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patchofsunlight · 4 years

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Back to You | Zuko x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Fire Lord Zuko falls in love with one of the Kyoshi Warriors sent to protect him. Thankfully, she falls in love with him too.

WORD COUNT: 5.2k I wanted it to be shorter than Pretty Eyes and succeeded... kind of

WARNINGS: okay so there’s some kissing, some swear words, some obvious mutual pining, some frustration, and that’s it. it’s pure fluff ngl

I hope you all like it! I actually had a lot of fun writing this and I think it came out pretty nice. Also requests are open! Thank you for reading and here we go.

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

“Y/N, we’ve talked about this. You can call me Zuko, and it is a diplomatic meeting, not a date.”

“You sure? He’s wearing such nice clothes. I can do your hair real quick if you want, get you ready and cute in like five minutes.”

“No, Y/N, thank you. You can let Ambassador Gamu in.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be just outside the door if you need me.”

“Of course.”

Zuko tried to ignore the cheeky blink the Kyoshi Warrior sent his way before leaving his office, a teasing grin adorning her painted face. When Suki told him she would bring the most experienced and talented of her warriors alongside her to protect him and serve as his guards, he definitely did not think he would have to deal with someone like Y/N.

He knew she was, for sure, a strong and intelligent fighter, being Suki’s second in command and impressively skillful with every single one of her weapons. He had watched her spar with her companions more than once and seeing Y/N fight never failed to take his breath away until his lungs were filled with only admiration and pride. However, one could call her less than professional, and her treating of the Fire Lord troubled most of the palace’s staff. And yet, to be honest, Zuko found it really hard to pretend he didn’t absolutely adore her.

Y/N felt like a breath of fresh air, like sunshine on a cloudy day, like seabreeze. He loved the way she always teased him and tried to make him laugh, loved the way she seemed to brighten up every room she walked into. Somehow she managed to bring joy to the same place he always associated with sadness and anger — every corner of the palace was happier with her around. That’s why he chose to keep her as his closest guard, even after every single one of his advisors told him time and time again to send the disrespectful Kyoshi Warrior away. Zuko knew he probably should, but he was slowly learning how to accept and cherish the things that made him feel like smiling, and Y/N was undoubtedly on that list.

He refused to admit how in love he was with her. He had convinced himself it was nothing but a crush, some sort of appreciation for her amazing fighting skills, but a small part of him knew that was not true. He had it bad for her and would kill a man to keep a smile on her face any day of the week.

“It is very good to know the Earth Kingdom is so willing to tighten its relationships with the Fire Nation, Ambassador Gamu. I hope I can assist you in every way possible to guarantee a brilliant future for all nations.”

The Earth Kingdom official smiled politely, “thank you very much, Fire Lord Zuko. Nevertheless, it is crucial you are made aware that not all our citizens are happy with the new… Arrangements between our countries. I heard you have had a similar problem here, haven’t you? I truly hope the Kyoshi Warriors have been good servants and protectors, sir.”

Zuko couldn’t help the upwards movement of his lips as he gazed at Y/N’s silhouette through the door crack. “They certainly have,” he watched her look behind her, probably feeling his stare, and grinned when she shot out her tongue at him in an amusing manner, “I am extremely grateful for having them here with me.”

-----

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

He glanced up from his desk and furrowed his eyebrows at her, “it’s Zuko, and I don’t have any meetings scheduled for today.”

Y/N beamed and he was sure his heart did a somersault inside his chest, “I know! I was talking about me. I’m your date.”

He lightly blushed, “what?”

“Come on, Fire Lord, you’ve been working for hours on end. You need to take a break,” she scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment and thanked every spirit there was for the white paint hiding her reddened cheeks, “I thought we could take a walk around the palace, y’know? I’ll be beside you doing the whole protecting thing and you can rest a bit from the whole rebuilding the Fire Nation thing.”

Zuko hesitated, “I don’t know, Y/N. I really need to finish this,” he gestured to the awaiting letters and reports in front of him, “I can’t simply leave. I have obligations as Fire Lord and—”

“I’m aware of that,” she bit down on her lower lip teasingly and he couldn’t help but think about the inevitable gasps she would have earned if anyone else heard her interrupt him like that, “but you shouldn’t overwork yourself. Besides, I’m tired of standing around doing nothing. Please? It will be so fast no one will even notice you’re gone!”

He sighed, “Y/N…”

“Please, Zuko?”

It was probably the first time she had ever called him by his name. She knew how much he hated being called Fire Lord, only accepting it during important gatherings, assemblies or introductions, but insisted on calling him by that anyway. Zuko was absolutely sure she only did it to spite him and had to admit it was kind of endearing — he loved the small ways she found of constantly challenging him. However, he quickly learned he loved hearing her say his name a lot more.

He sat up suddenly, “five minutes.”

Y/N grinned so brightly he had to bit back his own smile, “fifteen!”

“This is not a negotiation. Five minutes and then I’ll come back to my duties as a leader.”

“Okay, okay. Ten minutes then.”

“What? No, I didn’t agree to that.”

“Oh? I’m sorry, Fire Lord. Fifteen it is.”

Zuko opened his mouth to oppose when he heard her chuckle in amusement before taking a hold of his arm and pulling him towards the gardens.

“We could feed the turtleducks, but I don’t really think that’s a good idea,” she chattered lightly, somewhat begrudgingly letting him walk arm in arm with her instead of keeping on dragging him around, “I already did that earlier today.”

He wrinkled his nose and stared at her with a silent question in his eyes, “why did you feed the turtleducks? We have people here to do that.”

“I know,” Y/N shrugged her shoulders, “but they are cute so I asked to feed them,” she threw him a smile, “I’m pretty sure they liked me.”

Zuko shook his head cheerfully and smiled back almost instantly, “Of course they did. How could they not?”

She turned her head to look at him so quickly he wondered how she didn’t get whiplash. The Kyoshi Warrior smirked, “are you flirting with me, Fire Lord?”

There was a tingling session going through his body as the color red creeped upon his neck, face and ears. Zuko wanted to say something smooth like “yes, I have been for a while, haven’t you noticed?” or “how could I not flirt with such a pretty lady like you?”, but he only managed to stutter, slightly panic, and then answer in a high-pitched voice, “what? No! What?”

Y/N lifted her free arm in surrender, trying not to laugh at his reaction, “alright, sorry for asking,” she smirked again before muttering, “I wouldn’t mind if you were, though.”

The Fire Lord’s eyes widened in surprise at her words, his tone now back to normal, “what do you mean?”

For some reason, his inquiry seemed to make her self-conscious of their conversation topic. Zuko wished for nothing more than to punch himself in the face. “It’s nothing. I was just joking.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Great. Look, it’s been five minutes already!” she stared at her wrist so confidently he almost didn’t notice the lack of anything to actually check the time there. “You must go back to your Fire Lord things, right, Fire Lord?”

“We can still go see the turtleducks if you want?”

“Don’t worry! We can do that another time, when you’re not busy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Hey, that’s Suki! I need to talk to her! Bye!”

“What? Y/N—”

“Bye, Fire Lord!”

Y/N was going absolutely crazy. When Suki first brought her to the Fire Nation to protect the so-called revolutionary and strong new Fire Lord, she had been skeptical. After all her years training and helping people around the nations with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors, she couldn’t care less about the damn Fire Lord — she had spent a long time locked up after Azula and her stupid gang captured them and no new or old Fire Lord had come to their rescue. In conclusion, the bitch could catch on fire himself and be an On-Fire Lord for all she cared (she had spent too long thinking about that joke but that definitely did not matter), even though Suki had told her she knew the guy and that he was a great person or whatever.

Now she was biting her own tongue and trying to keep from flirting with him. In her defense, though, Zuko was a thousand times more good-looking and a billion times nicer than she expected him to be. She couldn’t help but always look for ways to make him smile, loving all his little quirks and habits, and suddenly found herself by his side a lot more than she needed to. She constantly acted as a personal guard, waiting outside his door during private meetings and accompanying him on walks, assemblies and gatherings in a somewhat intimate manner. She didn’t need to be right beside him the whole time — she could protect him from afar and maintain her distance like the other Kyoshi Warriors had chosen to, but Y/N simply didn’t want that. The stupid feelings she was slowly building towards the Fire Lord were dangerous at worst and annoying at best, constantly distracting her from her duties and responsibilities as Suki’s second in command.

It was infuriating, since love and relationships had never been really the type of stuff Y/N liked to partake in. She was good at fighting and giving witty responses and making jokes, but not at liking someone. Specially not liking Fire Lord Zuko, who was one of the most powerful people in the world and would certainly end up marrying some rich Fire Nation girl to guarantee a great and honorable successor to the throne or something like that.

When she finally went back to her individual palace room after a long day of trying not to embarrass herself in front of Zuko anymore and just all-around avoiding talking with him, she sat down before the mirror and started to take her facepaint off. That part of her routine, alongside putting on the paint in the mornings, had always felt like a ritual of sorts, calming her down and enabling her to let go of any unimportant worries.

Y/N let out a tired sigh, stared at her bare face and grinned. She might have fallen in love with the Fire Lord, but at least living in the palace allowed her to sneak into the kitchens in the middle of the night and steal some fruit tarts. She got up from her spot in front of the mirror and exited the room as quietly as possible, strongly believing that eating something would take her mind off the Fire Lord and his beautiful golden eyes.

-----

After another full hour of fruitlessly waiting for sleep, Zuko decided to put on an old cloak and walk around his palace. Pacing had always made wonders for helping him collect his thoughts and calm down from whatever it was that troubled him that day. It was not the first time he took on that habit and it would not be the last.

He honestly didn’t notice the person creeping up on him until he was pinned to a wall, an arm to his throat not pressing hard enough to hurt him, but enough to quicken his heartbeat. Zuko stared at the one responsible for the assault with confusion shining in his eyes, unable to recognize her without her greasepaint until she blinked and stepped back.

“Fire Lord?”

He widened his eyes, “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“I was headed for the kitchens. What are you doing here? Did something happen?”

“No. I just couldn’t sleep.”

