#i saw like 5 posts on my dash yesterday about it

[slutforstabbings-archive]

Clean Again

Chapter 5: THE LONG LIST read on AO3 | previous chapter | tumblr chapter index make sure to check AO3 for this fic's playlist and other extras!

Corey comes to fix Reader's sewing machine.

general warnings for this fic - angst, fluff, eventual smut (MDNI), canon-typical violence, canon-typical gore contents/warnings for this chapter - alcohol consumption, stalking

4,237 words

@rebel-blue @heartrot666 @wolvesandvampires @cordelium @toxicanonymity @multifandom--mess @hersweetrevenge @futurewife @yllcm @ethanhoewke dm me or reply to this post to be added to the list💕

You stand in the living room, slowly rotating in a circle. Evaluating. Your eye lands on a candle and you lunge forward to light it. Then you step back and think. Too romantic. You blow it out. Another thought occurs to you and you run to the bathroom. You tear down the hand towel on the bar over the counter and stuff a new one into it. You tidy the bunched up fabric, but not too much. The kitchen! You sprint to the sink and dump out the mesh trap you keep in the drain. You dash back to the bathroom and apply a spritz of perfume down the inside of your shirt.

Corey’s coming over tonight.

Yesterday Veronica asked you to meet up for coffee before work. You arrived at the cafe across from the record store and found her at a little table on the patio. Before you could even pull a chair out to sit down, she was demanding information. All you had texted her on Monday night was a message mimicking hers.

“Oh my god, spill!” She exclaimed excitedly. 

“He’s gonna fix my sewing machine.” You said with a laugh.

“What does that mean?” Veronica gave you an exaggerated scandalized look.

“My literal sewing machine. It’s been jammed for weeks. I can’t figure it out. But he’s a mechanic or something? I’m not really sure, but he knows machine things and he’s coming over tomorrow to fix it.”

“That’s your first date?” She said, amused.

“Well, I’m also gonna make him dinner.”

“Oh my god, cooking on the first date? You slut!” Veronica slapped your hand playfully and you both laughed. “What are you making him?”

“I don’t know yet! He said anything is fine except spaghetti. I wanna pick something kinda simple cause I know I’m gonna be super nervous. I gotta look at what I have in the house.”

“So how did the conversation go? How did you wind up asking him to fix your sewing machine?”

“The first time I saw him was in the like, technical hobby aisle. I was getting books about sewing machine maintenance because I thought I could figure it out on my own. I haven't gotten anywhere 'cause I keep getting scared I'm just gonna irreparably fuck the machine if I do it on my own. I saw him on that aisle again and I just said ‘Do you know anything about sewing machines?’” She didn't need to know you'd chased after him, even if you kind of felt like he'd wanted you to. You know she would not approve.

“Your opening line was ‘Do you know anything about sewing machines?’” She asked, incredulous. You nodded your head. “I cannot believe that worked.”

“Me neither,” you admitted.

“He’s a mechanic or something? That’s sexy.”

“Yeah,” you squeaked, covering your face.

“Mr. Library, the sexy mechanic. You’ll have to let me know how it goes.”

“Of course!” You reassured her. “Actually, I was planning to text you like, right before he gets there and after he leaves, like, for safety.”

“You fucking better, or I will come over there, guns blazing,” Veronica said. “What’s his name?”

“Corey.”

“Corey,” Veronica purred. The two of you burst into giggles like you used to in the back of class in high school. 

You stand in front of the mirror on your dresser now, putting earrings in and taking them out. You want to look put together, like you tried, like you care. You also don’t want to go overboard. He’s just going to be fixing your sewing machine. But it’s more than just fixing your sewing machine. You haven’t been on any dates since you broke things off with Hurley. You’re already so infatuated with Corey it scares you. You just want things to go well. You’re not sure you can handle it if they don’t. 

You go back out into the rest of the apartment, making sure it’s clean in the right way. Tidy without being sterile or stuffy. You pull the blanket down off the back of the couch, then toss it back up, so it doesn’t look so manicured. You flip through your records, looking for something to play, or at least to put on your little easel so it looked like you had been listening to it. You don’t know what kind of music he likes, so it seems fruitless. 

It doesn’t matter now anyway. You can hear someone walking up the gravel path. He’s here. You text Veronica, hitting send just as there’s a knock on the door.

You open the door and you’re instantly taken aback by his beauty, the same way you were the first time you saw him. He looks great. He’s dressed in the simple way it seems like he always is, but it suits him so well, and you’ve never seen him in a sweater before. The way it hangs off his broad, round shoulders entices you to wonder about his body, so you look up at his face instead. His eyes, surrounded by halos of lashes, his pillowy lips. You feel your chest flushing.

“Come in, make yourself at home. You can take your shoes off if you want, or whatever you’re comfortable with,” you say, stepping behind the door to let him in.

“Oh, thanks,” he says. His work boots clatter to the wooden floor. You close the door awkwardly behind him.

Your phone goes off extremely loudly. Both of you jump. You had the volume turned up so you could hear if he called or texted while you were preparing for him to come over, but now the sound is deafening.

“Sorry, it’s just my friend checking in. She’s nervous about you coming over, 'cause you could be a serial killer or something.” You try to make a face that indicates it’s a joke, but for a split second he looks at you with something cold and hard in his face, and you remember the fear you felt in the library the first time you made eye contact. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck, but his face is already soft again and you manage a smile. 

“Sewing machine’s in here,” you say as you lead him to the dining room. "I don’t know if you need them but the books I got from the library are right next to it. Can I get you something to drink? I have water, tea, beer…?” Corey just shakes his head and sits down in front of the machine. “Okay, let me know if you need anything. I gotta put the water on for dinner.”

You scamper into the kitchen. You pull out all the pots and pans you’ll need, using the water running into the pot for the pasta to cover the deep breaths you’re taking to try to steady yourself. He said no spaghetti, but that other pasta was fine. But is it fine? Should you make something else? You double check that your phone is on vibrate before sending Veronica another text.

Then you go back into the dining room.   

Corey has a screwdriver kit you didn’t notice him bring in, all different shapes and sizes including ones you've never seen before. He’s already got the machine split down the middle, a neat little pile of screws in the lid of his tool set. You watch him silently for a second. He has one of your reference books open to a diagram you’d tried several times to understand. He shows no signs of confusion. He doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve come back into the room, so you clear your throat quietly. 

“Do you want company or do you need to be alone to focus?” 

Corey waves you over. You grab a dining chair and place it closer to him before sitting down. He glances up at you briefly, then goes back to his work. You sit there with your hands clasped in your lap, watching him. At first you feel super awkward. You still kind of can’t believe this is happening. That you saw him more than once, that asking him to fix your sewing machine worked, that he’s here, in your dining room. But as you watch his skillful hands remove piece after piece, working with quiet determination, you settle down. It feels like the most natural thing in the world. When you hear the water start to boil, you resent having to go back in the kitchen instead of getting to watch him longer. Then you remember what Veronica said yesterday morning.

“Oh my god, cooking on the first date? You slut!” That makes you smile. It is slutty, in its own way, doing something for him that other people might reserve for later in the relationship. Performing an intimate and domestic act for a stranger. You’ve never let a man know where you live without hanging out somewhere else first before, you’ve never had a man in this apartment at all. You’re breaking all your rules for him. It's scary, but the rules didn't protect you last time anyway. Might as well see what happens if you do things differently. 

By the time you have a free moment away from the stove again, Corey is reassembling the machine. There’s a mound of dust and little fabric scraps on the table.

“Is this what was wrong with it?” You indicate the dust bunny, embarrassed.

“Yep,” Corey says simply.

“Damn, I thought I kept it pretty clean,” you say, trying to defend yourself even though Corey doesn’t seem to be judging. 

“It’s the machine’s fault. You can’t clean where I pulled this from without opening the whole thing up. Bad design.” He shrugs.

“Oh. Thanks for fixing it.” You sweep the dust bunny into your hand and drop it into the trash can. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“It smells good,” he says quietly.

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

Riding here, the road rumbling under him, Corey tried to prepare himself for your questions. He knew you would want to try to get to know him. When the guys at work ask questions about his life, he gives half answers if they're persistent. If they seem like they would let it go, he just grunts. No one can find plot holes in the revised version of his life if he never shares it with anyone. But he knew that wouldn’t work with you. And if he was going to do this, whatever this was, he had to let you in, at least a little.

He was grateful you seemed happy to watch him work on the sewing machine in relative silence. Being able to do something with his hands helped him calm down. But now that diner is on the table, it’s time to talk, and his anxiety creeps up on him. He tries to push it down with the beer you brought him. Your cooking is surprisingly delicious. He regrets being too uncomfortable to really enjoy it. Hopefully next time, he catches himself thinking. If there is a next time.

“So you’re a car mechanic? Or are you like, an appliance mechanic? It wasn’t clear the other day.” 

“Both,” he takes the beer bottle from his lips to say. “I work at a garage, and I repair old electronics and appliances to sell just for myself. You mend clothes?”

“Oh that’s my little side business. I also work at Plymouth Records, downtown. The mechanic thing is so cool. How did you get into that?”

It’s gonna be a long night, Corey thinks, wanting to do this to be close to you, but already feeling the wear of talking this much for the first time in so long. 

“I was gonna go to college for engineering, but…” he trails off, scared to give you more information than that. 

“But college.” You finish the sentence, making a face. “I dropped out too.”

“What were you studying before you dropped out?” He asks. He feels so relieved to hear you didn’t finish college either. He hopes the circumstances of your departure were much less traumatic than his, but it feels good to have a thing like that in common. It’s been so long since he felt like he had anything in common with anyone. 

You laugh ruefully and it surprises him to hear the edge in your voice. “I had so many majors. I wasn’t in college because I had something I wanted to study. I was in college because it’s where I was ‘supposed to’ be.”

Corey wants to say something meaningful to that. He can’t imagine not wanting to go to college. He’d hung all his hopes on it before the thing with Jeremy. It was his ticket out. But he understands suffocating under other people’s expectations. Doing things, not because you want to, but to avoid the consequences if you don’t. He’s done that his whole life, with the exception of one glorious and horrific week. He couldn’t possibly get into it, so he settles from solemn nod.

“Where are you from?” You ask.

“Illinois,” Corey says, then immediately regrets it. He doesn’t want to lie, but he could be less specific. 

“Oh yeah? I could tell you weren’t no southern boy,” you say, exaggerating your subtle accent. “Where at in Illinois?”

“Not a town you’ve heard of.” He hopes against hope that that’s the truth. His manslaughter trial didn’t make huge waves, but it had definitely made the rounds on social media nationally, and there was the podcast that nurse had mentioned. Michael Myers’ massacres, and his own, were probably much bigger headlines. Front page maybe even. He had killed nine people that week. He had no way to even estimate how many Michael had done beyond the two he’d been there for. That had to make the front page nationally. Or trend on Twitter, or something. But he couldn’t be sure. He’d avoided the news studiously since he left.

“What brought you here?” 

That, Corey can answer truthfully. Vaguely, but truthfully. “It was hell living there. I couldn’t wait to get out,” he says. “What about you?”

“I’m from here,” you say. “I was gone for a few years, but I wound up crawling back.”

The conversation lulls. Corey is thankful that you allow it to. Mixed feelings roil inside him. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have accepted dinner if he was going to help you, and he shouldn’t have helped you. His cover will be blown, he’ll go to prison. He’ll be sentenced to death, but he won’t ever die. He’ll just wither immortally in a cell, watching all the other killers be walked to their waiting KFC.

And yet, it’s so nice to talk to someone. To put on a front and pretend to be normal. To get to know a pretty girl. He lies to himself every day that it doesn’t hurt. That he likes being alone. That even with his mother breathing down his neck his whole childhood, he was always really alone, and his complete isolation is just the logical conclusion of things. The way he was born to live. 

Of course none of that is true. He remembers the way he felt about the Allens before the accident with Jeremy. How he’d hoped someday he could experience a love like the one they had, before he destroyed it.

Then there’s you. Rubbing your finger around the rim of your glass in mock-absentmindedness. Pretending not to look at him, but studying him intently. You texted your friend just in case the man you invited into your home was a murderer. He is. But you’re safe with him, at least right now. He thinks about the way you caught him in the library. And again he feels aroused at the idea that you’re a hunter too. He wonders if you could survive an encounter with Michael, if you have the fight in you like Laurie did. He finishes his beer.

“You’re a good cook,” he says, breaking the silence. 

You give him The Smile . “Thank you! I was worried it was too similar to spaghetti.”

“I might actually eat your spaghetti.”

“You should be so lucky,” you reply, laughing. You’re flirting. He’s flirting, and you’re flirting back. He almost can’t believe it. 

The rest of the evening is easier for Corey. He relaxes just a little. When it’s time for him to go, you walk outside with him. You stand out there in your sock feet with no jacket even though it’s a chilly night. Your eyes light up when you see his motorcycle.

“Is this what you drive all the time?” You ask.

“Yeah. Do you like motorcycles?”

“Uh, I think so? I’ve never ridden one.” You step closer to it. 

Corey almost offers to give you a ride, but he hesitates, thinking of Allyson. The only other person he’d ever ridden with. Will giving you a ride lock you into her fate? 

“I might be scared to ride it, honestly. As lame as that is,” you say, letting him off the hook. 

“It’s not lame. My dad died in a motorcycle accident when I was little,” Corey says, surprising himself by sharing so easily. 

“And you still ride this thing everywhere?” You raise your eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief. 

“I don’t have the best sense of self-preservation,” he confesses. 

A smirk curls your lips. Corey can see you realizing the shy, reserved boy you’d spent the evening with might have an edge to him. You have no idea how sharp that edge is.

“Let me know if there’s anything else you need fixed,” he says, straddling the bike and putting his helmet on. 

“Do you want the long list or the short list?” You say sarcastically.

“The long list. Text it to me.” Corey’s bike roars to life. You laugh and shake your head. “I’m serious!” He shouts over the rumble of the engine. 

You reach out and put your hand on the top of his helmet. Then you walk back to your door, turning around to wave at him before you go inside. He waves back, and watches you disappear into your apartment. When he can't see you anymore he rides away.

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

As you close the door, you let out a little excited sound. You can’t help but squeal. Things went so well! You send the all clear text to Veronica as you make your way to the kitchen, not even annoyed that you have to clean up. Corey had been so nice, scraping both plates and putting them in the sink. You’re touched by the small gesture of respect. You reach into the basin and, without really thinking about it, you pick his fork up off his plate and put it into your mouth. You stand there for a second before you catch yourself. You pull the fork from your mouth and laugh out loud at yourself as you load the dishwasher.

After that’s done you bring a glass of water into the bedroom and set it and your phone on your nightstand. You want to text Corey and tell him thank you for such a lovely evening, but you don’t want to come across as clingy. You tell yourself you’ll decide after you do your nighttime routine. The water barely spurts out of the faucet in your bathroom. You struggle to get your toothbrush clean under the unimpressive flow, and it takes forever for your cupped hands to fill with water to splash on your face. 

When you come back into the bedroom, skin moisturized and hair braided, the decision of how soon to text Corey has been made for you.

