turned to when you needed to talk for the past three years. But now that she was gone? He’d essentially been all you’d had for the past year. And you had already kind of known this about him, but the past year had taught you that he was easily the most empathetic person you’d ever met.

You loved Josh and you were always trying your hardest to be the kind of friend to him that he consistently was to you.

He checked the woman’s vinyl out for her, talking her ear off the whole time. He laughed at the right times, showing he was listening intently to every word she said. He had a way of drawing people in to him, and this older woman was no different. 

As she left, he started talking to you, still facing the register, making sure to balance it after that transaction. 

“I haven’t even had time to ask you,” he turned to you after closing the drawer. “How has your first official day of summer vacation been?”

You put a finger to your chin, pretending to think deeply at the question. You scrunched your lips to one side to add to the effect.

He chuckled at you, his eyes becoming soft.  “You are so endearing, Y/N,” he gave you a look and a raise of his brow, a smolder on his face. “But not quite as endearing as that sister of yours.”

You laughed at that. Josh was a mess for Elsie. Since the first time she’d dropped lunch off for you at the shop, and he’d seen her that very first time – he’d been hooked. You were pretty sure he had actually drooled a little. 

He’d been quite vocal about her to you, but you knew he thought he didn’t stand a chance. He believed she was completely out of his league. He was truly besotted by her. 

“Well, let’s see, I’m –.”

“I’m ready!” The excited person at the register, who donned three original presses, was a regular. She was a young, mousy, high-school aged girl named Stacy. She had an appreciation for all things vintage. You and Josh both liked her a lot for her individuality. 

You made a quick conversation with her, asking if she was out for summer yet. She sadly replied that she wasn’t, but she was ‘so ready to be.’ You grinned, telling her you totally understood.

She flitted out the door as soon as she’d appeared, and you turned to Josh, ready to continue. Though, the thing you were most excited for was what you decided to mention first.

“I’m getting my cat today!”

He opened his mouth wide, all of his teeth showing. He raised his hands above his head in excitement, lifting to his toes a little as well. He felt every ounce of joy that you did, you could tell. 

“Your landlord gave the okay?” he asked, surprised, lowering back to earth with you.

Your landlord could be a pain in the ass at times, but at the end of the day, you had a way with people, like Josh. And, you had gotten your way when you had asked so very sweetly. You might have pulled the “I feel so alone since my sister left” card . . . but you really wanted a cat. And it wasn’t a complete lie. You did occasionally long for someone to keep you company. And a cat could do just that. 

“Of course,” you scoffed, as if the question was absurd. Then you gave a little grin. “Who could say no to the sweet little thing that is me?” You have a hair flip, adding to the bit.

“I never tell you this, but your humility is your best trait,” he remarked.

You both laughed at that. 

“And your quiet demeanor is yours,” you gave a cheeky grin that he returned. 

It was that grin of his where his dimple showed, and more of his gums showed than his teeth. 

“What are you naming it?”

“Her,” you corrected. “And I’m naming her Stevie.”

“Nicks or Wonder?”

“Wonder,” you stated, as if it was even a question. 

“Why did I even ask?” You both shook your heads, grinning at each other. “I love it, Y/N. It fits you.”

You decided to change the subject to him and his life.  “How has your filmmaking been going?” 

Josh loved film, and his ultimate dream was to be a director. He loved music, but not quite to the same degree as film.

“It’s alright,” he shrugged. Then, you could practically see the lightbulb gleam above his head, his eyes brightened with the imaginary bulb. “That reminds me! Could you, pretty please, with the reddest cherry on top, ask Elsie if she’d be in one of my upcoming projects?”

“Josh, she’s hardly in town,” you feign offense with an exaggerated hand to your heart and a gasp. “And what about me? Am I chopped liver? We do share the same genetics, my friend.”

“Y/N. She is my muse,” he gave you the funniest look of desperation. “Please.”

You conceded. You knew as soon as he asked you that you would talk to her about it. Of course you would. It was Josh and you’d do anything for him. 

“Of course, Joshua,” you pinched his cheek and ruffled the curls that sat atop his head. The beads of his headband that laid against his neck shook as you did so. “Anything for you.”

He literally leapt with joy at that. And you knew the smile that was on his face wouldn’t leave for hours. You wished you could enamour someone in the way Josh was so enamored by your sister. That was a trait of hers you had been jealous of for years – she drew people in. Just like Josh drew people in.

You loved people, yes, but you weren’t this grand lamp that drew in all of the people around you like moths to a flame. 

You longed for the day a guy would think of you the way Josh thought of her. 

He continued, “Anyway, I am just so exci–.”

His eyebrows scrunched as his phone started blaring I Will Survive in his pocket, he got it out and his eyes squinted even harder as he looked at the wide screen. 

He never got calls during work. Josh’s entire family knew his schedule. His brother Sam and their friend Danny were his roommates, so they knew. And, Josh talked to his mom so much. Like, they talked so often you simply knew that she knew what he had for lunch every single day. She obviously knew he was busy, which translated to his father knowing. And his sister was overseas, pursuing a degree.

“Everything okay?” you questioned, curiosity lacing your tone as his brows stayed knitted.

He shook his head, as if shaking himself from his daze. “Yeah, I just never–,” he shook his head again, his eyes widening as he slid his pointer finger across the screen. Josh held his phone like your grandpa held his, almost unsure of the smart device. He held the phone to his ear suddenly.  His lips set in a pursed line, and his jaw clenched as the other person started talking. Then, as if he forgot you were standing there, already engaged in the cellular conversation, he looked at you suddenly. Then, he mouthed an “I’ve gotta take this,” and headed outside. He placed himself outside the shop in a way you couldn’t see him and your interest grew tenfold. 

Who could it possibly be?

🌼 🌼 🌼

Minutes ticked by. The sun had sunk just a tad bit lower in the sky. And, you had checked out countless customers who all seemed to finish making their selections at the same. time. 

You knew Josh had seen them all leave in a steady flow, bags in hand. On a normal day, he would have taken that as his cue to come back in and help you. But, he hadn’t come back in. Instead, he’d stayed out of sight, outside the store. You checked the clock that hung behind the cash register. 

He’d been outside for thirty minutes. Damn. 

You needed to leave in about an hour to get your cat. 

He’d better be back in by then, you thought slightly grumpily. You knew your irritation wasn’t necessarily warranted. You knew if he was still outside, it was serious. At this point, you were more fuelled by your spirit of inquiry than anything else. You just wanted to know what was going on on the other side of Josh’s iPhone. 

Finally, about five minutes later, he stomped back in. Josh never stomped. He usually glided. 

Well. Now you wondered even more what the matter was. His face read dread and a healthy tinge of anger.

Before you could turn to him to ask your burning questions, a customer came up. You hurriedly checked him out, barely making conversation. At this point, you were more worried for your frazzled friend than making polite conversation with a stranger. And, again, that’s why people were drawn to Josh and not you. He wouldn’t have let his personal issues change his interactions with those around him.

Except now, he faced away from the store, back slightly hunched as he stared out the massive window behind the register. His arms were crossed, indicating even more that he was in deep thought.

As soon as you’d placed the customer’s record in one of the gold bags that were associated with your store, you turned to Josh. He was now teetering back and forth on his ropey sandals, his hand continuously raking through his once-perfectly-tousled curls. Now, the curls on his head matched the nervous energy he was exuding. 

He was angled away from you, in his own world.

“Josh?” You were quiet, both for the benefit of the few customers in the store and your friend’s obvious distress. You stepped the couple of steps it took to be closer to him. You placed a hand on his arm, hoping your calm tone and the delicate gesture would communicate your concern. 

He seemed to boost just the slightest bit at your touch. He turned his head in your direction, yet his eyes stayed planted to the happenings occurring outside the window. He was watching people. You knew he was surely doing so to latch on to one of their happy feelings, and feel that instead of the obvious anguish that was overtaking him. 

His eyes met yours finally. You knew your eyes widened a bit when you saw his. Had he been crying? His eyes were a bit puffy, a tinge red and so sullen. You were definitely taken aback. Josh radiated joy almost always. . .this was a new emotion of his for you to experience. He hardly let bad things affect him, as he was always determined to find the bright side of things. And the joy he’d had when you two had last talked only forty minutes ago, was gone. His mouth was a flat frown. 

“It’s–,” he cleared his throat, his voice having been laced with emotion he didn’t seem ready to show. “It’s my brother.”

Your heart started racing, all things that could possibly be wrong were suddenly wrong in your mind. What had happened? 

“Oh no, Josh,” your hand squeezed his arm, you moved closer, hoping your proximity may help him. “Sam? What-what happened?” 

Josh shook his head, the strings that tied his beaded headband together in the back shaking slightly. “No. Not Sam,” he scratched at his eyebrow with a finger, his eyes still looking concerned underneath them. “Jake.”

You internally slapped yourself for not thinking of Jake before. To be fair, he never called Josh. He lived in Illinois, living a completely separate life from his twin. But, how could you have forgotten about Josh’s literal twin? Josh brought him up in conversation from time to time, but he was just so far away. You never thought of him.

Now you understood why he was so downtrodden. You knew twin telepathy was real. If you hadn’t known before you’d become friends with Josh, you surely did now. Josh had explained his beliefs about it many times before. You had absolutely no doubts he was feeling every emotion Jake was feeling in this moment. An empathetic twin? You couldn’t begin to imagine the weight. 

You suddenly had to know what was going on – even more than you’d needed to before. You shook your head, letting your hand fall from Josh’s arm and giving him some space to feel what he was feeling. “He never calls you,” you stated the first thing that you’d thought. “What did he need–,” you checked your slightly accusatory tone. Not the time, Y/N. “I mean, what happened to him?”

You were honestly kind of scared for his response.

“His, um, his girlfriend–,” Josh’s eyebrows drew together in anger. “No–his ex-girlfriend. She–,” he held a clenched fist to his mouth, and you saw tears gather in his eyes. “She cheated on him.”

You stepped back once, slightly shocked. Josh was this distressed over a breakup? 

You tried to keep your tone understanding. “Oh no,” you tried, really.

“Yeah,” he rubbed his forehead, just below the headband. He sniffed the tears away. His eyes lightened a bit. Just a bit. It seemed to have lifted off of his shoulders a bit. Maybe it was because he’d finally stated it out loud, and the emotions were finally able to come out of his body. He wasn’t holding onto the entirety of it anymore. He looked down again. “I can’t, no– actually, I can,” he nodded to himself, a heinous smirk on his face. “I can believe she’d–,” he scoffed haughtily.

You were doing your best to follow along. But if he continued with broken-up sentences, you weren’t sure you’d be able to keep up. “Yeah?”

He finally snapped out of his daze even more and locked his eyes with yours. He seemed to remember where he was, his eyes tracing the establishment quickly, to make sure customers were alright and no one was nearby. Then, he looked back at you. 

“I know it seems a little ridiculous,” he stated. “To be so upset over a break-up. But, this girl. Jake, he–,” Josh swallowed an obvious knot that had blossomed in his throat at saying his twin’s name. “Jake followed her to that stupid ass college of hers when we graduated and– he was so selfless. So selfless, Y/N. I can’t believe she’d be so selfish. She basically spit in my brother’s face.”

Your eyebrows knit together. You didn’t know much about Jake, so hearing all of this was incredibly interesting to you, to say the least. You were sipping on some piping hot tea while also learning of a mystery person who shared the same DNA as your best friend. 

He continued. “Actually, I think it’s worse than spitting in one’s face,” he scoffed, his tongue curling in his mouth, his dimple showing for an emotion completely opposite of joy. “She kicked him so hard. . .he is bleeding. And I can’t–,” more tears gathered in his eyes. Oh no. Josh tears were surely going to make your tears spring soon, and you didn’t like showing those. 

“You can’t what, Josh?” you urged, trying to push the conversation forward, past the pauses that could cause the waterworks. 

He looked you in the eyes, his eyes so sad. “He is leaving there asap, and I can’t take him in,” a tear left his right eye. “And I refuse to let him go back to our hometown. He is better than that. I want him–no, I need him here with me.”

Josh’s tone was more serious than you’d ever heard it. You didn’t want to peep a word, you wanted him to continue what he was saying. But, you had to ask. Though, you knew the answer. You were denying what you already knew you had to do.

“Why can’t you take him in?” you pondered.

“Landlord was already iffy about me moving Sammy and Danny in when they came to town,” he placed both hands over his face, smoothing them down to his cheeks. “My apartment was a strictly two-person apartment and somehow my landlord let me squeeze a third one in there. He wouldn’t ever let me have more than that. I could ask, I guess, but getting shot down right now would seriously kill me,” a tear fell from his eye. “But Jake can’t afford his own place right now. He’s been working the worst jobs down there. Terrible income.”

Your heart beat erratically in your chest. You knew what you had to do. You knew it the moment you asked him why he couldn’t take in another person. You’d been to Josh’s apartment. The three boys really were kind of squeezed into that apartment, but they made it work better than most people could. How they did it, you didn’t know. But, you did know what you had to offer. 

“He can stay with me.”

“What?” his eyes widened to the point of you wondering if they’d bulge out of his head. He looked like that one emoji who was on the verge of tears, due to gratefulness. “Y/N, you couldn’t possibly be serious.”

Before you said anything else, you quickly contemplated it once more. You didn’t know the guy. You literally forgot that he existed for a moment today. And you were about to take him in. What in the hell did you just offer? You internally berated yourself for questioning your decision when you looked at Josh again, though. His eyes were so wide, so gracious, so kind. You had wanted to be the friend that Josh deserved for a long time. You knew your decision. 

“Yes, Josh,” you gave him a small, hesitant smile. “He can stay with me for a while.”

Josh looked more than appreciative, but he had a question in his eye. You immediately knew it as foreboding guilt. “Y/N, I did not mean to make you think that you had to–.”

“I know,” you smiled a wider, more genuine smile now. “That’s why I offered,” you reached out to grab his arm again. “You would do it for me.”

He would. You could feel your eyes well with emotion and his did the same. Before you knew it, he was grasping you so tightly, like you were his lifeline. He said thank you’s and you have no idea what this means to me’s more times than you could count. 

You hugged him tighter to you. You really would do anything for him. 

Even if it meant taking in a stranger.

But– Jake wasn’t really a stranger. Well, he was. He was a person you had never even looked at in your life, so he was a stranger. You wouldn’t know him if you saw him across the street. 

(You hadn’t frequently been to Josh’s apartment and the photos you had seen on his phone were terribly shaky at best.)

The more you thought, maybe you would recognize him from a distance. He was Josh’s twin, after all. But for the life of you, you couldn’t remember ever seeing a picture of him. Maybe he looked just like Josh.

Maybe he would be just like Josh. He’d called him selfless, after all. And Josh was the most selfless person you knew, besides your grandparents. 

You had to convince yourself that you hadn’t just made one of (if not the) most impulsive decisions in your life. 

Instead, you just hugged Josh even tighter to you, remembering that his happiness and calmness was what mattered right now, most of all. 

🌼 🌼 🌼

It had been a week since you’d made the most drastic (and mindless) decision of your life.

Josh had decided it would take about a week for Jake to get his stuff together and get here. 

So, the day was here for him to move in. 

You had wanted to quiz Josh as much as you possibly could during the week that was leading up to this chaotic decision, but you hadn’t had the chance. Josh had only been at the record store the day after you had offered your apartment up. Then, he had left in his little beat-up car. Followed along by Sammy and Danny in a small U-Haul to pick up his (their) other brother. 

You weren’t sure how Josh’s little humpty dumpty car was going to make the nearly-fifteen-hour trip. You were sure, however, that that thing was set to burst into flames at any given moment. The brown rust that had overtaken the majority of the metal on the car, the paint that was chipped so badly you could hardly tell what the original color of the car had been. And then there were the terrible fumes that came from the exhaust. . . Blech. Even just thinking about it, you had to physically shake your head to rid yourself of the smell as you thought of it.

It was that one car that, if you had your windows rolled down at a stoplight next to it, you rolled your windows back up as quickly as you possibly could. 

You politely refused to ride in that thing, seeing as you didn’t want to ride passenger in a ticking time bomb. But, you loved how much Josh loved the car. 

It had come all the way from Frankenmuth, Michigan with him when he moved to the city years ago, and he seemed bound and determined to drive it until the old, rusty wheels fell off.

You brought yourself out of your thoughts and went to get the vacuum out of the coat closet. You rolled it out by its squeaky wheels and tended to the hallway and bedrooms first. You gave them all at least three sweeps, giving the guest room an extra. Living room was next.

You were so nervous to show a complete stranger your apartment. You wanted to make a good impression, and you needed Jake to know that you were a person who liked things kept clean. You’d known ever since you offered your place up last week, that you would wind up deep-cleaning the entire apartment at some point during the week. 

And, due to the busyness that could only be described as summertime at the Black and Gold, you were just now getting to it. It seemed that everyone on this side of New York was always suddenly inspired to grow their record collections during the summer time. You thought it was maybe due to the sunshine and the generally carefree nature of summer that brought a sense of melancholy and nostalgia to everyone, including yourself. Summer could simply be viewed as an opportunity to live life rather than go about your days in constant routine and mindless motions. 

You had been scheduled to work the morning of this cloud-ridden Friday, but you had personally requested to only work the morning so you could prepare your apartment for your burgeoning guest the second part of the day. 

You looked around your cozy apartment, a hand on your hip to ground your exhausted body. You were proud of your work. You then looked at the gold clock that hung next to the front door. It was just now 5:14 p.m. on the dot, and your apartment was basically sparkling. The only thing you really had left to do was vacuum the living room. 

So, you ran your vacuum over the carpet of your living room. And, after giving it at least four complete sweeps, you gave it one last once over. You decided it was as good as it was going to get. As you put away the vacuum, you wondered how close Josh and the guys were.

He had called you earlier that day to inform you that they had been more than halfway back. That was around 10 a.m. At that point, he’d thought they would be arriving around 6:30 or 7 that evening. You checked the clock on the wall again, and realized the minute hand hadn’t moved at all for the past fifteen-ish minutes. You crinkled your brows. Then, your stomach fell to your feet. 

