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#it's definitely an interesting challenge to not accidentally trip over myself!
all-mighty-axle-arc · 1 month
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sword, would you wear this dress? i was doing some looking and thought it would be a good style for you, swordfighters tend to have really defined shoulders after all
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/52/45/36/524536d4a166b0e6a7725ac5b92639d7.jpg
(link because i can't post media on anon)
-alitz anon
"uh.. yeah, sure! not really the type to wear dresses but i think it looks fine? i can't tell myself."
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yeehawbrothers · 1 year
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Glasses- ADHD! reader x 11th doctor
Hello Lovelies! This is my first story I'll be posting on here, and hopefully not the last. This was a request, and the first request I've ever done. It was interesting challenging myself to stay within a certain prompt. It's definitely short, but I didn't want to force myself to make it longer if I couldn't.
Summary: You think you’ve lost something, the Doctor helps you find it.
I hope you enjoy, all the love-A.
Warnings: none
Kinda a slow burn idk
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“DOCTOR, HAVE YOU SEEN MY GLASSES?” You shouted down the hall towards the console room. 
No response.
You sighed, and started the short walk towards the console room to find him.
Standing in the doorway you quickly looked over the dimly lit room.
“Doctor?”
It was silent before you heard a muffled, “Down here, dear.”
You walked down the staircase to the underpart of the console to see him in a swing of sorts under a mass of wires. 
You stood watching him work for a moment before he turned to you and lifted his goggles.
“What did you need?” You took a moment to look over his face, covered in grease and dirt but still so very beautiful. Which made you think about the time you both got covered in alien water that was a little too much like grease. Yeah. Trying to wash that off was a nightmare.
“Y/N? Hellooo? Earth to Y/N? Or rather, Doctor to Y/N?” 
You snapped out of your thoughts to realize he had stood up and was standing in front of you waving a hand in-front of your face.
“Oh sorry yeah I came to ask you about…uhm…”
Shit. You forgot what you came to ask him about.
He stood patiently waiting for you to remember. 
Things like this happened a lot.
Like that time when you went to an alien beach and you had packed everything you could possibly need BUT sunscreen. Yeah. Those 2nd degree burns were not fun.
Or when you had gotten bored waiting for him to fix wires and wandered off and accidentally tripped and fell into a button that would blow up the ship you were on.
Who keeps a self-destruct button in the kitchen anyways?
“I’m sorry Doctor. I forgot what I was gonna ask you.”
He sent you a light smile before wiping his hands on his jacket and throwing his goggles aside.
“Well, let's go back to where you were and see if that helps you remember.” He stuck out his hand with a smile and you took it leading him back to your room.
You opened the door and walked in before feeling a tug on your hand.
He stood in the doorway apprehensively. 
You tilted your head, brows furrowed in question.
“Are you sure I can come in?” He asked, his voice unusually quiet.
“Of course. You're always welcome to come in.” You waved your arm in a gesture for him to follow.
He smiled and obliged, following you in.
You walked back to your bed and saw the book you were reading. 
Then it hit you.
“OH. I was gonna ask if you’d seen my glasses.”
He turned from observing your wall full of photos from previous adventures and raised his eyebrows.
“You mean the ones tucked into your shirt?”
You looked down to see your glasses, folded and tucked into your shirt collar.
“Oh.” 
You felt your face heat up in embarrassment. 
“I’m sorry Doctor. I completely forgot they were on my shirt.”
You took your glasses off your shirt and set them on your bedside table.
“It's quite alright. We all forget things sometimes”
You looked over at him, expecting some type of patronizing look, only to see a smile.
“I know. I just feel awful. I made you stop working for something this stupid.” You sat on your bed with a sigh. “I just feel like I always forget things or rush through them. I don’t want to make things harder for you.”
You looked down towards your feet, shame filling your mind.
“I’ve just always struggled with things people find so easy. I feel like somethings wrong with me.”
You felt the bed dip beside you and looked up to find him sitting next to you. 
His gaze still on your wall.
“Well, I think..” He turned to look at you with a smile. “That you're amazing how you are. I mean, sure sometimes you can space out and forget things, but I think it makes you special. Remember that time on Ambidaxtouris, when you zoned out during the speech and noticed that man placing a bomb behind the royals podium? You were the only one who noticed. You saved so many lives that day.
As for interrupting me working, I can always work on the TARDIS. But I love spending time with you. 
I mean, if you hadn’t come to get me I’d never have gotten to see that beautiful photo collage over there.”
A smile formed on your face as he stood, grabbing your hand and dragging you with him.
“I mean, look at these. You really have an eye for photography.”
He let go of your hand and grabbed his glasses out of his jacket to closer examine them.
“Just one of my many fixations.”
You leaned down and opened the desk that sat below your wall of photos.
Pulling out an old film camera, you blew a layer of dust off before speaking quietly.
“This is a 35mm Rangefinder. I spent months searching the internet to find it. Almost forgot I had it.” You smiled slightly before looking up to the Doctor, curious what he would think.
He looked down at you, a small smile gracing his face. His eyes held an emotion you couldn’t believe was there.
“It's beautiful” He spoke, only taking his eyes off yours for a moment to glance down at the camera. 
“May I?” His hands opened slightly, timidly reaching for the camera.
You nodded with a smile, shuffling the camera from one hand to another, holding it towards him.
He gently took it from you, holding it as if it would shatter at any moment.
Noticing his actions, you chuckled lightly.
“Doc, it's from the 60’s. Trust me you won’t break it that easily.”
He blushed, turning his head downwards to better see the object he was holding.
After he was satisfied with his inspection, he handed the camera back to you.
“It’s simple, but very lovely all the same.” 
Comfortable silence fell over you both as you returned your camera to your desk.
“So, anything you’d like to do?” He asked quietly.
You smiled up at him, “You know, I have a craving for some hot chocolate.”
And so, you both sat, shoulder to shoulder, hot cups full of warm coco in your hands, at the open doors of the TARDIS. 
Watching stars burn, and listening to time turn.
Just you and him.
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marshallfan99 · 11 months
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Marshall appreciation post time! (And also me telling the story of how I discovered PAW Patrol and how it quickly became a special interest)
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(Look at him, isn't he adorable?!)
Marshall has been my number one favorite PAW Patrol character since day one of the show! He and I are a lot alike and I could relate to him immediately from that very first wipeout. He's basically me if I was a puppy! We're both super clumsy...I trip and fall and wipeout just as much as Marshall does... We both also love puns, and car racing (I LOVED Ready Race Rescue because it was about a car race, and Marshall being a huge fanpup of the Whoosh was adorable), and we both love having fun! Marshall never fails to make me laugh either, he's definitely the funniest pup out of all of them. He also has some amazing focus episodes, here are some of my favorites. The season 1 episode Pups Fight Fire is one that still sticks in my head to this day as one of my all time favorites. I loved watching Marshall try and break the fastest fire pup record despite losing confidence in himself in the beginning of the episode after accidentally breaking his ladder and falling off it. The phrase "Do my best, and forget the rest!" has been one of my mottos ever since that episode first aired and whenever I say it to myself it's always in my Marshall voice impression. This little Dalmatian pup has taught me a lot about not giving up when things get hard, always doing your best when you're faced with a challenge, and many other things too! I also love the season 2 episodes Pups Save A Friend and Pups Leave Marshall Home Alone! In the former, Marshall's feelings of worthlessness and that he "can't do anything right" because of his clumsiness were feelings I relate to a lot since I have similar feelings about my clumsiness on bad days like the one Marshall had in that episode. In the latter, I love how Marshall was able to use the other pups' Pup-Packs to help Katie save the kittens, he proved he's not just the clumsy one in that episode, he even FLEW, which he was still afraid of back then since Air Pups hadn't aired yet then...maybe this was actually the first step to him getting over his fear of flying! Marshall taught me the valuable lesson of not letting your fears or shortcomings get the best of you and to always do whatever you can to help a friend when they need you there for them, which is something I always try to do. Those two episodes are definitely also in my list of favorite episodes of all time because of those reasons and more (like how Marshall imitated the other pups and Ryder in Pups Leave Marshall Home Alone, which made me laugh whenever he did that because he's such a funny little pup)!
I remember the day PAW Patrol premiered so vividly in my mind...on August 12, 2013, I was away on summer vacation with my family...except I had a broken wrist caused by my own clumsiness, so my arm was in a giant cast. It was my dominant arm too, so I couldn't do any of the stuff I usually liked to do on vacation...so I just sat around the TV most of the time. When I saw the commercials for PAW Patrol, I asked my younger brothers if they wanted to watch it with me since it looked really fun and cute. So we all crowded around the TV and watched the premiere together and we all loved it! We all had our favorite pups decided right from episode 1, too! Mine was obviously Marshall, but one of my brothers liked Rubble, another liked Rocky, and the other liked Zuma! And since PAW Patrol was a brand new show, there were new episodes everyday that week! So PAW Patrol and Marshall kept me entertained during that vacation where I couldn't do anything. I started doing Marshall voice impressions which were very, VERY accurate to his season one voice (I can actually still do it nowadays but I'm a bit rusty, as well as his season 7-8 voice, and season 9 voice), and by the time vacation was over, my autistic brain could only think about PAW Patrol...it was already a special interest after just one week of being on the air, and a lot of it was because of how much I loved (and still love) Marshall. I was completely hooked, and I was eagerly awaiting the new episodes and also the toys to come out so I could build my own collection (I barely have a collection right now but I wanna build it up)! As soon as I got my cast off I made my own PAW Patrol badge out of paper and cardstock and attached a piece of tape to it so I could wear it on my shirt...I wore it every time I played with the toys, and the first toy I got was the Action Pack Pup and Badge Marshall figure! The second and third toys were Marshall's Fire Fightin' Truck, and Chase's Cruiser respectively, and I played with them everyday. I started drawing Marshall whenever I had free time (which wasn't a lot considering I had school and everything), and by the time I had to take a break from the show, I had 5 Marshall figures and 2 Marshall vehicles (his fire truck and ambulance) in my PAW Patrol collection (now I also have his movie fire truck and figure as well), and during the break I picked up a Marshall Beanie Boo because I didn't have a plushie of him yet and wanted one, plus the Beanie Boo is so adorable! Two of my brothers (the ones who like Rocky and Zuma) actually still play PAW Patrol with me, when we watched the movie together we acted out the rescues as best as we could with the limited amount of toys we had, and we all had a blast doing it! We also make up games to play with the PAW Patrol toys too, and those are always PAWsome fun! They want me to get more stuff and I wanna get more stuff too so I'm saving up my money so I can buy more, especially more Marshall stuff!
I'm looking forward to seeing Marshall again in movie form in the Mighty Movie later this year...I love his movie design so much! I really hope that after the Mighty Movie they make a movie focused on Marshall since he's the other really popular pup besides Chase (who was the focus of the first movie) and Skye (who is going to be the focus in the Mighty Movie), so it only makes sense for Marshall to be next in line for a movie. I'd be so excited if that happens, especially if we get his backstory in it, because I really wanna see a little baby Marshall like how we saw little baby Chase in the first one...baby Chase was adorable, but seeing baby Marshall would be even more adorable I think (maybe that's just because I'm a massive Marshall fan but whatever 😅).
So that's all! Wow, I wrote a lot this time...sorry about that, I tend to ramble about stuff I really like (like I said before, PAW Patrol is a special interest of mine)...but if you read all the way to the end, you're PAWsome! Also if you read all the way to the end...how'd you get into PAW Patrol...? Who's your favorite pup and why...? Is it Marshall like mine is, or is it someone else...? I wanna get to know you all and maybe find some friends here so that's why I'm asking these questions. I'd be really happy if you answered them, and that's all I have for today! Till next time, Marshall out! ✌️
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oslo-snowball · 4 months
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post #2 - yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon [1/2/24]
hello, not much to write about today -- spent today largely in the company of others, without much time allotted for the mind space of focused work. i'm getting a little bit anxious about the time running out but i still think today was good. i find myself returning to the idea of setting aside dedicated weekly time for artistic exploration/enrichment that i read about a few months ago in the first few pages of The Artist's Way, which i later threw out for reasons unrelated to the book's integrity/validity (although i instinctively doubted that as well). not sure why my gut felt so distrustful of that book, but it's probably because i first heard about it on TikTok and something felt quite gimmicky/commercial/disingenuous about it upon actually cracking upon the pages. but i am quite open to giving it another chance later on.
went to berkeley for a little day trip with my friend who just returned from her hometown. we went to a little crystal/occult shop that i'd been to once before and enjoyed, and then to the Guitar Center in emeryville. i got some various trinkets and gifts for my family, and a couple music books; she finally got a dj kit, which we'd been talking about for ages, and i'm very excited for her. we also found ourselves lost under a random overpass, getting pulled over by the cops for an illegal turn (immediately following me exclaiming "right next to the police station, too"), getting called by an ex, and driving through solidly "dreadful" (as my friend put it) weather: rainy, cold, and dark, complete with a flock of tritely ominous birds. overall, a very strange and liminal vibe. i instinctively enjoy experiences like that, though. makes me feel very aware of the unpredictability of everything. comforting, in a way, because it means that anything can happen. you never know what the universe will bring you next (although that's a very cliché/uninteresting way of putting it -- i think there's definitely more complexity there that i'm not interested in attempting to develop further right now). i think i've always been drawn to fear in some way, for that reason...
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not much in the way of work, except that i finished the radiohead book yesterday and made some good progress on the czikszentmihalyi book today (will likely finish it tomorrow), and also learned the piano parts for EIIRP (hence today's choice of song) and pyramid song, and the beginning of Lake Shore Drive/Coming Back. have been compulsively playing EIIRP and pyramid song since learning the parts last night, and played around a bit with garageband on my ipad last night. still in an exploratory phase. waiting for my midi controller to come in on friday... i know i will need to just face things and start at some point. constantly caught between the tension of allowing for creative percolation/a productive patience with myself after the literal years of stagnancy and the very real challenges i faced (which took me a long time to even acknowledge), vs. the knowledge that there will never be a perfect time and things will always feel hard at points. very much attempting to maintain that dialectic and navigate it in a way that productively and intelligently balances logic, emotion, intuition, etc....
i always enjoy the BART ride as optimal reading/thinking time. so much so that i ended up immersed in my book and doing an accidental loop that cost me an hour and $17 in a last-minute necessary uber trip the last time i went to berkeley. ordered another book on the BART ride back that should be coming tomorrow -- leslie jamison, whose work i've enjoyed since randomly coming across her essay, Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain, sometime in the second half of high school. this essay resonated so much with my little angsty teenage self that i incorporated it into a capstone piece i really enjoyed working on for my senior year english class. i'm not sure how i discovered leslie’s work -- maybe through her aunt, Kay Jamison, who i became aware of around 10th grade. i know i already have much more reading material to get through, but i can't seem to help myself from compulsively buying more and more. in any case, i do think i'll actually finish the works that i care most about this time (as i have been doing), which is a very very comforting respite from the years of not even being able to read, let alone write. i have been focusing on leaning into doing what feels good, thinking about what i truly want to read and what i enjoy reading and just allowing myself to pursue that feeling. it also helps that i finally stopped deluding myself that i could read ebooks. nope. i am a massive lover of physical books, which seem to be the only medium through which i can actually *finish* a book, and now that i'm no longer in denial about that, reading's been an absolute joy.
i also feel some anxiety over the implications of reading while not really writing (another iteration of the consuming vs. creating problem that's been nagging me), but felt some comfort/reassurance in Czikszentmihalyi's remark that all the writers he interviewed were also compulsive readers/that reading was an essential component of the writing process. i know that intuitively and logically but i still worry that i'm not doing enough. maybe this is all just an exercise in getting out of my head. banishing the worry. idk. i am getting self-indulgent again. i don't really have much to say today. still wanted to get something onto the (virtual) page. there's also definitely more i could've said about today's choice of song, as i have a long history with this song, and the lyrics of today's title are also somewhat topical, but to write all that out doesn't feel quite right at the moment.
i may continue reading, i may continue working on the course i started/exploring with the tools i've been working on, i may just go to sleep and call it an early night, i may do some random internet wandering. i have been extremely tired to the point where i texted two friends that "i think i have narcolepsy" (only somewhat facetiously) and fell asleep on BART. i suppose that means that i should take care of myself and go to sleep earlier, but willfulness has always been one of my character flaws. welp.
thinking vaguely about love, generosity, dependability, and the best ways to show up for those you care about.
bye for now.
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p---ink · 3 years
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Teach Me.
Author’s Note: So. I finally made a Peter Parker Fiction. And I know the gif is Arvin Russell, but that is for a reason, and maybe you'll see it, maybe you won't, BUT TELL ME IF YOU DO. So this is an unnamed OC fiction, but its mostly reader insert, aside from the fact that she’s black (surprise, surprise) and she has brown eyes. I made her an “OC” because of that fact. Also, get ready for some fluffy head cannons of Peter P. In the not-so-distant future though. 
Summary: Maybe Peter Parker, isn't as innocent as he seems. 
Warnings: Smut. Smut. and more Smut. Car-smut. Dark-ish Peter (Not really, but he’s not his usual wholesome self) 
Song: Star-gazing by The Neighborhood. I literally based this entire fiction on this one song. Even if you don’t read the fic, you should listen to it. 
Word Count: 5.5k
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“If you don’t mind me asking,” She started, pausing a bit to give him time to look up at her, “ who brings a textbook to a frat party?”
His heart stopped for a moment when he realized who was speaking to him. But then he matched her grin shyly and replied, “It’s more of a conversation starter than anything.” 
“Would you say its been working well?”
“I did somehow manage to get someone as pretty as you to speak to me.” 
The smile that was already plastered on her face, grew wider along with her eyes and brows. “Wow Parker: Who knew you could be so bold after a few drinks?
“I’ve only had one, so the rest is all me.” He closed his book and readjusted his leg inviting her to sit. Then as if just realizing, he asked, “You know who I am?”
“Of course I know who you are. We went to Midtown together.” She said, getting comfortable on the couch. 
“Yeah I know. But we barely spoke to each other. Sometimes I wondered if you even knew I existed.”
“I always kept tabs on cuties like you. Especially you, actually.” She declared. 
“And you call me bold.” He muttered under his breath, a small blush creeping up.
“I’m always like this. Anyone who knows me, can tell you that. But anyone who knows you, would say the opposite. You were always so good.” 
“Good?”
“Yes! Good. Innocent. Nice. Whatever floats your boat.”
“And I remember you being, bossy, assertive, and intimidating.”
She threw her head back in laughter before stating,“You say that like its a bad thing.” Coming down from her fits of giggles she adds, “You noticed me, too? Never thought I was on your radar.”
“How could anyone not notice you.” He asked. “We had English together our freshman year. First day of class, you challenged Mr. Frechowsky, for inflicting his political views on the rest of the class. He got so red in the face, after yelling at you for three minutes straight, but everyone was more shocked at you for being unfazed.”
“I forgot abou-”
“Sophomore year, you “accidentally” tripped Amy Shuemacker,  after she made a rude comment about Ned’s weight. Junior year, you announced that you wanted to be not only the first female president, but the first who was black too. I remember telling myself you’d have my vote. Senior year, you almost had a mental breakdown when it looked like Michelle Obama was gonna run.” Peter finished, with not a hint that he was out of breath. 
“I-” She was more than taken aback. “I’m embarrassed that you remember all of that. Its been like four years since we graduated. Frankly any other person would have forgotten.”
“I think its impossible for anyone who’s met you, to forget the day they did.” He admitted to her. 
She just stared at him in awe for a moment. Mouth slightly agape from surprise. A shadow of a smile ever so present. 
Even though he was the one to say it, it was his face that turned a tinge pinker than before when he realized the weight behind his words. He swallowed thickly, averting his attention to the patterns that lined the carpet, fearing that he made her uncomfortable. In all honesty, he used to have a proper crush on the girl, rivaled by even Romeo’s adoration for Juliet.