A little heart appears over your last message. His transparent attempt to have reasons to come back over charms you. As if you wouldn’t just invite him because you like him. You smile as you tuck yourself into bed.

Your bedroom door is crooked and sticks closed, so Corey takes it down and glues a bunch of toothpicks into the screw holes, then when the glue is dry, he saws them flush before he hangs the door back up.

Some of your outlets are loose, the weight of the cord pulls the plug halfway out as soon as you let go. The two of you check every outlet in the whole apartment, plugging things in and watching them slip back out, putting stickers on the ones that suck. Next time he comes over he flips all the switches in your breaker box. The two of you crawl around in the dark as he replaces each stickered outlet, you holding a flashlight steady for him. It feels strangely intimate, and you both speak in whispers, leaning in to be heard.

The light bulb in your closet is burnt out and your high ceilings keep it out of reach, even on the step stool you keep around. Corey stacks your dining chairs under the bare bulb and climbs the precarious pile.

“Be careful,” you warn him from outside the closet. He scoffs and holds his hand out for the new light bulb. 

“There’s a spider in here,” he says when the light comes on. 

“Cool,” you say. “Is it poisonous?”

“Um… I’m not a spider expert. It’s just a regular spider, I think.”

“Just leave it,” you instruct. 

 “You don’t want me to kill it?” His muffled voice sounds surprised.

“It’s not hurting anything. If that’s where it wants to be, I’m not gonna stop it.” He gives you a confused look when he jumps down from the chair stack. “Are you judging me?” You ask.

“Never. I’m just… impressed.”

“I have a soft spot for maligned creatures,” you explain. 

When you’re not with Corey, he’s always on your mind. You’ve started hearing motorcycles everywhere. Whenever you hear one rumbling along, you think of him, and say a quick prayer to no one for the rider’s safety. 

He’s smart. He seems scared to make jokes, like he doesn’t think he’s funny, but there’s a dark edged humor to him that surprises you pleasantly every time. When you talk it feels like he really listens, like he’s taking notes. 

Something very bad happened to him. You’ve noticed the scars on his hand and his throat, but the sense that he’s been through something awful comes equally from how extremely guarded he always seems. His reservation is the very thing that reduces yours. You’ve been emotionally unavailable for what feels like forever. You think of all the times you ended things after one or two stiff little dates. Corey’s hesitance makes him feel like someone safe. 

And he’s just so goddamn pretty. Sometimes you have to look away because it feels like gazing at the sun.

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

It’s not a complete coincidence that you’ve started hearing motorcycles more often, not only an illusion of increased frequency. 

Corey hadn’t let himself follow you home from the library the other day, but finding the same strength now isn’t always easy. In the evenings after work, on his days off, whenever he’s not busy and he’s not with you, he wonders where you are and what you’re doing. He makes himself work on a project, scrub a circuit board with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip. But inevitably he gets antsy.

His bike carves across town. He passes your apartment, he cuts through the parking lot behind the record store, he lurks across the street from your favorite mom and pop grocery. He’s been going to the library more than ever before. Your habit of texting while walking irritates him, but he always softens a little when he feels his phone vibrate. He makes sure you get home safe on nights you stumble out of a dive bar and into a taxi with Veronica and Rose. A time or two he’s left you a little present, dropping a flower from a nearby tree onto your passenger seat through your barely open window. When he sees a meter maid writing you a ticket he runs over and stops her, putting all the coins in his pocket into the machine to buy you more time. 

When he’s with you he’s still nervous, putting a lot of effort into every conversation, always desperate for you to give him The Smile . It still hurts, wrenching the air from his lungs. And it still feels like sinking into a warm bath at the end of a long day. He feels a foreign sensation in your presence: joy. 

The guilt however, is familiar and well worn. The thoughts about Allyson, that he had failed to keep her safe, that he had walked away after promising he wouldn’t. It just gets a shiny new coat of paint. He should stay away from you. What if he implicates you, contaminates you. Is he putting you in legal danger by getting close to you? Or physical danger? And is he disrespecting Allyson’s memory? You’ve already gotten more time with him than she ever will. Is that good or bad? How can he keep you from ending up like her?

#corey cunningham #corey cunningham x reader #halloween ends #fan fic #mine #cc

[statementlou]

what would you say to louis fans who can’t help but stress over charts and numbers and etc? like i really wish i didn’t care but it’s just so annoying seeing harry fans calling him a “flop” and making fun of his voice or w/e and then there were those awful reviews from the guardian and whynow too. i think i wouldn’t stress as much if louis hadn’t said he would love for fitf to be commercially successful bc i really really want him to have that bc he deserves it so much but i don’t think he will and that makes me really sad :(

okay well first of all, I'm sorry you're feeling stressed! That's no fun :( For starters- while Louis did let slip that sure, he wouldn't object to FITF being commercially successful (like once) he's said many, MANY more times that it is NOT his priority. He seems to have a very healthy relationship to the idea of it being a hit, like wouldn't that be a kick?! But it would be a fun extra, not the goal. When asked to define success for himself recently, he said it was to be happy with the music he's making and that he is, he's said many times in the past he defines success as being able to tour, he issued a whole manifesto letting us know that he would be pursuing something other than commercial success with this album before he even began writing it- the man knows the industry and he knew what he was choosing, and yesterday he told us yet again that he is on twitter a couple times a day and sees a lot more than people think. This last one is connected I believe; all of this talk about what kind of success he wants isn't something he's telling the GP, he's telling US, he's telling YOU. He's literally saying, chin up love, I'm good. Please stop worrying about me! Because he sees the discourse and what people say, and he is addressing it directly. So you know, who needs me when LOUIS has himself addressed the topic!

But what I would say? I would say that I think this isn't about him, it's about us. He's literally a multimillionaire living his absolute best life and *loooving it* right now, but we aren't! We're just Common People trying our best to survive a brutal and miserable world that attacks us every day with more stresses and fear, and we turn to fandom and to Louis to have something NICE, something that feels good and doesn't make us want to cry. So when that escape is full of negativity or isn't going the way we want it to it really feels like shit and hits hard. And the like ideal world answer to that problem is to go all Louis and say paradise is in your own mind, don't rely on stuff outside you for happiness because you can't control it so it may let you down at any time, but I know- that's high level goals, that's not necessarily realistic in the day to day. What you can do though is remember that the idea of being here in this fandom is that it's supposed to give you happiness and ease and relief from the outside world, and once you've remembered that it makes it easier to see how to fix where it's going wrong. UNFOLLOW EVERYONE WHO POSTS CONTENT THAT MAKES YOU FEEL STRESSED OUT! Literally. Just do it. Mean harries OMG why would you want to see that?!? Block. Bye. People making fun of his voice??!! Literally insane and definitely on the wrong side of history, laugh at them, and then block. Anyone who thinks Louis *can't* write a number one hit in his sleep is honestly stupid, he wrote dozens?? The man wrote so many he got bored of it and was like, guess I'll take on a new challenge now... (If it was by 1D and it was a banger...!) Who cares what they say? I didn't know Louis got a bad review in the Guardian! And that's fine! I don't care!! I saw that important indie music magazine NME gave him 4/5 :))) That was nice. News I can use! I come here and scroll down my dash and see everyone being happy and showing me Louis being happy and it's nice and it's fun. Unfollow everyone you don't know that posts that stuff, if you have friend blogs you feel like you can't unfollow, blacklist all their tags or their name so you don't see the negative content. Find new blogs. If you feel like you can't make the leap to actually unfollow people, try making a separate tumblr (like from a diff email) and just following no stressful blogs and try that dash for a while without changing your old follows, just see what it's like. Every time you see something that makes your stomach clench, unfollow or blacklist. See if it could work out for you.

Listen: I know everyone says this, and people are just like suuure but I can't actually do that, I need to know what's happening but I PROMISE- nothing important is actually happening with all that! On the rare occasion it's actually interesting or whatever, it'll cross over. Unstressful people will talk about it in a less stressful way, either to discourse or to make fun, and you'll find out, and you won't have missed anything. Seriously- try it. I know it *feels* like we owe it to Louis to stress about this stuff or something, like if we don't think about it we're letting him down or something but that's just anxiety thinking! It's magical thinking: if I don't reblog the good luck post something bad will happen. If I tap in a certain pattern it will protect me. If I keep on top of everything people are saying about Louis I can help him. Magical thinking is a symptom of anxiety disorders, and no shame in that who doesn't have fucking anxiety these days, but it also FEEDS them, and the last thing we all need is more anxiety. Care for yourself by giving yourself the gift of an easy and pleasurable online experience! I want that for you and so would Louis.

#harry would be proud of me the therapy patient really jumped out here lol #but as someone with the privilege of being able to access therapy #I want to share the benefits #I want everyone to struggle less and have things be easier #or at least to remember that that's a goal we are allowed to have #blah blah blah #louis promo

[creelby]

omg i saw a post from you like 5 times on my dash and i was like “who is that?” and then i was like “WHO IS USING THE PFP I MADE FOR US TO MATCH???” and then i realized it’s you… apparently my brain can’t compute url changes… oops

oh haha 😂 i think i made a post about it but that was like yesterday so i doubt many people saw it

#🦇📬 #mutuals <3 #trubb

[androidcharles]

Surprise short story drop, since it's been a while! This time, it's a story based on the picture of Minerva and Jaques I posted yesterday. I'm still not good at writing fight scenes.

There's a lot that's going on here, but a lot of information cannot be revealed until the third arc, so just go in and hope like hell it'll all make sense later. TW for some blood mention of course.

Minerva yawned, trying her best to stay awake as she walked through the streets of Greenwich. She had a long shift cleaning up a level 5 anomaly at the Chaos Containment Center and she wanted nothing more than to send off Rupert’s nanny and see her boy before she headed to bed for the night.

She hated to make Mrs. Dasher stay much longer than she needed, but sometimes she couldn’t help these long shifts. She wouldn’t have taken the job if she wasn’t worried about just sitting around doing nothing but relying on Toppat funds.

Her husband had divorced her the minute Rupert was born and at the age of twenty, she could barely keep up with her studies, much less hold down a job while taking care of a newborn baby. But eventually, an opening for the CCC helped her out and on top of her brother, Jaques Kensington being the leader of the Toppat Clan, she was living pretty comfortably in an apartment in Greenwich, a town governed by the larger city of New Stick City.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw the man himself, rounding the corner quickly as she stopped in place, her eyes widening as he dashed towards her, his navy blue cape flowing behind him as he halted in place. He let out a few pants, trying to catch his breath as he doubled over from running so fast.

“Jaques? The bloody hell are you doing here?” Minerva said, tipping her head to the side.

“Ah, well…” Jaques panted out, trying to catch his breath, “It’s good to see you again Minnie.”

“I’ll say. It’s been almost two years since you’ve visited. I think Rupert’s forgotten your face. He’d be happy to see you again,” Minerva said, “Tell ya what, I’m heading home right now. Knowing the little nipper, he’s probably still up driving Mrs. Dasher crazy so-”

“Minnie, I don’t have time to visit! You’re in grave danger!” Jaques said. Minerva’s eyes widened as she looked around, trying to see where the government agents or police officers were.

“Look, I don’t have time to cover for one of your dumb heists right now! Where’s Randy? I’m pretty sure he’ll help ya if you just-”

“The police will be the least of your troubles, young lady…” she heard a voice whisper behind her as she was suddenly grabbed from behind. Jaques gritted his teeth as his hands glowed bright red, his hair flying up as Minerva turned around to see person wearing a beautiful green masquerade mask. Her blonde hair flowed behind her as she tightened her grip on Minerva, chuckling evilly.

“Well, Jaques, we didn’t think it was this easy to trick you. Than again, once a Toppat, always a Toppat,” she said.

“Isabelle, if you know what’s good for you, you would let go of Minerva right now!” Jaques shouted as he shot a blast of energy at her, causing her to jump up, still holding Minerva. She floated in the air above Jaques as he rocketed up with her, firing a few more blasts as Isabelle dodged them with ease. Minerva felt a bit queasy from all the spinning and dodging that was happening.

“Oh, Jaques, our clans have clashed heads for years now, and here you are acting like you’re the bigger man for fighting with me,” Isabelle said as they landed on a building, tossing Minerva aside as she gasped, trying to comprehend what was happening.

“Isabelle, you can threaten my clan members and me all you want! But I draw the line at family!” Jaques said, “And I can guarantee you that you’ve crossed that line more than enough times to warrant this fight!”

“How laughable! You really think you can beat me, don’t you!” Isabelle said, “Than let’s do this. But I can already tell you that this isn’t going to end well for you or your little sister either!” Isabelle hopped into the air, summoning dozens of paint tubes, blasting energy from each one as Jaques dodged the paint balls, placing a charm on Minerva to ensure her safety before flinging more energy blasts at Isabelle.

Isabelle got hit at least a couple of times, placing up a shield as she teleported in front of Jaques, hitting him with a magical paintbrush as he screamed, falling to the ground. He got up as he rocketed up again, firing more energy blasts into the air as they exploded into bigger blasts, making them hard to dodge as Isabelle summoned more paint supplies to try to throw at Jaques.

Eventually Isabelle stopped in place, a cluster of magic circles appearing behind her, vibrant colors flashing as Jaques charged up his own attack, blasts of energy flying out as Isabelle did the same. The explosion of color and sound caused Minerva to duck down, cowering in fear as she tried to understand what was happening.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a few pistols popped up around Jaques as he waved his hand, the pistols suddenly fire rapidly as Isabelle dodged expertly, her mask flashing as she cast another spell, a sheild of paint keeping her from being hit as she jumped up over Jaques, flinging another wave of paint at him. He was too slow to dodge as he fell to the ground again. Only this time, he didn’t get up so easily.

Isabelle hovered over Minerva as she cowered in fear.

“You Toppats are the same. You pretend to be all elegant when in reality you’re just a bunch of ugly cowards,” Isabelle said, “I have a feeling that-” Isabelle’s monologue was suddenly interrupted as a bullet went through her chest, causing her to gasp as she fell over, trying to breath as Jaques narrowed his eyes at her.

“Leave my sister out of this. I don’t know what caused you to instigate this sudden rivalry, but it ends here! I would highly suggest you slink back to the hole where you came or I will have no choice but call in reinforcements…” Jaques said.

“Oh, like you can get anyone here fast enough to help you with this mess!” Isabelle shouted, her magic healing her as Jaques smiled evilly.

“Try me,” Jaques said. Minerva held her breath as the two criminal leaders stood at a standstill, staring each other down before Jaques let out a sigh.

Suddenly Minerva was at his side, trying not to panic as Jaques took her hand and hopped down in the alley way below.

“If she knows what’s good for her, she won’t follow us,” Jaques said softly.

“But what if-” Minerva was suddenly interrupted as something grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall to the ground.

“What? What the-? WHAT’S HAPPENING!?” Jaques shouted as Minerva gasped. She looked up to see Isabelle, her hands glowing green as she smiled wickedly. At the end of the glowing green rope that was dragging Jaques was a portrait frame, an evil sickening green emanating from the middle. Minerva grabbed Jaques’ hand as he was dragged further into the glow, his eyes full of fear and determination as she tried to pull him out.

She gritted her teeth as she dug her heels into the dirt, Jaques going deeper and deeper into the painting as tears formed in his eyes.

