#miles is so obsessed with phoenix's last name. if he likes it so much he can also have it for himself when he ties the knot

[bigbumder96]

account introduction thing!!!??

ngl i feel a bit goofy doing this🙁forgive me if this is weird, im used to getting attacked on tiktok for literally nothing (i rarely use tumblr)

general:

name: darcie

age: im a minor😭

gender: girl (she/her :3 )

sexuality: lesbian

from/live in: england

interests:

tv shows:

- the inbetweeners

- white gold

- station 19 (still have to catch up on the latest episode lmao

- 9-1-1 (also still have to catch up one episode😭)

- fresh meat

- ted lasso

- heartbreak high (not that anyone asked but ant is my fav im praying they explore his character a bit more in season three)

- friday night dinner

- this country

- call the midwife

- ackley bridge

- baby reindeer (i wouldnt exactly call it an interest, but i watched this show last week😭)

- phoenix rise

- moment of eighteen (a k-drama btw!!)

- move to heaven (also a k-drama!!)

- there she goes

- benidorm

- skins (only gen 2 tho im afraid😞)

- the inBESTigators (dont judge lmfao😭😭😭)

- little lunch (i cant theyre js both such good shows)

- dodo (a cartoon)

- taskmaster (only season eight tho for the icon joe thomas‼️)

im currently watching derry girls atm !!

films:

- the shawshank redemption

- the green mile

- goodbye charlie bright (my absolute fav omg)

- the business

- the football factory (theyre making the sequel to this at my school im so happy i love nick love films😍i didnt see nick love himself tho💔)

- good will hunting

- bohemian rhapsody

- dead mans shoes

- ferris buellers day off

- harry brown

- little miss sunshine

- the inbetweeners movie

- the inbetweeners 2

- white chicks

- the basketball diaries

- mid90s

- spiderman: into the spider-verse

- spiderman: across the spider-verse

music:

- alex g (fav song: too many to put here, but if i had to pick then prolly the whole race, trick, and rules album😭)

- tv girl (fav song: better in the dark, louise, and daughter of a cop)

- the fratellis (fav song: i honestly dk, i havent gotten that much into them yet😣i js listened to one of their albums and played fifa)

- the killers (fav song: read my mind and andy youre a star)

- the smiths (fav song: girl afraid, bigmouth strikes again, and this night has opened my eyes. guys i swr i liked them songs before they got popular im acc rly annoyed at the tiktofication of bigmouth strikes again and this night has opened my eyes😣)

- queen (fav song: spread your wings and long away)

- the stone roses (fav song: i wanna be adored and made of stone. basic i know😣😣)

- the jam (fav song: down in the tube station at midnight and man in the corner shop)

- oasis (live forever. icba to type ‘fav song’ anymore😭)

- mac the knife (here to stay)

- mitski (why didnt you stop me, goodbye my danish sweetheart, me and my husband, your best american girl, once more to see you, etcetera…)

extras:

- im into football and i am a big arsenal fan !!!! my fav player is def martin ødegaard, and i may or may not be one of those deluded emile smith-rowe fans who think that hes gonna have a huge comeback and be like he was two seasons ago🤫🤫🤫

- i like webtoons! my fav is jacksons diary, closely followed by crystal city killers😱

- in year seven my drama teacher made us watch a play (on the screen, not irl) called slowtime but we didnt get to finish it💔my teacher spoiled the ending but i didnt care and tracked down the rest of that video bcs slowtime is such a good play i love everything abt it😍

- last year i was obsessed with this book series called football academy (written by tom palmer) and it was genuinely so good but there was nobody myp age cuz it was for kids💔i dont rly read them anymore, but the interest is still there if someone by chance has read them please contact me and have a conversation with me about it🙏🙏🙏

i apologise as this was very long, and i probably wont even post that much😭 sorry for the yapping tho🙏🙏🙏

#introduction! #what else do i put here #erm anyways #brighton imagine how funny ut would be if u played like REALLY good and beat man city lmao #like just inagine how funny that would be

[tropicalfreckles]

*unmasks myself Lupin style* it was me! >:)

I saw Ace attorney trending and I knew that I had to do something for this. Sooo.... here's a interesting question: what would the Lupin and Conan gang opinion on the whole Christmas thing? Which ones would agree with Phoenix? Which ones wouldn't? And would there be some people who are in the middle/ have a completely different opinion? What a complex subject 🤔

OH HEY, been a while. Yeah, I totally blanked on how close to christmas it was and remembering the last non dlc case for the first game lol. It's been a hot minute since I've seen Case Closed so I do no recall the earlier seasons or if there are any films I had watched that touched up on the christmas subject tbh. I could see Ran/Rachel celebrating it, unsure on Shinichi himself, since those two like FINALLY hooked up, and since christmas is seen in Japan as a couple's holiday as well, I can see if he can manage being unshrunk for a day that the pair would spend it together just because. Actually didn't he make a love confession in the anime and manga in the snow. I forget. I am like SURE the anime has touched up on the holidays at least a few times, I just never got to see it. Kogoro/Richard I see probably going either or, either being BLEH about the holidays cause he's Very Divorced or being in a drunken haze of enjoying himself.

Phoenix, oh I think he would get into the holiday for Maya and Pearl. Seeing how much he fell into a big brother esque role for the both and especially loves looking over Pearl with how much he goes out of his way to do stuff for her, he would want her to celebrate her first christmas outside of the secluded Fey family village. Sometimes he probably would remember that awkward ass case with Edgeworth and how he got tased trying to clear his name, but I think he would be okay with celebrating it.

Gumshoe would 100% get a gift for Edgeworth he begrudgingly accepts while telling him this better not be a bribe or something lol. I think despite how much of a dick Edgeworth can be he would appreciate it. Phoenix and Miles would also get each other gifts, Maya finds a silver samurai figure or keycharm and pushes it in Phoenix's face to gift him as a fellow fan. Miles might get Phoenix a more practical gift. (Franziska gets a gift from Miles but she doesn't get a gift for him probably LOL)

Lupin gang, oh Lupin would be all about Christmas. That man's love language is gift giving, he would be SPOILING the others. Fujiko would be all about Christmas too, my greedy queen would be like HAHA YES give me everything. <3 I think Goemon would be neutral about it and would typically just go train during the holidays but I also think he would quietly enjoy just being with the others around that time. Jigen I'm unsure, I mean I'm thinking back to that part 2 episode where they accidentally stole children's toys too now lol.

I could see Jigen enjoying it if he's spending it with Lupin.

Zenigata treats it like any other day even tho one of his two semi-canon birthdays is on Christmas. I'm guessing partially due to being a workaholic, another part of his just plain obsession has made it hard for him to really enjoy himself in others company since he has a hard time holding outside relationships cause of his own fault. I like to think Lupin starts leaving him gifts over the years, but gifts he knows Zenigata wouldn't reject or put into evidence cause his first thought is this is stolen. Zenigata's big emotional heart is touched by it for sure.

#i know that sounds mean towards zenigata but im not wrong #i say this as someone who loves him #lupin makes that observation himself more that once in the series #whenever zenigata starts blaming lupin for his own problems #while lupin is the cause of some problems most of that is all zengiata #asks #whoa this was longer than I meant for it #this is just my thoughts on it for fun

[brandybradyrandyandyndy]

Mark Forster's role in the Ace Attorney franchise

Okay, first off:

I'm not a fan of Mark Forster's music, please don't take this post the wrong way

There might be some aa trilogy spoilers

Also, I admit this title is pretty bold for what I'm going to say on this topic, but I watch The Voice of Germany with my sister every week and one of the coaches is Mark Forster who I only know like five songs of in total, but his song "Au Revoir" (which is actually a terrible song btw. It's so catchy, I've had it stuck in my head since I woke up this morning and it ruined my day.) kind of reminded me of the whole "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death." thing, because the only thing I knew about this song was the refrain:

which would be roughly translated to:

"There is nothing that's holding me back, au revoir / Forget who I was / Forget my name / It will never be the way it was before / I'm off / Au revoir"

But as I looked further into the lyrics I found out there is a "rap part" which tells you about the places the lyrical I will go to when they're away and it contains a passage that adds a beautiful twist to my theory/headcanon (I'm not sure what to call this yet).

"I'm sitting on the Mayan throne in the jungle / [...] / The phoenix is taking off now"

You see where I'm going with this? I know, it's not Phoenix who's leaving and I know the lyrics refer to the Maya Civilization from Mesoamerica, but I thought it was a funny coincidence, that not only does the word "Phoenix" appear in the lyrics of this song, but so does "Maya".

So when I first saw this part of "Au Revoir", I started imagining how Miles Edgeworth would listen to this song and like dramatically sing along to it and start crying or something, but this only posed another question:

How could this scenario happen? How and why would he even come in contact with this song?

My first guess was, Miles probably went to Germany after he left his note, because he grew up there (I think), when he had been adopted by Manfred von Karma as a child, and he heard the song somewhere in the radio because in Germany they blast Mark Forster's music in almost every public space, so there is no escape from it ever. I tried to find out, during which timespan Miles left America, just to make sure if there was a chance that he actually could have heard it on the radio.

In the Ace Attorney wiki this timespan isn't clearly mentioned, but since the last case (Rise from the Ashes) from the first game is set in February 2017 and Edgeworth returns to America in March 2018 I'm guessing, this is exactly the time window in which he's in Germany* (minus some days/weeks of course, because I don't think he'd just leave on the exact same day he had his last trial in America). *to make this easier for me I'm just assuming he spends the entirety of his travels in Germany

But this brings me to my problem, the German Charts of 2017/2018.

As you can see, the only songs by Mark Forster that were in the charts while Miles would be in Germany are the ones above. This means that it is highly unlikely that he knew of "Au Revoir" from the radio, because why would they play this old song if they could also play Mark Forster's more recent songs that are popular right now?

But when exactly was "Au Revoir" popular enough to be in the German Charts?

During my research I looked up these years, too, and it came down to 2014 (the year "Au Revoir" was released) and even a year later in 2015. So there is no way he could have known of this song if his most recent stay in Germany was in 2017, right? (I mean, unless the German people he met then, had literally no taste and forced him to listen to it.)

But I have a pretty simple and logical explanation on how he could have still known of this song, even though he probably wouldn't have heard it in Germany in 2017.

I tried really hard, but I couldn't for my life find real data on Mark Forster's demographic, so just believe me if I tell you that his demographic is mostly preteen and teenage girls. Also, it's worth mentioning that Mark Forster's music is pretty much only known in German speaking countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Now, let's take a closer look at the years, in which Au Revoir was most popular: 2014 and 2015

Who could Miles Edgeworth possibly know, who in 2014/2015 is 1. German, 2. a teenager and 3. a girl? The answer is quite obvious:

His younger sister Franziska von Karma.

Considering that she was either 14 or 15 when "Au Revoir" was released, she fits Mark Forster's demographic perfectly and although I'm not 100% sure if she was in Germany then, I still believe, she must have had at least some connection to Germany in some way, maybe a German friend who she still was in contact with or maybe she had access to German tv, maybe German YouTube channels or social media. And don't get me wrong, I love Franziska von Karma and I wouldn't wish anything bad on her, but at the same time I strongly believe that she'd be the kind of girl who'd have gone through a Mark Forster phase as a teen.

Now remember that I, myself, have a sister. I know what siblings do to annoy each other and I just know from the bottom of my heart that if Franziska really was a fan of Mark Forster's music, she would blast it on any opportunity she'd get. Or she would at least talk about him and his songs with her brother. Believe me. If Franziska really listened to Mark Forster, Miles would have known of him, too. There is literally no other way. (For reference, I know every 1D member's name, birthday and relationship status, although I literally do not care about any of them at all, only because my sister is obsessed with them and talks about them 24/7. Meanwhile the only MCR member I know, is Gerard Way, even though I listen to their music on the daily.)

So here is my conclusion.

Miles Edgeworth definitely listened to "Au Revoir" by Mark Forster on the plane from Japanifornia to Germany and he also definitely cried, after he made sure nobody could see him (especially during the part "Der Phönix macht jetz 'n Abflug"/"The phoenix is taking off now"). Also, he probably listened to the song multiple times during his stay in Germany and you literally can't prove me wrong on this. I mean you could try, but I invested way too much of my time in this to actually care about another person's opinion on my shitty headcanon.

Also, the moment Franziska met Phoenix and Maya, her memories vaulted her right back to her Mark Forster phase and her hatred against Phoenix wasn't solely based on the fact that he was accountable for the conviction of her father Manfred von Karma, her hatred was also ignited by the fact that she probably had "Au Revoir" stuck in her head because of these two for the rest of the day and I just know that this must have completely ruined it for her.

Also, unrelated to anything I've said prior:

Klavier Gavin would definitely collaborate with Mark Forster on at least one song and however severe Franziska's Mark Forster phase might have been, I am convinced Klavier would have outdone her by far. I haven't played AJAA yet, but as much as I've gathered from the fandom, he's like a weeaboo but with Germany, I think? I'm absolutely sure, he wouldn't ever miss a chance like this.

Finally, here is the song this whole post is about:

#ace attorney #aa #miles edgeworth #franziska von karma #manfred von karma #narumitsu #wrightworth #phoenix wright #maya fey #german #german culture #mark forster #klavier gavin

[shnuggletea]

So...I completely forgot to post this one to AO3 yesterday. I had an argument with AO3 and this one got missed. And it’s one of my faves so I’m posting it now a day late.

Want a fluffy college AU with a side of body swap? I can’t tell you how much I love this kiss lol.

I really love this one. I wish I had more time to write it but I’m still really happy with it lol. It’s up on AO3 here. For the unedited version (some smoots in there) subscribe and read on my Patreon here.

You can read it below too if you like. I hope you drop me some love either here or on AO3. Or Patreon lol.

@underwater0phelia @lavendertwilight89 @mamabearcat @nartista @nopenname22 @echobows @superpixie42 @smmahamazing @redflamesofpassion @jme-chan @cstorm86 @cicleydark-light @ruddcatha @lavaffair @kirrtash @sistasecbhere @obsessandfangirl @britonell @lordofthechips @mcornilliac @faolenwolf @keichanz @phoenix-before-the-flame @artisticloveexpressitsall @lamuertadehambre @noyourenotreal @mitty-san @thenoammonster @little-deeluna @royaltrashpanda @sailorbabydoll92 @storyweaver2017 @malditamigs @adorabubblesblog @lilms-obsessed @petri808 @anniehcresta @fan-dumpp @itzatakahashi @utakuprincess @theschultinator @all-too-ale @little-inukag-obsessed @theseagullqueen @queenofthesquirps @jolinaaa00 @knowall7k @neutronstarchild @fawn-eyed-girl @eringobroke @sapphirestarxx @clearwillow @dangerouspompadour @misspepperpottss  @jayangel10 @master-ray5 @sailorsilverladybug @astraearose93 @egosolivagant @fandompromptsandfun @fandomartlover @holi-holy @kagometaishostory  @liz8080

She couldn’t take any more of this. Kagome had a huge test tomorrow (midterms) and the jerks next door were having  another  party. She got it. Some people finished up early and were just hanging around with nothing more to do during the break. But it was mostly those who were majoring in “Undecided” with a minor in “What the fuck am I doing with my life?”. 

 Kagome was double majoring. At least, that’s what they called it here but really it was like having two lives. One major was for show and the other a secret. Just like everyone at this university for those who were… different. 

 For example; her roommate, Sango, was majoring in sports medicine and demon-slaying. Kagome was majoring in Psychology and Healing (aka Miko Magic). 

 Her neighbor was majoring in failing. Or at least, that’s what she supposed since all he ever seemed to do was throw parties. And his roommate went along with it. A couple of slack asses with all the free time in the world to torture her with. All because the two of them were ‘the exception’. One a human with a cursed hand and the other half human half demon, they didn’t exactly fit into the school’s ideal student but had nowhere else to go. 

 Couldn’t have the world finding out about them now could they?

 As she spilled out into her hall, Kagome really wished she had the funds for an apartment as the entire dorm floor was out. It was an open door party. 

 It was surprising just how many of her floormates were involved. Kagome was pretty sure at least some of them still had exams to survive. Everyone seemed to be looking at her as she passed; as if they knew she was about to kill the party. 

 Pushing through to the inside of the ‘main room’, the one that was responsible for this mess of a party, Kagome choked on her gasp. Someone knocked on her back until she breathed on her own. “Professor Kaede?? What the hell are you doing here?!”

 Sitting at the table that had been moved into the small dorm room, Miroku sat with his hand in Kaede’s. It looked like she was doing palm readings but that was a parlor trick at best. “I’m determining the students’ futures. Would ye like a reading, Kagome?”

 Kaede went back to Miroku’s palm while Kagome stormed up to the table. “I already know my future. Because I’m going to  fail  my midterm thanks to this jerk!”

 “Come now, Kagome, you’re a very bright woman. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Now, Kaede-san, when will I meet the mother of my child?!”

 Kagome’s jaw dropped as Kaede searched Miroku’s palm with a serious look on her face. “Your palm looks very dark, I’m afraid.”

 “Oh haha, I know about my curse already old lady. What about my future?”

 Kagome smacked the back of Miroku’s head. “Show some respect!!”

 She was about to do more when Miroku shot her a wink but Kagome was pulled off the floor and into strong arms. She didn’t give up the fight, knowing full well who was brave enough to mess with her like this and it only angered her more. “Ignore her, Professor Kaede. She’s under a lot of stress.” Kagome clawed Inuyasha’s arm and got free while he held the scratched arm as if it actually hurt the half-demon. “GAH! What’s your problem now, Kagome!”

 “My problem?” Kagome ignored the complete lack of respect Inuyasha sent her way with her name and let it fuel her rage. “My problem is that I have a huge test tomorrow and…”

 “You always have a huge test or huge paper or huge pain in my ass something tomorrow! LIghten up, Kagome, this is college! You’re supposed to have fun!”

 “Why? Your slack ass is having enough fun for me and everyone else on campus. Damn lazy man whore!!”

 They were in each other’s faces but no one worried in the slightest. The pair always got like this. Inuyasha didn’t take his glare off of Kagome as he spoke to Kaede. “Professor, can you tell me Kagome’s past?”

 “Why would ye want that?”

 “I want to find the demon that put the massive  stick up her ass  and slay them before she ruins my entire college experience.”

 “Drop dead!”

 “You first!!!”

 “Guys! Stop it!” Sango yelled. 

 Kagome rolled her eyes at her roommate, currently chatting with some guy while sipping on a drink. Everyone was having fun besides her. Miroku jumped up from his seat and Inuyasha plopped down, wrapping an arm around Kagome’s shoulders. “Why don’t you have a drink? Take a break from studying for a bit and have your palm read?”

 Shaking him off, Kagome glared at the other man whore in residence. “I can’t take a break, I’m too busy dealing with you asshats. And I already know my future, it’s going to be me out on the street when I fail all my courses!!!”

 “Kagome spreading her legs for money? Well, I guess that’s the only way to get her to…” She leaned down to Inuyasha’s ear and blew into it. He flicked his ears and hands around to get her to stop but always missed her when she did that and she didn’t know if it was on purpose or if he had terrible aim. “Don’t do that! How many times have I told you not to blow in my ears, bitch?!”

 “How many times have I told you to keep the noise down, Bitch?” Kagome cooed in his face.

 She saw something flash in his eyes like a flicker from a flame. It used to scare her but Kagome had seen it enough times now to know it just meant she was really getting to Inuyasha. “Ye two should learn to get along. Ye would fare much better…”

 “Tell me about it.” “I would appreciate it!” They said at the same time.

 Kaede chortled, still holding Inuyasha’s hand. She grabbed Kagome’s as well and held them side by side. “Ye have more in common than ye think…”

 “I’m nothing like him.” “Yeah, if I’d boarded up my cock like she did her vag.” They talked over each other.

 Kagome used her free hand to flick Inuyasha’s ear. “Stop talking about my sex life! You have no clue!!”

 “Fair enough,” he conceded, but she knew better, “can’t talk about something that doesn’t exist, right?”

 “Both of you, quiet!” Kaede yelled suddenly. It made Kagome jump and Inuyasha put a hand on her back until he caught himself and retracted it like it never happened. “The two of ye need to see eye to eye or ye will never be happy.”

 “Agreed. Kagome, can’t you see that I’m only making people happy?”

 “Inuyasha, can’t  you  see that it’s not all about you?!”

 Kaede had Kagome’s hand on top of Inuyasha’s, pushing them together hard with her old and wrinkled hands. “Walk a mile in ye shoes and grow together as a team.”

 Kagome blinked but the image didn’t change. She was laying down but the ceiling didn’t look right. It was the fact that she could see the ceiling that was weird since she should see Sango’s bed above her. They had bunked their beds to make more space in their room. She slowly sat up and found that it was more than the ceiling that was wrong. All of her felt wrong.

 And she was in the wrong bed.

 Miroku was asleep across from her and Kagome had to cup her hands over her mouth to keep her freak out from waking him up. She was in Inuyasha’s bed!!! How the hell did she… the last thing she remembered was Professor Kaede’s weirdness and then… what happened after that?? 

 Oh god… she was drugged! 

 That was the only thing that explained her memory loss AND waking up in Inuyasha’s bed. There was NO WAY she would have slept with him otherwise! Sure, Inuyasha was hot as hell but they had nothing else in common and Kagome needed an emotional connection to be attracted to someone.

 This wasn’t the point, the point was… she needed to get the fuck out of here. She was alone in the bed. Which meant Inuyasha was up already and she hoped to GOD he wasn’t spreading the word around that he had nailed her. 

 Her legs felt weird when she got to them. So did her feet, the carpet not feeling the same as the stuff in her room. But hers was cleaner and she left it at that. Struggling with the door, she looked both ways before barreling out into the empty hall. It was still early so no one else was up yet. She prayed she could get a few more hours of studying in before her exam as she opened and closed her door behind her. 

 Resting against the door, she caught her breath. Her ears were ringing too or something. And the smells around her bugged her to no end. Great, she was getting a migraine. So much for studying, Kagome was going to try and sleep it off. 

 Kagome plopped to her bed only to have it screech back at her. “Fuck, Miroku, I’m not in the mood.”

 Everything stopped; her heart, lungs, eyes, and brain. The body that sat up on her bed was… her. It was her face, her blue eyes, her black hair (a mess), and her mouth that parted in shock as Kagome’s body looked back at her. 

 “What… the fuck….” Kagome’s body shot up and hit her head on the bottom of Sango’s bed. “Awe, fuck!”

 She only knew one person that swore THIS much. “Inuyasha??”

 That wasn’t her voice. That was… Inuyasha’s voice. But it came out of her mouth?! 

 Stumbling, Kagome ended up crawling across the floor to the mirror. When gold eyes met her in the reflection, white hair that was wild around white ears, she felt faint. She tried slapping herself but it was no use. The image in the mirror didn’t change save for the redding of the cheek she’d slapped. Inuyasha’s cheek. 

 She was in Inuyasha’s body.

  Kagome watched her body pace before her. It was so weird; like those ‘out of body’ experiences that she’d read about in her textbooks. The strangest part was that neither of them was in the clothes they were wearing last night. Kagome remembered the over-sized t-shirt and yoga pants from last night and the tight collar shirt and jeans Inuyasha had worn. But she was in sweats and a faded t-shirt now while her body was in….

 Kagome’s body suddenly stopped pacing and she realized to her horror that Inuyasha was staring at her body in the full-length mirror. “Damn, Kags, you’ve got a nice body.”

 Her hands were going up her belly when she shot to her feet and grabbed her hands. Blocking Inuyasha’s view of the mirror as well as stopping him from using her hands to feel herself up, she made Inuyasha’s face glare down at hers. “Don’t do that. Don’t do anything like touch yourself or look at yourself naked while in my body.”

 He huffed, a strange sound coming from her body. “You can touch yourself all you want in my body. And get a good look at... me naked if you want. I know you want to….”

 Pulling Inuyasha’s hands hard off hers, Kagome moved the body she was in away from hers. “That’s not important! What’s important is getting ourselves… right!”

 Inuyasha was twisting Kagome’s hands around and she saw the blood. “Dammit. You have to be careful! My claws are sharp!”

 “Oh my god, I’m sorry!”

 “Yeah? Tell it to yourself. It’ll be your scar.”

 Kagome moved Inuyasha’s body to the dresser and pulled out her first aid. “You’re right. It’ll be my problem and I did it to myself.” Inuyasha was silent while she cleaned and wrapped the slice to the top of her body’s hand. “But I’m sorry because you’re the one feeling the pain right now.. Aren’t you?”

 Inuyasha twisted Kagome’s face in confusion. This was all too weird for her and she had to look away as her brows creased together in the middle. “I feel the pain, yeah. But it’s fine. What are we going to do about this??”

 “Well, first, we should probably figure out how it happened. How did our bodies get switched??”

 “It was Kaede…” A voice mumbled from above. With everything going on, Kagome had forgotten about Sango who had been asleep above their heads. “She did it so go ask her and let me sleep!!”

 Kagome scoffed (which was far more effective when he was in Inuyasha’s body) and grabbed his arm. Something that was also more effective if he was in his body, nearly falling back on the ass he currently inhabited when Kagome didn’t budge in Inuyasha’s body. “Come on, let’s go.”

 She crossed the thick arms of Inuyasha’s across his equally yummy chest.  “You can’t think like that while in his body!!!” she scolded herself and refocused. “Change first.”

 Inuyasha dropped her head to look down at herself and it was just as bad as the mirror as he took in the sight of her body in nothing more than a tight tank top and panties. “You know, I wouldn’t kick you out of the bed if I woke up to this.”

 “God, just stop it and put on some clothes!”

 Racing to her dresser, she pulled out jeans and a sweater that Inuyasha pulled on. Kagome was never going to get used to this, it was too much to wrap her mind around as she watched herself get dressed. The last thing Inuyasha did was grab her strands and pull them around to her shoulder. Kagome was a little more than shocked when he braided her hair perfectly in a few seconds, holding out a hand for a hair tie. With the braid tied off, he gestured to his hair with one of her fingers. 