“I see,” she nodded and yawned, averting her eyes from him, “you shouldn’t be out and about without a guard, tho. You know that.”

“I’m pretty capable of protecting myself, Y/N.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

He crossed his arms in defense, “what is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you want to go grab some snacks with me?”

“I—” he stared at her, for the first time seeing her blush under his gaze, “okay.”

“Great! Let’s go, Fire Lord.”

Zuko stayed quiet while they walked through the palace. He watched Y/N greet every single night servant they met on their way, earning big smiles and excited waves. For some reason, knowing how loved she was by his workers made his heart swell with pride. She would make an excellent Fire Queen someday. Or Fire Lady. Was there an official name for the Fire Lord’s wife? He couldn’t remember.

Zuko felt all the blood in his body drop to his feet when he noticed where his thoughts had wandered to. He shouldn’t think about Y/N as his wife — she was merely a protector, the help. He was not in love with her and therefore should not deliberate such things, not even by accident.

But he had never seen her bare faced before and he couldn’t help but take note of how alluring she was. He had always considered her pretty, but now he could really see her and she was so much more than just pretty.

“Come on, Fire Lord. I’m sure they have fruit tarts.”

He smiled as she sneaked inside the door to the kitchens, following soon after. In a matter of minutes they were sat before each other on the ground, sharing a bunch of fruit tarts Y/N had found hidden inside one of the cabinets. There was a comfortable silence surrounding them and Zuko appreciated how easy it was to be near her, without expectations or curious looks. Whenever he was next to the Kyoshi Warrior, he came close to forgetting his titles and obligations, satisfied with being simply who he was.

It felt nice.

“You look good with your hair down,” she announced suddenly, unaware of the thoughtful look on his face, “I like it.”

He felt his cheeks burn, “thank you, Y/N,” the young Fire Lord inhaled deeply to gather the courage necessary to express the response that came to mind, “you look good all the time.”

She stilled her movements with a fruit tart inches from her mouth, eyes blinking in surprise. After a tense moment, she grinned and lowered her arm, “do you really think so or are you just being nice?”

“I mean it, Y/N. You are… You are absolutely beautiful.”

The pair studied each other for a few instants, eyes sparkling with a breathtaking feeling both easily recognized but were not ready just yet to deal with. Y/N beamed at him, her face pink at the compliment. Zuko could feel his heart twist and turn inside his chest, butterflies flying in his stomach. “Why, thank you, Fire Lord. For the record, I have found you beautiful since I first saw you. I was expecting some rude and cranky old guy and there you were, with your pretty eyes and nervous smile. It was pleasant in a very surprising way.”

The Fire Lord was pretty sure she could hear his heartbeat as she leaned in almost subconsciously, her smile brightening up every small spot his eyes could see of the dark kitchen.

He was, indeed, very much in love with her, and there was no use in denying it, not while she averted her gaze to his lips and seemed to get closer and closer until their noses touched. Zuko’s breath hitched inside his throat as her lips ghosted his, eyes fluttering close before a loud bang sent them jumping in opposite directions, searching the source of the noise.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

The Kyoshi Warrior scratched her neck shyly, adamantly avoiding Zuko’s stare, “yes, Izum. How are you?”

The servant walked up to her with crossed arms, “I told you to stop invading the kitchens at night! You’re gonna put an end to our fruit tart stock, young lady.”

The Fire Lord watched the interaction curiously. Y/N and Izum smirked at each other as if they were old friends. “Well, if you don’t want me to steal your fruit tarts, you should maybe stop making the best fruit tarts in the entire universe.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, honey.”

“You sure?”

“Yes! Fire Lord Zuko will be alerted about this.”

“I think he might already know.”

The young man seemed to finally notice Zuko’s presence, widening his eyes in surprise and bowing respectfully, “I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there, it’s too dark and—”

“It’s fine, Izum, don’t worry. We’ll be off your kitchens in a second. Right, Y/N?”

“Of course,” she brushed the dust off her pants and walked to stand beside the Fire Lord, ignoring her friend’s raised brows, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will,” Izum looked from her to Zuko and then back to her, a teasing smile on his face when he greeted them goodbye, “good night, Y/N. Good night, Fire Lord Zuko.”

“How do you know him?” the Fire Lord asked after they left the kitchen, some sort of discomfort growing inside him at the way the Kyoshi Warrior had interacted with the servant.

“Oh, Izum is a good friend. He regrets deeply telling me where they keep the fruit tarts, but it’s too late now. We met during my first week here.”

“I see.”

“Let me take you back to your room, Fire Lord. It is already very late.”

Despite his unacknowledged jealousy, he wasn’t fast enough to bit back his smirk, “shouldn’t I be the one leading you to your room?”

“I am the guard, Zuko. I am the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”

He chuckled, “right.”

“I can put you to bed if you want, I used to do that to my younger sibling sometimes.”

“Shut up, Y/N.”

She threw her had back in laughter and he grinned.

They didn’t ever talk about what happened (or more accurately didn’t happen) during that dark night in the kitchens. Zuko was progressively busier with meetings and peace treaties, slowly putting the Fire Nation back in good rails. Y/N would routinely force him to take a break every once in a while, be it by leading him outside his office or taking his attention away from work and starting conversation.

Spirits, he was so in love with her.

It was during one of those breaks that one of her fellow Kyoshi Warriors knocked on his workroom’s door and entered with a nervous look on her face, nodding at him in respect before turning her attention to her friend, “Y/N?”

The young warrior smiled, “hey, Naya. Is everything alright?”

“Suki wants to speak with you. Privately.”

Y/N’s expression was instantly filled with worry and concentration. She gripped her katana tightly, walking towards the girl, “I want three warriors guarding the Fire Lord at all times, we are not taking chances regarding his safety. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Y/N.”

“Good,” she turned to Zuko, her stone-cold face easing momentarily. She marched up to him with conviction before planting a kiss on his cheek that made his body burn with surprise and happiness. “Be careful, Fire Lord. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“I—I… I mean… I’m—” he kept on stuttering, unable to form an entire sentence with his feelings all over the place, “You… I—”

She smirked, walking away backwards, “see you, Zuko.”

Naya looked at him with a cheeky smile after Y/N left the room, crossing her arms and staring in a teasing manner. Zuko was still rooted into place, widened eyes and reddened cheeks watching the now closed door. “Are you alright, Fire Lord Zuko?”

“I—yeah. I am. Yes,” his tone was definitely not as certain as he wanted it to be, “of course.”

The girl giggled, “sure.”

The Fire Lord would only see his favorite guard again on the following day. She came to visit him in his office and had a gravity to her eyes that he was unfamiliar with, lips pressed together in determination.

“What happened?” he immediately asked, the letter he was working on quickly forgotten. “Are you okay?”

“There have been attacks to the warriors in Kyoshi Island,” she declared, “not everyone is happy with our new arrangements. People think Earth Kingdom fighters shouldn’t be helping the Fire Nation in any way.”

“Oh,” he managed to answer, anxiety building up inside him at her hardened expression. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Zuko,” she looked away from him, “but we can’t leave our companions to fend for themselves.”

He could feel his heartbeat pick up, “I see.”

“Suki is sending me back to Kyoshi Island,” Y/N confessed, a hint of sadness to her tone, “I’m her second in command and I should be there to help our warriors through this.”

A heavy silence fell upon the room, tension sparkling between the couple. He knew what that piece of information meant, knew what it would cause.

“You’re leaving.”

She softened almost instantly, taking a step closer to him and then hesitating, “no!” he stared and she sighed, “I mean, yes, but I’ll return when it’s over,” she looked at him with some sort of desperation, eagerly searching for something she couldn’t find, “when everything’s done and dealt with, I’ll return.”

Zuko nodded, a disheartening sting running through his chest, “I understand. Leaving is your duty as a leader.”

“I’m not leaving, Zuko,” another step, “I’ll come back. I’ll—” she hesitated, taking a final step towards him and reaching for his hand uncertainly, “I’ll come back to the Fire Nation,” she interlaced their fingers carefully, “I’ll come back to you.”

It was his turn to step closer, bringing his free hand up to her face and sighing when she leaned onto it, hopeful eyes shining at him. When he finally spoke, his voice was a whisper, “will you?”

She chuckled sadly, moving to rest her forehead on his, staining his face with the white paint and rubbing circles alongside the back of his hand with her thumb, “I will. You are not getting rid of me this easily, Fire Lord.”

“Good. I didn’t want to.”

She smiled. On that exact moment, Suki opened the door and studied the scene before her with a bittersweet gaze, “Y/N, it’s time to go.”

His chest clenched in pain and distress, glancing from Suki to Y/N with anguish, “you are going now?”

The Kyoshi Warrior distanced herself from him and Zuko could’ve sworn he felt physical pain at the space between them, “I’ll come back, Zuko. I promise.”

-----

It was like he had a constant sunshine right beside him and now it was gone. He was pretty sure every single person in the palace had noticed the liking he had taken to moping around and staring sadly at the turtleducks, missing the one he had come to love. He thought his feelings for her would subside after her departure, but, oh dear, was he wrong. The deep ache that settled in his chest was enough to constantly remind him of how much he liked her, how much he missed her. Not having her around hurt so much that it became inconvenient, making it difficult to work and complete his responsibilities when he was constantly thinking about her safety and about what could have been if she had stayed just a little longer. Zuko thought they had finally reached the start of something new but she wasn’t here anymore and he would have to wait to find out.

Suki tried to report to him what was going on at Kyoshi Island whenever she could. Y/N was working hard to calm down the conflicts while at the same time training the new and old Kyoshi Warriors as well as possible. Suki told him it would take a while until things were okay enough for Y/N to return to the Fire Nation, but it would happen eventually.

He was so desperately in love it was embarrassing. He craved her presence, her voice, her laugh, her touch. He wondered if she felt the same and concluded that no, probably not. To be honest, however, he would accept anything coming from her, even some second-hand love. He would still be happy if she decided to settle for him after being made aware of his feelings.

The Fire Lord was adamant on telling her everything he felt when she came back — and she would come back, she had promised —, because being away from Y/N made him realize how much happier he was with her and he refused to let her leave again without knowing that he just absolutely adored her.