“JAQUES! HANG ON!” Minerva shouted as she tried to pull her other hand up. His red eye glowed as he smiled sadly at her, his eyes still full of fear.

“Minnie… I’m sorry…” Jaques said softly. His hand slipped as Minerva was forced to let go, her stomach churning as Jaques flung back into the painting, his scream cut off as the painting fell to the ground. It spun for a few seconds on the corner, gently rotating to a stop as it fell to the ground with a thud. Minerva fell to the ground as well, her heart racing as she tried to process what had just happened.

To the CCC it would have been a category three or four incident. But to her…

To her, she had lost her brother. Her only brother.

“JAQUES!!!” Minerva cried, throwing her head back as tears started to fall down her face. She sobbed uncontrollably as Isabelle jumped down from the top of the building, chuckling to herself as she towered over Minerva.

“What a sad sight. I guess I’ll put you out of your-” Isabelle suddenly felt her arm being grabbed as Minerva twisted it behind her. Isabelle tried to cast another spell, but not before she was slammed into a wall, stars filling her vision as she looked in horror at Minerva, who’s face was twisted in rage as she kicked and punched Isabelle over and over again.

Isabelle tried to figure out what to do next as she felt a trash can lid hit her hard, causing her to go unconscious. Minerva had managed to take her down, but she wasn’t satisfied. She found a rusty pipe nearby, lifting it over her head and bashing in Isabelle’s skull. She let out shaky breath after breath, shaking and shivering as she watched the blood pool out of her wound before she snapped out of it, suddenly realizing what she had done.

She looked to the dead body, than to the painting and realized that if she didn’t get out of here, her brother being trapped in a portrait wasn’t going to be the only thing she would be worried about. She quickly grabbed the painting and ran off, hoping like hell that no one else was around as she dashed down the street.

- - - - -

Minerva sighed, placing her hand in her face as she monitored a couple of sectors not too far from the main city limit. It had been at least three days since the magical duel that caused her brother to become trapped in a painting. For three days she had tried to awaken her magic potential, so maybe, just maybe she could actually save him somehow. But for some reason, whenever she tried to awaken her magic potential it just… wouldn’t work.

It was almost as if she couldn’t do magic at all anymore. She let out a small sigh, wondering if it was possible that it was because of all the stress from what had happened when she suddenly felt someone tap on her shoulder. She jumped, turning around to see Patience Makenzie, one of her coworkers smiling gently at her.

“Are you feeling alright? You haven’t been yourself for a while,” Patience said softly. Minerva smiled weakly as she started adjust the scope.

“I’m fine, I just… had a rough last few days…” Minerva said, “Maybe I should take advantage of all that vacation time they give us.”

“Did something happen?” Patience asked, sitting down next to her. Minerva didn’t usually mind people sitting next to her while she was working. Hell, her boss has even taken position next to her while she was working. But in this instance, she didn’t really have the energy to pretend like someone being over her shoulder was OK in anyway.

But she still needed to vent to somebody and she wasn’t about to let it boil up inside of her. She gazed at Patience, her bright blue eyes searching.

“A… a category three point five event caused my brother to be turned into a painting,” Minerva said softly, “It’s at my house right now, but greater ones alive, I feel sick to my stomach just looking at it and my brother is magic, so that means I am too and every time I try to do magic, I can’t seem to do it and I don’t know what to do and-”

“OK, OK, calm down!” Patience said, “Now, now, relax, take some deep breaths…” Minerva tried to breathe as she buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry again. Crying on the job actually set off the alarms (it was a 2 on the scale) and she would have to be forced to take the rest of the day off to “restore balance” within the work place.

“There’s a couple of things we can do to test things out, but we’re going to need your brothers painting in order to do it,” Patience said, “Are you willing to do that?” Minerva nodded her head, sniffling a bit as Patience patted her back.

“Alright than, let’s get started,” Patience said, taking Minerva’s arm.

“Wait, now?” Minerva fidgeted a bit, a little uneasy, “I’m not sure if-”

“The only way we’ll know for sure what’s going on is if we investigate, right? So we might as well do it now while nothing big is going on. I’ll have Oswald cover for you while we do this OK?” Patience smiled at her as Minerva blushed before setting down her headphones and standing up, nodding her head.

“Alright, let’s get started than.”

It took some time to set everything up, but after a few hours of nothing special, Patience decided to go over Minerva with the Hyper Magic Detector 5000, an invention that was created to detect magical energy in any situation.

“That’s so funny… are you sure you’re saying the incantation correctly?” Patience said as Minerva slammed the beginner’s magic book shut, letting out a small sigh.

“I can’t believe it’s all gone…” Minerva said, “I can’t believe that I no longer have magic. I was never going to really pursue it, but now when I desperately need it, it’s gone…”

“It may turn up! Let’s see… I know the pulses of your magic energy, so I should be able to see what happened to it. Maybe someone took it? There are some magic users that are powerful enough to strip the magic from a person, no matter how powerful they are,” Patience said. Minerva felt a cold chill as she remembered what she had done to Isabelle and gulped. Could it be possible that Isabelle took it? The only person who could have given it back to her and she’s dead. At least that’s what the news confirmed.

“Minerva? You OK?” Patience said as Minerva snapped out of her trance. Minerva waved her hand as Patience pushed a few buttons on the magic detector before waving it in the air. Already, the detector was beeping rapidly, not enough that it locked on the location, but enough to show that something was going on.

“How strange…” Patience hummed as she waved the detector around before the beeping started to grow so rapid it was almost one continuous beep… over the painting that Jaques was trapped in.

“Ooooh… I think I found it,” Patience said softly as Minerva gasped, running towards the painting. She gazed at the painting, tears forming in her eyes as she gazed downwards.

“Jaques, you crazy bastard. I can’t believe it,” Minerva muttered, shaking her head, “This is just insane.”

“Well, that’s just how it is,” Patience said, clapping her hands together, “I have a theory though!” Minerva looked up as Patience nodded her head.

“I theorize that the reason Jaques took your magic was because being in that painting seals his magic away. It wouldn’t be a prison if you could do whatever you wanted. Maybe he hopes that your magic will be the thing that breaks him out. However, it may be a good while before he can break out of there. I think you’ll see him again very soon. But for now, the best thing you can do is wait.” Patience finished her theory as Minerva took the painting in her hands, feeling a cold chill down her spine.

On one hand, she couldn’t stand the idea of not having magic. She couldn’t help him in anyway now because Jaques was riding on this theory that he could free himself from his own prison with someone else’s magic. But maybe, in a way, it gave her a slight hope as well. After all, Jaques was a powerful magician, more powerful than she could ever imagine. He had been studying magic since he was so young, so if anyone could free himself from this painting, it had to be him.

“Hey, Patience? Could you tell Bill I’m taking the rest of the day off?” Minerva said. Patience nodded her head as Minerva tucked the painting under her arm, heading out of the test room and out into the hallway.

As soon as she clocked out and headed out of the building, she squinted in the low sunlight, looking around before catching a taxi and instructing the driver to drop her off somewhere near the Toppat Manor.

It was a long drive, but as soon as the sun started to set, giving the sky a soft pink color, she pulled herself out of the cab, almost tripping as the taxi driver practically sped off from their general location. She didn’t quite blame him for being as paranoid as he was. After all, the Toppats were a pretty fearsome bunch and there was no reason for him to stick around where he might get instigated.

However, she didn’t need to worry about that. She was confident in her stride as she approached the manors gates, ringing the buzzer as she looked to the manor garden. It was completely empty, almost eerily so, like something was completely wrong. She looked at the camera as she heard someone over the speaker.

“Who is this?” she heard someone say. She recognized the voice immediately as she pushed the button.

“Malcolm, it’s me, Minerva. I need to talk to Randy,” she said. There were a few moments of silence as she rocked back and forth where she was standing, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Well, as nonchalant as she could holding a painting that her brother was trapped in AND while wearing a CCC uniform.

Finally, the gate opened as Randy Radman burst out of gate, closing it quickly behind him.

“MINNIE! Thank the greater ones you’re here!” Randy shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders. Minerva could practically see the stress behind his ladder shades as he shook her.

“The clan has been in a ruckus since Jaques vanished a couple days ago and no one has seen him! You’re his sister; do you know what happened to him!?” Randy said. Minerva sighed as she held a painting in front of him. Randy started to shake as he took off his shades, his pink eyes filled with dread.

“Randy, I need you to listen very carefully to me. Because what I’m about to tell you is VERY important,” Minerva said.

- Ten Years Later -

Dear Jaques,

It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since you’ve disappeared. Well, you’re not gone, you’re just… trapped I guess. But in the end, you’ve been gone for just that long. And everyday it still hurts to think about it. Rupert is now a very boisterous sixteen year old boy and boy is he a handful. He’s been pretty lacking in his grades, but he’s going on about how he wants to be a detective still. I know you were hoping he would become a Toppat, but I want him to explore his own paths for a change. Let him decide what he wants to do.

If you remember five years ago, I told you I moved out to West Mesa. It’s been a nice change of pace, for both me and Rupert of course. It’s a lot quieter out here, but that doesn’t mean my job isn’t anymore demanding than it usually is. Despite that, the clan still takes care of me. We had a few rough years where I had to go paycheck to paycheck to survive, but we managed even than. I should consider myself lucky that despite how bad you guys are… you’re still willing to take help care of me and my boy.

Minerva looked up from her laptop and saw Rupert absentmindedly chewing on his toast. His black hair had grown out full force, as it was practically a fluffy mess framing his face perfectly. His aquamarine eyes were a bit annoyed however as Minerva patted his hand.

“Oy, Rupert. It’s time ya got going to school,” Minerva said.

“Don’t wanna go,” Rupert muttered, looking out the window.

“I know you don’t want to, but if you wanna make a good impression, you gotta get some book smarts.” Rupert only slumped in his chair, groaning a bit as Minerva giggled.

“C’mon now, you’re all dressed up, you might as well go out, right?” Minerva said as Rupert rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine,” Rupert muttered, pulling on his backpack and heading towards the door, “I’ll see ya after school.”

“Aren’t ya forgetting something?” Minerva asked. Rupert turned towards Minerva, a sort of soft look in his eyes as he walked towards her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. She patted his cheek as she returned the favor, nuzzling his forehead.

“Have a good day. Learn something new, alright?” Minerva said as Rupert rushed back towards the door, waving at her as he headed out. Minerva smiled as she turned back to her laptop.

I miss you so much, you know. I wish you were here, watching Rupert grow up. I know you loved him dearly and it hurts to know that he’s growing up without an uncle. But if Patience was right about what she said… you’re definitely coming back.

And I look forward to the day you do.

Minnie ~ ❤

#the henry stickmin collection #stickmin oc #minerva price #jaques kensington #rupert price #the narrators stories #fan fic #fanfiction

[nancylou444]

Ever heard of a typo? Making fun of one word someone got wrong is really shitty, n is right next to b and also they could be dyslexic. Oh and you'll say I'm a coward by being anon but who wants someone toxic like you on their dash, blogs like yours are horrible, you're a bully. Also I'm not a heller just someone who enjoys tumblr for an escape and not to bitch and moan constantly. They weren't posting anything hateful about spn or the boys or dumb destiel meta.

(re)

**cracks knuckles**

This is going to be fun.

First let's take care of the word vomit in my askbox.

Ever heard of a typo? Ever hear of 'spell check'? It's on most (if not all) cellphones now and even on computers you get that red squiggly line meaning that something is spelled wrong.

Making fun of one word someone got wrong is really shitty, n is right next to b and also they could be dyslexic. BUT that doesn't explain WHY they got the wrong SEASON. Oh wait, 5 is next to 6. 🤨

Oh and you'll say I'm a coward by being anon but who wants someone toxic like you on their dash, blogs like yours are horrible, you're a bully. Riiiiiiight, then why do you keep coming to my blog? I'll get back to that in a minute.

Also I'm not a heller just someone who enjoys tumblr for an escape and not to bitch and moan constantly. Why even mention it? **cough** definite heller **cough** Yet, you are BITCHING in my askbox.

They weren't posting anything hateful about spn or the boys or dumb destiel meta. "dumb destiel meta" Thou protests too loudly, I'm not a heller. 🤨 Tagging a post regarding season 6 5 of a show that ended TWO YEARS ago is stupid.

Now let's go back to you'll say I'm a coward by being anon but who wants someone toxic like you on their dash.

Since Jan 17, YOU have visited my blog THIRTY EIGHT TIMES, via your phone and computer.

You seem to like my wincest page a lot. I guess you have that as your starting off point. 21 views.

You don't seem to spend a lot of time. Just a few seconds or a couple of minutes looking at my first page.

Until yesterday, when you looked at the linked post and stayed a whole TWELVE MINUTES, most of which was spent typing out the above word vomit.

You did your usual glance at my blog this morning and saw that post on the first page. Vomited in my askbox, then looked at the post itself.

I may not be on your dash, but every day you are here taking a quick look at my blog NUMEROUS times.

So how's the weather in England?

#anonynous #idiots in my askbox #idiot three

[hondagirll]

I posted 1,877 times in 2022

37 posts created (2%)

1,840 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dollsome-does-tumblr

@bethanyactually

@jicklet

@commander0fmyheart

@useyourtelescope

I tagged 1,877 of my posts in 2022

#have you heard about queue? that's messed up right - 246 posts

#movies - 178 posts

#nancy drew - 123 posts

#cheers - 120 posts

#ted lasso - 114 posts

#bridgerton - 111 posts

#abbott elementary - 81 posts

#actors - 72 posts

#sam and diane - 60 posts

#gilmore girls - 53 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#its them as friends but since they are both single you can also see the something more simmering underneath all their interactions

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Well it happened. I finally got COVID. My parents tested positive over the weekend and I had dinner with them on Friday night before we knew it was the house of plague.

Yesterday was pretty bad, I had a high fever, sore throat, every joint in my body was achy. Today the achyness is gone but I'm still so tired. I've slept twice today and it's only mid afternoon.

And this is me vaccinated. I cannot imagine how bad I would be without the vaccine. My pulse yesterday was at 108 beats per minute and that was with me lying in bed and barely moving. It's scary stuff.

18 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

#4

Well I finally watched The Mummy (1999).

I get the hype now.

It was a rollercoaster of pure enjoyment from start to finish.

21 notes - Posted January 29, 2022

#3

I can get over most shows (poor) choices that writers and directors make after a certain amount of time but it's been 8 years and I am still mad at the HIMYM finale.

I will be upset until I'm dead, apparently. This wound will never heal.

28 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

#2

PSA

This is like a year and half after I promised I’d watch it but guess who finally started Nancy Drew?

I’m two episodes in and I LOVE IT. Nancy, Bess and George - I’m already digging their chaotic vibe together.Am looking forward to more

@jicklet @bethanyactually @heartunsettledsoul @acehardy @ whoever else on my dash watches this show

37 notes - Posted July 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I watched the trailer for the new Persuasion movie coming to Netflix and I have to say, I was not impressed.