 “Could you at least do something about that?”

 She brushed Inuyasha’s fingers through his hair, snagging a few times on knots but otherwise finding it super soft. “Wow.”

 “Yeah, I take care of my shit. So don’t fuck it up while the cat is out of the house!”

 She rolled Inuaysha’s eyes and grabbed a brush. A few moments later, they were standing in front of Professor Kaede’s office door. Inuyasha had Kagome’s hands in the pockets of her jeans, standing just as he did when in his body. While Kagome had her backpack on Inuyasha’s shoulder. It felt oddly lighter even though it was filled the same as it always was.

 “What the fucking hell?” Kagome’s mouth spouted.

 Another student passed, giving Kagome a look from the foul mouth Inuyasha was giving her. But Kagome could care less at the moment. She looked with Inuyasha’s eyes at the door to see the note attached to it. “Family emergency. Be back after break??”

 “Great. Juuuuuust great!! What the hell are we supposed to do stuck in the bodies for the entire break?!”

 Inuyasha’s heart dropped into her stomach. “Inuyasha… my exam…”

 “What?” Kagome’s body spun and then flicked her head up, forgetting about his new height. 

 “My exam. I’ve been studying all week for it… it’s important and now I… I can’t even take it?! What… what I’m I gonna do?!”

 Kagome’s body tried to grab Inuyasha’s shoulders but failed from the height difference and held onto biceps instead. “Hey, I can’t be seen crying! Get your shit together Kagome!”

 It was really easy to stop what she had started, sobering quickly. “Whoa, that’s weird. Do you have no feelings at all??”

 “Yeah. I’m an unfeeling monster while you’re an emotional wreck. Who’s the one really suffering here?” Inuyasha fussed while a tear fell down Kagome’s cheek.

 Without a thought, Kagome gently used Inuyasha’s hand to brush the tear off her body’s cheek. “I can’t fail this test Inuyasha. Do you.. Remember anything?”

 She was hoping that their brains were the same. But that didn’t make sense (not that any of it did) since she didn’t have Inuyasha’s memories or anything. If Kagome thought back, it was all her and not Inuyasha inside her head. It was why she remembered her test and not him. 

 “No, I fucking don’t remember a thing.” He sighed ruefully while she worried Inuyasha’s lip. “Give me your notes.” She dug them out and handed them over. “How long until your exam?”

 “Hour and a half.”

 “Good. I need a quiet place.”

 Leading him to the place she liked to sit and read, she watched as Inuyasha read over all her notes. He didn’t take the full time either, shutting the notebook when he was done and getting to his feet… her feet. “What are you doing?”

 “I’m done. Where’s the exam?”

 “Brooke’s hall, room 329. Inuyasha… I don’t think you understand…”

 “Yeah, yeah, I got it, this exam is important. I’ll try and get you at least a C, alright.”

 Kagome’s body was already moving towards the exam spot while she followed behind in his body. Which was interesting since Inuyasha’s body had longer legs than hers; making it a lot easier to keep up and speed pass. Instead of struggling to keep up, she struggled not to leave her body behind. Inuyasha only stopped to ask for her ID before strutting her body into her exam. She watched from the door, slapping a hand to her forehead when Inuyasha asked the person next to him for a pencil. She was sure the strange look they passed her body was due to her never coming unprepared for class.

 The test was passed out and the heart in Inuyasha’s chest raced. Inuyasha didn’t know this, but her entire college career hinged on this test. This one and everything she was ever graded on. The scholarship she got was fat on funds and prestige. If her grades slipped past a 3.8 GPA, Kagome would be stripped of her funds and have no means for her education.

 It hadn’t been more than thirty minutes since the test landed in front of her body when Inuyasha folded up his test, passed the borrowed pencil back with a smile, and handed in the test. He continued to strut Kagome’s body around and past her as she waited. She was hoping he would spill but he said nothing. “Well?”

 “Like I said, at least a C.”

 “Inuyasha!!”

 “Relax. I got you an A.”

 “An A. You can’t possibly know that! This isn’t funny Inuyasha!!”

 He was chuckling. Making her body make an ugly sound especially from a woman. “It’s a little funny. I mean, how long did you study for this only to have me take it for you?”

 “Inuyasha!” She cried, pushing large fists that she wasn’t used to into the corners of her eyes.

 “Hey! I said no crying in my body!!!”

 “Kagome?”

 She turned at her name, instantly forgetting and even calling out, “Hojo?” Before Inuyasha used her body to slap a hand to Inuyasha’s mouth. But it was too late; Hojo was eyeing them both curiously. 

 “Do I know you?” Hojo asked Inuyasha’s body. 

 Kagome pulled back from the hand on her mouth and thrusted a hand to the back of her head; awkward and embarrassed. Neither emotion was ever displayed by the real Inuyasha that she’d ever seen. “No. I mean yes. Sort of?”

 “I’ve told her, I mean him, a lot about you, Hoji.”

 “Hojo,” she tried as a cough. 

 Inuyasha coughed too and hoped to cover up his mistake. “I mean Hojo.”

 “Are you sick, Kagome? You don’t seem like yourself?”

 Hojo was still looking them both over and Kagome didn’t get it. She also didn’t get the weird smell entering Inuyasha’s nose. It was putrid like old sweat. Was that how Inuyasha’s nose worked? He could smell things like sweat? Kagome watched as her body looked over at her and winked, then moved closer to Hojo.

 “I’m fine, thank you for asking.” She was happy with that response but not with how close Inuyasha was getting her body to Hojo, who just stood there and watched her body too intensely. “So… what are you up to?”

 “Um… I’m just… I was heading to an exam and wanted to stop by to see how you did?” That was Hojo for you, so sweet and caring. “I know you were nervous about this one. How did you do? You finished up early; is that good?”

 Inuyasha pushed a fake laugh out of her mouth and Kagome stared at him hard. “Oh, it was no big deal in the end. My friend Kag… I mean Inuyasha helped me out a lot.”

 “Oh? You’re Inuyasha?” Crap, she had spoken to Hojo often about Inuyasha and how he was the bain of her existence. Hojo leaned into her body’s ear but she could hear every word with Inuyasha’s ears. “I thought you said he was a selfish asshole? And you never mentioned he was a…  hanyou .”

 There was disgust in Hojo’s tone. That made both Kagome’s angry but the one in Inuyasha’s body was the one to react. “You have a problem with Hanyous?” She asked as darkly as she could while stepping up to Hojo. 

 “Oh uh... Nnnno, NO! I don’t have a problem…”

 Even if she hadn’t heard him a second ago, Kagome knew he was lying. His heart was racing and his scent had increased. He was sweating a lot right now. “Liar. You don’t like Hanyous? What did they ever do to you, huh? Inuya… I mean Kagome is half Miko, do you find her disgusting too?”

 “That’s different! She can control her powers. And she doesn’t…”

 “She doesn’t what?!” She screamed, hearing Inuyasha’s voice instead of her own.

 “She doesn’t look like a half-breed.”

 Hojo’s eyes flicked up to Inuyasha’s ears on top of Kagome’s head. And she saw red. “Stay away from Kagome.” She pointed a clawed finger in Hojo’s face for emphasis.

 He dared to look around her to her body behind. Kagome turned to her body and grabbed her arm to pull them away. Inuyasha was looking smug but it quickly turned to concern, putting a hand on her back and pushing her the rest of the way out of the building until they were alone in the cold afternoon air. The sun was hazy behind thin clouds and a breeze made it even colder but she still felt hot!

 “Kagome, breathe.”

 Buckled over, she had her big clawed hands on her knees; taking big gulps of air and still seeing red. “That… that jerk….”

 “I know, I know but you need to calm down.”

 She looked up to find her face frowning down at her, Inuyasha keeping a hand on his body’s back to try and calm her down. “I didn’t know he was like that!”

 “You’d be surprised… a lot of people are.”

 “I’m not!”

 Kagome’s lips twisted into a smile. “I noticed.”

 It took a while but she was finally starting to calm down and feel in control again. Standing back up at full, she looked down at her body in wonder. “You don’t feel anything except anger? What’s up with that?”

 He shrugged. “That’s the demon. Makes it hard to feel much of anything save for primal instincts. Like anger and lust.”

 “Oh, I see,” Kagome’s head whipped up to look back at her face, “so you’re blaming the demon for actions? That’s lame, Inuyasha.”

 A grimace graced her face as Inuyasha disapproved of her words fully. “Yeah? Everyone else blames 

the demon in me so why can’t I?”

 “Because they’re stupid. And you’re not.” They were silent for a few minutes after that until she had to change the subject. “Hey, do we all smell that bad?”

 Suddenly, Inuyasha had to get away from her; taking off in a fast walk away with her body. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 She could hear it. In his voice and his heart. Her voice and heart. He was lying. “You’re lying! I can hear it!!”

 Inuyasha jumped on her with Kagome’s body; her hand pressed as best as he could get it to his mouth. “Keep that shit to yourself!”

 After a second and some awkwardness, he let her go. “Why?”

 “I don’t want  anyone  knowing that.”

 “Okay… but why?”

 Inuyasha was moving again and she followed without question. “You think people knowing you’re a Hanyou is bad? What if they knew you could hear and smell their lies? Smell what they did an hour ago? Hear their conversations through a wall? Imagine if there were no secrets between you and others; how many people would want to be around you then?”

 She was silent. Because she got it. They were halfway back to the dorm when she spoke again; needing to ask before they were silenced by ‘others’ being around. “Wait… if your nose and ears are this strong, why do you like loud parties?” Inuyasha glanced back, giving her a look with her face. “You don’t like them… you hate them?? Why the heck do you have them then?!”

 They stopped and it was strange towering over her own body but she was pissed. Inuyasha wouldn’t look up at her though, staring off in the distance with her hands in her pockets. “Miroku is the one that wants them and I go along with it. He doesn’t know about my nose and ears and I want to keep it that way.”

 “Then tell him you don’t want to party! What’s the big deal?!”

 “He’s my first friend…”

 “Sango’s my first college friend too but if she wanted…”

 “Not my first college friend.  First friend ever .” Inuyasha used her toe to kick at that ground and keep his attention there instead. “He’s the first person to accept and like me for who I am. I’d do anything for him. Besides, the parties help me blend in, meet people, and have a good time.”

 “You can have a good time with less noise and destruction.” Now Inuyasha looked up at her with a roll of her eyes. “Next time you want quiet comfortable fun, you can come to my room and have it with me.”

 He fought the smile off his face but since it was Kagome’s face, he lost. “That sounds shitastic.”

 She shrugged his big shoulders. “Whatever.” They were moving again and she couldn’t help but sniff the air. “Oh man, you need to shower. You got Hojo’s nervous sweat on you.” She sniffed herself. “Ick. Me too.”

 “You sure know how to pick them, Kags.”

 “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 “Nothing,” lie and she was pretty sure she got what he was trying to say, “we’re lucky we don’t reek of Hoji’s urine too.”

 “He deserved it.” Kagome wanted to change the subject; she was starting to feel hot again. “How are we going to do this?”

 “Do what?”

 Out of habit, Inuyasha opened the door to their building’s lobby. Instead of pointing it out, she rushed through while a few people stopped and stared; laughing as they walked away. “Shower?”

 Kagome’s body huffed. “I may not be used to it, but I’m pretty sure I can clean your body, Kagome.”

 Even if she didn’t have Inuyasha’s hearing, she would know that leaving him alone with her body was a bad idea. “Oh no. No, no, no way! I’m not letting you do whatever you please to my body!!”

 In the elevator alone, she felt no worry of being overheard. Inuyasha leaned her body against the back wall of the small box. He looked just like himself with his body language. “You’d like it, trust me.”

 “I don’t!”

 “Guess we can take a shower together?”

 The elevator dinged and her long legs took her off and away from Inuyasha quicker than she was used to. “We can’t do that! It’s against the rules!”

 “People do it all the time.” She glared back at him and he flustered for some reason. “Miroku told me, nothing more!”

 Like she believed that. But he didn’t sound like he was lying. It made her feel a bit better but she still didn’t like the idea. But what other choice did they have? The floor was mostly empty at this point anyway. They went back to Kagome’s room first, running into Sango who was almost out the door; passing the two of them with her suitcase in hand.

 “Sango? Where are you going?!” Her body asked in a panic.

 Sango looked between them but quickly settled on Kagome’s face. “I have plane tickets and a little brother that would be pissed if I didn’t come home as promised. Sorry.”

 She got it but it still sucked. “Do you have anything that could help us?”

 Staring at her blankly, Sango looked at her wearing Inuyasha’s face for a moment before shaking herself free with a small laugh. “Sorry. That’s just so weird. Cause you both still talk like yourselves but with the other’s voice and body.”

 “Sango?”

 “Kaede said, ‘walk a mile in each other’s shoes and appreciate each other’ or something like that.”

 “We already walked a mile and more!” Inuyasha roared with Kagome’s voice.

 Sango shrugged. “Guess you still haven’t learned your lesson then?”

 She left and they flopped, helpless, in her room. After some silent pouting, Kagome got up and went to her dresser; pulling out clothes for her body to put on. Inuyasha left only to return with clothes for her to put on when she was done. 

 They double-checked the bathroom and when it was empty, they started to strip. Kagome stopped Inuyasha with a growl. “No peeking!”

 He rolled her eyes and pulled off all her clothes. She thought it would be awkward to take a shower with a man she barely knew. But she was wrong. It was weirder than anything she’d ever experienced, watching her own body wash itself. 

 She was in a daze when Inuyasha thrusted a bottle in her direction. “Use that on my hair please.”

 “Yeah… sure…”

 “Hey,” he knocked a gentle fist to her head, “what are you thinking about?”

 “I was just…” she froze, Inuyasha picking up her loofa and putting body wash on it, “whoa, I should do that.”

 She was okay with him washing her hair but rubbing all over her body? It was too… weird! 

 “Calm down, Kagome. I’ll be gentle.” She ripped the loofa from her own hand and started on her front. “I don’t think this is achieving what you think it is. Cause now, I’m still touching your body.”

 “Yes. But you can’t feel it!”

 “No, you’re right. I can just feel it on your body instead of my hand.” She washed her thighs and decided then and there she would just have to wash her nether regions when she was back in her body again. “I wonder if we’ll remember what our bodies did when we’re back in them?”

 “What do you mean?!” She shrieked a little too loudly.

 “I mean,” she stood up straight and looked down at her face, “will I remember what it feels like to wash your body when I’m back in mine?”

 She forced her body to turn around and started washing her back. “Stop it. Stop talking like that. It’s gross.”

 “Why is it gross?!” He said with some serious anger behind it.

 “Because it’s my voice and face saying it! It’s like I’m hitting on myself or something!”

 The tension in Kagome’s body’s shoulders disappeared instantly with her words. “Oh... I see.”

 Inuyasha didn’t refute her claim that he was hitting on her but she ignored it and focused on Inuyasha’s hair. There was a lot of it and it was thick. Not much different from her own hair but she also had his ears to worry about. “How do I wash these?”

 She was pointing to the triangles on top of her head and Inuyasha gestured for her to crouch down. “Here. Let me.”

 It felt pretty good; Inuyasha was rubbing his ears gently. She could tell from this that his ears were really sensitive and she didn’t mean just from sounds. The massage Inuyasha was giving them was nearly putting her to sleep.

 Clean and soggy, they sat in Inuyasha’s room and Kagome took in all the smells it held. There were a lot but mostly faint. She mostly smelled Inuyasha, knowing it was him from her own personal memory of his scent. 

 “So you never answered my question.”

 Inuyasha looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone while she spun in his desk’s chair.

 “Do I smell that bad too?”

 A grin twisted on Kagome’s face. “Smell yourself now and find out.”

 She had already. But they’d just showered now. “I smell good now.”

 “As you always do.”

 “I do?”

 He nodded and she felt a small flush on her cheeks for some reason. But she shook it away with other thoughts. “You also never told me how you did on my exam?”

 “Yes, I did. You got an A.”

 “You  can’t know that! You spent an hour studying!” She dropped Inuyasha’s head to the back of the chair and watched the ceiling spin. “I studied all semester for that class.”

 “Your notes showed that. I wouldn’t have done so well if you weren’t so… dedicated.”

 Inuyasha had revealed a lot about himself to her today. He didn’t have a choice in the matter but she still felt it was only fair to tell him some things too. A few secrets. “I’m only able to afford this school because of a scholarship that requires me to keep a 3.8 GPA. If it drops below that, I’m out on my ass.”

 “Your ass is too nice to be tossed on.” She looked up to glare at him but he was too busy grinning to be phased. “You have nothing to worry about, Kagome. I have a photographic memory.”

 Kagome nearly fell out of the chair; she sat up so fast. “You what?!”

 “How do you think I got into this college? And how I stayed in it?”

 “Sports scholarship?” Inuyasha frowned with Kagome’s face and she giggled. “I hadn’t thought about it really. I just thought you took easy courses or something? That’s really cool! I wish I had that!!”

 “No you don’t,” he groaned, “because once you see something, you can never forget it.”

 “There are some things, some of us, never want to forget.” She said nothing more. A secret she wasn’t ready to reveal. 

 “Looks like we’re stuck in these bodies for the night,” Inuyasha added, interrupting the silence. “You wanna sleep here or in your bed?”

 “Huh?”

 “You didn’t trust me alone in your body for a shower. I figured you wouldn’t trust me alone in it all night long?” He smirked. “And it’s been a stressful day on your body. I could use a release and some relaxation. Or rather, you could. I think I’ll just see what fingering feels like…”

 “Okay! Okay, you’re right! And don’t you dare masturbate my body!!!”

 It felt weird, sleeping in a small bed with her body. Mostly because she felt the urge to snuggle but that was a therapy session she could do without later in life.

  Without a clue of what else to do, Kagome was packing. She was expected at home today and with waking up, still in Inuyasha’s body, she wasn’t sure what to do. 

 Bag on her bed that was half-filled with her clothes (that wouldn’t fit Inuyasha’s body so she just felt stupid) Kagome’s body rushed into the room with Inuyasha’s phone in his hand. “Answer this.”

 She glanced at the screen and saw the name ‘Kikyo’ on it. “Kikyo? You know her?”

 “Just answer the damn phone already!”

 Doing as told, she sighed and accepted the call. “Hello, Kikyo.”

 Inuyasha glared at her but she just glared back and silently berated his anger with a ‘what?!’. “Hey, Inuyasha. I was hoping to catch you before you left for the break?”

 “Oh uh... Yeah, you caught me. What’s up?”

 Inuyasha rolled her eyes and Kagome decided to ignore him. “I was thinking it would be nice to get lunch? Are you free today?”

 Pressing a hand over the receiver, Kagome whispered to Inuyasha. “She wants to get lunch today.” He nodded while she shook her head ‘no’. “I have to go home!” Inuyasha pointed harshly at the phone. “Uh.. oh… sorry. I’m just checking my schedule.” She pressed her hand to the phone again. “I  have  to go home! We have to go together!”

 He took the phone from her and held it away from them, getting in her face. Which would have been more effective if he was in his body instead of hers. “I helped you with your exam. Help me with this.” He softened quickly. “Please, Kags.”

 She rolled her eyes and took the phone back. “Kikyo? Yeah, I can do it today. How about we meet somewhere?”

 “There’s this nice sushi place on campus?”

 Kagome was shaking Inuyasha’s head but remembered Kikyo couldn’t see her. “Ah.. no, I don’t like sushi.” She remembered very clearly how Inuyasha had reacted to sushi back when they all ate together at the beginning of the year. It had not gone well at all. Kagome blamed that night on why she and Inuyasha started being frenemies. “How about the ramen place on fifth?”

 Inuyasha was staring at her with Kagome’s blue eyes. Was she always that intimidating? No, Inuyasha had to be doing something different with her eyes or something. The way he had them locked on her wasn’t helping; turning from him to finish the phone call. “Sounds good,” even through the phone, it didn’t sound like Kikyo was happy, “see you in an hour.”

 She handed back the phone but Inuyasha grabbed her hand with it and held her still. “If you don’t screw this up, I’ll go and make nice with your family. But if you fuck things up with Kikyo, I’ll get a tattoo on your forehead.”

 Careful with his claws this time, Kagome got Inuyasha’s hand back from the death hold he had on it. “Okay, I get it. I’ll make you look really good, I promise. Geez, you really like Kikyo, huh?”

 It was funny how Inuyasha did the same things while in her body. Like crossing his arms over his chest when he wanted to protect himself. She could hear his heart and breath now though and it was picking up a little like he was uncomfortable or scared. “She’s the only person to show me interest like this so, yeah I like her I guess.”

 “Wow, calm down.” She said sarcastically. “I don’t want my body to stink again.”

 She laughed while Inuyasha bristled. “I’m not good with emotions and your body is a cluster fuck. I’ve never thought about my feelings like this before. No one has ever asked me either so cut me some fucking slack.”

 Kagome was still laughing, the sound strange because it wasn’t hers and she wasn’t used to hearing Inuyasha’s laugh. “Fine. But… a lunch?”

 “What’s wrong with that? She only had time for lunch but she wanted to see me!”

 “If you say so…”

 “You know what, I don’t trust you. You’re going to fuck this up. I’m coming with you.”

 Inuyasha was already starting to dress her body. “What? You can’t bring another girl on a date!”

 “Sure I can! It’ll make her jealous which will work in my favor! Kikyo probably thinks no one else wants me and she has no competition.”

 She placed a hand on her body’s shoulder but Inuyasha ignored her. “Do you hear yourself?”

 Inuyasha shrugged her off. “No, I hear you. Go get dressed!”

 She left him to do as told, not sure of this meeting at all.

  “Whoa.” 

 They stopped just inside the door of the restaurant and Inuyasha twisted Kagome’s head back to look at his. “What?”

 “I see why you like this place. It smells amazing!”

 He smirked but it dropped quickly, grabbing and pulling her the rest of the way inside. They quickly spotted Kikyo; who stood and waved him down, only to frown at the sight of Kagome with him. She had to put on her game face. No part of her liked this and Kagome told herself it was because of Inuyasha’s words about not being liked by others. The gnawing in her chest was about his obvious lack of self-confidence and settling for Kikyo. Nothing else. 

 “Hey, babe.” Kikyo greeted and Kagome took a beat to realize she was talking to her/Inuyasha. 

 “Hey… honey…” She passed a glance at Inuyasha who glared back at her for her slip up. “I mean… hello.” Inuyasha slid her body into the booth Kikyo picked, sitting between them which made Kikyo frown even more. “Oh uh… this is my neighbor, Kagome. She and I are… friends and she…. Wanted to meet you?”

 They really should have discussed a plan of some sort. She was not prepared for this. 

 Kikyo didn’t miss a beat, turning to Kagome with a plastic smile. Could Inuyasha see how fake it was or was that the demon sight she currently had? “Hello, Higurashi-san. We have a few classes together, don’t we?”

 They did? She didn’t remember Kikyo in any of her classes and the look on Kagome’s face told her Inuyasha was shocked. Then mad, like she should have mentioned it or something. Can’t mention what you don’t remember. “Oh, yeah, we did, didn’t we?”

 “Defense against the Darkness 111 and we were at that offense vs defense seminar last month. Your reiki is very impressive.”

 “Uuuuhhhh thanks.”

 She needed to redirect the conversation because Inuyasha knew nothing about Miko practices. “So, Kikyo, how were your exams? I’m sure you did well.”

 Kikyo looked shocked she asked. Maybe Inuyasha wasn’t this polite? He wasn’t polite to her for sure. “Yes, thank you. How about you?”

 “Ah, you know me.”

 Did she? Kikyo just kind of nodded and turned her attention back to Kagome. “Say how did you create that barrier? No one else could manage it and I must admit I still can’t.”

 Kikyo laughed and it made things more uncomfortable. Kagome’s eyes danced to Inuyasha but what could she do to help in this? “I uh… I practice and study a lot. It’s all I do actually.”

 “Oh? That sounds rough!” Kikyo said but the sympathy in it was faked.

 “Yeah. I don’t party or have fun. I’m pretty pathetic actually.” Inuyasha laughed with her body and Kikyo laughed with her.

 “Aren’t you being a little hard on yourself?” Kagome asked, grinding Inuyasha’s fangs together. 

 Kagome’s shoulder’s shrugged. “Am I? This is the first date I’ve been on all year and it’s not even mine!”

 They both laughed while she seethed. Inuyasha was right but she didn’t like that he knew that. How did he know that, anyway? Something to ask later, trying again to direct the conversation back to Inuyasha and Kikyo. “So… I was surprised you called. Are you not heading out of town for the break?”

 “I am. I just wanted to see you one more time before I left.”

 Kikyo placed a hand on his and rubbed the back of it. But there was something about her tone and heartbeat that bothered her. If it were her, Kagome’s heart would be skipping from touching the guy she liked. It skipped whenever Inuyasha touched her and she didn’t even like him! But Kikyo was calm.

 Kagome’s foot kicked hers under the table and she woke up. “Oh, uh, yeah I wanted to see you too. Thanks for calling and asking me out.”

 “Of course. Since you never call me.”

 “I’ll.. uh… fix that. I promise.”

 The waitress appeared. Kikyo ordered a salad while she ordered ramen. Inuyasha did too. They ate with gentle conversation and she did her best to flirt with Kikyo. Inuyasha passed her the other half of his bowl when he was full and she ate it without issue. They had already discovered (last night) that their appetites changed for the body they were in.

 Now lunch was over but there was a bigger issue. Kagome had been holding it in all morning but now she was about to pop and couldn’t any longer. Getting to Inuyasha’s feet suddenly, she grabbed onto Kagome as she pulled out of the booth. “I need a minute with Kagome. Be right back.”

 Inuyasha fought against her hold as soon as they were out of sight. “What the fuck?! This looks really bad, Kagome!!”

 “I know, I’m sorry but I have to…” she stopped and folded into Kagome’s ear, “I have to pee.”

 “So?”

 “I’ve never… I don’t know how to do it with your… equipment.”

 He chuckled and pushed Inuyasha’s body back. “It’s the same as yours, you just have to stand and aim.”