Meanwhile, Y/N felt incredibly overwhelmed. Between helping train the Kyoshi Warriors and trying to solve any misunderstanding with the Earth Kingdom citizens in a diplomatic way, she found it hard to breathe. It was somehow good, to be honest, because it didn’t leave her with much time to think about him. And, Spirits, did she think about him when she could. She was extremely excited to finally go back to the Fire Nation and just be by his side again.

There was a part of her that worried. Even though they had had multiple moments when she truly believed he felt the same, they never really spoke about it. Zuko didn’t seem the best at communication, and Y/N generally chose to joke around and tease instead of actually voicing her emotions.

“Miss Y/N, you must understand—”

“No, Mung, you and your so-called rebels are the ones who are not understanding. Fire Lord Zuko is trying to rebuild and strengthen the ties with Earth Kingdom in a healthy way for both nations—”

“But Miss Y/N—”

“—and the Kyoshi Warriors are collaborating with that by being a part of the official guard. How, for Spirits’ sake, is you attacking my warriors a good way of achieving anything you might want to achieve?”

The man swallowed harshly while he fidgeted. Y/N had worked hard to get a meeting with the rebels on Kyoshi Island, but was pleasantly surprised to notice how unorganized they were. “The Kyoshi Warriors shouldn’t collaborate with the Fire Nation, Miss Y/N,” a young man guarding the rebel leader’s door interrupted their staring contest, “the Fire Nation has done nothing but cause destruction and suffering. We won’t have our beloved warriors being corrupted by such a horrible mindset as the Fire Nation’s.”

“I appreciate your concern, but Zuko,” she cleared her throat in embarrassment at the verbal slip, “Fire Lord Zuko is different. He cares about people and he seeks redemption for Fire Nation’s wrongdoings. Having a good relationship with him is a great deal for the Earth Kingdom, believe me.”

The two men exchanged a look before returning their gaze to her. She tried to bit back a smile when she noticed the meaningful expression on their faces, signalizing she might finally be able to go home.

She tensed at the thought. Was that what Fire Nation was now? Home?

Or was she ready to admit the real home she had been thinking of was a certain Fire Lord all along?

-----

It was a hot day in the Fire Nation and Zuko was busy with his daily amount of sulking and missing his favorite girl when he heard a commotion going on somewhere near him. He confusedly followed the sound, finding the Kyoshi Warriors gathered around and talking loudly. The Fire Lord furrowed his brows.

“Is everything okay?” his voice quieted them down and he watched while the young fighters exchanged knowing looks. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, Fire Lord, it did,” his heartbeat picked up immediately and he turned towards the voice he had fallen in love with, finding her dazzling smile. Y/N crossed her arms in a teasing manner, “told you I’d come back.”

Zuko stared at her while the other warriors scrambled towards somewhere else, aiming to leave the couple alone. He smirked, “you did tell me.”

She walked closer to him until they were chest to chest, and he wondered if she could feel his jumping heart against her, “I think I even made a promise.”

“You surely did.”

Y/N grinned, “well, then I guess—”

“I’m in love with you.”

This was not in his plans. He meant to say a lot of things about how he slowly fell for her during the months they spent together, but Zuko simply couldn’t help from blurting a confession out like a dumbass. He had craved being around her so much during these weeks apart and now she was finally there, just within reach. He couldn’t take any more dancing around each other.

She beamed, “that surely makes this less awkward.”

“Wait, what?”

Before he could wrap his head around her words, Y/N took a hold of his collar and pulled him to her, gazing at his lips as their noses touched, just like weeks ago in the kitchens. She smiled softly, eyes fluttering close, “I’m in love with you too, Fire Lord.”

“Oh, thank the fucking Spirits.”

The Kyoshi Warrior laughed against his mouth, sending a tingling sensation down his back. His hands held onto her waist, extinguishing any space between them before he kissed her deeply, relief and happiness flooding his senses all at once. His own personal sunshine was finally next to him again and he revelled from the pure warmth she provided, chasing all insecurities and fears away until only his love remained.

“I missed you,” he mumbled on her lips, so intoxicated by her presence he could have forgotten how to breathe.

He could literally feel her smile between kisses, “I missed you too, Zuko,” she moved slightly away so to be able to stare at his eyes, “but don’t you worry, Fire Lord. I’ll always come back to you.”

Zuko chuckled, “you’re so cheesy.”

“You love it. Can I be even cheesier?”

“Go ahead, pretty girl.”

“Hey, Fire Lord, your new permanent date is here, and she’s not leaving.”

“That was horrible, Y/N. But good to know.”

He attached his lips to hers again and, for the first time, Zuko didn’t have a single worry for the future or for his fate. For better or for worse, he had his favorite guard by his side, and that was enough.

ATLA taglist: @bottledcostcowater @officiallydarkgeek (for some reason I can’t tag you I’m sorry??) and @beifongsss and @azucanela I know you didn’t ask to be tagged but you didn’t seem to mind last time so here I am again?? if you don’t want to be tagged anymore just lmk!!

I hope you liked it!!

#atla #atla x reader #zuko x reader #zuko #zuko imagine #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender x reader #suki #zuko x fem!reader #zuko x f!reader #fire lord zuko #fire lord zuko x reader #suki x reader #kyoshi warriors #kyoshi warrior reader #this was kinda cute wasn't it #i'm lowkey proud of this #ngl

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itswednesdaymesdudes · 3 years

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4 (animated) movies/series you will probably enjoy if you liked the Artemis Fowl-series

The way the adaptation from earlier this year turned out had me so irked I unconsciously started looking for similar things to enjoy instead. So here are a few of them. Most of these are pretty well known, but oh well.

1. Cowboy Bebop

In a post-apocalyptic world where the Moon blew up and Earth is largely inhabitable, an ex-criminal with a knack for forming nemeses, an ex-police investigator, a cryogenics survivor, an eccentric hacker, and a dog endowed with human intelligence form an inter-galactic bounty-hunting team in order to escape their shitty pasts. (That was a mouthful.) Through a series of well-written action adventures, each of them is forced to come to terms with their old lifestyle and choices. This makes for complex, fleshed out characters and a surprising exploration of adult, environmental, and societal issues. Is enjoyable even if you generally don’t watch anime. Worth checking out for the amazing jazz soundtrack, spaceship design, and Western genre influences alone.

2. Die Hard (1988)

Eoin Colfer once described the plot of the first book as ‘Die Hard with fairies’. A pre-Christmas air of this action classic made me realise just to which extent this is the case. Like the book, it takes place on a Christmas Eve, it involves a heist (of its own Holly, not to mention, who btw packs a punch), ultimately to be solved by one (1) Irish-American police detective. It features a foul and remorseless villain, but a complex one at that (woohoo Alan Rickman). Its action sequences also seem to have influenced some events in the book (looking at you, c4 explosion and final fight). So yeah, great watch if you want to imagine what the action scenes could have looked like.

3. Zootopia

An at first glance surprising, but worthy mention. Apart from it being a kid-friendly exploration of implicit prejudices in society and the nature vs. nurture debate, it captures a first-of-her-kind police officer and a conman while they reluctantly pair up to solve a case that is about to cause permanent societal division. To top this off, it features a Russo-Italian polar bear maffia, an overly demanding police chief, a kleptomaniac weasel, and a seemingly innocent, power-hungry and manipulative villain (honestly I might be reading too much into this but idk if someone involved in production got inspired👀). Whenever this movie is mentioned, I cannot help but wonder how Disney got its elements so right without needing to try, while managing to get the actual thing so, so wrong? Sigh. Moving on.

4. Road to El Dorado

Last, but definitely not least (after Bebop probably my favourite on this list). An unhinged bard and a scheming rogue, with a respective appetite for adventure and gold, manage to find their way to a secret civilization and, through a combination of wit and dumb luck, almost con it out of a big chunk of its gold. ALMOST. Broken promises and the arrival of the real Bad guys, which threatens the exposure of the civilization, lead to a last-minute change of plans. What makes it even better is that the whole movie (courtesy of Dreamworks) seems to be a jab at 90s animated features from a company we all well know. It pokes fun at portrayals of white/male saviours and indigenous people/women in children’s animation of its time (including itself). Every so often, an Elton John track plays in the background (ngl “It’s Tough To Be A God” will always be a jam). The comedy is very character- and dialogue-based, and Kenneth Branagh redeems himself by lending his voice to Miguel. Overall, great fun.

Did I miss something? Pls comment, because it seems like it will take a while before the series gets an adaptation that will actually capture its worth (no pun intended)

#artemis fowl #worked on this instead of my paper due tmmrw fml #fowl twins #domovoi butler #holly short #mulch diggums #opal koboi #foaly #might delete later

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lorettapetrichor · 3 years

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i was tagged for this by @calamity-unlocked sdghsdfhjs!!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

on my main pseud? 12. including the ones on my other pseud and the ones i changed to be anonymous bc of old/cringey writing? 18.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

~58k, but a lot of that is from my friend's fic that i coauthored a couple chapters with. my personal total is ~39k!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

i have a Lot of Extremely old fics lingering in my drive from my warrior cat days of elementary and middle school but my ao3 is only Steven Universe and Amphibia, with one SU/D&D crossover!