Don't get me wrong, it looked cute and funny but Persuasion is not cute nor is it very funny. Persuasion is angst and regret and wondering "am I so altered that he does not recognize me?" Persuasion is watching the man you once loved flirt with your two friends and pretend you do not exist except he notices you are tired and deposits you in his sister's carriage before you can even make a squeak of protest. Persuasion is realizing that you two are strangers, worse than strangers actually because you can't be friends again and it hurts. Persuasion is a lot of missed communication, glances, doubts and heartache that lay at the base of every interaction Anne and Wentworth have. It's what makes the ending scene (THAT LETTER!) so good, we went on that long and winding journey with them.

I saw none of that in the trailer.

45 notes - Posted June 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #i really like that cheers made it in #(considering i spent like 9 months watching that show!) #and nancy drew! i fell down that rabbit hole and FAST #also i am laughing that my most reblogged post is me complaining about the new persuasion #that tracks

[antimatterz]

Hi there! I'm back after a few days of doing missions and farming and everyone is now level 50! Well, almost everyone, I still have three more that needs their ascension materials but I have to wait for a bit after I poured out all trailblaze power to get exp materials. How are you? Seems like self-aware au is becoming your new agenda. Once I saw your three updates, I couldn't be anymore excited and look forward to some more. There is so many things you can think about when it comes to self-aware au, based on experience alone. I would love to write them, if only I had much motivation to do so.

After reading the fic about logging in at ungodly hours, I felt bad of all those days that I did not bother to sleep just to finish the Belobog arc and jump to Xianzhou. Not to mention the number of times I had to repeat to defeat Bronya and the Ebon Deer. It was 10 times for Bronya and the Ebon Deer was around 15 or 16. The Doomsday Beast only took me 3 times. My frustration during those times were at peak that I ranted over my friends about it. They don't even play Star Rail. And those sleepless nights still continue until now and I bet Stelle would have already bonk me with her bat. So it's super relatable and not to mention, cute. Probably before Dan Heng passes out, he makes sure that you had log out completely. And whether it reaches or not, he mumbles some good night and rest well to you. If Blade were able to do it, he would give you a playful flick on the forehead while sternly telling you to sleep already. He watches you as you log out and then he breathes out as a sigh of relief now that you are resting finally. Gepard would want to get out the system just to take care of you. Mr.Cold Feet is Mr. Cold Feet, man has many things up his sleeve, of course, he'll be up with you. And please someone help sleeping beauty ╥⁠﹏⁠╥

Mr. Luocha just arrived yesterday, and I keep getting Qingque, help. Hopefully, I'll get him or maybe Miss Yukong on the next pull (I'm so into being delusion that I start giving honorifics to fictional characters). I also read your Blade fic and also the one with Dan Heng. I really would like it if Blade joins my team but I don't know about Dan Heng. What if he doesn't come home like I may have run out of time or ran out of stellar jades? Delusional—what if Dan Heng sabotages each pull or Blade would avoid joining my team at all cost by dodging my pulls? Manifesting that we could get them at the next pull and we could also get the upcoming characters too.

aaa i'm sorry for getting back to you so late, i really wanted to take a moment to sit down to form a proper reply instead of coming up with something rushed, but i was kinda busy ;_; also this is a super long post because i added your other asks as well in order not to clog up the dash so i added a cut!

ooh good job! that's pretty neat! i have to admit that i don't even bother to level up all my characters. i bring them to lvl 20 and ascend them for the free warp but that's about it lol. but i miiiight lvl them up at some point because i've been hearing pretty good things about some of them and i kinda want to try them out too, you know? for example i used qingque in a trail and she did some pretty amazing numbers? so i feel like she's worth it to lvl up and build her! so yeah i'm currently prefarming to lvl my most-used characters to lvl 80 because i'm about to reach equilibrium lvl 5, but after that i might start working on my other characters! okay that was a whole story i'm sorry shdhfh.

that aside, i'm doing pretty good! as i mentioned before, i'm kinda busy but i try to find moments to write and relax so i'm holding up hehe. and yeah apparently? self-aware au is super fun to write and brainrot about and now i'm getting a lot of requests on it too! come to think of it, you're kind of the one who started this all! so thank you for that hehe.

to be fair, i'm procrastinating the trailblaze missions so i haven't encountered the ebon deer yet, i'm still somewhere around the part where we interrogate kafka lol. i'm sooo behind i know >.< maybe i should catch up? but i have like, zero motivation to do so help. and ooh that's so relatable. none of my friends play hsr so i have no one to talk to : ( i guess that's why i always go all out replying to your asks because i'm so happy that i get to ramble about dan heng and the game in general fjshdhd.

oh yes i can imagine stelle doing that! and aaa dan heng, he's secretly so worried about our sleeping schedule and the relief when we log out to sleep is real lol. also i can perfectly hear his tired goodnight y/n and it makes me really soft :< and yes gepard!!! he would totally get so frustrated because he can't get out to actually see you off to sleep, he's such a doting sweetheart :3

ooh congrats on getting him! i'm still hesitating whether to get him or not because i really want blade, kafka AND dan heng il, and i'm not sure how to pull that off without spending my entire bank account shfhdh. and well as i said before, i think qingque is actually pretty good? i hope she will come in useful for you! i'm solely pulling for miss yukong (miss yukong sounds great, i'm gonna use that hehe). i mean i think she buffs imaginary damage and i don't have/use any other imaginary characters but i just love her (and tingyun!!) so much that i had to have her. i have her at e1 now and i'm just hhhh i love my foxian ladies >_<

let's just hope dan heng and bladie can put their rivalry aside for our sake, because i dearly love both (okay if i have to pick one it will always be my beloved dan heng but hhh). but yes indeed, manifesting getting both!!

realistically speaking, it would be best to prepare for the worst when it comes to dan heng il, but i'm so attached to my boy, i don't want him to leave the crew.. what if we never see him again?? don't even wanna think about that >.< let's just hope hope hope it won't be that bad and that he gets to stay with us :< if not i will riot shfhdh.

i've been building her a little and so far she's doing okay? i mainly started using her because i needed a physical dps but then i saw her ult where she summons a massive angry chicken and i laughed out loud let me tell you that lol. she's far from completed yet, though, she's still a work in progress but i keep getting distracted by other characters oops?

hehe yep! you just inspired me and besides, i really appreciate you stopping by in my ask box so i just wanted to do a little something! i'm glad it made you happy :D

and yes of course! welcome to my lil' anon family!

aaa smiling dan heng?! i couldn't find the artwork sadly but that sounds lovely, his smile melts my heart >_< especially since it's so rare because his face is always so stoic. and oh i'm guilty of doing that too hehe.

hoyo knows what they're doing and it's not ok. now i not only have to save for dan heng il but also for his signature light cone ;_;

i saw that on tiktok !!!! and the way i gasped !!!! it's so insanely cool they're treating dan heng il like some kind of deity and i'm loving it, our man deserves this (i'm just not sure if my heart is ready to love this man even more?!!)

that can only mean one thing, right? he's getting close aaaaa i'm not prepared and i'm not sorry for the person i will become when he officially drops 3:)

#— enyo mail #— 🍁 anon

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Ah well, hopefully both get the endings they deserve. (Feels like the reactions were more to do with fans' hope for Bede being dashed than the idea of Gary having a Pokemon like that. xD Most gravitated to Tyranitar quickly, besides being another Blue reference, and were upset that it didn't get to do much. It's not my first Galar choice either, but I'm not complaining. {If he's getting Drago, a Fairy-type makes sense} I do wonder if we'll get one more surprise out of him, )

.

(Part 2) (if he doesn't keep the Regi. Some stuff coming out about the Paul episode is confirming my theory about Electivire and Volkner) *More Paul episode leaks: He does have yet another capture, again nothing post-gen 4. The Garchomp IS apparently his, battle might be 3v3 rather than 1v1. Looks like it may be at Lake Acuity after all, with a few spectators from Oak's? Now from the interview: It's mentioned that he has matured and this episode will serve as a 'conclusion' to his and Ash's

(Part 3) Ash's rivalry. VA seemed happy to be back and enjoyed the script as well. (I'm glad they're going with this direction, like we thought they would. Same with Serena, if Paul had to come back, it should be character first before any battle, and that battle should have a narrative come with it than being mere fanservice) The interview of one of the longtime writers also went how they came up with Ash's innovative battle-style. (Some of which seemed obvious from a creative standpoint)

(Part 4) ({Ex: Using a Grass or Water against a Ground-type feels straightforward and too quickly handled/boring. Putting Pikachu against said Ground-type offer ways to think outside of the box. And boom! Welcome to how Ash works} Also went on the charm of having new Pokemon to explore, how he has Ash meet Pokemon at eye-level, and how adamant he feels about having Pokemon out and about during an episode, not only to see how they're animated, but make them feel alive)

(Part 5) (You can find the full thing on Twitter, if interested. Just search "Tomioka Atsuhiro") Considering the Masters 8 tournament has now reached attention outside the anipoke fandom, a definite Ash vs. Gary rematch just seems ripe for a big continuity finisher from a promotion standpoint. But we wait to see what happens first. (Speaking of which, they originally was just going to show only Ash's in full, while the other's were stills. Yeeeah, for something)

(Part 6) (that has basically most of the actives regional Champions, shafting them and their battling styles definitely wouldn't fly with fans. Especially when this could be the last time we could see it OR THEM) Showed a lot, but not too much. There are some banking on a gimmick coming later, if the Japanese logos are anything to go by. (That's how we figured out Megas, Z-moves and Dynamax, I believe. We have to get those Hisuian forms in some way too. Overall, exciting stuff)

(Part 7) Saw the episode: The leaks [and speculation] checked out. Hatty is confirmed and, did better than Tyranitar, I'll leave it at that. But Blastoise [and Cinderace] redeemed themselves after Moltres. Waiting for subs, this one was kinda wordy. Overall, episode felt kinda condensed, but served its purpose. No fighting from Gary and Goh either, just them understanding each other. The puzzle scene was amusing. (*Paul leaks checked out too. The preview shows all)

Hopefully!

RIP Bede I guess. And yeah, it makes sense if he's going to face a dragon-type to bring a fairy-type!

Oh? Interesting. A conclusion to their rivalry... I was fine with how it concluded in DP but that works! Should be interesting.

Yeah, it's good that the returns are being handled how they are.

Oh, interesting stuff! Love that. Need to go read that later, I saw it on Twitter yesterday but it was a lot of words I didn't have the amount of focus to read at the time.

Oh, definitely. There's a good chance at that for sure, it's too perfect to pass up.

Well it is a good thing they decided against that. I would not want to see the outrage from that on my Twitter feed.

Interesting! Yeah, seems some exciting stuff is coming up for sure!

I went and watched the episode as well! I enjoyed it all around, Goh and Gary's teamwork was nice to see, very much looking forward to when actual subtitles drop--I feel like there was some really important dialogue in there. Yeah, the puzzle scene was good.

Saw the preview too! Interesting, should be fun to see how that episode plays out next week.

#Andrew answers #Gary anon

[wigglebox]

.

#original #text #i don't like talking about the finale with heaven acceptors or tolerators because it makes me feel stupid #like i should have kNOWN he was going to die i should have kNOWN he was going to heaven like no #one of the biggets. criticisms about the finale was him dying like you can 'die' but not actually die you know what i'm saying #like meta be darned—story wise it makes no sense for what had happened #but like sometimes i see people go like 'oh well i always knew dean was going to die' and i'm like :( i didn't #am i just stupid or something? #i saw like 5 posts on my dash yesterday about it #waaaaaaah #spn #slight negativity bl #the only thing that makes me happy is the safe assumption jackles hated it too

[gaarfielf]

this is probably like the worst update that tumblr has ever had i aint playing im surprised someone didnt fuckin squat down at their office chair and think ‘well we already ruined everything else... lets just get rid of the reblog button’

#some of you dont have it yet but it makes tumblr literally a fuckin chore to use #you get trending notifications now #you get 'sponsored' posts #xkit doesnt work #you cant copy and paste pics into messenger anymore #recommended pages to follow show up on your dash like three fold now i think i saw 5 scrolling through my dash yesterday #two of which were bots and the others i literally moved to unfollow the person posting it without checking who it was #only to see i didnt even follow them it was a recommended blog thing #the post was so out of line with my interests it literally couldve been a mutual and that wouldve been fuckin IT #i said trending notifications i meant activity notification #so whenever anybody posts reblogs or likes anything you get about 14 billion notifications in the top right #which totally is good and doesnt look like hell #also i dont care?? it was so much easier before with the way notes worked to see who replied to your posts #im not gonna go out of my way to see what all 109 notifications are #but you have to check them every 4 minutes bc its just constantly there #i want to opt out tumblr this is fucking BAD i aint playin #ALSO EVERY BUTTON YOU HIT REQUIRES LOADING IM GOING INSANE #IF YOU REBLOG IF YOU POST IF YOU SEND AN ASK YOU GET THE LOADING SCREEN #AND IF YOU RELOAD YOUR DASH IT DOESNT RELOAD THE WINDOW #WHICH MAY NOT SEEM LIKE MUCH BUT I HATE IT TOO JUST BC OF ASSOCIATION

[stardustincarnate]

EARLY TRYST // Light Yagami x Reader

word count : 4534 genre : fluff <333 ! crack-ish, pre-kira!light, all that  mushy mushy stuff, best friends to lovers because who doesn’t love that trope?

a/n : i’m not sure if i’ve posted this here before but i’m fairly certain that i haven’t oh godric you’ll have to forgive me if i had  --

Who wakes up 5:00 early on a Saturday morning just to bug their neighbor to have a match with them?

Technically, you did. You were bored, and the first thing that came to your mind was playing your favorite sport with one of your bestfriends, who's also your neighbor, Light. Surely he wouldn't mind, would he? But it mattered not since he also did the same to you back then, insisting you two bike together just because he wanted a companion and knew you wouldn't refuse. You were hella pissed even so, and now it's your turn to get revenge.

You brought a ladder, placing it just enough to reach the window to his bedroom on the second floor. You eventually climbed up, practically pressing your face against  the window to get a clearer sight of him sleeping peacefully on his bed, his angelic face barely visible as it was partially covered with his blanket.

'Say goodbye to your sweet dreams, lover boy.'

You thought and knocked on the window loud enough for him to hear. Your first tries were futile so you knocked a little louder and more violent. To his dismay, Light woke up with a teeny-bit of panic in his chest. Creasing his eyebrow and squinting his eyes, he looked at the window, seeing a familiar figure. You snickered as he awakened, languidly making his way to the window, an irritated look on his face when he met your eyes.

He opened the window. "[Y/N], what the hell are you doing here? What time is it?"

"About time for you to play with me."

"Huh? Play with you? You're acting strangely childish. I was still sleeping." He clicked his tongue. You chuckled and shook your head. "Aw, sleeping beauty is upset because his dream was left unfinished. Don't worry, his dashing savior is here to make him feel better."

"You mean worse."

"Bad!" You playfully punched his shoulder. "Says the one who still has sleep in his eyes."

"Of course I have. You just woke me up." He scowled, turning his back at you and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his face a little flushed.

"Heh, don't be shy!" You teased, wobbling a little in your position.

"I'm not shy! Tch, seriously though, you're in a ladder? You only made it harder for yourself when you could've just knocked on the main door. Mom and dad are already awake. They'd let you in."