This was the same girl he once described as ethereal. He once told Ned that fairies wove the strands of her hair, and butterflies still lived there, claiming that he saw them playing beneath her braids. The sun literally lived under her skin, and it was the secret as to why it would glow, and why her smile was so bright. He would swear to anyone that listened, that the harp was made with her voice in mind, and that it, her voice, played a better melody. He used to be lovestruck. Guess those feelings still lingered. 
If you asked him, two minutes ago had he gotten over it, his answer would’ve been yes. Would’ve been. 
His sudden fluster—which she found adorable by the way, broke her from her trance as she grinned and said “Don’t act bashful now!” playfully shoving his arm as she uttered the words. 
Quickly recovering from his earlier hiccup, he slowly returned her grin and tried to retaliate but before he could, “We have to go. Now.”
They looked up to see an irritated looking preppy girl impatiently scowling down at them. She couldn’t have been much older than 21, but no one told that to her clothes and aura. Her olive skin couldn’t hide the frown lines that had been assigned to her, nor the bags that would put a raccoon to shame. Besides the current circumstances that she would tell them in the next minute, Peter could tell on his own that the girl needed a date with sleep. 
“What’s the matter Li? Is everything okay?”
“Yes, aside from the fact that Angie locked herself out of the apartment again.” She said sarcastically, muttering this last part under her breath “I swear I’ve had it with that girl.”
“Ah I see. Well then we better get going.” The girl affirmed, standing from her seat, making Peter rise from his. “Peter it was so nice seeing you. I hate to leave, I would’ve enjoyed catching up a bit more.” She said, turning to grab her coat. 
“Well then we should catch up soon.”
She turned to nod her head, seemingly interested in his suggestion. “I’d love that. When did you have in mind?”
“How about now? if its a ride you’re looking for, I can drive you home.” Peter’s inner sixteen year old self, screamed at this opportunity. Time alone, with his four-year crush? He couldn’t not take advantage of the moment. 
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. It’s all the way on the other side of town.” She informed him. 
“But you’re not asking me to do it. I’m offering, because, ‘ya know; I haven’t seen you in a while and I’d like to catch up, too.” He said, second-guessing himself and praying that he didn’t come on too strong. “Ya know. Only if you want to.” He added just in case. 
Taking too much time debating whether or not she should say yes, the girl’s friend did it for her.  “Sounds great! I’ll see you at home.” Spinning on her heels,  and walking out of the door.
“Well.” The girl started, smiling at her old schoolmate. “I guess that settles it.”
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“Shit!” He cursed, killing the engine completely, and slamming his head back on the headrest. After a couple minutes of trying to get it to start, the boy gave up like his car did.
It had been a full three hours since  Alisha left the party. The time was spent competing about who could find out more about the other. He learned that she still had a thirst for changing the world and community around her. She learned that the boy had been bitten by a radioactive spider and was now New York’s most friendly vigilante. She never knew that Peter could be so hilarious. 
They were stranded on some back road, miles away from civilization, with rain coming down on the roof of the car like they owed it money.
“Peter, what did you expect?” She began to question, giggling as she spoke. “This car is so old, Fred Flintstone has a newer model.”
“Hey!” He cried, “Don’t badmouth Karen. She just needs a little work.”
“You mean a lot of work. Karen is ancient.”
“She’s been good to me.”
“Should I call Triple A?” She asked, ignoring his dramatics. “The rain will probably let up by the time they get here.”
“I’ve got this.” He sighed, readying himself to leave the car. “Besides, triple A doesn’t know Karen like I do. They won’t be able to give her the love and patience she deserves” He explained, the car’s rickety door sounding as he disappeared into the rain. 
She heard that same distinct sound not ten seconds later, as he reappeared, soaking wet from the rain’s onslaught. His white t-shirt clung to his body, while beads of water raced down his skin. His messy locks, traded their dark brown hue for a jet black one, and his dirty converses shone a little brighter than they did before he left the car. 
“Maybe that wasn’t the best idea.” He admitted, the leather making a squelching noise as he glued himself back to his previous seat. 
“The offer for triple A still stands.”
“No. I’ll let this play out. But maybe I can call you an Uber.”
“There’s no way I’m leaving you out here all alone. We’ll let this play out.”
“But this may take a while.”
“I’m the reason you’re out here in the first place. And I like your company, so i’ll stay.”
Peter knew he couldn’t argue with that one, so he let silence befall the two of them. It stayed like that for a moment. It wasn’t quite awkward, but it was definitely palpable. 
She thought to say something, he did the same, but neither could quite let their words come to life. It was unlike the girl he knew before, who said the first thing that came to mind. Unlike himself, who did the same, but in a less graceful way. 
Finally, after what felt like hours of deafening quiet, Peter begins with, “How long have you and Brad been a thing?” The question fresh on his mind, since her phone rang yet again, with his ugly mug lighting up the screen. It was the fourth time she ignored the notification. 
It was rare for Peter to hate a person. In fact he didn’t hate many at all. But there was something about Brad that always made his stomach clench. Didn’t help that he was sniffing around his girl. 
“Hmm.” She pondered, tapping her chin with her index finger. Acting as if she was carefully thinking about it.“For about for-never and a day” She finally answered.
“Oh I thought, that since—“ Peter stammered, growing embarrassed by his assumption, and the disdain that coated his words.
“Anyone would have, with him blowing my phone up.” She sighed. “But alas, nothing will ever come of us. No matter how much he wants it to. Wish he’d take a hint.”
Back to silence. But this time it didn’t consume Peter. It gave him a bit of hope, enough hope to ask her his next question. 
“Back at the party,” he started before pausing, which prompted her to question, yes, before he could properly collect his nerve to ask her what he wanted. 
“Back at the party, you mentioned you always kept tabs on me. Especially me. What did you mean by that?”
“I may have had a small crush on you.” She answered without missing a beat. This of course took him by surprise, but not for long. 
“Why did you never act on it?”
“Because I quickly realized you weren’t my type.” She said as if it was nothing in the world.
“Ouch. What did I do to make you realize that?” Peter asked. Though his tone was light-hearted, he tried not to let on that he was hurt. 
“Nothing.” She replied. “You were just yourself. Peter Parker, the innocent good boy who would never harm a fly.”
Peter thought to himself for a moment. He thought long and hard before he decided to bring up the word she had uttered more than once tonight. “There goes that word again: innocent. What makes you think I’m innocent?”
“Come on Parker. Ned told me you once donated a one hundred dollar bill you found lying on the sidewalk to the local homeless shelter. And that was after you couldn’t find its original owner. That’s got innocence written all over it.”
“Does that make me innocent or a good person?”
“They’re one and the same.”
“There is a big difference between the two.”
“I disagree. The two are definitely interchangeable. Good people are the ones who haven’t been corrupted yet.”
“So does that mean you aren’t a good person?”
“I think I’m a neutral person. Not exactly good, not exactly bad. Just walking the tightrope. I probably would have taken the money, and felt bad about it later.”
They both chuckled at her statement, letting it end that segment of the conversation. Though Peter was done fighting with her about her type’s moral compass, he wasn’t done with the subject all together.
“So,” He paused, and she braced herself, taking notice of how every time he did that, a question she was reluctant to answer followed. “what exactly is your type?”
An uncomfortable breathy laugh passed through her lips as she answered. “I didn’t exactly know it at the time, but I’m able to put it into words now.” She admitted, taking her time as she explained. 
“I guess ideally you were my type. Nice. Harmless. Smart. But I was also looking for someone who knew how to take control. I’m in control of everything in my life, so it feels good to meet a person who lets me relinquish that. Or in more crude terms, a person who has the ability to fuck my brains out.” She declared as she leered in his direction with a small smirk playing her lips. 
She was only teasing. But she could feel that the air had grown thick on the side of the car that Peter had resided in. For a split second, she could have sworn that she saw something snap in him. But as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, making her feel as though she had imagined the entire thing. 
But she knew that couldn’t have been right. Known for many things, her vivid imagination wasn’t one of them. His breath hitched. His shoulders tensed. She hadn’t imagined that. What he said next, after what felt like an hour of silence told her that she didn’t imagine anything at all. 
“Did teaching me, ever cross your mind?” He asked. His grip on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. She saw his Adam’s apple bob after he spoke, and his chestnut eyes focused on the rain that splattered against the windshield. 
“U-um I-,” She stammered, Peter catching her by surprise. She had to really think about his question. “I suppose it never did.”
“You still want me?” He asked her, turning his attention back on her. 
“Huh?”
“Am I still your type? Aside from the fact that I can’t take control?” 
She just swallows, before nodding.
Noting her surprise, but not relenting he says, “Then teach me.”
“What?” She questions, fearing she misheard him. 
“Teach me.” He repeated, only elaborating when she scrutinized his face. “Show me exactly how you want to be touched. Kissed. Fucked.”
The way he said the word, fuck, was so filthy. It almost made her lose the rest of her composure. Not like she had much left. He had already rendered her speechless, now he was ruining her panties.
No. She wouldn’t let it play out like this. She had a reputation to uphold.
She peered over her shoulder, then back to him trying to assess whether or not he was serious. When his face showed no sign of amusement, she swung her door open, to trade her passenger’s seat for the back one. 
The rain’s onslaught was still vicious, so her previously dry form was borderline drenched. July’s summer heat, did no favors in keeping her warm, and she had no idea if she was shivering from the rain or her nerves. “Are you gonna come keep me warm or what?” She challenged, trying to find her confidence again.  
It was only seconds before Peter joined her, but it was no question that his body was shaking with anticipation. He looked at her expectantly, surveying her every move. From the way her eyes flitted to the ground, to the way her hands busied themselves by rubbing at her thighs. She was nervous. 
It must have been a snowy day in hell.
“What should we do first?” She asked. 
“Does the instructor usually ask the pupil what lessons they should start with?”
“Kiss me?” She suggested, half-ignoring his comment. 
“Are you asking me, or telling me?” Peter remarked, amusement glinting in his eyes. 
Annoyance overtaking her tone now, she demands this time, “Kiss me.” 
“Say please.” He teased. 
“Damn it Peter, fucking kiss m—”
And then he glued his lips to hers. They were sweet and gentle, like him, but still managed to convey his longing. He hoped the kiss would capture all the times he imagined doing it when she would flash those pretty brown eyes his way. When she would speak in a way that put an angel’s timbre to shame. Even when she would fucking breathe, he imagined kissing her until his lips fell off. He hoped the kiss would make up for all of the ones he was dying to share with her over the years.
The pads of his fingers roamed over her silky smooth skin, starting at her cheeks, ending at her neckline. He tasted the flavor of her strawberry chapstick, the same one that made her lips feel and look as smooth as butter. When he inhaled and tasted the faint scent of minty watermelon on her breath, he decided he couldn’t get enough. He wanted to kiss her until he committed to memory every bump on her tongue. Then he would be satisfied. 
“Like this?” He whispered, pulling back to inhale the same air as her, almost turning feral at the sight of her swollen lips and blown pupils. “Or,” he started, leaning back in to go again, searching her eyes, “like this?”
Whereas kiss one was innocent and sweet, the way that Peter portrays himself, kiss two was the definition of what he could be…or maybe what he already was, she couldn’t tell. He was filthy with the way his tongue glided against hers. The hot wet muscle played hers like an instrument, before locking the two together. One of his hands planted itself on the nape of her neck, forcing her to feel every measure against her mouth. She couldn’t move if she wanted to, not that she wanted to. Just like him she wanted to relish the taste of him. 
With his nose pressed against her cheek, and hers against his, they kissed like they wanted to touch the other’s souls. They began breathing in the rest of the other’s air, like they wanted to swap lungs. Exploring the other’s bodies, like they would die if they didn’t study the exact texture of the other’s skin. 
It took everything in Peter to restrain himself. To keep his thumbs from traveling beneath her shirt. He nipped at his tongue to keep from nipping at her lips and skin. He tried shifting in his seat to distract himself from the shifting going on in his jeans. 
It certainly didn’t help the growing tent in his pants when the girl planted her thighs on either side of his, rocking and rolling her hips to alleviate some of the tension in her panties. 
She took over the kiss, setting the pace and overcoming the surprise from Peter earlier.
Her fingers, that were previously glued to his face, began fumbling with the hem of his shirt, peeling the wet material off and over his head. She marveled at his sculpted chest for a moment, before Peter followed suit, pulling her dampened top over her arms and flinging it over the seat. 
A throaty groan passed his lips when she resumed her measures against his hips. Grinding herself down on his hardening member. 
Her breathy whimpers intensified when his surprisingly warm hands traveled along her skin, caressing her soft flesh. She was getting more worked up the more Peter mimicked the movement of her hips, grinding upwards while simultaneously pinning her waist down. 
She tugged harshly on the patch of hair that lived on the back of his neck, eliciting one of the sexiest groans she had ever heard. His heavily lidded eyes that held the same fire as hers, both scared and excited her. 
As she leaned in closely, preparing her words carefully she ordered him to, “Kiss me here,” before planting her lips on his neck. Flattening her tongue to lick a stripe up the exposed skin, she began swirling the appendage before nipping, licking, and sucking until his skin had a reddish purple hue. 
She got lost in the feel of him, succumbing to the sound of his hisses and moans only to yelp a moment later, when Peter mimicked her earlier actions.
With a fistful of her hair, and her exposed neck jutting out towards his lips he licked a stripe against the skin, just as she did earlier, only his measures were steady and calculated, taking note of every flinch and hitch of her breath. He found her sweet spot in seconds, focusing all of his attention there. 
With her nails digging into his flesh, and her hips stuttering, Peter knew he had her where he wanted her. “Like that?” He rasped, pulling away to admire the strings of purple and blue that littered her skin. 
“Fuck yea Parker; you learn fast.” She gasped, attempting at a laugh, as she peeled her chest off of him.  She took a hand of his into hers, grasping two of his fingers as she bought them to her lips. 
Hollowing her cheeks as she sensually sucked and lubricated his digits, she bought his other hand down to her shorts, beckoning him to unbutton them. “Touch me here.” She murmured, eyes taking in the wide curious ones staring back at her. 
With the newly slick fingers, Peter did as she told him, dipping his fingers beneath the waistband of her panties and finding her nub instantaneously. “Right here?” He enquired, when her breathing turned shaky. 
“Mmm, god yes!” She praised, as he worked his fingers over her. 
Setting a consistent pace, Peter lightly grazed her clit, every time he ran his fingers up and down her folds. “Am I doing this right?” He questioned, flicking and teasing her core. 
“Mhm” She mewled, “fuck y-your fingers feel so good” Her speech was now becoming slightly incoherent.
“Yeah?” He groaned, “What about my mouth?” He asked, just before unclasping her bra a little too effortlessly with one hand. Latching his lips against her perky chest, he massaged the other mound with his free hand.  
Words were lost on her, as she became a wanton mess. She couldn’t fathom how he could be so skillful with both hands. How a person could multitask the way that he did was indescribable. His hand on her clit didn’t let up, but neither did the one that tweaked and pulled on her nipple. Not to mention the hot tongue that darted and sucked meticulously at her other. She couldn’t stifle her cries if she tried. 
Riding his fingers, she pressed his head further into her chest,  becoming greedy with his touch, as she sprinted towards her orgasm. She thought that this feeling couldn’t get any better. 
Of course, Peter was full of nothing but surprises tonight, and needed to prove her wrong. He let two of his fingers slip inside of her, while a thumb replaced the ones that were glued to her clit. Rubbing circles against her sex, he pumped the two fingers furiously in and out of her hole. 
“Does that feel good, baby?”
But the girl didn’t answer, Her mouth hung open as if she wanted to, but the words were jumbled somewhere in her throat. Her face twisted into pleasure, and she couldn’t do anything but succumb to his measures against her body.
It wasn’t long before she felt her stomach spasming, the heat pooling to her core, her already sensitive flower growing even more sensitive, as she came into his palm. 
Her juices coated his digits, her walls fluttered around them, and her skin was now hot to the touch, as Peter forced her climax out of her. 
Tears flooded her eyes, as she took in as much air as she could. When had she stopped breathing? Maybe sometime during the earth-shattering orgasm her old classmate was giving her. 
Once the ringing in her ears subsided, and her lower region began to cool again, she thanked the boy and praised him as she said, “You did so well,” before planting hot wet kisses on his shoulder and neck.
She stopped when she felt his body shaking. Coming back up to eye him, she asked what he found so funny. 
Peter tried to hide the smirk that plastered his lips but he couldn’t hold his act any longer. “You just don’t get it do you?” He asks as he casually licks and sucks at his fingers, just as she did earlier, relishing in the taste of her essence. 
The confusion on her face and brain was evident. “Get wha—” He had her pinned on her back, before she could utter the last syllable.
The tight space was cramped, but the boy had more than enough room to stalk his prey. He hovered above her, ridding her of the rest of her clothes in one fell swoop, before delivering his monologue. 
“I don’t know what it is about girls like you, but I swear you drive me crazy.” He admitted, before removing his jeans in a quick motion. “You always assume that just because I’m a nice guy, I won’t be able to fuck your brains out.” He informed, before revealing a hidden condom and rolling it on before lining himself up at her entrance. “But I hope that if tonight proves anything to you,” He starts, eyes finally darting up to land on her horror-filled ones, “it will be that your mindset can land you in a whole heap of trouble.”
And with that, he grasps the door above her head, before sinking himself into her.
Groaning at the feel of her, Peter’s facade dropped completely. Her tight little cunt feels even better than he imagined, and he hopes that he feels better than she ever imagined. 
He starts slow, with the intent of her feeling every ridge of his cock, as it threatens to invade her stomach. Her soft tits bouncing with every thrust, send a jolt through his body every time her nipples graze his chest. The way his name falls off her sweet tongue, has him in shambles, as he picks up his pace, throwing slow and steady out of the window. 
Her cries are loud in his ear, as he ruts against her sex. He’s so thick, its hard for her to think straight. He can feel the indents of her nails as they dig into his lower back; she tries to press his ass closer to her, never wanting him to leave.
Maybe if it were any other guy fucking her, she would have felt the seat buckle digging into her back. Maybe she would have felt her sticky sweaty skin on the leather of his back seat. Maybe the awkward position her head was in would have spoiled her experience. But with Peter, she could only focus on the pleasure. 
His thrusts were relentless now. His hot breath was fanning the side of her cheeks. His previously damp hair, stuck to her neck, as he drove himself further into her skin. Nothing could distract him away from her in this moment.
Nothing but the faint glow of her phone, that is. It’s buzzing, and vibrations immediately catching his eye, as he held his head up. That same dangerous smirk that she saw earlier returning. 
“Look who’s calling, baby.” He purred, overcoming the stutter of his hips. When he held her phone up for her to see, her heart sank at the mischief behind his words. Brad. “Should we answer it?”
“No, Pete!” She cried. 
“Oh come on, that would be rude wouldn’t it?” He dared, before delivering a particularly hard thrust, that sent her mind into a haze. “We can stop so you can take this—”
“No! D-don’t stop” She begged, prying the phone from his fingers, and fumbling with the answer button. 
“Babe? Hello?” Brad’s irritating voice answered flooding, her phone’s speaker. But the girl didn’t answer immediately, because she was too busy trying to stifle her whimpers. 
“Hey Brad!” She finally choked out, sounding somewhat normal. How she managed to do it, she couldn’t say. 
“Wow! Finally. This is like my eighth time trying you. I almost can’t believe you answered. What are you up to?”
“Should you tell him what you’re up to, babe?” Peter devilishly whispered against her skin.
“Nothing!” She whined into the phone. 
“Whoa. Are you okay? You sound a little off?”
“You should tell him you sound like this because I’m making you feel so good.” Peter suggested, driving her body up and down the seats. “I bet he’d wish he were me right now.”
“I-I’m just a feeling a l-li-little sick is all.” She breathlessly stuttered.
“Should I come over?”
“Ah yes Peter!” She wailed, when the boy starts circling his fingers against her clit, while simultaneously grinding slowly but roughly into her. She’s no longer paying attention to the man on the other end. His curses don’t faze her, nor does Peter’s actions as he releases the phone from her grip. 