You raced over to your phone on the counter, almost tripping over Stevie. You apologized to her, as if your walking had caused a real inconvenience to her. She had barely budged in your rushed stumble.

When you’d picked her up, the humane society had sworn she had some of the Ragdoll breed in her. With her bright blue eyes and fluffy combined white and light gray fur. So, being you, you’d researched the breed. She held true to many positive traits of the breed. Though, one you’d learned that she inhabited, was how she did the ‘cat flop’ so frequently. A very Ragdoll-esque thing to do. And, it was more cute than anything, honestly. 

You got to your iPhone and pressed your finger to the screen of your phone, lighting it up.

5 missed calls from Josh. 3 text messages from Josh. 

And it was 6:05 p.m.

“Well, shit,” you mumbled frustratedly to yourself. You rubbed your forehead, a light sheen of sweat coming off on your hand. You opened your phone to read his texts.

Josh, 5:02 p.m.: We are about 1 hr and some change away

Josh, 5:30 p.m.: Stuck in traffic :/ 

Josh, 5:55 p.m.: You ok???

And then you noticed the missed calls had come in a string. You had actually just missed the last one, it having come in at six o’clock on the dot.

You suddenly took notice of the fact that you could feel the sticky sweat in your armpits and decided you had to take a shower. You gave him a quick response.

You, 6:06 p.m.: Where are you now? I’ve gotta hop in the shower. Lost track of time. Ugh

He responded instantaneously. 

Josh, 6:06 p.m.: Lol it’s ok. We are still about 30 minutes away

Josh, 6:06 p.m.: IM GLAD YOURE OK!!!!!

You smiled to yourself, and quickly sent a smiley emoji back in response. You were about to take the fastest shower of your life. Taking your phone with you to keep better track of time, you hurriedly went to the closet that held the washer and dryer at the end of the hallway. You set the dryer to run an air dry cycle on the guest room sheets. You simultaneously stripped your clothes and threw them in the hamper that sat in the laundry room. 

Then, you headed to the bathroom to (very) quickly scrub down.

🌼 🌼 🌼

As you got out of the shower, you crossed to the white, laminate countertop that held the sink, and tapped the screen of your phone to view the time. 

It was only 6:15 p.m. You had managed to take a shower and shave your legs in a span of less than ten minutes.

Hell yeah. 

You didn’t even wrap the towel around your body as you normally would have. You didn’t want to dirty a new one, and you decided you’d take a quick moment to commemorate the time you’d had living alone. You let yourself air dry as you ran as fast as possible, stark naked, to your bedroom. You were hoping the faster the speed, the quicker your body would dry. 

Once you made the not-so-long trek to your bedroom, you opened the drawers you’d need to use from the beautiful, vintage, white chest of drawers your sister had left behind for you to keep. You two had gone thrifting one day your freshman year, and she’d found it first, so she’d gotten dibs. It had only been fair for you to inherit the piece of furniture, considering her new profession would have her in no one place for too long. 

You quickly got a pair of underwear and a sports bra out, sliding them on slightly slowly due to the adhesive your body had created from the still-drying water. 

You chose a pair of black jean shorts for your bottoms, opting against any long pants as you knew the material would only stick to your legs uncomfortably. Then, you chose the dark, mossy green tank top you saw lying atop all of the others in your drawer of tanks and tees.

You gave yourself a quick look in the mirror that was attached to the chest. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t impressed by the cute outfit that was made in record time. It was simple, but it was cute. 

You grabbed the gold necklace that held your first initial from the dresser in front of you, clasping it around your neck.

Good job thinking on the spot, Y/N. And, being the (admittedly) weird person you were, you gave yourself a quick little pat on the back for all the work you’d done so far today, including the outfit decision. A few water droplets landed on your hand from your hair that was steadily leaking onto your tank-top, already creating an ugly wet spot on the back of the shirt. 

You poked the screen of your iPhone, seeing the newest text from Josh as you slid the screen to unlock it.

Josh, 6:17 p.m.: We just dropped Daniel and Samuel off at our place. 

Josh, 6:17 p.m.: They had plans with a couple of girls tonight. 

Josh, 6:18 p.m.: Soooooo it will just be Jacob and myself

Josh, 6:18 p.m.: We are like 5 min away btw

You didn’t always understand Josh sending multiple texts in a row rather than just combining them all into one. It was a silly thing he did that you found slightly chaotic, but that made it very Josh. He would send the thoughts as they came to him. Just as he said whatever thought may pop into his mind if you were to be talking to him in person.

You spared no time as you brushed through your sopping wet hair with the ever-present brush that sat atop the chest of drawers. Water flung from the ends, onto your back, and onto the rest of your bedroom as you quickly brushed. You grabbed the claw clip nearest to you and made a quick twist of your hair. Then, at the back of your head, you secured it with the claw clip. Good enough.

You pinched your cheeks, adding some life to them. You had, so far, opted for a foundation-free summer. You were trying to give your skin a break. Though, you did slap a couple layers of mascara on. You did have the decency to want to look presentable for your about-to-be roommate.

Your phone screen read that it was 6:22. They would be here any–.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

Josh’s signature series of knocks. You could swear he added a little flair every time he knocked on your apartment’s door. If it made any sense, the knocks seemed to get a little more zesty every time he visited your home. 

You walked quickly to the front door, scanning the apartment again as you walked through it. You were very proud of how it looked. You grabbed the candle striker that sat behind a picture on an end table and lit the maple pancakes scented candle that sat on the same table. You wanted to add to the cozy feeling you wanted for your apartment. 

You wanted Jake to feel welcomed.

As you went to open the door, you heard the same knocks start up again. You rolled your eyes at your friend’s blatant impatience. 

As you opened the door, a piece of hair fell from your up-do, onto your face. It made you momentarily close your eyes as it tickled your eyelashes. You puffed it out and away from your face with a breath. You tucked it behind your ear, and your eyes opened to see Josh’s smile. 

It seemed to be a smile that said, ‘I’m sorry in advance.’

You gave him a smile of encouragement. Surely Josh was just on edge, probably from feeling so much stress and emotion for the past week. 

Then, you saw movement behind Josh, your breath caught in your throat. 

Oh. 

You weren’t expecting Josh’s identical twin to look so different from him right off the bat. Did they look similar? Yes. You could definitely tell that they were twins, but Jake was just different from Josh. 

His tanned skin was like Josh. But, you initially noticed their differences more than similarities.

His hair was longer than Josh’s. It was wavy rather than exhibiting the springy curls as Josh’s did. Where Josh’s hair indicated buoyancy, Jake’s hair showed an alluring appeal. You suddenly wanted to run your fingers through it. 

Okay, stop it, Y/N.

But, then, the amber-brown eyes that looked past his brother and into the apartment caught your attention before you were able to stop it. They stopped you. They were like Josh’s, but you hadn’t ever cared to notice the perfect mixture of color in Josh’s eyes before. But when it came to Jake’s? Apparently his eyes held a special kind of drug that you couldn’t help but be lured in by. They held a strange sense of something you’d never known you’d needed. 

You just couldn’t quite place your finger on what void it was these eyes filled. 

It was Josh’s voice that snapped you out of your daze. “Y/N?”

When you came to, you realized he was waving a hand in front of your face. 

Well.

That was embarrassing as hell. Your first interaction with your brand new roommate had you in a trance that you literally had to be brought out of with a calling of your name and a gesture. You would have slapped your forehead if you wanted to humiliate yourself any more, but you really didn’t want to add more fuel to the flame in your now-rosy cheeks. You could feel them burning hot. 

You caught Josh’s eyes first as you snapped out of your trance. Afraid to lose yourself in his twin’s eyes again, you held Josh’s as you introduced yourself to this new person. Josh’s eyes were safe. Admittedly, it was weird for you to stare at Josh as you introduced yourself to his brother, but.

“I’m–.”

“This is Y/N, Jake,” Josh introduced you. You shared a small smile with your best friend, silently thanking him for saving you from any more awkwardness. The dimple in his cheek showed as he gave you his close-mouthed smile. “Y/N, this is Jake.”

You forced yourself to look at him, out of politeness. 

Although, when you looked at him this time, you realized he wasn’t holding any sort of smile on his face. His eyes weren’t showing warmth, as Josh’s almost always did. He was looking at you with a stone-cold face. No emotion seemed to show. 

“Hi,” his jaw was clenched in his greeting. 

“Hey! Welcome to New Yor–.”

“Can we unload the U-Haul now?” He was looking at Josh when he said it, as if he hadn’t even been trying to listen to you. 

Suddenly you weren’t anywhere near a trance-like state anymore. Instead, you wanted to roll your eyes at his childish greeting and his inability to show you respect. It was almost like he was a child being forced to apologize for something, when in all actuality, he was being allowed the opportunity to stay with you. Could he act like an adult? You were being one by allowing him this opportunity. It felt as though you were pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone for him. 

Well, to be fair, it was mostly for Josh’s sake.

You decided to ignore it. Perhaps he was just awkward when meeting new people. God knows you had already been awkward in your own way. 

“Uh– um, yeah,” you clumsily responded. “Let’s go ahead and get started.”

🌼 🌼 🌼

The three of you had almost finished unloading the U-Haul. He hadn’t brought much, really. It had not taken long at all to get this moving truck nearly empty. There were only a few boxes and a couple of guitar cases left, near the front of the truck. 

Josh and Jake had unloaded heavier things, allowing you the opportunity to take in some of the smaller things. 

One of the things you’d enjoyed carrying in the most had been the majority of his record collection. You had thoroughly appreciated the mass amount of boxes that included vinyl. You had nosily picked through them as you had dropped off each box to his room. 

You had instantly been a fan of the Cream and Eric Clapton you’d come across. You loved good ‘ol Rock ‘n’ Roll. 

He didn’t seem to share quite the same amount of love for soul as Josh did, though you still noticed enough of the blues to make you smile. Even if he was awkward with new people, his music taste was something of worth. You even saw a few duplicates of records you already owned. Although, there were enough albums that you didn’t own that you also admired his taste in that capacity. You did have quite the expansive collection.

As you passed through the living room, ready to continue to help, you passed the guys. Each of them were carrying a couple of boxes, chattering away about something. You wanted to know what they were talking about, you wanted to include yourself in an easy conversation with your new roommate. But you knew you shouldn’t interrupt, so you went about your business helping. 

When you made it back to the U-Haul, you saw the twins had pushed what was left to the front of the truck. You only noticed two beat-up guitar cases were left. You went ahead and decided you’d be the hero of the day by carrying in the last of the things he’d brought. Maybe it would show him how helpful you were. How you liked to help people. 

All things considered, offering up a room in your apartment to a perfect stranger should show that, but you were an overachiever, okay? 

And maybe this one thing would be the key to him opening up to you. 

As you reached both hands out for the cases, another hand slapped one of your hands away. 

What the hell?

You turned to see Jake. His eyebrows were scrunched, his eyes annoyed. 

Again, what even?

“I can get these, okay?” he sighed, seemingly put-out. 

You didn’t pass up that opportunity to roll your eyes at him. You hadn’t meant to, truly. But you just couldn’t help the natural response to his ungrateful attitude that marred the two interactions you had had with him so far. 

“Well–,” you stopped yourself from saying anything. You forced yourself to put things in perspective. “Okay.” 

You stepped back, watching as he grasped the handles of each worn, leather case. You followed him up the stairs as he carried them. You were not going to offer to help. You just decided to keep to yourself as you thought it all through.

The longing for normal decency was grating on you. It pissed you off when people couldn’t be generally kind. You knew the irony considering how you had just rolled your eyes at him. Though, you were different from him. You had tried to be nice and fair and decent. You were giving him a place to live, for God’s sake. 

The little spark of empathy that lit up in you saw its way through to your heart and you remembered. You remembered how distraught Josh had been at this upheaval in Jake’s life. Surely that meant something. Jake really was going through a lot. 

This–this was all so new for him. It was a whole lot of new. New city. Completely new life. He was saying hello to so much, but saying goodbye to even more. 

As soon as you made it back into the apartment, you found your way to Josh. 

Thankfully, you hadn’t had to walk behind Jake for long. His fast walking up the stairs was helpful. He had seemed absolutely desperate to get away from you.

Josh was leaning against the back of the couch, writing something in his notebook that stayed almost permanently in his back pocket. It was for his musings, the little thoughts he got that inspired more. You never really questioned it, just admired his love to write. 

You situated yourself next to him. As you did so, he closed the notebook, putting it back in his pocket. He put the pen he’d been using back in the cup on your kitchen countertop. You had deemed it Josh’s pen awhile back. It was his favorite. He claimed it wrote smoother than the others. 

“Josh,” you knew your tone communicated some of your worry.

He wrapped an arm around you, and you leaned into it. You loved how he just always seemed to know. 

“He’s going through a lot, Y/N,” he said quietly, then kissed the side of your head. He said the next words even more quietly than the previous ones. “And I should have warned you. . .he acts like an ass when his emotions are all over the place. He doesn’t know how to handle them like I do.”

You chuckled. And you didn’t even have to see him to see his smug, joking smirk. Josh snickered along with you, laughing at his own words. You laid your head on his shoulder, so glad he was there to alleviate the growing tension in your shoulders. 

And all too soon, the grim reaper was coming out of his bedroom. He pushed a hand through the wavy hair that touched just below his shoulders. You wished you didn’t notice how it fell so perfectly as he pushed it back.

Jake seemed restless as he cleared his throat. “Do you have shee–?”

“Sheets!” You left Josh’s grasp to go get the sheets out of the dryer. 

They were still warm from being in the closed dryer when you piled them up in your arms. You cursed yourself for forgetting to get them out of the dryer. Ugh. You didn’t need him judging you for your lack of thinking to do so.

You passed by the boys, who were once again in deep conversation, as you speed-walked to the guest – no, Jake’s– bedroom. You plopped the sheets on the bed, a ruffled mess of linens. You made quick work of adjusting the fitted sheet to your liking, the loose sheet falling swiftly on top. You tucked all of the corners just right. Then, you got into the bedroom’s little closet and grabbed the white quilt that had stayed up there since you’d last used and washed it. It had been waiting to be used again for a whole year. 

Once you’d situated the bed with its pillows and all of its pieces, you took a moment to consider something. What you’d signed yourself up for. How different this was going to be from living with Elsie. Things were going to be so different. 

For one, he was a guy. You had never been roommates with a man before. Even more, you hadn’t ever been roommates with anyone but Elsie. And she was your sister. And with her being your sister (and first best friend), there had been nothing but ease and comfort. And, so far, all you had with Jake was tight perplexity and irritation. And just plain tension. 

You closed your eyes to the suddenly overwhelming brightness of the room. You rolled your shoulders around, your neck moving along with the action. You wanted to alleviate some of the tightness that was already taking up residence in your upper back and neck. 

You felt Stevie rub herself up against your bare leg. Her soft fur and loud purring calmed you in its own special way. You smiled to yourself. The sweet little feline had used her week of knowing you to make one big place for herself in your heart. She seemed to automatically know you on first meeting and had already shown you so much love. She had shown a few times that week that she was a cuddly girl who simply lived for being in your presence. 

Although, you felt her leave your legs sooner than you’d anticipated. You opened your eyes in curiosity, watching her cross the room from your legs to Jake’s belongings. She rubbed herself against the boxes and then against the guitar cases – no, no, no. 

“Stevie,” you hushed at her. “Let’s not mess with his things.”

You scooped her up quickly, her body going slack in your arms, her purring reverberating through your chest. You assumed it wasn’t the best option for the cat to rub against the blessed cases. What was on the inside of those cases had to be special. The cases themselves really did look like they’d seen better days. Silver duct tape was the only thing that held certain parts of them together. 

You left his bedroom, finding the twins, still conversing. 

You didn’t want to stop their talking, but. You didn’t want to feel like an outlier in your own home. You were already afraid enough of what was to come with Jake being a constant presence. You just wanted to feel like you were in some type of control. 

“The bed is made,” you interrupted them. Both of their heads turned to you. Josh’s more so. Your best friend looked at you with kind eyes and Jake’s face barely changed. His head was barely turned to you, really. It was almost as if he had tuned you out.

“Thanks,” he said more to Josh than to you. He then fully placed his attention back on his twin, seeming to try to shut you out again. 

Josh continued to look at you, so it was a weird lull. The air around you three was pulled taut with tension. You didn’t know what to say. You and Josh held eye contact while Jake burnt a hole into the shaved side of his brother’s head with his eyes. 

What. the. actual. fuck?!

It was obvious Jake didn’t want you included in anything. All you could conclude was that he was simply being an idiot. It was going to be a very rude awakening when he suddenly remembered you two were going to be roommates. He’d have to live with you. You were going to be there, whether he liked it or not. . .until he eventually was secure enough to (hopefully sooner rather than later) move out. 

You could not wrap your mind around how elementary he was acting, considering how you were uplifting your entire life, unnecessarily, on his behalf. Again, more for Josh’s sake than his. . . But still. 

Not the point. 

This was your home and he was not respecting you enough within the walls of it. Your eyes pleaded with Josh to do something. 

Jake pulled his phone out of his back pocket, suddenly interested in the smart device. He leaned against the back of the couch, leisurely playing a game on his phone. He was now ignoring you and Josh both. 

Finally, Josh spoke, “Let’s order some Hibachi to-go, shall we?” 

Jake responded before you could with a dense “sure.”

“That sounds wonderful,” you put on a bigger, genuine smile of thanks to Josh for thinking of food. 

You really were hungry. Perhaps Jake was hungry too. That could have been part of the reason he had been acting like a complete crab. Your stomach suddenly felt emptier than it had before and you were anxious for Josh to order.

“You know what I want,” you pointed an airgun his way, shooting it dorkily. He laughed along with you. You were glad that even though his twin was an ass, Josh was still the same as he always was.

“Same,” Jake again, dull as ever. Could he not speak more than five words in a row? Were compound sentences simply too much for his brain?