 “Oh god. I have to touch it?!”

 Inuyasha had ‘washed himself’ for her yesterday. And that had been all sorts of confusing. This was going to be worse. “Just don’t let the size freak you out.”

 That was all he gave her before sauntering back to their table. She took two deep breaths and pushed into the men’s room. Regardless, she couldn’t hold it any longer. Which made it easier in the end, staring at Inuyasha’s member in his hands and not focusing on anything else. She had thought he was just being a jerk but… he was kinda right about his size. Guess that was why it felt so heavy? And she thought it was just because she had something swinging between her legs for the first time? Kagome would never know; this was the only body other than hers she would ever inhabit. Hopefully.

 The heightened senses didn’t help either (the scent of the small room making her feel sick) and she was quick to get out of there.

 She didn’t know if leaving ‘Kagome’ alone with Kikyo for long was a good idea so she was as fast as she could move about it all. She focused on the table, finding she could focus her hearing too; which was cool. Until she heard the conversation being had in her absence. 

 “You already have strong Miko powers. You don’t need Inuyasha for your final. I do.”

 Kikyo was talking about finals? They all had a senior project due before graduation; a show of strength mixed with comprehension and skill. Kagome hadn’t come up with anything yet but Kikyo’s involved Inuyasha? She didn’t understand how and by the look Inuyasha had on ‘Kagome’s’ face, he didn’t know about it beforehand.

 He was pushing her body out of the booth in a hurry when he caught sight of her. Knocking into her as she passed, Inuyasha left her behind to figure out what the hell to do next. So she stomped up to the table and Kikyo gave her a look of pure innocence. “I think your friend is jealous of us.”

 “H… she is? We’re just friends.”

 “KA...INUYASHA LET’S GO!”

 Her voice sounded pained and no part of her wanted to argue. So she dug into the wallet Inuyasha made her put in his back pocket; throwing some money on the table. “I’ll… uh call you.”

 Inuyasha had ‘Kagome’s’ hands in her pockets and a pissed look on her face. “You got tickets to your house or something? Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Inuyasha hadn’t said a word since they left the restaurant. She sat across from her body as it silently rocked on the train. It was another hour until they reached home and a thirty-minute drive to her house. So there really wasn’t a lot of time. 

 “So…. I should probably go over who is who. They’ll expect you to know that.”

 “Why not just tell them the truth? Would save us a lot of grief.” He muttered to the window. 

 “NO!” Kagome’s head slowly turned from her outburst, Inuyasha had her eyes squinted in disapproval of her tone, volume, or general displeasure with her for some reason. It was hard to tell. “They can’t know. They can’t know any of this.”

 “Why the hell not,” he growled and this time, it was pretty scary. 

 “Because… if they knew my well being was at risk? My education? My body?! Add in that a faculty member did this to us and they will either force me to come back home or guilt me into it.”

 “Your family cares that much?”

 Confused, she tilted Inuyasha’s head at him. “Yeah. Yours doesn’t?” He said nothing, going back to his window and she couldn’t take it anymore. “Yash… what happened? Did Kikyo say something to you? I heard her talking about her senior project…”

 “Did you know?” She really didn’t have a clue and shook her head to show that. “Fuck I miss my body. Then I’d know if you were lying right now.”

 Thinking it over, she took her body’s hand and placed it on Inuyasha’s body’s wrist. “Here. Ask me anything.”

 The face he wore, even though it was her face she still didn’t know what it meant. Kagome didn’t think she had ever made that face but Inuyasha still squeezed her body’s fingers around his body’s wrist to feel her pulse. “What is your senior project on?”

 “Mine? I haven’t picked anything yet. Buuut this body switch thing would definitely work for it!” 

 She giggled (sounding super weird from Inuyasha’s body) and he smiled -briefly. “Did you know there’s a way to turn a half-demon into either a full human or demon?”

 Nodding, she still wore a frown on the subject. “There are theories but no one has actually done it.”

 “Why not?”

 She sighed. “Because it’s dangerous. Half-demons are rare so it’s hard to find willing subjects.”

 “What if I was willing?” She blinked in her body’s serious face for a few seconds, listening to the heart beating in her body’s chest. “Would you try it on me?”

 Kagome had to force herself to remain still so Inuyasha could feel her pulse. When she really wanted to rip free and smack him. “Are you nuts?! Why would you want to change who you are?!”

 “You’ve been in my body for less than twenty-four hours. You have no clue what it’s like being me!”

 “That may be true but you’re perfect the way you are!”

 “Perfect?!” He spat back. “I’m the very definition of imperfect! Don’t pretend you know what it’s like to be me!”

 “Don’t I?” Inuyasha still held the wrist between them while they stared into each other’s eyes. “You pretend the loud music and crowds don’t bother you all so you can make your best friend happy! You hide your ability to hear and smell falsehoods so no one feels uncomfortable around you. And you work so hard to control yourself so that you never hurt anyone; you’re a Saint Inuyasha. Yet, there are still people like Hojo that look down on you. It makes me sick.”

 Slowly, Inuyasha let go of his body’s wrist and sat back. She did the same; eyes still glued to one another. “And people like Kikyo. She wanted to use me for her senior project and turn me into a full human.”

 She was so disgusted that she felt sick. And hot. “That stupid bitch.”

 “Careful. I’m starting to rub off on you.” Kagome still felt warm all over and it was only getting worse. “Seriously though, you need to calm down.” She was struggling, imagining Kikyo asking Inuyasha to become human over and over. “Kagome…. breath.” Hands were on her knees and she took a deep breath. “Think about something else. Tell me about your family. Everything I need to know to be you.”

 “My mother…” she said releasing the breath she took and held, “stays home and helps my grandfather with the family shrine.”

 “Wait… you live in a shrine?”

 “Inuyasha now is not the time to push me.”

 “I just… I didn’t know that about you, that’s all. Must have been… tough.”

 “People made jokes and assumptions but I got over it.” She opened her eyes for the first time in several minutes. Her body was hunched over with her hands on Inuyasha’s body’s knees. It was oddly comforting to look into her own blue eyes. “My dad passed away when I was four.”

 “I’m sorry.”

 He was sincere. Maybe he had a close family member die too because she could see it in her eyes that he was currently using. All she could give him in return was a nod of understanding. “My younger brother Souta and his wife will be there.”

 “Ooooh, younger brother that’s already married? That’s rough.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 “He’s married while you're in school?” He said with a strange look on his face. 

 “He’s where he wants to be in life and so am I.”

 “Okay, but I’ll be prepared for some sibling rivalry.”

 She shook it off and kept going. “He has a little girl, Mei. She’s only seven months though. I hope you like kids because she’ll be all over me… I mean you as soon as we get there.”

 “Great.”

 “Um… I’m not really sure what else will come up. So I don’t know how to prepare you. What should we say about us?”

 Inuyasha sat back, taking Kagome’s hands off Inuyasha’s knees. “Just say we’re dating.”

 “Oh no.”

 “Would that be a problem for them? You dating a Hanyou?”

 Inuyasha was looking out the window again while she was trying not to get angry. “It’s not that. I’ve just… never brought someone home before. I’m not sure how they’ll take it. Especially when I have to tell them later that it was all a lie or that we broke up.”

 He was silent, Kagome’s blue eyes searching her borrowed face and making her feel weird all over again. “Worry about that later. For now, saying we’re dating makes it easier. If someone says something I don’t know about you can jump in and pretend I told you. You can cover me.”

 It all made such good sense that she felt no fear or worry when they arrived. Inuyasha’s heart was pounding though. It skipped every time someone pulled him in for a hug. She was sure it was weird hugging strangers like family but it didn’t seem like something that would be terrifying. Yet that would be how she described Inuyasha’s reaction. 

 He was scared. 

 It got worse when baby Mei was handed his way. She cooed in his arms for about four seconds then suddenly reached for her. Mei was reaching out to her like normal only she looked nothing like herself. Kagome’s body sat beside her on the couch while she sat inside Inuyasha’s. 

 He didn’t fight her, letting the seven-month-old come to her; a relative stranger was now holding her niece but she was never more excited. Her tiny heart beat wildly as she stretched up on her toes and grabbed Inuyasha’s body’s ears. 

 “So,” Souta sat down next to her body and wrapped a brotherly arm around her shoulders, “are you two dating or something?”

 “Uh yeah.” “Something like that.” They said on top of each other. 

 “Good. I never liked that Koga guy. What happened to him? You kept talking him up; saying you wanted us to meet him?” 

 This was something she really should have told Inuyasha about on the train but she had hoped it wouldn’t come up. “He uh,” Souta looked to her expectantly, “he isn’t a problem anymore.”

 “Good. Thank you, Inuyasha-san.”

 Their mother called for Souta from the kitchen and he rose quickly, leaving them alone with Mei (who was pulling on an ear now). “Why aren’t you being called to the kitchen right now?”

 She focused on getting the baby to not pull so hard while Inuyasha moved her body a little close to his. “Normally, she would but I guess with you here I’m on baby duty.”

 A quick beat of silence and the elephant in the room trumpeted. “So… who’s Koga?”

 “Uh… no one.” She glanced his way, her body tilted away so Inuyasha could look at her with disbelief. “I met him last year. We dated a little. But… then I found out he was dating five other girls at the same time. He even tried to use the fact that he’s a wolf demon as an excuse; saying he was the leader of the pack and had responsibilities….”

 “That’s true actually. You’re lucky he even dated out of his pack at all.” Inuyasha added but his voice didn’t sound like he was as okay with it as he would like to be.

 “I wouldn’t say I was lucky at all.”

 “Did you… really like him?”

 There was something to Inuyasha’s tone; she wondered if she would have heard it if she was in her body. Kagome forced herself not to listen to more; his heart and breath or even smell him as she shook the sound of his… her voice out of her borrowed head. “I… did… I think. It was nice to have someone. But I refuse to be used by anyone.”

 “AH, so cheating is a deal-breaker for you? Good to know.”

 She chuckled, Mei bouncing on her wide chest as Inuyasha’s body laughed. “Isn’t everyone?”

 “You’d be surprised.”

 He didn’t say more and she didn’t press. They were called for dinner and Mei didn’t release Inuyasha’s body until her mother held out her hands for the child. She had missed her family and even though it was like she was an outsider in her own family, Kagome still didn’t feel left out. Not that she ever expected her family to make anyone feel like that, but she expected to feel something like that. Being in someone else’s body was weird in many ways and she missed her life all the more being around her family. 

 Dinner was delicious as expected and the conversation was pretty light and happy. Until…. 

 “So Inuyasha, are you and Kagome going to visit your family during the break too?” Her mother asked, looking right at her.

 “Uh…”

 “Inuyasha doesn't have any family.” Kagome’s body answered for her.

 The room got quiet as all eyes landed on her; on Inuyasha. “Really?” Souta asked and she nodded.

 They didn’t press, of course, but now she was regretting not getting to know Inuyasha before they came here like she had forced him to get to know her. Why hadn't she even asked? It was weird that he agreed to come here so easily, that he was hanging around campus during the break wasn’t it? Miroku had left as soon as break started (she wasn’t even sure Miroku knew their bodies were switched) and yet, Inuyasha was around like it was any other day. But she never asked.

 Normally, she could say it was none of her business but this time; she couldn’t get away with such an excuse, could she?

  Her mom thought it was funny; putting her in the same room as her body. Inuyasha didn’t put up the appropriate amount of fuss for Kagome to be satisfied either, glaring as her body walked around her room and explored. “You could have demanded I sleep in the guest room or something.”

 “Why? You want to keep ‘watch’ on me in your body, don’t you?”

 That was true. Although, she was starting to care less and less about that. “It sends the wrong message if you just willingly sleep in here with me!”

 “Like what?” Inuyasha turned and the smile on Kagome’s lips told her, she wasn’t going to like what he said. “That the two of us are deeply in love and have slept together so many times now that doing it at your house is no big deal?”

 Nailed that on the head. “Yeah!”

 “I’ll make a fuzz at breakfast tomorrow. Happy?” He flopped to her bed, a twin, and sat back on her hands. “You have a nice family, Kags. And a happy life.”

 She sat next to him and watched his face. “And you? What about your family? I should have asked before we came here, sorry. I hope I’m not keeping you from them…”

 “You don’t need to worry. It’s like I told your family. I have no one.” That wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the truth either, she could hear and smell it no matter how hard she tried not to. And he knew that too, clearing ‘Kagome’s’ throat and shifting on the bed. “Geez, this is worse than some rom-com with a fake dating plot.” When she eyed him curiously, he caved quickly. “My mom made me watch them with her when I was a kid. She… died. When I was eight.”

 There was no thinking, she just grabbed him; wrapping long arms around a small body was so strange but she shoved that away for now and squeezed him tight. “Kagome… can’t breathe…”

 “Oh sorry,” she loosened but didn’t let go, “I’m so sorry.”

 ‘Kagome’ rubbed ‘Inuyasha’s’ arm and tried to get her to let go. “It’s fine. Would you quit turning me into a pansy? First, it’s crying and now it’s hugging?”

 “Being weak from time to time doesn’t make you a pansy.”

 “Yeah… well… I still don’t like it…” He pushed on her a bit but she didn’t move far. Because her body was starting to emit that strange smell again. “Seriously though, how do you live like this?”

 “Live like what?”

 “This… frustrated?!”

 She fell back to look at herself and Inuyasha pointed to her body. It took her a few seconds but she understood in time. Kagome felt hot under the collar and it had nothing to do with the angry demon in her body. “Oh god.”

 ‘Kagome’ flopped back to the bed completely, laying next to her while she tried not to melt from her embarrassment. “I wish you would at least let me ‘rub one’ out or something. This is just ridiculous. Is it like this all the time?”

 “I’m NOT going to tell you that!!!”

 “I would lose my mind if I was this turned on all the time. This is more than needing to masturbate, you need to get laid!”

 Forgetting her new strength, she slapped ‘Kagome’s’ thigh hard and Inuyasha shot up in pain. “It’s not like this all the time! You’re doing something weird to my body!!”

 He was rubbing the pain out of ‘Kagome’s’ leg and growling. “It’s not my fault….” Inuyasha paused and then looked over at her. She looked anywhere else. “Or is it?”

 “Wh… what are you talking about?”

 Inuyasha made ‘Kagome’s’ face smirk and he turned into her to stare her down. “You smell that?” She shrugged, hoping to play whatever he said next off. “You think I don’t know? That’s my body you’re in; I know you smell your body getting turned on. And I know exactly what it smells like.”

 “Are you trying to tell me that every girl you’ve ever turned on smells the same?” She said with a huff, trying to change the subject to something that would make her mad so she could stop the pounding her blood was doing.

 “No. I’m saying I’ve smelt you, Kagome’s, arousal before. A few times actually.”

 Her jaw dropped and she glared over at her body’s smirking face. “You have NOT!!”

 Inuyasha chuckled with her body and Kagome’s heart started to skip around. “I don’t need my senses; I know you’re lying. There’s no point really. I’ve turned you on before a few times. Took me a while to understand. But, Kagome, you smell... Really fucking sweet when you’re horny.” 

 She was doing everything she could to not look at her body while they talked about this. It was all too weird. How could Inuyasha talk like this to his own body? She was busy having her brain in a spin and stop the blood that was moving south when air hit one of the dog ears on her head. It sent a shock wave through her body so strong, she almost slipped off the bed and to the floor.

 “Wwwwhhat the hell?!” She grabbed the ear too late, her body was already sitting back down.

 To make matters worse, Inuyasha’s penis was now pressing against the inside of his jeans in a painful manner. And Kagome thought going to the bathroom was weird now she had a boner. “You know how I always get so pissed when you blow in my ear? This is why!”

 She was pressing on the appendage and it was only getting angry inside her pants. “Wh… this happens every time someone blows in your ear?”

 “No. It happens every time  you  blow in my ear! Couple it with your fucking scent…” ‘Kagome’s’ eyes had a look to them and a color that she had never seen before. It was crazy, looking at herself turned on like this. 

 It made her wonder what ‘Inuyasha’ looked like right now?

 Standing abruptly, she pushed Inuyasha’s body to leave the room. As it was, the demon wanted to devour ‘Kagome’. “I need the bathroom.”

 “You better not jack off. If I can’t get relief, neither can you!”

 Really, that was the last thing on her mind. This body didn’t want her to find relief with her hand.

 They didn’t speak when she came back, just got into bed and turned off the lights. But laying there, so close together, with ‘Inuyasha’ still hard and ‘Kagome’s’ scent still strongly present, it was impossible to fall asleep. 

 “What if…” ‘Inuyasha’s’ voice cut through the silence and she tried to focus on the sound instead of the origin, “what if we… helped each other.”

 “What do you mean?”

 The lift to ‘Kagome’s’ voice told her, Inuyasha already knew exactly what she meant. “I mean… if we… gave each other a release then it wouldn’t be so… wrong.”

 Inuyasha rolled her body onto its side and stared at the side of his own face. “Kags, I could get this body off myself and it would be far from ‘wrong’. If you want to touch each other then just say so.”

 “That’s not it,” she said in a rush of words, “I was just thinking that if I touch you and you touch me then it would be more like masturbating, right?”

 “It would be better than masturbating.”

 “Look I… I don’t need you to do anything to me. Male ejaculation is pretty straight forward. But I know what I like and I don’t want you fumbling around for an hour…”

 He huffed. “Oh please…”

 “Quick and efficient. We get in and get out.”

 Suddenly, her body was caging her in. Inuyasha had her body looming over her with a hand on either side of her head. “Why don’t we just have sex?”

 “What? No! That would be too weird for me, seriously.”

 “Having sex with me would be too weird for you?” He said with a growl.

 She shoved him back, an easy feat with the bodies they were in. “No, it would be  weird having sex with myself!!!” Inuyasha seemed to understand and didn’t press the issue. So she turned and leaned over her body instead. “So?”

 “Oh? You want my permission? It’s your body!”

 “Okay, okay…” she took deep breaths to try and steady herself, “take your pants off and get on your… my belly.” He didn’t ask; just did as she said quickly. She made Inuyasha put her body in pants and a t-shirt to sleep when normally she wore a lot less to bed. Kagome tried to ignore the awkwardness of it all as Inuyasha panted excitedly; ‘Kagome’s’ heart pounding in her chest as Inuyasha spread her body’s legs and waited. She closed her eyes and that helped a lot. “Shhhh… someone is going to hear you!”

 He growled back at her. “It’s not my fault you’ve been holding out for as long as you have! I’m not being that loud, it’s just your hearing!!”

 She wondered how much of that was true? She could hear the sounds all through the house and no one had stirred since they started this. A few pumps like that and her body shuddered with an orgasm. Laying on her back, Kagome considered going outside on her roof. At least there, she wouldn’t have to smell her body’s juices while Inuyasha’s penis danced in irritation from lack of use. When a hand slipped into her briefs, she closed her eyes and said nothing. The rubbing felt good. Inuyasha knew what he liked too, after all. But then Inuyasha started whispering in her ear.

 “Let’s just have sex.”

 “No.”

 “Come on Kags. Think about it.”

 “I did already. No.”

 The healing hand on her shaft left and she groaned. Even more when Inuyasha had her body straddling his. “You are missing the big point here. Think about the learning experience! No one has ever had this chance to learn about someone else’s body like this!”

 “With good reason, I’m sure.”

 “Come on. It could be how we get our bodies back!”

 She cracked open an eye but regretted it; feeling a bit nauseous at the sight of herself mounting herself. “How does that work in your head?!”

 “Kaede said we needed to get to know each other. What better way to know one another than by fucking?”

 “No way she expected us to have sex! That’s messed up!!”

 “Then push me off,” Kagome told Inuyasha’s body to do it but it wouldn’t move. “You could do it with ease. But you don’t want to. You want to have sex with me.”

 “I don’t want to have sex with myself…”

 “Stop thinking about the outer appearance. I haven’t thought of you as myself since the damn train ride.” He leaned over and she couldn’t take her eyes off his blue ones. “You’re still you and I’m still me. No matter what body you’re in. And I want to fuck you, Kagome.”

 “You… you do?”

 He nodded and then sat back; pulling her shirt off her body in a shift and sexy movement. Kagome closed her eyes again though. Inuyasha might be able to get over seeing himself getting laid by himself but she couldn’t. “I love your breasts.”

 She popped her eyes open to find herself fondling herself. “Hey!”

 “Chill!” He whispered harshly, reminding her to be quiet. “I’ll be gentle”

 ‘Kagome’ was smiling wickedly so she closed her eyes again. As weird as it was, she couldn’t stop Inuyasha. She didn’t want to. But she still tried to understand and maybe talk Inuyasha out of this while he pulled the angry penis out of her briefs. “Isn’t it going to be uncomfortable for you? You’re having sex with a man!”

 “Yeah but… if I’m going to have a dick inside me, at least it’s my own.”

 “That… doesn’t really make sense.”

 “I know, I just want to have sex! How the FUCK do you stand a dry spell like this?!”

 She had nothing to say to that. Because it had been a while and she didn’t want to give any more away to him. Oh god. She was about to have sex with Inuyasha! Of all people… and it was going to be so different from the occasional fantasy she had about him. She did her best to ignore the sounds coming from her body’s mouth; still too weird for her. When Inuyasha fell next to her, Kagome felt another wave of sadness rush over her that had her sniffling and Inuyasha perched over her quickly.

 “What is it now?!”

 “I… I want to… cuddle.”

 “So? We fucking cuddle!”

 She shook her head. “It’s not the same…”

 “Would you cut that shit out? It’s still you and me. Just turn around and let me fucking hold you!”

 Kagome did as commanded, rolling over and letting herself be spooned by her smaller body all night long.

  When she woke up to her sleeping face before her, Kagome was underwhelmed by it all. Sex had been weird but nice and at least they got it out of their system. Inuyasha got up before her as she laid lazily in the bed. He had her underwear back on but not much else, still touching her breasts as he pleased. But then he froze and groaned.

 “What’s wrong?”

 He shifted his hips a little and made a face. “Okay, what the hell is up with your vag? It feels… weird.”

 She laughed. “That’s how it always feels after sex. For every woman.”

 “It’s unpleasant.”

 “It’ll pass. While men think about how to get laid; women decide whether or not sex is worth unbalancing their PH.”

 He crossed arms over her chest. “It’s not that bad. I’d screw you again in a heartbeat.”

 “Really?”

 “Fuck yes.” He shifted again and blanched. “That’s disgusting. My shit just fell out into your panties.”

 “Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious!” She said, buckling over herself.

 “What the fuck? Are you trying to get knocked up by me? Why the fuck did you come inside, you’re not on BC!”

 She contained herself enough to speak but tears were leaking out of her. “Relax. I’m not ovulating. I know my body well enough to not worry. Actually, I should be getting my period soon…”

 “No… no… no, no, no, HELL NO, no, no, no, no, NO! I’m not having a fucking period for you! I’m calling that fucker Miroku and getting this fixed goddammit!!”

 She was on the floor while Inuyasha stepped over her and picked up his phone. It rang in his hands and he sighed ruefully before answering it. Kagome scrambled to her feet to take it from him since he clearly forgot, but he simply pushed her back as he spoke into the phone. 

 Listening, unintentionally, she heard a woman’s voice on the line. “Who is this? Why are you answering Inuyasha’s phone?”

 “He’s in the bathroom right now and left next to my bed.”

 “Who is this??!!”

 “Kagome Higurashi. And I thought about what you said, Kikyo. But after last night… well frankly I like Inuyasha’s massive demon dick too much to let you change it.” He winked at her while he exploited their sex life to her classmate. She was trying to be pissed but was oddly turned on again. As was ‘Kagome’. 

 “Then let me turn him into a full demon instead! The point is, he's mine, Higurashi!”

 She took the phone from him then, yelling into the phone using Inuyasha’s voice. “Kagome loves me the way I am, bitch. Don’t call me again!” Kagome was busy blocking the number and didn’t notice she was being watched intently until she heard the hurried knocks from someone’s chest. Inuyasha was staring at her with a loopy smile on his face. She didn’t get it, passing him back his phone as soon as she finished blocking Kikyo but then she realized; she probably should have asked. “Sorry, but she pissed me off. And I feel like her suggesting you change is harassment so blocking her number feels smart. Feels right. You can unblock it if you want…”

 He looked away and to his phone, messing with it and she thought he was unblocking Kikyo until he looked up at her with a grin. “I need Miroku to fix this quick so I can fuck you hard.”

 “Huh?”

 He leaned in, somehow making her feel small even while towering over him in his body. “I’m going to make you scream when we get our bodies back, Kagome. So. Fucking. Hard.”

 She swallowed something thick down her throat and sat back on the bed. What just happened?

  Kagome was surprised at the dedication; Miroku returning in a few hours thanks to Inuyasha’s call. The look on his face told her that he didn’t know about the body swap. She also didn’t know what Miroku could do for them since she had no clue what his powers or even his major were.

 He eyed them closely while they stood in the middle of Inuyasha’s and Miroku’s dorm room. With the hall completely empty, they had the door open to keep from feeling claustrophobic. But she still felt uneasy with Miroku’s probing eyes.

 “So… you’re Inuyasha?” He asked -again- while pointing at her.

 “For the thousandth fucking time, yes!” Inuyasha growled with ‘Kagome’s’ mouth. 

 Miroku looked at him now, eyeing him up and down. “If you’re in her body… then show me your tits?”

 Inuyasha punched Miroku in the arm but she was pretty sure he wanted to punch him in the face. But her body was weaker than his so he took it easy, clasping her hand instead and threading their fingers together. Miroku took note but she didn’t pull away. She was used to it now since Inuyasha had held her hand on and off since they left her room that morning and informed her family they were leaving earlier than planned. She would visit them again when she was back in her body.

 Miroku stood near the door and shook his head. “Kaede just wanted you two to get along. Which it looks like you’re doing so I’m not sure why you’re still switched like this. Maybe you two need to have sex or something?” She felt her cheeks heat up and smelled her body next to her do the same. “Ooooohhhhh hohoho. Well then. Maybe you two are stuck like this then?”

