#like yo. acid. why couldn’t you have landed on the back of my hand instead??

[deus-ex-mona]

here’s to hoping for a ✨better✨ next week… _(:3 」∠)_

#really long rant about my ✨work woes✨ incoming— pls lemme have this moment before i cry at the interns on monday— #short summary of my utterly horrendous week go— #on monday: the machines kept taking turns to die (and that stupid self-restarting computer aaaaaaaaaaa—) #tuesday: the machines were horrible (again). and the final chapter of act 1 of the mona manga came out that night (which was much sad :( ) #wednesday: was relocated to that acid-using station and got an acid burn on a really inconvenient part of my hand >:( #like yo. acid. why couldn’t you have landed on the back of my hand instead?? #why did you *have* to splash onto the left side of the base of my left index finger?? i can’t even wrap a plaster around it and it sucks >:( #thursday: the machines were horrendous too! they refused to pass the daily quality checks!!! and there were tons of samples to load too! #as a bonus this lady kept hijacking the computer to check results or something while i was trying to enter stuff into the job queue thing #(the job queues for the stupid machines that is) #and so i could do absolutely ✨nothing✨ while she did her stuff… and then she complained that my workstation was really slow that day >:/ #lady p l s. blame the machines!! and it’s only my literal second day at that station so— :( and you kept stealing control of the computer :( #and then there’s today. friday. (ʘ‿ʘ) the person who loaded the samples last night put said samples into the wrong slots of the machine… #…and so the dumb acid autofiller spewed out acid anyway. which spilled onto the machine and then evaporated (for the most part) overnight #and so! when i popped in to the workstation a good 10 min late (having overslept a little due to believing it was already saturday)… #i noticed the wrongly placed samples，smelled the really strong scent of acid，went ‘ah maybe the toluene reacted with the solvents’… #…and just carried on as per normal. it only clicked that those were acid fumes from the missed samples when my eyes started to water ಥ‿ಥ #and even then i ran off to find a coworker to ask ‘will the thing still autofill if there aren’t any beakers in the indicated slots’… #but ofc i couldn’t articulate properly bc i was ✨lightheaded✨ from the acid fumes. i felt really loopy for almost an hour after that tbh :( #and so i still have no idea how i’m still employed at this place tbh. all i do is blabber nonsensically and forget my coworkers’ names :/ #but i think my terrible jokes have become a little more commonplace in the workplace. whoops. #i’d say ‘merry christmas’/‘happy new year’/‘happy birthday’ when i give printouts to others，and now they say it back to me lol #i stg my sense of humour is utterly horrible. no wonder why this higher up lady (probably) secretly dislikes me lol #like she’d say ‘i’ll train you in [test method]’ only to give like a half an hour overview before leaving me to fend for myself </3 #on the other hand，she’d train and guide literally every other person for hours on end till they’re familiar with the test method :( #or maybe she thinks i’m too capable (lol). prolly not though. i usually stare confusedly at her like 👁👄👁 through her explanations #well. i think i’m done with my venting for now. see you tomorrow. #inedible blubbering

[liquid-luck-00]

Connections 10

Chapter 10

this is based on @thepeacetea daminette soulmate au

Masterlist *** First *** Previous *** Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving in Themyscira, they were greeted by Queen Hippolyta and guided them to large hall. Introductions were made and Tikki zipped towards Hippolyta, nuzzling her cheek.

"You are the Ladybug of this generation?" The Amazonian Queen asked the youngest in the room.

"Yes, Ma’am." Marinette answered quickly and slightly panicked in the Queen's presence.

"Your soul is a true creation soul," she began her explanation. "As your soulmate and intended cat is a true destruction soul." As if on cue Damian, in corporeal form, 'crashed' through the ceiling, falling, and landing with a thud.

"Nice entrance Demon spawn." Jason snickered as Damian stood up.

"Tt. When I get my body back Grayson and Drake help me with this.” He demanded, but was actually asked of his brothers. He held up two batons.

“Dick would be better than...” Tim’s voice cut off as Damian merged the two and it expanded into a bo staff. “I stand corrected.”

“The Black Cat is the most offensive Miraculous," Hippolyta continued to explain. "As you've already found the first two, attempt to find the third."

"There are five total," Tikki chimed in. "But you'll need Plagg for the other two and to use your Power." Damian nodded and sat down fiddling with the staff, then batons, then the staff again, while listening to the Amazonian Queen.

"What does this have to do with the Lazarus Pit and bringing Damian back?” was asked by Bruce.

"Everything. Understanding the power that she is and he will, wield explains why there will not be an adverse effect on him." Hippolyta calmly explained. “The Ladybug as you may know uses a yo-yo as the primary weapon, but you also have two collapsed escrima sticks. Your powers include the 'Lucky Charm' and 'Miracle Cure’ used together you can reverse all damage caused as a result of the miraculous, or if any miraculous took part during anytime of the altercation. It is also possible to revive the dead with your power."

"So is it possible for Mari to bring back Damian?" Was asked by a hopeful Dick.

"Unfortunately not. What occurred was a result of the soul bond and the magic embedded into Marinette." A sad knowing look crossed the Queen's features. "This is where the Pits of Lazarus comes into play. As Marinette is the embodiment of creation and luck, as Damian is the embodiment of destruction and misfortune they are the two souls of this generation who can enter its waters without corruption."

"Why?" was chorused by the four eldest Waynes.

"The Pits were created by a wish merging the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous." Tikki now spoke again. "But with such powerful magic it comes with a cost. Pit madness comes when a person has a soul alignment with a miraculous, like Jason. For others it may vary, but for souls like the two of you, as part of Plagg and I, you are immune to the madness only reaping the benefits."

"Why didn't you say this before, Tikki." Tim brought up. "Because I can't see souls like my chosen can and Mari is too young to see them now." the miniature goddess responded.

"Pits as in more than one?" Bruce whispered, as if in deep thought.

"There are half a dozen pits around the world hidden away. Each is guarded by one of the inner kwamii, but that is more of a tidbit than necessary information." the Queen smiled. “Now has that calmed some concerns?"

"Is there a Pit not controlled by the League?" Jason blurted out. Because logically the league couldn't control all of them.

"A few, such as the one here on Paradise Island." Queen Hippolyta answered in turn.

"I can get my body back without the League?" Damian whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

This was the best news they could get. Damian could be revived while not having to struggle with the Pit madness. He wouldn't need to be near the League which means he wouldn't question himself. That he is able to build upon what he has since moving to Gotham without being the Prince of Assassins.

"Yes. Now come little bug, little cat." Marinette and Damian each flanked the Queen as the rest followed behind.

A short trek into the Mountains and they arrived at a pit. The same acidic green with chaos and creation swirled. Damian's body was deposited next to the swirling pool.

"Understand that when you emerge, both of you, will train here in order to strengthen and teach you the magic you will wield." the two children nodded, clear resolve on their features. "Good."

After bringing Damian back from the dead they almost immediately were placed into training. It was true that there was no madness, his mind was intact without being clouded by anger. Their soul bond was a huge benefit. Where Damian caught the physical aspect quickly and it transferred to Mari. While Mari was a natural at magic and helped guide Damian through.

Yes the Amazon’s did not particularly trust men but they could recognize Damian as a Black Cat, which along with his brother’s nickname Demon Spawn, he gained the name Hellcat. That and they could clearly see that Damian was Marinette’s soulmate, but didn’t treat her as a damsel in distress, instead as a partner and equal. Which helped him earn some respect to the warriors around them. Which was how the two spent most of the week before going back.

What they couldn't be prepared for was the tornado named Jagged. As soon as they arrived in the manor he was there in a fury of a whirlwind.

"Hey little Rocker, how was the trip?"

"It was fun." Marinette smiled at her dad.

"So got any pictures to show your papa, love." he asked excitedly.

"Pictures?" she repeated quizzically.

That was when the Wayne’s and Mari began to laugh

"What’s so funny?" The rocker asked confused.

"Apparently we were so caught up in the vacation we didn’t take pictures." Tim grinned, the little liar he is, spoke up. He had pictures but they were mostly of his brothers getting their asses handed to them by the Amazons. And he couldn’t explain how they happened to be on the secret hidden island filled with Amazonian warriors. "Their also was zero service on the island." He finished with a shrug.

"Ohh I did bring back some shells and crystals and some seeds for my garden." Mari chimed in. "I can tell you all about it."

"Yes you can on the plane to wherever you and the bird you choose to come with us." Jagged smiled at his daughter.

"Jared what are you..." Bruce near finished his sentence.

Jagged having interrupted his thoughts he sentence. “Come now Batsey you steal little rocker for a week so I steal one of your birds." He stated as a matter of fact.

Bruce just stood with his jaw slack. Sure Mari told them he figured them out, but he forgot, he had a child to revive goddamn it. “Fine but I think it’ll be a good idea to tell him Mari." He turned to the young girl.

The girl chewed her lip before putting her hand in her light vest shirt. A red pixie bug flew out and sat on Mari’s head.

"Hello I’m Tikki the Ladybug kwamii, Marinette is my chosen holder." Tikki's voice rang through the room.

"I’m sorry what now?" The rocker was eerily still and quiet.

"Long story short your daughter is a magical girl and Demon Spawn is her soulmate and is also a magical girl, boy, you get the idea." Jason chuckled.

"Okay let me get this straight. Mari's soulmate is the Grumpy Gargoyle, they are both magical kids who are chosen by fairies. All of you are Gotham's vigilantes, which I'm assuming you've been training Little Rocker."

"Yes.??” Dick answered unsure.

"Okay."

"Okay." Dick again responded. Before realizing, "Wait! Okay!”

"Ya," Jagged shrugged. "You've all met Mari. This is completely plausible with her. So who are we stealing from Bruce?"

"Dames!" she jumped to hug him from behind, arms wrapped around his neck.

Damian for his part didn't throw Marinette off. In fact he repositioned to piggy back her, a ghost of a smile spread on his neutral features.

"So where are we going?"

Yucatan Peninsula

Why?

The Twins said a gift for future bugs and cats were there.

Haven't their been cats and bugs since them?