Josh nodded, sending a smile your way. His eyes read an apology. It really wasn’t his place to apologize. Still, you were positive it was as close as you’d ever get to Jake apologizing. So, you accepted it, winking in response.

He held up his phone. “I’ve just gotta go call it in,” he crossed to the small fire escape right outside of the French doors in your living room. 

You watched with desperate eyes as he left you with his wretched brother. 

You knew better than to try conversation, but still – you did. 

“So,” you began, walking slightly closer to Jake, who was still leaning against the back of your sofa, playing the game that had him so suddenly entranced. “How is New York so far?”

He didn’t respond, only continuing to play his game. You waited for him to look up at you with a sort of “oh, yeah, sorry! It’s been alright”, but he never did. His fingers ticked across his screen. You were admittedly curious what game it was that had him so engaged. 

Maybe he hadn’t heard you. 

The benefit of the doubt was certainly trying hard to save your sanity. 

“How’s New York?”

You had to strain to hear his response, it was only a simple, aggravated “mhm” hummed in response. It was an obvious tactic that you remembered using as a teenager. It was that response that every teenager frustratedly used to get their parents (or, in your case, grandparents) off their back. 

But how in the hell were you being a bother to him? You stepped closer to him once more, but this time when you did, he glanced up at you and then swerved around the couch, eyes staying on the phone as much as they could. Then, before you could step any closer to him, you turned around the couch, following him. 

You were tired of his attitude. You weren’t going to put up with his shit any more today. You understood this was hard for him – all of the change, his broken heart, yada yada yada. But you had made up your mind that you deserved more of a response from this man. You were getting ready to rip him a new one when – 

“It’ll be here in 30 minutes!” Josh’s joyful tone died a bit at the end of the statement.

As soon as he was fully back in the living room, you could tell that he was absolutely sensing the energy reverberating in the room. He was still slipping his phone into the back pocket of his brown corduroy pants as his eyes sprung back and forth between his brother and you. 

Josh’s jaw clenched. He was nervous, that much was obvious. You knew the man very well. 

So, he did his ‘make it better’ empath thing and clapped his hands together, which brought both sets of eyes to him. 

“Whaddya say the three of us watch a movie?”

🌼 🌼 🌼

The food was delivered and completely scarfed down by the three of you. 

You had all been very hungry. 

But, the best part of eating? It was the fact that the not-talking thing was more natural than it had been before. There were no conversations to cut off or be left out of. . .because, your faces were being stuffed.

Before the food had gotten there, you had gladly taken up Josh’s offer to start a movie. He had chosen The Shining (one of his go-tos). This had also aided in making the social atmosphere (or lack there-of) less awkward. 

Things had actually felt peaceful enough for you to lull off right after little Danny saw the two creepy twin girls in the hallway of the haunted hotel.  

🌼 🌼 🌼

You felt yourself slowly come to, but as you did, you heard the twins talking in quiet conversation. Their voices were hushed, seemingly to avoid waking you. 

And, as wrong as it may have been, you absolutely took that moment as your opportunity to eavesdrop like you’d wanted to earlier. 

You kept your eyes closed, working to keep your breathing steady as if you were still in a slumber. You were a sort of pro at the ‘faking being asleep’ thing. For reference, you had been a bookworm for as long as you could remember. So, as a child, you had mastered the skill of feigning sleep when your grandparents would come to check on you at night. Every time, you had actually been reading—never one to put a book down. (To your knowledge, your grandparents had never seemed privy to you being up late reading when you were supposed to be asleep.)

Your head was on Josh’s shoulder, so you had to work especially hard to control your breathing. You knew that if you had even one breath slightly off, he would notice. He was so much like you in being oversensitive to his surroundings. 

You let your ears fade into the conversation. 

It was Josh’s voice you heard first. 

“You need to give this a chance, Jake,” he sighed, and you could feel his body move slightly. It felt like the arm on the other side of his body was moving, probably to scrub a hand over his face. “She was so kind to offer her apartment to you.”

Thank you for pointing that out, Joshua, you thought. I love you.

“I’m not oblivious to that, Josh. Jesus,” Jake sighed, similarly to his twin. But his involved a bit of a grunt, as if he were pouting. “We are just too different.”

“How do you know the two of you are so different?” 

It took a minute for Jake to come up with his answer.

“Well, for one: she has fucking twinkle lights,” you could hear a couple of bracelets clang against each other, as if a hand of his was waving above you all. It was true, you had twinkle lights hanging in the living room. You enjoyed the cozy feel they brought with them. 

“I have twinkle lights,” Josh’s response sounded slightly offended. Because, yes, he had twinkle lights adorning his apartment as well. To be fair, he, Sam, and Danny had them hanging around their apartment.

“Not the same, Josh.”

The fuck? How is that not the same? This man was insane. 

“You two are more alike than you think, Jake. Seriously.”

Alike, Josh?! You’re going to say I’m like him?! Your thoughts were going haywire. 

You couldn’t believe he would compare you to his asinine brother. 

“I’m uncomfortable here,” Jake sounded slightly hesitant, kind of sad. “I’m already uncomfortable.”

Uncomfortable? That word hit you deep in the chest. 

What had you possibly done to make him uncomfortable? You always tried so hard to do the opposite, in every situation life handed you. 

Your heart sank. You were a natural helper. You prided yourself on it. You had been complimented on it many times, by several people in your life. You were honestly known for how great you were at helping those around you. This whole ‘allowing Jake to move in with you’ was on brand for you, if you were being honest.

You tried so hard to help people feel secure and ‘okay’ that his discomfort made your stomach churn. The last thing you needed was a roommate who didn’t find you helpful or warm. You were surely already in the midst of an identity crisis. 

And, you hadn’t even spent one whole night with this man in your home. 

Nothing you could do would make him like you, you were sure of it. 

At this point, you had tuned them both out. You didn’t feel like getting hurt anymore by Jake and his short, spiteful sentences.

You listened to the metal pull switch ding lightly against the ceiling fan’s light fixture. The fan was old and rickety and you needed a new one. 

These mindless thoughts saved you from the windy road your mind was creating, thanks to the one and only Jake Kiszka. 

And his simple sentences.

🌼 🌼 🌼

The arm you were lying against moved just right and it nudged you awake. 

“Oh,” Josh immediately noticed you were awake. He sounded apologetic. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to– I wanted you to get some sleep.”

You blinked your eyes open slowly, only looking up to Josh from where you were still leaning. You didn’t want to chance locking eyes with his evil twin. 

But you decided to be the mature one and sit up, even if it meant seeing Jake. 

Unfortunately, you were going to have to get used to seeing him. You honestly dreaded it. Greatly.

As you sat up, you looked around the room. Jake was nowhere to be found. 

Thank God.

“He went to bed,” Josh commented. “He needed sleep.”

You shook your head. 

He needs more than sleep, you haughtily thought. 

“I think I want to go to bed, too.”

Josh helped you shut off the lights in the apartment. You blew out the candle you’d lit earlier. You watched as the black smoke rose from the candle. 

It was one of the candle scents that you and your sister had always lit to make the apartment feel like a home to all. 

Your stomach flipped in circles. You wanted to be sick. All you had worked to do was make your apartment welcoming, friendly, cozy, safe. And apparently all you’d achieved so far was making your new housemate feel uncomfortable.

You couldn’t watch the smoke anymore, feeling tears well in your eyes. You swallowed down any other tears that you felt approaching in your throat. It was stupid to cry over an asshole like Jake. 

His words didn’t matter.

You scooped up Stevie, who had been sweeping her soft little body against your shins. She knew you needed her. 

You felt the tears well again. 

You faced away from Josh, not wanting him to see your watery eyes. You walked to your bedroom, not even looking in the direction of the apartment’s other bedroom. 

You knew he was following you to your bedroom because you knew Josh. He would do his best to see to it that you were doing better before he left you. 

You knew he could sense something was wrong with you. He knew you so well that you knew it had been obvious to him all night. And now, you knew you were being uncharacteristically quiet. 

As soon as the door shut behind him, you tucked yourself under the soft duvet on your bed. You lifted the covers up to your chin and laid your head down on your pillow. You knew you probably looked absolutely pathetic.

You didn’t care.

He sat on top of the covers next to where you laid. He smoothed a hand over your head and you felt Stevie situate her warm body next to your feet. You had become convinced that it was her favorite spot to lay at night. 

He tucked a lock of hair behind your ear, and hummed slightly. He scrunched up the left side of his face, his lips squishing together and an eye crinkling as he did so. He seemed to be pondering a thought. 

You knew he wouldn’t speak until you were ready to talk, though. Until you made a move to discuss something. Josh was good about that. He gave you your time to feel things. Even when Elsie moved out, as much as it broke his heart to see her leave, he didn’t say anything about it. He had let you have your time to feel without bringing it up. 

He had done it many times when big things had happened in your life. 

You needed his advice though. 

“This may sound naive, Josh, but I expected him to be more like you,” you paused for a second, and chose to look away from him with your next words. “He acted like an arrogant prick all night as I tried to welcome him into my apartment. The apartment I offered for him to stay in during his time of need – don’t forget.”

You knew you were taking some of your snippiness out on Josh when it was absolutely not his fault. But, you couldn’t very well say these things to Jake. 

Well, you could. You just hadn’t had the chance yet. 

And for some reason, you had suddenly decided that you wanted Jake to see that you were the bigger person in all of this. It should mean nothing for him to see you in a positive light. He was the last person who deserved it. But, killing with kindness could be good revenge. 

Josh knew you and knew that your snappy attitude was due to being so hurt already. He knew you felt your feelings to an incredible degree. He got it because he did, too. You knew all of this. 

Josh still had a pensive look on his smooth features. His brows were knitted, lips still squished as he thought through what he wanted to say.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he eventually said.

You waited a few beats for him to say more. And when he decided to look straight ahead instead of at you, you got impatient. 

“That’s it?” You sat up on your elbows, eyeing your curly-headed friend. 

“I–,” he stopped, contemplating. “I just can’t get into it. All I can say is that you’ve gotta give him time.”

You scoffed at him. “Give him time?” You shook your head, looking around your room. The lights were still on, neither of you thinking to turn them off. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Y/N.”

“Joshua.”

He sighed, rubbing his finger and thumb over his forehead. It was obvious he was rubbing to alleviate the stress you were causing him and you instantly felt bad – for another reason entirely. Jake was not his fault. He might have been his twin, but it had become glaringly obvious that they were quite different. And Jake’s assholery was not Josh’s burden to bear. 

“I’m sorry, Josh,” you relented some of your anger. You knew Josh was feeling a lot at that moment and you didn’t want to put one more thing on his already-full emotional tray. He was an empath, after all, and today had surely tested his limits.

“It’s okay, Y/N. I’m not upset with you for feeling the way you’re feeling,” he looked at you again. He put a hand on your comforter-covered thigh, squeezing it slightly. “I just–it’s hard for me when I love you both so much and know the potential of a friendship that could blossom between the two of you if he wasn’t–,” he placed a palm to his forehead. “He’s being rude, yes, but he is going through so much. I know I’ve said it already, but that's all I know to say. I can’t be the one to explain the whole reason why. It’s not my story. It’s his.”

You worded your previous thoughts aloud, “He isn’t your burden to bear and neither am I.”

He grinned slightly, lifting his cheek enough to actually show his dimple. But his eyes were still forlorn. “I appreciate that, love.”

You knew your words hadn’t been the most comforting, but you were emotionally exhausted from the day and you just couldn’t put complete thoughts together anymore. The sleep was finally weighing you down, and you struggled to keep your eyes open in Josh’s direction. There was no talking, just stillness. It was nice. It was much needed for both of you after the night. 

Comfortable silence. 

He went in and kissed your cheek. 

Your relationship with Josh was completely platonic, but you were both people who communicated through touch. And considering how it was Josh’s main love language, it was natural for the two of you to be affectionate with little touches. 

“It will all work out,” he said, breaking the silence. “You can trust that he is a good person underneath the hardened exterior.”

You huffed a laugh under your breath, your eyes drooping. Your lids were entirely too heavy. “I trust you, Josh. But, I’ll have to give him time to prove himself,” you felt yourself nod off a bit –just for a second. You blinked your eyes open as wide as you could to look at him, feeling bad that you were losing to sleep. “I’m just not too hopeful he will.”

He hummed, surely in thought. “I’ll let you go to sleep,” he gave your thigh a final squeeze. “Goodnight, lovely friend.”

You were almost completely in slumberland, but could tell when he lifted off the bed. You squinted your eyes, refusing to let sleep evade you. You just wanted to rest. You could see through your half-lidded eyes when he turned off the lights. 

You listened as he left through the front door. And you heard him lock the regular lock and deadbolt with his key. 

Your last thoughts as you fell asleep were of the last wonderful days alone you’d had in your apartment. 

So long, peaceful home. 

So long, normality.

_ _ _

notes:

here is the doc that will have pics added to it as the story progresses!

i really hope you enjoyed this first chapter of Covet! Let me know if you'd like to be tagged for future chapters.

taglist: @joshym @gretavanfleetposts

#jake kiszka fic #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #gvf #greta van fleet fic #josh kiszka fic #sam kiszka #danny wagner #greta van fleet #jake kiszka smut #jake fic #covet #my fics

[northstarco]

fact checks (ft. nikolas)

❝ nikolas checks facts, and answers questions.. at three in the morning ❞

"did you break your arm again?"

nikolas chuckles mid-read, glancing down at his oddly placed right arm and shaking his head, the question makes him place a hand on his forehead. "no my arm is not broken, not yet, at least".

"how weak are your bones?— well it's not my fault that i somehow almost always manage to break something it just happens!" niko shrugs, acting like his answer wasn't the stupidest thing in the world and glancing down at the sleeping feline in his lap. "i have bad luck, don't yell at me" he mutters, as if trying to be quiet so he doesn't wake up susi.

where is that poster from?

niko narrows his eyes at the comment, turning back to the queen poster situated right above his desk. he allows for a small laugh to escape his lips as he thinks about where he got it from. "a fan handed it to me at a fansign like a year ago? i thought it was a mistake but she just let me have it.."

did you really forget your instagram password?

nikolas, ready to make an excuse, laughs again. "yes, i did, and until i figure it out again you're never getting another juno instagram update" the 96 liner doesn't seem too bothered by the news, much to the dismay of his own fans.

i didn't know you played the violin :0 that's so cool!!

"ah" niko pauses, clicking his tongue. "well mæ̀ is a violin instructor so it was one of the first instruments i learned how to play, it's not my favorite, though, the strings make my fingers hurt" he frowns slightly, looking down at his scarred fingers. "these days the scars are from my guitar, though".

do you dream in english?

the question is enough to make nikolas snicker, it baffles him that someone would ask that, but it's also too interesting to not answer. "that's such a strange thing to ask.." he snickers again, just the thought of the question alone is enough to make him laugh. "i guess so? i dream in a weird mix of english and thai, my dreams don't make any sense".

you need to write more songs hello??

the comment makes nikolas smile lightly, and he places his cheek on his fist. "i do write a lot of songs, i just trash most of them because they're.. well, not sm approved" he chuckles at his own wording, he'd explain why in more detail if he wasn't weary about his mangers watching. "most of the songs i write are about personal experiences, not general experiences".

juno solo debut when?

"never" niko mumbles, shaking his head as he un-balls his fist and places his chin onto his hand. he chuckles at his own response, watching as the comments explode into questions of why? and what do you mean? a small smile grows on his face, and he lets his face fall down. "actually i don't know, not that the company will tell me anything anyway, if they even have something planned.."

niko narrows his eyes suspiciously, staring into space as he thinks about it for a moment. "i'm not sure, maybe those songs will escape the drafts someday".

song recommendations!!

"song recommendations.." niko taps his fingers onto his desk, scouring his mind for songs he himself enjoys. "everything is everything by lauryn hill, uh.. alterlife by rina sawayama, and farewell by akmu, that's a good one".

"i feel like you'd be a good music teacher— i have no idea what that's supposed to mean! but thank you!"

why are you live at three am?

"hm.. well i can't sleep, i'm bored, and doyoungie would've killed me if i called him at three in the morning" nikolas thinks of more reasons he could give to answer that question, but as he's about to answer, he gets a notification from his phone. when he looks down at his phone, he snickers, covering his mouth with his hand. "aww, kim doyoung hates me everybody" he pouts playfully at his phone, presumably humored by a text he'd gotten from his best friend.

"let's hope he doesn't come for my soul, i can't die before rina's new album is released.. oh my god, speaking of rina—"

nikolas then goes on a rant about rina sawayama's music, much too immersed in it. it's safe to say, the viewers were very amazed by the sight of silent niko, who often sat back and let his members do the talking during group lives, running his mouth like nothing else in the world mattered.

niko's ramblings only stop when a certain question catches his eye. "i'm going to australia soon, have any snack recommendations?— oh my god you have to try tim tams, and fairy bread, and also anzac biscuits those are so good! i remember my mom sent me snacks a few weeks ago and i finally got to eat them again, i also made fairy bread a few weeks ago, it was as good as i remember it".

"what are tim tams? oh they're chocolate biscuits that usually have some sort of filling, the ones with caramel filling are the best trust me".

"go to sleep" niko blinks at the comment, a small chuckle escaping his lips. "no! you can't tell me what to do, i'm staying awake for the rest of time now that you commented that".

nikolas crosses his arms, remaining stubborn as ever.

#. ✦ WRITING ! #nct addition #fake kpop idol #fictional idol oc #fictional kpop oc #kpop addition #kpop oc #nct added member #nct 127 10th member #kpop male idol #kpop male oc

[cats-of-eden-valley]

I absolutely adore this project and since I've been thinking about my own xenomoggy WIP a lot recently, I now have a bunch of very niche questions.

1) How similar to real-world felines are these guys? Like, what things can they eat? Are citrus-like fruits poisonous to them? Are things like mint poisonous?

2) Are they obligate carnivores or do they lean a bit more omnivorous, like canines?

3) Can they taste sweetness? If so, what kind of sweet food do they eat?

4) How technologically advanced are they? Do they cook their food? If they do, what foods are different in each pride? Do they use spices?