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

don't blame yourself (because you tried as hard as hell)

this one is just a oneshot i whipped out in a couple days that ended up being pretty popular! marcanne hurt/comfort apparently resonates with a lot of people, lmao.

heir of the flowers

this is the previously mentioned collab fic! i considered not including it on here since i feel like @fullmusicbard is really the holder of those kudos, but i'm going to just go by ao3's stats, so there's some promo for her! it's a canon-divergent steven universe fic, going with the concept of "what if the escape in the episode 'jailbreak' didn't go as planned?"

heroes on fire

a self-indulgent late-season-3 amphibia theory fic! beginning with the defeat of andrias, going through some recovery stuff, and eventually, the defeat of the night! i really haven't worked on this for a while since i have other projects in progress, but i'd love to get out the remaining chapters before the season 3 premiere!

homesick (if it helps you breathe)

i'm so glad that this fic ended up in my top five after all the work i put into it! this is a songfic, based on "homesick" by sleeping at last, made up of a series of interconnected vignettes about the girls being trapped in amphibia for many years. i put a ton of work into this, and i think it paid off!

noise

a long-abandoned steven universe fic, based on a concept of steven's gem being bleached in change your mind. i wish i could come back to it, but i've lost my interest in a lot of the darkness of this au.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i try to respond to comments as often as possible, but sometimes i feel intimidated if some author whose fics i stalk pops by to post one! sdgsdhj i do read and highly appreciate every single one!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

frog, i have a lot of very dark fics that i've now set to not show up on my profile. the angstiest one i have currently published would have to either be everything. or look at how my tears ricochet. they are about the same character, same scene, same concept, so i'd say they're tied!

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

one of my current wips is a crossover with redwall! however, the only crossover fic i've actually posted is a D&D crossover with steven universe: on the sea

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i really don't think i have? if i did i deleted it and blocked it from memory sghfsdjgs

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

absolutely not lmao

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope!

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

no, i haven't!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i've mentioned this a few times, but i featured as a coauthor on a few chapters of my friend's steven universe fic heir of the flowers! go give that fic all the kudos sgdhfsdhjghj

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

any ship of the calamity trio is awesome ngl. sashannarcy is so snazzy sgdsjhgjs. in order, my other fave ships of them are marcanne, sasharcy, and sashanne. frog i love them.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

i have this drabble of the scene where anne breaks her arm in toad tax completely written out but i'm just not sure what to do with it! i feel like it either needs to be half of a two-shot or embedded as a flashback/memory scene in another work (which i've actually done with my drabbles in the past!) but for now it's just sitting in my drive.

15) What are your writing strengths?

i've been told again and again that i'm amazing at emotions, and i think a lot of that is because of how much my character interactions pull from my experiences. for instance, homesick was originally conceptualized as a vent while i was away at summer camp, and i just stretched my own homesickness even further in order to capture the feelings of the girls! it's not uncommon for dialogue in my fics to be pulled directly from my life.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

getting a fic of any actual real length down on paper! i am blown away by anyone who can have a fic that's anything over 50k words– my total wordcount for all my published fics doesn't even break that!

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i've never included another language in a fic, half because i'm too scared of butchering it with google translate, half because i've never had the opportunity or the need to! if i did, i feel like my best option as someone who only speaks english would be to simply write the dialogue in english but note that it was said in another language.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

warrior cats.......

19) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

homesick (if it helps you breathe) or eyes forward!

tagging @fullmusicbard and @ anyone else who wants to steal this!

#lore talks #my writing #homesick (if it helps you breathe)#ony tagging that fic since i talked about it the most #tag game

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miaxeu · 4 years

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though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, MIA STOEGER is actually a descendent of DIONYSUS. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-ONE year old MYTHOLOGICAL STUDIES MAJOR from LOS ANGELES, USA has taken after HER godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite CHARISMATIC & DUPLICITOUS.

( y’all dont deserve this real messy intro but im workin w half a bwain cell at 4am so i beg thee 4 mercy. nywyy im the excited new girl who’s hella pumped to meet all ur charas : katya ! feel free to hop in my ims to plot or drop a like and i’ll hop in urs ! x )

POWERS

natural acting abilities — her ma’s a hollywoo agent so she started actin real early & now shes a big shot actress. there r more deetz on her career below !

chlorokinesis — it wasnt as natural as acting n she only started working on it when she turned 13 n started going to camps. b4 she just noticed shes good w plants but it wasnt super crazy or nything. its p good now tho ! shes prioritizing vine binding and manipulation 4 the self defense bc awards r cool n all but they dont rlly protecc from monsters ykwim

levitation — shes trying her best ur honor

alcokinesis — she cant conjure it or anything, she’s just immune to it ffff

BIO POINTS — cw: drug use ( full biography here )

her mom raised her by herself bc dionysus the party god was out of the picture immediately. she never told mia she’s a demigod & it was always just “ wow ur so talented ” or “ aww u got a green thumb ! ” but when she saw him claim 13 y/o mia by placing a weird hologram over her head while she slept, she knew she had to spill da beanz & tell her kid

ofc mia thought her mom was jus playing sum weird acting exercise w her bc her powers r so lowkey she could highkey just be a Mortal but insert sad whistle, the realizashun & the claiming meant heightened monster threat !! so yea ,,, one ended up chasing her a couple days later rip

aside from the trauma, mia was ok. mostly bc she ended up cryin for dionysus like any child would n lo & behold he came & helped !!! as he should. nywy she made sure to go to summer camps every year after that but mostly just for protection purposes

she lowkey rlly hates this whole god business esp now that shes grown lmfao deadass thinks she got a bad deal bc life threats arent sexy !!! went to eonia eventually bc its Too Much Man. she just wants to go back to work and her life w the mortals w/o worryin for her life. would deadass fade her father if she could. may or may not be majoring in greek mythology to figure out the logistics of it all out of spite, who knows !

PERSONALITY

not ! a Drama Queen — dont get me wrong, shes hella Extra in the way she moves n acts sorta like shes always bein captured on film. is quick-witted & playful & can be a huge tease/flirt if she feels like it, but miss her w Real Feelings ! totally not sentimental. srsly she will try to rationalize away everything and is just,.,., not good w it. so soz folks, we just keepin it breezy here

ugh, she’s an Actress — aka she can act like she cares tho ! shes very much into keeping ppl on her good side. shes friendly n palatable to everyone bc its how shes been trained & while it doesnt seem fake, its def diff when its genuine

The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known — lemme circle back to the first one, ok so shes good w emotions but only in theory. does intense character work with her roles so she thinks that counts as her having eq when rlly shes just emotionally stunted, projecting n repressing like an idiot

blonde, skinny, rich, & a lil bit of a Bitch — shes only a bitch inwardly or to ppl she trusts enuff to let in on the gossip. if anyone full on opposes her or becomes real emotional, then this lil diva will rear its superiority complex head n snap a lil. will most probably do it v underhandedly n w a smile but it will be Brutal

girls just wanna have FUN ! — shes the child of da party god, so ofc she a true party girl. officially off the rails when she parties. inhibitions ? we dk her. can be insensitive in that case bc smtms its truly no strings attached, tis all abt the fun. likes company a lot & it doesnt even have 2 be loud or particularly abt her, she just likes having people around n the escapism of it all. will make friends with everyone n make sure they have a jolly fun time guaranteed at dionysus parties

Work Hard, Play Hard — real responsible when it comes to work and commitments and if she trusts/likes u enough, she’ll give it 2 u straight, no bs. def thinks Calling Out is an act of love but maybe does it a lil too harshly smtms. v much into efficiency, sentiments be damned. not the feely words type. will sit next to u or party w u or even pay 4 ur therapist if u need sum1 to talk to. she will Be There while u work thru it, so long as u dont expect her to change n be all emotional n stuff

if she seems a lil contradictory thats bc she kinda is. tis the good ol nurture vs nature. her ma’s a real no nonsense chick n her pops is a frat guy drama geek greek god whos rlly into cottagecore so u get this lil blonde bitch whos sorta teetering on the edges

OTHER INFO — cw: drug use ( full headcanons here )

re her career, she achieved pegot status when she was 18 aka she truly b dat bitch. shes not super mainstream famous tho, more like indie sweetheart, film snobs/critics fave typa gal. if ya want a trajectory she started w baby commercials then a sitcom from 4-10 ( think modern fam’s lily ) then it was off to the big screen & the stage !

mia has a lil bit of a drug habit. its not abusive or dependent, but it is a staple whenever shes parties bc alcohol is useless 2 her. started a lil young too bc hollywoo. primarily uppers/hallucinogens. she smokes weed a lil more liberally but the rest is mostly just an on occasion thing ( which, ngl, is a still a lil problematic when u party a lot rip )

after she got claimed, mia ended up going to demigod camps in a lot of diff places n countries, depending on where production would take her. there was never an established place, more like wherever was nearest when they wrapped up shooting bc monsters afoot n wutnot

she was always homeschooled but she still managed to go to a prom and homecoming bc party is life. that makes eonia uni p much her first chance at having a normal educational environment & experience and even then its anything but. still tho this is her moment !!! im lit rally begging her to get a personality that isnt her internally rolling her eyes going “ its not that deep ”

might put up a bio/stats page if im feelin sxc but i wud jus like the records to show that mia stoeger is a bi sxc babe bc me ? write a het ? no grassy ass.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS — cw: drug use ( full connections here )

omg danny devito i love ur work !

,,, p self explanatory sdkjfs sum1 who loves her work ! it can be lowkey/highkey fangirl to a civil admiration

OR alternatively, y/m can Not Be a fan of her work. they might think the storyline of the projects she takes on r too out of touch n highbrow yada yada yada, but yes, we love to see either of it !

summer camp sweetheart !

someone she met when at camp when they were teens ? doesnt matter in what country/city, but mia was only visiting so it was truly a one summer romance typa thing. bc she was younger, im thinkin 13-17 or w/e she was probably sweeter n a lot more emotional then. was it either’s first puppy love ? first kiss ? first “ relationship ? ” idk, do yk ? truly, so many possibilities. nothin set in stone just hmu bub

summer camp pals !

p much the same as above but make it Platonic

party buddies !

or druggie pals. either way works but she wud luv it if theyre both xoxo

friends w benefits !

most probably ( but not limited to ) sum1 she met at a party skdjhsjk is it exclusive ? is any1 starting to develop feelings ? im down 4 nthing n evrything

alexa play true friend by hannah montana !

give mia her college bestie ! her confidant who knows her feels and can call each other out viciously with no ounce of resentment. we stan the friendships !

omg i love ur skirt !

that is the ugliest effing skirt i've ever seen. lmao basically sum1 mia pretends to like or acts civil w but rlly ,,,, Cannot Stand for w/e rzn

im p much braindead rn but those are just sum ideas !!! ofc the usual staples like the pals, enemies, wutnots are also v welcome we love to see it. if u also have a wc that u think mia would fit in, id luv to know more ! there are also a couple more detailed ones here, but pls feel free to shoot me a msg n we can get 2 plotting x

( * wipes brow * how did i type so much n say so little rip. mia is also a completely new muse so pls b patient n if i fuq up from time to time, pretend u do not see >.< nywy thnx 4 readin, sweets ! feel free to hmu here or at discord if ya wanna <3333 )

FULL INFO || EONIA TASKS

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ohmygodtheywereparabatai · 4 years

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kinda pissed ngl

This post wasn’t supposed to be a rant...