Yes but travel was limited.

In other words scavenger hunt.

Yes. How's your Spanish? Because the most logical place to start would be the Mayan ruins.

"Mejor que eI tuyo." she smirked at him.

"God damn it their doing it again." Jason dragged his hands down his face.

"Doing what?"

"Their bond is shockingly rare, its a Mind link sharing knowledge, meaning basically anything one knows so does the other. As if that isn't enough now they can communicate telepathically."

"So why the Spanish rocker?"

"Cancun, Mayan scavenger hunt." she grinned.

"Sounds good. I'll shoot Penny a text and we'll leave tomorrow sound good?"

"Yup." She responded, Damian nodded and finally set her down.

Your helping me pack.

As if I'd let you do it yourself.

Knowing you, you'd pack your Robin uniform.

'Pfft'

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist: @itsmeevie01 @miraculouspenta

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#dc x miraculous #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #miraculous x dc #maribat #damian x marinette #batfam #marinette x damian #daminette #daminette soulmates #connections au #marinette stone

[myownworldstayout]

Prompt #17 Akuma!Felix

@felixmonth

Alya shifted in her seat to fix a glare on the infamous “Marinette group”. Luka, Aurore, Kagami, and Wayhem appeared to be comforting Marinette at the cafeteria table. Felix sat next to the ravenette, glowering right back at Alya.

“She’s such manipulator!” Alya huffed, wringing her hands through her hair in frustration. “Look at them! Giving her all of that undeserved sympathy while Lila’s the one that’s been suffering!”

Lila had come in that morning crying. All the brunette wanted to do was make sure Marinette was alright since she’d been acting strange lately, but when she tried to ask Felix about her, the blond blew up in her face, going so far as to slap her. 

Marinette came into the classroom a few minutes later. They explained what had happened between Lila and Felix, but she hardly even reacted to their story. Alya almost felt insulted when Marinette calmly turned to Felix, asking for his side of the argument. As expected, he spouted out some bull-faced lie about Lila attempting to black mail him for information and failing. To everyone’s surprise, Marinette believed it full heartedly, going to sit with him in the back once again.

Alya didn’t entirely mean to chew her out in front of the class. She tended to lose more control in a rage. Nevertheless, it was nice to finally vent her frustrations. Marinette’s been an extreme jerk as of late, especially to Lila. She needed a good talking to. Now, though, to Alya’s annoyance, the students from class B were babying her. She vaguely wondered when Marinette even started hanging out with people that weren’t from her original class.

Adrien glanced towards Lila, not mentioning how happy she seemed despite “suffering” all this time. 

“I’ve known her since kindergarten.. How did I not see it?” Nino shook his head.

“M-maybe,” Adrien began cautiously, “Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding? You guys know Mari-”

“We thought we knew Mari.” Alya cut him off, turning her glare to him. “You saw what happened today, She’s a menace! Just like your cousin.” she said curtly, looking back to the group. 

Felix wasn’t glaring at her anymore, instead looking towards Marinette in concern. She had her face buried in her hands with Luka and Aurore putting supportive hands on her shoulders. 

It was odd seeing Felix show emotion for anything, let alone a person. It caused Alya to pause, and really, really study the blonde. 

Of course, she didn’t get to entertain the thought too much because a flick of purple caught her eye. Alya gasped.

It was an akuma, but it wasn’t heading for her, despite her anger. The akuma was flying towards-

“Marinette!” Wayhem gasped, standing up and pointing to the black butterfly. Students around their table began screaming and running for exits, Luka and the others tensed and took a step back, and Marinette..

Marinette just froze. She stared at the akuma in horror, yet acceptance, as if she had been expecting this for a while now.

Just before the akuma could touch Marinette’s earrings, however, Felix stepped protectively in front of her, holding up his book as a shield. 

To everyone’s mutual terror, the akuma merged with Felix’s book instead, creating a purple, butterfly shaped mask in front of his face. 

All Alya remembered next was seeing Marinette’s eyes widen and being yanked towards the exit by Nino.

~~~~~~

Marinette tried not to think about Alya’s acidic outburst or Lila’s malicious smirk from that morning, but that was all Felix talked about during their lunch period. He was angry- understandeably so - and when the others heard what happened, they were infuriated as well. 

She held back the tears as they tried to comfort her. Marinette shouldn’t have needed comfort. None of this should have happened in the first place. Adrien should have stuck up for her. The class shouldn’t have believed Lila over her. After everything she’d done. After everything she’d sacrificed, they-

“Akuma!”

Marinette’s gaze snapped upwards. 

Sure enough, a black butterfly was heading straight for her. 

She needed to run. Ladybug wasn’t allowed to get akumatized.

But Marinette stayed put, simply watching the akuma grow closer. Maybe this was how it was supposed to be? She had already been nearly akumatized three different times now. Perhaps Marinette was meant to get akumatized. Maybe she could finally let out some of her anger and frustrations without being judged or at fault. Chat Noir would turn her back to normal, right?

Yes, Maybe this was a good thing.

That thought was shattered in an instant, though, when Felix threw himself in front of her. He was protecting her.  

Reality slapped Marinette in the face as Felix became shadowed in a purple glow, and her Ladybug instincts finally kicked in.

She shot to her feet, eyeing the boy warily. “Felix?”

At the name, Felix- or an akumatized version of Felix -looked up. He wore a blood red suit with his black, button up shirt and tie. His blonde- now turned pitch black -hair was slicked to the side, and his silver eyes had turned a dark, inky grey with flecks of bright red. 

“Marinette..” Felix breathed, immediately stepping towards her. 

Marinette took a slight step back, hesitating when Felix lightly cupped her cheeks. 

“Don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be fine now. You won’t have to deal with those idiotic classmates of yours anymore.” His voice was so soft and sweet that Marinette wasn’t entirely sure she was talking to the same, stiff classmate she knew.

“But Felix, I don’t-”

“My name isn’t Felix.” He cut her off sharply, though the gentleness never left his eyes. “It’s Karma, now. I’ll be back. Stay here.”

Before Marinette could say anything else, he was off, running in the direction of her other classmates. She stood there dumbly, bringing her hands up to touch her cheeks. Akumas were rarely so gentle. Not to mention his voice, soft and sweet and-

“Marinette, let’s go!” Tikki whispered from Marinette’s purse.

Marinette startled, absently nodding her head. She had a friend to save. That wasn’t going to happen with her standing around.

With that thought in mind, she spun on her heel and darted for the bathroom.

~~~~~

Chat Noir leaped towards the school as fast as he could from the place he transformed.

Why couldn’t Marinette just let Lila be? He warned her that someone would get hurt if she kept prying. This is exactly the reason they needed to let Lila go in the first place!

The cat heroine sighed as he landed in front of the back entrance to the school. Now he was going to have to fight Marinette when she could have avoided being akumatized at all. 

The walls around the door fell to decay and crumbled within seconds, causing Chat Noir to pause and hold his breath. The anticipation clouded the air as footsteps approached him in the wreckage. He tensed, slipping into a fighting stance as he unhooked his staff. 

“Marinette, please, I don’t want to fight you.” He pleaded.

“Well, that’s rather fitting then, isn’t it?” a cold voice responded as a man in a blood red suit stepped out of the smoke. “Because I’m not Marinette.” 

Chat Noir blinked, his stance slacking a bit. “Then who-” 

He was cut off by a sudden paralyzation that swept over his body, causing his limbs to feel rigid and stiff. 

“Chat Noir,” The akuma began, taking out a black book from his suit coat and opening it, “You constantly push your feelings onto Ladybug, despite her protests, and leave her to fight for herself. As punishment, you will no longer have any feelings to push onto her.” he informed with an icy glare, slamming the book shut. 

As soon as the akuma did so, a sharp coldness flooded into Chat Noir’s chest. Emptiness, numbness. He thought he would be angry towards the accusation, or scared of what the akuma meant, or even worried for Marinette, but he wasn’t.

He didn’t feel anything. Or rather, he couldn’t feel anything. The thought would have terrified him had it not been for the circumstances. 

“Felix, you have to stop this!” 

Chat Noir barely registered the red blur landing in front of him. 

Felix? He was the one that was akumatized? What about Marinette?

“My name is Karma.” The akuma said cooly, slipping his book back into his suit jacket.

“Please, you need to calm down. I’m sure we can solve this situation without an akuma.” Ladybug tried to reason

Karma shook his head, his expression darkening. “Marinette is always in trouble and hurting because of the jerks in her class. She is too nice to ever do anything against them. That’s why I’ll do it.”

Ladybug looked pained towards the answer, unhitching her yo-yo but not making any moves to attack. Why was she taking so long? She’d never tried to reason with an akuma before. How did she know it was Felix, anyway?

Chat had a hunch he would be angry if he could feel anything.

“Marinette wouldn’t want this!” Ladybug tried again. Why was she so reluctant to fight?

“No.” Karma agreed. “She wouldn’t She always tries to see the good in others, putting their feelings ahead of her own, and I lover her for that. So I will be selfish for her.”

A scarlet color spread across Ladybug’s cheeks, blending in with her mask. 

Chat’s patience officially wore out.

“My Lady, we need to cleanse the akuma.” He stated dryly, taking out his staff and lunging for Karma.

The akuma’s eyes never left Ladybug’s as he disappeared into thin air. 

Chat Noir stumbled, whipping around to try and find where Felix went, but Ladybug was already flinging out of her yo-yo.

“What are you doing!” Chat demanded, raising an eyebrow towards his partner.

Ladybug flinched, looking back at him with worry and exasperation in her gaze. “We have to find him before he hurts anyone!”

Chat Noir faltered at the urgency in her tone. He wanted answers, but despite the hollowness aching in his bones, he knew he should be worried as well. So he listened to her as he always did and followed his lady.

(Sorry, this one was a little rough. I’m tired lol)

#Felinette #Felix Culpa #New Friends AU

[yeet-man]

One’s Rebirth (Christmas Special)

A/N: Ayo, I know this is kinda weird to upload since it ain’t Christmas but some parts are canon and etc so uh ye. Reblog asking what’s canon and anything else ya wanna know and I’ll be sure to answer it. Hope y’all enjoy this chapter!