“Hey Brad. Remember me.” He casually asks, ignoring Brad’s threats. “Yeah no man, don’t worry about her: I’ll make sure she’s real good and taken care of.” He promises, before ending the call, and tossing the device into the passenger’s seat. “Think he finally got the hint?”
Peter then takes the girl’s hips into his hands, lifting her inches off the seat, before pulling her body onto his dick at an ungodly speed.
Crying. She’s literally crying, with tears streaming down her face. Her voice is becoming hoarse with moans. She had never experienced such intense sex in her life. 
Peter brings the hand that was previously plastered on the glass down to the girl’s face. “would this be the definition of fucking your brains out, baby?” He grunts, in reference to the girl’s constant repetition of his name. It’s the only word she can remember, as he fucks her into the chair. 
His movements shook the car. The heat that their bodies radiated, fogging up the glass. The scent of their sex now embedded in the fabric of his seats. The boy was completely untamed. 
Her screams were one among the things that set him off. The way her body writhed against his was another. The stutter in her speech another. But the unbridled lust that her eyes held, was the literal icing on the cake. 
Thank fuck she came before him. Her tight little hole constricting and clenching his dick. And when he started slipping in and out, her eyes glued shut, and her chest started to rise and fall, he knew that she had came. 
A sweaty fucked out mess before him, she needed Peter to finish her off before she was satisfied. “Drown me in your cum” She begged, and it was like he knew exactly what she wanted. 
Unsheathing himself from her, he ridded himself of the condom, and started tugging violently at his cock. Fucking his hand, not unlike the way he fucked her earlier, he spurted his milky white seed all over her supple brown canvas, a husky groan roaring from his chest as he threw his head back in pleasure. His seed extinguished the heat that resided in her skin, and she closed her eyes shut, letting her head fall back down on the seat. 
The image of his white paint, all over her stomach, chest, and tits, bleeding into his memory, as he came back down from his high. 
Once back down to earth, reality began to sink back in. Immediately recomposing himself, Peter blurted, “Fuck are you okay? Was I too rough?”
His sudden outburst almost made her jump out of her skin, but she quickly recovered. “Oh god no Parker! I loved every minute of that.” She lazily smiled reassuringly.  “Do you always fuck like that?”
Peter returned the smirk, blushing before saying, “I’ve always wanted to fuck you like that.” 
After planting a final kiss on her lips, he reached into the center console, to scavenge a few wet wipes, cleaning her skin before discarding them. 
Moments later, they reunited with their lost articles of clothes, pulling the fabrics over their limbs before crawling back into the front seat.
When Peter put his seatbelt back on, and cranked the car up with no effort, he felt the heat of the girl’s eyes on his skin. 
“What?” He asked, dumbfounded by her glare. 
“Was there ever anything wrong with the car?”
And then as if just realizing Peter mouthes oh, before telling her simply “No.” Adding on that he just wanted an excuse to spend more time with her. 
“Well how the fuck did you know I wasn’t gonna just take your offer for an Uber?”  She asked, more impressed than pissed.
“Because you’re a neutral person, and a neutral person would feel too bad about doing that.”
“There’s a lot of things I still have to learn about you Parker.” She admits, sinking down into her seat. Heat rising to her cheeks, as a new crush began to develop. 
“Don’t worry. I’m willing to teach you.” 
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 A/N: So like...don’t be afraid to tell me what you think. I swear I dont bite...unless you're into that. also this was edited it, but probably not well, so tell me if you see an error. 
456 notes · View notes
fishylife · 3 years
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Street Dance of China S4 Ep 3
(I’m having problems with Tumblr not saving my posts...)
- Oh no people are going to start getting eliminated! :o Well, I’m still really glad that we had two whole episodes of people just dancing and having fun and getting the opportunity to showcase who they are and how they dance.
- This question just occurred to me, but where do people look when they watch dance performances? As I watched the Go Go Brothers, I was thinking to myself, “Where do I look? If I look at one of them, I might miss what the other Brother is doing!” Just my musings lol.
- I am super shallow but people tripping makes me laugh, so yes, Nelson accidentally tripping did make me chuckle. (+ Rochka’s reaction)
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- Yibo and Yixing discussing the SDOC theme song. It made me laugh because the lyrics are kind of hype but Yibo and Yixing aren’t exactly the most facially expressive people lol.
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- After every performance Henry’d be like “let’s collaborate!!!!!!” Han Geng finally stepped in being like aight Henry you gotta take it easy on the recruitment because we’ve literally only seen three performances. I’m still not really sure of the format of the show from now on, so I’m not sure if they form new teams afterwards.
- Yixing was so guilty about not giving Bouboo a vote.
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- Rochka’s shock @ Boubou not getting four votes.
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- He’s ashamed.
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- I think if a dancer gets less than 4 votes, then other dancers are allowed to challenge them for a spot to advance, but whoever loses is eliminated out of the tournament, so you have to be super confident to challenge. And if a dancer only gets 1 or 2 votes, they are eliminated.
- Yibo asked Rochka why he wouldn’t challenge Bouboo and Rochka said he’d never go against his teacher/big brother v.v They exchanged hearts but then Rochka pretended to throw the heart away and crush it lol.
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- While I was expecting a bit more from Bouboo, I don’t think his challenger JC Jun was better than him. JC Jun was kind of wobbly, and I think his dance didn’t match the music as well as Bouboo’s did.
- Yixing had his head down when he voted for Ibuki too, so I think he just gets nervous about voting.
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- Henry wanted to say that Ibuki was like lightning but he said the word for a flashing light/disco light and Han Geng wanted to give him shit for it.
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- Yixing said that he thought AC’s waacking almost felt like krump.Yixing said that if he was to collaborate with AC, AC should do the arm swing, and Yixing would do the waacking lol. I am all for seeing Yixing doing more dance styles! Not gonna lie, I think he’d look cute doing waacking.
- Ye Yin’s performance was really nice! The music was unique and the way he danced, with the tap dance and folk-like elements really suited it.
- Rochka said he wants to know Ye Yin more and said they also have the same smile.
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- Xiao Jie said he’d never battle Ye Yin but he got peer pressured by the captains into freestyling to Ye Yin’s self-produced song lol.
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- To show face, you know? The entire time he was like “but this doesn’t count, okay?!!!!” since he wasn’t actually challenging Ye Yin, and it was just for funsies.
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- The judges were a bit troubled by Xiaoming’s performance because at the end, he was supposed to fall but his fall wasn’t coordinated with the sound effect in the music. Xiaoming was like yeah, it’s pretty difficult but I’m hoping that my challenger wouldn’t be able to get it too and Yixing was laughing his goose laugh. But Xiaoming was eliminated with zero votes in the end.
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- Kelo and Uwa had a horror mental hospital-themed dance which was interesting. Kelo said it was based on a nightmare he had as a child.
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- Yang Kai wasn’t impressed though. He said he’d performed something similar with Liangliang before. He felt that Kelo and Uwa were performing but not really dancing. I can see where he’s coming from. Kelo and Uwa got three votes.
- Xiaohai ended up challenging them. He used the wheelchair too but like...somehow his expression just makes us unable to not laugh.
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- I think he did really well considering he’d only heard the music once. And he returned to the wheelchair at the end of the performance lmfao
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- Apparently when Xiaohai was looking up at the beginning, he was asking Li Yulong (who I assume is the person in charge of the music) for music cues but Li Yulong just laughed at him lol.
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- Yibo basically said that Kelo and Uwa’s performance felt a bit abrupt in the story telling side, and that there weren’t really highs and lows to their performance.
- Rochka was talking crap about Bouboo behind his back and Yibo tattled which resulted in Rochka getting whacked in the face.
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- Zyko taught Yibo and Rochka how to do his fancy leg moves.
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- Yixing talking krump with Auju. Auju was like you’re really good for someone who’s only been learning for a year, but then Yixing was like, I practise 6 hours a day and Auju was like ?!?!
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- Zyko + Henry (with Henry’s infamous “getting down while playing violin” move)
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- Poppin’C introduced himself, saying he was from Italy and Switzerland, and Yibo and Yixing were thinking of all the things from Italy they knew. Yibo was like “...Valentino Rossi...” and Yixing was like “....pizza.....” These two spacey twinks istg.
- Anyway, Poppin’C’s performance was nice. Not only were his moves clean and impressive, but he also expressed the lyrics through his dance.
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- Rochka fanboying over Poppin’C’s dance :P At one point, the lyrics were about hearts, and Poppin’C did some moves where he made a heart and Rochka here is saying how cute it was.
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- Poppin’C said he missed his daughter and everybody’s like ?? a baby??? :3 :3 :3
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- Also, I saw Uwa in the audience, so I think that the eliminated contestants get to continue watching.
- Poppin’C said that before, he was more fierce, but now that he has a daughter, he’s a little smoother and sweeter :3 Also he was describing that the singer’s voice in the song made his skin feel like chicken and everybody was like ??? Luckily Yixing saved the day lol. In Chinese, goose bumps are called “chicken pimples” or something like that.
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- Bozi was next. In his introduction, Bozi said he was from Guangzhou, and maybe that’s why it sounded like so many people in the audience were pronouncing 波子 in Cantonese.
- Eleven said something very interesting about B-boys. He said that in their profession of dance, they don’t fear b-boys who can do tricks, but they fear b-boys who can listen to music. I think it’s a reference to the fact that b-boys are often doing their own thing and disregard the music, which makes sense. Sometimes b-boys are closer to gymnasts because they are so focused on the spins and other really athletic moves they do. But because their moves are so difficult, they sometimes don’t move to the music which is supposed to be the point of dancing.
- Bozi passed with 4 votes. And he did a bit of krump at the beginning, which Yixing admitted he fell for haha. Bozi said that Eleven helped him choreograph that part, so it’s Eleven who knows Yixing well >3
- The director asked Bozi who he thought his biggest b-boy rival on the show was. Of course, we all thought he was going to say Lil Kev, but he ended up saying Xiaoji and Xiaoji was like ?? me?? Bozi’s reasoning was that he’s more troubled by dancers with a different style from him because he doesn’t know how to beat them. From the small clips they showed, I think Xiaoji has a more animated style, whereas Bozi is more serious and reserved.
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- Acky-san cheering on MT Pop lol. (”Embarrassing dad at baseball game” mode activate)
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- MT Pop has really impressed me in the competition so far though. The way he moves is so cool and creative. I think he purposely goes for a kind of...monster vibe? Like he often has this creepy smile on his face lol. He’s not only dancing, but he’s using popping techniques to change how he moves entirely, including simple things like walking or how he turns his head. I think MT Pop is my favourite contestant.
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- He said the monster from Pan’s Labrynth inspired this dance. So I guess I was kind of right that he does draw inspiration from monsters and other creatures.
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- Low key mad at Han Geng for not giving MT Pop his vote lol. Geng-ge said he wanted to give someone a chance to challenge. Of all people, why MT Pop?? I don’t want him to goooo.
- Henry wanted to try doing the voiceover for the challenger and Han Geng indulged his overdramatic ass.
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- Baby Dolphin challenged. He had some cool moves at the beginning, but I think he fell apart a bit towards the end, based on the judges’ reactions (as we didn’t see the full performance). Plus, I think MT Pop’s approach to dancing is just too unique and interesting to eliminate at this point.
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- Kabamba had an interesting performance that had African and Latin influences, with big and energetic movements. Tianci challenged but he went with a general hip hop approach which did not suit the music at all. (I looked up Kabamba. Her name is Latrice Kabamba, but she also goes by 林珊娜 on her social media, which is why she’s sometimes called Nana on the show).
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- Acky-san was repeating everything that people were saying around him. Stuff like jiayou!! and other words of encouragement. Dianmen who was sitting next to him was just lol’ing.
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- Ma Xiaolong was performing to a song called 棋 and this word usually refers to any kind of board game. Ma Xiaolong’s first moves looked like he was putting pieces on a board and you just know that kind of stuff draws Yixing’s attention right away.
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- I think Kenken’s style of dance is the kind of dance that the general public would really enjoy. Whereas some kinds of dance don’t really appeal to people who aren’t into dance, I think Kenken’s kind of dance will attract both the dance-conscious people as well as those who aren’t. I definitely got that vibe from him in the dance that he choreographed, and also his individual performance.
- Not even gonna question this. Perfection. Rochka catboy here we go.
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- Okay, I agree with Colin’s performance not making the cut. Based on his introduction, he was supposed to be a popping expert, but his dance didn’t showcase that. His dance was more of a contemporary dance piece, but while we’ve had performances similar to that, his choreography didn’t stand out in comparison. After his performance he had a bit of a cry. Yixing mentioned that it was hard to judge because of the emotional aspect. But admittedly, this emotional stuff is usually the reason why I don’t like competition shows. It was revealed that Colin had lost his grandfather. Now, I’m going to sound cold, but I don’t like it when sob stories are brought in, because it makes us feel bad when we don’t like a piece of art that comes from very pure intentions. Yixing’s reasoning for not giving a vote was that he felt that the emotions overshadowed the dance, which is a problem because this is a show about dance. Han Geng’s reasoning was that he felt that the skill level could have been better. Yibo was quite moved by the performance, and I think that’s why he gave his vote to Colin.
- We got a preview for this week’s hotpot show.
- Yixing and his emotional support giant cup
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- Lots of laughing (including Yixing laughing) which is good for the soul
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sinagrace · 4 years
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Iceman’s been back on my mind lately. It started with the internet rumor that Shia Labeouf was being considered to play the role of Bobby Drake in a Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the X-Men. My DMs and @Mentions on social media were a mixture of intense reaction and then asking my take on who would make a great Bobby Drake (for the record: in my head I always saw him as a younger Antoni Porowski with a theater background, ‘cuz playing the funny guy with a vulnerable streak requires serious acting shops). My mind went back to the time of BC, when I was doing a lot of touring, and answering this very question because of my work on the Iceman book at Marvel. One thing led to another, and I decided to take a trip further down memory lane to look at my favorite volume of the series: Amazing Friends. Now, I know I’ve spent equal amounts of time publicly stating what a gift working on Iceman was, while also calling out the challenges that came with the experience, but the third volume really was a pure blessing. I was able to take every valuable lesson I learned as a writer, and apply it to telling a story that would be interesting to one person: Me. I’ve been a lifelong X-Men fan, I live and breathe comics, so my own expectations for a return to the series seemed like the only ones to really worry about meeting/ surpassing. The first two volumes had been so bogged down by rotating editors, complex continuity, company-wide events, multiple artists… The third volume was my chance to focus on what an Iceman series was outside of so much context. All that mattered was challenging myself to do an X-Men story that focused on the aspects of the franchise I felt were valuable and relevant, meaning: excuses to have Emma Frost be an asshole and finding an opportunity to make fun of Kitty Pryde’s haircut. Before moving on from Marvel, Axel Alonso made time to call me for a pep talk about the series. I wanted to get the series extended, and he wanted to help me succeed with the ten issues he could commit to. First, he offered an eleventh issue to give me more time on the stands. He took a look at everything I had planned, and basically told me to restructure with an eye for ramping up the pace. My writing background comes from prose and essays/ think pieces… both of which are methodical and provide some allowance from the reader to really take your time and set up the world before diving into the meat. That’s not the case with comics. You gotta work fast. Especially in today’s market, there is less and less room for a retailer to say, “give it two volumes, because shit starts really coming together by the third trade.” That was literally my speech for hooking people on such iconic series as Invincible, Fables, and Strangers in Paradise. Nowadays, every single issue is not a brick to be laid down as foundation so much as a bullet in your gun. Conflicting imagery, but that’s the point. Axel told me to think about the Big Moments in my life and sort out how to inject the mutant metaphor into it and make the most compelling comic book story I could. This was epic advice that I took with me into the new arc, but I struggled a bit with what could be bigger than the “coming out” storyline in volume one. Love was off the table because I wanted to keep Bobby single and ready to mingle. Death was off the table too, because my editor felt like we’d done enough with Bobby’s parents in the first two volumes. Upon looking at my own life, and considering the stuff me and my friends were dealing with, I landed on something a bit more reflective than LIFE or DEATH. I wanted to focus on that moment when a gay guy looks outside of himself and realizes the folks around him may not have it so easy. After everything we’ve been dealing with this summer, Iceman’s “big issue” of the arc feels oddly prescient. Bobby Drake had to reconcile his accidental complicit role in keeping the Morlocks down, and he has to investigate new approaches to being a better ally to those who don’t want to or can’t live under the protection of the X-Men. I used the Morlocks to allegorically speak to the issues that the trans/ NB community face today. Considering that trans folks are facing higher rates of homelessness and murder than other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, all I needed to do was find a perfect villain to treat the Morlocks as “lesser-than.” Cue Mister Sinister, who I wrote as particularly Darwinist with a major flair for interactive theater. While Amazing Friends definitely is the most fun I’ve had working on the book, it was also full of the heaviest shit I’ve written about. I’m so grateful that my editor let me use Emma Frost for a story about the trauma of gay conversion therapy with her brother Christian, but I’m still annoyed he wouldn’t let me put her in a sickening Givenchy outfit for her reveal. Similarly, creating the Madin character required that I chat with several mental healthcare professionals and members of the NB community to respectfully portray them as a resilient and fleshed out hero. I included personal lessons that I learned from years of the therapy (the sandcastle / sea image, a Jay Edidin fave moment). My editor and I weren’t always aligned, but we definitely were on each other’s side. He understood what I was trying to do and asked questions when something flew over his head, and he even had the good instincts to stop me from going too heavy handed with the ending. My original idea for the arc’s finale was to have Bobby become permanently scarred in his fight with Sinister, where he’d have a cool ice gash running across his face or something, a la Squall from Final Fantasy 8. The goal was to show Iceman stripping himself of his ability to pass as non-mutant to save the Morlocks, but the Mutant Pride fight scene being a stand-in for the Stonewall Riots kind of already made enough of a statement. Plus, no one in editorial wanted to deal with remembering to track his scar in other books. At first I tried to balk at his point of view, but when I looked over my original notes for the series, the point was to focus on optimism and hope. Giving Bobby a permanent scar and emphasizing the notion of sacrifice was too bleak a message for a series wherein the hero carbo-loads hoagies while riding an ice scooter and mutant drag queens emcee local festivals. Of course, the crowning achievement of the series… my mutant drag queen :) I’ve witnessed a lot when it comes to the world of pop culture and myth-making, and I 100% believe that you can’t plan the success of something. I’ve seen bands forced into breaking up because labels spend six figures failing at making listeners connect with an album. I witnessed firsthand how The Walking Dead was built from relatively humble beginnings as a buzzy cable drama into a literal international phenomenon over the course of its first three seasons. Everyone hopes for the best, but you never know how something will land with audiences. When the Shade character took off, I was truly astounded. Things I posted on Instagram while half-asleep became official quotes on major news sites. Queens and cosplayers were interpreting her like Margot Robbie had unveiled a new Harley Quinn lewk. The impact was so legit and immediate that we had to jump in and give Shade a proper Marvel hero alias, to truly welcome her into the X-Men canon. Hence the name change to Darkveil. (Funny story: I tried to fight hard for Madame X as an alias, but CB didn’t want another Agent X / “X-Name” character. Three months later, Madonna announced the Madame X album. Phew!) There was a time where I felt uncertain that the folks in charge at Marvel would bring Darkveil into any stories outside of the ones I wrote. My understanding was that Hickman was like the Cylons and had A Plan-- one that didn’t include her character. I made peace with my contribution to the Marvel Universe being contained, but then someone on social media pointed out that Darkveil showed up in an issue of Marvel Voices. After breaking down and reading Hickman’s House of X, I saw that his Plan was one of endless possibilities, and that he was moving EVERY character into new and dynamic places. I have hope now that he sees the possibilities with Darkveil, and takes advantage of her and all of her many body pouches. Amazing Friends really is my favorite thing I’ve done for the Big Two. I made a lifelong friend out of artist Nate Stockman (DC, please hire us for a Plasticman book), and I got to run a victory lap with the most encouraging and supportive readers out there. It was worth every dreadful conversation, every shitty thing a person said to me online, and all of the fun nonsense that goes into being creative for a living. Being stuck at home in quarantine has given me a lot of time to reflect on the gift that my career to date has been, and I feel so grateful to be where I am today. Other people may groan when they have to talk about something they’ve moved on from, but not me. I made people happier, I got to work with my favorite characters at Marvel, and and I'll say it again: it’s a frickin’ gift to make people move from your work. So, I will engage every tweet or message asking me my thoughts about who should play Bobby Drake in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… I’ll just never have a good answer.