 “That’s the best you’ve got?!” Inuyasha roared next to her.

 Miroku shrugged. “Break ends in a few more days. Kaede will fix this when she returns.” He backed away more and grabbed the door to close as he left. “I'm going to go… for a few hours… so you two can have some privacy…”

 He shut the door but Inuyasha threw a book at it anyway. In a frustrated and angry huff, he sat on his bed and she slowly followed. Putting a hand on his thigh, she tried to comfort herself when she was in need of comforting herself. “I’m sorry, Yash. I know it’s… annoying being me...”

 “Not really. I kinda like it actually.”

 “What?”

 Inuyasha pulled ‘Kagome’s’ head from the hands he had it buried in and looked her dead in the eye. “Don’t get me wrong, I miss being myself. But I’m really glad I got to be you… to get to know you.”

 He leaned in to kiss her and she tried, she really did, but she just couldn’t; putting a hand on his mouth before he could touch her lips. “I’m sorry. I just can’t. It’s too weird.”

 Grabbing her, Inuyasha had her face cupped in ‘Kagome’s’ hands. “I told you to stop thinking like that.”

 “I guess I’m not like you. It’s hard to think about kissing myself…”

 “You’re not, you’re kissing me. Kagome, I’m nothing like you. You’re kind and strong. I thought you were just like everyone else, disgusted by me and half-demons like me. That you kept your distance from me out of fear or something. But no, you’re just hard-working and I admire the hell out of that.”

 “You… you do?”

 “Yeah. It’s sexy.” She rolled her eyes and he smiled. “Everyone is jealous of you and your skills. It’s not the first time Kikyo bitched about you to me. And you’re so beautiful, I never thought I had a chance with someone like you. But in the end… I love you, Kagome.”

 “Wh…” She couldn’t breathe. The gorgeously handsome Inuyasha was telling her he was in love with her. 

 “You didn’t even notice this morning that you told Kikyo that you loved me. Did you? Or was that just to mess with her?” 

 He was pulling back, his heart bouncing in fear. She grabbed him before he got far. “I meant it. I do love you.”

 “Then kiss me.”

 Her eyes drifted close on their own and she was drawn into him and his mouth. It didn’t even feel like she was kissing herself, it felt like she was kissing Inuyasha. Or what she imagined it would feel like, his thick lips pressing against hers. When she pulled back and opened her eyes, she was met with gold. 

 “There we go.” He whispered and before she could wrap her mind around it (being back in her body) Inuyasha pulled her back to him and smothered her lips with his mouth. 

 It didn’t seem to matter that they had been deep inside one another (literally) and knew one another’s bodies better than anyone. Not to Inuyasha as he discovered her body like it was the first time. But at the same time, it was clear he knew what she liked. It was sometime later, curled in Inuyasha’s arms, that Miroku returned. “Wow, you guys are into some freaky shit.”

 “Get the fuck out!” 

 Inuyasha proved they were back to normal by hurling his clock off his bedside table at Miroku’s head. There wasn’t any discussion of the events from that weekend between the three of them after that.

#inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha fandom #kiss list #modern AU #college AU #body swap #romcom #fluffy #vday love

[escxpedes]

loopholes (cont.)

I literally can’t even begin to tell you how much everyone’s support meant to me on the last chapter. All your comments and tags were so sweet, it was seriously the highlight of my day. I’m sorry for the delay, I meant to get this out a couple of days ago, but I’ve come down with a bad cold. This part, while fun, was so hard to get right. Angus Macgyver is a genius, his mind goes a mile a minute, and I wanted to do my best to replicate that. This part is a little slow in getting to the Macriley stuff, but I wanted to show how much he really thinks about things. He’s such a complex character, that if I didn’t do him justice, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Also, there’s dialogue in this one! Sadly, Jack isn’t mentioned in this chapter, but he’s there in spirit. Clearly, we all love and miss him. I hope you guys enjoy, the last part will be out soon! x

~

loop·hole

noun | A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system

~

Riley finally moves into her new apartment, but struggles to adjust after the events of Codex and the realization of her feelings for Mac. When Mac finds her passed out over her keyboard after a late night of coding at Phoenix, he decides a talk is long overdue. Just some slightly angsty soft!macriley to help you cope with this season 5 hiatus.

~

of lips that i am yet to kiss (and eyes not met my own.)

It's highly unlikely that you'll find Mac walking down the halls of the Phoenix Foundation so late at night. Without the bustling energy of his coworkers fetching important documents or discussing the best way to break down one of the many mysteries the foundation deals with, the darkened hallways and quiet atmosphere can be unnerving.

Sure, he spends nearly every waking hour employed there, but he'd rather be outside the office in different countries, doing hands-on work and saving lives. When you work in his profession, It can be difficult to separate business and pleasure, but that only makes it more important—if only to conserve what mental health he has left. 

However, in the haste of putting together last-minute preparations for yet another meeting with the Department of Justice and trying to make it back to his house in time for something Desi whipped up, he managed to forget his cellphone.

It's funny, mainly because of how little the small device truly matters to Mac.

It only goes to show how insignificant material objects, or even human beings in general, are. The idea that something so meaningless can affect someone's life so much when, if they just looked past that obsession and considered its part in the profound scope of the universe, another perspective would take shape.

It's fascinating stuff, really.

There's a concept essential to understanding Japanese aesthetics, otherwise known as an ancient set of ideals important to Japanese society, called Yūgen. When applied in the right context, Yūgen underlines this deep awareness of the universe and the experiences we have within it. It's often the feeling interpreted when you gaze at the stars late at night or watch the sunset dip behind a hill.

Mac wouldn't think twice before breaking his phone, or rather, breaking the phone of his nearest friend, open for an obscure part that might make one of his many homemade devices come together. However, when he's the only person able to communicate the scientific specifications of an unheard-of-until-recently base plan for saving the planet, he's practically on call 24/7.

He remembers having it in the labs earlier that day when he stopped by before his meeting to remind Bozer to come by his house on Friday for the team's new weekly attempt in group-bonding.

After the betrayals that surfaced during the climax of taking down Codex, the team collectively decided to spend more time as a group in hopes of eliminating any lingering doubts. 

They used to hang out all the time before the government dismantled the Phoenix Foundation.

Mac still can't believe that, after everything they had been through, he allowed his friendships to dissipate over the year they had been separate.

Bozer is his childhood best friend, and Riley had become a solid foundation in his life. He didn't have anyone outside his team at Phoenix, and while he deeply cared for Desi, their first relationship was proof that too much time—and too little communication—with each other can do severe damage to one's sanity.

If Russ hadn't brought them back together, would they have tried to reconnect at some point?

Mac wants to say they would have but wouldn't blame them if they didn't; they all lost something they cared about, and each served as a constant reminder of it.

It would've been hard, but part of him feels like living without them is a lot harder.

When he manages to access the lab, flipping his shiny new I.D. card over his fingers and into its place in his wallet, his eyes scan the room. It's empty, which isn't unusual at this time, but years of military training have rewired his brain to notify him of threats, even if there aren't any.

Just like he thought it would be, the device sits untouched a few tables behind Bozer's workspace where Mac had been sitting.

Quickly, because he left the house in a hurry and forgot to leave a note, he scoops up his phone and makes his way towards the exit. There's a couple of missed calls, but it doesn't seem like he missed anything too important.

Not that they would let him. 

At any rate, they would probably show up on his doorstep if they couldn't get a hold of him. With days off so few and far between, that's the kind of interaction he's hoping to avoid. Hence, why he came to pick up his phone when he realized it was missing instead of waiting until the next day.

He's nearly made it to the end of the hall when a light flashes in his peripheral vision, coming from the I.T. department.

His body is tense with apprehension; his mind races with several different kinds of possibilities and outcomes. He slows his pace, his movements fluid, silent, and controlled from years of stealth practice.

The light is soft, he notices, as if only one or two monitors are in use.

When he gets to the doorway and nudges open the door, hands at the ready, his entire body sags in relief to see the dark wavy hair he's come to associate with one of his closest friends.

"Riles?"

The nickname falls from his mouth before he can stop it, and even though the light from the monitor creates a halo above her head, shadowing her features, it's unmistakably her.

She doesn't move. 

It becomes abundantly clear why as Mac moves towards her and notices the monitor's screen filling up with a sequence of letters that look nothing like coding despite his lack of knowledge in programming languages.

Her elbow balances precariously on the edge of the table, her arms creating a makeshift pillow for her head. The weight of her forearm bears down on the keyboard, causing the side of her hand to press down multiple keys at once.

He shakes his head a little, amused by the situation unfolding. 

Her cheek rests comfortably on her hand, a serene expression masking the signs of exhaustion that showed on her face.

Mac's lips curved into a soft smile, seeing Riley in any state that wasn't cloaked in layers of worry or anxious determination always washed away any doubts he might have about working in such a stressful field.

The scars that covered his body, the secrets he has to keep, and the pain he has to endure are so unbelievably worth it as long as she out of harm's way and able to sleep peacefully.

Of course, he couldn't imagine anyone else by his side on a mission, knowing they share the same love and passion for kicking ass and saving lives.

However, he also knows that more lies underneath the surface.

He wouldn't wish the hardships of this job on anyone. Seeing it affect someone he cares about, watching it break them down slowly pulls at his heartstrings and fills him with a knowing sadness. 

When a piece of hair falls into her face, his fingers don't hesitate to gently brush it behind her ear, lightly tracing her cheekbone and caressing her cheek.

Kneeling, his hand drops to her shoulder in an attempt to gently wake her.

After a couple of shakes, the expressive brown eyes he's come to look forward to seeing begin to flutter open and nearly render him speechless.

She blinks a couple of times, inhaling slowly, "Macgyver."

Her voice is full of sleep and breaks from misuse, but the way she says his name—like there's nobody else she'd expect to see when she wakes up —has him grinning from ear to ear.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

Rising from her position on the table, she scans the room before meeting his eyes and scoffing, "It's hardly the morning."

He laughs softly, holding back the urge to mention that technically it is morning considering its past twelve. Instead, he focuses on the matter at hand, or more likely, the question at hand.

"What are you doing here so late?"

She's more alert now, sitting back in her chair and lifting her arms to stretch out the muscles that stiffened while she slept, glancing at her work on the monitor.

Her face drops into a grimace when she notices her mistake, "Matty and I were talking about updating the foundation's firewall and spyware," she yawns, "I must have been more tired than I realized."

Mac's eyebrows scrunch in thought, remembering something Bozer said earlier about Riley spending quite a few nights this week working late.

Between going over his mother's scientific data, trying to patch up whatever relationship he had left with Desi, and making sure he didn't go off the rails with grief, his effort to check in on everyone decreased significantly.

"Yeah, you've been doing that a lot lately," his hand returned to her shoulder to emphasize his point, "Everything okay?"

She waves him off, "There's too much work that needs to be done around here before we can get things running the way they used to."

Riley doesn't lie to him—if you overlook the whole situation with her ex, Aubrey, that is, but the movements she's making indicate otherwise.

Her eyes refuse to meet his, flickering down and to the right. When she talks, her head shakes lightly, and she purses her lips in an attempt to give off a careless impression. Maybe someone who doesn't know her or didn't train to pick up on it would believe her, but he knew better.

She was definitely hiding something from him.

Part of him understands that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. However, his instincts urge him to press harder, locate the problem, and bring back her contagious smile that always seems to fill him with warmth.

As much as he doesn't want to admit it, you can't patch some things together by sheer will and sellotape, so instead, he stands up and drops his hand from her shoulder.

"Let's get you home."

#macgyver #macriley #angus macgyver #riley davis #i really hope you like this

[atroquinine-my-love]

I just finished Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and now that's everyone else's problem (post-game ramblings under the cut)

Investigations 2 is honestly one of the best AA games I’ve watched to date. I say “one of” because there’s of course the Original Ace Attorney, Trials and Tribulations, as well as Rise From the Ashes (which is 7 hours long, she counts as a full game). That being said, none of these had fully inter-connected cases like aai2 has. You can’t talk about a single case without it leading into another. Meanwhile, AA1 was just building up Edgeworth and Phoenix’s relationship, RFtA was a single case, and T&T had two totally unrelated cases to the main game. None of these had strong themes of family and the parallels of different cast members through that theme, either - while individual characters went through their own arcs, none of these games had every single character dealing with their own qualms of the same theme.

While all of the cases in aai2 fed into its inevitable conclusion, it felt like the first two cases were tedious and almost made me skip to AA5 without looking back. (Logic Chess also seemed like a ridiculous concept and throughout the entire first case I was cackling, but that’s neither here nor there.) As soon as we started our third case and started to lay down the themes of family, parents' love, and following in the footsteps of our fathers, though, I loved every second. Some of my issues with the earlier cases were Justine and Sebastian, but looking back on it their stubbornness (and stupidity, on Seb’s part) was necessary to have the last case work so well and hit so hard.

Courtney was weeding out corruption, but by trying to remain impartial to everything she was slightly blinded by it (similar to Franziska’s obsession with perfection, who didn’t have as big of a role in this game, but still had a few very powerful lines). Her compassion for her son was really heartwarming, accurate, and really took her character from “good” to “great”.

Sebastian, though! Who can get through this game without having a total 180 on Sebastian! The best arc behind (and a strong parallel to) Edgeworth’s in AA1, imo. A pretentious incompetent teenager trying to act like he owns the world, and then has every foundation he’s ever laid be taken out from under him within a matter of hours. While many call Sebastian an idiot, the only one who calls him that to his face is his own father. Many times! You feel for the kid. And then his father commits MANY a crime, and Sebastian tries to stick up for him anyway until his dad turns around and tells him that every single accomplishment he’d thought he’d earned was given to him. I won’t get into much more detail, but I will say that Edgeworth steps into a father-figure role for Sebastian in a really beautiful way. The Logic Chess after Sebastian has been kidnapped and the courtroom scene as Sebastian takes on Blaise are testaments to this amazing shift in their dynamic.

Simon Keyes was a great villain, his reveal was amazing, and the parallels to Edgeworth’s story were just as potent as Sebastian’s. The idea of an animal tamer being your big bad because he knows how to manipulate not only animals but humans? Fucking amazing concept. We didn’t see his redemption or his evolution into what he became so much as saw him as a conclusion to how everything could have gone wrong with Miles, and (if you wanted to really stretch) Sebastian. In the end, I’m glad he got to have a father figure, even if it was an imprisoned assassin ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I’m pissed we never got an official localization but at this point, I desperately hope we don’t. I don’t think the Capcom team is going to be able to pull this off as well as the fan translators did, and I’m actually very partial to the fan voice actors. Plus, how the hell are they going to beat the names Justine Courtney and Sebastian DeBeste? Just don’t even try, Capcom, keep to your little DGS localizations and cafe arts.

I have more thoughts on the plot and characters like Ray, John, Gregory and others but I feel like none of those are concrete enough to write down at the moment ‘cause I just got my second shot for COVID and I’m probably going to take a long nap after I post this. If you wanna talk abt this feel free to ask/message.

tl;dr: I fuckin love this game bro 🤘😔

#aai2 spoilers #aai2 blogging #aa blogging #bluffing #many thoughts and most of them are loving

[horrorslashergirl]

Chromeskull x Cop!Reader x The Collector

A dark themed erotic novel for the twisted minds

Resume: Some things bring you nightmares and unwanted memories back. They say you can’t bury the past, because at some point it will come back. You weren’t prepared for this.

Chapter 1: Nightshift Turn Out

Chapter 2: Twisted Tongue

Chapter 3: Rising from fire like the Phoenix

Chapter 4: Video Shadows

Chapter 5: New beginning and Past memories (You are here)

Chapter 6: Lovers Reunion

Chapter 7: Sweet Blackmail 

Chapter 8: False Freedom

Chapter 9: Ugly Jealousy

Chapter 10: Sinful Ecstasy

Warning: This one contains violence and slight gore.

After three months in Jacksonville, you couldn't deny the loneliness that crawled up your very being; work was great and it paid all your necessities, so you couldn't whine about financial problems, but outside work, you were pretty much alone, saw for the fact that you took on a poodle dog to ease some of that depression. Dating just wasn't your department and most guys couldn't even live it up to put on a great conversation. You still kept in touch with some old friends from Illinois and occasionally chatted up with them to get the time going. One of your girl friends gave you some cheap advice about entering dating sites, but you knew from high school that most of these sites were full of creeps and old perverts who wanted to jack off to under-age girls. It made you almost throw up, but you took on her advice and entered one, putting on a single picture of you, but a very decent one. You weren't going to be found on a dating site with nude pictures of you, just no.

That's how you found yourself now on a Saturday night on the couch with a glass of red wine, your white-furred pet next on the couch, sleeping after a day of running with you in the park. Your laptop was on your lap, listening to some music, a separated opened window of the dating site. So far just a few guys entered to chat with you. One was living in Oregon, so too far away, another one was just flirting cheaply with you.

You wondered how your brother managed to get a girlfriend so easily. He told you that he meet her when he went to buy a new laptop; so far he was very happy with her. Her name was Spann and she worked in the business industry, you haven't met her but your brother sends you a picture of her. Definitely pretty and very professional looking. You were glad he finally found someone who will cherish him, she always came by to his apartment to help him and even cook for him. To you, it sounded like a dream partner.

You were pulled out from your thoughts by the sound of a ding, signaling that someone entered on your chatroom on the dating site. You only hoped it wasn't some creep who wanted your nudes; so you opened the window.

JSkull: Hello there.

Well, at last, it wasn't a direct 'I wanna see your boobs' message.

TattooedKitty: Hey there.

You sometimes hated your choice of username, but it was completely random, plus it had a bit f truth behind it, having your whole back tattooed. You did that in high school when you had that rebel phase, still deep inside you enjoyed the freedom you had back then.

JSkull: What's a girl like you doing on this site?

TattooedKitty: Trying to find a guy who can manage to keep a conversation, at last.

JSkull: Sassy. I like it, but trust me. You won't find that type of person here.

TattooedKitty: So, you say you cannot manage to keep up an intelligent conversation?

JSkull: Smart girl. I was joking. You don't seem like the type of woman to seek out dating sites.

TattooedKitty: Then what type of girl do you peg me as?

JSkull: Daddy's good little girl.

TattooedKitty: I'm not little and what about you? Why are you on this site?

JSkull: Kill some boredom.

That was his last reply, then he logged off. Well, that was weird and when you looked at the clock your eyes widened, remembering that tomorrow you had to go to work. You closed your laptop and went straight to bed before you filled your dog bowl with food in case she was going to wake up and be hungry later.

Somewhere else in Jacksonville...

Jesse smirked; he couldn't help but tease you and you took the bait. So, you were single? Perfect, all the easier way to get his hands on you. He looked at the silver clock on the wall of his office. After so many weeks of stalking and getting all the little information about you, tomorrow night when you will get off your shift he will strike, plus tomorrow Asa will arrive in Jacksonville.

The bald man chuckled silently, remembering how Asa always asked him how his tracking on you went. Jesse knew Asa like no other and he knew that the nerdy collector got obsessed over the little things. Jesse couldn't blame Asa, you were a piece of candy for the eyes, and he almost forgot of how many men he had to put off the dating game that was trying to get to you.

Jesse twirled one of his twin knives, looking at his reflection on the blade, scowling as the disfigured image of his face was shown. The thought of your face full of disgust when you would see him made his insides turn, a bitter feeling setting into his throat, but he pulled that feeling aside. He had to focus on the job at hand; getting his hands on you.

Yes, tomorrow would be a perfect day.

The Next Day...

Work had gone just fine, no problems and you could eat lunch in peace; you had some pizza with extra cheese and your favorite dessert, strawberry cake. It seemed like a perfect day and you were looking forward to getting home and having a bubble bath, making pour a glass of wine. You smiled as you saw the clock 10:30 AM, meaning that in just half an hour you will get off work and could head home, so you began to clean up your desk of remaining files and empty plastic coffee cups; you hated to come back to work with a mess for a desk.

You cursed yourself for having your car break and had to walk. All you were glad was that it wasn't raining tonight and it was quite a warm night. After 15 minutes of walking, you passed an alleyway but stopped when you heard some crying; it sounded womanly and your heroic heart had to make you step into the shadows, a little reluctant.

"H-Hello? Is someone there?" you asked, the whining continues and you gulped down, your instinct telling you that something bad was going to happen and you needed to get the hell out of there.

Before you could listen to your gut, a hand wrapped around your throat, slamming your body into the brick wall, knocking the breath out of you. Whoever it was, was strong, because it knocked you as you were a ragdoll.

Your eyes opened and were meet with silver metal, probably chromed. A skull mask? He was tall, very tall, you reached just his chest. He was dressed in all black, your eyes a little blinded by the red light on his shoulder. A videocamera? His gloved hand on your neck tightened, making you gasp out, your hands grasping his arm.

"W-What? What do y-you want?" you managed to ask before you felt a sting on your neck, whatever he injected into you, making you feel dizzy and weak, until you blacked out, your body falling onto the cold ground.

After 30 minutes...

He couldn't believe how easy this was; it was like stealing candy from a kid. Jesse smirked as he was driving to one of the warehouses he owned for his 'little' hobby, your body knocked out in the backseat of his Chrysler. Nitrile covered hands gripped the steering wheel as he was thinking what he will do to you once he gets there. Oh, he hoped you would scream and cry, even beg; that would be cheery on top.

After getting on the outskirts of Jacksonville, he finally got to the building. Even if you could get away, the closet town was 30 miles away, plus it was night, and cars hardly passed by here; another reason for why this was one of his favorite places.

Parking the car and stopping the engine, he got out and moved to pick up your limp body, getting inside the warehouse where many coffins laid there, some having dead bodies of past piggies inside, some of them so badly disfigured you need the dental-prints to find out who they are.

He put you inside one of the coffins, shutting the lid and waiting for you to wake up. By the dose he injected into you, you should wake up at any moment. After 15 minutes of setting up his mini-camera, he heard a groan from the coffin, a smile pulling at his lips behind chromed skull-mask.

Jesse got the drill and walked to the coffin, making a small hole into it so he could record you. You whimpered as you saw the lens of the camera, feeling like you would suffocate. Memories of when you were trapped into the red trunk came back to you. Outside, Jesse smirked seeing your panicked face and wide eyes.

"L-Let me out!" you screamed, banging on the lid, tears running down your face. This was too good.

His gloved hands were running on the lid of the coffin, his breath picking up as he saw all your reactions, the fact that he could re-watch them again and again, so much sweeter.

He loved to see you trapped, but this wasn't exactly what he was looking for, although it was highly arousing, he wanted you to fight. Taking the camera off and setting it up onto his shoulder, he opened the coffin, taking some steps back, knives in each hand.

You got out from the coffin and looked around, your eyes looking on the shiny silver mask.

"W-What do you want?" you asked, eyes puffy from crying. He twirled the knives, practically mocking you.

Then you felt your gun on the utility belt, hand grasping it and pointing it at the tall man, your eyes now pulled into a glare. Jesse tilted his head to the side, then took a step forward and a loud bang was heard, your finger pulled the trigger and shot him three times. You weren't going to make the same mistake as you did back in Illinois.

The only problem was that the man was still on his feet, a little take back that you actually used the gun on him.

Jesse wasn't dumb, and he had under his clothes a bulletproof vest. He huffed, then before you knew it he threw one of the knives at you, the sharp blade piercing your shoulder, making you release your gun and fall down on the ground.

The hit wasn't fatal, but God, did it hurt like hell, your breathing increased and you gulped down, feeling the warm blood soak your shirt. Your eyes looked up as the masked man approached you, his hand grasping your pony-tail tightly, making you stand up.

Even trough the latex material Jesse could feel how soft your hair was, and he was so tempted to use that mouth of yours on something much better than screaming, but he was a patient man.

"S-Stop it! You piece of fuck!" you screamed, only for him to tug harder on your hair, making you swallow your words. Jesse's other hand that wasn't fisting your hair, pulled out a mobile phone, typing on it very fast, then showed you the screen.

'Quite the mouth on you, piggy. Don't make me use it for something else that cursing like a whore.'

Your eyes widened, then looked from the shiny screen to the chromed mask. You were turned around, your back towards him as you felt him take your handcuffs from your belt, and with precise moves, he locked your hands together behind your back, making you completely useless.

His foot kicked one of yours, making you fall down on your knees. You could taste the blood on your mouth, the knife still impaled into your shoulder, then you heard the double doors of the warehouse open and you prayed that someone came to save you.

That wasn't it. You almost wished you were dead when you saw the bulky form dressed in black entered the building, black-gloved hands on the knives at his belt, black foam mask covering his face, and the eyes that haunted your dreams for months. Obsidian eyes looked into your eyes, your mouth open in shock.

'Finally, you came. She put up a fight. Quite the feisty kitten here.' the robotic voice came from the phone, the message directed to The Collector.

The Collector rolled his eyes and began to walk towards you two.

"Traffic. So, you got her." he said, stopping in front of you, your still shocked face making him smile, a smile that made chills creep up your spine.

"Miss me?" he asked, voice deep and mocking you.

This has to be a nightmare. Sure, and you would wake up in your bed, with your poodle cuddled by your side. Yes, it had to be.

"N-No...T-This cannot b-be real." you said in a whisper, afraid if you spoke any louder, your tongue will be cut off.

"Not real? Does this feel real?" The Collector said, gripping the knife from your shoulder and twisting it a little, making you scream and shut your eyes, more tears falling down your cheeks.

'We are gonna have lots of fun, little piggy.' the robotic voice spoke, a dark chuckle coming from The Collector and you almost fainted when the skull masked man was running one hand down your hip.

This was only the beginning, little piggy...

To be continued...