"Eh? But I was shy- you know- err, how am I supposed to say 'Can I go to Light's room or something?'" You blushed a little. He hummed in response and gave an understanding look. "Come on in."

"I can't fit in here- just meet me outside. I'll wait for ya."

"You got yourself in this so don't turn back now. You can fit but in another position." Before you could reply, he suddenly grabbed your arms and indicated you to push your head inside. You did, whimpering as he pulled you in by grabbing you by the armpits, your faces almost bumping in the process. You gave a squeal as you felt your feet of the ladder, causing you to grip him tighter, almost hugging him-or maybe even inhaling him.

For a better description you basically looked like a flying fish from outside who's getting devoured by a portal.

With all his might, Light pulled you in until your whole body finally got inside. Of course, as he was secretly anticipating to, you both fell on the ground, with you on top of him, your head against his chest.

You immediately stood up and accidentally stepped on his ankle, resulting a loud whimper from him.

"Oof."

"That hurt, you know."

"Sorry. But-" You both heard a loud crash from outside. You were certain that the ladder you used had fallen, and it was so loud you swore some of your neighbors woke up. "...As I was saying... That was a dangerous way to get me inside. I could've fallen."

"Too bad you didn't."

"How rude!" You scoffed. You jauntily walked towards his bed, flopping down as if it's your own. It felt so soft, and it kinda smelled like him too.

You closed your eyes and spread your arms. His expression softened that he couldn't hide a smile which you thankfully didn't see. He cleared his throat and picked up a pillow, throwing it at your face.

"Hey, I'll go get some coffee. Want some?"

"I've already drank one, but sure!"

"No wonder you're already so hyper. Now get out of my bed."

"Fine." You scoffed and got up, walking behind him on the way downstairs, making yourself smaller so they wouldn't notice.

"Light! You're up early." Sachiko greeted.

"Yeah, and it's her fault." He slid right to reveal your cowering figure. You shyly greeted his mother, flushing pink. "Oh hello [Y/N]! I didn't see you come in. Were you in Light's room the whole night? You two had a sleep-over..?"

"No mom. Why would we do that? She just has her own ways of disturbing my sleep. Is dad still here?"

"He's on the living room and just about to leave. I'll make you two breakfast."

"That's not necessary. We just need some coffee, after that we'll.. What are we gonna do again?"

"Play badminton outside."

"It's still a bit dark, don't you think?"

"It's alright. The sun is about to rise. It'll rise quickly." Light replied to his mom, taking two cups and then pouring hot water on them. "Mild coffee [Y/N]?"

"Nope. Black coffee will do."

"Didn't you already-"

"It was creamy white. It was bland for my liking. I need something stronger." You cheekily replied. He sighed and started mixing your coffee and then his own. "If I recall, yesterday I saw you walking home while drinking that black iced coffee from the convenience store. Too much caffeine is unhealthy."

"Yes, Sir Light, noted." You grinned, blowing your drink before taking a sip. "Hey, not funny. I'm genuinely concerned."

"Concern appreciated."

You both entered the living room, greeting his father who eventually got up, off to work. You sat beside Light as you both watched Sachiko kiss Soichiro goodbye. You smiled and mumbled an 'aw,' nudging Light and causing him to slightly spill the coffee he was about to drink.

"What?" He looked at you then to his parents.

"Nothing."

"Ah, I get it. You wanna do that with someone someday, don't you?"

"That's not-"

"It's okay. We all daydream like that, even me. So don't be shy."

"I'm not shy!"

"There goes my line."

"Hmp. So who's the lucky girl, or boy, you daydream about?"

"Why are you suddenly interested? Well what about you?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Because that doesn't matter-"

"Unfair. You're so secretive."

"Fair enough since you're just as secretive as I am. You don't even tell me the guys you like, and I'm your bestfriend."

"Because that doesn't matter-"

"Why do you keep on stealing my lines?"

"Oi that's not the point! I mean come on, an honor student like you rarely talks about romance so when you do, of course I must know. I am your best friend after all."

Light cringed, chuckling. "There's nothing special about that."

"Pfft. Honor students like you are so busy with studying that you rarely have time for romance."

"What? No. Look at you, you're an honor student yourself."

"Yeah but I mean the pros, like you. The valedictorians, first honors."

"Just because I don't that about romance doesn't mean I don't think about it. But like you said, I rarely think about it."

"Ooh! So who is the lucky one?"

"Why do you want to know?"

You puffed your cheeks. Honestly you had no idea too. Let's just say you were... curious.

"I need to gather information. I need some information to sip. Either way I'll figure it out when I start my investigation."

"No."

"Augh- I'll disown you, Light Yagami."

He put his cup down, looking at you.

"It's not really possible to disown the person you like, you know."

The coffee that you were drinking almost came out of your nostrils.

"Don't have so much hubris on yourself. I can do a ten-paged essay about why you are so dislikeable."

"But you can do an essay about why you like me ten times longer than that."

"I am so going to hit your ugly being!"

His smile only grew wider, fascination twinkling in his eyes.

"Hit me with your sweet love, maybe I won't mind."

Not blushing wasn't really an option. He burst out of laughter as you'd been left speechless. You continuously punched his arm, but he never stopped laughing. And his laughter was indeed infectious.

As you two were having fun, you suddenly felt eyes on your back. You stopped and turned around, seeing Light's mother slyly smiling at the both of you as she slithered away towards the kitchen. You and Light avoided each other's gaze for a moment and blushed, finishing your coffees wordlessly instead.

"Well, I'll go change now. You wait here."

"Let me come with you-"

Light raised an eyebrow. "What a pervert you are, [Y/N]."

"NO! That is not what I meant!"

"Well what did you mean?"

"I mean, let me wait outside your room instead," You leaned in, whispering. "What if your mom comes here and talks to me? I mean.. I'm super shy around her."

He nodded in agreement but then he added, "There's no need to be shy around your future mother though."

'This smooth-talking bastard!' You sighed and rubbed your nape, 50% about to roll your eyes and 50% about to blush again. You knew what he meant by that. He had always been a tease to you. But you decided to play against his will.

"Wow. I didn't know that the Yagami family will adopt me someday."

"Tch, dummy."

"Did you just call me dummy?"

"What? Of course not! You really need to clean your ears. I said dumplings. Your cheeks remind me of them. And now I'm hungry."

"You are awful!" For the nth time in history, you hit his arm. "I'm really gonna disown you in one of these days. Now get your ass moving already so we can conquer the street first."

"Well you were the one constantly blabbering and delaying things here-"

"Beca-"

"Shut up."

"Pft. Fine." He pulled you up, holding your wrist even on the way back to his bedroom.

After about five minutes of changing to a plain white t-shirt and jogging pants, matching yours by the way, you two headed out the neighborhood. You picked up the rackets and shuttlecock you had left on the ground, handing him one.

"We don't really have a net-"

"Oh come on! This is just a friendly match, so there's no need for that."

"What about the scores? We can play somehow else if you'd like."

"That's not necessary. I'm making the rules, and the only rule here is that the opponent gets the score if you fail to prevent the birdie from hitting the ground."

"That's not how you play badminton.."

"I am well aware of that. I used to be a part of the school's badminton team, hello? But I make my own rules here." You grinned slyly. He shook his head. "There's no fun in this. You just woke me up to make me do some pointless things with you."

You were actually a little offended by that. You puffed your cheeks and crossed your arms.

"Is it bad that I just wanna have some quality-time with my friend? And to get my revenge, too."

What you said made his heart leap a little, and he was having a hard time resisting the urge to smile. But in the end, he only snarled against his own will. "Let's get this done quick. I'll make sure to destroy you."

"Oh, you wish."

And the game started. The eerie silence vanished, replaced by your grunts, pants, and intense movements. The sky was eventually transitioning from a dim purple to a pale yellow one as you two played, eyes focused on nothing but the shuttle, sweat dripping down your bodies. Light was just as determined as you were to beat his ass. The scores were being mentally recorded by you two-no cheating of course. It was a pretty fair game. One moment you'd be on the lead, but he'd take it, and you'd take it back, and the cycle continued. He was the worthiest opponent for you in this, and he thought the same about you.

The deal was a maximum of 50 scores. Currently, Light was leading and almost close to winning. Certainly you didn't want to get beaten so you struck the shuttle at a perfect angle with just enough force. It flew fast; you were sure he'd miss it. But his reflex was quick, and he struck it with a force much stronger than yours-but his flawed angle sent the shuttle flying higher than he intended it to, and it unfortunately landed on one of your neighbor's roof.

That neighbor just so happened to be the one you two-no, the whole neighborhood-absolutely detested.

Light rubbed his nape and laughed nervously, seeing your grimace. "I'll give the score to you then. So, you have an extra shuttle?"

"Unfortunately that's my last one." You facepalmed. You used to have lots of shuttlecocks but you just kept on losing them since everytime you play with someone, they'd either get destroyed in the process or fly too high and land on unaccessible places, just like what happened.

He frowned. "Seriously? What about inside your house? I'm sure there are a bunch of them tangled in your mess."

"I told you that was my last one. I haven't been able to buy more of them so yeah. But thanks to this nerdy friend of mine, I'm now left with none."

You were only being sarcastic, but it sounded way too derisive for him that he felt somehow guilty.

"Now what do we do.." You pouted to yourself. He averted his gaze which then met the ladder from earlier, a brilliant idea crossing his mind. But the last thing he wanted to do was to get involved, in any way, with that awful neighbor. A grim expression crossed his face and you saw it as you walked closer to him.

"Hey, I'm not actually mad at you, dummy."

"No- I mean, that's a relief. But I think I can retrieve it with the ladder. They might notice me though."

You snorted, but at least there was still a way to save that shuttle. You then looked at the sky. The sun was now rawly smiling at you. Surely those rogues weren't awake yet.

"You know what? I'll do it myself."

"Don't. You might fall. I'll go do it. It's a gentleman's job after all." He grinned. "Do you think they're awake?"

"I don't think so. The curtains are closed anyway."

"Alright. In case I fall, you stay below."

"Okay, Princess Light. I'll catch you using these strong manly arms of mine. Muah!"

"Ew."

Thankfully they didn't have a second floor so the ladder's height was alright- although still short. Once Light had climbed up, you stayed below, holding the ladder just to stay sure.

"Damn. How did it get that far?" He struggled to reach it with his racket, even with his arms and body stretched already. After a few valiant attempts, he sighed and steadied himself a little. He had an idea of climbing the roof but the risk of falling down in the process was high. And he certainly didn't want to squash you either.

"Well this is hopeless."

"Don't give up now, my princess!" You continuously poked his butt with the handle of your racket, causing him to give you a death glare, wobbling a little in his position.

"Are you asking to get squashed? Stop that or I'll fall on you."

"That was just to power you up, silly! Don't you dare fall on me."

"How about falling for you?"

"Bitch."

"Now now, don't say bad words!"

He chuckled and was about to continue his mission when suddenly, the curtains flew open, revealing a grotesque face of a woman staring at Light's crotch-because that's where the window was apparently placed.

Let's just say that you two never want to recall that twenty-minute rebuking that you swore went on even as you two had already left the neighborhood, heading elsewhere.

"That went well." Light heaved a sigh, poking your racket with his as you two walked side by side. You nodded.

"Mission failed. Geez, that woman just wouldn't stop talking and bombarding us with malarkey. I'm starting to hate her."

"To be honest who doesn't? The whole neighborhood hates her as far as I know."

"Pfft, right. So what do we do now?"

He poked your cheeks, and poked, and poked, before pinching them so hard.

"Stop your fetish for my cheeks! This is abuse!"

He laughed, a genuine kind. He didn't reply but put an arm over your shoulder. You puffed your cheeks and played along.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm a bit hungry. So let's head to the convenience store."

"Unsurprising but I didn't bring any money with me."

"Not a single cent?"

"Noooope."

"I guess it's fine since I'll be the one treating you. You should be thankful." You only smiled.

On the way to the store you noticed a group of older and drunk men resting on the side of the street. Their eyes pierced uncomfortably through you. You lowered your head, still feeling their laviscious stares nonetheless. Light also noticed this, and so he pressed himself to you. You hadn't even passed them and when you did, the inevitable came. They cackled, whistling and calling you by names as they rapped the table for attention.

You ignored them and thankfully, they didn't bother you more. "Those bastards." You heard your companion clicking his tongue in annoyance, looking back at the drunk men. He saw where their gazes were and it strongly disgusted him. There was an unnerving silence as you two arrived at the store.

You both had hotdogs with buns and ice cream which was your specific request and which Light reluctantly complied to. The two of you were sitting side by side, looking through the glass wall and discussing mostly about school projects and then some gossips which all came from you. After running out of food to munch on, Light went back to buy a huge bag of chips you two would be sharing.

The sky was now a saturated mixture of orange and yellows. People strolling outside were quickly multiplying until eventually the sidewalk got packed. Few vehicles came passing by. The day was starting for a lot.

"Those guys often do that to you?"

Snapping back to reality, you cooed, "Pardon me?"

"The drunk men we just came across with, was it the first time they've called you out like that?"

"Nope. They're always out drinking.." You saw him creasing his brows. "I know what you're thinking. Well they can't be help so don't think too much about it."

"Can't be help or not, that's still wrong. Did you see the way they looked at your curves? Those men reek danger for a young woman like you. Who knows what their next moves are?" Clenching his fist, he growled. He was truly worried for you. He knew how the world is full of suspicious people like them, and who knows that they're capable of doing?

"Now now worry-wart, don't be so angry."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? You should really start walking home with me early. Does it kill you to immediately go home after school even when you have no business there anymore?"

He got you there. "But I don't want to instantly go home."

"Keep thinking like that and you might never be able to go home again."

You pursed your lips at how scary he made that sound. "Listen, [Y/N]. In this world, there are only a few people you can actually trust. And those guys? They're not looking worthy of someone's trust, even one bit. They're also not the only possible threats to you. Anyone you don't know, or even who you're acquainted with, could be. Even if they look so charming. I'm saying this as a warning, and as your friend. The way they looked at you really triggered me. I can't let you continue your routine anymore. Sure, I know you're going to argue that there's lots of bystanders in case something happens, but that's not always the case. And we're not even sure if they'll help you or proceed to give a blind eye to it."

There came a long pause as you absorbed his words. Hearing them made you feel grateful for having a friend like him-someone who speaks up because he cares about you and your safety. You merely nodded with your mouth agape.

"..I-I'll do as you say then. Thank you Light, really. I appreciate your concern. You give the best advices.. I-you're one of the best people out there."

"Sorry to suddenly explode like that." He smiled, and your heart softened. You asked, "And so, by saying that.. You trust me?"

"Needless to ask dummy. I wouldn't have said that if I didn't."

"Thank you. You know I trust you too. You're one of the people who's worth my trust." You flushed pink as you scratched your nape. This kind of conversation will always make you shy.

"You don't have to say thank you to me for trusting you. And what you said.. You're worth trusting, too."

You didn't argue. The following minutes were silent as you two stared at the void while eating potato chips. You didn't have any new topics in mind, and he seemed to be lost in his thoughts-or his daydreams. You didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on in that complex mind of his.

You absently stood up, craving for another black coffee, but you halted and went back when you remembered you didn't have your own money.

"Oh? You want something?"