I originally began by wondering what Valentine’s father must have been like, for him to be so influenced by him.

We’re told that he had a similar upbringing to Jace and Sebastian, one involving the expected manipulation and abuse. However, those two completely disavowed any association with Valentine, and hated him with a passion: one was prepared to kill him, while the other acknowledged him only though blood, downright saying “I’d like to spit in his bastard face” behind his back. I wondered why Valentine didn’t have this attitude toward his own father. How, instead, he destroyed himself and everyone around him while pursuing revenge. How a son in an abusive situation could love his father that much.

And, yeah, there’s many other factors that tie into Jace and Seb’s hatred, but that’s exactly my point. When it comes to Valentine’s relationship with his father, it’s a big, fat blank — and I hate it. First of all, there wouldn’t even be a Mortal Instruments series without the initial villain that propelled the plot, and this is that villain’s story! Why don’t we know more? Why is there this empty gap between Valentine being a “gentle, kind boy” who had “an intensity bent toward doing what was right, what was good” and then suddenly the murderous, raging sociopath takes center stage? With... zero elaboration??

Part of the reason I’m tired out by the hate is because we never get to find out why. Sebastian’s why is the demon blood coursing through his veins, his determination to bind his family to him, no matter how unwilling, and to raise Hell. It’s in his nature. He had no choice. His eyes were meant to be “green as spring grass”. We bawled for a reason.

All I’ve ever been trying to do since I became fascinated with Valentine’s character was filling in that why. The blank in his character arc – the blank that makes him look cartoonish, and just a bloated allusion to Hitler. It made him so easy to hate, and so difficult to understand. Why did he fight so hard for change, and as early as twelve years old? Why was he so good at manipulating people, at filling in a hole where they felt lacking, at being able to charm his way out of deadlines and due dates with just a smile? (That sounds like a legit superpower. Sign me up.) Why does he say the word “party” with such revulsion, as if at fifteen years old he wouldn’t even allow himself to have fun?

Who were Oskar and Seraphina? (He even had an uncle.) How do they fit into this villain’s backstory, the grief-fueled rage that ultimately defines his transition into the bad guy, and decides the fates of so many other characters? They have to be more than just a mention in the Shadowhunter Codex in order to flesh out Valentine’s character, in order to help us empathize with his downfall, and see his flaws echoed in ourselves. That’s the tried and true way to write a fantastic villain. To capture the very evil that resides in all of us – instead of taking abuse, racism, bigotry, whatever feature of modern politicians or conservative alt-rights you can slap onto a fictional character in order to evoke the strongest response from a target audience. Relying on real life and nothing else to give your antagonist dimension is a cheap move. I hated that Valentine was a springboard for Sebastian’s narrative. I hated that he was sidelined as the psychopath, when in reality he wasn’t genetically predisposed to violence at all – he became a monster. He wasn’t born one. He aligns with the criteria for a sociopath much more accurately, and on plenty of different levels (I did my research, Sherlock!!) But all for what?

This is the man that dies “unable to distinguish between force and cooperation, between fear and willingness, between love and torture”. This is the man that tells Jocelyn in her deleted story: “I’m afraid of losing myself in all this sometimes, Jocelyn. It’s why I need you. You keep me human.” ... and who loses himself anyway. This is the man that learned, painfully, that “To love is to destroy, and to be the one loved is to be the one destroyed.” Not Jace. Not Sebastian. This is the man that came to the conclusion that he was meant for a higher purpose, that he had driven away everyone he loved – and was forbidden from trying to retrieve them – because they were distractions, that he couldn’t allow himself to be human. We probably expected Valentine’s flower card to do with pride, or vanity, or rage. Instead, it was the anemone – a flower that means forsaken.

For·sak·en: abandoned or deserted.

There’s an underlying tragedy behind Valentine Morgenstern, and I’ve struggled to dig it up, at least for the last four years now. Though his actions are inexcusable, and there is no doubt that racism, bigotry, and abuse are the extents of his monstrosity... he was once the good guy. The hero, even, set on reforming the future, ensuring that the world would be safe. Instead, he becomes “the very monster he sought to destroy”, and the only word from him is? That he parallels himself to Milton’s Lucifer, and that’s about it. Fuck this.

.......

I just think the very first villain to ever grace Cassandra Clare’s seductive, compelling Shadowhunter universe – deserves a little bit better.

#long post #valentine morgenstern #shadowhunters books #tsc #the mortal instruments #shadowhunters #city of bones #city of ashes #city of glass #the circle of raziel #the secret treasons #the evil we love #tsc rant #cassandra clare

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badboysdoitbetter · 4 years

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— winner | sc

pairing: takeshi wakatsuki x reader

fandom: kengan ashura

genre: angst, fluff; friends to lovers!AU, mutual pining!AU, fighter!reader, dense!reader

tags/warnings: a little violence, some L bombs, a disgustingly cute ending (this ones kinda cringey ngl), not much else :)

word count: 1.5k

synopsis: takeshi is in love with you; the only other fighter who’s been in the kengan tournament for as long as he has. it’s a shame you’re too oblivious to realize it...

"This next fighter needs no introduction, but I'll give it anyway!" said Sayaka Katahara, a girl you'd gotten to know over your many years in the Kengan matches. "With a record of 308 wins and 5 losses, she's been the longest-standing female fighter in the Kengan Tournament!

"Her signature move is knocking out her competition before they even see her coming! Although, with that body, it could be seducing her competition into submission."

You blushed and began fixing your skin-tight outfit, pulling down your spandex and adjusting your bra. "If you haven't heard of her, which I highly doubt, here's (Y/N) (L/N), better known as the 'Angel of Death!'"

Running into the view of spectators, where cheers immediately erupted, you held out your arms out beside you, so they were parallel to the floor like you had wings.

It was like the crowd got impossibly louder, and you even saw people standing up in their seats and pumping their fists in the air. Smirking, you knew your signature move would get them riled up.

"(Y/N)! (Y/N)! (Y/N!)" You stopped in the middle of the field, greeting your opponent.

This is going to be an easy match.

It was. Within the first three minutes your 6'3", 390-pound brick-of-a-man adversary was on the ground, unresponsive.

"The Angel of Death strikes again!" You stepped away from his limp body, limping to where the other fighters you'd met waited to greet you.

"That was awesome!" Cosmo Imai, a 19-year-old boy you considered your child, wrapped his muscular arms around you. You winced when he pushed you back a little, as you'd stepped back with your injured foot. "You were like whoosh, and then you were like BAM, and he went ah! and then it was over! Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Stop bothering her, idiot! (Y/N), I gotta admit, you look pretty good in that getup!" Takeshi Wakatsuki smirked at you, and you blushed hard.

Why does he tease me every chance he gets! Doesn't he know how I feel about him already? It's like he wants me to know I can't have him.

"Thanks! I work really hard, so I'm glad it's paying off!" Giving him a bright smile, you shook off your thoughts as you began limping away. You may have beaten the human-brick, but it didn't mean he was weak. "Sorry, but I have an interview to get to!"

"So, (Y/N), how does it feel to be one of the longest-standing competitors in this tournament?" Your interviewer, you'd forgotten her name as soon as she'd said it, asked inquisitively.

"Well—"

"Alright," She cut you off, ignoring the fact that she'd just asked you a question. "I think we all want to know what's going on with you and the other longest fighter." You raised a brow.

"Who?"

"You know! Your old pal Takeshi."

"Huh? Oh, Takeshi and I are just friends, Miss!" No one looked like they believed you. "I swear!" Holding your hands up in front of you, the interviewer took one look at your closed-eye smile and replied.

"Oh really? We've got some clips of you two that tell us otherwise. Roll the tape!"

As the tape began to play, you and Takeshi appeared on the screen.

When were they able to capture this?

The two of you were training before one of your biggest matches that had a high reward for your company, and you were about to shit yourself out of pure nervousness. Takeshi was across from you, calm and collected, sparring with you so could practice your hits.

You went to attack, and he could have knocked you out right then and there, but... He didn't. Instead, he took one of your "Angel Kicks" right to the face, giving you a sore foot and him a minor concussion, but it did wonders in calming you down. You hadn't known it then, but you won your match because you believed that if you could beat the "Wild Tiger," you could beat anyone.

The next clip started to play. This time, it was after another big match, and it was your 5th loss in total. Disheartened, you sobbed as you ran from the crowds, all of whom were cheering for the real winner, one of Metsudo's "Fangs."

Takeshi took you into his arms as soon as you were past the crowd. He didn't break away as you tried to shove him to get by or let you leave as your body wracked with sobs. He held you in his arms and told you to keep going, to keep fighting, and you did. That's what got you to where you were today.

He does that to all of his friends, I bet. I'm not special to him, although I wish I was...

"(Y/N)? Hello... (Y/N)?" A hand waving in front of your face pulled you out of your trance. "Don't even try to deny it anymore. There's obviously something happening there, and I want to know the deets!"

Overwhelmed, you stood up and limped out of the interview as fast as you could, trying to wobble as far as you could to get away from there.

Why can't he love me like that, the way I love him?

"(Y/N)? Oof—" Falling onto someone while you weren't looking, you were met with steely blue eyes staring back at you.

"Takeshi, what are you doing here?" He saw your black and blue leg, and he noticed that you were stuttering through your sentence, but what killed Takeshi the most was the tears staining your otherwise-perfect cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Your eyes widened.

"Um, yeah, why?"

"You don't look it..."

"Well, I'm fine. If that's all you came to ask me, I need to get to my room." You went to move around him, but he stopped you.