#Chromeskull: Laid to rest 2 #Laid to rest 2009 #Chromeskull #Jesse Cromeans #chromeskull x reader #jesse cromeans x reader #The Collector 2009 #The Collection 2012 #the collector x reader #Asa Emory #Asa Emory x reader #jesse cromeans x reader x asa emory #the collector x reader x chromeskull #slasher x reader #horror movies

[snezfics-n-shit]

Home For The Holidays - An AA fic that’s way too long

I’ve been thinkin bout that post that’s like “character with the kink is sneezing a lot and their partner who usually indulges them is having fun with How The Turns Have Tabled” so now I give you a Wrightworth + snzfcker Phoenix fic based on that exact premise. In which Phoenix re-introduces Miles to Mama Wright, Christmas is celebrated for 2 months straight, and disaster man Phoenix is back on his bullshit.

Tbh if I kept this lying around I’d just keep editing and it’d never get done oof but please enjoy

          Phoenix’s mother had clearly purchased a new doorbell. The tune echoed from behind the door at the press of the button; this year, it was much louder and played Jingle Bells a month too early. Speaking of a month too early, other than a rather articulate variant of a ‘no soliciting’ sticker, the decorations on the door were Christmas themed as well, completely skipping Thanksgiving and likely put up the day after Halloween. That was just how Mrs. Wright was: a major Christmas enthusiast through and through.

Just as expected, she greeted her son and his family while sporting a comfy Christmas-themed sweater. Cats in Santa hats, a design that had Trucy in awe at how cute they were. Christmas and cats, two of Mrs. Wright’s joys in life. Mrs. Wright had little contact with family members other than Phoenix and Trucy, so she resolved a lot of the resulting loneliness by adopting cats. The cats she adopted were a lot like her, having few blood relatives around and finding a home in a found family.

“Phoenix! You’re early!” Mrs. Wright looked up and down at her son, assessing just how many extra pies she would need to make; he was skin and bones since he had been disbarred! “You didn’t have to shave before you came, dear. The holiday is this Thursday, so you have time to make yourself look nice.”

“You tell me that every time I visit, mom.” Phoenix chuckled. “Today, I have a good reason to look nice. There’s someone I’d like for you to meet.”

“Well, I know I’ve met your adorable daughter before.” Mrs. Wright leaned down to give Trucy a big hug. “You have no idea how happy I am to have a grandbaby to spoil!”

“You tell me that every time, too.” Phoenix stepped to the side, showing off Miles, who had done a spectacular job at hiding behind him before the big reveal. “This is my boyfriend, Miles Edgeworth. I’ve been meaning to tell you since we started dating, but only now does he have a day off where you can finally meet in person.”

“Wait, Miles?” Mrs. Wright blinked a few times. Miles was certainly as well dressed as the boy she remembered Phoenix bringing home so many times, but was he the same person? “That sweet boy who would always help me with the dishes when he stayed over? This is him?”

“I believe so, Mrs. Wright.” Miles hardly remembered his youth well enough to give a definite answer, but that sounded like something he would have done. It sounded like something he would do even now, actually.

“Sounds like you found yourself a keeper, dear.” Mrs. Wright held the door open wider to let the trio in. “It’s awfully chilly today. Come inside before you catch a cold.”

The walls were lined with framed pictures of Phoenix, with unsurprisingly many of which being of him celebrating Christmas. The trend continued even with pictures of Trucy that Phoenix had sent to his mother. While there weren’t nearly as many, there were a few notable photos of Phoenix’s parents: the pictures taken when they renewed their wedding vows and when Mrs. Wright got her associate’s degree after Phoenix started working with Mia, for example.

“Ah, now I remember.” Miles looked a little uncomfortable with the holiday-centric décor. “Your mother’s Christmas obsession.”

“Be nice.” Phoenix whispered. “It’s something she really likes; it’s not hurting anyone.”

“I love Grandma’s reindeer!” Trucy lifted herself with her tiptoes, eager to see the skillfully crafted wooden reindeer lining the shelf above the shoe rack. “Rudolph’s my favorite! Because he made everyone real sorry for making fun of him!”

“He did, didn’t he?” Phoenix slipped off his shoes and hung up his and Miles’s coats on the coat rack. “I like him, too. He had a talent that really turned Christmas eve around.” That sounded much like how he used to be in the courtroom. He missed that courtroom a lot.

“I’m gonna go find Buster!” Trucy ran off. Buster was one of Mrs. Wright’s cats; his big personality quickly made him Trucy’s favorite. Phoenix, however, was more fond of Doily (formerly Dollie), a friendly and relaxed cat who was happy as long as she had somewhere to sit. There were three more: a senior cat named Gerald, a gray tabby named Della, and a new kitten named Harvey. While it seemed like a lot of cats, the home Phoenix’s parents resided in after Phoenix left for Ivy University was specifically picked to be spacious enough for even the most rambunctious cats. 

“I believe you told me you wanted to introduce me to your parents’ cats, correct?” Miles followed Phoenix to one of the living room couches. “And you’re sure they’re not aggressive or anything?” While Miles knew dogs had a history of being working and companion animals, he couldn’t exactly say he had read any solid proof of cats earning a similarly high status. Even the nicest cats he had met always seemed more interested in leaving as many scars on his hand as possible than being friendly with him. 

“I can vouch for all but Harvey, since he’s new, but my mom has always been something like a cat whisperer.” Phoenix yanked a tissue from the end table next to the couch’s arm rest. “I’m sure they’ll like you a lot.” He smiled before blowing his nose softly. “My nose must be thawing out.” He chuckled.

“I told you to bring your scarf when I called you.” Mrs. Wright called out from the kitchen. “Now you’re catching a cold, aren’t you?”

“No, I feel fine.” Phoenix rubbed the bottom of his nose with the tissue folded in half. “Just part of warming up.”

“I’m surprised you’d forget your scarf for someone who claims going out with a wet head spells ‘pneumonia.’” Miles hummed. 

“Hey, you know it’s not scarf weather.” Phoenix chuckled and tossed the tissue into the trash bin, impressed that he made the shot. Miles found it amusing that Phoenix completely ignored the wet head comment, likely because he really did tell Miles and Trucy that all the time. “It is the perfect weather for mom’s homemade stew, though.”

“I’m eager to try it, considering you’ve been talking it up since she called to invite us over.”

“It’s really good!” Phoenix repeated the claim he had been making for weeks. “I can’t wait for you to try it.” He pressed his knuckle against his nose. “Hopefully it’ll be dinner soon.”

“That won’t be for a while, I’m afraid.” Mrs. Wright carried some glasses of water to the living room. “Your father is working late tonight.”

“What does he do?” Miles leaned forward.

“He works in construction. He’s very proud of his work.” Mrs. Wright smiled as she placed the glasses of water on the coasters sitting in front of Miles and Phoenix. “Before Phoenix was born, where he worked didn’t earn him nearly enough to support us. He’s been much happier ever since he’s found somewhere that lets us live comfortably.”

“Where did he work before, if you-” Miles was cut off by the sound of Phoenix blowing his nose again. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“He worked with his father and other members of the community he grew up in.” Mrs. Wright explained. “It was actually looked down upon to earn the income we needed, or to even have a dream job. That’s why we’ve been so supportive of Phoenix pursuing his dreams; if he wanted to change his major a second time, we would have gladly let him.”

Miles couldn’t imagine being actively discouraged from achieving success. He assumed that pressure was always the other way around. He wasn’t able to lose himself in his curiosity, though. Phoenix’s deep sniffing made sure of that. 

“Phoenix?” Mrs. Wright cocked her head. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Yeah, really.” Phoenix waved his hand as if to dismiss any concerns. “I’m sure this’ll stop before dinner.” His breath hitched for a second, but nothing came of it other than an exhale through his mouth.

“If you say so.” Mrs. Wright stood up and left for the kitchen. “I’m going to work on the desserts, so you two just relax and drink your water. I think you need eight glasses a day.”

“Daddy! I found Buster!” Trucy cradled the fluffy orange cat like a baby, Buster’s favorite way to be held. “He let me hold him this whole time! He’s so nice!” Phoenix gave Miles a reassuring smile, pointing to Buster as proof the Wright cats were much friendlier than past cats Miles had met.

“Hey there, Buster.” Phoenix beckoned Buster to sit on his lap. “Wow, he’s really liking me today.” He blinked a few times. “Normally he just walks away when I ask for him to sit next to me.”

“Maybe he can smell that you’ve been spoiling Pess,” Miles joked, “and he wants you to spoil him as well.”

“Cats are pretty smart. Ah!” Phoenix reached for another tissue, squeezing his eyes shut as he blew more heavily than the last time. “Guess I wasn’t done.” He laughed, dabbing the corners of his eyes. “But yeah, I think you’re right.”

“I hope he’ll like me as much as he likes you.” Miles reached to pet Buster and was shocked to hear the loud purrs the cat made. Buster was so soft, Miles thought he could pet him forever; there weren’t even any claws out. “He’s actually letting me pet him.” 

“I told you so.” Phoenix sniffed. “Buster is really friendly. My parents have had him for almost as long as we had Doily. She’s my favorite. I’d show her to you but she’s probably asleep right now.” He pressed the back of his wrist against his right eye, putting on some pressure as he rubbed absentmindedly. Dropping his hand revealed the area around his eyelid to be a tad pink.

“Are you tired from the trip, love?” Miles removed his hand from petting Buster to caress Phoenix’s cheek. “Maybe you should lie down for a while.”

“Yeah, I usually do that when I visit mom alone, actually.” Phoenix gently picked Buster up to gently place on Miles’s lap, laughing softly as he watched Miles light up in fascination with Buster’s sociability. He disposed of his tissue before poking his head into the kitchen doorway to find his mother and Trucy taste-testing desserts. “Uh, hey, mom?”

“Yes?” Mrs. Wright looked up from the tray of finger food desserts. Quite a few were already gone, but knowing her, there would be more by the time she brought out her famous pumpkin pie.

“I’m going to lie down for a while. I should be up for dinner, though.” Phoenix directed his attention to his daughter, whose whipped cream decorated cheeks were proof she had her share of the desserts. “And Trucy?”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“Try not to eat too many sweets or you’ll spoil your appetite.” 

“Okay.” Trucy nodded and proceeded to put another small dessert in her mouth.

“Go ahead and get some rest, dear.” Mrs. Wright sighed at the sight of Phoenix’s face. “You do look pretty tired. Your bedroom should be ready, but you might need to convince Doily to let you have some room on your bed.”

“Doily’s always been my sleeping buddy here, so I don’t mind.” Phoenix assured. He made his journey upstairs, sniffling once or twice and noting he needed to blow his nose again. The sight of only two twin sized beds in the guest room was disappointing, but considering Miles was a surprise additional guest, it was more Phoenix’s fault for not allowing his mother more time to make the appropriate accommodations. Maybe he and Miles could alternate between the bed and the living room couch while Trucy kept her bunny themed bed throughout the week of their stay. 

As predicted, Doily was sleeping on Phoenix’s pillow and needed just a gentle nudge to let him have somewhere to put his head; not enough to chase her off the bed completely, just enough to make some room.

“Hey, Doily. Did you miss me?” His vision grew slightly blurry and his eyes felt wet. Phoenix didn’t remember yawning, but he must have been really tired. “I could use a nap, too, so I’d like you to… hh… to-- Hh’TTCCHHHhh!” He kept his tongue at the roof of his mouth as if that would quiet the sound. Despite his efforts, he scared Doily off the bed completely. “Ngh… Sorry.” He sniffled with his hand pressed under his nose. Maybe he was coming down with a cold after all. 

He slid himself under the blanket, admittedly afraid of how he would be feeling whenever he would wake up. If he was getting sick, maybe it wasn’t completely bad, considering he was staying with his mother. His mom was good at that sort of thing, even long after he moved out on his own. 

When the back of his head hit the pillow a deep, aggressive itch attacked the back of his eyes and sinuses. How was he supposed to sleep like this? No matter how hard he pressed, alternating between rubbing his eyes and nose, it only seemed to get worse. Was that his pulse? Behind his eyes?  

“A’aschhHUUH! Aa’SSCHHHOOUuh! T’TTCHHuuh!!” He sat up, only just having a moment to get some air before he started again. “T’SHCHUUH!! TT’CHHHOOUH!!”

“Sweetheart, sorry to disturb you, but--” Miles stopped in his tracks at the sight of the state Phoenix was in. “Are you… feeling alright?”

“This has to be the weirdest cold I’ve ever had.” Phoenix squinted as he sniffled thickly. “I just wedt to lie dowd ahd-- Hh’TTTCHHOOH! I cad’t stop sdeezi’g.” 

“I see.” Miles kept his mouth shut regarding how this was the exact sort of thing he’d tell Phoenix to make him flustered. He did, however, thought it would be amusing to see Phoenix’s face when offered a handkerchief. “Here, you could use this.” Phoenix didn’t look flustered at all, simply desperate as he took the handkerchief and sneezed thrice into it. What a shame. “You were fine when we left home.” 

“That’s what’s so weird about it!” Phoenix aggressively rubbed at his face. “Dot to bedtiod everythi’g itches.”

“That doesn’t sound like a cold, love.” Miles wiped some of the tears from Phoenix’s face with his thumb. 

“I feel pretty sick.” Phoenix muttered before blowing his nose again, unsure why he was even bothering at this point.

“I imagine you do.” Miles kissed Phoenix’s very wet cheek. “Poor thing. Do you have any ideas on what’s making you feel so bad?”

“Nope.” Phoenix shook his head. “I kinda just started a little bit when we got here and-- Aa’SSHHOOUH! T’TSSCHHOOUHh!! *snf* I can’t stop since I came upstairs.”

“Maybe you’ve developed an allergy to cats?” 

“Don’t even joke about that!” Phoenix scolded, taking offense. “They’re my family!”

“I’m not joking. It’s a genuine possibility.” Miles made a small gasp and looked at his hand. “I touched your face after petting one of them, too. I’m so sorry.”

"Don't be sorry because I'm not allergic to cats." Phoenix huffed. He pushed the blanket off his lap and stood up, not wanting to discuss the topic further. “I’m going back downstairs.”

“Alright.” There was no point in arguing. If Phoenix was going to be so stubborn about this, then Miles just needed to make the best of the situation.

Miles followed Phoenix down the stairs, briefly interrupted when Phoenix needed to stop halfway so he could sneeze again.

“Bless you, sweetheart.” He thought saying that might push the envelope a little.

“Are you baki’g fud of be?” Phoenix glared at him through red, damp eyes. 

“I wouldn’t dare.” Miles answered sincerely. “You just sound so awful.” Okay, maybe he was having a little fun, nudging Phoenix to hopefully see the amusing irony of his circumstances.

Phoenix grumbled something as he dragged himself to the kitchen, clearly still annoyed with Miles for what he had said earlier.

“I thought you were napping, Daddy.” Trucy looked up from a tall glass of chocolate milk. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“He couldn’t get any sleep, from what I can tell.” Miles leaned against Phoenix’s shoulder. 

“I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick.” Phoenix scratched the back of his head. 

“Oh, I knew you’d catch a cold standing out there without a scarf.” Mrs. Wright gently pushed Phoenix on the way to the living room. “Rest on the couch and I’ll get you some blankets.”

“I told you, it’s just a cold, really.” Phoenix made eye contact with Miles the whole time as he blew his nose with a fresh tissue. 

“Perhaps you’re right.” Miles lied and kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head. “I certainly hope you’ll feel well enough to join us for dinner on Thursday.”

“Of course I will.” Phoenix insisted just before Mrs. Wright draped a large blanket over him. While Phoenix thought nothing of it and the intense itch that followed, Miles needed to hold his tongue as he watched short hairs floating around in Phoenix’s general direction. “T-Thanks.” He stuttered as he fanned his face with his hands, truly a sight Miles wished he could comment on with honesty. “Aa’IIISHHHUUH! T’TCHHUUh!! Ugh. Ow.”

“Your poor nose.” Miles cooed. “It must be so tiring, sneezing like that.”

“It is.” Phoenix furiously rubbed at his eyes. “Agh, my eyes, too.”

“They’re really bothering you, aren’t they?” Miles played up his sincere concern. “Driving you crazy, I bet.” He dropped a hint, hoping that extra pink in Phoenix’s face wasn’t just more released histamine. In the corner of his eye was Doily, who was staring intently at Phoenix. “Hey, little one.” Miles leaned over to pet the cat. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here like that.” He whispered, not wanting to further offend Phoenix.

Doily, being hardly fluent in human suggestion, hopped onto Phoenix’s lap anyway. 

“Doily, did you come to check up on me?” Phoenix could hardly keep his smile in place before he started sneezing again. “Gh… Sorry, Doily.” He scratched behind Doily’s ears; the sound of his sniffling accompanied her purring.

“Um, sweetheart?” 

“I know what you’re about to say, and I still say no.” Phoenix pet Doily with both hands, almost out of spite.

“No, that’s not exactly--”

“Daddy! You found Doily!” Trucy stared at Phoenix and the purring cat for a while. “What’s wrong with your arms, Daddy?” Miles took hold of Phoenix’s right arm.

“Hey! You’ll scare her away again!” Phoenix protested, not even paying attention to what Miles was doing. Just as he warned, Doily was startled by the sudden movement and ran off somewhere else in the house.

“Hives.” Miles observed bluntly. “Trucy, dear, could you ask your grandmother to find some benadryl?” Phoenix raised no objections to that, which Miles hardly minded at all. 

“Okay, Papa Miles!” Trucy ran off to find Mrs. Wright, leaving Phoenix and Miles alone to hopefully reach an agreement.

“Well, what happens now?” Phoenix looked down. “Do I just never visit my parents again?” Was that his way of saying Miles was right?

“Of course not, love.” Miles massaged the blotchy areas of Phoenix’s arm. “You’ll just need to be more careful, which you’ve been failing to do a lot lately. Feels like everyday I need to pull you out of trouble.”

“I can’t eat mom’s cooking if I’m asleep, though.” Phoenix let his head hit the soft back of the couch.

“Then we’ll pick up something non-drowsy while you’re resting this evening.” Miles made it sound so easy. In fact, everything he had been saying recently sounded just so… so… Oh.

“You’ve been talking like this on purpose.” Phoenix accused, punctuated by a thick sniffle. There was that flush Miles was looking for. “Is that what I sound like?” He hid his face behind his hands.

“I took some creative license.” Miles smirked before kissing Phoenix’s cheek. “I was starting to get worried when you said you ‘couldn’t stop sneezing’ with a straight face.” 

“Don’t remind me.”

“And miss out on all this fun? I think not.” 

“So is this all-- T’TCHHHOOH!” Phoenix pressed his hand under his nose, giving his voice even more of a nasal quality. “It’s all just payback, huh?”

“Not quite.” Miles held Phoenix’s free hand with both his hands. “You always make me feel so attractive even when I’m looking like you do right now.”

“That’s because you can pull it off.” Phoenix finally managed to chuckle. 

“And so can you.” Miles didn’t let Phoenix protest that, shushing him with an index finger pressed to his lips. “I may not know one hundred percent how you see me, but I’d like you to feel every bit as special.”

“Miles!” Aha! Now Phoenix was very red in the face. Mission successful, if Miles said so himself. “Maybe when I don’t hear my mom’s footsteps coming down the stairs.”

#sneezing #snez #snz #sneeze kink #snez attorney #my fics #my writing #this took 5 million years but here you guys go

[entitycradle]

A Tree Without Wind

Content warnings: mention of, discussion of, threats of, and plans to commit suicide. Panic attacks, disassociation, and paranoia are described, sometimes in detail. An eating disorder is alluded to. Characters are horny for each other but there’s nothing sexually explicit.

I promise the ending is hopeful. I genuinely am not trying to trick you, I know what this sort of thing is like, I want to respect your capacity while still being truthful to the experience and allowing tension in the story. If you’re in the right place for it, click that button.

A TREE WITHOUT WIND

I was nine years old the first time Phoenix told me he was going to kill himself. Is that too brutal? Sorry. It's where this starts. We were outside, in the morning before it got too hot, kicking around a ball in the scrubby grass. We used the long shadow of the I34Q tower to make the rules--you can't use your hands if you're in the sun, that sorta thing. It was fun because the boundaries of the shadow were always moving with the shape of the tower, and because the tower was a little scary. Phoenix lost a game and just said it, frustrated, "I'm gonna kill myself." I laughed.

When I was that age I loved looking at the shadow of the tower, because it made so much more sense than the real thing. You'd look at the dark, fuzzy stain on the ground and you could imagine it was some sort of antenna, or house, or marker. But then you'd look at the structure itself and your eyes would glaze over trying to figure it out. Unevenly rotating, stacked polyhedral structures, dark gray but covered with a rainbow film like an oil slick. Irregular pieces would be transferred between different sections with no apparent pattern. It smelled like someone you'd never met. The tower was doing something but no one was ever clear on what. That's how it is with I34Q stuff, I think.

I'm stalling. It was some stupid shit, he must've picked it up from some awful caster or something. As a kid Phoenix liked that sorta thing. He'd watch videos of mean people cursing and laughing and he'd laugh with them. I preferred my cartoons, or the I34Q casts, as weird as they were. Later I repeated what he said when I found out my dad was making squash for dinner, "I'm gonna kill myself," and my mom told me off pretty hard. Kept me from saying it again, at least in school and at home. Phoenix kept at it though.

- = -

Phoenix and I got put in the same dormitory when we went to T-school. Do they call it T-school in other places? It's the thing where 4Q tanks (as in I34Q) come and take a bunch of eleven-year-old kids to stay at "training" facilities. No one I've asked knows what T-school is actually for, same as the towers, same as all the 4Q stuff like I said before. An organic shape attached to the ground heads a classroom, gibbering except for the occasional english sentence (Phoenix said he also recognized some Cantonese). Mrs. Lough, who apparently also lives in the facility, tries to teach "formalist english," which is like english but the rules contradict themselves. You take notes on the behavior of a tank filled with inky fluid for four hours a week. One day a three-legged machine packs up your stuff and shepherds you to the gate.

I was ejected a year and a half after Phoenix. I went home on the bus and met him at burger king that afternoon. I caught a glimpse of him from outside. His hair was in long, tight braids. I felt self-conscious about the uncontrollable smile growing on my face. "Aco!" he said through a grin as I opened the glass door. A green poster advertised a meal made from "water beads," an I34Q plant thing.

"Dang," I said, grinning as I sat down. "Dang."

"You make it out? Fuck you to 4Q?" He'd stopped eating to greet me. His grin looked as uncontrollable as mine. Phoenix's nose was wide and flat, also like mine.

"Fork you, 4Q." I still felt nervous about cursing. I was fourteen. "How ya doing, Phoenix?"

"I'm good, I'm good. High school is interesting."

"Oh, man..."

"It's actually like, fucking nice to understand what's happening. But now there are actual smart kids and you actually get punished when you, y'know, mouth off. I'm like, I gotta get around to--" He swiped with his hand, bent his neck, and made a cracking sound with his mouth. I laughed. "Don't worry, I'll show you around. Maybe we'll have a class together."

- = -

We did have a class together. High school with Phoenix was fun, because I got to have a proper crush on him. Pining, sexuality, youthful obsession, yards and yards of it. It was weird, we kinda drifted--Phoenix hung out with kids that I was afraid of, I hung out with kids who played too many videogames. As our familiarity waned, I started seeing him differently. A foreign, adult desire began to penetrate me, replacing childish affection. It took me a while to realize that's what was happening.

It was a shame our familiarity waned, though, because Phoenix was really struggling, and I didn't see it. His friends were mean, when they weren't outright abusive. Not a lot of people liked him. I learned later that he started hurting himself when he was sixteen. Little cigarette burns, and then cuts. He got put on meds at seventeen--the wrong meds, for a year. He went to a psych ward when he was nineteen. His family did not have the money to pay for an extended stay. I still don't know exactly how that worked out. I do know he went into debt after his second stay two years later.

I wasn't doing too well myself, after I hit twenty-two. Something in me broke I guess. So when Phoenix told me he was going to travel to the Santitos digger and throw himself off a cliff, it didn't take me very long to ask if I could go with him.

- = -

"I... I didn't..." He paused for a long time. Ten seconds of silence feels unbearably long in a conversation, and I was quiet for fifteen. My teeth held each other tightly as his thoughts whirled. "I didn't..." He looked me in the eyes. There was an intensity to both our gazes. He'd stuck his jaw out, just a little. "I guess I did. I was, kinda, hoping you'd say that."

"Fuck," I said, looking away and down. "Fuck." I put a hand over my eyes, gripping my face as tears came.

"I'm gonna die," he said, beginning to smile and looking up. I felt the discomfort I'd felt since we were nine.

"Yeah, I wanna go, I wanna go," I said, pulling my hand away midway through and looking back at him with a force I didn't recognize.

He looked back at me and said, "I'm gonna die, and you're gonna die with me."

- = -

The Santitos digger is in northern California, in the Redwood national park. People have figured out the basic idea of what the digger is doing, unlike the towers or the T-schools: the digger is making a big hole. I'd heard that in some places it had dug more than a mile, almost straight down. Don't ask me how the digger would've done that. Don't ask me why it's called Santitos, either, since it's pretty big and not very saintly. Maybe it was the name of a town. Getting to the digger from Prince George County was about fifty hours.

"I figure we could do it in three days if we really fuck-you-pushed-it. But I'm planning on five." I craned my neck to look at Phoenix's cracked phone screen, where he'd pulled up the route.

Gas is expensive because 4Q takes most of it. Basically no one flies. Even in Phoenix's hybrid, it would be a thousand dollars to get to the west coast. But it's not like we'd need the money afterwards.

"We'll eat along the way," he continued. I bit my thumbnail. "I'm not picky, we'll just stop at wherever they won't run us out of town."

We'd sleep in the car. It was April, so temperature wouldn't be a concern. I packed a change of clothes, a water bottle, my meds, and a box cutter I'd stolen from my last job.

The next morning, he pulled his blue, dented '38 prius in front of my apartment building. I saw the car arrive out the window. There was an anxious pit in my stomach that deepened when I opened my front door. I didn't want anyone to see me. This is it, I thought, this is it, this is it. I repeated that phrase down the stairs. My landlord could fucking charge rent to my corpse, I could give a shit. This is it, I thought. That final T stretched to enrobe me. The sky was gray and wet. The sensation wasn't enough to rip me from my inwards reverie. I was about to get in the back of the car when Phoenix spoke. "That ain't it."