5) Can they make tea? Because the idea of someone's mother or friends making them tea when they're upset/sad is absolutely adorable.

Sorry for the obnoxious amount of questions, this project is giving me major brainworms 😅

Don't feel pressured to answer if you don't want to, or the questions are too spoiler-y!

Hope you have a good day/night!

-🦇 (can I sign off as bat anon? I've seen that done on other blogs, but I'm not sure is it okay here)

THANK YOU you're so sweet!! (and yes please join the xenomoggies)

I kinda just dumped these thoughts into point form in the notes app so I'm giving you these answers fresh and unadulterated

There's a solid mix of fantasy and realism. For instance, their colour vision is roughly equal to ours, but they still have good night vision (or maybe it's just that two moons means the night vision isn't actually as good). Overall anatomy and function is otherwise p similar (which some exceptions) and I do have thoughts on what they eat.

Their diet relies heavily on meat, but fruits and mushrooms frequently end up in the mix. Canines are a good comparison!

The acidic aspect of citrus-like fruits wouldn't appeal to them, and they still can't taste sweet, but other more mild fruits have high water content that make them an important addition to the diet even if the taste doesn't appeal.

Mushrooms are important because they are the only thing that really actively grows during the Sleeping Year, but they don't contain much water.  Still, nutrients is nutrients.

There's also a number of plants that can be safely ingested and which can provide medicinal value, but here's something most people don't realize: medicine is usually just poison, but in small enough amounts to help you instead of kill you.

Regardless, most of the plants are made-up (the ones that aren't, still have different names (what im saying is most ppl wouldn't realize they are real)) so the I Do What I Want rule applies to poison vs medicine vs edible uwu

Unsure of the specifics of cooking yet, though it's a tentative yes. Strongly considering giving Goldspring a sort of endless stew situation that they just keep adding to and maintain for the course of a year. Fire is risky business in this setting, but given the fact they live in a volcanic region, there are other ways to cook one's food. Hell, maybe that's what allowed these cat societies to exist in the first place

spices is an interesting question, like I'd guess they would mix foods for the sake of taste so it doesn't seem too much a stretch that they would add in normally non-edible plants to enhance flavour. So yeah, it prolly happens.

Teas would mostly be medicinal, and probably frequently mixed with animal blood.  Everyone complains about it but at least it does what the healers say it does.  Plus, the inability to taste sweet I think would take most of the pleasure out of it??? Listen I don't drink tea but if someone who does has a better take, I'm all ears lol

As for their technological advancement, think of humans around mid ice age era. They have elegantly designed tools (ranging from knives to sewing needles to hammers), impressive leatherworking (tanning, cleaning, sewing), some textiles (associated dyes included), and limited infrastructure (consisting largely of living infrastructure woven from milksap aerial roots and occasional supports and modifications to existing natural shelters, also natural paths are maintained throughout the area)

But they lack weaponry (hard-baked into honour code systems that are enforced by the prides) and anything requiring multiple bodies to build/maintain (can't sustain population density). No farming (though I'm itching for some Weird Bird Domestication taking its first shaky steps in one of the prides, prolly Bogden)

#i lied this was not unadulterated i did read it through and edit it #thank you bat anon i hope to see u again <3 #u are not obnoxious in fact #i was starting to get a lil burnt out with the project and had been putting it down for a sec #n you swooped in and reignited it fjfj #worldbuilding #xenomoggy #coev: setting

[urlocalwhumper]

Puppy & Kitty (pt. 1)

CWs: pet whump, literal animal people, physical abuse, multiple whumpees, female whumpee(s), male whumper

Word Count: 1036

Abducted at a young age, Puppy couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t Puppy.

Animal hybrids like her were a hot commodity among the world’s rich and famous. They had the intelligence and lifespan of a human, along with the desirable traits of whichever animal they were mixed with.

Puppy was a dog, if you couldn’t already guess. Floppy golden ears atop her similarly blonde hair, her entire lower body covered in fluffy golden fur, a long tail jutting out from her lower back.

Dogs couldn’t read, write, or speak, so neither could Puppy. She barked, whined, and growled, like a dog should. Though Master would get mad if she was too loud, so she tried to keep that to a minimum.

Puppy had a name, it was engraved into the gold tag dangling from her collar, and it was usually what Master’s friends called her, but Master himself just called her “Puppy” most of the time, so Puppy she was.

At night, or simply whenever Master didn’t want her around the house, Puppy lived in the basement. It was cold down there, and Puppy’s fur didn’t cover her whole body, but she had her doggy bed to protect her from the freezing cement floor, so she made do.

One day, Master seemed unusually excited. Puppy stayed out of his way, curling up in a corner as small as she could get. If Master was excited, he probably didn’t want his stupid mutt getting in the way. Puppy’s stomach was still bruised from two days ago, and she didn’t want to risk throwing up on Master’s carpet and making him even angrier.

Around lunchtime, the doorbell rang. This seemed to be what Master had been anticipating, as he practically ran to answer it.

On the other side of the door stood a man holding a large pet crate. Puppy continued to stay low and out of Master's way, but she couldn't help being a little curious.

"Here you are, sir." The delivery man said, hefting the crate onto the ground, where it noticeably shook and hissed. "This one's a fresh catch, so it's not been trained properly. Hope you like the challenge."

Master seemed positively giddy. "I love a challenge."

Master signed a few papers, and then the delivery man left, leaving only Master, Puppy, and the crate.

"Now, now." He said. "Let's get a better look at you."

He opened the crate, and immediately a figure darted out, taking up an aggressive stance and hissing at him.

Puppy's nose twitched. Master's new pet was a cat hybrid, she could tell that almost immediately. She had the same physical makeup as Puppy, but was quite a bit smaller, and with feline features instead of Puppy's canine ones.

Master almost completely ignored the show of aggression, instead picking up and leisurely leafing through the file that was handed to him alongside the crate.

"Let's see - cat hybrid, female, age 18, impaired vision, fresh capture, and your name is…" He closed the file. "Interesting, interesting."

The cat hissed again, then opened her mouth and spoke.

"You're a sick bastard." She spat.

"Ah-ah-ah." Master tutted. He stepped closer to the cat, and then kicked her square in the ribs. "Pets don't talk." He scolded as she sputtered and gasped.

He knelt down to her level, roughly grabbing her hair and forcing her to look at him. "Whoever you were before means fuck all to me. You're Kitty now, and I expect you to act like it. Understand me?"

Kitty looked up at him for a moment before giving a single, fearful nod.

Master let go of her hair. "Great!" He stood up. "Now, you aren't my first or only pet. I'll leave you two to get acquainted now."

It was only then that Kitty seemed to notice Puppy, jumping back in surprise and raising her hackles.

Puppy, undaunted by the attempt at intimidation, trotted up to Kitty and nosed at her ears, pulling back when Kitty seemed to cringe away.

Puppy tilted her head from side to side, pondering, before leaning back in and licking Kitty's cheek, hoping to communicate friendliness.

Kitty didn't seem to be particularly pleased with the lick either, but at least she stopped being so tense. She took a tentative step towards Puppy, still a bit defensive, but seemingly recognizing that Puppy didn't mean her any harm.

Puppy wagged her tail, jerking her head forward to try and communicate to Kitty that she should follow her. 

Kitty followed, but kept her head bowed and seemed to squint every time she did look up. Puppy led her through the house all the way down to the basement. Kitty winced at the cold stone floor against her paws, something Puppy could very much sympathize with. 

The basement was dark, only lit by a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, which Master turned off at night. In the left corner was Puppy's doggy bed, and in the right corner were her food and water bowls, sat atop a small rubber mat. Puppy assumed that Master would bring in a similar set for Kitty in the following days.

Seemingly worn out, Kitty flopped onto the doggy bed and curled up as small as she could get, shivering in the cold air. 

It took Puppy a moment to realize Kitty was crying, shoulders shaking and heaving as she muffled her whimpers against the bed, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Puppy stepped forward and whined in distress, licking the tears off of Kitty's face until she pushed her away, using the side of her hand to wipe away both her tears and Puppy's saliva.

Taking note of Kitty's continued shivering, Puppy came up with a different idea. 

As gently and carefully as she could, Puppy climbed into the bed behind Kitty, curling her larger body around her in the hopes that sharing body heat would help quell the trembling.

At first, Kitty went rigid, not daring to move a muscle. But as the moments passed and the warmth from Puppy's body started to seep into hers, she relaxed, burrowing further into the bed and letting Puppy snuggle her closer.

Exhausted, afraid, yet oddly comforted, Kitty drifted off into a restless sleep.

#puppy & kitty #whump #pet whump #kidnapping #abduction #hurt/comfort #cuddling #nonhuman whumpee #multiple whumpees #female whumpee #animal people #here we go. my jnnn pet indulgence LMFAO #i intentionally didn't mention their names #and the only physical descriptors i gave are that puppy is big and blonde and kitty is small and needs glasses #to make it vague enough for more people to enjoy #but yes this is intended to be jnnn bc they have consumed by brain recently #mine

[jalo-parker]

Ok I'm making an official post for Estrials. (or well official until I make a better one)

Everything below cut so I don't make anyone scroll past the novel length (/hj) post I'm about to make when they're just trying to browse their dash :]

Alright so Estrials! They're a species I made up (though they are definitely inspired by some other things like atla cause of the elemental abilities) and they can be anthro, feral, or even like catboy esque(?) (for the lack of a better term) (an example of what I mean would be my sona)

Heres some examples of existing Estrials (in order: my sona (he/it/pup) (small child edition), evil xisuma (little creature and non little creature forms), jimmy (again little creature and non little creature forms), and bigb (little creature and non little creature forms) gotta love bigb and his little sweater) (also ex is part voidwalker too which is why he looks so different from the others, so like yeah you go combine Estrials and another species that would be epic)

Here we have some of my ocs and a few of the others listed above! Ryder is also part voidwalker and technically doesn't have a little creature form, but I did include a little bust shot doodle of him

If you're still here, now I'm going to tell you how to make your own! (please do I beg I want more little creatures in the world)

Ok so, they are an open species, though there are a few rules (both like actual rules and trait rules so you stay in line with the species)

-First rule: don't be a dick. I will revoke your Estrial rights if you're not a decent person (no like actually I can't take your character but I can make a list of no good icky people so other Estrial fans know not to interact with you)

-2nd rule: have fun! No really I'm not going to be an evil overlord about people making Estrials. Just enjoy yourselves and be kind to others

-3: more of me just saying this than a rule but you can totally have more than one Estrial! Make like 50 of you want I really don't care

Now rules for like traits and stuff

-1: your Estrial has to have some sort of wings (preferably feathered ones but you can do bug or bat wings if you want) (mechanical wings are also cool! Especially if they're meant to be like a prosthetic or something that would be sick) and some sort of horns (literally any horns idc go wild) you can have any number of these traits too

-2: only one elemental ability per Estrial please (or none at all, you can make an element-less Estrial if you want) there's only one Estrial that has more than one elemental ability and he's not even really an Estrial (it's my sona, it's complicated and lore related don't ask unless you want a novel length reply full of lore)

-3: they have to be either based off of some sort of canine or some sort of feline, though you can totally add features from other things (ex: lizards or fish or deer idk) as long as the base creature that has most of the features showing (so like the main body and head I guess?) is a canine/feline you're good (so like the tail, legs, and even ears can be some other creature if you want) (River, shown above, has a fish tail and some fins kinda like vaporeon. So really, go wild)

-4: any patterns and colors are ok, so yeah make that sparkle dog looking thing !! Go wild, be free my friends. Make the shadow the hedgehog Estrial (no actually you totally could)

Ok no more rules! Info time 😈😈

-Estrials can be any size that's bigger than like a small dog (so like chihuahua ish or bigger) and smaller than a horse (yippee big creature)

-The anthro and catboy(?) Estrials can be any human height btw (anthros can be a little smaller than humans too as a treat)

-They can have any length of fur (so yeah you could make a hairless one, I'd actually be real interested to see that someone do it before I do) and be from any region (hence the different fur lengths. Some of them live in real cold places and have to be real fluffy to keep warmth in, and some live in warmer places and have a lot less fur to cool off easier)

-All Estrials can hide their wings (like magic poof they're gone completely and then poof they're back now) and the catboy(?) ones can sometimes hide all their Estrial features (so like their nose, horns, ears, wings, and tails)

-I'm leaving a whole lot up to interpretation so like go wild I guess. Just don't do anything too weird.. I don't want strange things associated with my species..

Ok now the big thing: elemental abilities

So we have 5 elements + no element (though I'm kinda thinking of adding a 6th.... maybe..). Every Estrial falls under one (and only one) of these categories, though their power levels can vary (so like some fire Estrials can only do tiny poofs of flames and others can have like whole fire tornados going on)

Fire, water, air, earth, and plant

They all overlap with others a little too

-Fire Estrials can bend/control/whatever you want to call it magma, lava, fire, and lightning. They can also heat things up, which does mean they can heat other elements enough to somewhat control those (so like heating metal until it's molten and being able to shape it, or heating water enough that it turns into steam. Though steam is a lot harder for fire Estrials to control) though they lose that ability once the element cools off again

-Water Estrials can bend things like water, ice, some gasses (if the gas has a liquid state at a reasonable temperature. So like not things that require to have subzero temps to be liquids like oxygen), and any other liquids (not including molten things if you count those as liquid).

-Air Estrials can control all gasses (unless they need to be superheated to be a gas) and air. They can also definitely move things with air, so like sandstorms and using lots of wind to lift and move big objects. They can even control the weather a bit because of this (though water Estrials also kinda can. They can make it rain at least) by blowing storms around (including hurricanes and tornados, though they can also cause them too)

-Earth Estrials can control anything that's made of some sort of metal or mineral. So like glass (even if it's not molten, they can still change its shape, though they can also control molten glass) any rock, and all kinds of dirt (including compost in case you were wondering. So like if its considered dirt they can control it)

-Plant Estrials can control all plants. And can move things using plants. And can grow plants. Idk what you want from me the name is kinda self explanatory.. they can also grow plants in their fur (or hair if you have a catboy(?) Estrial) (again I don't really know what else to call them..) this does include stuff like coral, mold, and fungus btw so go wild with your biohazard mold guy (omg Ethan Winters ??? Somebody call crumb immediately) (that is a joke do not call crumb cuptoast just because I referenced Ethan Winters..) (though crumb if you somehow see this hiiii you can make an Ethan Winters Estrial, that would be so sick actually)

That's about it for now! If you have any questions feel free to ask away by commenting, dming me, asking them in the reblogs, sending an actual ask, hell you could even dm me on another platform like twt or something idc. Also, if you make one Please.. please show it to me.. I will be so incredibly happy if I saw your Estrial.. as a treat, for me.. please.. (also do credit me for the species if you post about them. You could just tag me or do like a @/jalo-parker just as long as my user is there you're good)

Ok, bye bye now have a good day :DDDD

#estrial species #they get their own tag #use it when talking about them please i want to know what you guys are saying #original species #open species #make your own #like actually #please do make one #i could even make you one #just drop a color palette #what animals you want (so like type of bird for the wings and a horn shape) #what element #and maybe a pinterest board #or even a pre existing character that i could estrial-ify #like dm me or send an ask ill do it #(if i dont get too many people asking for them that is..) #(also it will probably just be a colored sketch) #ooo and accessories if you want any for your character #cause yes estrials can wear clothes if they want #original character #species info

[windalchemist001]

You know those moments where you wonder why life was just out to get you? Yeah this was one of the moments.

Honestly I was so tempted to turn my butt around and act like I didn't know a few idoits. Unfortunately that plain was ruined by the professor calling me and not only did my shoulders drop but dread filled me as I looked to the male.

"Yes sir?" I was rather reluctanted but knew I had too. Why did I end up like this early? And curse these idoits i have to deal with and what ever bullshit they've caused.

"I need someone to take these three-" a motion to the idoits on the ground "to the nurses office." Which professor crewel motion to said three to stand rather than look to them. most likely he was super ticked and needed them out before he killed them. Which is fair.

Looking to the guys i noted that their was something diffrent but when they stood it was very clear and I sighed. "Ace what did you do?"

"What?!?! Why are blaming me!" Ace look offended, and I gave him a rather unamused look.

"Because you're you, now come on." I moved to grab grim and pick him up, and by the sounds of his voice I'm guessing grim also turn genders.

I sighed softly wondering why I again got stuck with this bs, but again life seems to be out to get me.

Thus I begin walking to the nurses office tuning out the guys behind me like I normal did when I wasn't interested in something only paying slight tention so that I can pick selective parts to comment on and pertented I care, when I actually don't.

Though the good thing about always being the extra is that I don't have to actually say much while the three guys now turn girls talked about who was to blame, and yeah seemed like ace was at fault for egging the other two, but grim was at fault for not paying attention and just tossing stuff and poor duece the sort of innocent bystander from grim and ace bs.

Another sigh and I wonder if I would be getting another gray hair, the thought was a bothersome though. I swear I'm getting to feel like an old lady dealing with all this bs. Glancing to the roof i gave a silent prey to help me with all this.

As we walked (why was this damn school so fucken big?) I saw familiar faces and shifted grim in my arms and waved at the group of guys.

Said group noticed and moved over as they also greeted me. Honestly it was good to see actually friends rather than people I've gotten involved with (not to say that I didn't think of deuce and jack as my friends but thats beside the point)

"Hey! When did we get more girls here?" My vp seemed to be the one to speak first since I can't run a club alone.

"Yeah, would be nice, but nah, we got anime plot who knows what happening here." I was speaking with my hands or rather one since I still had grim and didn't trust putting the feline down.

"Oh?" My vp seemed interested and he and the others seemed to look behind me at the guys.

Deuce was the one who spoke. "What are looking at? You want a fight?"

I rolled my eyes at the remark and it seemed before I could open my mouth ace also made a comment which I just sighed already a headache was coming.

I looked to duece and told him to calm down, and than to ace and told him to not be mean. Before turning to my friends. "Yeah.... I'm sure you can guess who these guys are, but yeah typical gender bend plot though I'm hoping to keep this out of nsfw plot points because I rather not deal with the backlash of all that." Because what's good in fiction is not always ok or even right in reality.