"Oh, how'd your interview go?"

You sobbed even harder.

He doesn't even know that I'm crying about him.

"It went fine. Excuse me." This time, he moved out of the way and let you pass him, watching as you quickly turned the corner of the hallway to get your hotel room.

The only thought Takeshi Wakatsuki had as he walked towards your room was that you were an idiot.

He watched the interview, and he'd seen the way you reacted to his caring attitude towards you. He saw the longing in your eyes when you denied being anything more than "friends."

Takeshi wasn't cocky, or overly-confident, but he was observant. He knew you liked him back and didn't understand how you didn't realize he felt the same way...He thought it was pretty obvious.

Hearing a knock, you opened the door to see the man you were crying over.

"What are you doing—" Not waiting for you to finish, he pulled you towards him and locked his lips on yours. Not waiting very long, he could feel you return the kiss with just as much passion.

As he pulled away, he told you what he came here to say.

"You're an idiot."

"What?" You looked at him dumbfounded.

"I take every possible moment we're together to can to show you how much I love you, and you can't even figure it out when another person points it out to you? (Y/N), I let you give me a concussion because I wanted to be happy, for christ's sake."

Your mouth was agape, and you couldn't bring yourself to reply. "Now, I don't even know if you like me, but it sure as hell seems as if you do, so this time, I'm going to make it as clear as possible.

"I LO—"

You put a hand over his mouth, stopping him from finishing his declaration. As you pulled away, he went, "Why'd you do that?"

You smirked, regathering your thoughts as you let out those three little words.

"I love you."

Time seemed to stop between the two of you, and you almost cackled when Takeshi realized what you did.

"Seriously? You had to say it first, didn't you? Even though you wouldn't have confessed if I hadn't figured it out before you did—"

"Takeshi," You started, "Did you seriously think I'd lose to you again?"

"You know what, (Y/N), the scores 2:1, and I'm winning."

"What do you mean?" He laughed as your face went red, "You won during our fight, and I won now! Since when was it two to one?"

"That may be true, but I won something even better." You scoffed.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"You."

#Takeshi Wakatsuki #kengan ashura #kengan ashura imagine #kengan omega #kengan omega imagine #takeshi wakatsuki x reader #sen hatsumi x reader #gaolang wongsawat x reader #gaolang wongsawat #saw paing yoroizuka x reader #saw paing yoroizuka #ohma tokita #fanfiction #imagine #haikyuu #anime #manga

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 188: Hard Knocks Path to Redemption

Previously on BnHA: The Todoroki kids sans Shouto (and Dabi lulz) visited their mom at the hospital and awkwardly discussed Endeavor officially becoming the #1 hero. Shouto’s older brother Natsuo wasn’t happy about it, saying that the world doesn’t know about “what he did” and how he treated his family. But interestingly, Rei came to his defense, saying that things were more complex than that. She said she doesn’t know what’s going on in his heart, “but he hasn’t left us behind.” We then cut to Endeavor’s fight with the High Tide Noumu, which basically consisted of Endeavor hovering for a few seconds with his flames, and then getting very violently flung through a building. Like, he was basically used as a human laser saw to cut the top of this high rise clean off. A bunch of people nearly fell to their deaths, but thankfully Hawks saved them all with his ridiculously OP Mighty Wings quirk. Speaking of Hawks, idk but it sure is some shifty bullshit that Your Highness Noumu just happened to attack him and Endeavor in this building right when they were having a chitchat about Noumus. Something is definitely up you guys.

Today on BnHA: Endeavor continues to battle the High Heaven Noumu and pulls off some impressive feats, such as dicing a falling building into tiny pieces with his flames so that the spectators below don’t get crushed. Unfortunately these techniques come at a price, and he finds himself beginning to struggle due to the heat building up in his body. Meanwhile the High Hopes Noumu remains mostly unfazed, even dispatching a bunch of disgusting slimy clone things to wreak some havoc and distract Hawks and the other pros on the scene so that they can’t assist. Realizing he has no choice but to Go For It, Endeavor powers up his flames and hits the Noumu with massive flame attack: Prominence Burn. Unfortunately the Noumu anticipates his actions and is able to avoid being completely disintegrated. He regenerates, and then brutally slashes/stabs Endeavor in the most ironic spots possible -- his torso (nearly the same place where All Might was wounded by AFO), and his left eye (don’t think I have to explain this one lol). It’s all very violent, and probably not the sort of thing you’d want your child to witness on live television -- oh hey there Shouto. Didn’t see you there. Uh... well, shit.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 209 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

interesting title!

I wonder which of his four kids this is referring to? ngl I’ve been missing the U.A. kids for these past couple chapters so it would be nice to get Shouto back in here

holy shittttt

thiiiiiiiis is bad. that is some serious destruction. not something they can just shrug their shoulders about later, especially in BnHA where damage like this actually has lasting consequences

lol some other heroes are watching from a distance and they’re all “did Endeavor just Vidalia Chop Wizard that whole fucking building”

meanwhile Hawks is tumbling to safety on a nearby rooftop

and he’s referring here to Endeavor’s opening line in the chapter, “I’ll dice you up and burn you until there’s nothing left”

(ETA: in addition to being the first reluctant hero in the series, Hawks is also the quippiest we’ve had by far. Hawks is all your dialogue polished up by a Marvel screenwriting team or what)

I appreciate Hawks’s efforts at combat banter, but all I keep thinking is that those pieces actually did look remarkably neat and uniform, and that it wouldn’t kill him to show a little appreciation for what was honest to god one of the most insane quirk feats we’ve seen to date

also, looking at this picture more closely, my disbelief is gonna need a little more suspending, because I honestly don’t feel like either of them should currently be able to fly the way they’re doing lol. Hawks’s wings are in a pretty sorry state at the moment

and here comes High Treason Noumu back at them again, and he’s grumbling “bird...” like he’s all pissy at Hawks

lol what is this

what the hell is this quirk. does he shoot air gun fists or something. and this other guy has all of his fingers fucking disconnected for no apparent reason. like, what the hell is that even gonna do besides gross people out

(ETA: and isn’t this Tokage’s quirk as well. getting lazy are we Horikoshi)

now High Score Noumu is doing something disturbing oh god

ffffffffff WHAT IS THIS. WHY DO WE HAVE TO LOOK AT A CLOSE UP OF IT

Endeavor’s hitting it with another fire blast. thanks man

and now he’s doing a mental tally of the thing’s quirks

and don’t forget “can fucking talk.” not to mention what I still think is the most intriguing one of all, “has Kurogiri’s fucking face”

oh and I guess this is a new one

fucking gross ew fuck sick gross ugh!! why are they so gooey sob

I don’t really understand what’s going on but Endeavor seems to have it all figured out, so here

okay so he wants to fight strong opponents like Endeavor so he made some disgusting clones to deal with the small fries I guess

-- hold up. that muscle amplification quirk... that looks and sounds a whole lot like Muscular’s, though

is it just coincidence? that this Noumu just so happens to be so strikingly similar to not one but two captured villains previously associated with the League?? just what in the hell is going on here dammit

meanwhile, as Endeavor observed, the Noumus that emerged from his body look completely different and appear to be just your everyday run-of-the-mill Noumus

just a little grosser is all

Hawks is swooping down and taking them out without much effort. looks like he’s gotten most of his feathers back too

he’s telling everyone to keep evacuating

and he says that to be frank, power struggles aren’t his “forte”

so he’s acknowledging that he doesn’t have the All Might Factor, so to speak? that even though he’s strong and popular, he’s not at that level of always beating the big bads no matter what?

you know, that actually makes some sense. I can maybe understand a little better just why he was bothering Endeavor so much. that is, if it weren’t for the fact that I STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, HAWKS, YOU SUSPICIOUS LITTLE SERAPH

High Speed Noumu is asking Endeavor if he’s done shooting those red hot little slice-and-dice death rays

oh snap this thing really is smart

it’s not just talking and thinking, it’s fucking analyzing. there’s some real brainpower at work in this thing

now Endeavor is talking about his quirk, and I’m just gonna post the panel because like hell am I gonna try to summarize this

he was thinking this a few panels earlier, too. that he’s got a lot of heat built up now

and now he’s thinking about Rei and his kids with their ice powers

fuck me but every single time I start wanting to root for Endeavor he’s gotta go and remind us of this, though

also!? fourth kid alert!?? and this kid seems to have white hair just like all the others, and seems to be younger than Natsuo in this shot. which would seem to go against the prevailing theory? explain yourself, manga

(ETA: lol and I got an ask about this just today. I gotta give this some thought. but I still think it’s Dabi! maybe Endeavor is just confused about what his non-Shouto children looks like because he spent so much time ignoring them all!)

so now Highlander Noumu is making a crazy face and extending his arms or muscle fibers or whatever the fuck these things are again, and saying he wants to test out his new power on Endeavor

shiiiiiit this does not look good

this doesn’t seem like the kind of move he can maintain for very long given what he was saying earlier

he’s shouting at the Noumu that he’ll incinerate him until there’s nothing left, and his regeneration won’t be enough

well this has worked before, to be fair. back in Hosu

but why do I get the feeling that isn’t going to be the case this time, though

lollllll

is this the literal translation. is there some other meaning of “prominence” other than “famous and well-known” that I’m not thinking of. I guess it can also mean “something that sticks out a lot”, but I don’t see how that would apply to this attack

basically, to me this reads as “Endeavor’s I-Wanna-Be-Famous Big Fire Attack”

and damned if that just doesn’t say it all, though

he’s thinking back to what he said at the JP Hero Billboard thing. “just watch me”

and that he won’t disgrace himself by failing here

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit

HE WAS SO CLOSE

THIS THING IS REALLY FUCKING HARDCORE OMG

OH MY GOD

you’re telling me that Endeavor’s attack actually worked, but that he wasn’t able to disintegrate the whole Noumu because HE FUCKING RIPPED HIS OWN FUCKING HEAD OFF AND FRISBEE-D IT TO SAFETY AHEAD OF TIME!?