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the-world-behind-us · 3 years
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7 Days and No Social Media
Yeah that’s right, I challenged myself to go 7 days without looking at Facebook and Instagram. I allowed Tumblr and Pinterest because they weren’t exactly like the layout of a conventional social media (i.e., not a lot of emphasis on likes and comments). This challenge spanned from 28th March to the 3rd of April.
[I didn’t count as messenger and Discord as social media apps because they’re mainly used for messaging people.]
A lil’ bit of context: The reason I decided to go for a week without social media was over a dinner table discussion with my cousin and her partner, which my family and I hadn’t seen for pretty much a year. We were on the topic of social media and the Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’. She and her partner after watching it decided to go without Facebook and Instagram for a week to see how they went. A year later they haven’t checked their socials and they feel fine without it. Hence, I decided to give it a go, and see how I would fair out.
Day 1 : Right, so I experienced some withdrawal symptoms. I really wanted to log onto my socials to see what was happening. So, badly. I tried distracting myself with things like reading books and watching a lot of Netflix. In fact, I watched an interesting movie called ‘I am not an easy man’.
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I Am Not an Easy Man - Wikipedia
It’s a French film and in short, it’s sort of about what the world would be like if the gender roles were switched, with women being dominant and men being, well, the not so dominant. It has men deal with sexist people and essentially is displaying the struggles of being a man in a woman’s world. Kind of reflecting the world we’re in now but reversed. Might do a post on this later, but I highly recommend watching this!
Day 2 : Had a bit of a slip today. I was doing some celebrity stalking and accidentally opened up my Instagram and saw that I had 3 messages to read. Felt really tempted to see who they were from but decided to do it once I finished the challenge. I recently started doing this 30-day workout challenge from Rachel Gulotta. Her workout vids are quite aesthetic and boy, do you sweat from them. You can easily sign up for the daily workout vids on her website at: About 4 — Rachel Gulotta Fitness
Day 3 : In the evening I felt quite tense and really wanted to check what was happening online. It was also due to my emails getting a lot of notifications about what’s been happening on Instagram and Facebook. That definitely didn’t help, but I wasn’t so easily trapped to check my socials every time I logged onto my laptop.
Day 4 : Ah, the last day of March. Went to the shops for the majority of the day so that sort of stopped me from going online and being tempted. I found that in the last couple of days I had been checking my emails excessively, since I didn’t know what else to do.
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For dinner I (attempted) to make omurice for my family. Needed a bit more seasoning, but other than that, quite good.
Day 5 : My friend came over in the evening for a movie night. I told her about my 7- day social media challenge, while she talked about uni life. We watched the movie ‘Promising Young Woman’, and well, it definitely was what I thought it would be. I quite liked it.
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Promising Young Woman (2020) - IMDb
The colours used for the film were mesmerising, and Carey Mulligan’s acting was simply amazing as always. Again, might do a fuller review on this movie later. (Also really recommend this one too)
Day 6 : Nothing too great happened today. I watched this film called ‘Daisies’ as part of my film society club from uni, and it was a weird, but kind of cool experience? I particularly liked the costumes and the colours of the film, but as a whole I loved the movie. It definitely stood out from a lot of conventional movies now days. [Just realised I watch a couple of movies during this week].
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J. HOBERMAN ON VERA CHYTILOVÁ’S SEDMIKRÁSKY (DAISIES) - Artforum International
Day 7 : Today I went for a day trip to Daylesford, a town just outside of Melbourne. It was the Easter break and there were a lot of tourists coming in to see the place. I took a couple of photos there and was thinking about how much I wanted to post them on my Tumblr blog later. Anyway, here are some photos for your enjoyment.
Top Left- Pastry King Bakery
Top Right- The Brick Lane (A vintage, 50s styled store)
Bottom Left- View of 'The Convent'
Bottom Right- The Convent entry
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Came back home and took a rest. In not so relevant news, I finished season 1 of ‘You’ (yes, I know I’m late-ish to the show). And damn, all of the characters in the show I think were well written, and the storyline was addictive.
What have I learnt – I’m was surprised that I struggled not looking at Facebook and Instagram for just a week. I usually don’t look at Instagram in particular because I have a strong dislike towards it. I keep it to stay in contact with friends and it sometimes annoys me that this is the only way to keep in contact with people now. In the end, I think it’s hard to be completely AWOL when it comes to social media. It just so happens that I’m leaving in the century where this is the most common form of communication. For example, I need Facebook to connect with uni’s clubs so I can know what’s happening. I think what I’ll do for myself is to try and give myself limits of when I want to check social media and give myself a reason for why I want to do so.
Also these were the notifications from FB and Instagram. Kind of shows that you can't really live without social media forever (in my opinion):
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ladyherenya · 3 years
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Books read in December
I set myself some reading goals for the end of the year -- finish any books I’d already started, read the books I'd already borrowed, and to read ebooks I’d bought before buying any more. But I guess most of those books just weren’t the right genre? A few exceptions aside, this month I read a bunch of other things instead.
Also read: The Frost Fair Affair and Holiday Brew by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sweetest in the Gale and 40-Love by Olivia Dade.
Reread: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn and Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston.
Total: thirteen novels (including two audiobooks and two rereads), three novellas, and three story/novella collections.
Favourite cover: The cover was what caught my attention for Finding My Voice and Old Baggage.
Still reading: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, Or What You Will by Jo Walton and The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett.
Next up: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis.
*
Queen’s Play by Dorothy Dunnett (narrated by David Monteath): In 1548, Francis Crawford of Lymond arrives in France, incognito in order to protect Scotland’s queen, seven-year-old Mary. I enjoyed this, even though I am not very interested in the antics of the French court and thought The Game of Kings benefitted from having more characters who I found wholly likeable and/or who matter, personally, to Lymond. Dunnett is an impressive storyteller -- vivid descriptions, lively dialogue, nuanced characters and twists that take me by surprise. Moreover, those satisfying puzzle pieces explain the plots and intrigue, give insight into personalities and develop the narrative’s themes (here, the consequences of power). 
The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim: In 1950, four year old Inja lives with her grandparents and uncle in Seoul, while her sister Miran is in America with their parents. War delays the family’s reunion. This is a fascinating portrayal of two sisters growing up in different countries, and an incredibly poignant story about a family separated. Compelling, and beautifully written, and despite moments of intense grief, hopeful. I liked how, in the end, Inja and Miran didn’t have all the answers.. But I wonder if I’d have found the ending more satisfying if I had a deeper understanding of who they both were as adults.
Teacup Magic series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:
Tea and Sympathetic Magic: Stephanie Burgis recommended this novella as something similar to her Harwood Spellbook series and it certainly has a similar appeal: romantic fantasy, bordering on comedy-of-manners territory. Like Georgette Heyer but with magic and diversity and an intention to challenge problematic and outdated attitudes. Charming and cosy, like a good cup of tea rather than a frothy hot chocolate. Miss Mnemosyne Seaborne, a reluctant guest at a houseparty. She joins forces with the other guests after an unexpected abduction occurs. Entertaining, and even though it was too short for me to really become invested, I immediately wanted to read the sequel.
The Frost Fair Affair: After her previous adventures, Mneme has new friends, a suitor and a campaign: overturning the social conventions which prevent women from travelling by portal. After someone in Town steals her political pamphlets, she gets caught up in a mystery. I enjoyed this oh so much! I found myself caring a lot more about Mneme and her relationships; I liked the mixture of intrigue and danger, and how in the cause of dealing with these, Mneme learns more about the man she hopes to marry; and the Frost Fair, on a frozen river, makes a delightful setting. I'd love to read more.
Belladonna U(niversity) series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:
Unreal Alchemy: Oh, this is my new favourite! Urban fantasy about Australian uni students who are connected to an indie rock band, Fake Geek Girl. These stories are funny, geeky and romantic, with great chapter titles and lots of fandom references. They employ different points of view and different narrative styles in a way that’s really effective. I love the characters and how important and intense their non-romantic relationships are. Between them they have a variety of romantic/sexual relationships and feelings, but friendships and familial relationships, like the one between twin sisters Hebe and Holly, also drive the narrative. The first collection contains four stories/novellas.
Fake Geek Girl -- Ferd moves into the Manic Pixie Dream House; Holly and Sage argue about the future of the band.
Unmagical Boy Story -- Viola has feelings about her best friend losing his magic, transferring colleges and making new friends.
The Bromancers --  The band and frriends spend a weekend at a magical music festival.
The Alchemy of Fine -- A prequel about the band’s origins.
Holiday Brew: This collection is more serious and less overtly fandom-y than the first, but arguably still very meta (especially if you consider Viola, Jules and Ferd as a response to the trio in Harry Potter). I sat down intending to read just one of these stories -- and ended up reading them all.
Halloween Is Not A Verb -- Holly invites various people to their mums’ place for Halloween.
Solstice on the Rocks -- A short story about university graduation.
Kissing Basilisks --  Begins on New Year’s Day, is compelling, and picks up the non-band-related narrative threads from Fake Geek Girl.
Missing Christmas by Kate Clayborn: This novella is loosely connected to Beginer's Luck but stands alone. It's sweet. Business partners and best friends Jasper and Kristen pay a last minute trip to a client and get trapped by a blizzard, which pushes them to reconsider the boundaries they’ve drawn in their relationship. I liked the moments which showed that they’re an effective team because they know each other so well and can communicate through subtle body language. 
Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee: Ellen is a Korean-American teenager in her final year of high school. Her story is about applying for college, gymnastics training, Ellen’s relationships with her best friend and her first boyfriend, dealing with racism at school and with her parents’ expectations that she will follow her sister to Harvard. It’s very short, first published in 1993. I was aware of all the places where a YA novel written today would be allowed to give more details and to expand the story, but it was still interesting.
The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas: I’ve borrowed this several times this year, only to return it unread each time, and I was starting to wonder if I really wanted to read it. But once I actually sat down and focused, I quickly realised that I definitely did! I became completely engrossed in this Mulan retelling. It’s a tense adventure. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, particularly the elaborate courtesy of formal conversations, and the way Mulan and her companions value loyalty and camaraderie. I thought this was a very believable take on the whole girl-disguised-as-a-boy thing too.
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce: In 1940, Emmy wants a newspaper job but is instead typing up letters for a women’s magazine and discarding mail from readers whose problems are Unacceptable. Frustrated that Mrs Bird won’t offer advice to so many women in need, Emmy's tempted to take matters into her own hands. Her optimism means she makes some naive mistakes, some of which made me wince, but it’s also an incredible strength. She's delightful company. I really like how much of this story is about her friendship with Bunty and I enjoyed the insight into women's magazines and the Auxiliary Fire Service.
The Lonely Hearts Dog Walkers by Sheila Norton: Recently separated, Nicola moves back in with her mother, starts as a teaching assistant at her daughter’s new school, gets a puppy and joins a group of dog walkers, who embark upon a mission to save the local park. This was very low-angst and, once I realised the sort of story it was, kind of predictable. I can recognise the appeal of this brand of realism, but personally would have preferred more humour or more emotional complexity. Were Nicola a colleague, it’d be easy to find things in common to discuss, but her story wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett: When Josie and her mother return to Beauty to look after the family bookshop, Josie has plans -- keep to herself, finish high school, secure a photography apprenticeship, move to LA. But after Josie accidentally breaks a store-front window and her childhood friend Lucky takes the blame, Josie’s priorities change. I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I particularly liked how Lucky subverts people’s expectations, and how Josie’s family works at communicating better with each other.
Old Baggage by Lissa Evans (narrated by Joanna Scanlan): It’s 1928 and Mattie Simpkin, a now-middle-aged militant suffragette, lives in Hampstead with her friend Florrie Lee (aka The Flea). Mattie gives lectures about the suffragettes but realises she’s not reaching the younger generation. So she starts a club for “healthy outdoor fun” for teenage girls. Mattie is wonderfully forthright -- amusing, engaging and informative when it comes to things she’s passionate about -- but she’s also fallible.  A really delightful yet bittersweet story about friendship and loss and the opportunities available for women. I liked its awareness that being able to loudly be yourself is a privilege not everyone has. 
There’s Something About Marysburg series by Olivia Dade:
Teach Me: Rose is unimpressed -- not only must she share her classroom with the new history teacher, he’s been given her Honors World History class. There’s something particularly satisfying about people who have been hurt and lonely finding support and love in each other. I like that they get to know each other over many months. I like Martin’s relationship with his teenage daughter and Rose’s relationship with her ex’s parents is so touching that one scene made me cry. And it was interesting seeing the US school system from the perspective of experienced teachers; I appreciated the details about their jobs.
Sweetest in the Gale: a Marysburg story collection contains three novellas about couples in their forties.
Sweetest in the Gale -- Griff is worried when Candy, a fellow English teacher, returns for the new school year uncharacteristically sombre and subdued. A really sweet romance about people who are navigating loss and grief.
Unraveled -- Maths teacher Simon is assigned to observe and mentor the new art teacher, Poppy. I enjoyed the threads of mystery.
Cover Me -- After a concerning mammogram result, Elizabeth marries an old friend so she’s covered by his health insurance. Predictable as anything, but that made it a safe position from which to explore serious and sobering topics.
40-Love: I’m not interested in tennis or holiday resorts; I was disappointed that this novel wouldn’t show Tess being an assistant principal; and even though some of my favourite fictional couples have a significant age-gap, I’m wary about age-gap romances (and socially-programmed to think it’s odd for a woman to date a much younger guy). But I liked the other stories in this series and I was curious. It’s Not really My Cup of Tea, but I was convinced that Tess and Lucas were both capable of making their (somewhat unconventional) relationship work. An interesting exercise in challenging my social-programming.
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: After watching Bridgerton (not always to my tastes but mostly fun), curiosity prompted me to read the opening of the second novel, and I was so entertained by Kate Sheffield verbally sparring with the viscount, whom Kate is determined to prevent from marrying her younger sister. I continued to be entertained up until the viscount acts a bit too entitled on his wedding night (that’s unattractive, if outrightly problematic). Which left me in rather an uncharitable mood for the final act, so I can’t identify if the drama of dealing with past traumas didn’t meet the standard of the earlier comedy or if I just hold such scenes to differing standards.
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a0x0annie · 4 years
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Happy Birthday, Stowaway.
I shouldn't have drunk so much.
It was three in the morning, or at least that was my best guess, based on the pink clock hanging on the opposite side of my tiny room and my not-so-trustworthy-now eyes. I was laying half-dead on the bed, having no energy whatsoever.
It wasn't the best birthday written in my memory - especially considering the fact that I remembered exactly none of the previous ones - so I decided to treat myself with a little bottle of wine...
...and ended up buying the whole shelf.
But fuck it, after all that happened lately I fully deserved it.
- Happy birthday, thottie - I said under my nose, pouring yet another glass of the driest red wine I could find. It was my "bitter" day, so I was happy that nobody bought me a cake.
In fact, nobody bought me anything, actually. But that's just a little detail. Not that I even told anyone my birth date, either.
All of a sudden, I heard knocking on the door. I had no idea who wanted to meet me at that hour, but I was way too drunk to care enough to check it. Hell, I had no energy to even open my eyes. Maybe someone had a vision in their dream, magically learned what day it was, and wanted to wish me a late happy birthday?
Not likely, but no one would ever stop me from dreaming.
Still staying in the comfort of my bed, I yelled lazily:
- Come on in, lost soul. You can leave the presents in the corner.
For a few moments I wasn't sure if they heard me, but just then the door opened gently.
Was it June? Ryona, perhaps? Better not her, she'd kill me.
- Good evening, Stowaway.
Cal.
Suddenly, all of my energy got restored, and the next second I found myself laying in a more seductive manner, with my eyes fully centered on this fucking giant. And dear God, he was just as tall as he was hot.
- Oh hello there, Captain Handsome. What kind of an urgent emergency is bringing you to me at this lovely hour?
Captain.
Handsome.
Just wow, Cath. You're absolutely the best at handling talking to people while drunk, aren't you.
I couldn't hold back a smirk though, when I saw the confusion mixed with a little bit of curiosity and fake frustration in his honey gold eyes.
- Oh God, not you, too - He whined, closing the door with a loud crack, in which all of the remaining gentleness that had surprised me earlier disappeared. Well, that was quick, not gonna lie.
- And here I thought you would like it. Isn't it cruel, even for you, to break my little poor heart like that? - I leaned back, dramatically covering my eyes with the outer part of my palm. - Though I might have gone a little overboard with the whole "handsome" thing, I agree. My bad.
I loved messing with him. I just believed that this overly proud, self-absorbed prick with a stick up his ass longer than my life line needed a little cutting down to size.
He frowned, unsatisfied.
- Call me that once more and I'm cutting your salary by half. - He leaned against the wall. - What even made you think it was a good idea?
- A tiny, itsy-bitsy bit of alcohol, probably.
He then noticed a few bottles laying on the ground. On the bed. In my empty "presents corner".
And fucking everywhere else.
Calderon started grinning, and I couldn't help but feel the irresistible urge to wipe this little smirk off of his sweet face.
- If anyone asks, it's grape juice.
- What kind of grape juice forces people to make a fool out of themselves in front of the others?
- Well, I should be probably asking you this question - I had to bite my lip to hide the mischievous grin that was about to spread all over my face, seeing Cal's reaction. - What? Did I strike your nerve, Captain?
- When didn't you? - He brought himself back to the straight standing position, and being the classic grumpy Calderon everyone knew so well again. - Well, you're having fun, I see. I only hope it won't affect your presence during tomorrow's duties.
Saying that, he lowered his eyebrows and gave me that firm look he just loved giving everyone.
- It would be a shame if you weren't around, considering that you're starting this week with your first kitchen shift. That would be pretty incompetent, even for you. - He gave me a sarcastic look. - And besides, you wouldn't like to be kicked out of the crew so soon, would you?
I rolled my eyes.
- I'd manage, I'm a smart girl. But wait... - I sat more comfortably. - Was this your entire point of coming to my room? At three in the morning? - I breathed in and out loudly. - Oh my God, and here I thought you couldn't be any more... you.
- I just wanted to be sure that I won't have to starve, waiting for our lovely princess bubblegum to make us all this exceptional honor of waking up and condescendingly serving us a meal. - He looked at me sarcastically. Again. - Also, was that an insult? If so, I feel deeply offended - After saying that, he processed to raise one of his eyebrows to the sky.
I fake gasped.
- Me? Insulting you? Never! Now I am offended. I love your ass-stick so much that I wait for the day when you finally pull it out so I can see it closely - I formed a little heart with my hands.
A part of me didn't buy his excuses, or maybe didn't want to buy them, so I asked:
- Are you sure this was your only motive coming here, though?
- Don't even try to provoke me.
I smiled to myself.
- Don't you worry, sir. I was going to fall asleep soon anyway...
That was a lie.
- ...and at the very least I didn't plan to misbehave.
That was an even bigger lie.
Suddenly, a fun idea crossed my mind.
I smiled and looked him straight in the eye, innocently.
- I mean, unless you order me to, of course. You're the captain here, after all.
That ought to be interesting, I thought.
Calderon realized what was going on, or at the very least that was what it seemed like based on the look painting on his face. Posing myself a little more seductively on the bed again I gave him a challenging look, and after a few moments of what I guessed was an inner fight whether to join me or not, his expression changed, mimicking my own.