My vp hummed and mention that do we know if this is temporary which actually seemed to register to the guys and actually seemed concerned. Which honestly good, let them be fearful.

"Well that's why I've been tasked to take them to nurse and get this all sorted out and if not well...." I looked to the side not wanting to admit I would find it funny, and hey at least I won't be the only girl anymore. Though would that mean I have to explaining how to deal with all the problems that one deals with as a girl? God, that would be awkward.

Seeing that the once guys were now worried i noticed a smirk on my vp's face for a moment before he waved me off as he and his group made their way off. though not with out a comment that had me snickering while it flustered the the guys.

That's the good thing about having friends that can be petty, they do shit that will act as revenge and they can't be attacked for. Because who knows how many times I've complained about my issues and it seems my friends had my back which honestly was rather touching.

"Come on ya'll let's go, after all the longer you're girls the longer I'm going to have to teach you not to get knocked up." I snickered using the same words my vp used and laughed at their flustered faces as we continued our journey to the nurses office, and I had to admit I felt a bit lighter after that interaction.

#winds art #muns art #my art #fanfic #twistober2023 #no beta we die like men #day 07

[thelostgirl21]

Alec Happy Cat Lightwood...

If you listen close enough, you can probably hear him purr...

At this point, if you told me that he used to be one of Magnus' cats in a past life, I'd be tempted to believe you!

Great! As I'm writing this, my brain literally has to come up with the utterly insane scenario of one of Magnus' cats falling in love with him (blame it on those gorgeous cat eyes and feline body language that they can read so well!) and deciding that, in their next life, they're coming back as something more compatible!

They just don't have a choice regarding what type of (half) human-blooded creature they'll return as in the Shadow World, and so they wind up being a male Shadowhunter with no memories of their past life.

That would be such a crack fic!

And would take Alec's pure instinctive delight when he saw Magnus' cat eyes for the first time to a whole other level if some part of him still connects with his previous life on a subconscious level, at least.

More seriously, though... I have so many questions...

Like...

What was the description of that scene in the script, or the direction they gave him on this scene?

Is rubbing his head on pillows post-lovemaking like that something that Alec typically does?

If so, what was Magnus' (inner) reaction first time he saw it happen?

If not... Has he gotten so used to Magnus' cat eyes that he's now instinctively compensating for the sudden missing feline aspect of their sexy times together?

Did Magnus ever come to the conclusion that Alec Lightwood is essentially the human Shadowhunter version of a cat?

I mean...

He's got a slender, strong body with long, agile limbs.

He's a deadly and silent predator that moves gracefully in the shadows, and seems perfectly at ease in his environment.

He will hang out alone on the roof, balcony, or just outside the window to sulk and/or process things...

... and get off that roof by jumping and landing on his feet (with the help of a rune, obviously).

He doesn't like to be touched, or even leisurely spend time with other people, except by, or with, a very select few people that he deeply trusts.

And obviously, only if he's in the right mood for it.

As a result, friends and family never exactly know what to expect when approaching him...

Is he going to hiss at them, turn around, and proudly leave while pretending they and their issues don't exist?

Silently stare at them while plotting his next murder?

Or spontaneously go in for a hug and cuddles?

He likes to pretend he's doing fine on his own and will get easily annoyed if he feels like you're constantly checking on him and smothering him with attention...

... but will be the first to freak out and go on a hunt to find you if you ignore him and his requests or go suddenly missing too long.

Yeah, apparently he could do just fine without you one moment, but won't be able to live without you the next! It's a struggle!

He'll just sniff the breakfast you brought him in bed, and touch and observe the food without eating it if he's unhappy you woke him up or interrupted something he'd rather be doing...

Basically, Magnus Bane himself is a great big cat that likes cats, understands cats, knows how to gain a cat's trust (no matter their efforts to pretend they're not interested in interacting with you... while nevertheless contradicting that statement by periodically coming to scratch at your door...), and Alec Lightwood is apparently a large Shadowhunter-shaped cat.

I mean, look at him! I'm thinking either Magnus isn't paying attention because he's totally used to it (which would answer one of my questions...); or he's not noticing because he's just stuck in his identity crisis and unable to focus on the present...

... including the big cuddly kitten next to him that, BTW, looks so upset later when Magnus suddenly gets up from the bed before he has a chance to reach out for him and get a few more cuddles out of him.

Which brings us back to square one!

I've really got so many questions about this...

#Malec #Alec Lightwood #Magnus Bane #Alexander Lightwood #Shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #Alec Cat Lightwood #Be it #Alec Happy Cat Lightwood #or #Alec Grumpy Cat Lightwood #Alec is apparently always a Cat Lightwood #My posts #My thoughts #My stuff

[pugszler]

re fanfic ask game: ✏️, 📬, 🎡, 🪜

thank you blake!!! <3

✏️ The first fanfiction you ever wrote? (doesn’t have to be a posted fic)

hmm well technically i did start out in middle school writing crack/humor fic for kingdom hearts (albeit they were in the form of screenplays). i had a huge ass fucking binder of them and there were A LOT, all hand written on wide ruled paper. i never technically uploaded them online (sometimes i shared mini ones in comment sections on a fan site i used to troll on... 😬) but i did have an audience at school! i had two friends (who i prob bugged relentlessly) to read my stupid stories but i honestly think they liked them and were always super nice to me about them and gave me praise. one of my friends even drew fanart for some of them :')

📬 The best comment you ever recieved?

aaaah omg i can't remember specific ones off the top of my head but i Know that the best comments i've ever received on my fics were from both @icannotweave and @artiemisiaa!

raye, you've left enormous essay-length comments on multiple fics of mine and you rlly made it clear to me that you loved what you read and each part that you liked the most and just. gosh i'll always remember just how much interest you showed in my dumb self-insert fic w kohei despite never having interacted w the canon material. your comments were basically love letters to my writing and i'll never forget your kindness and enthusiasm :'))) <3

artie, i know it's been a long while since i last updated domino effect, long enough that Both of us have kind of lost most of our interest in bnha, but i just want to say that your chapter-to-chapter comments Really helped me keep writing through the bulk of that fic! it was SO NICE to know that someone was enthusiastically following along w each update i uploaded and that you were having fun while reading! you also praised my ideas and characterizations a lot and that was... incredibly validating for me :') i worried A Lot during my time writing domino bc i was afraid of how well i was writing my favorite characters, but you assured me multiple times that i was doing them justice. you're my favorite type of commenter, thank you again <3

🎡 Your favorite scene to write in -insert fic-?

aw blake, buddy, dude, my pal... "-insert fic-" means you gotta specify one of the fics i've written before lmao ah well don't worry i'll pick one for ya :P hmm i think my favorite scenes to write in Any fic are funny ones (i like to pretend that i Am actually a comedy genius sometimes lmao). i remember one of the scenes i loved writing the most was from "gradual shift" (aka the fic where shouto gets turned into a cat) and izuku attempts to hide cat shouto in his hoodie while he sneaks him into the dorms but then he runs into shinsou at the elevators who is absolutely delighted to meet a new feline friend and izuku is just freaking tf out and shouto is just like "mrow" (mrow meaning hi)

🪜 Tell us a random fact about any fic!

by some miracle (i.e. prior to 2015 when my mental illnesses started to wreak havoc) prob half of the fics i wrote at first were basically All written within the course of a 24 hour period. several of them had actual deadlines (like for events and exchanges) so that really got me into that last minute panic kind of productiveness (which makes sense since i was attending college just around/before this time period so i was Very familiar with this method of getting important projects done lmao). i pulled full all-nighters for Many of them and honestly... it was a blast. prob one of the best experiences in my life lmao. writing entire ass fics over the course of a single evening until the sun rises is a wild experience. felt really fucking good once you finish.

(link to ask game)

#replies #ask game

[the-writing-mobster]

Hi, nice to meet you, I'm your fan of the books and drawings of "What do you want?" and other shipp frisk/sans books. And I would like to talk to you about shipp frisk/sans books, what would you recommend if you please.

Good Evening Dear Heart, and thank you for the ask! 🫰🤍🖤

I'm so glad to hear you're a fan of WDYW! Before I get into it, if you haven't read “Baby Face” or YWIW I highly encourage you to read those! I also have that one Christmas one shot “We'll See” if you want to check that out.

So on the topic of fic recommendations... Y'all this is embarrassing and also, y'all are gonna crucify me for this. The truth is, I... I actually don't read fanfiction? I only write fanfiction for the most part. I'm just really picky about what I read and watch (that goes for books, shows, movies, fanfic, etc). This goes for Frans and Undertale especially because I have a very specific idea of how the characters would act and behave. I currently have a whopping Eight whole bookmarks on AO3.

So. Here are some tentative recs from me, the illiterate author.

Sooner or Later You're Gonna Be Mine is a classic at this point and I did read it back when it was still having regular updates, but it also ends in a pretty wild cliffhanger and unfortunately hasn't been updated for years. Also... This is kind of a Hot Take in the Frans community buuut... I don't consider it a romance! Listen, it's really hard for me, personally, to root for a love interest who is depicted the way Sans is depicted in the beginning, aka, a Sexual Predator. Sexual Predators aren't really appealing to me. It's definitely more of a Mafia Thriller for me. Still really well written, so I def recommend it, especially if you like WDYW, but that's just where I stand on that fic.

The only recommendations I have for Frans, are for fancomics on Tumblr. For instance Feline Bad by @sharkowskii is incredible, I love it a lot. Also, Kingdom of the Crystal Sky by @kodizzzle is a fun read, and I love the way they draw Frisk.

I've heard Songfell by Ikustioa on Ao3 is really good, so you could probably check that out! Also I've been meaning to read When Flowers Wilt by FransGivesMeLife on Ao3

Now that being said, I do have Undertale fic recs but they're not Frans, crazily enough! There's Bone and Marrow by my good friend @washi-undertale and also My Big Fat Fish Holiday Party by Andreabandrea on Ao3. Again, these aren't Frans fics, in fact they're not really ship fics either.

I don't know, I'm not really the person to go to for fic recs. The only fandoms I read fanfic for on a regular basis are The Dark Knight and Lord of the Rings.

If anyone else more well read in Frans fanfiction wants to chime in and leave some good recs, please be my guest haha.

.

.

.

#guys guys guys #... #listen #I can explain #I'm just #illiterate apparently #listen they said write what you want to read so I did! #my special interest used to be reading... and now it's writing #ask and answer #thank you for the ask #fanfic recs #i am ashamed

[dracwife]

(this may get lengthy, so prepared yourself)

I recently wrote a little koala drabble, and I want to share it with you.

---

The only sound to be heard in Rrala's quarters was a faint purr. The Caitian lay relaxed and very comfortable in Q's arms, their tail looped around his waist and his breath whuffing gently against their fur. They could have stayed there forever.

One of Q's hands glode across Rrala's head, his fingers dipping into their ungroomed mane to lightly scratch the base of their ears. "What now?" he inquired, his voice barely a murmur.

Rrala opened their eyes lazily at the question, leaning their ear into Q's touch. "What do you mean? Now we do whatever we want."

Doing his best impression of Rrala, Q repeated what they had said the night before. "We're just friends, Q, nothing more." When Rrala didn't reply, he went on in a normal voice, "Is that all you really want?"

"No," Rrala admitted. "I... I'm sure this will come back and bite me in the tail, but I like you. A lot. I might even --"

"Love me?" Q guessed.

Heat flushed through Rrala's fur; they hadn't ever said it out loud, and even admitting it in their own mind made them nervous, but they could not deny it: they loved Q.

"I'm right, aren't I? Your silence says what you won't." Q pulled Rrala closer to him, whispering directly into their ear, "Why do you resist it? Don't tell me you're shy."

"You said it yourself -- love is a dangerous emotion," Rrala mewed. When Q pulled away, they thought with dismay that they'd offended him; the feeling disappeared quickly as they found themself pinned under Q for a second time -- not that they felt like protesting.

Q's distinct, split-color gaze bore into Rrala's own. "You're afraid," he taunted. "You don't want to risk getting hurt by allowing yourself to give in to what you feel."

"Hey!" Rrala protested. As much as they hated to admit it, Q was right. But they didn't want to let him know that. "You're one to talk, Mr 'I Have No Interest In Personal Relationships'!"

"With any of them," Q argued. When Rrala gave him a demanding trill, he went on, "Dull, irritating primates -- they are unworthy of my attention. You, Rrala... I think you are worth..."

"Worth...?" Rrala pressed. Their heart beat wildly in their chest as their mind raced for possible ends to Q's sentence.

Q smiled softly, though with what emotion, Rrala was uncertain. "Worth admitting I was wrong."

Oh. Rrala floundered for something, anything, to say. All coherency seemed to have deserted them, especially when Q trailed his fingers through their sensitive whiskers. Their eyes closed as though acting on their own will.

"Here. Let me get you started." Q cleared his throat, then, in his imitation of Rrala, quipped, "Yes, Q, I'm so very honored and lucky to have you consider me as a mate. Of course I accept --"

Rrala silenced Q by pressing their nose to his and, purring, wrapping their tail around his waist. The Caitian melted into their mate's touch, resting their head on his shoulder and tossing a leg over him. "I love you," they murmured.

Q gently cupped Rrala's chin and angled their head back so they had to meet his gaze. His eyes sparkled with sheer joy as he studied Rrala's face. "I love me, too," he teased, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to Rrala's nose.

Feeling as though life couldn't possibly get better, Rrala snuggled against Q, curling their tail around him. They drifted off into peaceful slumber, sore from their night with Q and feeling safe in his arms.

scout im sorry this took me a while to respond to, but i loved this!

it's so very endearing, i adore how you write Q, it's very fitting, i could definitely read his voice in your writing ❤️‍🩹 very much a way i can see him admitting he's in love, the amount of time and thought went into this shows, it's absolutely lovely :]

i know rrala's caitian but i love the little feline traits you exaggerated here, things like purring and the whiskers, you're the only person i've met with a caitian insert so little things like that stick out as uniquely endearing to me because it's not things you often see !!

i love them so much, i'm a koala stan first and a human being second u know this !! thank u for sharing with me 🥺

#dex.ask #others ships

[mewcatsstory]

Do cats actually use cat beds?

Hey there fellow cat lover! 🐱 Let's talk about the mysterious and finicky nature of cats when it comes to their sleeping preferences. It's like they have their own little feline opinions on what's the comfiest spot to catch some Z's!

Now, picture this: You've got a cat who has been snoozing their days away on your luxurious furniture. Will they ever want to give a cat bed a chance? Maybe. Or maybe they'll just turn their furry little nose up at it. It's a gamble, my friend.

Here's a funny thing about cat beds – most of them are actually designed for small dogs! Can you believe it? Apparently, dogs get all the cushion and room while cats are left to ponder the meaning of life on these tiny beds. My own fluffballs are so used to dog beds that they won't settle for anything less. Talk about being picky!

But hey, if you really want your fabulous feline to give a cat bed a shot, just remember they might need some time to warm up to the idea. Cats are creatures of habit, after all. So be patient, my friend.

Now, here's the plan: Find a spot that your cat absolutely adores for their catnaps. That's the prime real estate for the cat bed. And to make it even more appealing, sprinkle a little cat nip on it. Trust me, it's like throwing a party for your cat's senses!

Oh, and when you're playing with your kitty using a wand toy, try to coax them onto the bed with it. Think of yourself as a smooth-talking real estate agent trying to sell a luxurious cat vacation spot. You've got this!

But here's a word of advice: Never, and I mean never, force your cat onto the bed. Cats have a mind of their own, and they despise being put places. Even if you managed to place them there, chances are they'll bolt away quicker than you can say "meow". It's just how they roll.

If your little furball hasn't shown any interest in the cat bed within the first week, try this sneaky trick: Use the bed as your own personal pillow for a few hours. Yep, you heard me right! Let it soak up your scent, so it becomes a familiar and comforting spot for your kitty. It's like a snuggle-filled sleepover for the bed!

#cats #cat bed #cute cats

[dairyminki]

From The Shadows | c.s

↬ pairing: choi san x fem!oc (slytherin!san x ravenclaw!oc)

↬ summary: when the whole school is out, interesting things betide between you and slytherin's infamous troublemaker.

↬ genre: fluff, hogwarts au, enemies to friends, enemies to lovers (?)

↬ warning: light swearing

↬ wc: 7k+

"DUDE, she'll melt."

"Shut up, Woo." San snaps at his black-haired friend, tearing his gaze away from the Ravenclaw table in the process.

"What? I'm just telling the truth! You've been staring at her since like, what? Since we came here? It's been hours since we've entered the Great Hall, San."

"Yeah. In fact, it surprises me that you're now putting less effort on being discreet." His other friend, Yeosang, butts in.

"What the heck does that even mean, Yeo?" San asks, looking at him quizzically, not having a single idea on what the blonde just said.

"Sometimes I can't believe how dense you are to your own self. Or...are you just...feigning innocence?" Wooyoung leans forward, raising an eyebrow at him.

However, San was quick to shove him back to his seat, heaving a deep sigh and rolling his eyes at the same time.

"Look, I don't really understand what you two are saying. For real."

"Or~! He's just really plain stupid~" Yeosang counters in a sing-song, and then he happily munches on his chicken drumstick. Only for San to cut his happiness short by slapping his hand that was holding the precious drumstick, making him lose his grip on it  �� the piece of food ending up falling on the floor.

"What the heck?!" Yeosang shouts, clearly not expecting for that to happen.

Meanwhile, Wooyoung just laughs at the side, not daring to speak as not to rile San up further and end up sharing Yeosang's misfortune.

"That's for calling me stupid, stupid." San hisses.

♡

She's still hesitating on whether to leave you to spend your Christmas holiday all by yourself here in Hogwarts, or bringing you along with her to her hometown — so you could spend the holidays with her family. Her family, which already knew of you and has treated you like their own daughter.

  "Will you be okay, here? All alone?" Sara Lovegood, your friend asks.