OH SHIT

goddamn -- fucking --

DAMMIT. COME ON ENDEAVOR. DON’T FUCKING DIE, DUDE. FUCKING GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND BEAT THIS HIGH FIVE NOUMU ALREADY, THE WORLD NEEDS YOU

ARE YOU SERIOUS

ARE YOU TELLING ME THE TWO OF THEM JUST HAPPENED TO BE WATCHING?? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, SHIT

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

motherfucker oh shit you guysssss

(ETA: how does he even still have that eye though)

you guys. oh shit. this is so bad. you don’t understand

shit. because let me tell you, the very first thing that ran through my head was that he’s going to look so much hotter now and fuck, you guys. I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING RIGHT NOW. BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. noooo what the hell is wrong with me I feel like slapping myself lmao

I fucking started laughing in real life at my own absurd reaction. I am ruining the mood of this chapter so damn fast

nooooooo

the parallels, though. oh shit. the same eye

and did Shouto’s quirk activate just now?? are those flames on his left side? oh shit

okay I need to get myself under control. fucking stop this now. stop thinking about how much hotter Endeavor is going to be with a big ol’ slashy scar along the left side of his face. and maybe an eyepatch. oh god. no, stop

(ETA: I really thought there was going to be an eyepatch. how does he still have that eye)

and now we’re cutting back to U.A. and Aizawa is gently telling Eri he’s gonna take her back to his room and I can’t you guys. first Endeavor losing his fucking eye and now Aizawa being a loving, protective parent on two counts, because LOOK WHAT HE SAYS RIGHT AFTER

now All Might is gripping at his stomach wound nooooo

seems like every big hero has That Moment, huh

oh fuckkkkk

fuuuuuck, Endeavor. going for that hard knocks path to redemption, huh

but I fucking can’t, though, because I just keep picturing Horikoshi’s creative process. like, you fucking troll, though. goes and creates the worst character of all time (not literally, I’m just being dramatic here just let me have this) and does his absolute fucking best to make him as terrible as possible, and then challenges himself to redeem him nonetheless. “how can I make readers actually feel sympathy for Todoroki fucking Enji in spite of everything? oh I know I’ll take away everything he ever wanted and make him finally start to realize what was really important and have him finally start trying to be a better husband and father. and then I’ll fucking murder him”

and like, I really need to stop laughing at this chapter, though. I’m ruining it, I know. if it helps, it’s not mirthful laughter though! the best way I can describe it is “haunted house laughter.” like, this is how I react when I’m walking through any sort of haunted attraction, and I’m really tense and excited and on edge. my weird natural response is usually to start laughing, possibly as my brain’s way of psyching myself up to be brave and reminding myself that it’s not real and they’re only actors. I feel like that, for some reason. and I don’t know why, but it’s actually a very positive thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that I’ve gotten this excited about the manga, actually

so I’m sorry, Endeavor. I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing because OH SHIT THIS IS GETTING GOOD and I’m really loving it. and also because Horikoshi has got some serious balls

(ETA: and because this is Kamino all over again. and I was fucking pumped. angst!! stakes!! tension!! there was just a ton of adrenaline all of a sudden and I didn’t really know what to do with it so my brain was like “well then let’s just do something really weird!”)

anyway, so we’re cutting back to Shouto and U.A., where Shouto is watching his dad die on live television

aaaaaand that’s the chapter end

my god. this went from “eh” to “epic” in like .06 seconds. is this the fight that anon was talking about a while back? because this was pretty damn good, I gotta say. fucking damn

#bnha #boku no hero academia #hawks #endeavor #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I was gonna say something about it being unrealistic that everyone just happened to be watching tv at this exact time #but then I thought well maybe they got a news alert sent to their phones or something #and if that's the case that means shouto probably got the same news alert #so of course he came down to see what was going on #and damn though because that's a really brutal way of finding out that your dad is about to be murdered on live television #I hope everyone gave shouto some hugs after all this because the poor kid got put through the wringer

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elliot-orion · 5 years

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Introducing...

The Empath

“When you are angry, I get hives. When you are scared, I throw up. There is nothing you can feel that I won’t feel ten times over. So no, it’s never felt like a blessing. It just feels like hell.”

I have no idea how to make a summary for a short story/novella/whatever this is going to wind up being, especially when i don’t actually know whether it’s going to extend past what i have planned (which will probably be about 15,000 words) or not. which makes this... difficult, but also i really need to talk about my babes so we are making this. So... uh... i guess under the cut i’ll just talk about the characters and weave in the plot i have planned, and if it winds up going past this small side project into novel territory, I’ll reintroduce it. Good plan. Someone take my blog away from me because i’m bad at this...

Charlie Diangelo: Charlie is 100% the reason i am making this post instead of just posting the story like i was intending to do, because holy SHIT i need to talk about him. Charlie is the Empath, who is probably the most powerful empath in the country, maybe the most powerful in the world even idk. But its really shitty, because the way his empathetic abilities work, is he gets different bodily reactions to emotions. So not only does he mentally get the “yep, they are feeling worried” thing, his fingers and feet start tingling and going numb, or if they are feeling disgusted, his jaw locks up. That sorta thing. He has to live in the middle of nowhere with only his partners really seeing him, because otherwise, he could very literally die from the effects of the emotions on his body. fun! Personality wise, he’s a big ol’ sweetheart and a complete bean, who just wants his partners to stop fuCKING GETTING HURT DAMN IT! He’s cottagecore to a fucking fault and genuinely enjoys the quiet, and is pretty happy living out there. (so of course the SA has to go fuck it up...)

Hollis: One of Charlies 3 partners. They are the Hero, Stopwatch, and can stop time. duh. They are pretty good at it, have good range, stamina, whatever. They are probably 75% of the quads impulse control, and the only one keeping them all from killing themselves. The other 25% goes to Charlie who is trying to keep Hollis from killing themself. Because don’t let their mature and responsible air fool you Hollis will 100% come home stabbed and bleeding to death, and say it’s nothing, they are ready to fight again. They just don’t know how to sit still when people are getting hurt and they could do something about it (even though “you were just STABBED you CAN’T do something so sit back doWN FOR FUCKS SAKE”) But for real, Hollis deserves more credit than they get for wrangling a chaotic neutral dumbass who needs to be on a leash i stfg, someone who doesn’t even wear earrings anymore because she is so DTF at all points in time, and a bisexual who everyone thinks is distinguished, but is very much a disaster.

Nora Stone: She’s supposedly a Villain, the Succubus, which is really, really misleading, because 1, she’s gray-asexual and doesn’t even flirt when using her powers so like wtf, and only got the name because she really likes fancy clothes and 2 she’s not even a Villain, more of a thief, but because she called a bunch of politicians and told them to vote no on a really corrupt bill of the SA’s that didn’t wind up passing because of her, so the SA made her a Villain so they could punish her extra hard if she got captured. So there’s THAT. Her powers are just that she has a ‘special voice’ as Charlie calls it, and if she uses it, someone has to do what she says. She pretty much just uses it to get Gucci without paying though, and like, getting jobs for her parents because no one hires Super immigrants (”tHeY mUsT bE vIlLaInS sEnT tO dEsTrOy Us” bullshit). She’s protective of her partners and loves her family and community to death, and has used her voice to help people and for activism many times, because she can help save people with a phone call to a politician, so why WOULDN’T she? Nora was actually the first of the quad i made and the only one who hasn’t been changed a dozen times, which is a cool fun fact too.

Oscar: Oscar has probably been changed the most, but i am very happy with where he is now. He’s the Villain, High Flier, and has pretty strong air powers. Like, pretty damn strong here, though not quite Elemental strong. And unlike Nora, he is... very much an actual Villain, and is also an International Villain, so that’s like a Big Deal. He likes just causing big ass wind storms with hurricane/tornado level wind speeds. Fun! Though tbh, he doesn’t cause destruction and whatnot to be MEAN or hurt people, he just likes chaos and having fun, and standing in the middle of a gigantic tornado with buildings flying around him is his idea of fun, so... *shrug.* He’s definitely almost given Hollis an aneurysm like 8 times, and makes all of them super stressed because he goes on trips and won’t come home for like 2 months, and postcards aren’t really enough when you know whole countries want to shoot your boyfriend, you feel? He’s super sweet with his partners though, and always comes home for holidays and birthdays and brings really thoughtful gifts from everywhere he goes for them. He’s just antsy and needs to keep moving, and probably only has two feet on the ground when he’s cuddling with his partners, every other time he is floating on wind. But also, he’s not really Sparky, hyperactive, ADHD, like, he’s more just restless, wanderlust, must see everything this world has to offer, sorta thing, and gets really depressed if he stays in one place for too long. Though, yea, he’s totally got ADHD too, lol. I love Oscar to death, ngl, out of the whole quad, he and charlie are my favs. (sorry nora and Hollis, i love you too)

That’s pretty much the characters, and in a short sentence, the plot is the SA fuckin ruins their breakfast and makes Charlie do something he really should not be doing but he’s going to do it anyways because it means he keeps his partners safe. So fun stuff!! This probably will be posted, most likely a dual posting here and on Wattpad. Hopefully doing that will kick my butt in gear and make me put up Hell in High Heels again. (sorry but ATDADT is not going back up, it sucks ass, not happening. Plus i might make it into a full novel. It’s up in the air) (actually would hell in high heels make a good novel to? .... i need to fucking STOP with the DHU already holy shit someone take my imagination from me...)

tag list! lmk if you want on or off! @albatris @ageekyreader @dreamcontagion@merigreenleaf @knightedwriter @norawritess @simplesamples I’m not doing the sparks fly tag list because idk if they actually want other stories in the DHU, but let me know if you two do want to be on the whole DHU tag list, same with everyone else!