Ladies and gentlemen, or whatever other pronoun you prefer, please give a warm welcome to our new Player 2!
Let me see what you've got on you then, golden boy.
I stood up from the bed and tried my best to walk up to him without tripping on one of the dozens of bottles left after my one-guest-only-party. I was doing just great (or so I thought), but then I remembered that one small detail, which was that I was kinda fucking drunk and my legs didn't work that well anymore.
After coming up with some - not gonna lie -quite creative curses in my head, I tripped and started falling off.
Oh yes, breaking my nose was definitely going to make me look incredibly sexy. Good thing I'd look amazing no matter the circumstances - or so I'm told, at least.
Accepting the fact that I was about to lose my own game that I started literally a minute ago, and probably a few teeth as a bonus, I covered my face with my arms and prayed to not fell on a bottle. I had enough shitty scars already.
Just before hitting the ground, I unexpectedly felt a tight grip on my waist that held me back and I sighed with relief. Looks like for a moment I forgot that Cal was, indeed, in the same room as me. And I could say a lot of not exactly favorable things about him, but even he wouldn't just let me break my entire face in front of his feet.
And besides, blood is quite hard to wash off, so here's that, too.
As I was making myself stand on two feet again with a little of Cal's help, I rememberd my first day on the A6 and what I told June when the exactly same situation happened.
Maybe our flirting battle wasn't over yet after all.
Why am I falling so often here, by the way?
- Nice catch! Now you can tell the others that I fell for you. - I winked at him.
This line is fucking brilliant and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Cal didn't look too impressed, though.
- Well, hadn't you before that, already?
...Was I this obvious?
I tried to keep a straight face, ignoring the heat that was spreading all over my cheeks. Wow, I blush so rarely that I've actually forgotten how it felt like.
And I didn't like this feeling at all.
- Aren't you a little bit too confident, dear? - saying that, I tried to keep my balance. I didn't want to rely on him so much.
When I was finally stable on the ground and in (almost) full control of my body once again, I "accidentally" lost my balance and leaned closer to him. Then, I wrapped my arms around his neck like it was nothing; like I was just trying to not fall again.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if he would even let me do that, but he did - and that was the moment when I knew my plan was working.
Our faces were almost touching and I had to hide the excitement of knowing what was going to happen next, because come on, even a child would guess that.
I looked him straight in the eyes with a bold expression.
He then asked me with visible playfulness in his eyes:
- I knew you were quite a flirt before, but... - he laughed shortly. - Do you always mess with hearts of the innocent when drunk?
- Only with the ones that I'm interested in when sober. Very interested in - I said without skipping a beat.
A huge, mischievous grin spread across my face as I saw Calderon's beautiful reaction. It was so obvious he didn't see that coming, and the image of him squirming under my gaze was quite satisfactory to watch.
- Oh, what's that, captain? Caught you off guard? - I was so drunk that I started laughing at my own stupid joke. - Get it? Off guard?
Did I really just cockblock myself like that.
Wow, genius.
After a few seconds, my incredibly dry and unfunny pun hit Cal like a hard rock that must have damaged his head, because he started laughing uncontrollably with me. The sad thing was that, unlike me, he was actually sober. Oh, Cap.
I couldn't tell how long we were in this state, but let me tell you, way too long.
- Okay, you got me here, I admit - he giggled one more time shortly in a low voice, composing himself way faster than I ever could. - What do you want now, a cookie?
- If you insist. - I said that, wiping tears off my face, still smiling like an idiot. - I'm always down for something sweet, ya know.
Like a kiss.
Or something a little more than a kiss.
Just sayin'.
He started looking serious again and I couldn't believe how fast he went from an adorable dork to an ordinary jackass in a matter of seconds.
No, wait. I could, actually. It's Calderon, after all.
- Alright, it was fun and all, but now better wipe that stupid grin off of your face and go to bed.
- Or else? - I asked him, looking from under my long eyelashes, as innocently as I possibly could, and smiling like an angel that I definitely wasn't.
- Or else I'll have to make you do it.
This simple sentence was enough to make my whole body hot, with the desire so powerful that could knock me out any second.
I didn't expect him to answer me like that at all.
Am I horny or am I horny?
- I'd love to see you try - I said, while desperately trying my best to keep my cool. I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.
But then he looked me with lust in his eyes and my whole plan of not acting like I've lost my mind fell apart.
I felt like a complete idiot, no one has ever made me act like that except for this jackass. I was always the one making other lose their minds, for fuck's sake! How did the roles turn around so fast?
What's more important, why did I even like him this much? He was like every other high-class dick I've met in my life, and believe me, I've met a lot of them.
And yet, there was something... else, about him. Something that somehow made me interested in him.
For the first time in a very long time I was flirting not to gain what I wanted to survive or simply out of habit, but because I wanted to, and because I actually meant it. And I... almost felt like didn't have to keep my mask on.
Almost.
- You know that ignoring the orders of your boss is not the brightest idea, considering your current situation, right?
- Oh, shut up - I tip-toed, waiting for my kiss.
He then leaned down and whispered to my ear:
- Happy birthday, Stowaway.
And just like that, he was gone.
I smiled.
- Well played, Captain. Well played.
---------------------------------------------------
My first fanfic ever, yay! Haha
I'm not a writer and English isn't my first language so I'm sorry for all the mistakes, weird writing etc.
I had fun writing this though, so if anyone likes it I might post my other fics ^w^
Happy Valentine everyone ~
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arcadiasarchives · 4 years
Text
The Price of Memory
It was strange sitting around with my friends after everything. The old pub we’d practically lived in since university still looked exactly the same. The booth we always commandeered no matter how packed the place was still had the little sign with ‘reserved’ written in red that the owner had put up when we became her best customers. The table was still stained, and in one place burned where the girls had tried a little experiment that had gone about as well as could be expected. My friends were all still the same, still did the stupid, endearing, infuriating things they always had done and probably always would. But then why would they be different. We all promised ourselves that nothing would be different when everything started and nothing had happened to change that. Not really. But then there was something different wasn’t there. I was what was different. Because they thought that I had forgotten, but I remember. Everything
I remember the beginning, the magic and the secrets we all kept. I remember the adrenaline and the happiness of being part of something no matter how dangerous it could be. I remember the darkness, the battles, the war. But I’m not supposed to, I remember that as well. It feels terrible, continuing the charade when they’re all so obviously worried about me. Even grumpy old Samael makes a special trip every so often to discreetly see if I’m doing any better. Under the guise of dropping off forgotten homework or chasing up missing papers.
It’s hard for the others to get me up to the university to see him for secretive check-ups as I’m not taking ‘night classes’ like they are. Of course, his magic, sneaky as he thinks it is, hasn’t picked up on anything because there’s nothing there to find. 
No old spells were hindering my memory. No brain damage. No curses or spirits or any such thing. No just good old fashioned threats and violence. It was amazing how well those things still worked. A little shocking that a man with so much power at his fingertips would resort to that but he’d always seemed like a traditional sort of guy. So here I am sitting in the corner while Jax and Kieran try to discreetly have an argument at the other end of the table about how to deal with a lich. Alice is doing her best to talk over them, telling me about this really weird thing that happened at the bookshop today. It’s interesting but I’m sure the real story is even better, the way she trails off in places and has to think for a second means it’s having all the magic cut out of it for my benefit. But that’s the price I pay to keep them safe. Or at least safer. I know that Adrian didn’t get hit by a car while crossing the street and that Maya didn’t burn her hands while cooking. But I can’t keep them safe from everything. Not with what they stick their noses into all the time and at least this way there’s no big bad waiting around every corner. Just every other corner.
Nicolai, Seth, and Grace come in looking more than a little worse for wear just as Alice is about to tell the boys to fuck off. I can tell because she always gets this really annoyed look right before she says it. They were getting a bit too loud to ignore and I was going to have to ask what they were on about soon. I don’t like doing it but I can only pretend to be so oblivious for so long before they start to realize it’s deliberate. They don’t come over to the table and my heart skips a beat as Jax goes over to talk to them. This can’t be good, it’s never good, and I feel myself crossing my fingers under the table. I never believed in luck, still don’t most of the time, but I’ve started testing it every once in a while just in case.
“Hey, apparently Samael’s had to move our lecture so we’re going to have to leave now if we all want to be able to get our stuff.” Jax is looking at me apologetically, it was after all the first night we’d all been supposed to hang out for ages. “I’m sorry man.”
“It’s fine, you can’t control your classes.” I smiled as Alice got up, ruffling my hair as she did. Samael rearranging lectures was code for, information possible fight, so not something to be too worried about but my stomach was still twisting at the thought. 
“We’ll do it tomorrow or the day after, promise.” She said as she headed around the table to grab her coat, the others all nodding enthusiastically.
“I’ll hold you to that.” I wonder if my cheer sounds as fake to them as it does to my own ears. If it does they don’t say anything and I watch them go, ignoring the way my stomach twists at the thought that this could very well be the time one of them doesn’t come back.
My ginger beer is looking a lot less appealing now. The bubbles popping every so often reminding me how fragile everything was. How fragile life was. My friends lives. Well, there goes my resolution to stop drinking. Alice and Adrian are going to be disappointed in me. They're so happy I’ve stopped drinking they haven’t even asked about it. Which is good because I haven’t come up with a suitable reason and as much as they love me none of them are going to buy any of the generic shit people offer up. Me my reason is based purely on logic. When I’m drunk I can’t always control my brain. If I don’t have control over my brain I might say or do something that gives me away. So now I only drink when I’m alone, which is pretty sad, but even that’s a rare thing. Tonight is just going to be one of those rare things. I’ll be sober long before I see anyone.
“When exactly are you going to stop all of this nonsense?”
Looking up from what is probably only my third glass of whiskey I find Maggie with her hands on her hips giving me one of those looks. The looks reserved for people who cross her or people who need a life lesson taught to them. I’ve been on the receiving end of that look before, for both reasons, but I can’t think why I’d warrant it now.
“Huh?”
Definitely not one of my more eloquent replies but it’s my first time drinking in awhile my brain’s a little sluggish.
“You heard me young man. It’s not nice what you’re doing to them.” She reprimanded as she sat across from me.
I don’t think my blood has ever run cold so fast in my entire life. And that’s including the time I accidentally came face to face with a hell hound. Coincidentally it was also the first time I came face to face with a hell hound which certainly didn’t really help matters. Hey on the plus side I was more or less sober already.
“I’m sorry what.” The look she gave me could have melted stone and I immediately raised my hands in surrender. Maggie was not someone you wanted mad at you. “Sorry sorry I just...”
Her face softened as I tried desperately to figure out what to say. She couldn’t know what was going on. For starters, she had no idea all the weird shit we’d gotten into. If she had noticed something it probably came off as some sort of cruel game I’m playing at the expense of my friends. The thought alone makes me want to vomit.
“Sweetheart sometimes I wonder what on earth made Samael pick you lot.”
Okay, that was weird, she shouldn’t know Samael, there was no reason for her to know Samael any better than she knew us. Certainly no reason for that highly accurate comment. Maybe I’ve already drunk too much. If my tolerance for alcohol is that low my life really is shit. Maggie shakes her head like she does when she catches people showing off around her bar. It’s that disappointed mother face with a hint of challenge in it that no one has ever dared counter. I’m certainly not about to start.
“How do you think Samael finds gifted people with potential. It’s hardly like he goes out to find them is it.”
And oh, oh, that makes a lot of sense. The reserved sign had gone up not long after Samael began tutoring Kieran, Grace, and Ace in the arts of magic. It had been a little while before any of the rest of us learned or joined but yeah it would have been around the same time. I reached for my drink though not completely convinced more alcohol was the answer. So many little things I’d noticed over the years began to take on a whole new life. The fact that the cold hardwood chairs and benches had suddenly been replaced with padded ones just after Alice and Alec spent the night being thrown through walls. No one ever noticing when one of us looked like death. Ace being barred. I quickly turned away from that last thought and back to the matter at hand.
“Have you told Samael?” Which was definitely my more pressing concern because not only did I have no way of explaining this without giving myself away his brain would immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion.
“Of course not,” Maggie said with a rather put upon air, like it was completely obvious she wouldn’t tell him. Considering she’d told me not a minute ago that she was the reason he’d picked us out I think she could have cut me a little slack. “I’m sure you have reasons. Very good reasons in fact.”
“Yeah.”
Now she’s looking at me expectantly and I know she wants me to tell her. I shouldn’t, it’s too dangerous it could ruin everything. But at the same time, I want to. I need advice, need to know what to do because there’s no way I can keep this up forever. Besides short of a complete stranger I can’t think of anyone better to tell. If she’s telling the truth no one knows about her, I doubt anyone even suspects, and if she hasn’t told Samael yet she’s hardly going to now. But it all boils down to that doesn’t it, if she’s telling the truth. Because if she’s not that means she’s one of Kyle’s which is going to ruin everything. I really really hate my life sometimes, and to think everything had been going great just a few months ago. Of course, this is Maggie so if I don’t tell her she’s going to get it out of me somehow. Besides I want to trust her.
It doesn’t take nearly as long as I ever thought it would, but still long enough that I know it’s the right thing for me even though I regret it just a little. Maggie looks sympathetic, her hand resting on mine and it’s one of the most comforting feelings. I trail off about not knowing what to do and finish what is now my fifth whiskey wondering where I can go to get more if this ends really badly.
“I’m so proud of you Xander, I know none of this can be easy.” She smiles at the little noise I make though even I don’t know whether or not it’s agreement. “But I think the best thing right now is to tell Samael.” Panic must have shown on my face because she immediately raised her hand to stop my protests. “Not the others, just Samael. Think we can manage that? It’s alright to say no.”
I think about it for a moment my head already beginning to nod. Samael will know what to do. Samael always has an answer.
“Yeah, I think we can manage that.”
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bakudekuficlibrary · 6 years
Note
hey, can i ask for a fics where bakudeku are texting each other? if not, thank you anyway ;*
Here’s a mini-list of the fics I could find with texting/messaging between bakudeku! Because you specified bkdk texting each other, I excluded group chat AUs. AO3 also has parent tags that include variations of the tag, so many fics with sexting tagged instead of texting came up. We decided to separate those from the fics with just the texting (or the texting and sexting) tags.
- Jay
20 Works.
Texting
BNHA Grindr AU No One Asked For by HatakeJory ( E | 70,979+ | 37/50 )
Izuku is a second-year at U.A. and ready for his first relationship so he downloads the gay dating app known as Grindr. He meets pro hero and U.A. graduate Bakugou Katsuki who is looking for a cute boy to spoil, and eventually someone who’s awesome enough to run his Hero Agency with.
Who knows what they’ll find in each other?
[Underage]
I’ll share this with you, so leave it behind by yabakuboi ( G | 3,508 | 1/1 )
For the sake of the story, All Might is never in need of a successor, and, when Izuku saves Katsuki from the sludge monster, encourages young Midoriya down a different path. Thus, Katsuki and Izuku part ways after junior high, as Katsuki enters U.A. and the Midoriyas move overseas. It’s later that Katsuki realizes that there’s something missing, that he drove that something away.
Years after, Katsuki finds him in the last place he looks, in the cereal aisle at the local grocery store of their childhood neighborhood.
[Abandoned] They Say 3 a.m. is the Hour of the Wicked. They Weren’t Wrong, but I Didn’t Expect “Wicked” to Mean This. by Celestial_Hero ( T | 16,085 | 13/? )
Remember the last time you actually slept before 3 in the morning? Neither does Izuku, thanks to the #alwayslit conversations from the hellhole known as the group chat. Where the pizzas are always b o n e l e s s and the shade constant, Izuku wonders what he’s done wrong in his life to deserve the constant salt from the active landfill.
Not Who You Think by SinaBrosLN( E | 6,406+ | 4/? )
Who knew one simple photo of you and your best friend could have your crush messaging you, asking for you to date them! It was too good to be true!
A story where Katsuki thinks Izuku is the cute girl in his profile photo and not the nerdy guy with messy hair.
Smile, Sunshine boy by Abyssale( M | 13,269+ | 4/? )
In another world, in another universe, Midoriya Izuku is born the only child of Toshinori Yagi A.K.A All Might. To protect his little family, he decided to go back to America after a villain attack. In this world, Izuku is not born quirkless, but his quirk can help him to be a superhero. With All Might as his role model, he decided to train, and do what he can to become someone his dad can be proud of.
This story begins some years after this, in California where Midoriya Izuku met U.A. students on a school trip. This is the story of a sunshine boy, who will find friendship, love and other things along the way. It’s the story of a family who can move mountains to protect each other. It’s just another story about the life of Midoriya Izuku.
[Graphic Depictions Of Violence]
Rain by naths( G | 1,335 | 1/1 )
Midoriya woke up to the sound of light rain pattering against the window. Lazily he rolled himself onto his back and rubbed his eyes before he glanced at the clock. 10 am. Bakugou was at work by now. But he had the day off. So he had their apartment all for himself.
He snuggled down into the pillows and pulled the blanket further over him again. If he just stayed a few more moments in bed then that would be fine. He grabbed his phone and checked it for some messages, but the only one he had gotten was from Ochaco and Kacchan.
He opened Kacchan´s first.> Morning Nerd! It´s raining so put on a coat if you go out. Be back around 5 pm. Take care of yourself.Midoriya chuckled to himself and texting a quick reply> Thank you Kacchan, will be. Love you.
I don’t think you care, but do you? by confused_atm( M | 5,577 | 5/? )
Izuku is still scarred from his relationship with Katsuki during their childhood, and maybe they try to fix it. Together.(I’m bad at summaries y'all :’) help idk what I’m doing)!!TRIGGER WARNING!! There is self-harm, but only in like the first chapterThis is rated M bc of ^ and underage drinking uwu
[Self Harm]
Not Worried, but Katsuki’s a Liar by DeathByShyKid( T | 1,781 | 1/1 )
Katsuki tried not to resort to anger, tried to control it, he really did but Izuku was not answering his texts.
He wouldn’t have needed to text him if Izuku had shown up to school like he’s supposed to. By the time he’d already been seated and turned to look at where his boyfriend should have been sitting, Katsuki realized that the brat wasn’t even there. So, he was not worried but definitely shot a text Izuku’s way.
The Domestic Life Of Married Heroes by The_Crafty_Cracker( M | 2,642+ | 2/? )
Izuku smiles at the messages, he adores and loves his friends so very much, of course, he’ll go and help them out-wait!
This was the week that he and Kacchan had specifically placed a holiday in for at their agencies so that they could go out on a few dates and spend some time together without interruption.
But right now his friends need him…
Kacchan would understand, right?
Right?
[Abandoned] the space between by ruche( T | 4,707+ | 1/? )
Deku shifted weight back and forth on his feet. “Is it alright if I text you while you’re away?”
“Hah? You already text me.”
Or: with the gift of technology, Izuku manages to bug Katsuki even when he’s in another city entirely and has more important things to do. But alright.
Don’t Call My Boyfriend A Cuck, You Cuck by mearows( T | 294 | 1/1 )
1 New Message Kacchan’s PA: Good morning, Midoriya-san! Please don’t let Bakugou-san near any social media for today. If possible take away his phone and/or laptop. That’s all, thank you! 
Dear Future Boyfriend by peacheszxcx( G | 2,055+ | 16/? )
Dear Future Boyfriend,You probably don’t know even know me yet, so I guess I have to introduce myself. Hi! I’m Midoriya Izuku, your future boyfriend. I hope I could meet you soon! Love,Izuku
It’s Not A Date! by otaku916( M | 3,672+ | 1/? )
“If he doesn’t attack you the moment you walk through the door his dick is broken.” Ochako interrupted, making Izuku and Iida both choke on their spit.
Or
What happens when you have the emotionally constipated, gruff, socially inept guy ask out the oblivious nervous wreck? An awkward disaster of a date that’s what. Go through the pain of first dates, hormones, and running away from your feelings that comes with going through puberty - all while training to be a hero!