As Christmas neared and school let out for the holidays, all the students, at least in class 1-A including Mei, were going to J'me's house since dorms didn't exist yet. It would be their first holiday together, and they planned to make it memorable.

Everyone went directly to J'me's house on Christmas Eve. He opened the door to let everyone in, he was nervous, to say the least. The house was decorated as best he could do by himself, his mother went out for the night so they could have the house for themselves. Everyone from class 1-A would be there including Mei. The only person that was absent would be Kairo.

Ryan would walk in and look around at the decorations before walking over to J'me. "So.. everyone's here right?" He had a relaxed smile resting on his face as he asked this.

"Yeah, though I don't see Kairo. Who cares, man can go fuck himself for all we know." He said jokingly and simply shrugged at Kairo not being there. "How have you and Mina been? Seems like you got a crush on her."

"Uhh... Well, we're good friends." He'd kinda lean in a little so that he was at J'me's level. "Also how'd you know that?"

J'me just looked at Ryan and chuckled slightly. "It's not that difficult to tell plus didn't you say you had a crush on Mina in the real world?" He said with a small smug face.

Ryan would shrug a small bit. "You're right...I did...I was hoping I could use this party to ask her out."

"Nice, I planned on asking Mei out during our 'secret santa' stuff. Though we all know I rigged it so you got everyone and I got Mei."

Before Ryan could respond a huge box and then a small box came crashing through the window. It broke the window and landed on the floor, the boxes had a tag that read 'To the dumb fucks that are my friends.' Kairo was, of course, talking about J'me and Ryan. The gift for Ryan was a red and black scythe, Kairo didn't care what Ryan thought about it, he just hoped he wouldn't be questioned about it. J'me's gift was in the small box, it was sharingan contacts with the tag reading 'fucking weaboo'.

Hearing the crash, J'me immediately opened the door to see no one in the snow. He let out a sigh and had an annoyed look on his face. "I swear to god Kairo..." He turned to look at Momo, she noticed the broken window and simply nodded. She made a new windowpane, J'me smashed the old one and replaced it with the new one. "Ryan, can you pick up the glass while I put the presents under the tree?"

A rock came through the new fucking windowpane because Kairo was being a bitch.

He'd nod a little as his tendrils picked up the shards and dense purple flames shot towards the rock and glass, causing the glass to melt back to its normal shape.

"I hope Kai-" J'me made a clone to go after Kairo. He put the presents under the tree. "It's fucking Christmas, why does Kairo have to pull his dumb pranks?"

He'd shrugged a little as he looked around, seeing the small Mineta walking around looking at the girls. "Hmm.."

Mineta would try to flirt with the girls before Iida smacked him and waved his arms in multiple directions at once. "Mineta! It's Christmas, this isn't a time to flirt with girls!" 

J'me chuckled and looked at Ryan. "By the way man, enjoy yourself... Just don't pull a Kairo."

He would smile a little before walking towards Mina. "Sure thing mate."

Mina would turn to look at Ryan. "Oh hey Ryan! How are you enjoying the party? I'm surprised J'me had a house this big, it looks so pretty!" She looked around in excitement before looking back at Ryan with a smile.

He'd let out a small chuckle as she said that, and looked around. "Yeah, his house is pretty nice... Also, the party seems alright so far. Are ya having fun?"

"Who wouldn't be having fun! Well except for Kairo since he broke J'me's window..." If Kairo was in the room, let's just say he would be dead.

"Yeah." He'd smile a little, "Kairos being a little rude is all." He'd then glance back towards Mineta as he saw him start walking in their direction.

"Agreed..." 

Mineta would walk up to both of them not caring if they were trying to have a conversation. "Hey acid girl, how about we go somewhere else?" Mineta would have a small smug expression on his face. He would also be staring at Mina's boobs.

Ryan's gaze would change as he looked at Mineta. His expression would change to that of annoyance and aggravation. His expression made him seem like a real life demon. "Mineta… stop," he'd deliver a swift kick to Mineta, which would send him flying.

Mineta would fly into the wall, that's when J'me looked at Ryan. "What did I say about pulling a Kairo? Next time kick his ass into the ground." Mineta would be out for the next few minutes.

He'd glance at the wall, which had no damage. "I didn't pull a Kairo, J'me." 

Ryan would then turn back towards Mina with a smile. "So… how about we move to somewhere else... maybe a place that Mineta won't find us."

J'me just rolled his eyes and walked over to Mei.

Mina would start to blush after she heard the question. "What do you mean by that Ryan?"

Ryan would think about his words for a second before a slight blush went over his face. "Uhh... what do you want me to mean?"

"Something that isn't inappropriate you pervert." She was playing of course...or was she?

Mineta woke up with a confused look. He was wondering what he got kicked for asking a question.

He'd smile a little more as he grabbed her hand and slightly pulled her away from the group "It doesn't have to be inappropriate…" Ryan would then pause for a second as his blush deepened in color a bit and mumbled quietly, "unless you want it to be..."

J'me would notice Ryan dragging Mina and got a basic idea of what was gonna happen. "Ryan, there's a mini log house in the back for reasons ya know!"

He'd glance back with a large smile on his face as his face got even redder. "Uhh.. yeah, thanks J'me."

J'me just smirked seeing Ryan turn red. He knew they weren't gonna do it but just in case. Who knows what the hell Ryan would do. "No problem man." He started hanging with Mei, that was till Mineta walked over. 

"Hey momma, how about we get our own room?" 

J'me's eye twitched just hearing that question. He picked up Mineta by his shirt. "Who the fuck said you could come over here you little shit?" Before Mineta had time to respond J'me already slammed him into the ground.

Ryan could be heard from somewhere in the house. "You pulled a fuckin Kairo."

The ground wouldn't be damaged, just the fuck boy knocked out. "Naw chief just knocked his ass out for a while."

Even though he wasn't seen he'd nod before pulling Mina into a room "Sure mate."

An hour or two would pass before J'me would call everyone to the living room. "Alright, it's time to exchange gifts, I swear to god if anyone else pulls a Kairo you will be kicked out of this house."

A few minutes later Ryan and Mina would come back to the living room, both with slight smiles. They seemed to be holding hands.

J'me would look over at Ryan. "Man, could you not wait till it was time to exchange gifts to give Mina's hers?"

He smirked a bit, "I guess I couldn't." He'd pause as he took a wooden box out of his jacket and tossed it to J'me. "And this is your gift mate."

J'me would catch it as if it was nothing. "Hm..." He would open it to see the special kunai in it.

Ryan used his quirk to make a kunai out of dense flames that looked similar to the one in the box. "It's a special kunai that has some of my dense flames fused in with it. Also, it has your 'special' formula on it because Mei helped with it."

He would look at Mei, then Ryan. "This is really nice...I'm just mad that yo dumbass couldn't figure it out by yourself."

He'd yeet his flame kunai at J'me. "No problem mate."

J'me would catch it. "Hey hey now, let's wait till the next battle to fight man."

Ryan would let out a small sigh as the kunai he threw vanished. "Bet... so, did we miss anything while we were gone?" He'd motion to him and Mina.

He looked around for the kunai and then looked at Ryan. "Wait y'all were gone?" He said jokingly, "so why are parts of your clothes melted?"

He would glance down at where some of Mina's acid had accidentally hit and blush a little. "Uhh... She accidentally got some of her acid on me."

"Oh? How did that happen? Y'all weren't fucking were y'all?"

Ryan's face would turn to a deeper red out of embarrassment, "No…"

Mina would quickly protest. "We wouldn't do anything like that!" She exclaimed with a heavy blush on her face.

Ryan would quickly nod in agreement.

"Hm...Alright...." He motioned everyone to sit down so they could exchange presents.

Ryan would sit down as his blush faded and motioned for Mina to sit next to him, instead though she plopped right onto his lap. "Ok... uhh who gets the first present?" The red had faded now, mostly gone except for a slight pink tint.

"Shit uh...I guess let the biggest pervert get his present first."

Ryan would smile a bit as he used his foot to slide a present to Mineta "This is for you mate." 

Mineta would catch the present, which seemed to be twice as big as him and started to slowly unwrap it. "Is this what I think it is?!" Mineta would see Mt. Ladys head and tore off the rest of the wrapping paper with glee, his present was a Mt. Lady body pillow, and Mineta loved it. He had a little drool dripping out of his mouth and a slight nosebleed as he looked at it "Ahhh... Mount Lady... big boobs... big thighs..." He continued to mumble stuff like that as he played next to the pillow.

"Now that you have your present, shut the hell up and go to the corner." Mineta followed his instructions since he was very excited.

Ryan would look down before sliding a present over to Mei. "It's from J'me," he lied about that. It was from him but wanted J'me to get the credit, so she'd think more of him. It was the newest, most expensive wrench set available. Along with some brand new power tools.

As Mei was opening it, J'me looked at Ryan. 'What the fuck…' He mouthed to the boy who was taller than him.

He'd shrug with a slight smile. "What do you mean? You're the one who got it, remember?"

Mei looked at the wrench set and power tools. She then hugged J'me tightly. "Thank you so much J'me!"

He would look at Ryan and simply nodded. "Yeah, no problem Mei."

Ryan would give a slight nod before grabbing a smaller box and handing it to Mina. "This is for you."

Mina would smile lightly as she opened the box with excitement and saw the gift, a golden necklace with her name on it. The name was made of shaped gold with a single diamond where the dot for the I is. She'd see this and smile even more as she spun on Ryan's lap and hugged him while wrapping her legs around him. "THANK YOU RYAN!!" She'd give him a slight kiss before putting it on.

J'me would get a smug face on his face as he watched Mina and Ryan.

Ryan would smile a little as Mina did her thing before glancing at J'me with a smirk.

J'me stood up and helped Mei up as well. "It's time for the actual present I was going to give you." He grabbed her hand and guided her outside.

Ryan would stay where he was and smile as he started hugging Mina and tossed a gift to Midoriya. "Mate, here." 