He was leaning out the window, regarding me coolly. "Morning. Shall we go?" I walked around the car and got in the front seat.

- = -

Virginia is beautiful once you get into the mountains, forested and rolling. I told Phoenix, "Once I read the Appalachians are millions of years old, and used to be taller than the Himalayas."

"No shit. Was there like an Everest? Where's the old Everest?"

"I don't know, I never heard anything about that. But yeah the continental plates looked totally different. And then things changed and the rain and wind and plants broke them down."

"Hah. Fucking awful. Just being broken down like that. I mean, it's better than what 4Q did to Everest."

I was quiet for a moment. "That's... the worst thing they did, right?"

"I dunno, dude, I think taking kids from their families is worse."

"No, right, right. But like... Everest was like... like everyone knew about Everest. When I was really little I had this big book about mountains and I read the bit on Everest so many times. And now it's like... they made it about them. And people lived in the Himalayas before 4Q came! It forced everyone out and carved a bunch of nonsense into it. A forever reminder that we're below them."

"Hah, literally. Hmmm. I still wouldn't say worst, but, I get what you mean. I'm so numb to it. It's good some people still care." Phoenix shrugged. "I mean I dunno. It doesn't matter much to me, at this point. But from an outside perspective it's good."

That first evening was alright. I drove Phoenix into a beautiful sunset. You hear the phrase "rode off into the sunset" and you think, what a nice ending, but it's not really an ending. If you're the cowboy you keep riding, and eventually the sky darkens and you have to set up camp and eat and sleep and wake up the next morning and eat and go riding again. A feeling of dread and desperation fills me when I think of surviving alone like that. Maybe I'd get used to it. The trip to Santitos was an attempt to write a story with a proper ending.

We didn't stop until we crossed into Illinois. We parked on the shoulder of a country road. I used the light in the car to look at the atlas we'd bought for when we didn't have cell service, and laughed. "We've been in five states today. Pretty good. Keep it up and we'll have visited every state by June."

"What the--?" Phoenix snorted, laughing. "You mean if we visit five states a day. Asshole."

I always giggled when he snorted and called me an asshole. "Hey, I'm just saying."

"Fucking dumb. Doesn't even work. You'd have to wake up in a different state than you fell asleep in." He caught my eye. The smile felt intimate, mutual. Born of sleepy exhaustion from a shared journey. I looked at the divot between his nose and upper lip.

I realized something. "Shit, I forgot to bring a blanket."

"Poor baby. You cold?"

"Hmm. I guess not really."

"Oh, you know what I do have..." He leaned towards me and reached toward the back seat. I watched his shirt stretch over his chest. Phoenix retrieved a big gray sweater. "Feel free to stretch it out."

My fingertips touched the back of his hands as I took the bundle. I did that on purpose. His skin was warmer than I expected, as skin always is. We tipped our seats back. Not the most comfortable, though the sweater would help, hopefully. I checked out Phoenix to see him on his side, looking at me and smiling. I let my own smile relax into me as I watched his eyes. His irises were a rich, beautiful brown. His skin was the color of cardboard in your childhood memories. I loved the way his smile wasn't symmetrical, wider on one side than the other. I carefully resisted scanning my gaze down his body. I actually saw his eyes flick down my form, instantaneously. His eyelids half-lowered, and then, horribly, what seemed to be a great tide of sadness overtook him. I watched him hold it back. I watched his smile mix with growing grief and fear, then bow to neutrality. He covered his gaze with his eyelids, breathed in, breathed out. "All right," he whispered, then opened his eyes. The gaze was gone. "Time to sleep." He sat up and turned off the light.

The sweater had a very particular, subtle smell to it. I guess it was his smell. I was desperately horny, yet blasted to pieces. A heady mix.

"I think I could fall in love with you, if things were a little different." He broke the silence, fifteen minutes later. "I probably would. But I'd cling to you like a fucking baby. And you're here, right?" He paused. For a response? I didn't give him one in time. "That's what I mean, codependent hell. I'd only be alive for you, and you'd only be alive for me, and then the second anything goes wrong we'd be right back here except I'd, fucking, direct all my shittiness at you... and you'd blame yourself."

I was quiet. "Ain't... ain't being codependent better than dying?"

"Hah! But that's what I'm saying, it doesn't change anything, it just leads us back here."

I fumbled for something. "Yeah but if it could... like stave it off..."

"Why is that good? The world is fucked, Acoatl, totally and truly fucked. Things don't get better from here, for me, for people. Should I beg? Stay here in misery out of some misplaced sense of morality? We're doing the only thing that makes sense."

I stayed quiet, not unconvinced. Sleep came, eventually, uncomfortably, anxiously.

- = -

The International Astronomical Union provisionally called it 8I/2034 Q1. I had to look that up. The eighth interstellar comet discovered, identified in 2034. I don't know what Q1 means. The name was briefly changed to 8I/Pasarati, for the research group that had discovered it, but by that time I34Q was clearly accelerating non-gravitationally and on an Earthbound trajectory. 8I/Pasarati is still in orbit, technically. You can see it through a telescope, it's like five miles across. But I34Q is the name for all of it, the craft that came to the surface, the life it brought with it, the structures it built, the war, all the consequences. No one can make any sense of it, except the one thing everyone knows: something else controls the world now.

- = -

I just barely remember waking up to switch seats in the morning, and then desiring nothing more than to return to sleep. Eventually Phoenix nudged me awake. "Hey." We were parked somewhere in Missouri. I'd slept all the way through the night and Phoenix's turn to drive. At least twelve hours, depending on when I actually fell asleep last night. I'd missed the big arch in St. Louis.

Phoenix was curt and reserved as I drove. I thought he was still thinking about last night, or angry at me for leaving him alone on his drive. Then he tilted his head back and began to gag. "My... heart..." Tears streamed down him face.

"Phoenix." I glanced back and forth between him and the road. There were abandoned cars on the shoulder; I couldn't pull over. "Phoenix, Phoenix, um."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, stop." He bent, heaved, and emitted a yowling, harsh retch. Nothing else left his mouth. "My heart..." He was breathing hard. A panic attack, I realized, stupidly too late.

"Do we have..." Panic attacks can be interrupted with certain intense sensations. The general goal is to increase awareness of the environment, focus the mind on the current moment rather than the future or past. Holding an ice cube can help. There were no ice cubes. I reached into the back seat for my water bottle, which would at least be cool. A truck behind us laid on the horn. I swerved back into my lane. "Sorry." Phoenix dry heaved again. It was a uniquely distressing sound.

I searched for the hazards, feeling useless. Far too much time passed before I found them and started slowing down. A different truck laid on a different horn. I was able to slip in a gap on the shoulder between an abandoned pickup and a rusting minivan.

I led Phoenix onto the tall grass beyond the asphalt, where he collapsed onto all fours. His torso flexed as he heaved. I put a hand on his back. "Phoenix, look at the trees." There were bushy, broken trees lining the sides of the highway, a vibrant green against the blue and white sky. "The, listen to the road." No, the road was stressing me the fuck out. "Listen to the grass waving, feel it." Stalks crumpled in his fists. I twisted my head and saw the tip of an I34Q tower peeking up over the treeline. "Look, a tower, just like when we were kids." Over the next few minutes, his breathing slowed, his heaving stopped. But the tears stayed. He sobbed away the panic. I read somewhere that tears actually contain different chemicals depending on the emotion causing them. Something to do with hormones I think.

He apologized to me. I would've done the same thing. I've done the same thing. So I got it, but felt indignant at having understood--he didn't need to apologize!

We got back on the road and listened to static on the radio. Sometimes the edge of a station would pass by, and we'd get fuzzy country, or christian rock. I changed it whenever there was a sermon. Sermons always come back to 4Q and they're always awful. The 4Q broadcasts are actually better than sermons about 4Q. They're kind of like static, anyway, totally unintelligible. We encountered more of them than I expected. Maybe static itself is a 4Q broadcast. I don't think that's right, I think static is like cosmic background radiation. But maybe 4Q has changed it somehow, like it used to be white noise and now it's blue noise, a different random distribution but still random.

"I'm off my meds," he said, as we rolled into darkness. The moon was a crescent, low on the western horizon. He spoke flatly and calmly. "I didn't even bring them with me. I thought you should know."

I hesitated. I wanted to voice this diplomatically. But then, we'd be dead in four days, anyway. "Is that why you had the attack?"

"No. I panic even on meds." That made sense. I remembered a few times in the past year when he'd canceled an event with little notice, or left early. "But I'm not a person right now, and that's definitely because I'm off my meds."

"You're not a person right now?"

"Yeah. It's called depersonalization. Also derealization, which is when nothing is real. Or that's how it feels, as I'm told. It's pretty freaky if I'm honest. You don't get the same emotional reaction from stuff. It feels like you're watching from somewhere else." He wasn't looking at me. He was looking down. "You're not you. You're not even real." He whispered. "Pretty freaky."

"Can I--do you--"

"Ahh, I'm coming out of it. Some of it is just recognizing that you're in it." He drew a knee up to his chest and shook his head. "Uhh, could you. Could you hold my hand. Touch helps."

I gripped the wheel with my left hand and held his palm with my right. It was warm and sweaty. I wish I could say that was okay. I felt miserable. I wanted to feel happy, holding his hand, comforting him. I didn't.

Sleep came quicker that night, though still uncomfortable, still anxious.

- = -

I slept late, again. I hadn't touched the chicken sandwich I'd gotten from a drive-thru last night. It had awful 4Q stuff on it anyway. I hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours, so I was pretty hungry, but I had no actual desire to eat. I'd deal with it later.

My own panic attack must've seemed similarly unbidden to Phoenix, though I felt it coming about an hour beforehand, and tried to stave it off. We were on I-80, driving through the hypnotizing flatness of Nebraska. Every ten or fifteen minutes I kept seeing this scarlet structure. It was like a giant, bloody caricature of a water tower, a skinny, triangular column maybe ten feet across and at least two hundred feet tall, supporting an enormous squashed sphere more than twice as wide as the column was tall. I'd watch it rise from the horizon, far too big. I'd never seen them before but guessed they must be 4Q. I started thinking we were somehow traveling in a loop, that my sense of direction was faulty and we were passing the same structure in the same field over and over again. Then I started thinking about how crazy that sounded. But I couldn't stop the thought.

I wanted to pull over but I couldn't stop anywhere in view of the structure, because it was watching me. Of course it wasn't, but I couldn't stop the thought that it was. Hell, maybe it was. Maybe only the mad can decode the purpose of I34Q stuff. I felt how hard I was breathing and glanced over at Phoenix, wondering why he hadn't said anything. He was staring down. He was probably disassociating again, I realized later, but at the time all I knew was that I was alone.

I get angry at myself after my attacks. I feel so stupid. Phoenix apologized to me that night, which made me feel even stupider. I couldn't wait to get to the Santitos digger.

- = -

The next day was bad. Quiet, lonely, and frustrated. A further reminder of the reasons. I saw patches of 4Q purple grass climbing up the Rockies. We both took long shifts and entered Redwood park just after midnight.

- = -

I read a story once about a man that was falling in the dark. He was falling so far that he would die instantly when he hit the ground. He realized that his brain wouldn't have time to process the impact, or even the few moments before. And he couldn't see the ground. He couldn't see anything. All that was left in the world was him and his death. I wondered if Phoenix had read the same story, and was hoping for a similar effect, coming here at night. Of course, we got it wrong. There were clouds, burgundy with light pollution, and every few minutes a star would gaze through; an unearthly glow was cast up from distant pieces of the digger.

Some parts of the digger looked like the towers, spinning and shifting. Some parts looked like exposed microelectronics, cables sutured to shiny terminals of minute complexity. Some parts were just made of asphalt blocks, cream-, gray-, and lime-colored pebbles tightly embedded in dark tar. Distant redwoods, many damaged by fire, ringed the horizon. The Santitos digger was less an object and more a place.

I felt wordlessly close to Phoenix as we scrambled over asphalt, looking for a pit. We touched each other frequently in our effort, to assist, to communicate. We'd have to give each other boosts, lift each other up, look for alternate routes. This place was not made for people.

Finally we came upon a deep canyon. I had half a mind to walk off the edge immediately. But both Phoenix and I stopped to regard it.

I couldn't tell if the rumors were true. You could only see maybe a hundred yards down before the walls of the abyss disappeared into ink. Or, not ink--not blackness, either. People are black. This was something else. The most prominent features were the semi-perceivable red blotches left on my optic nerve after gazing at one of the digger's glowing sectors. The unknowable told me nothing. It just revealed the flaws of my being. Maybe we would achieve our effect after all.

"This is it," I said, elliptically. The beginning is the end. If you take out the 'h' that phrase is a palindrome. "That was the first thing I said out of the door before I got into your car on Saturday. If you take out the 'h' the phrase is a palindrome. The beginning is the end. This is elliptical. This is it."

"That ain't it." He was regarding me coolly.

I laughed.

He was angry. "Are you fucking kidding me? The point of this thing, the whole fucking point is you do it in your right mind. You're letting your madness make the decision for you. You have to make the decision!"

I found that extremely funny. I laughed harder.

"Shut up! Fuck!"

"What's a right mind?" I asked, still grinning. "There's no such thing anymore. Even when it was a thing, all it meant was the most socially-acceptable, capital-promoting mind. Now? The world doesn't fit us anymore. The human condition is inconvenient to its purpose. 4Q can't even train us. The right mind is a dead one. You want a right mind, go ahead." I gestured at the abyss. That's what I did.

He stepped forward. He stepped forward. A foot hung above the end.

I don't know what I would've done if he had lowered that foot, changing his balance, tipping him forward. Jumping in after him wouldn't have felt right. Maybe I'd have gone back to those red eyes in Nebraska and begged for them to torture me. Maybe his idiosyncrasies would have been repelled by the unknowable, flowing away from his body and into me, and I'd be lost forever in a derealized paranoia. Maybe I'd have gotten in the car and driven back home.

His foot remained, hanging, the edge a gallows. "Suicide is about pain. It's the ultimate response to ongoing distress. I never wanted you to be normal. I just didn't want you to be in pain. In a twisted way, I guess I thought, if this was your way of dealing with pain, I wasn't going to stop you. That is your right. I feel like that has to be your right." His balance was incredible. He remained still, a tree without wind. "But you can be abnormal, you can be a bad fit for the world, you can be utterly broken, and you can still live without pain." We're both crying. Tears descend into the pit.

| ' , |

I do think madness is the right way to understand I34Q. I feel this mysteriously. I wonder what it would be like if I tried going to T-school while embracing my altered states, living in them. I suspect Phoenix would have more success, being more comfortable with unreality. Not that either of us would participate in whatever hegemony 4Q perpetuates. More that we'd figure out what it wanted, and how to resist. I've been thinking about this a lot. Maybe other people are, too. We need to find each other.

Phoenix and I wandered north. We found this incredible queer community in Oregon, with actual traditions and mechanisms to deal with communal trauma. I can't say anything about the world, the world is unknowable. But I think there's hope for us.

Phoenix and I are together, now, in a way I can't quite name. We did finally make love. That was beautiful. But we don't live together. I make love to other people, sometimes, and he does the same. Sometimes I'll go a week or two without seeing him, without notice. Sometimes I'll go a few days without even thinking about him. I love him, and I tell him that, and he says the same to me, though both of us have admitted that we don't know what that means.

We still panic. I still get paranoid. Phoenix disassociates. He's been using the state to make art. I think about I34Q and write down what I think. I'm pretty good at eating regularly, even if I don't feel like it. I don't know if we're living without pain. I think maybe that's a pretty tall order. But I don't want to kill myself anymore. So I think that's pretty good.

[Ed.: have this little treat. It takes me about the length of this playlist to read the story.]

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5VD5lJJqNUJsITPj3Rg8Sn?si=d262096479104d4f

#fiction #short fiction #science fiction #aliens #madness #suicide #panic attack #disassociation #paranoia #eating disorder #hopeful ending

[mymindsmadness]

This is actually the second time I’ve had to write this since near the end, MW decided it was going to crash and not save it last time… I have the worst luck with docs.

Anyway, hope you guys like part 2! I’ve been in kind of a writing slump lately and feel like it’s all been blah, but you guys seem to enjoy it lol

PART ONE

___________________________________

He looked the same, Harry couldn’t help but think as Draco sat opposite him, his body tight and facing the door in case he had to make a run for it. A little more distinguished, and the hairs around his temples had started to lighten from a cornsilk blond to a wispy silver. The colors blended together so well, Harry was sure no one would really notice but him, and only because he couldn’t look away.

The last time Harry had seen Draco in person had been the day of Draco’s release, though it had been one-sided. The night that Harry had left, Malfoy had made it more than clear that he had no intention of running away. As upsetting as the news had been to Harry, there was something admirable about it too. Things for Draco, and certainly the Malfoy’s as a whole, couldn’t have been easy. Still, he remained. He fought his demons and held his head high. Harry had watched as someone shoved Draco aside that day, spitting vicious things under their breath. Instead of retaliating (as Harry so desperately wanted to do), Draco brushed off the pressed edges of his suit and continued on. Harry couldn’t go to him after that, not when he saw how well Malfoy was doing.

He asked about him when he could - when Hermione or Ron managed to pin him down for a floo call. Ron always wrinkled his nose and changed the topic, but Hermione would simply eye him for a moment before complying.

As for Harry... well, he kept running. He wasn’t sure what he had been running to or from. All he knew was that he had to keep moving. It felt like there was phoenix fire in his heart and felix felicis in his veins. Each day brought a new adventure that landed him in a foreign place. Every now and then he would settle in for a week or so to tune up Sirius’s bike, but he always itched to move again. His hair had grown without him realizing, and his beard soon matched it. Harry found it easier to throw it back in a hair tie rather than cut it. When it reached his shoulders, he begun to see Sirius in his features. He couldn’t bring himself to cut it after that. The tattoos had started as tributes to his parents and fallen friends, but they soon became tokens of the places he visited. Each one was like a passport stamp, telling a story that had yet to be finished.

And now... now he was back. Despite the adventure, despite the fun, despite the freedom... it always came back to him. Then again, it always had come down to Draco Malfoy, hadn’t it? He was always part of Harry’s life; the opposite side of his coin. Harry bedded exotic men and women, some bearing a resemblance to Draco, some not. He had touched, and kissed, and fucked his way through more countries than he cared to admit... but it was never enough. No matter how amazing or new each encounter had been... it was always that night with Draco that would lull him to sleep. The feeling of Malfoy’s frowning lips against his own as Harry snogged the tension away. The strength in Draco’s arms as he squeezed tighter against Harry’s back, Sirius’s bike miles above the clouds. It had been the first time in Harry’s life that he had felt... free. He had been chasing that freedom ever since.

“Typically, when one invites someone out for tea, they have some semblance of conversation prepared. Or did you just invite me to this muggle cafe to watch me squirm? I hate to break it to you, Potter, but I no longer hold an animosity towards muggles.” Harry smiled deeply as he pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He remained grinning around the filter as he watched Draco through the bright orange of his lighter’s flame.

“That’s good to know.” Harry offered simply, watching Malfoy squirm under his gaze. “You haven’t changed much otherwise. You’re still a spoiled prat.” Harry tossed out, mostly because he couldn’t help himself.

As predicted, Draco bristled, his spine straightening. “I’ll have you know that I am far from spoiled! I live in a very sensible flat and have given most of the Malfoy fortune to charity. Everything I own now is mine because I’ve earned it!”

“I know.” Harry cut him off calmly, the lines around his eyes deepening. “I’ve asked about you.” At this, Malfoy turned a flattering shade of pink, his spine relaxing.

“Well that’s... foolish, is what it is.” He fidgeted with the edge of his empty tea cup. “We haven’t spoken in a decade and one night of... youthful indiscretion does not make for any type of friendship.”  

“I told you, I’m not here for friendship. I came back for you, Draco.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the use of his given name, or the candidness of his words, but Draco’s whole body seemed to freeze, wide mercury eyes pinning Harry with something akin to fear and skepticism. Harry knew that he was coming on strong, but this had been ten years - no, twenty - in the making. He was tired of pretending, and dancing, and running.

“Bloody Gryffindors.” Malfoy’s slightly buttoned nose scrunched (something Harry found wholeheartedly endearing). “You don’t have to say everything that comes to mind! Some of us tend to think before the words make their way out into the world!” His voice was rising slightly, an edge of panic to them. “And what gives you the right - after all this - I could very well be involved! And you! You’re just here! All fit, and scruffy and calm! It used to be I couldn’t bloody well get you to shut up!”

“First of all, I told you, I’ve checked up on you. If you were involved I wouldn’t be here.” Harry offered, watching Malfoy through the smoke. “Secondly, I suppose I’ve learned over time to only say the things that I mean. And I do - mean it. Thirdly, you think I’m fit?”

“You’re mad.” Draco breathed, his gaze dropping away with a shake of his head. “This is not how one is courted, I’ll have you know.”

“Oh?” Harry’s smile was deep and full again. “I guess we can start with dinner then.” He could practically see the refusal written on Malfoy’s face. “Or we can go back to pretending that we weren’t always obsessed with each other. Frankly, I’d really like to find out about your life from you.” Stubbing out his cigarette, Harry reached across the table and covered Draco’s hand with his own. “I don’t want to play these games anymore, Malfoy. I don’t want to keep pissing off to foreign countries and shagging blokes that remind me of you. I’ve been mad about you for most of my life, and I’m tired of running from that.”

Draco’s eyes lingered on their joined hands before slowly fluttering up to Harry’s face. The was a long pause before he sighed lightly. “If we’re going to dinner you can’t wear that bloody jacket. And for the love of Merlin, stop smoking! Wizard or not, those things will kill you.”

Smiling, Harry squeezed Draco’s hand once. “Yes, dear.”

#harry potter #draco malfoy #drarry #I need to stop lol #headcanon #crack headcanon #otp

[katehuntington]

Title: Ride With Me (part one) Fandom: Supernatural AU Main characters series: Reader, Dean Winchester, Bobby Singer, Ellen Singer-Harvelle, Jo Singer (Harvelle), Benny Lafitte, Ash Miles, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Castiel Novek, and many more. Timeline: 2008 Pairing: Dean x Reader (eventually)  Word count: ±4350 words Summary series: Y/N is a talented horse rider who is on her way to become a professional. In order to convince her father that she deserves the loan needed to start her own farm, she goes to Arizona for six months, to intern at a ranch owned by Bobby and Ellen Singer. Her future is set out, but then she meets a handsome horseman, who goes by the name of Dean Winchester. A heartwarming series about a cowboy who falls for the girl, letting go of the past and the importance of family.  Summary part one: Y/N arrives at the airport, but getting to her new internship is easier said than done, when no one shows to pick her up. Meanwhile, at the ranch, Dean learns that his uncle Bobby hired a new intern and assigned her to the head wrangler, and he’s not sure how he feels about that. Warnings series: NSFW, 18+ only! Fluff, angst, eventually smut. Swearing, smoking, alcohol intoxication, alcohol abuse. Mutual pining, heartbreak. Crying, nightmares, childhood trauma. Description of animal abuse, domestic violence, mentions of addiction. Financial problems, stress, mental breakdown. Description of blood and injury, hospital scenes, character death, grief. Music: ‘Along The Way’ - Sunday Kids (check out ‘Kate Huntington’s Ride With Me playlist’ on Spotify!) Author’s note: Thank you @kittenofdoomage, @coffee-obsessed-writer and @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish for helping me take this story to a higher level. 

Ride With Me Masterlist

     “This is just great…”

     After a long, turbulent flight next to a rather large and sweaty nervous flyer - who had way too much garlic for lunch, by the way - Y/N thought she was done. But now that she’s waiting outside Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with no one in sight to pick her up, it seems that the universe isn’t going to stop toying with her just yet.

     To top it off, the weather decided to throw a curveball as well. What happened to the lovely sun rays and dry heat from the brochure? Right now it’s so humid that the fabric of her clothing clings to her skin as if it’s trying to hold on for dear life, and to make matters worse, rain begins to fall from the clouded sky. Right; monsoon season. Oh, well. At least the entrance of the arrival hall offers the traveler some shelter.

     With a sigh she sits down on her oversized suitcase, scanning her surroundings for a driver. She should have picked up something to eat in the arrival hall; she could eat a horse, as a figure of speech that is. Obviously, Y/N would never eat a horse, since she loves them more than anything. They are the reason why she touched down in Phoenix in the first place.      From the age of four, she’s been riding the majestic animals. Being on the back of a horse is one of the first memories she can recall, now that she thinks of it. When she was a little girl and was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was always the same: she wanted to be a professional rider with her own ranch. 

     That’s the dream. No, that’s the goal.

     Despite her unconditional love for these noble creatures and an overload of motivation to execute this plan, her parents encouraged their daughter to go to college. She even got her master's degree, but truth be told, all she ever wants to do is ride. So when she graduated a few weeks ago, Y/N thought that was exactly what she was going to do from that point on. Her father wasn’t impressed with her business plan, though, and decided that he was only going to lend her the money to start up her own company if she would complete half a year of ranch work. ‘No quitting, no complaints’, is what he said.

     Clearly, he’s underestimating her, because how hard could ranch life possibly be? Sure, in the past she spent most of her time riding and not so much mucking out stables. After all, employees at the boarding facility did that for the clients. But she had insight, management skills, and other great characteristics that will help run a business. What are six months of hard labor going to contribute, besides a good waistline?

     Although she believes her father’s plan is completely unnecessary, she is going with it. Those twenty-six weeks will pass by in the blink of an eye. It’s gonna be a walk in the park. Smooth sailing, right? Except for the fact that she’s already stranded, alone, and with no clue where to go. Hopefully, the rocky flight to the desert wasn’t an omen for what is yet to come. 

    After fifteen minutes of waiting, she takes out her phone again. For a second her thumb lingers on the speed dial that would put a call through to her father, but then she looks up the number of the ranch owner in her email and calls him instead. Running back to Mom and Dad is not going to deliver the message of an independent woman who is ready for the big world. Looks like she will have to dig herself out of this mess. Arizona might not have been her Dad’s best idea, but she’s here now. Pride forbids her to give him, or all the others who are skeptical, the satisfaction of being right. 