It was quite tempting, really. But you know you can't just possibly ruin their usual Christmas tradition as a family with you being there. Even if they already treat you like a part of them, even if you've grown quite fond of them. Still, you think, you shouldn't.

"It's fine. I'll be fine, really." You say cheerfully, in an attempt to reassure her fully. But it seems like she's not buying it.

"You know it would be really more reassuring if I know you at least have a single soul to accompany you here in the whole week that I'll be gone- more like, the entire school gone. I think even the professors will be out, and you'll be left with whom- the house elves? The whole school will be deserted, Ari! How do you think I'll be able to leave you, knowing this?"

At this, you quickly stood up from your bed to hug your pouting friend. "I don't know what you're so worried for, but I can definitely handle myself, thank you. And if you're pointing out that I'll be damn bored, then you thought wrong." You say, crossing your arms. Then, you quickly spun on your heel and twirled towards your bookshelves that are full of books arranged in order and their respective genres, just the way you like it.

"See these? I have them to accompany me." You say, gesturing to your book collection with a proud smile. Your books are literally, your babies. Your most prized possessions. Well, it's given, because you're a Ravenclaw - you love, love books.

After you said that, a tiny mewl was heard from under your bed, making you and Sara turn your heads.

"Niki! What the heck are you doing under there?" You squeaked and rushed to the black feline, immediately scooping him in your arms.

Niki purrs in pure delight at you brushing his fur, that it made you giggle. Then you turn to Sara.

"Well? That makes two right? My books, and then Niki here will be accompanying me and spare me from loneliness and boredom. Please, tell me it's reassuring enough."

Hearing you, Sara finally lets out a sigh and nods her head. Then she walks over to you and starts petting the black cat too.

"I guess, Niki here, would serve as a great company to Ari, won't he?" Sara baby talks to the cat playfully, making you roll your eyes and smile after.

Niki who hears this, meows in return, and then he snuggles back to your chest.

"He said yes, of course, absolutely. Now shoo!" You giggle as you push Sara with your free hand. Wanting her to move quickly, or she'll be late to the trains.

"Are you that desperate to get rid of me?" She asks, frowning, only for you to push her again in order to get going.

"Oh, please! Spare me your dramatic self or I'll literally kick you out of here."

"See, you really are trying to get rid of me!"

○○○

WORST holiday ever.

By now, he should be already on a ski lift, waiting for his ass to be dropped on a snow-covered peak and then, dash his way down, afterwards. But no, unlike his friends who already left yesterday for the holidays - he's stuck here.

Stuck inside Hogwarts, wandering through the hallways by himself. All alone. With literally no one, okay maybe except for the house elves. Seeing as, even the professors and house ghosts all ditched the dimly-lit school for a warm spot by the fireplace, drinking hot-cocoa while snow falls down the roof of their houses.

This sucks. Void of fun.

If only his father didn't have to fuck things again, then he…then he would've been home by now, enjoying his mother's cooking or maybe having fun with his younger brother.

It sucks that he has to have a prideful and a total jerk of a father, who couldn't even at least try to give in for his wife. Instead, he lets the small problem turn into a big one. San doesn't know what problem arose in their household again, but he's sure it was enough for his parents to not be on speaking terms.

Now, who wants to spend their holidays like that? Definitely, not San. That's why he preferred he'll just stay at school.

He might be all alone, but at least he could get a peace of mind.

But that's what he thought.

With an audible gasp, the Slytherin boy halts in his steps when he sees he wasn't the only person inside the Great Hall.

Because there inside, was her. Arin Bramwell. The Ravenclaw girl that his friends were cryptically teasing him about the other day. Who's now mirroring the same look on his face. Probably also thinking that she's the only one left in the school.

As if sensing that he was about to step out, turn around, and head back to the dungeon, where the Slytherin common room is, the girl speaks.

"Please, if you want to eat here, don't let my presence stop you. I was leaving anyway." Arin told him aloud, but still soft in a way that had San surprised.

It was his first time hearing her speak to him and seeing her up close.

Perhaps, San's face was heating up now, but we don't speak about that.

"A-Alright." Was the only thing he was able to say before he looked away and made his way to his usual spot on the Slytherin table.

He hasn't even fully seated yet, but he already heard the faint clicking noise of shoes coming in contact with the hard floor. When he turns his head around, he spots Arin leaving the hall already.

She didn't lie when she said she's leaving. San thought, and maybe, just maybe, he was a little bit disappointed.

Nevertheless, he started eating, in silence,

♡

With your heart pacing and your mind racing, you were panting when you arrived inside the Ravenclaw common room.

You were even close to cursing the eagle for asking a ridiculously difficult riddle at such crucial times. Your head constantly whipped around, just trying to make sure Choi San hasn't followed or caught up to you.

What's with him that's got you all worked up, you say?

First of all, everybody knows him. Who wouldn't? When he's a Pure-blooded Slytherin. Not only that, but you've heard stories of him. That although you haven't spoken to him nor interacted with him, not until earlier at the Great Hall, you knew of the tricks and curses he's pulled at every student his eyes land on. So that leads to the second point;

Choi San, is nothing but trouble. If trouble was a person, it would've been him.

But he certainly wasn't like that at the hall earlier though… he looked...flustered.

And so? What if it was an act? You know all the things people say about him. And it only spells one word - trouble. The little devil in you counters, making you sigh.

Now that you know you'll not be the only soul roaming Hogwarts for a good whole week, you think it's best to just stay in your room and read a book until the holidays are over.

Yeah, that's what you're going to do.

Definitely.

○○○

HE'S been praying to the heavens above that you didn't notice him.

"Am I really that good at hiding and making my presence unknown or is she just plain flat ignoring me…?" San frowns, finally asking himself the questions that endlessly bugged him.

It's been three days since he's been doing this — sneakily following you around after his encounter with you in the Great Hall and after knowing that there's another student left with him in this enormous school — he felt less lonely.

San didn't want to appear as a creep, he totally didn't want to. And he's been hoping that you didn't notice him silently trailing after you all along and therefore creating that same assumption-him being a creep, inside your pretty little head.

Let's just say, you had piqued his interest.

Well, you have been since the first time you walked through the doors of Hogwarts, dressed in your robe and uniform, old-looking glasses perched on the bridge of your nose and your slightly curly hair tied up in pigtails.

That was the first time the young Slytherin saw you.

San remembered how tiny you were and he kept wondering how a tiny person like you would fit in with the 2nd years like him.

From that day on, his eyes never left yours, as well as you never left his mind.

San didn't know what it is with you that has grabbed his attention fully. Was it the way you looked so lost in the crowd of students, that he wanted to step up from the shadows, introduce himself to you and become your friend? Or was it the way your eyes seemed to sparkle every time you got a hold of one of your books?

Was it to be called a small infatuation? A crush? A puppy love? Or was it just his mere curiosity over you?

San doesn't know how to properly call it. All he knows is that his eyes are on you since day one.

And maybe, just maybe — his friends had caught on too. No, his friends definitely had caught on to him and the frequent stares and glances he'll steal from you.

Yeosang was right, he's not being discreet as he was before.

Who knows, maybe one of these days, his secret will eventually come out, and the rest of the school will know of the girl that had caught the eyes of Hogwarts' so-called notorious trickster.

And perhaps, his heart too?

♡

"I'm going...I'm not going. I'm going...I'm not...I'm going- urgh!"

You fall back on the bed with a groan after the last petal of your blue daisy was plucked.

Pouting, you turn your head to your cat, Niki, who straight up stared at you with a blank face. The feline, as if sensing that you're going to rant on him and ask for his opinion, turn his body away from you and proceed to casually lick his paws.

If Niki can talk, he'll probably be saying that he doesn't have the time to deal with your shit ass problems and therefore you have no choice but to deal with it on your own.

But he doesn't talk, so you proceed to rant on him anyway.

"I just want to peacefully grab the next volume of the book I'm reading- but! He'll be there! And I just know he'll be staring at me for god knows how long." You cry. Niki who was beside you just stays silent and continues licking his paws.

"Why is he even staring? Is he like, I don't know, plotting in his mind whatever trick he'll play on me? Niki, should I be scared?!"

Prior to your original plan, which you didn't end up following — just staying inside your room and reading a book until the end of the week — you end up going back and forth to the library after that one visit you did.

You were just going to check if the library had the continuation to the series you were reading and, oh god did they have it. And so, you've been cooped up inside that place for three straight afternoons.

But, not alone.

Choi San was there too.

Yes, that Slytherin and his frequent glances at you. Yes, you noticed it. And yes, it bothered you. Slightly.

Anyway, Choi San would find a seat at the corner opposite you, his dark hair and figure clad in black blending in with the shadows, that you didn't even notice him at first. Not when you heard him let out a tiny sneeze, which he thought you didn't hear since he had his face hidden by a book, but you obviously did.

Since then, you didn't fail to notice the stares he'll give you and the rich smell of his perfume, that by now you're sure you'll notice his scent right away wherever you go.

Today's a Thursday and you have just finished another book of the series and you're supposed to go to the library and read it straight away, but then, you remember San.

He'll be there again.

And you don't know if you'll be able to take it. Three days under his gaze and three days with his scent filling your nose that got your head spinning — can you still manage a fourth?

You have no choice. You just swore earlier that you'll let the little blue daisy flower decide your fate for this afternoon.

And it said, yes, you're going out.

You are going out to head to the library to read that book.

Fuck it.

But is that really the only reason you're going out, or is there something else?

♡

Dressed in your favorite light blue sweater, tucked in one of your dark jeans, you head to the library, Niki comfortably nestled in your arms.

Once you stepped inside, you sighed internally. You weren't wrong. Choi San was here, early.

So unlike the previous days, you figured you've had enough.

Why even is he hiding from you? It's not like you'll eat him alive. No, you don't bite. If you'd ask yourself, it actually might be the opposite.

"You can quit hiding now please." You voiced out, loud and clear. From the corner of your eye, you saw him visibly flinch, but he remained still in his place.

"Choi San, I know that's you. And for your information, I've noticed you since Monday..." You softly continued as you plopped down on your usual seat at the corner opposite of him, but this time you have Niki with you.

With that mentioned, the black feline jumps out of your arms and walks to the shadows where San was.

When the Slytherin male notices an extra bump of shadow forming on the table and moving closer to him, he shrieks. Only to realize later that it was a black cat - your cat, Niki.

Embarrassed, San was quick to clear his throat. He throws you a glance first, and when he sees you already staring back at him, he looks away, his face heating up.

"You scared me y'know." San scolds Niki in a whisper, who just meows in return. Then, the cat inches closer to him and lifts its right paw, tapping it on the male's arm.

San, having enough experiences with cats, as their family has one, immediately complies to its request. Stretching out his hand, he places it gently on Niki's head, his fingers threading the cat's black fur.

Niki purrs in delight. And you looked at both of them with wide eyes.

How?

"How?" You voiced out this time, eyes incredulously big in shock and maybe, amazement?

Because Niki doesn't like strangers. Heck, he even hisses when someone touches him - except for you and Sara. But what did you just see? Niki asking someone to pet him? For Choi San, to pet him? A stranger at that?

The content smile on San's face falters as he looks up at you with a slight frown, asking, "What do you mean by how?"

Walking towards the table he's at, you puffed out air from your mouth, your lips curling upwards after to form a smile of disbelief.

"This!" You blurt out, gesturing your hands exaggeratingly to his form and the cat that's currently enjoying his touch as he continues to pet it. "How?? Niki doesn't let any people touch him that easily! So like how?"

Then your hands flew to your mouth, gasping loudly when you realized something.

"You casted a spell on him didn't you?! Oh my god, I can't believe you!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't!" San shouts back, his eyebrows furrowing deep. He was now standing on his feet, hands now already off of Niki, much to the cat's dismay.

"Yes you di-"

"I didn't." San growls, making you still on the spot. You were too busy shouting at him that you didn't even notice when he walked towards you.

And now, he's a breath away from your face, eyes sharp and his body, now out of the shadows and instead, looming over your much smaller form.

Seeing him right in front of you made your breath hitch. You weren't able to form any words right out of your mouth as you continued to stare up at him.

His cat-like eyes, his sharp nose, jelly-like pink lips - and are those freckles on the side of his neck?

Choi San was stunningly gorgeous, and it's almost bewitching.

It's like he's casting a spell on you. Was this what he did with Niki too?

No wonder your cat was immediately drawn to him.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." A voice snaps you out from your bubbling thoughts. You shook your head lightly and when you looked back at San, his lips were now formed into a light frown as he stepped back.

"Huh?" You say, not quite processing what was happening.

"For coming so close to you and probably making you uncomfortable? And, I swear — I didn't cast a spell on your cat or anything! I didn't!"

"I'm not sure if I can trust you on that…" You mutter, biting your lower lip as you look away.

"Why not?"

You wanted to answer, 'How can I trust someone who does tricks on others as a hobby? And Slytherin's famous trickster at that?' But it seems like the male in front of you has caught up with your thoughts.

"Right." San mutters and presses his lips in a tight smile. Then he walks back to the table, his hands finding purchase in Niki's soft black fur, once again.

"I didn't take you as one who relies on other people's beliefs, though."

"What do you mean?" You were now the one stepping closer.

Without raising his head and looking you in the eye, San continues. "Would you believe me if I said that I also have a cat back in our home, and maybe that's why I'm good with them too? Maybe why Niki opened up to me so easily?"

"I-I guess…? I mean, yes." You quickly corrected yourself. Why are you even stuttering?

San pouts. "You're scared of me, aren't you?" This time, he finally looks at you.

"What makes you think so?" You threw back at him, lifting your head much higher as you tried to not falter under the intense gaze he's giving you now.

The next thing he does surprises you. San throws his head back and ends up in a fit of laughter. And when he recovers, he bore his gaze back at you, lips twitching into a full smirk.

"It's obvious by the way you take one tiny step at a time, darling. I can sense you're trying to be cautious around me."

"You know I can't help it, especially everyone knows what you're capable of-"

"Of what? Of playing small tricks on students? Doing a little spell to put them in their places? C'mon, now. It's all just fun and stuff. No serious harm done." He says, raising both of his hands in the air while he lightly shakes his head.

"That's still trouble. You're still trouble."

San fakes a hurt expression. And you were about to shout at him, thinking that he'll run off when he suddenly scooped Niki in his arms. But you stop and close your mouth when he trudges towards you instead.

"I know you're smart. Pretty smart, if you ask me." He starts off. "So why don't you take the sweet little time of getting to know me, hmm? No pressure, though. But maybe through that, you'll see that I'm not one you should be scared of." Then he pauses and hands Niki to you.

"But trouble, I guess that's what I am, and we can't change that now, can't we, darling?"

And with one last smirk, he was gone.

Long gone was the mousy San you've met in the span of three days. Just, the San that everyone knows.

○○○

"MEOW."

"Mmm, five more minutes."

"Meow~"

Soon enough, you feel something wet on the side of your face, but because you're still dead tired, you do nothing but roll on your back, your body turning to face the other side.

Sleep wasn't granted back to you though, when you hear a loud sound, alerting you up.

When you rub your eyes open, that's when you spot Niki directly perched in front of your face. It also seemed like the loud sound came from him - or was him, rather, seeing that he continues to cry out while he taps his paws repeatedly on your face.

That was also the time you realized he was shivering.

"Oh my god, Niki, what's wrong?" You asked, almost frantically, as you cradled the animal like a baby. As you do so, Niki nuzzles his face at the crook of your neck and basks himself in the blanket that was wrapped loosely around your frame.

However, even you started to feel cold too. When you looked around, you almost wanted to curse yourself at the fact of you forgetting what Sara had told you before she left.

'Oh make sure to fix the window later okay? I kind of crashed it down when I was practicing for Quidditch…'

How could you forget?

Sighing, you lift yourself up from and out of the bed. But before you fix the hollowed-out window, you make sure to tuck Niki under your blanket, making sure that he's feeling warm enough and comfortable before you leave his side. When you hear his light purr, that was your cue that he was slowly trying to fall asleep.

Now, the window.

"What spell was it, again?" You bit your lip, trying to think hard so you could grab your wand from the nightstand and fix the problem immediately and go back to the warmth of your bed. But it seems like the heavens had different plans for you.

"What the fuck?!" You cursed out loud when a freezingly cold snowball landed straight in your face.

What, it's raining snowballs now?!

Feeling frustrated, you opted to look out the window to check if it indeed was raining snowballs. But when you did, another one smacked you in the face, and when you dusted it off of you, you caught sight of a moving dark figure below, and when you squinted your eyes to see it clearer, you internally screamed.

Due to frustration and the fact that you were robbed off of your deserved sleep, you clenched your fists tight as you grit your teeth.

"Fucking, Choi San, what in the hell are you doing at such an ungodly hour?!" You whisper shouted, loud enough for him to hear at least.

And he did hear, as he stops in his tracks and looks up at you with a playful grin, showcasing his set of pearly white teeth.

"You're awake, at last. Took you long enough, though." San pouts, and you swear to the heavens above, that if only you had snow in your room, you would've landed a snowball in his goddamn face. But no, you didn't, and you were supposed to fix the fucking window! Yet, here he is - living up to his name and playing stupid tricks at you.

"What do you fucking want Choi? And seriously? Throwing snowballs? What are you, a kid?" You were pissed.

"Maybe." He responds with a light teasing tone, making your blood boil even more. But you refused to burst at him and remained calm instead.

But then something else caught your attention.

"Why are you wearing flip flops? It's snowing, for goodness' sake!" You shout back at him. Is he crazy?

"Aww, are you worried about me?"

"I hope you freeze to death, then."

"Now, that's not nice. Take it back!"

One second he was an annoying trickster, and now he's acting like a child.

Your thread of patience was thinning.

"I would take it back if you stop throwing snowballs and scram."

"Definitely not." He scoffs. "You see, I came here for a reason." San smiles in mischief.

"And that reason would be?"

"That reason….I'll tell you, if you jump down and join me here outside."

Your eyebrows furrowed as your mouth drops open in shock.

He wants you to what now?