Deku would open it nervously and see a note that read "Shoot your shot already man." Deku knew what he was talking about and continued into the gift. He soon found a new costume. It was similar to his normal design but more like All Might's "Wh--WHATTTT!! Thank you so much!!" He'd grab it and run to the back before coming back out with it on.

Bakugo would stare at him with a slight grin before muttering, "Idiot," and looked towards Ryan. "Love bird, Where's my gift?"

Ryan would laugh a little as he picked up a small box and tossed it to him, "It's right there." 

Bakugo would open it and stare at it for a second. They were a new set of drum sticks "What are these for?" He'd look to where Ryan was pointing and smile a bit. A new drum set was sitting behind the tree with an orange bow on it. "Thanks."

Once J'me and Mei were outside, they started to walk away from the house. The scenery was stunning, snow falling down on everything. It truly looked like a winter wonderland. 

J'me had a special place where he wanted to ask Mei out. As they were walking towards the place, it was clear they were cold. Their bodies shaking uncontrollably, even with the coats that were on them.

Mei reached her hand out to touch J'me's hand, but she hesitated. The girl was afraid that he wouldn't like it and think she was weird. After a few seconds she gathered up the courage and grabbed J'me's hand, blushing in the process.

J'me turned to see Mei blush as she grabbed his hand. "Mei, why are you holding my hand…?" He questioned with a gentle tone in his voice. Every time he spoke, small breaths of air could be seen in the snow.

"I'm...I'm taking measurements for your hand!" She tried to keep her energetic attitude even if the girl was extremely nervous. 

"Oh really? If you were taking measurements, why are you blushing?" He said with a slight smirk on his face. 

Mei wouldn't be able to say anything in order to counter J'me's question. She blushed even more and looked away, still holding on to his hand.

J'me smiled and kept on walking to the special place. He still held her hand because he secretly liked it.

A few minutes would pass in silent before they reached the place. It was a park with a small lake around 10 meters from it.

"Here we are…" He guided Mei to the middle of the park and turned to look at her.

She looked at the scenery before turning her attention to J'me. "This...this is really beautiful J'me…" Mei would have a light pink blush on her face.

"Thanks!" He looked around for a couple seconds, J'me had no clue how to start this off. All he knew was the feelings he had for Mei and that he wanted to express them somehow. He grabbed both of her hands and held them tightly. "Mei...I don't know how to express this but...I…" He was hesitant to say it, J'me was afraid Mei would reject him for some reason. "I like you...I don't mean as a friend either…" J'me could already fill the blush appearing on his face. 

Mei's face would be filled with a huge blush as she looked away and out to the lake. She felt the same way about him, but did she really want to date him? She bit her lip and thought about it for a couple seconds. "Some people say that love doesn't exist...but here I am liking you as well J'me." She had a soothing yet caring voice as she spoke.

The blush on J'me's face would only get bigger by the second. "R-really? W-would you be my girlfriend…?" He felt extremely embarrassed to ask, but he wanted Mei to be his girlfriend. He looked into her creamy coffee eyes and hoped she would say yes.

The girl finally turned her direction to the boy after the question. Mei looked J'me in his dark wooden eyes before she spoke. "Y-yes, I'll be your girlfriend J'me Falcon." She smiled after her response even with the blush Mei had on.

J'me smiled like a huge idiot but he couldn't help himself. He was truly happy for one in his depressing life. He pulled Mei into a hug and softly placed a kiss on her forehead.

Mei hugged J'me back and only blushed more as he placed a kiss on her forehead. She stuffed her head to his chest since it was very comfortable.

With the hug in front of the lake, the scene looked like it came out of a movie. It was truly beautiful and for once J'me had a reason to look forward to Christmas.

After a few minutes J'me pulled away from the hug and smiled. "Mei, I promise I'll always do my best for you."

"That's sweet J'me but just having you by my side is good enough." Mei smiled hugely as she spoke to him.

He blushed softly before grabbing her hand and taking the girl back to the house.

They held hands through the walk home which helped them stay warm somewhat. It did stop their uncontrollable shaking. 

Once they got back and J'me opened the door, everyone turned to look at the new couple. Most of them smiled for how cute the sight was, unlike Bakugo's bitch ass. 

They sat down as if nothing happened or well pretended like nothing happened.

Ryan would smile and whisper to Mina, "looks like we're not the only ones who got together." He'd give her a light kiss before pulling her closer and holding a thumbs up to J'me. 

J'me just chuckled at Ryan's thumb up. He looked to see some others that got their present. "You actually gave Bakugo a present?"

Bakugo's eye would twitch slightly as he stood up and walked over to J'me. "Is there a problem you fucking pipsqueak?!" 

J'me let go of Mei's hand and stood up as well. "Yeah there is a problem…" The boy sent a right jab straight at Bakugo's jaw. "The problem is you, you fucking bitch."

Before Bakugo could react Mari jumped in between the two boys. "J'me it's Christmas, try to be a bit nicer today okay?" The immortal then turned to face Bakugo. "Let's try our best to not cause problems Suki," she teased lightly. 

"You're right Mari, it's Christmas. I should be acting a bit nicer. My bad Bakugo, you know how I can get mad at you quickly. I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry." J'me sat back down and held Mei's hand.

"Yeah whatever you pipsqueak…" He walked back to his spot and sat down, an angry expression on his face.

Mari let out a small sigh of relief and sat down herself.

Ryan would smile and as the conversation went on. He pulled a blanket over him and Mina while continuing to cuddle with her.

"Hold up partner, the party ain't over so y'all can't cuddle 'Mr. I'm gonna buy everyone a present'." He said holding Mei's hand tightly.

Ryan would flip him off jokingly and point towards the presents, "You hand out the rest."

"Bruh don't you have a demon or some shit inside? Make that fool hand the rest out."

He'd let out a sigh as all his gifts started sliding towards their recipient's.

As each person opened their gifts, they'd all thank him since they all either helped with their quirk or was about something they liked. Ururaka got a note similar to Deku's too.

J'me looked to see if there were anymore presents under the tree. It looks like they forgot about Kairos gift. He got up and tossed Ryan's present to him. "We forgot about Kairos gift he gave us...oof."

His gift seemed to unwrap itself since he was still cuddling with Mina, "a scythe? Nice."

J'me unwrapped his gift as well. "Hell yeah, sharingan contacts. I'm bouta pull an Itachi." He said in a joking manner.

For the people who don't know, Itachi is a character in the famous Naruto series. He was basically forced to kill his entire clan to prevent a war between the clan and village.

The scythe would lift into the air and float almost like something was guarding Ryan and Mina, "bet mate."

J'me would just laugh a little before sitting back down next to Mei.

Mina would pull a small gift from her pocket. It was a box wrapped up, inside the box was a watch that had Ryan's initials on the side of it. She then gave it to Ryan, "I'm sorry it's not much but that's the best I could do."

Ryan would look at the watch then back at her, "It's perfect Mina." He'd give her another kiss before putting it on, "thank you."

Jesus Christ Ryan, the two of yall just got together. You really need to stop being a damn man thot tryna get hella kisses and shit.

Mei would smile a little as she pulled out a small box of her own and gave it to J'me, "Here, I made this for you." She'd have a slight blush on her face as she gave it to him. It was a bracelet that had a button on it. 

J'me would open the gift and hugged Mei. "It's amazing, thank you so much Mei." He put the bracelet on and touched the button to see what it would do.

The bracelet would instantly shoot out around his arm, creating a gauntlet that could shift into a shield.

J'me's eyes widened in excitement as he hugged Mei again. "This is really amazing! I can't wait to use this in battle!"

She hugged him back and blushed a bit more. "Y-you're welcome J'me…"

Ryan would glance down at Mina and see that she was now asleep, still sitting on his lap with her legs wrapped around him, and leaning on his chest with her arms around him. "So... we're staying here for the night right?"

"Yeah I guess so...except Mineta is not staying." 

Mineta looked sad for a second, "why not?!!"

Ryan would smile a bit before motioning to Mineta's pillow, "I think he'll be fine."

J'me looked at the pillow and rolled his eyes. "He does one thing and he's out in the snow for the rest of the night." 

Iida stood up and started waving his arms around. "Alright guys! Time to get into our pajamas and into the sleeping bags!"

Ryan would smile as he looked down at Mina again and saw she was already in pjs. "Umm... I'm ready."

Before J'me changed he called out to Ryan, "Yo Ryan can I talk to you outside before we had to bed?"

He'd nod and slightly/gently moved mina off of him, "Sure." He'd stand up and start walking to the door.

He pressed the button on the bracelet so it wouldn't cover his arm anymore. He grabbed his coat and tossed Ryan's to him. "Put that on dipshit." He said putting his coat on and walking outside.

He'd laugh a little before catching it and slipping it on. "Ok mate," He'd then walk out after him.

He made sure the door was closed before speaking. "So, what are we gonna do about All Might? Since I have all these powers I wanna heal him but I don't wanna fuck up the timeline."

He'd shrug as he thought about it, "I could heal him too... but I don't think we should mess up the timeline."

"I mean we already fucking up the timeline just from being here...hell even Kirishima knows I'm not originally from here."

He'd nod slightly "Same with Mina...."

"Hold up wait a fucking minute Ryan. How the fuck did that happen?" 

"It's a long story to say the least J'me."

"I don't give a damn, you better tell me."

"Well it all started at the hero vs villain part..." He'd go on to explain how they worked together and she realized that he knew the place, and so he explained to her what happened.

"I see...well shit not everyone needs to know we aren't from here."

"I know...Mina said she'll keep quiet as well."

"So did Kirishima," He would let out a small sigh. "How much of the timeline do you think is affected just from us being here?"

He'd start scratching his head a little before he responded. "Uh.. probably all of it.. considering there's that other girl.. Mari I think.."

"I don't think she's really affecting the timeline, considering it's like she's been here her entire life."

He'd nod, "Yeah...wait. What if she's the first thing that's wrong with this timeline...all because we came here."

"Ryan what the fuck are you trying to hint at?"

"Maybe she's here because we're here..."

"That could be possible but how could that even happen?"