     “Bobby, are ya gonna pick up the damn phone or what?”

     Dean sets his bottle down on the bar next to the buzzing phone. He glances at the screen, unable to identify the number, and looks up again, searching the saloon for his uncle. At the long table in the center of the lounge, the man in his mid-sixties is enjoying a game of cards and a glass of whiskey, accompanied by a few members of the crew. Bobby hasn’t heard Dean, too busy laughing over the dirty joke Ash just told. Right when his nephew is about to call out his name again, the phone on the wooden counter stops ringing. Oh well, if it’s important they will call again, right?      Even though he feels drained from last days' events, he will not let anything take away this carefree feeling. Together with Jo, Benny and a couple of regular guests, they moved the young cattle from the summer pasture up in the Superstition Mountains back to the ranch. It took two days to locate the herd, but eventually, they found them at Weaver’s Needle.      After hours spent in the saddle and camping out for several nights, they all needed a shower, a good meal and a cold beer. Bringing the cattle in is one of the highlights of the season and worth a celebration. It didn't take long before wranglers, workers and tourists gathered in the saloon to celebrate. The place hasn’t been this crowded in years and smile appears on Dean’s face as he takes it all in. An upbeat country song - that he recognizes as ‘Along The Way’ by the Sunday Kids - fills the air together with growling laughter and cigarette smoke. Cheers rise when the beer bottles are heaved into the air, overruling the sound of billiard balls colliding on the pool table. 

     He lets a sigh slip from his lips when he glances aside at Ellen, who just brought back a full tray of empty glasses. As she sets the load down on the counter to give her arms a rest, his aunt smiles, witnessing Dean’s pleased expression.

     “Enjoying yourself, sweetheart?” she asks.      Dean nods, circling the bar to grab two new bottles of Corona from the cooler. “It’s a good night.”      Ellen grants her eyes another look at her saloon as she takes the beer that is handed over; she can only agree. “It sure is.”

     They toast to that and take a swig, but before Dean can swallow his drink, the phone on the counter starts ringing again. He guesses it apparently is important and calls out Bobby’s name, a little louder this time.

     “I’m in the middle of a poker game, son,” he replies, not looking up from his cards.      “Your phone’s been buzzing like crazy,” Dean notifies as he approaches the old man, noticing the pair of queens in his hand.      “Is it ringing, really? How come I can’t hear the damn thing?”      Ellen scoffs from behind the counter. “Maybe because you need to start using your God-forsaken hearing aids.”      “Woman, my ears work just fine,” he returns, continuing to mutter much softer to prevent his wife from hearing him. “I can hear you jappin’, can’t I?”

     Dean - who did pick up on his words - smirks in amusement and checks on his aunt if she really didn’t hear her husband, but when she looks from one to the other confused, he wisely keeps his mouth shut. Meanwhile, Bobby grumpily turns his cards upside down on the table surface and takes the phone. The ranch owner adjusts his worn baseball cap a little as he looks down at the screen, puzzled, obviously not sure how to work the piece of modern technology.      “How the hell do I pick up?” he wonders out loud.      “You swipe it, Dad.”

     Jo walks over, interrupting her game of pool momentarily, and leans over her father’s shoulder, still holding her cue stick. With a simple movement, she lets her finger slide across the touchscreen. Somewhat clumsily, Bobby presses the phone against his ear, letting out a hesitant ‘hello?’ as if he’s not completely sure if the little magic trick actually worked.

     “You really had to give him your old iPhone, huh?” Dean sniggers when Jo walks past him, back to the pool table to finish the game.      “Anything’s better than that old Nokia,” his cousin returns, throwing him a look as she whips her blonde hair over her shoulder. “That thing was prehistoric.”

   Dean grins at the remark and observes the game that is in motion on the green quarried slate. Jo is acing it, it’s her turn to shoot the eight-ball in already, while her opponent still has several balls on the play field. The petite blonde positions herself behind the black number eight, throwing a seducing glance at the slick-looking young man on the other side of the table. With a flirtatious sparkle in her eyes, she allows her low-cut tank top to show a little more cleavage as she bends over. It doesn’t go unnoticed with the men in her company, but unlike the guest that she’s reeling in, Dean has the urge to cover up his little cousin. It’s not just a game of pool that these youngsters are going to be playing tonight.

     “Sure you want to aim it like that?” Dean asks, amusedly waiting for her to pick up on the double meaning.      A deadly glare comes his way and his smirk reaches even wider. Not granting him another second of her time, Jo focuses on the final ball again and pockets it, winning the game. Victoriously, she holds up her hand in front of tonight’s loser, who reluctantly hands her a twenty-dollar bill. A chuckle escapes Dean’s throat and he takes another swig of the sparkling yellow brew called Corona. As he lowers the bottle, the cowboy’s attention shifts to his uncle, who is still on the phone.

     “- I’m very sorry, It’s been really hectic today with the cattle comin’ in and it slipped my mind completely.”      The apologetic tone in Bobby’s voice piques Dean’s interest. Jo joins him, leaning against the table while resting her elbows on the rails.      “Any idea what that’s about?” Dean wonders, but she shakes her head.      “- that’s no problem. I’ll send someone to pick you up right away.”

     After having made that promise, Bobby eyes his employees, then his wife and daughter, hoping that someone is sober enough to keep his obligation. It triggers Dean to check with his friend, Benny. The brawny wrangler answers the unspoken question by shaking his head, however; he’s not volunteering, and neither is Garth. The skinny stable boy now turns to Ash, catching the ranch hand peeking into Bobby’s cards while his boss is occupied, and he elbows him. Shrugging his shoulders the guy who is rocking a mullet lets out an innocent ‘what?’ under his breath. It’s obvious, though, that Ash is in no shape to drive, since he already drank half a crate of his favorite Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. It’s heading towards eleven PM and after an exhausting couple of days, no one is thrilled to drive out to Phoenix. Not to mention that the amount of liquor they’ve consumed might actually jeopardize getting the person Bobby is talking to from A to B.

     “Balls!” the boss curses after he hangs up.      “Forgot somethin’?” Ellen assumes from what she picked up, as she continues to polish a glass behind the bar.      “Yeah, that new intern from Maine,” he mutters as he gets up.      Ellen’s jaw drops, staring at her husband in shock. “You didn’t! That poor gal is at the airport right now?”      “Landed forty-five minutes ago,” Bobby admits, embarrassed.

     “Whoa, wait! New intern?” Dean’s eyes slide from Bobby to Ellen and back, unable to follow.      “Did I forget to mention that? She’ll be under your supervision,” Bobby breaks to him.      “What? I wasn’t even notified?!” he exclaims, his voice pitching a little higher than he anticipated.      “Oh, don’t be such a drama queen,” Jo scoffs, placing her hand on her hip as she looks at him sideways. “Like you would mind a chick working under you.”

     Stunned by her bold comment, Dean cocks his head back as he stares at her wide-eyed; she’s got some nerve! He is about to counter when Jo’s mother already intervenes.      “Joanna Beth!” she warns.      “Oh, come on. It’s the truth, ain’t it?” her daughter mumbles, stubborn as ever.      Ellen doesn’t answer. Instead, her attention shifts to the man who is moving towards the double doors. “And where do you think you’re going?”      Bobby turns around, a confused furrow on his forehead. “Well, to pick up the gal, of course,” he returns, stating the obvious.      “Like hell you are! You had three glasses of whiskey, Robert Singer. You ain’t getting behind the wheel and that’s that,” Ellen decides with her shoulders back, arms crossed and eyes stern.

     Annoyed, but smart enough not to fight the strong-minded woman he married thirty years ago, he addresses Dean with a hopeful look.      “Don’t look at me, this is my fourth beer,” he returns, holding his hand up innocently.      “Same here, boss,” Benny copies, his southern accent thick on his voice.

      “I’ll go.” Jo straightens her back and takes her cowboy hat from the corner of the pool table.      “You sure, honey?” her mother checks with her.      “I had one drink, Mom. You’re not gonna find a more sober person on the ranch at this hour,” she claims bored. “Keys?”      That last demand was meant for Dean.      “Keys to what?” he questions, furrowing his brow.      An eye roll, a sigh. Jo’s typical routine when she’s done with her cousin. “Your car, asshat.”      “What’s wrong with yours?”      “I have a flat. Now, are you gonna hand me the keys, or what?” she says smartly.

    Jo holds up her hand and with a reluctant grunt, Dean tosses the keys of his precious ‘67 Chevrolet El Camino pickup. Skillfully she catches it, beams at him in triumph, and makes her way to the double doors.      “If I find a scratch on her, I’ll make you regret it!” he shouts, loud enough for her to hear.      “I’d like to see you try!” she scoffs.

     A few moments later, the V8 big block under the hood of his beloved car starts up. Jo doesn’t even bother to warm up his baby before she races down the dirt road towards the big city down in the valley, skitting gravel from under the tires. Dean cringes when he hears her take off; someone’s gonna pay for that.

      He will deal with her when she gets back. Until that time Dean settles down at the long table, watching the poker game. Obviously, Ash folds the moment Bobby raises the stakes, leaving the ranch owner with fewer chips than he hoped to win.      “Can I talk to you for a second?” Dean requests before Garth starts dealing the cards.

     Bobby looks at his nephew from under his cap, observing him for a moment. He knows that kid. He spent a few years of his childhood on the ranch and the young man has been working here since the age of fourteen. The boy is like a son to him, so no wonder he can read Dean like a book. Something is bothering the wrangler, and so he gets off his chair and moves away from the crowded table. Shadowed by the cowboy, Bobby heads towards the corner of the bar, seeking a little privacy. They sit down on the bar stools, facing Ellen on the other side of the counter. Her husband doesn’t bother asking her to pour him a drink, because she is on it before he barely has the chance to settle in his seat.

     “Here you go, boys.” She puts down the filled whiskey tumblers on the varnished wood.      Dean thanks her and takes the glass in his hand, clanking it into Bobby’s, who mutters ‘cheers’ as he does so. After watching Ellen enter the kitchen, the older man shifts his gaze to the man accompanying him.      “What’s on your mind, son?” he asks.

     Dean adjusts himself a little, preparing for the upcoming conversation. He doesn’t like to question his uncle, who also happens to be his boss. This is the part where it gets tricky to keep work and family separated. He has to speak up, though, because lately, he has the oppressive feeling that Bobby might not trust him entirely when it regards the management of the ranch. Obviously, the owner calls the shots, but he used to involve Dean whenever decisions needed to be made. It’s bothering him and he needs to get it off his chest.      “Why didn’t you tell me you hired an intern?” he wonders.

     Bobby grunts softly, averting his eyes to his drink as he circles the tumbler  on its edge. He knew this talk was coming and instantly regrets keeping Dean in the dark about recent developments. His nephew is an exceptional horseman, loyal to his family, a trustworthy worker. A little relentless when it comes to risks and danger, and yes, an impulsive womanizer, but there’s one thing he isn’t and that’s stupid. He’s Bobby’s right hand for a reason, he should have known he would pick up on something.

     “Because I knew you wouldn’t approve,” he admits, taking a sip.      Dean scoffs at that. “If you knew I wouldn’t be okay with it, why did you hire her?”      “Because she’s free help, Dean.”      “Is she any good? Did you look into her?” His head wrangler eyes him, trying to make out how thorough he has been in his research.      It doesn’t take long before his uncle’s guilty expression gives it away.     “You didn’t even interview her, did ya? You just said ‘yes’? Look, I know things have been a little difficult since Gabriel left, but we’re managing fine now,” he assures him. “Educating a wannabe cowgirl is actually gonna cost me valuable time and there’s a lot of shit that needs sortin’. We have to bring in the two-year-old stallions, the calves need branding, the young stock has to be moved to the winter pastures--”      Bobby interrupts Dean’s ramble by holding up his hand to shush him, intervening the moment he has an opening. “You don’t have to worry about the young stock, I’m selling it.”      Stunned, Dean stares at him. And when was Bobby planning to tell him this?      “Why the hell would you do that?” he questions, unpleasantly surprised.        Before his boss can answer, Dean can make an estimated guess already. The concerned look in Bobby’s eyes when they meet his green ones confirms it; money is tight, very tight. The crisis has laid the ranch in a thick suffocating smog of debt and so far it doesn’t look like the air is going to clear anytime soon. Hay prices are sky high while their stock sells for half the price they used to go for. It has been hard to keep their heads above water, but so far they’ve been able to ride out the economic recession, so Dean thought. But now that Bobby’s telling him that the one-year-old cattle has to go, it dawns on him how serious the situation is. 

      His jaw clenches as he observes the ice in his glass for a moment, pondering in silence. And just like that, the careless happiness he was experiencing a moment ago, is gone.      “You wanna sell all of them? Or just the steers?” he checks.      “All of them,” Bobby sighs, downing his drink.       “How you wanna handle that next year? Buy in again? It’s gonna cost you a lot,” Dean responds, trying to think of another way.      “Right now, all we need to worry about is surviving this year, son.” Bobby pauses, now comes the bit that he wanted to avoid. Drastic measures are necessary for the survival of their home. Maybe the term ‘sacrifice’ is a better way to describe what he’s about to announce. “That’s why I need you to let one of the wranglers go.”      Shocked, Dean stares at the man in his company. Not looking him in the eye, Bobby forks his fingers together, resting his elbows on the counter.      “You want me to fire one of my men?” Dean recaps in disbelief. “No, let me correct that, you want me to fire one of my friends?”      “What you do with your colleagues in your spare time should not influence a layoff,” the ranch owner counters.      But his nephew disagrees strongly. “That’s bullshit and you know it. These guys are practically family, Bobby.”      “You think I don’t know that, boy? I ain’t happy about it either, damn it! You think I’m proud of having to send one of those guys home?”

     He nods at the workers, who are laughing loudly as Ash folds his tattooed arms around the mountain of chips that are stacked on the table, reeling in the win. Neither he, Benny, or Garth have a clue what is hanging over their heads, but it’s probably better that way. Only now does the head wrangler understand why Bobby didn’t tell him before. The poor man simply didn’t want to burden him.

     “I have to. For the future of this place, Dean. And I wish I didn’t have to ask you to do this, but you know your crew best. You know who’s most needed and who we can miss,” Bobby explains with empathy.      Dean wants to fight this, he wants to object and argue in every way possible. Who he can miss? He can’t miss any of his men. Shit, after they let Gabe go, they were barely able to round up the daily routine before dinner. But he knows how this works and he knows Bobby would do anything to make sure that the boys can keep their jobs. There is no right or wrong answer here, every option behind any door is a bad one. There’s nothing the boss can do about it and Dean understands that.      “I know. I’ll handle it. Just give me a couple of days and I’ll let you know,” he assures, patting his uncle on the shoulder.    Bobby nods, but is unable to break a smile. He’s carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, go figure when you have to play God like that. It’s exactly the reason why Dean took on the task to fire one of the workers, hoping that it would relieve his surrogate father a bit.

     “I need another drink,” Bobby mutters, reaching for the Jack Daniels behind the counter.      Dean checks on his uncle from the corner of his eye, but then puts his glass down next to his. “You and me both. That intern better be good. Do you know anything about her?”      “I know she’s a reining rider, pretty damn talented too. Not much experience in ranch work, though,” the ranch owner tells him.       “Blonde? Brunette? Cute?” Dean smirks as he fishes for more information, but Bobby doesn’t reply with a straight answer.      “Oh, hell no. Not under my roof,” his father figure decides, having seen this play out numerous times already. “She’s staying for six months so tie a knot in it and keep it in your pants for once.”

     “If she sticks around that long.” The young man scoffs, triggering Bobby to glare at him. “What? We had plenty who went home crying within a week. This work ain’t for everyone.”      “I know you’re not happy with the situation, but do me a favor and just give her a chance, will ya?” Bobby pressures. “She seemed like a go-getter. She might surprise you.”      “Maybe. We’ll see,” Dean downs his glass and slides off his stool.

     Bobby watches his nephew walk away from him. It takes only a second before the charismatic cowboy put on his poker face, just in time, because Garth signals him to come over. So he does, but his next step shows a hint of hesitation. He turns on the heels of his boots, the thumb of his left hand casually hooked behind his belt buckle.      “What’s her name?” Dean asks, narrowing his eyes a little.      Bobby huffs and casts his gaze at him. “Her name is Y/N,” he states. “Y/N L/N.”

     Dean raises his brow, nodding satisfied. Y/N. Sounds good, has a nice ring to it. Curious he imagines what kind of person would fit a name like that and as a perky smile starts to form on his lips, he joins the guys.

     Bobby can spot the up-to-no-good sparkle in his nephew’s green eyes and he can’t help but smile into his refilled glass of Jack. He can point a parenting finger at Dean all he wants, but if this intern is his type, he’s going to charm her right into his bed like he has done with so many women already. Oh, well. We’ve all been young, he thinks to himself. Dean being a wrangler only stacks up the number of girls dwelling at the pretty boy’s feet and he never failed to take full advantage of that. Who can blame him, really? He hasn’t committed to anyone yet, why not make the best of it? It has cost the ranch owner some money, though, since a client or two never returned after getting their hearts broken. The boy better listen this time.

     For a moment he takes in what’s playing before his eyes. His wife having a good conversation with a group of guests, the crew gathered around the long table where Ash just revealed a full house, causing the men to go out of their minds. It’s a nice moment that will make a great memory. Bobby can only hope that those moments keep coming, because no matter how precious, no man can live on memories alone.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to like or reblog my work, shoot me a message or buy me coffee (Link to Kofi in bio at the top of the page).

Read part two here

#Ride With Me #Dean x Reader #Dean reader insert #Cowboy!Dean #Cowboy!Dean x Reader #Dean Winchester x Reader #Dean Winchester x you #Dean Winchester x Y/N #Dean x you #Dean x Y/N #Dean Winchester reader insert #Supernatural fanfiction #SPN fanfiction #SPN AU #Supernatural AU #Dean Winchester AU #Dean AU #Dean fanfiction #Kate Huntington

[jlf23tumble]

Jen!! I'm in desperate need of your amazing taste! I'm loving all this content from hl and i would LOVE some uptaded canon fics!🙏🏻 (canon can be SO GOOD!! And i love your fic recs!♡) My request is more for 'recent' canon fics (like set in recent-ish years, and i don't mind some angst too) Oh and if you want to add some fetus xf larry as a bonus i'm always down for that :) jajsnd *sends a kiss*

Bruised Fruit by @glasscushion, louis/harry, 1.2k words, E. Louis is obsessed with the way Harry smells in the heat of LA. (You know what I’m obsessed with? Someone who can cram this much visceral, er, visceralness into 1.2k words)

you flower, you feast by @thepriestthinksitsthedevil, louis/harry, 1.4k words, E. An anon on harrystylesbottoms asked for a fic where Louis worships Harry's thick booty... and here we are. (AND HERE WE ARE)

Healthy Appetite by @vondrostes, louis/harry, 2.5k words, E. “You’ve been eating more,” Louis commented as he dragged a finger down the curve of Harry’s side, carefully tracing the love handles that had finally returned now that Harry was finally on break again.Harry squinted at him suspiciously through his sunglasses. “I’m not sure if I’m meant to be flattered or insulted." (Terran’s another one who can pack an entire world in just a teeny bit of text, literally chef’s kiss on this one)

Alone Apart, Alone Together by bkljt, louis/harry, 2.6k words, E. Harry doesn’t know how, but he feels a shift as he waits for the response. A thickness to the air. It’s like there is energy, a spark, flowing between them, even thousands of miles apart. He didn’t necessarily mean it to sound sexual. He didn’t not mean it that way. He was going to leave it up to Louis’s interpretation. (One of my all-time fave tropes is phone sex/text...thank you to the wankfest, and thank you to this author, but I can’t find you on tumblr!!)

She, Myself, and I by @vondrostes, harry/nick, 3.1k words, E. “It’s me,” he said quietly. “What?” Harry sniffed; turned his head again to look at Nick, voice a little bolder. “You asked who ‘she’ is. It’s me.” (oh gender!! Terran has so many in this vein, and I’m not gonna rec ‘em all, but I could rec ‘em all, if that makes sense)

Like a Rolling Stone by @vondrostes, harry/nick, 3.4k words, E. He’d barely taken a single sip in the hour-plus he’d been sat there, unmoving, transfixed by Harry’s songs—haunted by the knowledge of what had inspired them. (I’ll stop, but yeah, rip gryles hours)

such a pretty face, on a pretty neck by cabinbythesea, louis/harry, 4.6k words, E. Harry goes to the Met Gala. Pink carpets just aren't Louis' thing, but Harry is. (I would tag the author, but there are so many similarly named aesthetic blogs, and can you even imagine? Anyway, thank you, author!)

I’m Not Over You (But I’m Trying) by tinygiant, louis/harry, 4.8k words, E. Louis' House of Solo photoshoot drops, and Harry forgets how to forget about boys. (all kinds of wonderfulness AND a pubes mention? Be still my beating heart! Can’t tag/find the author, but yeah, thanks for your service!)

My happiness depends on you and whatever you decide to do by Blake/ @newleafover, louis/harry, 5k words, E. If Harry asked him not to do it, Louis would call him naive and do it anyway. So Harry won’t ask him not to do it. But maybe he can help him make the most of a shitty situation."I'm here for my audition, sir." (this is from last summer, XFUK era, but it’s so good, plus it’s Blake, nuff said)

Warm Glow that Lingers On by Blake, louis/harry, 8.5k words, E. If Harry wants his nails painted red, he's got to earn it first. (description of Harry’s tour last summer...and mayhaps next summer, too, hmmmmmm?)

call me anything you like, but my name is by @wishforwishes, harry/mitch/sarah/clare, 9.9k words, E. some conversations are better left forgotten, some conversations are worth remembering, and some conversations you never get the chance to have. Featuring three mentors, two tea parties, one and a half recording studios, and a reference to Archie comics. (this is the second part of a story, but you don’t necessarily need to read part one to get it; I love everything about it, the way it starts and ends with Zayn, the entire gender exploration, how real it feels, sighhhhh)

be my once in a lifetime by HappyPrincess/ @pattern-pals, louis/harry, 11k words, E. Just like there are only four other people who will ever understand what it’s like growing up in One Direction, there’s only one other person who knows what it’s like to find your soulmate just before you’re thrown into the spotlight and forced to acknowledge that the both of you have too many flaws and vices to make it through fame together. Or: It's all about having sex and being sad. And drunk. (Nina’s MIND, the mood, the words, the vibe, I love the way they think, the [insert really spot-on word about all] of this; following their blog a few months back was a ver’ ver’ smart thing of me to do, we have such similar tastes in fic, gosh, they’re swell, this is a Nina appreciation post at its core)

Maybe I Miss You series by 13ways/ @1ws, louis/harry, 27k words, E. Louis is on his way back to London after the Hits Live Birmingham concert. Harry is flying to New York for the Met Gala. They connect. (this makes it seem so simple and fun, but it is messy and brilliant in the best way...that wankfest really delivered)

Now for some fetus HL!!

Powerless (and I Don’t Care It’s Obvious) by objectlesson/ @alienfuckeronmain, louis/harry, 4k words, E. “Oh no, Lou, don’t make me laugh,” he whimpers. His Ribena-purple mouth twists into a glorious, breakable shape, and Louis’s heart stops. He should not be getting turned on by Harry’s full-bladder discomfort, his little twitches, his hips-stuttering. And yet. (Lissssten, Phoenix is the queen of XF era HL, full stop, just know that I rec every single one of her stories, but I’m putting this one here because it was the last one she wrote; the people who sent her hate can burn in hell)

Sonic Sounds by @glasscushion, louis/harry, 5.7k words, E. "Harry takes a deep breath, suitably embarrassed, “I’m just really...” and he can’t say the obvious. He can’t just say really wet." Harry loves feeling embarrassed. Louis is happy to help. (fun with electric toothbrushes, which also makes me think of the fact that you can *still* buy a WMYB toothbrush that will sing to you while you brush; I don’t think that’s what happens here, lmao)

#fic rec #god i shake my fist at this website sometimes #my precious earlier post #rip my darling

[heathendolan]

How do you think Ethan from lemon boy that you wrote would propose ?

It’s U | Part 3½ of the Lemon Boy Series

Summary: About fucking time he proposed.

A/N: Thank you so much for asking this, whoever you are! I love love love love love love love LOVE love that you let this idea sprout in my head cauuuuse like. it’s about time right? mmk, moving on

word count: 1.7K+ || masterlist || PLAYLIST

SERIES | 1 Lemon Boy | 1½ Banana Bread | 2 888 | 3 Boys Will Be Bugs

College was fun. It was great, it was exciting, it was stressful. What college wasn’t: the best years of your life.

You’d heard the expression time and time again, and as you’d edged the end of your final April in university, panic had begun to rise in your throat.

College was amazing! God, college gave you Charlotte, your best friend, your platonic soulmate. College gave you Charlotte and Hera and Marcy and Jihyun, it gave you uncountable memories and the best inside jokes, it gave you a family so different than the ones back in rural New Jersey. 

And college gave you the best side of Ethan you’d ever seen.

You would think, after knowing Ethan for five years, you’d know him down to the bone. But as sophomore year kicked off and you finally settled in your shared apartment, the one packed with best friends and off-brand cereal, you realized there was an entire Ethan you’d never met. The one that you lived with. 

Only then did you realize that you loved Ethan wholeheartedly. Sleepovers every night with your best friend? Heck yeah.

You couldn’t see how life could get better than 2AM runs to Rite Aid or getting obscenely drunk in the living room on Thursdays and playing half-jokingly hostile games of monopoly with your best friends. Isn’t that where you peak? When you found people you could cry with, either from laughter or heartbreak? When you made memories that make you smile like a goon just from a reference?

That’s what worried you, a lot. You didn’t want college to end, ever.

-

College ended with a lot of tears. So, so many tears. 