"San, quit playing around and go to sleep." You hissed at him.

"I will, once you jump." And then he grins like a cheshire-cat. You don't even know what goes on in his mind anymore.

"San, what makes you think I'll do that?"

"If you won't, I'll make you my target and pick on you for the rest of the school year."

When you were about to say no thanks  and ignore him because you still have a window to fix, he speaks up again.

"I'm not kidding." His tone was dark.

Wanting this to end already, you sighed heavily. "Just fucking make sure you use the right spell on me or I'll swear-"

"Huh, what spell? Are you saying you won't jump and prefer being my target, instead?" He looks up at you puzzledly.

"No! You said you want me to join you there right? So I assumed you'll be using magic to bring me down from here, unless you want me to actually jump?"

"That….that's kinda what I said…"

Your eyes went wide in disbelief. Then you let out a dry chuckle as you pinched the bridge of your nose.

"Choi San, do you secretly want me dead?!" Your voice was a bit louder this time and you actually had to look back just to check if it somehow woken Niki up. Luckily, it didn't.

"Do you even have a plan?!" You continued furiously, albeit, disappointed. Disappointed at him for wasting your time and disappointed at yourself for letting him actually stop and distract you.

All of this because you were trying to fix a broken window.

Should you blame Sara too? Because she was the one who broke it in the first place?

"Look, I'll come up with a plan after you jump!"

"Choi San!!"

♡

Your night was something out of the ordinary. After your feet landed on the cold snow, San wasted no time and immediately sprung into action.

With his hand tightly encircling your wrist, he's dragged you first into the Hogwarts kitchen to steal some food which made your heart nearly jump right out of your chest due to the intense worry you had that the house elves might catch the both of you. Then after getting yourselves full, he dragged you back outside in the freezing cold. And that's how you end up lying beside him in the snow, making snow angels.

"You were always inclined with constant trouble, y'know? And now you've dragged me to it with you." You spoke after a short moment of silence, both your hands and feet coming to work with the snow, San doing the same beside you.

"Well, it's not really trouble if you don't get caught."

"Still…"

And then, silence.

"What do you think of me now?" San asks, voice not more than a whisper. Tone, almost pleading.

"Hmm...I guess, you're not that bad after all…" You whispered back, eyes fixated at the dark sky above you, no stars in sight.

San scoffs lightly and props himself up on his elbow, looking at you incredulously. "You guess?"

You shook your head in slight amusement. "Fine, you're not bad yourself, Choi."

Just when you thought he was going to finally shut his mouth, he doesn't.

"Arin."

At the mention of your name, your head quickly turned to him. You raised your eyebrows, movements in the snow coming to a halt as you waited for his next words.

"Nothing, I just realized I never addressed you by your name."

And there was it, you felt like words were stuck in your throat as your heart paced a tad bit faster.

You just also realized that, that, was in fact the first time you've heard the Slytherin utter your name.

"Your point?" You asked nonchalantly, masking up the fact that you were flustered for a bit there.

San stares at you for a little longer before his mouth opens, words pouring out without him realizing and he might regret a little later, or not.

"Pretty. Your name is pretty. And so are you."

You stared at him with wide eyes, your cheeks beginning to be filled with warmth at his statement.

When San sees your reaction, he tilts his head, brows furrowed, and then he asks. "Arin? Why are you red? Are you perhaps cold- wait, shit." It was now his turn to stare at you with wide eyes. Realizing that he just said that, he looks away from you and covers his face with his hands.

Then he screams.

Meanwhile, you just sat there, blinking dumbly. Your mind, lost in space.

Pretty.

Your name is pretty.

And so are you.

Pretty.

Your name is pretty.

And so are you.

Pretty.

Your name is pretty.

And so are you—

His words repeating like some sort of mantra inside your head stops as you hear someone clearing their throat.

"L-look.." San stammers, turning your attention back at him.

"Do you...do you like me?" You asked in a faint whisper, your hands tightly gripping the hem of your sweater as you wait for his reply.

San heaves a sigh and then he bites his lips. Then he settles for, "Yes? I do? Maybe? I don't know." as an answer.

Which only made you more confused than you are.

So you sit up, and he does the same.

You expected him to be silent, but he tells his story, instead.

"You were so small...and innocent. I thought you were cute too, to be honest. I wanted to be your friend, you know?" He says, smiling at the memory of the first time he saw you, young Arin Bramwell coming into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, looking like a lost child in a marketplace.

"But, I couldn't. I didn't know how to approach you."

"So you didn't." You say.

"Yeah, I didn't."

"Coward." You whispered to yourself, secretly rolling your eyes.

"But then — you met your friend. Sara, was it?" You nod your head, not really knowing where this conversation is headed to.

"That was the first time I saw you smile." San smiles fondly. "And maybe...the time I realized I liked you, but of course, I just realized it now."

"What was that?" You ask, not hearing him well. But San just shook his head.

"Nothing. Don't you think it's getting colder now? Should we head inside?"

You narrowed your eyes at him, but then you eventually sigh and nod your head. You let him pull you up from the ground, and then the two of you walked back inside.

○○○

"SO…" San speaks when the both of you stopped at the corridor that leads to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Goodnight, San." You speak softly, giving him a small smile. San returns it.

"Goodnight, Arin." You nod your head.

Not knowing what to say anymore, you opted for a small wave and was about to brush past him when you remembered throughout the night, he was just in his flip-flops.

He must've been cold.

And the Slytherin common room is a long walk to go too.

Oh, so you're worried about him? The little voice in your head asks.

Is it wrong if I am? You counter.

Fuck it.

"San, doyouwanttocomeinside?" You said in a rush, making him jolt in place and look at you quizzically.

"Pardon me?"

You don't say anything. You just grabbed his hand without a word and dragged him with you.

"Arin? Where are you taking me?"

"Just shut up, we have to get you warm."

♡

"Sooo...you were worried about me?"

"Was not."

"You are!"

"Am not."

"Sure, you're not."

"Am I even allowed here?" San asks when you went silent.

"Technically, you aren't. But there's no professors in sight, so you're okay, San. Stop being such a worrywart." You told him as you searched for a spare cozy blanket inside one of the many drawers your common room has.

When you finally find one, you turn on your heel to go back to San, only to find him pouting.

"Stop pouting, you like a duck."

"Excuse me?!"

"What? Ducks are cute, aren't they?"

"So, you're saying, I'm cute?"

"No?"

San scoffs. When you neared him, you tossed the blanket at him and sat beside his now, warming body.

You had dragged him with you inside the Ravenclaw common room. The both of you are now sitting in front of the fireplace. Warmth engulfing the both of you, totally opposite of the feeling the white snow gave you back there outside.

You inched closer to him, trying to make the blanket fit the both of you. After you successfully did, you turned your head to the side, only to see San staring at you.

"What?" You ask, raising your eyebrow.

"Are we...friends now?"

You still for a second before you replied to him.

"I mean, yeah, sure. If that's what you want us to be…" You say, pulling up your knees to your chest, your gaze fixated at the fire dancing in front of you.

"What if I want us to be more.."

"What was that?" You asked when you heard him mumbling. San just shook his head.

Moments later, you feel a weight on your left shoulder. When you whip your head slowly to the side, you see San starting to doze off on you. His head was on your shoulder, eyes closed and soft breaths came out of his slightly parted mouth.

"San, do you want to move to one of the rooms? I'm sure you could stay here for the ni-"

"No." He mumbles. "You are a perfect headrest, you know." He added cheekily, chuckling after.

You rolled your eyes. "So that's what I am now? A friend and a headrest?"

This time you don't receive any response from him, except the little snores he let out and it was enough to convince you that maybe he has fallen asleep.

And you should too.

Sighing, you let your head fall on top of his and closed your eyes letting slumber consume you bit by bit.

○○○

NEXT week came, and everything was back into place. Except for the fact that you and San had gotten a lot closer, the following days after he dozed off on you.

You could say you two were close enough to be considered as friends. Even Niki and him. That sometimes you'd frown at how it seems like Niki's been more fond of him lately, than you, his owner.

You've also already gotten used to his antics and how he naturally switches from his playful side to his somewhat  — child-like side.

And just like what you said before, he's actually not that bad, as what others tell him to be.

He's just... annoying.

You were currently in your Potions class with Professor Park. Sara, sitting in front of you as both of you waited for class to start.

"So, tell me, did you really spend your holidays just reading books and taking care of Niki?" Sara asks you, her face resting on top of her hand as she leaned on the table.

"I most likely did. Yeah." You respond, half truthfully, not that she would've noticed.

"I'm not even surprised it didn't bore you."

"When did books ever bore m-"

"Oh, shit, is that Jung Wooyoung?" Sara squeaks, nearly falling off her chair. Before you could ask her what's the matter with her, her face turns red as she blushes furiously.

The next thing you know, she has her head down on the table as she tries to suppress a light squeal.

Finding her behavior weird, you decide to look around, your eyes immediately stopping to a familiar Slytherin male.

The infamous Jung Wooyoung, except that his hair was now silver.

Your eyes don't linger on him though, as your gaze landed on the black-haired male beside him, whose eyes immediately turn into crescents as he flashes you a smile when he sees you looking at him. You smiled back.

The subtle exchange comes to a stop when you hear Sara speak up.

“He’s so pretty I think I’m gonna faint.” She says, both of her hands fanning her still red face.

"I knew you have a crush on him, but I certainly didn't expect you to react this way after not seeing him for only a week, Sara." You told her, because you do believe that she might really faint any minute now.

"I know, me neither! But how can I not when he decided to dye his hair silver!" Sara squeals yet again, burying her face back on the table.

You just sat there staring at your somewhat hopeless friend, wondering when her squeals would stop.

♡

Meanwhile, San settles down with his two friends at a table at the far back of the classroom, his eyes glued to a particular someone.

Ohoh, this time he wasn't really being discreet, at all.

“Is there a reason you’re blushing like that?” Wooyoung's voice snaps him out of his little daze, his eyes automatically looking away from your spot.

"Uh, no? I'm just...feeling hot?" San answers, not really being able to maintain eye contact with his best friend as he breaks into a sweat.

"Liar!" Yeosang exclaims, making both males turn their attention to him. One wide-eyed, and the other, squinting.

"What do you mean, Yeo?" Wooyoung asks the blonde.

"What I mean is that, I just saw him exchange a smile with Arin Bramwell."

At that information, Wooyoung gasps, his left hand over his mouth as he looks back at San, who was now sending daggers to Yeosang.

"You little snitch." San snarls, about to hit him with a book, but the latter was quick to avoid it. "How did you even manage to see that, huh?"

"Not my fault if I have sharp eyes!" Yeosang defends.

"Oh my god, so it is true?!" Wooyoung shrieks, gaining the attention of the other students in the room, even you, that San had to put a hand to his mouth to shut him up. But Wooyoung refuses to.

"So you finally made a move on her? When Yeosang and I were out? When everyone was out? When the whole school was out?"

"Yeah? And what if I did?" San answers back, making Wooyoung squeal this time, that even Yeosang had to cover his ears at the sound.

"No way? Okay, so maybe I didn’t see that coming. At all.” The silver-haired male muses, finding it very amusing that one of his friends is close to having his own lovelife, that even when Professor Park entered the room, he still kept on pestering San.

"Sooo, when will you introduce us to her?"

"Oh, shut up, Woo!" San shushes him up and fortunately, he does it successfully this time when he sees his friend now focused on Professor Park, upfront.

Sure, San does the same, but his mind was definitely drifting somewhere - someone, rather.

To say that he was feeling joyous, was an understatement.

The fact that he no longer has to look at you from the shadows without you knowing, has made his heart leap up in content and perhaps, made him charged and euphoric, especially when your eyes met his' for the second time this day. Both of your lips, stretching into a full smile, you, rolling your eyes after as you caught sight of his dimples appearing on both sides of his cheeks.

That might just be your new weakness.

Then, when you look away, San shakes his head at himself, muttering, "I might just fall deeper."

#san x oc #san x reader #ateez x oc #ateez x reader #choi san #san #ateez san #ateez hogwarts #ateez hogwarts au #choi san hogwarts au #hogwarts au #ateez au #choi san au #ateez fluff #choi san fluff #san fluff #ateez #dairyminkiwrites #dairyminki_atzsan

[ssa-sugar-tits]

i missed you

request : this one

pairing : derek morgan x cadet!reader

summary : an fbi cadet reader asks her old friend, derek morgan, to help her train and suppressed feelings surface.

content warnings : annoying time jumps (leave me alone), swearing, awkward ass reader, insecurity, good old sexual tension

gif credit : @rewrotethestars

-

All it took was a call to an old friend. One who'd left for the FBI not long after you'd met. Communication didn't completely fizzle out, every once in a while you'd see how the other was doing. You'd crossed each other's minds as something that could have been but simply weren't-- and that was okay. So why did you reach out? You can't really say.

-

Derek's phone rings in the back pocket of his jeans, barely noticable over the blaring music of the dim lit club. The name appears in large letters and he redirects his attention with dark furrowed brows, earning pouts from the women fawning over him.

"Y/N?" His deep voice questions and you almost hang up. He doesn't sound very happy to hear from you.

"Hey Derek, it's me. I mean clearly it's me, since you already saw my caller ID. What I mean is..." you trail off, fumbling over your own words. Surprisingly he chuckles and puts you at ease.

"It's nice to know you're still you, hot stuff. So what's up?"

Hot stuff.

His stupid nicknames always felt like home in an odd way.

"Sorry if you're busy but I'm finishing up my time at the academy and I was wondering if you'd help me train." God, you sound ridiculous. "S-Since you're all badass and built and I'm not, you know?"

You wince at your sentence. Why didn't you stop talking? A warm laugh escapes him and you can hear a smile in his voice that makes you smile too, despite the fact that it's probably at your expense.

"You think I'm badass and built? I'm glad that's what stuck in your mind about me after all these years. I'd be more than happy to help you, just let me know when."

"I will, thanks Derek."

And you did. The rest is history.

-

Derek was ecstatic to hear from you. Your presence always lingered in his heart like a beautiful ghost.

"Okay, spill." Penelope's flirty tone sings to the unsuspecting profiler in the elevator.

"Spill?" Derek cocks an eyebrow.

"Spill about where you've been so excited to go. It doesn't take a profiler to figure out when someone captivates the Derek Morgan."

"It's not like that, babygirl. I'm helping a friend in the academy train, that's all."

That's all? Rich, Morgan.

"A female friend I presume? One who makes the sexy biceps of your heart flex?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last part but yes, Y/N is a woman. It doesn't mean anything."

An exaggerated sigh leaves the blonde and she taps a finger on the desk.

"Whatever you say, twelve-pack. Just know that your girl's rooting for ya. Not that she'll be able to resist you exercising."

Derek laughs heartily at her wink and steps out of the building.

"Is that her?" she gasps, seeing you leaned against his car awaiting the dark man. "She might just be sexier than you are."

You wave innocently and give a hopefully not too awkward, tight lipped smile. Penelope smirks at Derek's obvious awe of you, taking in the sight as if you were a vivid sunset about to disappear. You'd never guess that though, would you? Why would a man like him want you? The answer is he wouldn't. But a girl can dream.

"Took you long enough," you laugh and turn to the brightly dressed woman beside him. "You must be Penelope? Der's mentioned you before."

Der? Penelope taunts with silent feline eyes.

"The one and only! I've heard about you too, Y/N."

"Oh!" you're startled when she brings you into a hug and whispers, not at all subtly.

"Have fun training."

Derek scrunches his face in embarrassment. You must know why she's teasing.

"Goodbye lovelies, enjoy yourselves!" She waves goodbye.

"She was... interesting," you say playfully. "I like her."

Is that all you have to say? Judging by the way you open the car door and plop down, yes. Yes, it is.

-

Arriving at the Quantico gym, you turn to your new trainer and beam.

"Alright. Where do we start, teach?"

"The fitness test is going to put you through core challenges and test your overall endurance out in the field. It's best to take this at your best level so we'll start wherever you want."

How does he make an FBI qualification sound sexy?

"Uh... core is a good place to start. Give me a sec to change."

"No problem."

Of course he'd change too. But it still catches you by-- very pleasant-- surprise when you return to see him in gym clothes. His dark, toned arms are completely exposed and the built pecs of his chest are barely covered by his tank top. It grips to his abs and the shorts he's wearing... they do not leave his calves to the imagination.

"Like what you see?" he teases confidentally, showcasing his perfect white teeth. Shit, he caught you staring. And of course had to taunt you.

As if he isn't enjoying the view too. Your sports bra and active wear shorts aren't exactly modest.

"No! I mean yes! I was just admiring, you're very fit."

You want to cringe at yourself. Way to go Y/N, not creepy at all.

"Not so bad yourself, Y/N. Why don't we start with stretching?"

"Okay," you nod and follow his movements. Bringing an arm up over your head, you turn and gasp lightly at the sight of his tank top lifting. If one thing hasn't changed, it's those fucking abs. Being distracted while exercising isn't such a good thing however and you topple over into his arms.

"Woah! I got you," Derek reassures and steadies you.

"Yeah I'm alright-- thanks."

His eyes are so pretty. They scan yours with a love you wouldn't comprehend. So chocolate and ocean like. You could lose yourself in them... Oh god. You are losing yourself in them.

"So, what now?" you blurt, jumping back from his grasp and almost making him frown. He'd rather be close to you but he'd never let you know. A womanizer, isn't he? He's on Reid's level of charm when it comes to you. You're different, somehow, some way.

"The best core exercises to begin with are crunches and sit ups, we can move on to variations afterwards." he explains, lips moving with silk precision.

"Got it!" you nod enthusiastically. Derek lays on his back for a demonstration, allowing you to enjoy the show as his arms bend behind his head and his body curls up to his knees.

Always the charmer, always the angel.

Something about him right now, whatever it is.

It's too much to ignore anymore.

With a burst of confidence and passion, you hop onto his lap and rest your hands on his racing chest.

"I really missed you Derek."

As scandalous as this would seem to anyone who walked in right now, the moment was nothing if not pure.

"I missed you too baby."