He'd make a dense spike and start drawing in the snow, "This is their timeline." He'd draw a straight line off of their timeline "This is the timeline now, since we appeared here..." He'd then draw a line from the front of the main timeline to the tip of their timeline, "But there's always a possibility that these two timelines separated at the start of the first one because we were destined to be here.." He hoped J'me was keeping up.

"Why were the four of us destined to be here then? What use do we have here..." He then realized why. "What if we are here because of overhaul? We know they had trouble fighting him."

He shrugged a little, "Or maybe we're here for a different threat." As he said this Mina would come out and with a tired voice saying, "You left me on the couch baby."

J'me would simply nod, Mei came out with Mina as well. "J'me come on it's getting lateeeee." J'me chuckled and started walking inside, "come on Ryan."

He'd laugh some as he put his coat on Mina and picked her up, "C'mon let's go in." He'd then walk in and sit back down on the couch with Mina, who was already asleep and had her legs and arms wrapped around him, and pulled her closer before pulling a blanket over them.

J'me would grab Mei's hand and guide her to his room. "Goodnight guys!" He called out before leaving the living room.

Everyone fell asleep rather quickly, it was a quiet night. The only one who didn't get sleep that night was Iida. That was because he kept hearing weird noises in J'me's spare bedroom which beforehand, he saw Ryan and Mina go in there in the middle of the night.

Once the sun started to rise, J'me woke up and decided to make a big breakfast for everyone.

He quietly made his way into the kitchen without waking anyone up and started to cook.

After a few hours passed, the food was finally done and everyone was awake. "If you make a mess, clean it up please." Once he said that he let everyone eat. While they were eating, he went into the living room to sit down and relax. 

That's when Mari came into the living room as well. "Hey, J'me right?" She said slightly messing up his name.

"Yeah that's me, what do you want Mari?" He had a confused look on his face, normally she never even talked to J'me.

"Um...I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for throwing the party and making us breakfast, I know you didn't have to do that…" The immortal spoke with a warm tone in her voice.

"Oh, it's not a problem. I just wanted our first Christmas to be special, that's all really. Merry Christmas by the way." He said with a smile on his face. 

Mari simply smiled at the reasoning, "Merry Christmas J'me." She then walked into the kitchen.

Everyone ate breakfast and shortly left after. Of course they thanked J'me beforehand for the party and food.

Thus the end of One's Rebirth, the Christmas special. Merry Christmas everyone!

#one's rebirth

[lisinfleur]

Crossed Paths

The request:              

Author’s Notes | I love cute scenes! Thanks for the request! I hope you like as well! Universe | Vikings Pairing | Ivar x Reader Info | Viking Age AU, requested by anon for 5CW7 Words | 1840 ⁑ Warnings: None

When your father wasn't an Earl, the two of you used to see each other all the time. You were children and despite the way he was acid and sometimes even harsh, you liked to be near Ivar instead of playing outside with the others. You could, but you never liked to run and ruin the beautiful outfits and braids your mother was used to making for you. You rather playing hnefatafl with him and pretend you were a lady and he was a king.

Ivar always liked the way you used to call him "my king".

But your father became closer and closer to Björn and when he was made an Earl by King Ragnar due to the ability he showed to administrate men and lands, you and Ivar were separated for longer times...

You liked your new home - it was a beautiful hall and gorgeous lands with woods and places to play your stories. But you were now a lady without a king, so you started pretending King Ivar was in a raid and whenever you could see him, you would hug him tight as if he was returning from a long trip. None of his brothers ever understood your imagination or why you called him that way, but you didn't care. You liked the smiles Ivar would always have for you and you would hear the stories of his days as if he was telling you the tales of his adventures out of the lands you and him were sharing in your imaginary kingdom.

However, one day, your father left for a raid. And from him, only a crow came back bringing his armlet and the news of his departure to the Halls of the Gods. You were used to visiting Ivar's hall every year to see your king...

That year, you didn't see him.

Nor in the year after... Neither the years that came.

Your mother got married again, then she got pregnant, then, another child. There was always a reason why you wouldn't be able to go to Kattegat and see Prince Ivar. And when you finally found a way to go along your foster father to the town, he wasn't there. According to the tongues, King Ragnar was back.

And your imaginary king was in a real raid this time...

You remember you came back home praying all the prayers you used to pretend for him. And your heart sunk in your chest when you heard of his return.

This time no man was able to prevent you from packing your things.

"Where do you think you're going?" your mom invaded your bedroom when the slaves warned her about the way you were putting dresses into your leather bag.

"A crow came from Kattegat! Ivar is back and he's hurt! King Ragnar is dead such as queen Aslaug! I'm going to see my king!"

Your mother took your bag, throwing it to the other side of the room, angrily.

"You won't go anywhere! There is a new queen and we don't recognize Ragnar's first wife as our queen! You shall stay! We owe nothing to that town anymore and he's not your king, Y/N! Stop this madness! Ivar Ragnarsson is no king! And you're no queen! It will never happen! Stop this childish fantasy!"

You felt your blood boiling.

"I don't care if your new husband will stay and hide and if you want to stay and hide with him! I'm leaving for Kattegat today with or without a bag! I don't care!"

"I do!" your mother said.

And your room was ordered to be locked.

You became a prisoner into your own house, looking out through the window towards Kattegat's shadow away in the horizon, unable to go back to your king, knowing he had too much in his head to come and save you from your torment.

Poor Ivar... His father was dead, his mother was dead, his brothers were gathering an army and soon he would be leaving for England to avenge his father's death, you heard.

It was easy to hear your foster father speaking to your mother from your room, talking to her about how they wouldn't join that army; about the suitor he had for you and the beautiful alliance he would get with your marriage to a man outside of Kattegat's reach.

You fled.

When your foster father left to bring your suitor for the marriage you risked everything. You tied a sheet on the leg of your bed and another sheet on the first and braided the cloths until you had a rope strong enough for you to throw out of the window. You took no clothes with you and nothing but the valuable jewels you had that you sold for a horse at the town before gaining the night away from your home.

You never traveled alone and you didn't know the proper ways to reach Kattegat. You trusted the gods to guide your way and they guided you...

Towards Vestfold.

Tired, dirty, poor, you had no choice but staying in that town, accepting the help you received from the king's castle: they needed a maiden, you knew how to clean and needed the silver.

For the following years, you served on King Harald's castle, hearing from the raids where he was, helping your beloved prince and his brothers with the vengeance against the Englishmen. You also heard when King Harald came back saying Prince Sigurd had fallen by your king's hands and how divided they were now.

Your heart got hurt once again. And you remembered you sat and prayed for him one more time, asking the gods to allow your paths to cross once again so you could soothe the pain in his heart.

The time passed and a fleet was announced in Vestfold's bay. A great table was served to receive the commander and you heard Ivar the Boneless was coming along with his brother Hvitserk and his men, to ally to King Harald against his older brothers Björn and Ubbe...

You never thought you would see this happening - the sons of Ragnar fighting each other. Ubbe turning his back on his mother's murder, Hvitserk separated from his favorite brother.

From all those things, the only thing you never doubted you would see someday was that man coming into the hall, imposing and tall, standing with his braces and a strong presence with an army and a fleet behind his back.

You never doubted Ivar would become the king of your imagination. You never doubted one day he would be a great man.

Your hands trembled with the tray in your fingers and you looked into his eyes, speaking before King Harald could salute him, attracting his icy blues towards you - and your offensive behavior, by the way. For a servant, you were too sassy, but his memory didn't betray him and his ears didn't fool his mind: when your voice sounded, Ivar recognized you on spot.

"My king..."

His face frowned and king Harald laughed.

"Oh, do you know him, child?" he said, looking at you, ironic about your way to salute his guest before himself.

You placed the tray over his table and smiled, straightening your dress.

"I do," you answered, ignoring King Harald's irony.

Your eyes fully dived into those beautiful blues you waited so long to see once again.

"Y/N?" Ivar recognized, walking - he was walking! - closer to you.

"So, I see you know my servant as well, Ivar," Harald insisted on speaking at that moment and Ivar looked at him for a second.

"She's no servant. She the daughter of a loyal Earl from my father's best men," he said, and you walked near him, impressed of how taller than you he was. "What are you doing serving tables in Harald's Hall?"

"My father is gone," you mumbled, still looking at him impressed of how big he became, how large were his shoulders, and how beautiful was his hair braided now. "Feasts in Valhalla along with King Ragnar. My foster father wanted to marry me to another Earl from a different kingdom. A Dane, if I'm not wrong. I don't know. They tried to forbid me to come and see you. So... I fled."

Your words surprised him and his lips curled that way so charming. You couldn't avoid smiling; your cheeks redder.

"I wanted to come when I heard about poor queen Aslaug. But... I didn't know the right way," you said, and King Harald completed, again attracting Ivar's attention, but this time, to endorse your story.

"I've heard she arrived tired, starving, and thin. My servants offered her the work of a maiden that she readily accepted for some coins of silver and a place to stay. I didn't know she was important to you, or I would have warned you about her, my friend," he said, but Ivar waved his hand before softly touching your chin, getting your face completely red.

"I see she's well cared," he smiled. "But I'll have to take your servant from you, King Harald. For the woman you call a servant, is my soon-to-be-queen, a fiancé for a long term that is passed time to become my wife."

Your face became shocked in surprise and the words escaped from your mouth when he smiled at you one of those sassy smiles you were used to seeing whenever he was winning your moves on the hnefatafl table with that absurd advantage he always had.

"Unless... Her stories about being my queen from our childhood until now were just stories..." he said, smiling at you. "Were they, my queen?"

"N... No. I... My king... I wasn't... They were.... real... I"

Your speechless ways, absent the sassiness of one second ago, caused King Harald to laugh freely, smiling at Ivar with his cup raised in his hand.

"So, we shall celebrate. I have an important guest that will probably cede me the honor to have his marriage realized into my Halls. And since she has been being my personal servant for long more than a year, due to her father's loyalty to yours and the way things are adjusting in between us, I'll take her as my family and offer you her heimen fyglia as a way for us to start negotiating our alliance, King Ivar," he said, calling your king the same way you referred to him, getting a smile from Ivar's mouth.