The Only One Who Can Receive His Feelings by dracofides( G | 1,744+ | 1/? )
Izuku gains the courage to text his crush to congratulate him on winning the game because he had nothing to lose, but Katsuki doesn’t take this very well and lashes out, demanding his name and purpose. It leads to Izuku telling him a story. After hearing, Katsuki suddenly feels guilty, so he lets Izuku stick around.
They bond.
….
A BakuDeku Text Story [Encoded like a text message]
“Yeah…” I turned back around and he was waiting for me ( Not Rated | 1,180 | 1/1 )
“Sorry.” I hide my head from his face which was slowly turning into a smile.
“Did you think I’d believe that?” He questioned.
“No.”
“I didn’t, I know you Kacchan.” My heart ached. Was this lie bringing us closer together?
Fuck yeah.
I just nodded, my face red. He’s the only one who can call me that.
Sexting
Swipe Right by Cellaira( E | 9,180 | 2/2 )
Kirishima had another stupid idea, and Katsuki had nothing to lose. Then, he discovered a witty, freckled, attractive stranger, and he had everything to gain.
(Like some damn good sex.)
In other words, the Grindr AU no one asked for but everyone secretly needed.
[On Hiatus] dick pic epistolary by animeboybuttsex( M | 10,113+ | 8/? )
Bakugou Katsuki? Needing FRIENDS? pfft nooooo
OR the original “accidental dick pic from a stranger” fic that there’s at least one of in any fandom
told in mostly texts at first
[ON HIATUS]
[Underage]
How Am I Getting Out of This One? by AniseTokunaga( E | 3,178+ | 2/? )
“There’s something he wants to try– actually, maybe a couple of things, if he’s being honest…”
Izuku fantasizes about Katsuki; a couple of mistakes in the making might make things more interesting, much to Izuku’s embarrassment.
More tags to be added if/when I update.
Claiming Deku by Kyna_Winchester( E | 8,245 | 1/1 )
It’s been two weeks since Izuku last snuck into Katsuki’s dorm room and he’s growing desperate. Can he make it through a day full of classes with his mind unable to focus on how bad he wants Katsuki?
The Selfie Challenge by errant_rivalry ( E | 3,902+ | ½ )
Frustrated by his separation from Katsuki due to incompatible work shifts, Izuku takes Ochako’s advice and downloads a little app called Snip Pic to help improve communication between the duo.
Things, inevitably, get a little out of hand.
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poorvioletdraws · 5 years
Text
Tom vs. The Underworld
*I decided to write a fanfic based specifically around Tom from SVTFOE and my oc, Raya as practice for a bigger project I want to do one day since I haven’t written any kind of story in years. It takes place mainly in the Underworld around season 4 and later post-Cleaved. This is the first chapter. Hope you like it and happy reading!
---
Chapter 1: Someday I Suppose
I had been passing the time in between deliveries for my eldest sister, Rochelle, by playing an old favorite of mine on my Sintendo 66 gaming console in the backroom of her feed and bait store. Being the youngest of seven from the infamous Stone Demon family, the Belmontes, I constantly had a lot of pressure on me to turn out just like my siblings whenever my last name was mentioned. All of my brothers wanted to be great builders like Dad. All of my sisters wanted to create magnificent swords and weaponry just like Mom. Then there was me. I wasn’t very good at building or creating anything really. Except when it came to music.
Music was always a passion of mine to forget about the normalcy of my reality, and having a game like “The Legend of Lilith: Fiddle of Time” to consume myself with really highlighted that vehement urge for escape. I often times would play the many medleys and songs for hours on my saxophone after such sessions. My family and friends knew this ritual of mine all too well and would admonish that I can get lost in the music and forget reality if I’m not careful, though I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my day honestly. 
It wasn’t until the third time of Rochelle’s abrupt entry--swinging the door open and shaking the room with her shouting--that I had to tear away from my fantasy and get started on that invoice in order to not incite her wrath any further. I idly examined the statement and retrieved each item, all the while as my older sister berated my slothlike behavior and questioned aloud why I even decided to help out at her store knowing my history of “slackerdom”. The address was a recurring one whose proprietor always paid in advance so this would be a quick delivery. They also preferred to be left anonymous yet they religiously requested the delivery of the same bulk products every few weeks--Hydraworms, Tears of the Harpy, Leviathan Leeches, spool of Acromantula web, skeleton horse hay and grass (not to be confused with flesh horse hay and grass), and a few boxes of “Underworld’s Best Bunny Pellets” just to name a few on the list. I knew it all like the basic fingerings of my sax.
As soon as I packed the last of the order into my Golem--the only thing I created with my elemental abilities that was actually exceptional according to my Dad--I was off and heading out to Lava Lake. My eagerness of getting back to my game and becoming further engrossed in a fantasy of excitement gradually subsided as I gazed across the bubbling body of lava. There were demons swiftly surfing across the molten rock waves of the beach while others were challenging each other to an intense game of Skull Ball. A group of Monster tourists were fishing off the Dock of Unending Torment at the same time another group was setting sail on their ghost ship rental. Small demon children were joyfully building sand coffins and burying each other in the dark gray grainy substance, their laughter becoming an accompaniment with the rest of the enjoyment on the beach. Although playing games and creating music were fun hobbies of mine, it was seeing crowds of people having fun themselves and getting lost in their excitement that was something else I would never get tired of. Everyone seemed to be so happy as they relished in the atmosphere. And witnessing such happiness made me happy for them as well. 
This part of the beach was the busiest; a prime location for my sister’s shop. Our mom suggested she learn how to run a smaller business before taking on the huge responsibility that is the family trade, and like the obedient daughter she is, my sister followed through without hesitation. Plus, Rochelle was able to practice forging smaller items like fishing knives and hooks when she wasn’t spending her free time bossing me around. She would rush me if I couldn’t ring a customer up fast enough and belittle me when I accidentally spilled something (multiple things) and didn’t clean it up right away--which is why she has tasked me with deliveries. I can’t destroy the shop if I’m not in the shop, I guess. And it was only one time where I accidentally let loose that swarm of piranhaflies in the store; in my defense, I didn’t know you sell the whole container of the creature to a customer instead of just one individually.
I know she assumes I purposefully don’t work at my full potential, but I really am trying to. I may be slow and clumsy, but I genuinely want to do the best I can to help my sister achieve her goal, even if my own hasn’t really been figured out yet. I like observing her work. She knows how to answer every question a customer has and can find the best solution to their problem. I like how she includes me in things that interest her too. She shows me the best bait to use to catch a Flaming Crococricket and how to break open the shell of an Ember Berry to use the juice for medicinal purposes. But most of all, I like seeing how happy helping others makes her feel. Sometimes, while we are sitting out on the beach together and watching the waves calm at the end of the day, I glance over and admire the contentment of Rochelle. She is truly happy with her existence and extends that aspect towards others, something I secretly yearn for. She inspires me to be that kind of beacon in someone else’s life one day. But with my reputation of being a “lazy” and “procrastinating” demon lacking the expertise to carry on the Belmonte name, I highly doubt such a day would come anytime soon.
Being lost in my train of thought, I didn’t realize that dark maroon and coal black clouds were forming overhead. And then without warning, a thunderous boom filled the sky, shocking me as I clutched onto my Golem. The wind began to shoot passed me furiously and the clouds burst open, spitting down violent flames as the red waves crashed wildly on the barren land.
“Where’d this storm come from all of a sudden!” I shouted to myself, jumping from my Golem and placing my hand on its base. It began breaking down from its previous walking form and into a makeshift stone shelter. Now covered from the onslaught of the fiery squall, I looked around at my surroundings. 
I had already wandered into the secluded area of the beach where the crowd had vanished from sight. This was definitely part of my usual route but the storm was definitely not. Fire really couldn’t harm me with my skin being partly covered with stone and all, but I was wearing my favorite outfit today and didn’t want it getting singed. I guess I’ll wait it out. 
I thought how mad my sister will be, knowing I’ve taken longer than I needed to. She probably thinks I am messing around this very minute. How was I to know a flash firestorm was going to occur? I then began to think of my friends back home in Chernabog City, the largest demon metropolis in the heart of Prickly Plains. The six of us would be hanging out at the arcade right around this time, maybe deciding if we wanted to go do karaoke before or after we ate at our favorite burger place, Grimdonald’s. We also formed a band together. Even though we are amateurs, we have a lot of fun just playing together regardless if we don’t always sound good. We don’t have a singer yet however. I haven’t had much time to hang out with my friends or look for a singer now that I help out my sister. She had told me that this busy season will be slowing down soon, which will be a pretty good thing. Not that I’m complaining, but I would like to focus more on our music we had been creating together lately.
All of a sudden and as quickly as it started, the storm died down, leaving no trace of its presence at all. A bright rainbow shown through in its place off the horizon. I looked around quickly for a sign of familiarity. Off to the far side of my Golem structure, there was a wooden post near some large rocks that read “Private Property”. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing I was almost to my destination. I transformed my Golem back into its riding form and continued on. Aside from the bipolarity of the weather, it had been just another typical day in the Underworld. Instances such as that one do not happen out of the ordinary too often. Guess that was my bit of excitement for the day. Or so I thought.
A spacious beach-side home--not too extravagant but still containing the right amount of grotesque appeal demons like--was positioned comfortably near the lake of fire, separating the rocky terrain from the burning abyss before it. A large cone shaped tower with a beaming eye atop it sat adjacent to the home. Having stopped by the carport where a blue vehicle was parked, I hopped off my Golem and retrieved the boxes to be delivered from its carriage. Carrying so many in one trip wouldn’t be too hard of a task for me, though if my sister were present she would comment how I’m just being too lazy to want to make multiple trips. I staggered over to the door with the mountain of goods and was able to extend one of my fingers just enough to press the doorbell without dropping the load. I turned to the side so my head wasn’t blocked by the packages and could greet the usual patron that came to answer.
However, instead of being greeted by the high pitch voice of the little red winged demon that would confirm the address and flap away with the order just as fast as he came to the door, a teenage demon boy with pale lilac skin and salmon-colored hair answered it.
“Hey.” he said calmly.
Still taken aback by the fresh face, I mumbled, “Um… Uh--Hi. delivery for this address from Styx & Stones.”
The demon boy looked puzzled at first but when I mentioned the name of the store he quickly caught on and said, “Oh yea, my Dad placed the order not too long ago. For the Lucitors, right?”
“Well… it always comes in as Anony—Wait, Lucitor?” I uttered the last name again.
“Yeeea…?” he shrugged coolly..
 “As in THE Lucitors?!” I gasped alarmingly.
“Uh huh, yep.” he repeated his affirmation without hesitation.
“As in KING and QUEEN Lucitor!” I blurted out, my eyes were probably as wide as saucers at this point.
“Yea, well, they are my parents so…” He chuckled a bit as he averted his eyes to the side and itched at his cheek.
“Eh! So you’re Prince Lucitor?!”  I squealed, feeling an overwhelming rush of anxiety take over me.
“Uh, you can just call me—“
“I’m so sorry for my rudeness!” My body began to tremble and my voice was shaking as I panicked, “P-Please forgive me, Your Highness!” I instantly hung my head down, my red hair falling in my face. But because I had hastily bowed to the demon prince, I did not realize I had dropped the entire order to the ground in the process. My hands clutched at the sides of my face in horror. “Ah! I dropped all of your stuff, I’m so sorry!” I fell on my knees and started to frantically collect the pile of items around me. “Sorry for my incompetence, I’ll make sure you don’t get charged if anything is messed up! I’m so very sorry, Your Highness sir!”
“Uhh..” he couldn’t find his words; probably because he is too busy considering various ways to discipline me for my insolence, no doubt. Even worse, he will probably go get King and Queen Lucitor and tell them what I have done!
I bent down even further, slamming my forehead to the floor with my knees in my chest. If it weren’t for me being a Stone Demon, such an action would knock out anybody else. Although, I do wish I were unconscious right now instead of feeling like such an idiot in the presence of our prince. I wish I could just bury myself in the sand and disappear. Now it made sense why the order was always left anonymous. The royal Lucitor family owns this home! How could I have spoken to royalty--our prince of the Underworld--in such a casual tone. Once my family finds out about how I have shamed them, I’ll be banished, I’m sure! Just the thought of such impending ostracization had me sweating bullets and my yellow eyes filling with tears. I needed to find redemption with him somehow. 
So, while still being extremely embarrassed, I was able to meekly cry out, “I didn’t know your family was staying here, I deserve whatever punishment you see fit for my blatant disrespect, Your Highness!”
Silence.
I didn’t dare look up from the ground but when I saw the shadow of his hand raise, I knew it was coming. I held my breath as my own hands clenched at the floor beneath me and my body stiffened in anticipation of his chosen judgement. But instead of a rage-filled strike, my shoulder was met with his touch in a comforting way. I slowly brought my head up to look in his direction, casting my hair to the side and finally out of my face. 
He gave a half-smile,  “Ok, look. I know I’ve been a bit of a… of a jerk before in the past with my subjects--and believe me, I get how some of you may still think of me as this angry, spoiled guy--but I have changed SO much now. And thanks to a lot of people close to me, I am working on my temper so I can be a better prince for the future of the Underworld.”
Still nervous, I murmured, “Your Highness, n-no… I wasn’t calling you a--”
“And all that Your Highness stuff, psshh, you can just call me Tom. It is my name after all.” He removed his hand from my shoulder and began reaching for a box.
I began to worry again, “No, Your Highness, please, you shouldn’t do that, it’s my fault you--”
“Hyuh!” He called out as he shot his hand upward. In an instant, all of the items in disarray on the floor suddenly floated in the air. He motioned his hand towards his front door and everything that had been levitating proceeded to quickly fly inside his beach house. 
I was at a loss for words. His telekinetic ability was amazing, but I didn’t expect less of a feat from such a high-born child whose family rules over the Underworld.
“Well, there we go.” He turned back in my direction with his hands on his hips and all three of his red eyes now fixed on me. “So, you uh, going to get off of the ground, or something?”
I jumped to my feet, feeling some of the debilitating anxiety slowly release its hold on me. I tried to calm myself but my words still came out in a panic, “I-I-I-m so sorry you had to do that, Your High--”
“Hey, I told you. You can call me Tom, all my friends do.” he gave a genuine smile.
My mouth was slightly agape but I didn’t really care how I looked right now. I was still in awe of being able to stand in front of one of the Lucitors of the Underworld. I clutched my hands together tightly to my chest, something I always tend to do when I am unsure how to read the situation. I have never met anyone of royalty before, let alone seen anyone of such stature before either. How I imagined the prince to be was not the same person I am seeing before me. My friends and I thought of him and his family to be the most despicable and aggressive of creatures, ready to obliterate any one of us lesser demons who even dare cough in the same room as them. This demon boy was nothing like that. He wasn’t terrifying or vile. He looked just like us. He dressed like us. He smiled. And not in a deceptive way. An actual sincere smile. Looking into his eyes and observing that smiling face, I felt my guard beginning to slip a little. I was about to muster up enough courage to reply to him when--
“Tom! Your Dad got the board drawn for Sand Darts and you’re up first, handsome!” a cheery and youthful female voice called from inside the home. 
“Oh ho, It’s on! Coming, Star!” The demon prince turned away and was about to close the door behind him when he paused. He glanced back at me and said, “Oh, I never got your name.”
I began to blush nervously as I stared at my feet. I took a breath and was able to mumble out, “Uhm.. It’s… Raya… Your Hi--Uhm... Prince Tom…”
“Cool, nice to meet you, Raya. Well, see-ya around. Heh heh.” He pointed his hand at me like a finger gun and winked all in one motion before shutting the door behind him, getting a laugh at his play on words with my name.
And just like that, I was alone again. I don’t remember how long I stood there staring at the now closed door, or when I finally returned to my Golem to take the trek back to my sister’s store. I never really felt like this before. Everything seemed so unreal and as if my head was in a haze. I can’t believe I met the prince of the Underworld. He wasn’t what I expected at all, which was kind of a good thing really. He was very welcoming, kind of dorky, and, most importantly, he was happy. Just like my sister, Rochelle. He has the kind of happiness in him that is unbreakable. Which is to be expected, being a prince and all. 
Coming from royalty, his life must have always been easy and perfect; with a future decided for him, he probably doesn’t have a care in the world. His royal parents must really love him and that female voice, a princess girlfriend perhaps, loves him too. He probably can have anything he could ever want and do whatever he wanted to. His reality is that of a  most coveted fantasy by many. But, despite all that, his happiness is still pure and the kind I admire. The kind I wouldn’t mind being around more in hopes of taking in some of that for myself, if that were even possible. Random encounters such as this don’t happen everyday. How many of us common demon folk even get to say we met Prince Lucitor? … Prince Tom… His friends call him Tom… I wonder what it's like being friends with someone like him…
Secretly I hope one day I’ll know. Someday, I suppose...
Read on:
Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9  | Chapter 10
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silvana-fangirls · 6 years
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Target [Dabi x ua!Reader] Chapter 7
I really don’t even want to excuse myself, but I kinda have to because I don’t know when the next update it’s gonna be up and it’s for the exact same reason so...
Hey guys, it’s me... after so much time. First of all I wanna thank the ones that reached out to me through my ask box (I will answer those in a sec) and through PM. I am okay, just crazy busy I suppose. We got a new project in the place I work so it’s really been consuming my life for the past month... that and college. So yeah, it’s been hard. i haven’t even been able to reblog or so much like posts here on tumblr aaaand I’m still dealing with it so while I wanna promise that the next update will be up soon I don’t wanna lie to you guys. I’m not saying ‘IT’S GONNA TAKE MONTHS!!!!’ because it can take only days or weeks, but it depends... and I don’t wanna compromise. 
Anyways, feels good to be back and update this. Feels good to dive in in this story as well... I’ve missed it. 
I hope you enjoy this chapter, tho. Please let me know. 
ALSO READ NOTES AT THE END THEY ARE IMPORTANT
Links to chapters:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
TAG TO FIC IS: SILVANA WRITES : TARGET
READ IT IN [AO3]
or below the cut
Dabi felt like he lost a small battle when he sent Twice to give the girl her next meal after the ‘incident’ or whatever that type of situation could be called.
It felt like somehow he complied what she ordered him to do, and following orders never sat well with him. So, he kinda was cursing at himself right now for ‘giving in’ in some way.
It wasn’t because he wanted to please her in any way, though. It was mostly because of her words left him mute at that moment.
“Just tell me what you want from me”
The fact that he didn’t even have an answer for himself was pissing him off.
What was the true reason why he was the one who was acting as a maid?
Shigaraki didn’t ask him to do so. He didn’t even mention the girl once when he talked to him these past days (he did mention her to the other members of the League, though. Dabi found that quite odd but haven’t really commented on it. It’s not like he was interested anyways).
It just sort of happened before he could even realize what was going on.
The first morning in the new base Twice was sent in his civilian outfit to get something to eat for the prisoner. It seemed that it only downed to them that the girl hasn’t really eaten anything in more than a day, and it wouldn’t really be convenient if she died on them accidentally. Killing her would be more profitable.
Twice returned quickly from his small trip to the nearest grocery store, possibly because one of his ‘sides’ somehow had a little soft spot for the girl. He was quick to put on his suit again and heat up a small cup of instant noodles before rushing to her ‘room’. All while Dabi’s eyes followed his every move from the only couch that the base had, that was conveniently placed somewhere with a very great view of her door.
Magne was sent to the grocery store later in the day, since Shigaraki trusted her with food much more than anyone else in the place. She returned a couple of hours later, casually commenting that she only stole half of the stuff she brought with her.
Spinner then offered to help with the food. They made omurice for the League and lazily put some frozen nuggets in the small oven for the prisoner.
The next thing Dabi knew was that he snatched her tray of food just before Twice could get his hands on it.
“I’ll take care of it” The words slipped out of his mouth.
He could feel Shigaraki’s eyes on him as he made his way towards the girl’s room.