And Charlotte was moving to Newark to start her job as a magazine journalist, and Hera was traveling abroad for a year in Spain, and Marcy was moving to fucking Miami with her fiance, Carlos, and Ethan and you were headed over to Manhattan for your internships at Penguin, and you know that Manhattan’s only eight miles from Newark where Charlotte is, but the traffic’s crazy and apparently you have to wear ‘nice clothes’ and you really hate pencil skirts and turtlenecks just rubbed you wrong and-

“Hey,” Ethan mumbled from beside you, elbowing your side with a frown. “You good?”

Were you good? No, not really. Everything was moving so fast; graduation was in four days and then, then things just moved from there. Everything would shift, all over again, and you remember begging high school to just end. 

You hated high school. Well, not all of it, but you hated the people, the ones who treated Ethan like scum but always smiled at you in the hallways–as if that was some trade-off. You hated the coursework, you hated being cramped in a building for seven hours, you hated the food and the food chain. Graduation was a gift. 

This was not high school. People didn’t bully Ethan and they didn’t fake friendliness to you–nobody cared about the two of you, and that was just how you liked it. Ethan found a family here at the university. He had Gray and Collin and Baasim, he had Christian and Rocky and you. He had you still. Would that change after graduation, in the ‘real world’? Would there be a time where you didn’t have Ethan?

You didn’t want that for Ethan. He loved you.

You didn’t want that for yourself. You loved him.

“Hey, talk to me,” Ethan cooed beside you, and you’d hardly realized that tears had begun to stream down your face or that you’d never even answered him. You snuffled a few times before throwing yourself onto him, wrapping your arms tight around his neck and burrowing yourself in his lap. He dragged your bed’s duvet around the two of you, slipped his hand beneath your cotton tee and thumbed at the wing of your shoulder blade, the one with the tattoo, and just let you cry.

Ethan never pushed. Ethan just let you cry.

And you did, for hours, and just wailed and whined and sobbed, stained his shirt with crocodile tears and smudged his shoulder with snot. It wasn’t the cute kind of cry, if you’re wondering. 

Ethan didn’t really care. Ethan didn’t care at all, in fact; he knew what this is about. He had seen your eyes well up with tears in the middle of laughing at Charlotte’s jokes, he’d watched you sit lonely at the kitchen’s island and eat Reese’s puffs with a slumped curve in your back. He’d seen the way your hand shook when you crossed off another day with an X on your calendar. He knew why ‘Graduation’ was written in such a tiny font on your schedule. 

Ethan was not sad about graduation. He was ready for his internship. He was ready for the real world. He was ready to marry you. 

He stroked the back of your head and kissed your puffy, puffy cheek and whispered in the shell of your ear, “I can’t wait for the rest of my life with you.”

Your breath hitched. God, how did Ethan know? How did he always know what to say, how did he always know what you were thinking, how did he always know what was bothering you?

You just nodded and let your cries draw slowly to an end, falling asleep on him quickly after.

Ethan snuggled you into your respective side, and then hopped from the bed and crossed off another day on your calendar. Three more days. 

-

Ethan walked across the stage at graduation with a very familiar smile. Of course, you cried.

You cried, but you got really, really drunk with your friends and you were happy, even if only a little.

Two days after graduation, you found yourself snuggled into Ethan’s side in bed and realized that not much had changed. Not in anyway that mattered; you still had a lot of student debt, the best boyfriend ever, and a group of friends you’d die for. Now you just have a really expensive piece of parchment to prove it. 

“Can you read to me?” Ethan mumbled beside you. “We never finished the last Harry Potter.”

You smiled to yourself. You had read the series to him over the course of a few years, pausing and picking it back up every so often. So, you wormed your way lazily to the edge of your bed and stretched to grab the hefty, thick book resting on a shelf above your bedside table. 

You cracked the spine, leafed your way far into the book, and said, “"How do you-”

“Don’t forget to read the margin notes,” Ethan interjected, nibbling on his lip. “You know those are my favorite.”

You snorted and rolled your eyes. “I would never. Now,” you cleared your throat haughtily, grinning. ““How do you feel, Georgie?“ whispered Mrs. Weasley.George’s fingers groped for the side of his head…”

Again, hours passed and passed and passed and you were dumbstruck that Ethan hadn’t fallen asleep by now; your voice was typically a lullaby for him, especially this late at night.

“Alright,” you mumbled through a yawn, jaw stretched wide. “There’s one chapter left, and it’s basically just the epilogue, so I can finish that in the morning or-”

“No!” Ethan cried, grabbing your arm. “No, you have to finish the book, it’s so interesting!”

You stared at him in bewilderment. “Are you serious? It’s like, five in the morning, I’m surprised you were even awake enough to grip all this stuff,” you snorted, shaking the book in your hand.

“Just love you- just love it,” Ethan corrected, pinching his eyes shut. “Just love the book so much. Definitely my favorite Harry Potter.”

You scoffed. “Are you kidding? Nothing tops Goblet of Fire. Well, there’s Order of the Phoenix, too. That one is so fucking good, like all the-”

“(Y/N)!” Ethan breathed, anxious and pushy. “I really wanna just finish the series, I can’t wait to hear about it.”

“Alright, alright!” you giggled, situating yourself back into his arms and splitting open the pages.

You had flicked to the last page when Ethan began squeezing his grip around you uncomfortably tight. “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well,” you muttered, with finality.

The words were highlighted. You did not highlight those words. 

You followed the ink to the margin where, in Ethan’s chicken scratch, the words ‘Will you marry me?’ were scribbled.

“Will you marry me…?” you said out of habit, reading the words aloud.

You turned to Ethan to find him with tears in his eyes and fidgeting hands.

“Yeah,” was all he said.

“You’re- I’m- what? Ethan,” you gushed, your hands flying to your face. 

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut, the tears rolling down his cheeks. “God, I’m so fucking in love with you,” he breathed, shaking his head. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, (Y/N). Nothing hurts anymore. It’s like, eighth-grade year, I hated everyone and I hated myself so goddamn much. And it hurt. Everything hurt until I met you and you- you opened up this whole world of happiness, one with books and ice cream and tattoos and a weird obsession with, with Harry Potter books!

“And I don’t ever want to not be with you. I don’t need a ring to prove that I’ll stay with you for the rest of my life. This ring doesn’t tie me down, you tie me down. You’re fantastic and amazing and so fucking smart. You’re stunning. You are jaw-dropping and honestly, I almost proposed on the spot five months ago when you wore that red dress to Formal. You are it for me, (Y/N).

“I know you think everything’s changing. It’s not, (Y/N). I am still yours. You are still mine. And I know that there are other variables; I know you don’t want to be more than a minute away from Charlotte. I know you’re devastated that you won’t have Hera or Marcy. I know it feels like you’re diving head first into the deep end but (Y/N), we aren’t changing. We are not changing. I just want you to have my last name,” Ethan finished, crying guiltlessly.

He reached into his pocket and dug out a little black box. He popped open the velvet case and displayed a ring. It was Lisa’s, you knew it.

You said yes.

All was well.

#ethan dolan imagine #ethan dolan #ethan dolan fanfiction #ethan dolan imagines #grayson dolan imagine #grayson dolan fanfiction #grayson dolan #grayson dolan imagines #dolan twins #dolan twins fanfiction #dolan twins imagines #youtube #writing #blurb #masterlist

[secondhvnd]

k, 24, pst→ Is that JOE KEERY walking down Old Town Front Street? Nah, PHOENIX MAE just looks like their identical twin! The TWENTY THREE YEAR OLD has been a SETTLER for SIXTEEN YEARS. On their good days, PHOENIX is CHARISMATIC & PROTECTIVE, but if you catch them on a bad day, they may be SHORT-TEMPERED & IMPULSIVE. Keep your eyes on this BODY PIERCER. Wonder what they’ve been up to lately in Sunnymead!

i have a whole lot™ to say because phoenix is one of my oldest muses, so check out this baby boy!! ( TW: DRUG MENTION, CHILD NEGLECT/ABUSE )

born to teen parents who had a tendency to dabble in ~illegal substances, a lot of people would argue that phoenix never really had a chance. from the time he was born up until he was six years old, he dealt with his parents’ neglect. he would wake up to an empty house at least a couple of nights a week. WHICH HE THOUGHT WAS TOTALLY NORMAL until he mentioned it to his teacher and cps plucked him out of the home he knew and threw him into foster care.

he spent the next eight years in a foster home. things were tense, and they thought about kicking phoenix out many times as a result of both his temper and the clashes they would have about the sort of trouble he would get himself into.

when he was fifteen years old, he spent about nine month in juvenile detention for breaking and entering -- which he’ll claim to this day was a necessity. was it truly? no, probably not, but he was bored. okay??

once he was released, he was put back into his foster home temporarily while the social workers looked into a group home out of town that he could get sent to where he wouldn’t get into as much trouble.

of course, he had to visit his social worker more frequently -- finding out that she liked to have a lot of meetings with him and his probation officer. 

it was one of these days between the time his last class finished and the meeting when he was out in the parking lot with his old skateboard when he tried to bum a cigarette off of a heavily tattooed man. he turned phoenix down (of course!) and when his social worker poked her head out of the door to call out to him, he was pretty sure he was in trouble. instead, the man and a woman phoenix assumed was his wife were standing there and there was a flurry of words he only half listened to until he heard the words new placement. it turned out the couple was interested in fostering him? though he was confused, phoenix was up for anything.

though the couple was only about fifteen years older than him, they already had three adopted teenage children around phoenix’s age. he wasn’t generally one to get comfortable quickly, but it was easy in this household. they were treating him like he was family despite the fact he’d just gotten there.

by his seventeenth birthday, phoenix was adopted :’)

now twenty-three, he still goes to weekly family dinners and is close to his adoptive siblings.

NOW THAT MILES OF BG INFO HAS BEEN INTRODUCED, HERE’S SOME FUN FACTS:

phoenix has a lot of tattoos, most of which were stick-n-pokes or home done tattoos. the largest one that he has is on his inner arm that said born sick because he thought “take me to church” was the absolute best song in the world when it was released (he wasn’t wrong !!)

despite being kind of a trainwreck, phoenix is also really smart and had earned a master’s degree in astronomy by the time that he was twenty years old. it was done on scholarship -- which is nice because is he using it at all??? NO!!

ummm but he’s absolutely obsessed with aliens??? 

ANGER ISSUES!!! he bottles up all of the negative things he has from past so it boils over sooner or later.

he stumbled upon the piercing job by spending a lot of time of at a local tattoo shop until they offered to train him in piercing. 

he has a three year old adopted sister named kale who is absolutely his favorite person in the whole entire world.

he also has a cat named Jolene

if you get to know him, he’s a lil soft once you peel all of his layers away.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

pls give me a close friendship where they call him ‘nickie’ thank u :(

tbh some exes?? he’s bi and he’s kind of the type to have tumultuous relationships in every facet of his life, so romantically...... it is obviously no different.

FOSTER SIBLINGS??? YES????

drinking buddies. phoenix and drinking go hand in hand hnonestly

ANYTHING

#sunnymeadintro #drugs tw #abuse tw #hewwo...................................

[falcon6]

Turnabout Design: Franziska and the von Karma Legacy

Hello, and welcome back to Turnabout Design, a novice’s look at character design using the Ace Attorney series as a base. I am the foppish fool Falcon who flounders and fawns for fictional females, and let us begin. Spoiler Warning: This is going to be covering a character specifically, so there will be story points gone over, mostly from Justice for All.

Even though there’s still a few points I could talk about regarding the first game, I feel it’d be better to go ahead and continue on with the second game of the Ace Attorney series: Justice for All. Considered by some people to be the weaker entry of the trilogy, with a fairly meh first case (Phoenix gets amnesia, whoaaaa) and a - in my humble opinion - lukewarm third case, it still etches itself up to good quality with a pretty good second case and one of the most memorable final cases in the entire series.

And part of that is due to the main characters and their arcs continuing. New characters pop up, old characters get new tidbits to them (Gumshoe having a crush on Maggey while also being a big hero...I should probably get to him at some point), and our main lead has a veritable moral crisis on his hands at the end.

But that’s not what we’re going to talk about today.

So I elected to put off on talking about Manfred von Karma, the first game’s final antagonist (aside from Rise from the Ashes) because, aside from his terrifying presence, he’s actually not a very grand design. To me, at least. I am aware that his design is actually an adaptation of the original design idea for “the rival prosecutor” (Edgeworth), but he never struck me as a very memorable design. A memorable character, yes, but his actual design layout didn’t strike me.

Not to mention, a lot of the deal with Manfred is that his actual character, in a lot of facets, is used to fuel motivations of other characters. He’s the opposing force for Gregory Edgeworth in the past which was needed for his murder, his involvement with DL-6 caused Miles Edgeworth to live with him and eventually set himself down the road to becoming a prosecutor. His involvement with DL-6 is what eventually (non-intentionally) led Mia Fey into law. His role as a prosecutor is used to be the “final boss” for Phoenix for the fourth case. The man’s actions reverberate throughout the original trilogy and beyond, in a lot of respects, but there’s not much to him beyond the need for a perfect record and a calculating, cold megalomaniac.

His child, on the other hand, bears a few of those characteristics along with a lot of time to grow beyond them into her own staple of the series. I’m talking, of course, of Franziska von Karma.

You ever wonder if she ever intends to....draw blood? No? Just me?

You liars.

The Design

So I’ve spent the last few times talking less and less about the actual facets of her design, so I think it’d do to try and fix that. First off, let’s see her silhouette.

A lot of the best parts about Franziska’s design is the lively actions she is able to produce in court. This is mostly due to including the whip into the picture. The whip is one of the most important parts of her design, both due to her character and due to the added action poses it can create. If a character can be defined by the tool they use, that’s a very good thing to consider when designing their poses. You can tell that, when you take the whip out of the equation, you’re still able to tell who she is in a list of Ace Attorney characters, but it’s not as clear if you throw other franchises in.

A lot of times, an external item like a weapon is almost as integral as a piece of clothing for a character. Of course, relying entirely on that for a character’s design isn’t prudent, as the weapon needs to be integral to the design. For example, if Link from the Legend of Zelda series were to not have a sword available, the clothing is still very distinctly him. The hood in particular is almost instantly recognizable, even with every other feature blacked out. And, forgive me, but even the Master Sword is still just a sword to a silhouette.

However, we look at Samus from the Metroid series, we end up having two ‘states’ of Samus. One with her Power Suit on and one without. (I count the Power Suit as a weapon, fight me) With her Power Suit, she is the same Samus we know, who is able to go into the unknown and fight whatever comes her way but without it, not only does the silhouette change but the actual gameplay changes. She can’t go in and fight aliens the same way without her weapon. The lack of her suit makes the encounters she faces more aligned on the side of cautionary, because she can’t deal with space pirates and monsters the same way as if she did have her suit.

Lot of talk to amount to “her whip is important”, huh? It’s a very distinct trait for her design that speaks of her character. She’s aggressive and wishes to dominate her opponent with nothing short of perfection in her case. She uses it to force her will through the court. She uses it for “reward” once with Detective Gumshoe, too. (poor Gumshoe)

When you look at her design, you can see that there are elements of Manfred in her. Compared to Phoenix, her design is more regal looking with a nice big bow and a stylish suit. Her gray hair masks her actual age, to the point that you’d have to hear it from her to find out that she’s actually a young prodigy. Her posture intimidates in court, with animations ripped from her father, yet her fragile ego causes her to lose her cool very fast, which includes a few distraught emotions in her sprites.

She builds up a cool facade with her whip and her dressed-to-impress confidence that she attempts to exude. To her, the impression she leaves is most important, which makes sense because have you ever gotten hit by a whip? She cares about the mark that’s made and aims to make sure her presence is known. And to a passerby, that is exactly what happens, because outside of context she looks like a very scary lady who will absolutely dominate you, in court.

Franziska is obsessed with perfection and control, even moreso than her father was. This is due to having not one, but two individuals she has to live up to. She lives up to her father in terms of name, but she must also live up to her “little brother” Edgeworth in terms of legacy.

Legacy

Now obviously when I say “legacy”, I bet you would say “but wouldn’t she get that from her father, as well?” Well, only tangentially. I personally believe that Edgeworth left a more lasting impression on her character than her father, and it’s mostly due to Mr. Phoenix Wright.

See, Franziska grew up with her father’s shadow looming overhead. To be anything short of the genius prosecutor that Manfred was would be considered a blight to her name. So she focused her energies on doing so, even though she personally admitted to herself that she’d never get to the same level of genius as her father. Still she studied and persisted, earning herself the title of “the Prodigy”.

Soon enough she heard of her father’s defeat at the hands of Phoenix Wright, but that alone did not set her off. In fact, she couldn’t care less about her father’s defeat. It was learning that the defendant was Edgeworth, then finding out that Phoenix had already beaten him twice before despite HIS perfect record, and then learning of Edgeworth’s disappearance (Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death) that set her off on her travels to Japanifornia.

Because she wasn’t facing against Wright for revenge of her father. She was going to prove herself against someone that Edgeworth lost to.

When I think of a “legacy” character, I consider a character that has a torch passed down to them, much like a family line of superheroes. In some ways they retain the same spirit as those who came before them, but they have their own spirit about them. Take, for example, DC Comics icon - and man with most elaborate basement under parents’ house - Batman. A few years back when Bruce Wayne had “died”, Dick Grayson took up the mantle of Batman. While Bruce was more stoic and cold in his style, Dick was more loose in his demeanor. He cracked more smiles and was more talkative. More relaxed. He couldn’t replicate Batman himself, despite how many years he studied under him as Robin, because he realized that he couldn’t do so. He instead took his own take and, depending on who you ask, succeeded in doing the role justice. He lacked confidence as Batman but was more than able to fulfill the role as Gotham City’s protector regardless.

Why I find legacy characters fascinating is the little bits of what is brought from the past into the role of the present and how that can mix well, can clash with other elements, and even be forgotten. Even Edgeworth did this, to an extent, when he was the antagonist of the first game. You didn’t know it until the fourth case, but everything that Edgeworth did was due to what was displayed to him by his teacher, Manfred. Winning at any cost. He sets that aside after the first game and finds his own path as a prosecutor, yet he still retains some elements of his mentor, such as his outfit’s similarities to Manfred’s and his posture when at the bench. Naturally, some elements would have to stay because of his iconic design, but even 7 years later in Dual Destinies, Edgeworth is still using the same posture, and his big change is that he also has an unbuttoned coat and wears glasses out of court.

So going back to Franziska, her main motivator for Justice for All is to “defeat Phoenix Wright”. She goes through the same methods as her father before her, but also took in Edgeworth’s forwardness in understanding the entire case, no matter the absurdity. She studied the Kurain Channeling Technique and even introduced it in the second case in order to prove that, even with something supernatural like channeling spirits which is beyond normal law, Maya would have still done the deed and is still guilty under law. She puts up a potentially damaging photo for her prosecution just to back Phoenix in a corner. In the third case she focused her energies on making sure Phoenix wasn’t getting any evidence she didn’t know about, which ended up costing her the case when she forced Acro out of the room before he could dispose of the murder weapon. And in the time she was involved in prosecuting the final case, she made explicitly sure that Adrian Andrews knew that she didn’t have to testify.

All of this was to defeat Phoenix Wright, who had inadvertently brought himself up as a target for all of her ire. The one who defeated her father and adoptive  brother before her. All to stoke her ego.

But, of course, she didn’t.

Try as she did, she wasn’t able to defeat Phoenix. She got shot on the way to court to the fourth case and had to let Edgeworth do the job for her. Even then, she took it upon herself to get the decisive evidence to court just in time to give Edgeworth the win. Finally, Phoenix lost and it was because of her!

And yet, when Phoenix was so happy even after losing his first case (for a reason she didn’t know), she broke. She didn’t understand why he was so happy about it. She tossed her whip aside and left for the airport, to fly far away.

But then Edgeworth came to her with her whip. He spoke to her about what he found out on his trip. About how win records were meaningless. About how Manfred was wrong, and how a prosecutor’s job is to find the truth. She was still a prosecutor, but if she wanted to give up, then he would continue forward and leave her behind.

Handing the whip back to her was an important gesture, because as mentioned, the whip is a symbol of control. When she had it, she had always felt like she was in control of her situation. It was much like a security blanket for her. Handing it back after she tried to toss it away signifies that Edgeworth understands that prosecution is important to her and she needs to find her own path forward like he did.

Telling her that she’d be left behind is also important. It may have been cruel, but Franziska is a character who went through all that effort to overcome her own faults in order to try and surpass those who came before her. She was obsessed with it, in order to stoke her own ego, but she wouldn’t be able to do so if she gave up. Edgeworth knew she didn’t want to do that. She still needed someone to fight against, and being the doting little brother that he is (still like 7 years older), he took it upon himself to stoke that fire again.

And she vowed, in a show of sobbing emotion, that she would return and defeat Phoenix Wright and to become a better prosecutor than he.

Franziska is a great character even though her role as a prosecutor was done because the designers didn’t want to have Edgeworth continue to lose fights due to his popularity. She was brought in as a flawed and fixated prosecutor to further the prosecutor’s role as an antagonist while solidifying that which Edgeworth had proven before; that the prosecution is merely an antagonist, not a villain.

Her emotional weight is believable and sympathetic. Her personality in court is perfect for the role of making you detest her because of how many times she’s able to one-up Phoenix (you) as you go through the cases. And yet her overall character is someone you can’t help but feel for once it’s all over. She’s in a dogged pursuit of proving herself as better than those before her, and Phoenix (you) proves to be an obstacle she can’t overcome.

After Justice for All, she learns to pursue her goals for herself and not for any legacy she was supposed to inherit. She works with Interpol and assists Edgeworth in his own games, but she hasn’t seen much action since. Now that we know what Maya’s been up to in Spirit of Justice, I really want to see what Franziska has been up to in the years since next.

I want to know if she sued Larry for the use of her likeness in his children’s book, “Franzy's Whippity-Whip Trip“.

Conclusion

Wow, she’s tipping Gumshoe $5. That’s probably the nicest thing she’s ever done for him.

Even though her inclusion was the designer’s intent to keep Edgeworth from losing all the time, Franziska was a worthy entry in this series as an antagonist. Her flaws helped elevate her as an egomaniac that eventually made you empathize with where she’s coming from. She’s not perfect and can’t be the same level as what her father was, but that’s exactly what makes her such a good character.

Because true perfection doesn’t exis-

Okay, stop that. Get outta here.

Thank you very much for reading. It was fun to look more into Franziska and remind myself why I really like her. Most of these thoughts are just my thoughts, of course, so if you have any thoughts about her yourself, let me know! 

Until next time...

You foolish fools.

#Turnabout Design #Ace Attorney #Franziska von Karma #Blog #Ace Attorney: Justice for All #Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All

[worldbeyondtheworld]

His Fragile Heart

Fandom: Ace Attorney

Warnings: None

Characters: Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, mention of others; Narumitsu if you squint

Summary: It’s been a long time since you last saw him cry. It hits you with a sledgehammer that it’s been a long time since you last saw him this vulnerable at all, tears or not.

The change came gradually and you hated what it did to him. Every time you and he met, his face had become that much more blank, the corners of his mouth that much more curved. His sadness fell under the smiling, stiff mask that he had plucked from his old days of theater at college.

“Our instructor always gave me the hardest roles. She loved me, because I could play the person and their emotions without a break in my expression, even if I felt the opposite.”

You never realized it before, but he has the heart of an entertainer beating next to the one of a lawyer. Like his daughter, he played his audience for maximum effect. Like Trucy, he manipulated them to underestimate him. (Even before he did, I made the mistake of underestimating him even after I should have known better.) The only difference is that she draws people in with surprise and her outstanding show; he drew money from their pockets after he handed devastating hands.

There’s some kind of joke in that the poker table is the only place where he - even only literally - shows his hand.

-

It isn’t until you find him crying in an empty room at the court house that you realize how most of his smiles after his reinstatement have been just as closed as his poker face.

Phoenix Wright’s head snaps up, terror flashing in his eyes as his mouths falls open at being found in this state of obvious ‘I’m not okay, unlike what I want you to believe’. He stutters your name which apparently makes him catch himself. Like a veil descends the mask over his featues - the difference gives you so much whiplash that you feel sick. It’s imperfect. Now that you’ve seen, it’s like as if he’s trying to make you believe that the smile carved out of stone of wood, you don’t know, over his actual face is moving. Tear tracks glisten on his skin. The light bounces off them, just as shadows dance across his eyes in ways that mock his perfomance, because he forgot to wipe his tears away.

When he realizes his mis-step, he brushes off your concerns - as usual - and intends to leave.

You don’t remember many details of what happens after. There’s a lot of shouting, because you block the door, because you know if he runs now, you won’t be able to catch up to him again unless he decides to stop and turn around.

Is this anywhere close what it felt like for Wright when I ran away and left that terrible message? No wonder he was so furious with me. This is terrifying.

You can’t corner him forever - you don’t want to do this to him - but you can distract him. Arguing is something both of you fall into easily with each other.

Somehow, eventually - after cutting remarks sharp as a knife because again he proves he is your equal - you both end up on the couch, with Wright curled against you in a ball. He shivers and whimpers, clutching at you as his lifeline and you well might as well be that. An ocean is raging inside him, and he has to weather the fury unleashed. 

Seven years and more of anxiety, feelings of inferiority and worthlessness, depression, anger, and grief have finally overflown the pit he has tossed them into in pursuit of his obsession, then tried to ignore. Something has been about to give under him for a long time - so he fell.

You murmur into his hair as you rock him gently, ignoring your feelings of discomfort at the intimacy of this moment.

Or at the fact he’s crying against my best suit. It’s like Kay all over again.

And this is your best friend, so you keep holding him and wiping his tears until he reaches the calmer shores of his heart. He was the light that guided you. You don’t mind doing the same thing in return for him again.

He deserves being allowed to fall and be caught.

#miles edgeworth #phoenix wright #reiji mitsurugi #ryuuichi naruhodou #ace attorney #ace attorney fanfiction #wordly writing