You lower your body and gently brush his lips with yours. His hands find their rightful place in your hair and his tongue guides yours into bliss. Tilting your head, you melt deeper into the long overdue kiss and breathlessly pull back.

"Training's a lot more fun than I thought it'd be." You whisper and rest your head against his.

"We should do it again sometime." He returns.

"Is that a promise?"

He chuckles and brings music to your ears.

"It always has been, pretty lady."

And it always will be.

-

masterlist

-

#criminal minds #derek morgan #derek morgan x reader #derek morgan x y/n #derek morgan x you #derek morgan imagine #derek morgan fanfic #derek morgan fanfiction #derek morgan fluff #criminal minds self insert #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds x y/n #criminal minds x you

[cknightleyart]

Purple Phire Princess

Part 1

In fire there are many shades, hues, and tones. Once a pond a moment there was a princess made of the royalist of purples. She was named Phire after her father who ruled over the Flareany. One day when Princess Phire was 13 she was allowed to leave the Royal Palace on her own.

"Dearest daughter of mine be mindful that not all is fare in Flareany... Not all you meet will have your best interest at heart. Many will try to steal your light. Don't let them." Warned King Phire.

"How can one steal what is me?" Asked the Princess. "Who's out there?"

"Not all Flarens burn the same..."

"My'Light you are needed in the Skilletem." The serf said with widen eyes.

"Excuse me dearest daughter... Mind my words." The King said as he rushed to the Skilletem.

Princess Phire mind her father's warning before she left the kingdom. The Palacesgards opened the gates for her.

"When will you be coming back?" The Palacegard asked.

"Afternoon... I will be heading to Crimsunbrix

To meet a friend." Said Princess Phire. "Her name is Mesa Mora..."

"See you soon, My'Light." The Palacegrad said as she opened the castiron gates.

While Phire and Mesa walked the Boulevard of the farmers market they found a Mage doing tarot readings. A Ocean blue Flareany with silver hair came out her Witvhes booth heated. "What you mean I shall cause my own misery? I want a better future. Give back thy coin!"

"The cards had spoken! The future ain't free. You see you started the prophecy." Exclaimed the Witvh.

The boy stormed off. "Don't waste your coin on her." He told the girls.

"Come one. Come two. Let she what my cards claim for you." The Mage pointed at Phire and Mesa.

Of course they got their reading done despite the boys warning. They walked in the booth and admire the crystals dangling from the ceiling. The crystals washed over them before they sat side by side. The neon pink lights from the Witvhes deafpunk-mask characters shifted while she put the tarot in the desk-shuffler.

Phire watched the machine. The Witvh asked them to pick a type of reading off the menu. Each reading listed had an emjoi that makes her deafpunk pink. Mesa picked the 5th typed to the top. "That a reading for Romantica..." The machine handed Mesa the deck. "Pick 10 cards. You can look at them. But I suggest you don't."

Mesa laughed. She looked at each card before picking her 10. She placed the rest in the deck and handed the cards to be tempted by the Mage.

"Romantica or Love; the unlighten ones call it, is more than sexual. Transcends the physical and emotional... Your master card is the Ace of Swords." She pulled out the card with a hand emerging from a cloud holding a long sword. "You are a strong girl who will grow into a mightier woman. You will find Callers of every nation trying to romance you... However, they will not last... Now each card you picked are the lovers you will lose." She drew the other nine. "The Knight of Wishes. The Princes of Wishes. The Fool. The Joker. The Warrior. The Twin Flame. The Devil. The Mortal. And The Chibi Sun... Be careful of the Chibi Sun 'cause it's upside down."

Mesa felt the ooogies. "How do I lose them?"

"Does it matter you lost them. Just don't make that miss step thinking you found the one. The one isn't in this draw. There no card for him."

Phire felt the ooogies too. Was nervous about her turn. Since she didn't care for romance; she picked the 3rd type of reading. She loved the name Epicventura. She watched the machine shuffle. She picked 3 cards blindly. The Mage interpret them.

"Father Time. The Tower. Blooming Moonflower... Your a royalty. Real in flesh, soul and mind. I can tell by your cards you time is now... You will face new challenges past generations had not foreseen. However you will live happily enough after the wrecking." Said the Mage.

"How come her fortune is nice? All my lovers are going to die...?" Noted Mesa.

"You picked what you picked. The cards had spoken."

The friends carried on to enjoy the market buying beans till dust hit. On the way back to the Palace they came across a white cat with purple eyes being attacked buy a flock of crows. Phire scared the flock away from the white cat.

"Damn those birds... They pecked him to death. We gotta get him to the Palace." Said Princess Phire. She took the cat to the Firesages and in moments the once dead cat was living.

"Thank you for re-animating me..." Said the White cat suprising the Princess, Mesa and Firesage.

"What you can talk? How can that be" Asked the Firesage.

"Just how you learned." Replied the cat then jumped off the table onto his feet.

"You can stand?" Said Mesa.

"Well I don't know how that's so interesting. You stand every day... Now I must be going. My Major will be pissed. Which way to Sayaity?"

"Sayaity?" The Firesage said."You're from Sayaity? You're a long long way from home. Your in Flareany Palace"

"My Majors not going to like this one bit." After some further explanations they learned the cats name was Markham. He wasn't always a white cat. Do to a curse from a Warlovk in Sayaity he been turned. His Major Zir.Clarence been trying to reverse the curse but need 4 ingredients across the globe. He got issued A-shard from the liberty Bell in Decline, the blood of a vampire from Rubikity, and while he was in Rubikity going to Qiwishstone he ran into the flock of crows.

"Qiwishstone isn't that far from Flareany." Said Princess Phire. "What you need in Qiwishstone?"

"You're Father will not allow you to travel that a ways..." Said the Firesage.

"I need the feather of a Phoniex." Markham said.

" We can't just let a cat of his size travel his own. My father will understand I am of age I could it's not out of the kingdom." The Princes declared.

She asked her father when he was his sweetest. It was always after he took off his crown in his Study. Of course he didn't want his daughter to travel at-all, but he saw the fire in her eyes. That same flame he had when he was her age. If he said no he know she will do it in spite. He allowed her with the company of Mesa, The Firesage, and The Palacegard.

After the Firesmith made the party their armory they where ready to travel. Princess Phire armory was made of white gold with copper finishing. She wore cat-like claws that was made Osedon crystals that matched her booths; it kept her flame in-check.

Mesa armory was made of stainless steel. She was given two daggers that looked like a snake.

The Firesage armory was made of Rose Quarts. She was given a staff made of cherry wood with a ruby crystal; that would amplify her spell-accuraty.

The Palacesgard was made of Bismuth. Her weapon was shield with the sigil of Blue Fire with gold wings.

Markham Of'Sayaity armory was a jumper made of leather. He was also given a so thin blade it was naked to the human eye.

The met in the courtyard. After the Firesmith showed his administration for his models he told them each item work best together. "- the stone made works best in the sun. The metal made work best at night. Work as a unit and you'll do fine. And most importantly don't give my Smithin' a bad name."

"We wont." Promise Princess Phire.

The journey began in Menthol; outside Flaerity.

In Menthol the party had no trouble making there way to Newer Goldity. There they heard whispers of a bird made of fire attacking the pigs on Old Mans Jinkans farm.

"You know that Jinkans is a character. Very queer... If you ask me. Did he make bacon. Fire birds are long gone." Said the city man.

"Where is this old man Jinkans?" Markham asked.

"Which Witvh cured you? It's been years since I talked to a talking cat. Where you from? Everyone knows that Old Man Jinkans live on Old Town rd." Replied the city man.

On old town rd the party found the farmhouse of Jinkans. There liad the blacken skulls of his stock of pigs.

"No Flareany can cast such a fire. It must be the Phoenix." Mesa said in delight. "I feel sorry for the pigs tho-but you know..."

Markham was ecstatic. "Soon I'll be no more a feline. Let's see if Jinkans can tell us where it went."

"Pipe down. We can't just knock on the door of a old man demanding information. We should of thought this out." Said the Palacegaurd.

"True. He just lost his stock. Imagine how he must feel?" Princess Phire looked at the brunt farm.

"What are you doing?" Shouted a boy from the farmhouse. He ran up to them holding a hoe as a weapon. "This is private property! Not a theme park! Nothing to see here!"

Princess Phire recalled that boy from the tarot reading. His silver hair was in box-braids and he was dressed in overalls. His Ocean fire was more golden do being in a new city. His light made hers blush.

The Palaceguard shield the Princess. The boy tripped on his feet, face planting into a mug pie. The party laughed.

"Stop that's not funny..." Phire said forcing herself to stop laughing. "Are you alright?" She rushed to help.

"Perfectly fine. I don't need your pitty."

"How dare you talk to the Princess like that?" Said the Palacegard.

The boy noticed her royal fire. "I don't care if she is the Queen of Makebelieve... This is still private property. You rule over nothing here. And if you did you rule over dead pigs." Said the boy.

"We are not here to rule. We must talk to your grandfather-" Markham said.

"Old men Jinkans isn't my grandfather. He's my uncle. His name is just Jinkans. I'm Jincode. This is Jinfarms."

"I read of the Jinkin. I'm and Princess Phire daughter of King Phire and this is my party. We came to help Markham Of'Sayaity get a Phoniex feather to undo his catattitude..."

"So where is your Uncle?" Asked Mesa.

"He's away getting more pigs." Jincode explanated. He told them about the horror he witnessed on the day the Phoniex caused. "It came down like wildfire. It went east. I thought Fire birds where extinct? I thought wrong."

"They stay to themselves mostly in volcanoes. There must be one nearby." The Firesage said.

"There is no canoes to the east. That bird must be dumb... Just mountains. The Golderhills." Said Jincode.

"It must be inactived." Princess Phire said.

Jincode joined the party to seek revenge on the Phoniex. They traveled east to the Golderhills. The smell of burning bacon came from a cave. To there luck they found the Phoniex resting on top a bed of blacken skulls of pigs.

The cave was cold.

That was good for the party.

"Go get your feather so I can end it's life." Whispered Jincode to Markham.

"Jobs indeed." Said Markham. He leaped stone to stone where the resting Phoniex poached.

"That's one cool cat." Said the Palacegard.

Markham sneaked a pinch at the tail of the Fire bird. Getting the feather woke up the Phoniex and She roars. Her roar sounds like crystal cracking and embers burning. She pushed Markham away making him fall. The Firesage uses her staffs magic to catch him. The feather on the other hand was lost.

"Sugar we need another feather!" Markham said.

"No we don't it's right there!" Princess Phire said pointing at the spot. The feather was caught between a rock and a hard place. The Phoniex made the cave heat-up.

The Firesage attacked the wild beast with her magic to make it go to sleep. Each try was missed. The bird attacked them with a fireball. The Palacegard shield them all. The bird swings down to attack and Mess cut her with her snake dagger.

Unfortunately she got hit back by a blast of embers.

"Mesa!" Cried Phire. "We gotta get out of here!" The cave became too hot for even the Flareany princess. Her party left to rethink there plain.

Back at the Jinkans Farmhouse Uncle Jinkans laughed at them. "What was you thinking? It's a bird made of fire. There's no way your going to get that feather. KittyCat, get use to being a feline."

"I can't just give up. Do you know how hard it is to be a talking cat? It would be worst if I waa black." Said Markham.

"Don't fear Markham... We just need research. Do you guys have a computer with Internet?" Phire asked and Jincode showed her the house PC. It was a old model made in 2021 but Phire knew how to work it.

"Sorry for the oldness... We're not technology inclined. My grandfather grew up on this computer." Jincode said.

After serfing the world-wide-web for everything under Phoniex and Fire Bird.

Phire found out they are weakest after dust. She also learned that on the night of a new moon their fire is at its coolest.

The following day they went at dust to try for the feather. Jincode still wanted to kill the beast despite Phire telling him no one ever killed a Phoniex in the stories she researched.

He insisted that he's going to make history out of herstory. She laughed and blushed. Making Mesa feel the ooogies.

"Do they really gotta flirt? I never seen Phire like this." Mesa said.

"You sound jealous." Markham said.

"Its like I'm yesterdays news." Mesa stated.

They gone inside the cave to see the fasting Phoniex on her nest of skulls. The echo on Jincode's kicking a rock woken the Phoniex.

She roars causing the earth to shake.

"Thanks a lot Blueboy!" Mesa said drawing her daggers. "That Witvh was spot-on."

"Why bring her up." Jincode rolled his eyes.

The bird attacked with a breath of cold ash.

The Firesage blocked the attack. She spelled a rock in her control and tossed it at the beast. The beast cried as the rock hit her.

She spat green fire at the sage. The attack hit her and she fainted from the foreign flame.

The bird took flight and tossed stars at the rest of the party.

Phire added the yellow light into her. Her inner flame roared a burning berry tone. She grew inside and was able to punch the Phoniex. She got three jabs in before her power-up went out. She was drain.

Mesa blocked the starts with her daggers who ate them. They where full and grew into a two dual swords. They gave her the ability to turn invisible.

Markham hid behind a stone with Jincode from the stars. After watching Phire eat more falling stars. Jincode thought he could do the same. He let one hit him.

Feeling the light settle in him his silver hair burned Pacific blue. He felt a rush that he never felt before and his thought rushed. He started throwing fire jabs all over.

He hits Mesa making her faint. She became visible after the hit.

"Watch where you tossing those hits!" The Palacegard remarked as she dodged the stars. She used her grafuling-hook to move closer to get a feather. Next to the nest she noticed a six giant topaz egg. "Sugar Honey Ice Tea!"

The Mother Phoniex attacked her.

She fainted.

"We gotta get the Heynow-Out-of-here!" Princess Phire used the last of her flame to cast a bright light so Jincode, Markham and herself to wakeup the fallen party to evacuate.

Uncle Jinkans felt to bad to laugh at them. He gave each of them a special elixir to heal 100 percent. After they where healed fully he laughed. "-So she's a mommy. Your not getting that feather..."

"We just need to think outside the box." Princess Phire said.

"Is it really that bad being a cat?" Asked Mesa. "You can die a cat or a human. Dying a cat you might get treated better. Humanity can be messed up. Think about it... You can have a nice shoes box that coast way less than a casket."

"You might be right?" Markham the Cat said.

"Don't give up! We came this far. I am not a Quicker! We are not Quickers!" Princess Phire declared.

Her party cried.

Phire went hard at work doing more research on Phoniex. She learned of the Legend of the Queen and The Phoniex. In her study she read that by nature the bird isn't destructive by nature but brings life. The Queen in the Legend kissed the bird and let it burn her so she could become the Phoniex.

Phire found that half bizarre. "I'm not doing all that..." She said to the site. The Legend was typed in 1995 by some man named DJ Big R. Back in 95 the Humans where still leading what was Wi-Fi. So she took the story with a grain of salt.

"You need to get some sleep. Your light is dimming, girl." Mesa worried.

"Okay. I will hit the hay." Phire turned off the computer and went to sleep.

Two days later the party was ready to take on the beast. This time Princess Phire had a idea. This time they would wait for the bird to leave when the sun was rising The Phoniex left to search for stock to feed its fire. Phire knew it would need to get more food since their last encounter with her.

Once the party saw her leave the cave the rushed into the cave.

"Still want to get your revenge?" Teased Mesa.

"Shut up. Revenge is foolishness." Jincode said.

(End of part 1)

#cknightleyart #black writers #cknightleypen #writers on tumblr #Purple Phire Princess #ppp #p3

[nomadicbug]

Prompt 2 -- Aberrant

Emet-Selch watched as the Scions walked away, their newly retrieved friend in tow. It would be a fleeting, pointless reunion, but nevertheless -- why was she still here?

His thoughts were interrupted immediately. He turned his gaze to hers, bright and blue as they had always been. A painful, pitiful reminder. The Warrior of Light had not followed them. She had remained behind no doubt for some inane banter or moral questioning -- of which he, frankly, had no interest.

"What a touching moment that was. It fair brought a tear to the eye. But as we both know, such moments are nothing if not momentary." He spoke before she could, watching her like a hawk, the words coming easily, effortlessly. "Before long, they will remember their many differences and return to squabbling."

She clicked her tongue, regarding him with something akin to annoyance, though it quickly passed. Why, he couldn't say. "So says the arch Bringer of Chaos."

It wasn't the retort he had been expecting, having instead expected -- wanted -- an outright denial. A moral high ground or something. He laughed, short and brief, lips upturned in amusement. "Flattery will get you nowhere, my dear."

She chuckled herself, short and airy, and almost unnatural, as though she hadn't in quite some time. Before he could continue, admonish and destroy the brief goodwill (Zodiark forbid he actually allowed himself to grow fonder), she pressed a gloved finger to his lips.

"Don't." She sighed, and drew her hand back just as quickly. He noted something then; she was right handed, yet used her left far more predominantly. A matter for another time, perhaps, but an oddity nonetheless. "You're a thorn in my side -- one which is overfond of his own voice, perhaps -- but I wanted to personally thank you."

"Ah. Is that all? A backhanded thank-you? How marvelous." He folded his arms, frowning down at her, wanting nothing more to be angry, to be annoyed -- how dare she put him through this again! "Do you make a habit of lingering behind once your friends are gone?" It was, perhaps, a pointed question. One which had meanings that a pitiful, frail being like herself couldn't possibly understand, but the question was out regardless.

Celeste's eyes widened, and her feline ears perked. She tilted her head, and he heard her repeat those words back under her breath, a frown on her face. He didn't see any recognition. He definitely didn't see any recognition at all. She couldn't possibly hope to remember.

There was nothing to remember. She wasn't her.

"You are just that special, I suppose." She muttered back those same words in that same tone. He didn't even have time to process the words, not the fleeting kiss to his cheek, the muttering of another word of thanks, before she wandered off, leaving him standing there. Alone, surprised, and with a wound in his chest that she seemed determined to pour salt on.

Again.

#ffxivwrite2021 #mywriting #ffxiv #emet/wol #if you squint very slightly #and very hinted azemet #emet-selch #wol #it's two days in and i'm already shipping #canon divergence