He brushed it off.
It wasn’t the first time something like this happened to him. It’s been happening for the past years of his life. He unconsciously realized he wanted to do something and he did it. No doubts, no questions asked, no overthinking.
He functioned better this way, and he liked functioning this way, too.
He won’t ever get ordered around again, he won’t ever hast for permission or give explanations for his actions.
Once he got in front of her door, he simply unlocked it and opened it up to then see her laying on her bed with her back facing him.
She didn’t turn around or flinch, she didn’t even tense up. In fact, she seemed quite comfortable where she was, considering she was currently kidnaped by villains and held somewhere unknown.
He found that quite odd.
He began to walk towards her, expecting her to turn around at some point, but she didn’t. It was only when he was close enough to the bed that she did turn.
He clearly saw how her eyes turned from slightly confused to completely horrified.
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a bit pleased by that.
Horrified eyes instantly turned into a death glare, though.
She turned her back to him again, and spat out “I’m not hungry” in such an angered way that Dabi couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from lifting up.
He carefully placed the tray on her bed, and simply settled to sit laying on the opposite wall.
Again, he didn’t know why. But something about her being all tensed up now made him stay and watch.
It didn’t take long to watch her explode.
She got up and snapped at him like a rabid puppy –quite amusingly if he may add- while he simply looked at her lazily. He could see that she was fighting the urge to hit him with something, but she was smarter than that.
Because it definitely wouldn’t be pretty for her if she dared to touch him.
When she finally gave in and ate, he felt something he was sure he never felt before in his life.
Dabi liked challenge, to an extent. A very, very short extent if he was being honest.
After his entire childhood and puberty was a constant competition he wasn’t very fond of the feeling in a certain way.
He didn’t like the fact that when he was competing against something or someone, somehow, he felt like he didn’t have his own rails. He felt like someone else had control over him, and it would only give him that sour taste in his mouth he was very familiar with from the past.
Still, he found that he did enjoy certain challenges now. Like challenging over power, over control. It was mostly involved with his villain ‘job’ per say. Otherwise, his life was pretty careless, lazy or easy going.
He didn’t give a shit about most things.
But now, seeing that oddly mixture of challenge yet fear in her eyes he couldn’t help but feel a pull towards it.
What was going on in this girl’s mind?
He knew that he was pretty much hideous.
Burns and staples all over his face was a look straight out of a horror movie. He knew that she knew his quirk was pretty much devastatingly powerful as well. Lethal. And he was also positive that people were able to tell that feelings weren’t really fond of him so ‘mercy’ or ‘compassion’ were definitely not written across his forehead.
While she was being partially smart to be afraid of him, she was also being partially stupid to snap on him like that or look at him in a challenging way at all.
She was lucky he was curious enough about her not to roast her off to a better life for simply daring to annoy him.
Oh-
That was it.
He was curious. He was curious about her.
And he had plenty reasons to be.
Her past, her insistence of fighting even if she doesn’t stand a chance, her self-sacrificial antics, her wishes to be a heroine.
But most important of all, the feelings that she expressed every time her parents were mentioned. Feelings that mirrored his own perfectly.
He figured that he wanted to know exactly how things went down. He wanted to know everything, from the beginning. Perhaps it was because he never really encountered anyone that has been through a similar situation or whatever; he didn’t really care what his inner-unconscious motives were after all.
But it wasn’t only that…
If he was being honest he never really had any experiences with girls (obviously not romantically speaking) other than family or Toga (that didn’t count because she was batshit crazy, so, she wasn’t really a reference). He never got a chance to. But, even still, he knew that this particular girl was not ordinary.
Before she asked that damned question that left him mute as an idiot he would confidently say that the reason why he kept on being the one that gave her meals was because he was curious and he wanted to observe her like she was some rare animal in the zoo (not that he ever went to the zoo, but… whatever). But after she asked that he realized that what he was doing was actually pointless, considering that 99% of the time she would be ignoring him or snapping at him. So, what was there to ‘learn’ that would satisfy his curiosity if he was just sitting there for half an hour or so watching her do pretty much nothing?
That’s why he sent Twice in today, and he was mentally kicking himself for it. Not just because in some way he did what she told him to, but also because he let stupid, meaningless words to affect him enough to overthink them.
What did he want from her?
To join them? No. Not really.
Mostly because she hated her parents and she doesn’t want to follow their steps.
So, if it wasn’t that, what was it?
The only thing left (besides the curiosity issue) was that he now acknowledged and accepted in a way that he enjoyed being challenged by her.
When she threw the tray of food making it crash and splatter all over the floor he felt a sudden rush of anger in his blood. He was furious. Because how dare this helpless school girl defy him in any way?
But part of him enjoyed it as well. The challenge.
And maybe that was the reason why he was with her lunch on one hand while unlocking and opening the door with the other.
It was the first time she wasn’t facing backwards to the door. In fact, she was sitting cross-legged on the bed while reading a book. It was also the first time he saw her in a different set of clothes and with her hair down and slightly wet.
He instantly remembered that Twice was sent to buy some clothes for her early in the morning after Shigaraki said ‘We’re still freaking recruiting her or did every of you idiots forget about that already?’
She was now wearing a simple yellow T-shirt and some sports shorts. Both too incredibly large for her, but then again he couldn’t even imagine what shopping with Twice would be like.
The book was probably doing of the side of Twice that thought the girl was a toddler.
She lifted her gaze right after the door closed behind him and he saw how her eyes widened slightly before returning to her reading.
He did the exact same thing as any other day: Place the food tray on her bed and go straight to sit in the exact same spot he always did.
It was kind of surprising to hear her talk right away.
“I thought you were finally released from maid duty” She said without even bothering to look up from her book.
A chuckle threatened to escape his throat.
Yeah, this girl is definitely not ordinary.
“Missing Twice already?” He said mockery pretty clear in his voice. “Sorry to disappoint you, princess, but he seems to have a thing for Toga” He said looking straight at her with a smirk in his face. “Part of him, at least”
She sent him a vicious death glare, but turned to her book right after.
“Rather be with him than with you” She merely commented, as casual as she could.
“Ouch” He simply said and she glared at him again.
She closed the book for a moment and grabbed the tray, placing it on top of her knees to then calmly starting to eat the gyudon that was in front of her, flinching and scrunching her nose right after tasting the first bite.
He didn’t blame her. Compress cooked today and it was a complete disgustingly disaster.
She kept on eating, though.
“Why did you come back?” She casually asked like she was talking about the weather. “To burn me again?”
“I didn’t burn you” He answered after a few seconds. Yeah, he wordlessly threatened to but his palm wasn’t hot enough to actually burn her.
“Right” She said, and after sipping some water she continued. “Why not, though? Will get you in trouble?”
She was taunting him.
He narrowed his eyes just barely at her to then smirk ever so slightly.
“Not at all” he said. “I just thought that burning you isn’t a really effective way to convince you to join” He said the first thing that came to mind.
“Yet you burned Bakugou and you were trying to ‘convince’ him, too”
His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly at the sudden mention of the angry boy’s name.
“Still mad about that?” He asked at first. “I didn’t know you two were friends. Want me to send him an ‘I’m sorry’ card? I can add that you say ‘Hi’”
She quickly avoided his gaze with her jaw clenched.
They both stayed quiet for a few moments.
“Why don’t you just kill me?” She asked, breaking the silence.
The question definitely startled him.
“Huh?” He said, hiding completely his curiosity and startlement about the question.
She looked at him, dead in the eye.
“You heard me”
“You want me to kill you?” He asked. He didn’t take her for the cowardly type. In the few days she’s been captured, and ever since seeing her for the first time even, he thought that she was a pain in the ass, in a good way… sort of. That annoyingly persistent type of person that won’t stop pissing you off and wont budge until they got what they wanted.
The death exit definitely seemed coward compared to the initial impression he got from her.
What was off of this whole conversation was the lack of fear or desperation in her eyes while talking about death.
“Not necessarily you” She shrugged. “I mean the whole... Villains Gang or whatever the hell you guys call yourselves”
“’Villains Gang’?” He mentally scoffed.
“Y’all know I won’t join you” she continued. “I know you know” She said, referring to him in particular. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill me off and show it to the world?” She added, eyes never leaving his. “That’s still a win, isn’t it? That way you’ll still win and the Heroes lose. So what are you waiting for?”
He wanted to laugh at himself for being startled before, so he did. He let out a quiet snort.
Of course she was challenging him, again.
He didn’t know what her ultimate goal was but she was trying to get under his skin.
“I hope you’re aware that you’re playing with fire here, sweetheart” He warned.
“I didn’t know you were the punny type” She said completely disregarding his threat with an ‘innocent’ look on her face.
He chuckled again and started to walk towards her, getting a sickly pleasant feeling once he saw her tense up as fear flashed through her eyes for a moment.
He simply took her food tray with one hand while with the other he softly brushed hair out of her color drained face while looking straight into her eyes dangerously.
“You truly are something else, I’ll give you that” He said as he softly let go of her. “Just don’t get too comfy around here, okay?”
And then he left.
X
If Bakugou could blast the world off and turn it to ash, he would. He would, without a single doubt.
It’s been four days of coming and going to the Police station to check if they managed to get the lead of something –anything- but those fuckers where complete and utter incapable idiots.
It also seemed that without All Might and Best Jeanist the heroes turned into incapable idiots as well.
He kicked forcefully the door of his house, snapping it open soundly as he stomped through the halls making his way to his room.
“Katsuki?” His mother said as she got out of the kitchen. “Any news? Do they know anything about her?”
He didn’t answer; he simply stomped his way up the stairs and closed his door forcefully almost snapping it in two.
His hands were itchy, so unbearably itchy.
He needed to blast something off -or several somethings- before he went mad.
He was an incapable idiot, too.
How could he allow something like this to happen!? How did he even allow himself to get kidnapped in the first place!?
He sighed, his shoulders trembling slightly out of rage because of his last thought.
He was actually glad he was kidnapped, in a way.
He was glad that at least at the beginning that girl wasn’t on her own.
They should’ve stayed together. Either free or captive, but together.
He was supposed to become the world’s greatest hero, yet he allowed himself to get saved by a sacrifice.
He was at his home, safe and sound, while who knows where or how she was.
He should’ve gotten free of Kirishima’s grasp and tried to save her or sacrifice instead or at least get captured again with her.
His mind hasn’t stopped for a single second ever since he saw how she was carried by the crusty bastard through the portal, disappearing from his sight. Every single second was filled with her.
He couldn’t stop chastising himself, blaming himself and cursing himself after everything.
He was an incapable idiot. He was weak, and useless, and stupid.
He felt like shit, and the rumors running around the country weren’t helping either.
Instead of worrying about her most people were already dissing her.
Saying that she’d probably joined The League already.
Fuckers.
He was gonna find her, he was gonna bring her back and he was gonna prove all those fuckers wrong. She was gonna prove them wrong.
And he will make those bastards of The League of Villains pay.
Notes:
 I truly hope you enjoyed this....
Anyways, I’ve gotten several concerned reviews about a few issues so I guessed I should adress them to help calm down the insecurities of some of you:
Regarding Stockholm Syndrome: I am not really going for that... I mean yes, this is a romantic fanfic and yes our Reader/OC is captured but that’s really not exactly what I’m going for... I have the plot in my head already and while I can’t really give you details, I can assure you that it’s not gonna happen that way.
Regarding OverPowering: I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: I hate overpowered characters. I hate superman and I don’t like Captain America or any of those characters that are god send or ‘chosen ones’ or just invincible characters. I like characters with flaws, with drawbacks, with weaknesses. I like them to be human and relatable because i like to feel related to them. So don’t worry about that. She won’t become supergirl in the future or ever to be honest. 
Regarding the ‘She’ll join the league’ theory: She won’t. Oops. 
I know a lot of you want this, but I didnt create a strong willed character with strong convictions and dreams and beliefs and views just so she can forget about everything because of a boy of all things. Sorry, but nope. 
That doesn’t mean that Dabi is gonna switch sides either. Just wait and see. 
I guess that’s all... 
Anyways, thanks for all your amazing reviews! i truly appreciate them :)
Do you want a next chap?
-Silvana.
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I’m so sorry if I missed anyone, please comment in THIS post or hit my ASK BOX to get tagged!
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writerforeveryone · 5 years
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“Attraction” 4.
   I hate how long it takes for the weekends to come, where I am finally free to do what I love which is read books and sleep until eleven P.M. It was Friday – three days after seeing Nathaly and three days without any contact with Megan. She still hadn’t called me back, as if she doesn’t even care about me. I guess this is what every friendship has to face when one of your friends start dating. Here I am neglected without my usual “grabbing a beer with Megan every Friday”. I wished I had more friends so I could invite someone else to keep me company this Friday, but since the end of university, I have lost all of my friends. Some of them have gone back home which is far from this city and some just disappeared in their serious adulthood.
    To keep my mind of loneliness, I went to the library for some new books to read but then suddenly my plans got interrupted by a message from Megan.
“Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls or messages. Nathaly told us that you have lost your wallet. I totally forgot about it. Don’t worry, it’s with me all safe. I think I accidentally took it by thinking it was mine. Meet me at the coffee shop in half an hour? :)”
    I was mad at Megan because of her being such a bad friend but at the same time I was happy about my missing wallet and relieved that I don’t have to spend my favorite day of the week alone. I hoped she has a good explanation for her disappearance with Alex without telling me anything, like I would be some obstacle to their relationship.
    I got there on the time and I already spotted Megan and Alex in coffee shop window kissing. I walked in and went straight to the table and stood there awkwardly looking at them and waiting for them to stop their seven minutes in heaven. Suddenly someone behind me came up.
Nathaly: “I ordered four cappuccinos.”
It was Nathaly flipping over my shoulder and smiling like she is really cheerful to see me. I mean I wouldn’t want to be alone with those two love birds making out in front of me either.
Me: “Thank you. I usually drink it. By the way, good to see you all.”
Nathaly: “I know. Megan told me.”
Megan smirked awkwardly at us.
Megan: “I’m glad you came. How was your week?”
Megan asked me when we all finally sat together at the table. I was about to tell my usual tedious week but instead of that I was more curious about hers.
Me: “You better tell me about yours.”
Nathaly noded like she wants to know too.
Megan: “Oh. Well.. It was spontaneous. Alex on the next morning after going out was asked to join a bike trip with his friends. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you anything or answer any calls. It’s just that freedom when you get on the bike. Just wanted to leave everything behind including my phone. I hope you aren’t mad at me.”
Alex continued Megan’s story.
Alex: “We drove to the metal rock festival and stayed there for two days. It was really fun. We are really sorry for not inviting you.”
Me: “It’s okay. I still couldn’t come because of my work.”
Nathaly: “Jesus, your life is sad.”
She said it as though she actually feels sorry for me. I had to be honest with myself and admit that my life really is boring. My daily day consists of work, drinking coffee and reading books. I prefer books about traveling and adventures, for example, the last book I read was about three thieves who robbed the bank without getting caught by the police. Sometimes I wished my life was just like that, interesting and full of adrenaline.
   We spent some time drinking coffee and talking about rock music bands, more precisely, they were talking because I didn’t know anything about rock. Nathaly noticed that I was being quiet and not interested at all.
Nathaly: “Fuck coffee. Let’s get some beer.”
Me: “Fuck yeah!”
After I said it Megan gaped at me like I had done some magic trick. I usually never say things like that but this time I was really happy to leave this place to go somewhere else. Nathaly started to laugh at me, cheering up her intention about beer.
    We went to Nathaly’s bar to play pool and drink. We separated into two teams – cringy team Alex and Megan and team Lara and Nathaly. I was expecting us to lose but Nathaly was pretty good at it. We all started to feel worthless comparing our pool skills to her. Nathaly tried to teach me the best tactics and at the last round I started to play even better than Alex. I guess me and Nathaly are a good team, more like, Nathaly is a great team mate because we wouldn't have won without her.
   Later on Alex and Megan had gone to ask Sam for more beer. Me and Nathaly stayed at the pool and kept playing. I enjoyed the game so much because at every round I started to become a more serious opponent for Nathaly. But she still was winning.
Nathaly: “What is the craziest thing you have ever done?”  
She asked while taking her shot and watching the ball roll towards one of the small hole’s on the corner of the pool table. I hesitated with an answer.
Me: “I don’t know. I guess when I was sixteen me and my class mates locked the maths teacher in the classroom and she was stuck there for the rest of the day.”
Nathaly: “That’s not crazy just silly.”
She said, and looked at me in an incomprehensible way.
Me: “What about you?”
Nathaly: “I don’t know where to start. Don’t hate me, but a year ago I stole a gun from a police department.”
Me: “Stole what?”
I was shocked. Why would she do such a thing.
Nathaly: “Yeah. I got arrested because of some misunderstanding and while waiting for them to let me out a police officer stood right next to me and his gun was like right in front of me and I challenged myself to steal it.”
Me: “Why would you do it? It’s crazy.”
Nathaly: “Exactly!”
Me: “Do you still have it?”
Nathaly: “Yeah, it’s upstairs in my apartment.”
I was shocked about the gun thing and wanted to ask her to show it to me but I didn’t want to sound intrusive. But then she insisted.
Nathaly: “I can show you. Come on.”
I followed her to her apartment upstairs the bar. She unlocked the door and we walked inside. It looked cozy there, it was open plan and had a black leather sofa in the middle, a king sized bed in the corner, with the kitchen opposite the sofa and some red neon lights pertruding of the floors and ceiling. There was a big window with a lot of natural light seeping in from the outside, illuminating a huge painting on the grey walls. It was like a big room including three other rooms – bed room, living room and kitchen.
   She opened a drawer next to her bed and took out a real gun. I stood there with an open mouth looking all funny. I still couldn’t believe this. It was black solid looking and there was a white number painted on it. It was definitely a police officer’s gun.
Me: “Why? Why would you steal something like that?”
Nathaly: “For fun, memories. I actually advise you to try something that gives you some crazy memories to remember. I’m not a thief or anything, it just gives you this feeling that stays on your mind forever. Like being scared, your chest full of adrenaline and at the end when you make it, you feel… I don’t know… good.”
She said, with intensifying eye contact. I stood so close to her that I could spot her freckles on her nose,  I hadn't noticed them before, and her big juicy lips. Her eyelashes were long and thick. I could even smell her. She smelt like nothing I have ever smelt, like a mixture of cigarettes, perfume and a hint of mint all combined together.
Nathaly: “Do you want to do something crazy?”
Me: “Do what?”
Nathaly: “I’ll think of something.”
She sounded so convincing even though she didn’t know what we were planning to do. We stopped this confusing moment and went downstairs. Nathaly told Alex and Megan who didn’t even miss us, that we are leaving for a cigarette. I still had no idea what she had in mind or where we were going.
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zephfair · 6 years
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Day 26 Grimmichi Selkie AU
Day 26: Selkie AU
Pairing: pre-Grimmjow/Ichigo
Rated T for canon type fighting
I’m sorry for appropriating the selkie legends and changing it up to better fit these guys.
A moment later, a human boy entered the small clearing that Grimmjow lay above and Grimmjow’s ears pricked with interest. The boy smelled good, for a human, and he was moving with strength and intent. Grimmjow wondered if he was brave enough to have entered the forest as a hunter.
When the boy unsheathed a sword, Grimmjow almost growled. But there were no creatures but him anywhere near the clearing. Why was the boy brandishing the weapon?
He lay there, watching the boy swing the sword and grunt and try again. It was obvious he didn’t know what he was doing, but Grimmjow was naturally curious and it looked like the kid might lose a foot any minute. He was a little disappointed when no mortal injuries occurred, and he yawned when the boy decided he’d had enough for the day and went back the way he’d come.
It didn’t occur to Grimmjow until later that night that he’d never once thought about eating the boy.
That was almost certainly the reason he picked out that tree again the next day for his afternoon nap. Only he wasn’t asleep when the scent wafted up to him, and his tail flicked in anticipation when he recognized the delicious smell of the same boy.