"Bring us the mead, my friend!" Ivar said, embracing your waist with his free hand, smiling at you with his face softly nuzzling yours for a second before smiling at King Harald once again. "I have plenty of time to speak about alliances, crowns... And marriages..."

You smiled, nuzzling your nose tenderly to his neck, embracing him back with the tender touch you always had for him whenever your king was back from your imaginary raids.

It seems, after all, your mother was wrong and your childish fantasies would be real in the end.

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#history vikings #imagine vikings #ivar #ivar the boneless #ivar imagine #ivar x reader #ivar ragnarsson #ivar lothbrok #ivar's heathen army #sister wives #5CW #5CW Event #5CWIvar2 #shot #later works

[wisteriant]

Surprises in (un)familiar territory

My footsteps carried me past a wall with “Beware of ambush” plastered onto it in stark red. It barely registered as I’d seen it many times before. Passing the wall, I ran into a hall that lead into a dead end. I knew from experience that when I reach the end, a mob of goblinoids will pour from the nearby window and the path back. Why take this dead end if you know this? you might ask. As I came halfway down the hallway, a group of six goblinoids did indeed pour from the nearby window, as well as blocking the way back. They brandished their daggers and yellow grins as they started towards me with the intent to cut me apart. I traced the blade in my hand through the air— a black steel hunting sword, and incanted words in a language which I knew not the meaning of. I waved my sword around, as the goblinoids closed the distance, and got within striking range. I ended the motion with a flourish of my blade. A particularly fast goblinoid had gotten as far as thrusting his blade towards my unprotected neck. As the blade was about to prick my skin, the creature cut into empty space. The creature surprised by my sudden disappearance dropped to the flour howling in sudden pain, followed by its brethren, all of them set ablaze by pale blue flames. I smirked as I appeared behind them, their bodies turning to ash, dissolving, scattering in the winds. I slowly and deliberately sheeted my sword back into its scabbard, and made my way back out of the hall without looking back. I walked and walked through the passages of the structure— a somber church of gothic design. I cleared every hall I entered of its denizens in a similar fashion, just like the dozen of times I did before. I really liked getting rid of all the enemies in an area.

Eventually one of the hallways opened up into a spacious chapel. It was a rather sombre place, the light of the moon cast through a large hole in the roof, and the rest filtered through the stained glass; leadlight casted with figures of saints and angels, arms raised towards heaven. The shadows they cast on the floor created a sinister contrast, giving the impression of fiends grasping for whomever dared step within their reach. The toll of a bell could be heard not too far in the distance, which was repeated another ten times to signal off the current hour. Slowly, from within the shadows, a figure rose as if elevated from a sea of deepest dark, body covered in a bleached white exoskeleton, resembling a clerical habit with the colors inverted. Its yellowed teeth set in a permanent grin, eyeless face peering at me as two appendages on it’s back writhed about as its spiked tips, fluorite and clear, cut through the air. A name appeared in the bottom of my sight, Glouchester: Martyr of the Deep. I readied my blade, anticipating its first move.

One of it’s tail like appendages came soaring towards me, the tip aimed at my face, intend on skewering it through. I ducked low, and as it passed me, lashed out with my blade, severing a large part of it. Glouchester’s screech, borne more out of anger than pain, was accompanied by black liquid spurting from its stump, biting through material like acid wherever it fell. I rolled past a splurt, Narrowly avoiding a lunge as he attempted to pin me down. I landed cut at his side for his effort. I ducked or rolled past him everytime he lunged for me, striking whenever I could. My dodging streak abruptly ended, overextended by a thrust, I was too slow to avoid a lightning quick swipe that took me of my feet, and knocked me into a nearby bench, splintering it under my weight. I incurred no serious damage, aside for a dent in my pride. I got to my feet again—  now more cautious as I circled my foe. He didn’t look too worse for wear. various cuts across his body, yet the yellowed grin persisted through its slightly labored breath. Undeterred, it launched itself in another attack, this time with the other sharp appendage. I dodged and beelined straight for Glouchester. Right before a swipe of his would connect with me, I faded from sight, followed by a pained howl. I appear behind it, leaving the enemy engulfed in blue flame, it’s oily blood fueling the blaze even further. I couldn’t help but smirk, the trick never gets old. I checked it’s life bar and saw that I reduced it to less than half. Another shrill scream was uttered by my foe, not because of the flames cloying at it’s body but by the rippling mass of flesh and bone at it’s back that slowly formed into two sets of wings. It tested them out, sending buffets of wind out in its vicinity, and I had to brace myself to keep my footing. Phase two was now in effect.

It ripped out it’s tentacle from its back, the appendage stiffening as it went solid, slowly ossifying until it was akin to a spear. With blue flames still cloying to it’s body, it pushed off the ground and came soaring towards me. I didn’t plan to just tank the hit, so I dodged out of the way. I focused on my hand, and gathered energy within. I made a cutting motion with my hand and an arc of blue fire went rushing towards Glouchester. It turned and spun it’s spear in front of itself, and the arc of fire crashed uselessly against it. It stood a bit taller after it’s stunt, having hindered me, but it mattered not, as i’d be ending this in the next exchange. Thrusting it’s spear incessantly at me, I strafed and ducked my way to him. Once more I collected energy into my hand. A punch aimed at my face is deflected by a slap with my blade. Being close enough, I pressed my palm against its chest, and let go of the energy. A concentrated pillar of fire burst from Glouchester’s back. The recoil threw me back three feet before I came to a skidding halt. Panting and on it’s knees, Glouchester faced me, and I could almost imagine his gaze  from behind it’s eyeless mask. But that was about all he could muster with his spear clutched in a weak fist, the other hand placed on the gaping hole in it’s torso. This was it. I ready my blade and dashed forward, ready to deal the deathblow. It roared once more in deviance as my blade shortened the distance towards it’s neck, ready to part his head from the rest of his body. Steel bit into his neck, and in the next moment- I was cutting through empty space.

My blade swept through empty space, and a split second later, an ear deafening sound assaulted my ears. As I clasped my hands over my ears, I staggered back, the space I just occupied pulverized-  as if someone just took a bite out of it. I’m vaguely aware of a cut on my cheek—  I staggered back further and peered around me in confusion, my eyes trying to perceive past the edge of perception, past the dusty cloud where I previously stood. The dust eventually settled. Glouchester— or what was left of him, seized to be, his form losing solidity, turning back into the substance it rose from. From within the chapel, I could here the lone sound of pair of hands clapping. It came from the altar. Seated there, a lissom silhouette  crossed its legs. The clapping seized, and a hand went to her weapon which at a touch, shifted into the form of a complex looking scythe. The figure stepped from under the shadows and into the light cast by the stained glass— red hair cascading down to her shoulders, she wore a nun’s habit, one that reached no further than her thighs, and nylon stockings with fancy embroidery at the end covering the rest. The sound of her black high heels were almost painfully loud in the dead silence of the chapel, as she closed the distance between the two of us.

“Yo.” She said casually, offering me a lazy wave. I didn’t greet her back, which drew out a smirk, and instead glared into her green eye not covered by an eyepatch.

“What’s this? Cat caught your tongue, or did your mom never teach you any manners?” She asked smugly.

“What do you want?” I barked. Having come to a stop, she leaned on her scythe, red locks of hair swaying as she shook her head disapprovingly. “Your common courtesy for one, she said mockingly. “Though, I shouldn’t expect a prole to know proper etiquette.”

It hasn’t even been a minute and I already hate this person's guts, though I think it’s pretty justified.

“Why don’t you cut the crap and start explaining a few things. Like, why are you even here? And what do you mean with prole?” I asked, brow furrowed in growing anger.

“Figures,” she said, as she touched her fingers to her forehead in what she might’ve thought was a dramatic pose, and with matching, condescending tone said: “A prole not knowing what a prole is. Besides, you shouldn’t be asking why i’m here,” she said as she pressed a hand to her collarbone. “You should be asking who i am.”

“Who are-”

“Your worst nightmare!” She interrupted.

“Enough!” I yelled, and as to emphasize, I worked magic into my left hand, and threw it out at my intruder.

“Flame Whip!” A lengthy stream of blue flame shot out from my hand, which I whipped towards the woman. The flames simply dissipated on touching her person, leaving no trace of striking behind, and I only fetched a grin for the effort as she turned her back to me. “Face me!” I yelled as I dashed forward, blade poised with the intent to strike her between the shoulder blades. She looked at me from over her shoulder— grin still on her face, as she threw off her eyepatch with a flourish. I spotted a hint of red before everything went white in a flash. The moment I saw again, she held her scythe behind her, with the end touching the ground and the blade facing upwards; big mistake.

I was close, close enough to reach her with my sword. I thrusted, anticipating the gleam of light racing along the surface of my blade, as it sunk deeper and deeper into the pliant flesh of her throat, the first of red pinpricks turning into rivulets, that would streak down her pale flesh— but it never happened. The muscles in my arm were locked up and refused to budge. I tried to break away which proved pointless as my legs, and literally every muscle in my body refused to listen. Not even my eyes were spared, and the last thing I saw as I tipped over being the ever shortening distance between me and the ever so sharp scythe.

— As I placed the VR headgear on top of my desk, I threw my gamepad through my room where it safely landed into a pillow. The game-over music still played in the headgear as I thrusted my head into my pillow. I made a furtive glance towards my alarm clock. One in the morning. I turned it on, and went to bed shortly, with sleep taking me even quicker.

-----There I stood, In the shadow of the convention centre. The overcast sky lent it an almost imposing look which was at odds with what went on inside; games, music, and manga, either sold by big names or smaller ones. People cosplaying their favorite character or meeting up with online friends, it was all happening inside. I briskly walked inside of the complex led by the stream of visitors that started all the way at the train station. Leaving the dour weather behind me, an energetic atmosphere greeted me as multiple songs lured the people to their respective fandoms. Even with this being my third visit, it was still as impressive as the first. A quick glance at my phone showed me it was about time to head out to the foodcourt and meet up with my friend there.