"I want coffee. Well- if you don't mind. Ehehehe."

"That I am not going to buy for you. That's going to be your third coffee and the day's only starting."

"Hmph. Forgot I have a mom for a friend. But anyway, you good? You seemed to be thinking about something rather serious earlier."

"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled. Although he was really deep in thought of something-but what was it?

As he'd already said, he trusted you. He had been friends with you since middle school. He developed the ability to read through your mind. With you both growing closer day by day, he had already memorized your hobbies, your predictably unpredictable schedules, your common moods, your personality, and your flaws as a human being. Heck, he could even write an entire biography book about you with all the facts 99% accurate if he wanted to.

To him, you were fascinating, despite the fact that you weren't his ‘ideal’ girl. But as they say, some ideals are bound to get broken when something unexpected and much more interesting comes along the way. Sure, you couldn't read his mind as good as he read yours. You couldn't decipher and foresee what his next moves would be very well, wasn't in the exact same level as he was, but he grew attached to you. He trusted you, which was a rare thing for him to do-and consider the fact that trust is a hard thing to earn. You were an honest person, mildly annoying at some point to him. You're one that's willing to help others too. Rarely gets the initiative, but when you do, you execute amazing plans and actions.

The world is ugly, indeed, but he considered you to be one of those who made it less that way. You were one of the beautiful people in this ugly, mundane world. And that, he admired you for.

He couldn't see you as just a friend anymore. He could basically see through you, like you were his other half-like you were meant to be. You were someone he could connect with, someone he trusts, someone he could love. The label 'bestfriends' bothered him because he felt like it didn't suit you both, because something else did.

A couple.

And going back, what he was thinking about was the act of courting you and becoming your boyfriend. But doubts flooded his mind, such as you two being too young for romance, the possibility of your parents being against it since he knew you once swore that you wouldn't get a boyfriend until the age of 25 (which was actually a half-joke), and him not knowing what to properly do afterwards. Was he ready for this? Having you as his girlfriend wouldn't really change or affect anything such as his studies. It would still be the same.. just with an upgraded relationship and label with you. Besides, he had been wanting to court you for some time already. And if he doesn't do it then he'd only grow more and more restless.

He wanted to be yours. He was sure you also reciprocated his feelings. Getting into a teenage relationship is easy and quick and maybe reckless, they say, but not for someone with a complex and rational thinking like him. There were some things to consider- but you know what Light said?

'God damn it.'

"Love."

"Huh?" You weren't expecting that response at all.

"I mean I was thinking about romance."

"Ooh! Finally, you decided to add some teenage thrill in your life. So, what about romance?" You gave a sly look. "Need help? I can be cupid, except I will be hitting you with my fist."

His smile was little but genuine, looking out. "There's someone I like for some time now. I've been wanting to court her."

"Awe! My boy has finally grown! My son is finally having a love interest! Eh, but why do you look so uncertain? Is there a catch?"

"Not really." He looked at you, his cheek resting on his palm. You raised an eyebrow.

"If that's the case then go for it! Who would dare to refuse the Light Yagami anyway? If you're feeling doubtful, which is highly unlikely for you, don't be. Any girl would swoon over you, even myself." You chuckled. He gave a fake impression of still being doubtful, looking down with his hands now on his thighs. It was a rare sight to see. You placed a hand on his shoulder, tapping it. Just then, he looked at you straight in the eye.

"It's not like you to lose some confidence. Come on, don't be sad. You can do it. Go ahead and court the lucky one. Cupid approves." You gave him a thumbs up.

"..If you say so," he seized your wrist and stood up.

"Can I court you then?"

#death note #death note x reader #death note x you #light x reader #light yagami x reader #death note fluff #light yagami #light yagami fluff #death note imagines #yagami light #best friends to lovers trope supremacy #light x you #death note x y/n #i'm sorry i haven't played an actual badminton match in ages so you might cringe huhufdfds #character x you #kiss kiss fall iN LOVEEEE #bye #i poured my heartand soul into writngin thsi sjfhjd

[inevitably-johnlocked]

✨When you get this, please respond with five things that make you happy! Then, send to the last ten people in your notifications anonymously. You never know who might benefit from spreading positivity✨

Hey Nonny!

Ooof this got lost in a bunch of stuff! Sorry about missing it! Only remembered it because I saw a similar ask on my dash hahha.

Seems like a good day to do this, since I'm so tired and exhausted and I need something to make me smile.

Dragons. Just everything and anything with dragons. I'm fascinated with them. If you buy or make me anything with dragons, I automatically love you.

I finally bought myself my iPad I've been saving up for for *literally* 3 years. Because I was saving up for a trip this year that I am no longer taking (was planning a 40th birthday trip to Disney, but now am not going to Florida at all until they get their shit together), I took some of that money also to buy it and bought a top-of-the-line one, the best I could buy at the local Apple store (1TB, 12.9inch Pro... you don't want to know how much it was :|). I love it so much, and it's nice to use it to get off my laptop. I mostly was prompted to buy it now because it was my 40th birthday gift to myself AND my Wacom driver kept crashing my laptop and I'm scared to reinstall it hahah.

Funko Pops. I LOVE them and hate them. I only collect ones from series and shows I like, but I have WAY too many of them that most are in storage right now. I want to get my own home soon so I can display them finally. I am constantly checking the app for upcoming Funkos, and then immediately check my local toy store for their preorders. My local toy store must love me, I have SO much on preorder right now.

Drawing and writing. I'm alright at both, but I've terrible imposter syndrome so I feel like I'm not good at either, mainly because I don't get much traction on either when I post. I've a few people who always help me get it out, but I these days I do it for me, because it makes me happy.

Video Games. Currently playing AC Valhalla, and I LOVE it so much that I ended up buying the Season Pass. I RARELY buy DLC. But the game was SO good and I wanted more, so I needed to play the expansions. PERSONALLY it's my fave of the new trilogy, and because it's a "current" game, it's always got new stuff. Love it. My fave game EVER is Kingdom Hearts 2. I love the story of it so much. Skyrim is a close second – I like Skyrim because I put in over 200 hours in ALL versions I've played, and still there's so much I have to do hahah. AC New Trilogy is third. I liked DA Inquisition but never finished it, and I still have a bunch of games I bought last Christmas I have yet to play, so my list may change... it's highly unlikely though.

So there you have it Nonny! I think it's good I waited until I was in a better mood to answer this... People stopped sending me these because I was always so negative in them, I guess... I hope I get more of things like this when my asks go back on.

Can I also give you 5 things I'm looking forward to? I feel like that will help me keep a positive attitude for a bit.

My current work contract is almost done, and I'll get some downtime before I have to start my normal day-job again. Looking forward to my weekends back.

My broken foot seems to be healing REALLY quick. Yesterday was the first day I woke up without it hurting, and today I've been able to hobble around on my heel (as per my doctor's instructions that I need to start doing once my foot stopped hurting). I'm optimistic that I'll be given the okay to drive again during my next appointment on the 30th. I am going nuts not being able to leave home on my own accord.

So in Canada, we have this thing where you can take out your RSPs tax-free for three things: Retirement, First Time Home Ownership, and Second Education. I set up my RSPs WAY back when I was making piss-poor salary about 10 years ago, and I wanted to make sure that I at LEAST could have SOMETHING when I retired. I recently discovered I maxed out the amount of money I can take out for First Time Homeownership in my RSP, so my plans to home ownership are looking more and more realistic. I just wish owning a home wasn't so expensive where I live (major city in one of the most expensive provinces in Canada). It's hard when you're single-income. Here's hoping that I can make it a reality soon. The idea is a condo, I just have very expensive tastes (safe-neighbourhoods apparently justify a 10,000$+ more in cost :/) so I keep saving into my various accounts and GICs that I set up after I finally was making a liveable salary, so as long as I keep being humble and living below my means, I can finally get what I save up for... if only the cost of housing would SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. It's gone up 100K in just a year. It's insane.

I also saved up enough for a new couch thanks to a second contract I took during my CURRENT contract, which paid me exactly enough for the couch I want to get (I may or may not have strategically negotiated that contract, LOL). I've been needing a new couch for years; the one I currently have, I have sentimental attachment to (it was my dad's and is over 20 years old) but working at home for almost 2 years, I've worn it out and it's SO VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. It's barely staying together. Looking forward to getting it :) ... Was waiting until cooler months since I have to put it together myself (IKEA) and my apt is SO hot in the summer, no way I can do it then.

Having my asks turned back on. I'm sorry, it sounds so cheesy and dumb, but I don't have many RL friends or connections, and you guys help me stay positive and help keep my negative thoughts at bay. The dark thoughts have been coming in a lot lately, to the point where I've convinced myself that no one missed me and no one cares, so it's helped having a few of my regulars and mutuals check up on me in DMs during all this. Thank you <3 I don't always reply back, but your love is appreciated <3

Thank you again Nonny for asking me this <3 And I hope you don't mind I answered more than you asked <3

#steph replies #positivity #chatting with nonnies #happy posts #about me

[janeofcakes]

Soulmates: How John Met Sherlock...Again  Chapter 5

Hello, my lovelies. Another post on Saturday?? You spoil us, Jane! I know it's crazy, but I love you all and being in touch again means a lot to me. Hmm. Well, that was more heartfelt than I'd planned. Suffice it to say, I'm in a bit of a mood. I got some bad news yesterday and will know more on Tuesday. I don't want it to keep me from posting because you all DO mean a lot to me and your support does to. We'll just have to see how things go.

---

Sunday morning is awash with breakfast and icing and wrapping Olive’s gift for Mycroft. Sherlock struggles to keep his mind off John at first, but he is quickly caught up in their preparations and Olive’s constant chatter. Soon they are in one of his brother’s sleek black cars and on their way to a luxury flat all too near their own. Of course, another country wouldn’t be far enough away for Sherlock. There were only two reasons Mycroft had become more tolerable over the last eight years and one of them was sitting next to Sherlock asking questions and telling him her plans for the party. When Olive came into Sherlock’s life Mycroft finally believed, once and for all, that his little brother would not use again and would take care of himself. For all the modifications he made for raising a child, his life was significantly more simple without Mycroft’s interference.

Sherlock stares straight ahead, not really seeing the back of their driver’s head or the rear view mirror. He hears Olive as she continues talking at top speed, but is not listening at all. He would never ignore her, of course, and he will pay for it if she realizes he is distracted. Sherlock will risk it though to review the particular thoughts running through his mind.

John is back in London. He does not live far from Sherlock and has a daughter in Olive’s class. Mycroft knows it. He must know it and yet, he said nothing to Sherlock. Not even so much as a hint or, more likely, horning in to advise Sherlock to stay away from the doctor. He said nothing, did nothing. Mycroft could have stopped Sherlock from ever meeting Gracie’s father if he had wanted to. Why hadn’t he?

Sherlock rolls this around in his mind as they turn a few more corners, traversing the busy streets of London. Mycroft has always meddled in Sherlock’s life, always tried to control things. In spite of the improvements to the situation, Sherlock knows his brother would never pass up the chance to keep him away from John. We wouldn’t want you to be reminded of the past and return to old habits, would we, Sherlock? That’s what the pompous ass would say. Sherlock glares ahead unseeing, his grey eyes narrowing and the delicate skin beneath them contracting. Mycroft has done nothing that Sherlock would have expected in this scenario and the most likely conclusion is also the most ludicrous. Can it be that Mycroft wants Sherlock and John to meet again? If he is not actively trying to keep them apart, has he somehow orchestrated John’s move back and their subsequent meeting? The world is seldom so careless.

“Dad?” Olive’s irritated tone breaks Sherlock’s concentration and he looks to her instantly, trying to keep a guilty expression from his face.

“Hm?” Sherlock hums a reply, picking apart what words he had heard her speaking.

“Are you even listening?” Olive asks, her eyes narrow slits of suspicion. Knowing there is no escape, Sherlock opens his mouth to confess, but Olive barrels on before he can say a word. She obviously cares less about what he was doing before than she does about having his attention now. “I’m going to tell them all about Gracie and our pirate adventures in the park and that she likes Nancy Drew and what’s going on with Samantha Jones and…”

“You have so much to tell that they won’t get a word in,” Sherlock interrupts her with a light tease in his tone. “You may have to wait for another time. It is his birthday, after all.”

“Pfft,” Olive blows out a dismissive breath that makes her lips vibrate. “Dad, you know how much Uncle Mycroft likes my updates.”

Sherlock inhales slowly as he quickly considers the truth of her statement. He tilts his head and nods, his lips pressed together and brows arched.

“We’re here!” Olive squeals suddenly as the car comes to a stop in front of a very stylish 19th century building. The little girl throws open the door and leaps out of the backseat, making a b-line for the front door. She has barely taken her fingertip off the bell before the door opens and she dashes inside to find her uncles.

Sherlock follows at a more leisurely pace, making his way to the kitchen. He knows the two men will be there preparing lunch for four together. John’s face invades his thoughts again as he walks. He has more grey than Sherlock remembers, but the blonde is still more prominent. John would disagree, no doubt, but it suits him. He looks very dignified, which is a good look for a doctor. John looks good in general. He is still fit, his eyes still bright and clear, and still the eye-catching blue Sherlock saw in his dreams for years after John left. There are a few additional lines around them, but they are still gorgeous and so is John. God, how Sherlock has missed him and in so many ways.

Finally reaching the kitchen, Sherlock pushes the swinging door open and is greeted by a sight that warms his heart every time, in spite of Mycroft being one of its major players. As per usual, Olive ran headlong into the room and jumped into her uncle’s arms. The result is a penny-clad Mycroft holding her off the ground in a tight embrace as she hugs him to within an inch of his life. Sherlock has to admit he could never imagine his brother as an uncle and certainly not a good one, but Mycroft has adored Olive and his role in her life from the day she was born. The man certainly has changed. Of course, having a lighthearted partner has helped considerably.

“There he is,” Greg Lestrade says loudly with a smile on his face. Olive twists around to look at her father, eyes sparkling silver.

“I told you he wasn’t far behind,” she beams as Greg approaches the detective, reaching for the cake holder in his hands. She turns to Mycroft and tilts her chin up proudly. “I put the icing on your cake myself, Uncle Mycroft. I even tubed happy birthday on it.”

“Piped, sweetie,” Sherlock corrects her as Greg takes the covered container with a hello and a ta. The detective trails behind and places the two bags he is holding on the table against the wall. Greg looks up after depositing the cake on the same table.

“You did?” Mycroft asks with as sincere a smile as he will ever have. “Thank you, my sweet. I can’t wait to see it.”

“Daddy says we have to wait until after lunch,” Olive states in a serious tone laced with excited energy.

“He’s right, you know,” Mycroft says, lightly touching her nose.

“What?” Sherlock cocks his head, wearing an expression of mock surprise. “Would you mind repeating that? Greg, where’s your mobile? I want this documented.”

“You are entertaining as ever, brother mine,” Mycroft says wryly as he returns Olive’s feet to the ground. “Come on, Olive, you can help me check the ham.”

“Can I wear the oven mitts?” she bubbles on the way to the oven.

“Of course,” Mycroft says, motioning for her to hold up her hands like a doctor who has just scrubbed in for surgery. He puts one large mitt over her right hand and another on the left, then tugs on his own and adopts a similar posture. “Ready?”