He strode determinedly into the clearing and took out the sword, going through the same motions he had the day before. Grimmjow watched until he could take it no more. The kid had some speed and raw strength, but he wasn’t going to improve his terrible technique fighting imaginary foes.
Grimmjow jumped down from the tree on silent feet and stood still behind the boy. Up close, the boy didn’t look as young as he’d thought, maybe what the humans would consider a young man on the cusp of adulthood. He was tall and nicely built but his hair was a brighter color than Grimmjow had ever seen.
The boy’s next wild stroke made him swing around, and he saw Grimmjow standing there.
Instead of fleeing like anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would, the boy steeled himself, gripped the sword tighter and attacked. Grimmjow admired that kind of ridiculous overconfidence in the face of nearly certain defeat.
Grimmjow dodged the first blow easily and skittered back out of range of the second. The fight soon became annoying and hopeless. Grimmjow had to go about half his normal speed and telegraph his moves so he didn’t accidentally slice the kid in half or crush his skull. But still, the boy kept fighting.
When the kid was breathing heavily and could barely swing the heavy sword anymore, Grimmjow took charge of the fight. He roared and charged, and when the boy slashed with the sword, Grimmjow easily disarmed him. The boy watched his sword fly across the clearing but still turned to face Grimmjow.
Grimmjow batted at him, knocking him to the ground easily with his heavy paw. The boy fell and Grimmjow pounced, using his weight to pin the boy on his stomach. When the body below him tensed, Grimmjow gently took the neck in his mouth and shook it.
It only made the boy struggle harder, and Grimmjow had to press down on him with the weight of his belly, trapping his legs and arms beneath him.
“Damn it, stop humping me and at least let me die with honor!” the kid wheezed.
Grimmjow let go of his neck in surprise. “I’m not humping you,” he said.
At last the boy’s body went stiff and motionless. “You...can talk?”
“Yes, I can talk, and I’m not going to kill you.”
“You’re just going to what? Mount me and let me go on my way?” How the human could still be sarcastic when he was at Grimmjow’s mercy showed he had balls. Grimmjow liked that.
“I’m not gonna mount you. I was just trying to get you to surrender. You’re a stubborn little bastard.”
“I’m not little. Or a bastard. Now if you’re not going to molest or kill me, let me up.”
Grimmjow growled and opened his mouth over the back of the kid’s neck in warning. But he didn’t bite. Instead he huffed out and moved slowly, taking his bulk off the kid’s back. “I’m going to let you up, but I promise you, if you run, I’m not going to be so merciful.”
“Fine. Just let me up to breathe.” Grimmjow sat back, and the kid sucked in several deep breaths of air, rather dramatically, Grimmjow thought.
Then he swung around to face Grimmjow. “You can really talk?”
Grimmjow rolled his eyes. “I didn’t think you were stupid, but you’re making me change my mind.”
“It’s just, you don’t meet a talking big cat every day.”
“I guess not,” Grimmjow shrugged his powerful shoulders.
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
“Who says I’m not going to?” Grimmjow flashed a fang at the boy. “Maybe I just enjoy toying with my food first, for added spice.”
“You’re an ass,” the boy said flatly.
“Well, you’re a terrible swordsman,” Grimmjow retorted. “Where’d you learn to fight? A baby teach you?”
The kid bristled. “Well excuse me for being a beginner. It’s my dad’s old sword but the king forbade us from having weapons. So if I want to learn how to fight, I have to do it in private. Dad can’t even know.”
“Well, you’re awful.”
“Thanks.”
Grimmjow ignored the even heavier sarcasm. “You’ve got decent speed and some raw talent but you’re lacking any kind of technique.”
“Again, I told you, I’m trying to teach myself!”
“Then you suck as a teacher <i>and</i> a student.”
“Is that why you attacked me?”
“I didn’t attack you!” Grimmjow said honestly. “I just came down to fight you. You attacked me.”
“Why did you want to fight me? Are you going to kill me or not?”
Grimmjow leaned his giant head down to the boy since seated he loomed over him. “Do you want me to?” When the boy froze and didn’t answer, Grimmjow said, “I won’t kill you until you’re stronger. I don’t enjoy killing prey unless they’re able to put up a fight.”
The kid looked at him with a strange expression. “What are you?”
“Grimmjow.”
“What’s a Grimmjow?”
“That’s my name,”  Grimmjow growled.
“Oh,” the boy said. “I’m Ichigo. Are you one of the enchanted animals in the forest?”
“Ichigo,” Grimmjow repeated. “I’m not exactly enchanted and I’m not exactly an animal.”
Ichigo was still staring at him. “Huh. But why did you jump out at me?”
“I told you, I’ve been watching you. You suck.”
“Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?” Ichigo challenged.
Grimmjow just stared back for a long moment. Ichigo finally snorted and got to his feet, and Grimmjow let him. “If you’re not going to kill me, I need to get home.”
Grimmjow pointedly turned his head the other way. “It makes no difference to me. I already told you, I’m not going to kill you when you’re this much weaker than me.”
He watched out of the corner of his eye as Ichigo picked up the sword and stalked away.
The kid’s —Ichigo’s—question rattled through him all night. What, if anything, was he going to do about it? Could he do anything about it? He was a skilled killer and a super-strong fighter, but in his cat skin, he was limited to show Ichigo anything about how humans should fight. And Ichigo definitely needed a hands-on opponent to actually learn anything.
He paced restlessly when Shawlong entered his territory toward morning. “We haven’t seen you in days, Grimmjow,” he said to his old friend.
“I’ve been busy,” Grimmjow answered and kept pacing.
Shawlong shut his eyes and swayed a bit. “I sense human. There was a human here. But there is no sign of blood or offal. What happened?”
“A kid, trying to teach himself how to fight. He’s terrible at it.”
“Grimmjow, what are you doing?
Grimmjow stopped pacing and looked up at him. “I have an idea.”
“Don’t do it,” Shawlong told him immediately after he explained. “Is one little human boy worth the risk?”
Grimmjow’s switching tail betrayed his ire and frustration. “He’s not a little boy,” he said reluctantly. “He has the potential to be a good fighter, with time and instruction.”
“And you are ever looking for a fight,” Shawlong sighed. “I would tell you again, don’t do it. But if you do, then take every precaution.”
“I know,” Grimmjow said irritably. “Now get out of here while I make up my mind.”
In the end, Grimmjow didn’t decide what to do until he smelled Ichigo coming back to the clearing the next afternoon.
Then he peeled off his cat skin and stepped out of it, folded it gently, carefully hid it a tree’s hollow, and stood in the center of the clearing as a man. He waited as Ichigo came hurrying into the clearing then promptly covered his eyes and tripped.
“I’m going to teach you how to fight,” Grimmjow said proudly.
“Who the hell are you?” Ichigo shouted.
Grimmjow glared at him, hands on his hips, body braced for battle. “I told you yesterday. I’m Grimmjow.”
Ichigo peeked at him between his fingers. “Is that you? The big cat from yesterday? How are you a man now?”
Grimmjow knew better than to trust and tell a human the truth so he waggled his fingers and said, “Enchanted magic, obviously. Now, let’s fight.”
Ichigo yelped, and Grimmjow got even more impatient. “What’s the matter with your eyes?”
“You’re naked!”
Grimmjow frowned down at himself. “So?”
“I’m not fighting you like that! It’s too…distracting.”
“Why don’t you just take off your clothes too and we’ll be even,” Grimmjow said slyly.
Ichigo all but quivered with anger. “No pants, no fight.”
Grimmjow sighed. “Fine then. Give me your pants.”
“Oh for hell’s sake,” and Ichigo took off running back the way he’d come. Grimmjow would have given chase, but since Ichigo had dropped the bag he was carrying, he figured he’d return. He lounged in the grass of the clearing until Ichigo came back and dropped a pair of pants on his head.
Grimmjow frowned at them and sniffed. “These aren’t yours.”
“No, they’re my dad’s. Now get them on and let’s fight.”
“Finally,” Grimmjow grinned and obeyed.
They fought and trained every day Ichigo could get away from his responsibilities at home. Grimmjow tried to teach him the basic moves and techniques of fighting hand-to-hand even though he had to work at adapting them to human limitations. And although he didn’t use a sword, Grimmjow still provided Ichigo with some fundamentals and gave him an opponent to react against.
And Ichigo forced him to keep the pants.
When Ichigo dropped to the ground in exhaustion or required a break for food and drink, Grimmjow slumped beside him and they talked. Ichigo told him about how the kingdom was in the middle of a war, and how Lord Aizen had named himself king, thanks in part to his ban on weapons for the commoners.
Ichigo had found the sword his father had stashed away, and he told Grimmjow every session how he just wanted to be strong enough to protect his family and loved ones. Grimmjow just challenged him to fight harder.
Those times were some of the happiest for Grimmjow who had been used to the endless days of hunting for sustenance with nothing to motivate him. Now he cast off his skin on a whim and even lurked nearer the small village where Ichigo and his family lived.
At first Ichigo was appalled and refused to spar with Grimmjow that close to the village, but he soon smuggled Grimmjow a shirt and shared food when they took a break from training. Ichigo informed him that he’d never fit in with the villagers because of his bright blue hair and facial markings, and Grimmjow said that it didn’t seem to be a problem for Ichigo and his unnaturally flaming hair. But that conversation devolved into a rough and tumble roll through a wheat field and never resolved their argument.
Then one evening when Grimmjow left Ichigo worn out beside the stream, covered in mud but smiling tiredly, he was hungrier than usual. He returned to the hollow of the tree where he left his skin to put it on and hunt more efficiently, but it was gone.
He checked again and again, but it was not in the hollow. He made sure it was the right tree. He checked the ground and nearby trees. But there was no sign of his cat skin.
Grimmjow threw his head back and roared.
Shawlong and Ilfordt found him first, running in a frenzy through the forest, tearing apart trees and screaming, searching for his skin.
But when they approached, he shouted at them, and they froze, unable or unwilling to get any closer. “You are human, now,” Shawlong said quietly.
“You are trapped as a human, until you can find your skin,” Ilfordt said, backing away.
Grimmjow raged alone through the night until he found himself on the fringes of the forest the next morning, the quiet village slowly coming awake in front of him. He thought he had only one choice and with a deep, steadying breath, he committed himself.
He ran to the house he’d seen Ichigo enter and burst inside. Ichigo's family sat around a table, still and silent as statues as they stared at the intruder. Only Ichigo jumped to his feet and demanded, “Grimmjow, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
As Grimmjow shook with fury and tried to explain, Ichigo managed to get him to sit and pushed some food and drink to him. But Grimmjow couldn’t eat, too enraged to do anything but call for revenge on whoever stole his skin.
“We’ll find it. Somehow,” Ichigo promised, even though he had no idea how they would accomplish it.
His brash overconfidence actually calmed Grimmjow a little, and he realized that he’d come to consider Ichigo a worthy partner of some kind.
“First, we should question the villagers. Even though I don’t think any of them would do it, someone might have found it by accident and taken it home,” Ichigo said.
“We can help,” his little sister Yuzu offered. “No one will be suspicious if we ask around.”
“Thanks, you guys,” Ichigo said gratefully, but Karin snorted.
“We’ll let you know how much it’s going to cost you,” she said.
Isshin insisted that Grimmjow try to eat and drink then ordered him to lie down and rest. Ichigo stayed in the house with him to make sure he didn’t try running through the village upsetting people himself.
But the girls returned that afternoon with bad news—no one in the village had seen anything like Grimmjow’s cat skin.
“Then Ganju said that he’s seen someone strange wandering around the past few days,” Karin told them. “He said it looked like that weird gray-haired guy who came through here once with Lord Aizen. You remember? The one who was always smiling?”
“I remember,” Ichigo said. “Do you think he was spying for Aizen?”
Karin shrugged. “That’s what Ganju thought, anyway. Either that or he’s trying to figure out how to get more taxes out of us.”
Grimmjow had been looking from one to the other, and he slammed his fist on the table. “Well, if we know who it was, why don’t we go after him?”
“We’ll have to,” Ichigo sighed but his father held up a hand.
“How do you plan to do that? You know Lord Aizen is always surrounded by his warriors the Espada, and I’m sure that extends to his advisers as well,” Isshin said.
“I don’t know, but we’ll think of something. We have to. Grimmjow needs it.”
Isshin looked from his son to Grimmjow and how they had eyes only for each other, and he sighed, already able to see what they hadn’t even admitted yet.
“In that case, maybe it’s time I introduced you to some old friends of mine.”
Isshin sent Ichigo and Grimmjow to the capital with strict instructions to seek out Kisuke Urahara. It took all of Ichigo's wits and most of his strength to even get Grimmjow that far without him wanting to fight every single person who looked at him the wrong way.
Urahara took one look at them and welcomed them into his shabby shop. And introduced them to an entire secret society that was working underground to fight against Aizen and his tyranny.
They willingly accepted Ichigo into the group even as Grimmjow looked on jealously.
“I still can’t believe my dad was part of a revolutionary party back in the day,” Ichigo told Grimmjow during one of the few times they were alone.
“This is all great and good, but what are we doing to get my skin back?” Grimmjow demanded.
“Soon,” Ichigo promised. “You wanna go to Urahara’s training ground and spar?”
“Hell yeah,”  Grimmjow’s spirits temporarily lifted.
Then the Shinigami, as they called themselves, decided they would rise up against Aizen on the day of his next public address to the people, and Ichigo was made a part of the attack plan. Grimmjow refused to take a role but went along to protect Ichigo.
As soon as Grimmjow saw Aizen, the plan almost went to hell. Ichigo froze at the sight of the ruler standing on the stage, waving at the crowd.
Wrapped around his neck and draping down his back like a cape was the white skin Grimmjow was seeking.
“I’m going to kill him,” Grimmjow muttered, and only Ichigo's vise grip on his arm kept him from storming the stage.
“We’ll take care of him,” Ichigo promised, speaking low into Grimmjow’s ear. “We’ll get your skin back.”
Grimmjow growled, but he allowed Ichigo to lead him into place. When the word came from the Shinigami, all hell broke loose.
They attacked all at once, their best fighters taking on Aizen’s elite Espada while still others fought against Aizen’s guards. To the shock of most of them, Aizen and his two closest advisers didn’t even flee—they simple stood on the stage and watched in what seemed like amusement, as if the revolt were a drama playing out solely for their entertainment.
Ichigo found himself in a fight with one of the Espada and rapidly losing ground. The man was small, thin and very white, but he fought with a ferocity and ruthlessness that rivaled Grimmjow at his best.
Although Ichigo fought with all his strength, he was soon injured and pushed back out of the rest of the fray by the Espada. As the Espada raised his sword for the finishing blow, Grimmjow struck him from behind with a stolen sword.
The Espada turned and started fighting with Grimmjow while Ichigo struggled to stand. He watched in horror as Grimmjow learned how to defend himself with a sword as the battle raged. Then Grimmjow suddenly leaned closer to the Espada when their swords were locked.
“You. You’re like me,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.
“I don’t know what you mean,” the Espada said.
“You’re not human. You aren’t meant to be fighting in that skin,” Grimmjow said then parried quickly as the Espada went right for his throat.
“It is none of your business.”
“It damned well is my business as long as that bastard wears my skin around his neck.”
At that revelation, the Espada paused, allowing Grimmjow another blow and he pressed his advantage. “Does Aizen hold your skin, too? Are you trapped here by him?”
The Espada didn’t answer as he countered Grimmjow’s wild strikes. Then he said quietly, “Those whose skins he holds cannot fight against him.”
Grimmjow almost dropped his sword and Ichigo swore quietly. “Does that mean all the Espada are being held hostage by him?” Ichigo asked, just loudly enough that the two could hear him.
The Espada’s silence said it all. Grimmjow smiled savagely and said, “If you cannot fight him without punishment, what if you were to refuse to fight <i>for</i> him instead? If these men win, you can get your skins back and be free of Aizen forever.”
Another huge Espada crashed through the frantic crowd and raised his sword to Ichigo. Grimmjow shouted a warning just in time for Ichigo to block it, barely.
To his astonishment, the white Espada who was fighting Grimmjow suddenly stepped back lightning fast and sheathed his sword. “Yammy, we are retreating,” he said to the large man. “Tell the others. Although we cannot raise a hand to Aizen, there is nothing to say we cannot stand back and allow him to lose.”
It seemed to take minutes for the meaning to sink into the large man’s mind, but then he grinned cruelly. “I’ll spread the word,” he said and threw himself back into the crowd.
The white Espada inclined his head at Ichigo and Grimmjow then darted into the castle.
“Come on,” Grimmjow caught Ichigo around the waist and supported him until he got his breath back. “Let’s go get that bastard.”
As the Espada got the word and faded away, and the crowd of frantic onlookers escaped, the courtyard began to empty except for clusters of fighters.
Aizen saw them coming before they reached the stage. “Ah, you must be the one who provided me with this fine skin. It truly is magnificent enough for a king,” he said.
Grimmjow leaped at him but crumpled before he made it halfway. Aizen laughed. “Didn’t the Espada tell you? You cannot harm me as long as I hold your skin. You will become my slave and fight for me just as they do.”
“Like hell,” Grimmjow swore and knelt up just as Ichigo vaulted over him.
“He’ll never fight for you,” Ichigo shouted as his sword plunged toward Aizen’s chest.
Tousen’s sword parried Ichigo’s instead. Ichigo gritted his teeth and jumped back to swing again. Grimmjow’s hand closed on his shoulder.
“I might not be able to touch Aizen, but that doesn’t apply to his henchmen. Let me take him,” Grimmjow said, murder lighting up his eyes.
Ichigo moved out of the way and turned to face Aizen. Several of the strongest Shinigami rushed the stage behind him.
Then Ichigo attacked. Aizen had produced a sword and showed off the moves that marked him a master swordsman. But Ichigo had learned from a cheating, homicidal maniac who only ever had winning on his mind, and to the shock of all the onlookers, Ichigo began to overpower him. Slowly but surely, he pushed Aizen back, and then, with one mighty stroke, he disarmed him.
Aizen still wore his smug smile even as Ichigo held his blade to his throat. “Will you really kill me, Shinigami? None of you has the courage. You’ll throw the country back into chaos and civil war without my leadership. None of our allies’ leaders will accept an overthrow of my government.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to keep you alive as a figurehead for now,” Urahara said from behind Aizen. As Aizen turned to look at him, Urahara clamped something around his neck. Aizen slumped to the ground, his eyes glazed and lifeless.
“Not dead,” Urahara said to the outcry, “just in a dream-like world where time has no meaning. Until we can figure out what to do with him.”
Ichigo was already clawing at Aizen’s throat underneath Urahara’s device, trying to free Grimmjow’s skin. When it came unfastened, he pulled it off Aizen and held it, warm and heavy and feeling somehow so familiar.
He turned to where Grimmjow had just overpowered Tousen and was snarling at the Shinigami trying to take Tousen captive. Ichigo rushed over to him.
“Grimmjow, it’s here. Look, it’s yours,” Ichigo babbled, holding the living weight of the skin out to him in trembling hands.
Grimmjow was shaking, too, when he accepted his skin and brought it up to his face. He closed his eyes and stroked it gently.
Then he handed it back to Ichigo in front of all the Shinigami and fighters.
“It’s said that whoever holds the skin of a selkie holds their heart. And since you already have that, you might as well take this too. I don’t have any other use for it.” Grimmjow’s voice was gruff but steady as he looked into Ichigo's eyes.
Ichigo accepted the skin and buried his face in it. Then he buried his face in Grimmjow’s chest, the skin clutched between them. “We’ll hold it together,” he promised. “You’ll always be free to come and go, however you please.”
“It would please me to be with you,” Grimmjow said in a low voice, just for the two of them.
Ichigo leaned up and kissed him.
And so Ichigo refused to accept a position with the Shinigami in the capital and went back to his village where he and Grimmjow could live and fight together. The Espada regained their skins and were never heard from again.
They all lived happily ever after.
The end
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