I bought two crêpes; one for me and another for my friend. As I got seated, I looked around as I waited. My eyes fell on an older, bespectacled girl with long, brown hair seated at a table close to me. She absentmindedly ate her chocolate glazed Belgian waffles, while staring at her phone’s home screen every now and then. Another table was occupied by what I presumed was a couple sharing food. Another had a bunch of crossplayers being photographed, and yet another one had two female cosplayers arguing about whether Touhou’s fanbase had been losing against Kancolle’s fanbase and vice versa. Nothing out of the ordinary here, these were common occurrences at the convention.

Despite that, the girl I mentioned earlier caught my eye again. While she didn’t look particularly happy before, at this point, she looked downright saddened. She let her phone clatter on the table without a care and cradled her head between her arms. She muttered something but I couldn’t hear it. I leaned in, but I still couldn’t hear a word. A sudden vibration in my pocket kept me from thinking much about it. I grabbed at my phone and the display showed my buddy’s name. “Hey man, you there yet?” I asked after accepting the call. For a moment I heard nothing more than footsteps and panting, until I heard a sudden announcement about… a plane leaving!?

“Hey, Takenaka!” my friend hastily said.

“Ishikawa… what’s going on?” I asked.

“Yeah, well about that convention…” He said.

“What about the convention? You can’t make it?” I asked.

“Can’t make it. I’m heading off to Okinawa! This lady is selling of this figurine for a ridiculously low price! If I catch the earliest plane leaving I still have a chance of buying it from her!” He told me almost feverously.

“Damn it dude! You promised you’d be here! I- what kind of figurine are you buying anyway?” I asked.

He let off a short bark of laughter. “Tut tut tut. If I told you that, you’d be catching a plane too! Anyway, I won’t be able to be back there in time. Maybe we can go tomorrow instead?” He asked.

Before I could answer he cut me off. “Oh, It’s my turn now! Sorry pal, I have a ticket to buy and a train to catch! TTYL!”

“Wait! I haven’t ev-” The call ended before I could even finish my sentence, and I looked at my screen in frustration. “I can’t believe I got ditched…” I laid my head down on the table with a sigh. With my appetite gone, I eyed the two crêpes on the table wearily. What was I supposed to do with two? Should I give one to someone? Both?

“...Excuse me.” a soft spoken voice said.

“Go ahead,” I said not looking up from my seat. “nobody else is seated here.”

Ishikawa wasn’t going to come, and I wasn’t planning on moping about that fact. I just had to chow down my crêpe, and head into the rows and rows of merchandise. Think about it! I didn’t come here to mope ab-

“Excuse me, are you okay?”

Ehh? Why wouldn’t I be okay? Better question yet, who’s asking?

In front of me stood a lady wearing an off-white cardigan over a low cut, light blue sweater.

It was the brown haired girl from earlier.

Her face was set in one of concern, but quickly switched between a few emotions which I’m not able to discern, until it settled into a guilty look. Why? Beats me, but I sure didn’t like it.

“Well, a friend of mine canceled on me last minute, but I’m doing okay. No need for you to be concerned.” I said.

“Ah- of course, I shouldn’t have assumed.” she said as she smoothed out the fabric of her shorts with her hands, trying to not look down dejectedly.

Not good… It wasn’t my intention to make her more sad than she already is.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked.

Not having expected that question, her eyes went wide in surprise. Her face shifted into embarrassment quickly, and her face flushed a bit more red.

She waved her hands in front of her face, and stepped back from the table with an audible click-clack, revealing brown suede boots that reached to her upper thighs. I wondered how I hadn’t heard them before.

“W-why would you think there’s something wrong with me? I’m doing absolutely fine!” she said. She tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth barely curled upwards, leaving me unconvinced. As if she had read my mind, her face had taken on a guilty look again.

“Just thought I’d check in on you, because that’s what I- what adults are supposed to do! Yep! Helping people who look like they need it. But nothing seems the problem, so...” she said resignedly, and was about to walk away.

“Onee-san, wait!” I called out to her before she could.

“Eh? Onee-san?” She exclaimed, as she pointed at herself.

Well, now I got her attention. But what do I say?

“I uhh-”

“yes?”

“uhh…”

Speak, damnit! Speak!

“I uhh, ...I’d like you to go with me!” I hastily said.

What followed was an awkward silence between the two of us as I tried to not go red in the face. “I mean, I’d like you to check out the convention with me! I haven’t been here before, so I wouldn’t know where to look around.” I lied.

“I’m sorry. I was supposed to,” she said, and for a moment it seemed like she would decline, until she was hit by some kind of realisation. She looked to the side as she mulled over what to say.

“...I guess that’s okay.”

“You don’t have to, you know. I mean, it can’t be helped If you’re already waiting on someone. I’d just be an inconvenience.”

“No, no,” she said hastily, “I’d like it if I could show you around! Let this onee-san take care of it!” she said with an enthusiasm that wasn’t there before.

For a moment I thought that I should probably feel a bit bad about tricking someone, but I think this was just what she needed.

We passed a stall manned by a foreigner. The doujinshi sold belonging to a series where supposedly a guy gets turned into a girl. I licked some of the stuffing from the crêpes of my finger. I had ended up eating the other too, as it felt like a waste of money to just throw it away. I glanced at my companion. We had been walking for a while, but she hadn’t said much, maybe I should start a conversation? Her eyes met mine, and she must have thought the same as she cleared her throat and asked: “So what kinds of series do you like?”

“I watch a bunch of shows, but I think my favorites right now are Aldnoah zero, Tokyo Ghoul, and Attack on Titan.” I said.

“I see,” she said in a level tone. “Have you seen some older stuff too?” she asked.

“I try to avoid it. The shows aren’t even better than what we have now.” I answered.

“That argument isn’t really fair, you know? Every year has good and bad shows.” She remarked.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” I begrudgingly admitted. “But old shows look too dated, and the art doesn’t look so good.”

“I guess you’re too much into brooding main characters and harem shows huh?” She said with a light laugh. She struck a pose, right hand splayed over her right eye. “I am Justice! I protect the innocent and those who fear evil. I'm the one that will become the god of a new world that everyone desires!” She said in a deeper voice. The gesture screamed 8th grader syndrome, and I shuddered out of revulsion, embarrassed for her, but mostly for myself, as it reminds me of how I was not too long ago.

“So what kind of shows do you watch then?” I asked as I tried to divert the attention to her.

From her mouth came a torrent of shows I’ve never heard about, or never wanted to watch. Free? Yuri on Ice? Madoka? Not that I haven’t heard of those, but I deliberately avoided those, because they seemed kinda…. gay.

“I also liked Hunter x Hunter a lot-”

“Oh hey, I’m watching that right now!” I interjected.

“Oh, really? How far are you into it?” She asked, enthused.

“Greed Island.” I said.

“Hmmm… yeah, Greed Island was nice, but the next Arc is even better! It starts off slow, but the payoff is just-” Her eyes were scrunched up as she smiled, a pleased sound coming from her mouth, that I had to admit sounded nice to my ears.

“Say Onee-san-

She looked pretty cute when she laughed. Not only that, but she had a mature charm to her; or better said she looked pretty mature. Which lead to the question at hand…

“How old are you, If I might ask?”

I hadn’t expected the response she gave me. She acted like a deer caught in the headlights.

She just looked at me for a few seconds, until she looked away- a rosy tinge to her cheeks and an angry frown on her face.

“A-are you saying that I’m too old to be hanging around here, or something?” She asked.

“No I-I wasn’t trying to say anything-”

“Do you always ask someone for their age without introducing yourself and asking for their name first? It’s pretty rude you know.” She said with a pout.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you at the start, but I thought it would be awkward asking it out of the blue.” I answered.

“And asking for my age isn’t?” she quipped.

“Touché.” She had me there.

“I’m Takenaka Shou, it’s nice to meet you.” I said as I introduced myself.

“Good,” She commented while adjusting her glasses. “Yamamoto Yoshiko! Nice to make your acquaintance.”

We checked out the convention further after that. Yamamoto-san bought a Touken Ranbu keychain and a bunch of explicit manga, having no qualms with buying them despite me being around it seemed. I myself bought an Uru in Blue artbook and another from Creayus, and managed to get on the photo with a cosplayer dressed as Slaine Troyard . It was late midday when I got back to the food court again, this time with Yamamoto-san accompanying me from the get go. I really enjoyed talking to her. We got along fine, and I found out we had a lot in common, despite our differing tastes. She even played Sanguine Spirits, the game I played up till one in the morning. We exchanged each other's usernames and social media handles so we could keep in touch.

After food, we walked around until the convention ended. I didn’t buy much, but managed to get my hands on a phone case depicting the Sleipnir from Aldnoah Zero, while Yamamoto-san bought an expensive butler Archer figure.

The walk back to the station was a nice one. I would’ve settled for companionable silence, but we talked about Sanguine Spirits, her job as an programmer, and my parttime job at a convenience store. “I go to the convenience store every day, so It’s funny that I’ve never run into you!” She said.

I laughed, and answered with: “There’s more than one convenience store you know.”

We stood together on platform six, waiting for the next train. Both of us had to go to Narahama, both engrossed in our talk about Sanguine Spirits. We both agreed that Cathedral of Time had great atmosphere, but was rather lacking in enemy diversity. From that we talked about the classes. I had been explaining how Flash Ignition for the Wake Knight was a necessary skill, right as we boarded the train.

“Today was as fun as i hoped it would be.” Yamamoto-san said. She had a smile on her face, the corners of her mouth barely upturned, but there was a sparkle to her eyes, that spoke of her mirth.

“Hoped?” I asked.

“I went to the convention hoping to meet up, talk about my favorite shows, buy some cool merch, talk about games, and maybe make a friend. It felt like it wasn’t going to happen earlier today, but It turned out fine.” She said. Her smile was out in full now.

“Because...”

As if on cue, rays of light broke through the cloud covers, casting her face in light, lending a brighter quality to her already radiant smile. It was like the world was a director setting up a super emotional scene that had me as one of its actors, only now aware of my given role.

“we are-”

Putting my hands in my pocket, I slid my right thumb along the side of my phone repeatedly, indenting the volume button, knowing nothing would happen.

“friends, right?”