“Ready and waiting,” Olive replies. Mycroft picks up a meat thermometer and hands it to her. They nod once at one another and bend down to open the oven door and peer inside.

Greg and Sherlock can neither one stifle their chuckles as they watch. After eight years, Sherlock can still scarcely believe it. He turns back to Greg in another minute, observes the man’s curious expression and cocks a brow.

“What’s all this then?” Greg motions toward the bags. 

“Olive insisted we bring gifts and candles,” Sherlock tells him and Greg begins to laugh. “I told her fire alarms may sound if we actually light 59 candles, so we agreed the orange ones represent ten candles each.”

“Fantastic,” Greg laughs, patting Sherlock’s shoulder with one hand. Meanwhile, Mycroft gives his baby brother a perturbed look that vanishes as soon as Olive asks if she can fill everyone’s glasses with ice and water in the last few minutes before the ham is finished. She goes to the freezer as Mycroft fills a pitcher and they both push through the swinging door to the dining room. Greg drops the smile as soon as they are out the door and fixes Sherlock with a serious gaze that genuinely startles the detective, but cocking his brow again is the only hint of the emotion.

“So you saw him,” Greg says without preamble. It is not a question and confirms what Sherlock has suspected since the moment he laid eyes on John Watson in Regents.

“Why?” Sherlock snarls. He might have saved his ire for Mycroft alone, but Greg going in on the deception stings and more than a little. The CDI glances toward the door and squares his shoulders with Sherlock’s, looking into the detective’s death glare without wavering.

“I didn’t know until last night,” Greg’s tone is urgent and in much the same style it is on a crime scene. “Myc told me when he got home. How are you?”

“Why?” Sherlock repeats with no less anger.

“He thought it best you not know,” Greg tells him with a shrug that is somewhere between apologetic and my life partner is an idiot, “but knew he couldn’t keep the secret once Gracie turned up in Olive’s class.”

Sherlock is silent. His anger does not lessen, but Greg no longer shares its focus. That honor belongs to his brother alone once more. Greg eyes his glowering face and shifts his weight back for a better view of Sherlock’s body language. What greets him are muscles stiff with fury and a clenched jaw. Sherlock has told Mycroft many times what will happen if he continues his attempts to control Sherlock’s life. Obviously, Sherlock has not yet made his position clear.

“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?” Greg cringes, watching the muscles in Sherlock’s jaw work.

“Yes,” Sherlock glares, not mincing words. Greg squares his broad shoulders and raises his hands, palms out.

“Okay, but let him explain why,” he begins.

“You told me why,” Sherlock snaps, growing tired of the conversation. He blows out a petulant breath and straightens his spine to stand at his full height. For all his posturing, Greg does not even seem to notice. 

“Yeah, but I didn’t say anything about his reasoning,” Greg presses. Sherlock fixes him with narrowed eyes and a look that screams ‘You must be kidding’.

“His reasoning,” Sherlock repeats, annoyed and incredulous. “Oh, for god sake.”

“You’ll want to know what it is,” Greg says lightly, arching his brows. “It makes sense. Well, by his way of thinking.”

Sherlock’s whole face drops into an expression of indignance that says it all.

“I’m not saying I agree with him, or that he isn’t being an ass AGAIN,” Greg admits with a shrug of his shoulder, “but it makes sense. To his…”

“Way of thinking, yes,” Sherlock finishes with a growl. He opens his mouth to launch into a tirade on his brother’s incessant interference when Olive suddenly bursts through the swinging door, followed by the man himself. If Mycroft notices the tension in the air, or Sherlock’s thunderous expression, he does not show it as he and Olive walk straight to the oven.

“It is definitely ready to come out now,” Mycroft is saying while putting oven mitts on Olive again, one by one. “We’ll take it out and transfer it to the platter. Then I’ll slice it while you hold it steady with this.”

He holds up a long, two-pronged meat fork and Olive’s eyes go wide. She nods enthusiastically, chanting ‘yes, yes, yes’ and hops from one foot to the other.

Sherlock and Greg break away, taking side dishes and rolls into the dining room. Within minutes, the four of them are seated at the table and passing around food. Sherlock pushes down his anger and engages in comfortable conversation with the others, although Olive does most of the talking. She answers her uncles’ inquiries about school and the most recent experiment she and Sherlock have done. She tells them about the seeds they planted in a window box they had just installed in the kitchen as part of a science unit, but she mostly talks about Gracie and all of the things they do together.

“Wow,” Greg leans back in his chair, slightly pushing away his plate. “She sounds like quite a best friend. Almost like the perfect one for you.”

Greg turns his head slowly and stops on Sherlock with a pointed expression. The detective meets his gaze and gives a nearly imperceptible twitch of his head in response. Mycroft does not so much as glance at Sherlock, just as he has done throughout the meal. It isn’t that he is avoiding Sherlock’s eyes and with it, his ire, he merely knows his little brother and his “moods” well enough to wait for the appropriate time and place. In the past, Sherlock would have been more than happy to press the issue no matter who was in the room, if for no other reason than to humiliate Mycroft, but not now. Not with an excited child in the seat next to him and especially not on his brother’s birthday when said child is practically falling out of her chair from fidgeting for cake, songs, crackers and presents. 

“She certainly does,” Mycroft says in his usual tone. It sounds condescending when he speaks to Sherlock, but is fond and pleasant when addressing Olive. “You two have so much in common. Have you had your playdate yet?”

His voice rises at the question, but in the way he uses only when he already knows the answer and is actually prodding Sherlock. The detective blinks slowly, not rising to the bait as Mycroft finally glances his way with a knowing expression. Damn him.

“Not yet, but we’re working on it,” Olive replies with a significant nod and raised brows. She tries to wink at him, but only succeeds in contorting her face and deliberately blinking both eyes very slowly. Greg just stifles a laugh, but cannot hide the grin on his face. He clears his throat to cover and begins to rise while reaching for his plate. 

“Why don’t we get the cake, Olive?” he suggests. “You can put all the candles on.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Olive chants, jumping out of her seat. She grabs her own empty plate and turns to Sherlock. “Can I take yours, Dad?”

“Yes. Thank you, sweetie,” he hands it to her and she follows Greg through the swinging door. Sherlock inhales deeply, gathering himself so his annoyance does not spill forth now that he and Mycroft are alone. He lets his gaze slide over to his brother, who is already watching him expectantly with narrowed eyes. Sherlock looks at him coolly and says nothing. They can hear Olive and Greg giggling in the kitchen as they ready the cake and dessert plates. Mycroft keeps his eyes trained on Sherlock, waiting for an insult or snide question. The detective’s face remains neutral as he continues to sit in silence. He will not give Mycroft the easy out of beginning this conversation with a fight, not to mention he has no intention of starting something Olive could walk in on.

Mycroft finally sighs loudly and shifts in his seat to lean forward, resting his forearms on the table. Sherlock cocks a brow and narrows his eyes, lips pressing together in a thin line.

“Sherlock,” the elder Holmes’ tone is back to condescension. 

“No,” Sherlock’s hand shoots up with the command. Mycroft’s brows arch in response. He looks as though he might try to continue speaking, so Sherlock pins him with a glare that demands Mycroft keep his mouth shut. Nevertheless, he parts his pursed lips and draws a breath.

The swinging door flies open as Olive and Greg burst in.

“Happy Birthday, Uncle Mycroft!” they cry together with big grins on their faces. Greg carries the cake, complete with burning candles and Olive holds a tray with a stack of four shallow bowls, spoons and a container of vanilla ice cream. Before either Holmes can react, the merry duo is singing Happy Birthday and placing their wares in front of Mycroft. Sherlock does not join in, but they don’t seem to notice.

“Blow out the candles,” Olive exclaims as soon as the song is over. “Wait, wait! Make a wish.”

Mycroft blows out the breath he sucked in noisily for show and makes quick work of the tiny flames. Olive cheers and claps while Greg leans down and drops a quick kiss to Mycroft’s lips.

“Happy Birthday, love,” he murmurs, his gaze soft.

“I want to pull off the candles,” Olive declares, climbing onto her chair and sitting on her knees for more height. She yanks one out of the icing immediately and places it on the tray at Greg’s direction. Once she is finished and licking icing off her fingers, Greg cuts a piece for each of them. Mycroft gets the first one, but he waits until everyone has been served before his first bite.

“Oh, Olive, this is delicious,” Mycroft smiles at her grin and bright eyes. She shoves her own fork in her mouth and chews. “You and Sherlock really have outdone yourselves.”

Sherlock bristles at the sound of his name on Mycroft’s lips. He ignores his brother’s attempts to draw him in, unsure he will be able to keep the anger from his tone, and eats in silence.

“Thanks,” Olive beams, taking another bite. “I know how much you love chocolate cake and Daddy suggested the icing.”

“Did he?” Mycroft’s gaze turns to Sherlock. The elder watches carefully as his brother makes every effort to maintain a mask of indifference. “How nice.”

“Uh-huh,” Olive inhales the last of her cake and drops her fork on the table. Still sitting on her knees, she hops a little as she watches her uncle daintily slip his from between his lips. “I want to give you my present! Did you get any presents yet?”

Olive shifts her dancing eyes to Greg, who promptly grins like an idiot and glances at Mycroft. Sherlock shifts in his seat uncomfortably as he analyses the expression. Greg ducks his chin down and gives a slight shake of his head, along with a quiet laugh. He appears almost bashful. Oh, god.

Sherlock can barely hold in a disgruntled huff. He is not a prude by any stretch of the mind. In spite of what Mycroft may think, sex does not alarm him. However, that still does not mean he wants to know anything about what happens in his brother’s bedroom.

“As a matter of fact, Greg gave me his present this morning,” Mycroft smiles sweetly at his partner. It is an expression Sherlock never thought he would see on his brother’s face, but seemed instantly natural once he and Greg began dating. Mycroft is still sharp as ever, especially on the job, but Greg smoothed out a lot of the edges in his personal life. Greg had even helped mend fences for the Holmes brothers, a daunting task if ever there was one. He is the other reason Mycroft has become more tolerable.

Sherlock brings his glass to his lips for a drink as he considers his friend, a man he took for an ordinary idiot when they first met, and lets out an amused breath through his nose at how far they have all come since then.

“You mean like sex?” Olive’s voice asks and Sherlock spits his water onto his own cake, fortunately missing anything of consequence. Everyone stares and Olive jumps off her seat with a start. Sherlock grabs a napkin and dabs at all of the droplets he can see on the table around him, mumbling apologies until Greg finally catches his hand to still it.

“It’s okay,” Greg tells him. “No worries.”

Sherlock’s eyes widen at the softness on his friend’s face and immediately dart to Mycroft’s left hand. No ring. That doesn’t make sense. He glances at the pockets in Mycroft’s waistcoat and sees the slight bulge of a small box. There it is. He leans back in his chair and extricates his hand from Greg’s, setting aside the napkin as he moves. 

“I see congratulations are in order,” Sherlock remarks. Greg’s eyes brighten and he claps the detective’s arm.

“I knew we couldn’t hide it for long,” the CDI laughs. “Thanks, mate.”

“Brother,” Mycroft nods somewhat smugly, no doubt because it remained a secret for as long as it did.

“What?” Olive asks as her gaze shifts from one man to another. “What’s going on?”

She puts her hands on her hips and stamps a foot when no one answers, her brows knitting on her wrinkled forehead. Taking pity, Mycroft turns toward her and fishes the box out of his pocket. He holds it out to the girl, who is frozen where she stands, face lit up like it is Christmas. Her palms fly to rest on either side of her face, pushing together until her lips are bunched up comically in between them.

“Actually, he gave me this,” Mycroft says in a tone of quiet anticipation. Olive reaches for the box inquisitively and takes it only when her uncle nods his approval. She pops open the lid as soon as it is in her little hands and gasps loudly at the simple platinum band. 

“It’s perfect!” she squeals, jumping up and down. She thrusts it back at Mycroft, still hopping wildly. “Put it on. Put it on!”

All three men are laughing at this point, Olive’s glee filling the room with light and energy. Mycroft takes the ring from the box and slides it delicately onto his long finger where it rests comfortably like it was always meant to be there. Olive yelps happily and leaps into his arms.

“I’m so happy for you!” she cries and turns to Greg, not loosening her grasp on her uncle. “And you too, Uncle Greg!”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Greg answers, reaching for Mycroft’s shoulder and touching it warmly.

“I want to be in the wedding!” Olive nearly shouts. “Can I be in the wedding?”

“Of course you can,” Mycroft assures her with an uncharacteristic grin, “and you can even pick out the dress.”

“With ruffles?” Olive gasps, hands covering her mouth.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Yahoo!” Olive is off his lap in a second and dancing around the room. Greg and Sherlock laugh as they watch her twirl and spring from one spot to another. 

“We were actually hoping someone else would be in it too,” Mycroft says guardedly, eyeing his baby brother. Sherlock’s smile falls instantly and he freezes in place with his gaze on the elder. “Would you stand up for me, Sherlock?”

Sherlock does not even twitch with an answer. Even Mycroft, with all his secrets and intelligence, seldom surprises the detective, but at this moment, he is speechless. Nevermind he had not expected his brother to ever marry. Hell, he honestly never thought Mycroft would fall in love. Sentiment is a weakness and all that, but the last few years with Greg had certainly changed Mycroft’s opinion on that. This though. This implied his feelings toward Sherlock had changed as well. He had always claimed his meddling was out of concern and Sherlock had seen it for the lie it was, but now. The possibility seemed impossible, even with the evidence right before his eyes.

“Yes, Daddy, you have to!” Olive runs for her father and dives into his lap. Sherlock’s heavy limbs catch her clumsily as she wraps her arms around his neck. “You can wear one of those tax-idoes and stand next to Uncle Myc and I’ll stand next to you. We’ll be beautiful.”

“Yes,” Sherlock replies slowly, not wanting to spoil her mood with his true answer, “it will be lovely.”

“Yay!” comes her cheer, only to be silenced with another gasp. “My present. You have to open my present!”

Olive gestures toward Mycroft as she runs out of the room, dodging furniture and throwing the door open. She pops back into view as it swings back into the dining room, a twelve by fourteen inch box in her hands that is wrapped in paper covered with brightly colored balloons.

“I wrapped it myself,” she says proudly, straightening up tall. “Daddy only gave me the pieces of tape this year.”

“My, my. You are growing up, aren’t you?” Mycroft says in admiration and takes the box when she thrusts it at him. 

“Go on,” she flashes a toothy grin, minus the one she lost the week before. “Open it.”

Mycroft smiles mischievously, throwing a glance at Greg and Sherlock, and tearing at the paper. He used to open packages carefully, sliding his fingers along the tape, but Olive made it clear the practice was unacceptable when she was four. 

With the paper gone, Mycroft opens the box and pulls a tall cylinder with sticks glued around its outer surface. The sticks are clearly ordinary twigs one might find on the ground, but each one has been relieved of its bark and stained a lovely medium brown. They are cut to the size of the cylinder, which is actually more of a glass, and glued on vertically so no part of the glass shows through. Small knots are visible on some of them, but the quality of work cannot be denied. Surprise showing on his face, Mycroft looks over the table to Sherlock and then to his niece. 