“Of course we are,” I said as I looked to the side. I grabbed my phone and turned it on, knowing full well that there were no new notifications.

“You don’t need to question that.” I said as I looked up from my phone.

“Aww, did i embarrass you?” she teased.

“What? No!” I exclaimed.

The train eventually reached our stop. Yamamoto-san didn’t. Who knew she could’ve been such a tease. Every answer I gave, gave her another opening. We missed the bus so we decided on walking home. For the longest time we went along the same way, until we came close to the convenience store near my home.

“I’m going to pick up dinner here before heading home!” She said.

“You sure about that? They aren’t particularly healthy, you know.” I said.

“What gives? The fat goes to my breasts anyway,” she emphasized that point by pressing them together. What is she? I have a hard time imagining her as an adult, but she sure looked the part.

“And I’m getting the feeling you don’t really mind that at all~”

I rolled my eyes.”Look, I’m heading home now, my mom probably got something cooking already, and I wouldn’t want to come home to a cold meal.” I said.

“Momma’s boy!” she answered.

I was taking slow steps backwards, as did she, turning around after a quick wave.

“I had fun!” I shouted.

“Me too!” She replied.

I got home and was greeted by an empty house. Strange, I thought. My dad’s on a business trip like he often does, so him not being here is normal. My older sister Sayaka lives on her own, so it would be a surprise, although a welcome one when she’d be here. My younger sister Akane might be eating at a friends house, but that leaves my mother. She’d usually leave a message when she goes out. I took off my shoes and made my way to the living room, and was greeted by a note left on the coffee table. It said:

:^)

Love, mom.

The hell does that mean!?

I went to my room where I dropped off the merchandise I scored, and went to the kitchen, hoping there would be food that I could reheat. Sadly, that was not the case, as I was greeted by an empty stove as well as a scarcely filled fridge. It seemed a pre-packaged dinner from the nearby convenience store would have to do. I put on my shoes again and left the house.

I was immediately greeted by someone calling my name.

“Takanaka-kun?” I knew that voice. I had listened to it tease me for a good portion of the day.

“Yamamoto-san?” I asked, perplexed.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“I live here. What are YOU doing here?”

“Really!? This changes sooo much! I’ve got to show you my character in Sanguine Spirits…” She hastily walked past my door, grocery bag in hand, going almost all the way down the hall, and stopped in front of a door, ready to open it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I said as I wearily eyed her as she opened the door. This was getting ridiculous. She stepped inside, only to peek her head out and wave me over.

“I have to buy dinner! Nobody’s home, and there’s uh, no food in the fridge.” I said.

“No worries! You can eat with me. I bought a bunch of meals, so you can pick!”

“-Well, aren’t I a reliable Onee-san?” Yamamoto-san said with a smirk as she handed me steaming plate of curry. I gave a noncommittal grunt in response, as she sat down on the floor, and navigated the game consoles menu to recorded game clips.

“I’ve got to show you this footage I took, of this scrub I owned in Sanguine Spirits… Not showing it would be a crime!” She remarked. I didn’t feel like commenting on that. I was thinking about all these coincidences. Who would’ve thought that a random person I meet at a convention ends up being my neighbour? The video clip she showed me of her character; A redhead in a nun’s habit, wielding a scythe. I was looking at the encounter that ended in me losing against her in an embarrassing manner, only this time I was the onlooker. I abruptly stood up from the table I was seated. I eyed her suspiciously. In no way can things be this coincidental. This was an elaborate ruse, or at least felt like one, and I wanted answers.

“I sure got him good, Didn’t i, Shou?” She said to me, all the while beaming at me. I was starting to doubt the integrity of that smile.

“I need to get something straight.” I said.

Yamamoto-san’s eyes narrowed. This wasn’t the answer she expected.

“Uhh, okay?” She uttered, confused.

“So… do you know who that guy is?” I asked.

“No clue.” She responded.”

“Look. If this is some kind of elaborate joke, please tell me.”

She couldn’t help but look at me funny. “Joke? I- What do you mean? You’re acting strange.”

“You see, the character in that game-” I started.

“Yes?”

“Is my character.” She just looked at me for a while with a dumbfounded look, a spoonful of curry held in front of her mouth.

“Quite a coincidence, isn’t it?” I said.

“...Creepy.” She swallowed hard, and not because of her food. She placed her plate on the table, and I could see her tense up.

“It’s too much of a coincidence that the person I hung out with the whole day just so happens to be my neighbour, and just so happens to coincidentally kick my ass in a game, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Did Kaede send you?” She asked. I shook my head, as I didn’t know a Kaede.

“You really life here, right?” She was getting increasingly wary. I realised she was just as, if not even more confused than I was.

“You saw me walk out of my house right?” I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out my keys. I shook my keys in front of me before I threw them to her with an underhand toss. I caught her off guard, and she momentarily panicked, and nearly dropped the keys, having to catch them with two hands.

“So who is this Kaede? What would I have to do with her?” I asked.

Her face was set in a frown, and her mouth in a thin line. She looked at me for a while, looking troubled, before grabbing her phone and ticking away at it.

“What are you doing?” I asked. Was she calling the police? I was struck by the feeling of anxiety as the thought crossed my mind.

“Don’t call the cops! I’m not stalking you, honest!” I exclaimed. Great, now I was pleading when a while back I thought she was possibly stalking me. How the tables had turned.

She turned her smartphone towards me, which displayed a soft green screen. I was about to say something, anything, until it dawned upon me what I was looking at. It was a group chat. I looked at Yamamoto-san questioningly, but “Read it.” was all she said. So I did, and the chat didn’t seem out of the ordinary. People talked to each other about innocuous things. I saw a three names popping up, with one of them named Kaede.

“These were my friends.” She said humorlessly.

I gave her a sparing glance, and I kept reading. They seemed to get along well, they even had planned to go to the convention today, but the one girl named kaede, said she couldn’t because she was short 50.000 yen. It seemed Yamamoto-san loaned her the money so she could come anyway. The girl, or rather, the whole group pulled a fast one on her. They showed her a photo of some designer bag with with the caption “Hope you’re enjoying that nerd gathering! We can’t hang with your kind, so we ain’t talking to you anymore. Thanks for the money though, look what it bought me!” Now It was my turn to be speechless.

“When i said that i was glad that today was as fun as i hoped it to be, because i felt like it wasn’t going to, I meant this.” She said to me in a calm tone. Wow was all I could say.

“So when I saw you there, hearing that you got ditched too, I thought I’d extend a hand to you, instead of feeling really bad about myself. And I’m glad I did.” She said, a serious look on her face.

I let out a deep sigh, feeling completely deflated.

I’m sorry for assuming things,” I said. “I thought this was you stalking me or pulling an elaborate joke, but I was mistaken.”

“No need to apologise.” the features on her face visibly softened” “I thought the same. Anyway, eat that curry, It’s going to get cold.” I scooped a spoonful into my waiting mouth, and I had to admit, It tasted surprisingly well for a prepackaged meal. We both sat down at the table and ate quietly for a moment.

“Do you believe in fate?” Yamamoto-san abruptly inquired.

“What brought this up?” I asked in between spoonfuls of curry.

“You have a hard time thinking this is all a string of coincidences, right?” She asked back.

I nodded in answer. “It can’t all just be a coincidence, right?” I asked.

“Who says it is? I like anime, as do you. The only convention that caters to that right now, was the one we went to. It’s pretty big, but It’s still possible to bump into each other.” She explained.

“But what about the game? What about you being my neighbour even though I’ve never seen you before? It’s too much of a coincidence! I exclaimed.

“Look dummy, not a lot of people own our console because it’s a lot more expensive than a good gaming pc.” She said. “The reason for never seeing me before, is because i rarely leave my house before midnight, since most neighbours treat me like garbage, and i try to avoid them. That, and me doing programming work at home, makes it so that i rarely need to leave my house period.”

“But-”

“Don’t worry,” She said reassuringly. it’s hard to buy all that has happened. If i were in your shoes I’d have thought the same. “

“So... what if fate wanted us to bump into each other?” Yamamoto-san asked.

“Does this mean fate had a hand in me being invaded by you?” I asked back.

“No, Not really.” She said.

I couldn’t help but scratch my head. “Why not?” I asked.

“Look,” She started, spoon pointed at me. “The game shows the players closest to your location before others when invading.” Well that was a lame answer.

“But that means I should’ve encountered you a lot sooner.”

“How long have you been playing Sanguine spirits?”

“Since… A month or three?” I said.

“I had a lot of work on my plate the last few four and a half months, so I only got to play during the night.” she explained.

“I get it.” I said.

“Since you go to school, you wouldn’t likely stay up that late, now would you?”

She was definitely right. During the week, I’m either at school till saturday, and do my homework on Sunday. I have tried to stay up that late before, but I’d eventually just fall asleep, and feel very tired the next day.

“I’d be too tired to get out of bed if I did.” I said.

“I feel you. I’ve been doing this kind of work for the past 8 years now, and getting back into a regular rhythm would kill me.”

“eight years?” I asked.

“Yep. I went to college first. I finished in 4 years, and started working as my own boss ever since.”

“So twelve years since high-school, huh…” I said rubbing at my chin contemplatively.

“You don’t look so old though,”

“Is that a compliment? Why, thank you!” she beamed.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Ah, now wouldn’t you want to know that!” She said in a teasing tone. “...Let’s say I’m no older than-”

“Do I have to call you obasan from now on?” I interjected.

“Do you want me to kick your ass a second time?” she threatened.

“I won’t come to that a second time! That paralyses stare of yours won’t work again.”

“-I’d like to see you try.” She said. She grinned at me, and it was really aggravating how similar it looked like her character in the game.

“-You’re on!” I said.

True to her word, we had a rematch. I lost the match, horribly. In hindsight, I could’ve known I’d lose. She even issued a punishment game. Next thing I knew, I had to explain my mother why the neighbour was going to eat at our house and why I was going to cook. And now, she’s become a permanent guest at the table. And the worst part? I have to cook every day now.

#Writings #Finally got off my ass and finished this #Gonna do the next one in half the time #See you in six months #How the fuck do I shrink this bitch