“It’s a pencil holder,” Olive tells him with pride in her voice. “You always have so many laying around on your desk.”

“Yes, I do,” Mycroft replies airily. “It’s beautiful, Olive. It really is. You made this yourself?”

“Dad helped,” she answers. “We collected the sticks in the park and he showed me how to make them pretty.”

“Well, you have done excellent work, my dear,” Mycroft pulls her close to kiss her forehead. “I love it.”

“There’s more,” Olive hops a little at his side.

He puts the pencil holder on the table and fishes into the box again, pulling out a drawing of three men and a little girl standing around a table with a cake sitting in its center. The cake is brown for chocolate icing and absolutely covered in candles. A few even stick out from its sides and every one of their tops is colored with orange marker. Mycroft can easily tell which man is which by the clothing and can’t help the small smile forming on his lips. His character wears a waistcoat with matching pants, Greg’s has a dark green shirt with short sleeves and blue pants, and Sherlock simply wears his signature long, dark coat. That is what tickles Mycroft the most. He turns to look at the little girl again.

“It’s us celebrating your birthday,” Olives says and points out who everyone is. She points to the cake too. “There’s 59 candles on it. That’s what I wanted it to look like, but Dad said we had to pretend some of the candles were really ten candles instead. I still think this is better.”

“Be that as it may, I think I agree with your father,” Mycroft remarks pleasantly, in spite of her frown. He hands the paper over to Greg who laughs heartily.

“It’s perfect,” Greg agrees. “You have your dad’s coat and hair down to a science.”

“Thanks,” Olive rushes over to hug him.

“And what’s this?” Mycroft asks, pulling what looks like a brown tail cut out of paper. Olive scurries back to his side and starts pulling out more. Mycroft has a blue scarf in one hand that is twisted into a long coil like a blindfold. With an uncertain look on his face, he directs his attention to Olive, who holds up a paper with a brown horse drawn on it in crayon. 

“It’s a game. Pin the tail on the donkey,” Olive explains happily. “People play it at parties. We can all play. I made lots of tails.”

Everyone is still for a moment. Mycroft’s eyes find Sherlock’s and broadcast the need for a conversation before Olive gets too carried away. Sherlock’s face hardens, but he makes no other movement.

Greg, ever the peacekeeper, is the first to move when he rises from his chair and takes the box from Mycroft.

“Let’s put all the bits in here,” Greg begins collecting tails. “You and I can set it up in the lounge, so these two can talk for a minute.”

“Aw, but I wanted all of us to play,” Olive whinges.

“Olivia,” Sherlock begins in a stern voice, but Greg cuts him off.

“We will. Uncle Myc and your dad just need a minute,” Greg takes her hand and starts leading her to the door opposite the swinging kitchen one. He leans over slightly to speak in a fake whisper. “We’ll play once or twice and have the advantage.”

Olive inhales quietly through her mouth and looks back at the Holmeses with shifty eyes. She presses her lips together as if trying to make sure she doesn’t spill the beans and give away their conspiracy.

“We’ll be right in there,” she points to the door and what lies beyond, “just setting up, but NOT playing.”

Sherlock and Mycroft both raise a skeptical brow in unison. Olive giggles, not trying to hide her intentions in the slightest, and looks back at Greg. He flashes a knowing smile at the brothers and steers Olive to the door again.

“Come on. They won’t know what hit them,” he and Olive chuckle together as they pass through the door and out of the room.

Not looking at his brother, Sherlock’s face hardens immediately and he lifts his chin defiantly. The fury fueled by Mycroft’s attempts to hide John from him boils to the surface quickly. The detective parts his lips as he chooses from the words running through his mind. How he has tired of Mycroft’s need to control his life, to “protect” him. He has a tolerance for it no longer.

“You have questions,” Mycroft states in his damned, know-it-all voice. Sherlock inhales sharply and bites off the urge to curse.

“One,” he replies in an even, but strained tone. “Why?”

There is a moment of silence. Enough that Sherlock turns his head to look at his brother. The elder’s eyes are dull and his face bland. 

“I thought that rather obvious, don’t you?” is Mycroft’s only response. 

“You have let me be for years,” Sherlock ignores his words. Growing more and more angry at Mycroft’s carelessness in shattering the peace between them. Of course, he is just as frustrated with himself. Sherlock had been a fool and should have known Mycroft would jump at the chance when the right situation presented itself. Old habits are hard to break and meddling in Sherlock’s life is as central to Mycroft as his nervous system.

“John Watson has stumbled into your path again,” Mycroft’s voice is stern and commanding. Sherlock recognizes it from when he has issued orders to underlings and it makes the detective’s blood heat within his veins. “Even more dangerous than the last time.”

“Dangerous?” Sherlock barks furiously. “I put him in danger. It was not reciprocal.”

“We both know that’s not quite true,” Mycroft says quietly, purposefully. Sherlock nearly flinches at those words. The words of his mortal enemy that had so opened his eyes.

“You bastard,” Sherlock’s voice is hoarse with emotion. He wants to rise, punch Mycroft right in his smug mouth and stalk out of the room, but cannot make his body listen to the signals from his brain. A wave of frustration washing over him, Sherlock tries to gather himself. He pushes out everything other than his anger with Mycroft, but his efforts are derailed completely by his brother’s next words.

“You love him,” Mycroft’s face is stony. “You did then and you jumped off a building. You still do now. You always have.”

Sherlock stares blankly. His lips part with no words, his mind racing.

“But Olive needs you now,” Mycroft continues, his tone growing more forceful. “You do not have the liberty of giving up everything for him again, should the need arise. I thought it best he not be a part of your life.”

“And then Gracie met Olive,” Sherlock says in barely more than a whisper.

“Yes,” Mycroft murmurs. “It was a possibility I had not considered. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Sherlock straightens, rising from his chair. He walks to the window and looks out, seeing nothing but a pair of blue eyes. “John wants nothing to do with me. He won’t even let Gracie come for a playdate.”

“I can’t believe that won’t change soon enough, Sherlock,” Mycroft tells him doubtfully. Sherlock rounds on him and clenches his fists at his sides.

“What would you have me do?” the detective demands. “I will never shut him out. I did that once and it cost me everything.”

Mycroft looks into his brother’s determined grey eyes and sighs.

“Be careful, brother mine,” he says in a sage tone. “Guard your heart. Let me help when you need it. Please.”

Sherlock notices Mycroft said when and not if, but chooses not to comment. That conversation is not one he wants to have now. Instead, Sherlock merely fixes him with sharp eyes and nods once.

---

I had a lot of fun with this chapter! The image of Mycroft interacting with Olive in exactly this way fills me with such happiness. Olive holding her hands up for the mitts like a scrubbed-up surgeon and Mycroft playing right along tickles me. And then there’s Greg's line "You're going to kill him, aren't you?" as he cringes at Sherlock - I can see the actors playing this scene to perfection! Lol. I hope it gave you as much pleasure as it did me.

Love, Jane

@johnlock-rocks

#Sherlock Holmes #Sherlock #sherlockholmes #sherlock fanfic #john watson #johnwatson #johnlock #Johnlock fanfic #Mystrade

[morkofday]

2020 – a (content creator) year in review

I decided to make this into a mix of these two games I was (kinda?) tagged into so thank you for @leonzhng and @tiesanjiao ♥ I hope you don’t mind me doing it like this ^^ all the questions were just so interesting that I wanted to try!

(bc of the amount of questions, I’m placing them under a cut so that I don’t flood anyone’s dash) 

Me

(this is the 2020 year in review that hanyi tagged me to ♥ sorry am so late!)

Top 5 Movies you saw this year

wow tbh I didn’t watch many movies this year as I realized yesterday when I was thinking about this for certain reasons. Or at least I feel like I didn’t watch that many? Nothing really stuck with me it seems.

Because of this, I will only mention two: Parasite and The Old Guard. Those were both wonderful in their own ways and I’m very happy I got to watch them both ^^

Top 5 TV shows you watched this year

this one is difficult bc I watched so many (and forgot even more?) but:

The Lost Tomb Reboot (my introduction to DMBJ. this drama stole my heart and helped me through the tough autumn semester!) 

Joy of Life (it’s nuts that this happened during 2020? it feels like it was ages ago)

Kingdom (such a positive surprise and I really hope we get more of this :o I really recommend!)

Detective L (easy, nice aesthetics, amazing costumes. Bai Yu was a delight as Luo Fei)

Sand Sea (I am still baffled by how much I loved this bc I had so many doubts? am happy I did tho)

Bonus: Guardian (bc it has come to stay and the rewatch has been so emotional but so rewarding)

Top 5 songs of 2020

this is a tough one too bc I’ve heard so much new music during 2020 but I will try to put it simply:

Black Swan by BTS (I absolutely adore this song. I listened to it on repeat when it came out at the beginning of the year, I have cried for it a ton, I enjoy every stage I see for it and it’s just a masterpiece. it has also helped a bit with my writing struggles that I’ve felt creeping up on me lately)

Always by By The Coast (an amazing song that always leaves me in my feels. inspires me a lot all the time)

Love me or Leave me by DAY6 (this whole album was a masterpiece and I listened to it on loop for like. two weeks? this was my favorite song on it even if I adored the rest too, especially Zombie)

all of my life by Park Won (listened to this a lot in relation to my xicheng and the wedding I finally got to write for them ;; that’s one good thing that came out of this year tbh)

雨人 by 刘畅 (Liu Chang) (with the Reboot’s ending song, this one is my favorite on that ost. I love Liu Chang’s voice, I loved Liu Sang as a character and as I said, I loved Reboot as a drama. I get super emotional about this ost so I think it defined this year a lot for me)

Top 5 books you read in 2020  

All For The Game -trilogy (listened to these as audiobooks but that counts right?)

The Song of Achilles (as an audiobook too and really adored the reader’s voice)

The Smoke Thieves -series (I really just binge read the two first books in this series and am so excited for the next one!)

Call Down The Hawk (love love love)

Guardian novel (am not very into these novels usually but I was positively surprised this time? it was so cool to finally get the original story and compare it with the drama version)

5 positive things that happened in 2020

joined mdzsnet and met all the amazing ppl there and got to become part of this loving community and :’) I’m so thankful, it’s been a joy

learned more about editing? or started doing it regularly. I still can’t do shit but am having fun learning more all the time and I really hope that maybe the upcoming year I can switch to PS and try out giffing?

went to Halsey’s concert! it was in february so a bit before all the hassle with covid happened over here ;; it was super cool and so nice and I just. I love Halsey

fell into the DMBJ hellhole which am very much enjoying. it’s a great universe and the story is so good and the dramas have been so fun to watch and. it feels like a good continuation to The Untamed somehow haha (also brought me a new friend! you’re amazing ashen!! ♥)

started therapy and it’s been... a journey. but towards something better I think? it’s something I would’ve needed ages ago but it’s better late than never I suppose

My Creations

(this is the other part where ali was being super sweet and mentioned me ♥ thank you for being so awesome!)

1. first creation and most recent creation of 2020: wow it’s been a while since I’ve looked at this horrible creation but here ya go jkdhgk [x]. I’ve come a long way from this (and my xicheng has come a long way from this too). most recent one is this xiaoge edit that I absolutely adore [x]. 

2. one of your favorite creations from 2020: this wwx edit that was part of my agust d2 edit series [x]. I loved to give him blue instead of his typical red. 

3. a new style you tried this year and a gifset edit that uses it: this [x] wwx edit which I don’t know if I like or not but I was playing around with the font and all the effects instead of just normal screenshots + coloring. also I just adore the quote. 

4. a creation to be proud of: I could mention that xiaoge here but in addition, I will also say this wu xie edit for reboot [x]. I managed to capture my vision so well, I was surprised. for cql, this songxiao edit [x]. I loved how it turned out in the end. 

5. a creation that took forever: this wangxian edit [x]. like I’ve said several times, I lost sleep bc of it. I just kept struggling with the third pic and how to place the text there D: 

6. your creation from 2020 that received the most notes: this lwj/wangxian edit [x]. I had many ideas for this edit when I first started making it and I never managed to capture my vision in the way I first intended... the pictures I was supposed to use just never fit quite right sigh. I dunno why it was this one that gained all the notes in the end bc I personally think I have better ones too but am still thankful :’D 

7. a creation you think deserved more notes: as said, dmbj fandom on tumblr is very small so I really want to say the two already mentioned ones (wu xie and xiaoge) and then my pingxie edits [x] [x]. also these wwx edits which I personally am very happy about [x] [x]. and from my agust d2 series, this yun bros one [x].

8. a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it: really just dmbj this year and I’ve already linked all of my creations for that :’D tho I have plans for another pingxie edit and a liu sang edit! oh and maybe I could mention guardian here with this shen wei [x]. I had so much fun while making it (also the quote just haunted me relentlessly until I gave it a moment). 

9. a creation you made that breaks your heart: this must be my easter islanders (lwj and jc) edit [x] that just. awoke many thoughts in me? I’m going to put a link to the version where you can read my ramblings underneath :’D 

10. a ‘simple’ creation that you really love: my creation for the creator (gif?) challenge that was going around! [x] it was simple and nice to do and I loved the result. also, it was nice to work with jl for a change :’) 

11. a favorite creation created by someone else: oh wow ok so this is going to be rough bc I have so many favorites ;; you can look at this post here [x] to see more! 

but to love my two taggers am going to say these [x / x] [x] [x] [x] [x] by hanyi (I always love your edits, the colors you choose, the thoughts you put into them (and your humor too!). there are so many cool things you’ve done that I just stay in awe of! I adore all of it ;; ♥) and these [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] by ali (I love all of your gifsets so much, they have such pretty colors and such good scenes, and I am thankful every day that you make all the amazing dmbj content, pls never stop ;; I should go through all of your creations properly one day! I noticed you have sand sea stuff too and let me scream?) ^^ ♥

12. your favorite content creators and blogs that you appreciate: this is going to be a huge list and I’ve already made my love heard for some but no hurt in doing it again so @i-am-just-a-kiddo @ashenwren @tiesanjiao @kholran @lzswy @englishbunnyrocks @leonzhng @aheartfullofjolllly @yibobibo @inkblue-black @cross-d-a @bloody-bee-tea @fytheuntamed @mdzsnet @lifegoesmon @creeds-eagle @underaswift-sunrise @sarawatsaraleo @lan-xichens @mylastbraincql @wangxianbunnydoodles @manhasetardis @distantsnows @ohsehuns @minmoyu @linglynz @highwarlockkareena @yiqiie @aowyn @alienwlw @wangxiians @kingbadcat @sassyassassy @tytangfei @lanzhannnn @skzmxtp @leoyunxi @yoonqiful @softjeon @rapbabenamjoon @ronan-adam @miyakuli @pavusdorian @arsuf @brolinskeep @gawincaskeyy and so many others! (sorry for all the random ppl on this list that I’ve never even talked to ^^’ just know that you make my dash a wonderful place! ♥) 

I won’t tag anyone separately here but everyone who’s already been tagged or sees this is free to do this (or link me posts if you’ve done these already!) ♥ have a nice day everyone! 

#tag game #wow this took ages #am sorry am late #thanks for tagging me tho!! #i enjoyed this a lot #about me