#I'm so proud of myself for coming up with Charlie's powers btw like yea #it was completely accidental too i just came across it while writing #i love all of these dorks so much #i still dont know if i'll try to make this into a novel once i finish what i have planned #like if ill think of more stuff for after it #i kinda want to keep it shorter for whatever reason #it just feels like that's what its meant to be #and there isnt too much of a story with them #although i could probably easily think of something ngl #just... oscar and nora #enough said #but i do want to make ATDADT into a novel and might do that after this is done?#idk not sure maybe not #i also want to post wildfire bc i LOVE that #someone remind me later to post wildfire #ill stop now #the empath #dark heart universe #charlie #nora #also norawritess no i didnt name her after you i just realized i had a friend named nora when i tagged you lmao sorry #oscar #hollis #book cover #summary #i mean not but thats my tag #writelr #writeblr #writing #my writing

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simkjrs · 6 years

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msa asks (chap. 4 & onwards)

masterpost of msa asks that have been piling up, starting from when chapter 4 was published. thanks for your patience everyone...

answered in chronological order (first sent to most recently sent). i might have missed a couple, sorry about that

Anonymous said: IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT IT'S OUT

Anonymous said: *INCOHERENT SCREECHING AND FLAILING*

ah, the halcyon days of innocence, before everyone finished reading the chapter

Anonymous said: *just finished chp4* uh Yeah about that what the fuck? simk whAT THE HELL DID YOU POUR GUNPOWDER ON YOUR PC? LOAD 14 BULLETS ON EVERY KEY ON YOUR KEYBOARD? SEND KILLER ZAPS TO ANYONE WHO SCROLLS UNTIL THE END OF THE CHAPTER? I WAS SO EXCITED ABT THE UPDATE THAT I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT U WERE ACTUALLY A MURDERER IN DISGUISE? ANOTHER BEGINNERS MISTAKE, BECAUSE EVERYTHING U WRITE FUCKS ME UP ON EVERY FUCKING LEVEL? SO YEah what i wanted to say is that i love you

to date this is still one of the funniest asks i’ve ever gotten and it’s going in my testimonials

Anonymous said: me @ the new msa chapter:👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit

thank you, i do my best

Anonymous said: OH MY GOD! YOU REALLY PUT THE SNAKE FASHION THING!! :DDD :OOO

it was too good to pass up!! if you want to message me w/ ur name or url so i can credit you for inspo/the prompt, feel free :p

Anonymous said: I actually thought in the middle of the chapter that temple-dog would help Izuku escape so he would get captured by the other side of the coin and now i'm just crying

fjdlfkjsldf im sorry im like this. i do this

Anonymous said: in just a few hours the comments went from 5 to flipping 23 25

yeah im very lucky to have so many people follow & support my writing!! im grateful to everyone who comments.

Anonymous said: I wonder how being sick works for MSA Izuku. In that odd state of not being as aware as usual and your mind being foggy, would he hear that star song easier or any other odd spirit shenanigans?

he’d just be kind of out of it and more susceptible to... things

Anonymous said: SCREAMS?? I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH AND THIS CHAPTER WAS ABSOLUTELY STELLAR, THANK YOU FOR IMMEDIATELY BRIGHTENING MY NIGHT! I HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC TIME!!

ahh im really glad you enjoyed chapter four that much!! thank you!!!

Anonymous said: IM HOLLERIN THE NEW CHAPTER WAS SO GOOD WTF??

fjldkfsldf thank you....

Anonymous said: When I first commented on Ao3 I felt like looking at the other comments and I noticed all of them (at the time) had a line along the lines of "he needs a break" so I ended up imagining him just sunbathing on some tropical beach (read deserted island) sipping coconut Juice and sighing happily with noone to bother him.

that would be ideal. i think izuku also would not know what to do with himself

Anonymous said: MSA Izuku ch.4 summary: Kirishima: Hey are you ok? Izuku, literally on fire: Why, what's wrong?

GHFLKDFJLSDF IM LAUGHING!!! YOURE NOT WRONG

Anonymous said: I just finished msa ch4 and im?? Its 0 dark 00 and I have a 7 hour shift later Toda but I had to put it down and gnash my teeth over how GORGEOUS and HEARTBREAKING this chapter was before picking it up and finishing it. God im so stoked that it came out. Alright my pal, I hope you have a good time period of indeterminate length; take care of yourself yo!!

thank you im so glad you enjoyed it!! and i hope things have been good for you!

Anonymous said: ffuuuUUUUCK THAT TEMPLE-DOG YO WHAT AN AWFUL ICKY THING TO DO

correct, although in its defense, if izuku had just been another spirit, their connection would not have had that kind of effect

Anonymous said: Uh, sorry if this bothering you, this has something to do with Msa Izuku, but not the new chapter (love it BTW, poor Izuku got captured by Overhaul. The cat is a new bar.).So, I would like to ask, just for fun, what would Izuku sees if he meets C/astiel face to face and how would the spirits react?

i think my worldbuilding and spn worldbuilding would conflict in so many terrible ways, but... izuku would prob be able to see c/astiel’s wings and true form? only for a bit before his eyes started getting itchy, and then started bleeding... dont think the spirits would like angels very much. spirits are a very prideful and arrogant bunch who don’t like to be intruded upon or interfered with

Anonymous said: who is Senshajou other than an amazing creature which I love already

senshajou is plato’s ideal cat. they are not exactly a spirit. they just are

Anonymous said: I'm suuuper curious about what the One for All spirit looks like in MSA, because my first thought is that it'd have to be this massive chimeric mutant due to the nature of it's creation and the fact it's been bonded to eight separate people.

coming back and reading this is incredibly funny because like. yeah. ofa is a chimera. not quite for the reasons you think, but yeah

Anonymous said: You know what I'm thinking right now? What of kiri and deku met in public after The Arrest™. The sheer chaos it would bring. The Confusion ™. I'm sure deku would just take one look at kiri and just. Book it. Also ch4 helped inspire me in my endavour to write about my etheral starlight dragon god for a original story i've been thinking up. You're really good at describing creatures beyond Imagination, you know.

you have correctly predicted this scenario.

also im glad ch4 was able to help you in your writing endeavors!! best of luck!!

Anonymous said: whenever i read msa i always picture izuku wearing like, some kind of grey cloak, with the hood always up and shadowing his eyes no matter the context/location/surrounding temperature. It doesn't make any sense given the general fashion in bnha but I can't help it- msa!izuku is a cloak kinda guy imo

you’re right but msa izuku would also hate the attention that would come with wearing a cloak. he is definitely a hood-up kind of guy

Anonymous said: msa au in which Deku escapes the villain alliance, breaks into Kirishima's home, and just, fucking collapses on the couch. Kirishima gets up the next morning to see the fucking cryptid he'd hunted for days just, sleeping on his couch like a giant cat. What the fuck. What the fuck.

hold that thought

Anonymous said: So I'm reading ch 4 and listening to "I appear missing" by queens of the stone age and it works ridiculously well ngl (also like gd this chapter is so good the hype is real👍👍)

thank you!! this is a p cool song

Anonymous said: In MSA does everyone have a spirit? Have people always had spirits? Do you know how quirks started? Do even quirkless people have spirits? Why don't they have quirks? Could Izuku open their channel, or is the quirk canceling bullets different from quirkless people? So many questions!

most everyone has a spirit but not everyone, people have not always had guardian spirits, i do know how quirks started, quirkless people have spirits, they don’t have quirks because their bodies have not adapted to channel their spirit’s energy adequately, and izuku can try something with unlocking quirks, but it depends on what there is to work with already. quirk cancelling bullets rewind the bond between spirit and human but they don’t erase the adaptations to the body. quirkless people dont have that adaptation in the first place... hope that makes sense

Anonymous said: dunno if this's been mentioned/acknowledged or asked about before, but wheres izuku's guardian spirit?

he ain’t got one. but why...

Anonymous said: CHOO CHOO IT'S THE UNRESOLVED EMOTIONAL ISSUES TRAIN COMING IN AT 242379 MILES AN HOUR THERE ARE NO STOPS THERE ARE NO BRAKES WE DIE LIKE MEN ON THE HELL EXPRESS ~bakugous spirit

this is a joke but actually, yes. actually, this is very applicable to msa izuku himself, and so many characters i write, actually. this is an icnredibly funny ask and i love the phrases you use and i would not be surprised if i subconsciously absorb this phrase and accidentally use it in the future. thank you for this

Anonymous said: question: if msa izuku and kirishima were in a dangerous situation and izuku almost got hurt very badly/died but he managed to escape. BUT kirishima didnt see him escape and didnt know he was okay. how would kirishima react

in typical kirishima fashion he would be very worried about izuku and would probably try to figure out a way to rescue him

Anonymous said: im ppl have been talkig abt izu's guardian spirit lately, but wht abt allm's? i like to imagine that when shimura died, she became toshi's guardian spirit

shes not allm’s guardian spirit but shes Around

Anonymous said: ok but the part where msa izuku says release it rly reminded me of cardcaptor sakura just sayin

never watched cardcaptor sakura but thats p cool

Anonymous said: I'd like to think if MSA. Izu/ku got hit with a quirk erasing bullet it wouldn't kill him, just like knock him out for a good day or so until he wakes back up through spite and the universe just hating him and being like "man thanks for the nap gun guys gotta get me one of those"

Anonymous said: I had a dream that msa!izu/ku was standing in his cell and staring at a nearby guard and the guard is wondering wtf why is he staring like that but actually he was just really tired and fell asleep. Standing up. W/eyes open.

HEY THIS IS INCREDIBLE AND INCREDIBLY FUNNY AND IF SOMEONE WROTE A SNIPPET WITH IZUKU DOING THIS I WOULD ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE IT

Anonymous said: I'm sorry but I have to tell you “Would you like to sit?” “No.” is the funniest interaction I have ever experienced in my life I woke up my grandmother at 3 am cause I was laughing so hard and she's doesn't even live on the same floor as me

im so glad that izuku being a bullheaded and troubled teenager can bring some amusement and laughter to your day

Anonymous said: i guess you could say that in the lastest chapter, msa izuku is kicking ass... /and taking names/ BA DUM TSHHHHHHH

HGJDFKJSDLGSDF IM LAUGHING!!!! STOP THIS

Anonymous said: In the MSA verse when someone doesn't like their quirk for example like your OC Mitoki and they don't use their quirk how does that affect their spirit?

doesn’t really affect their spirit except like, psychologically or emotionally, because they would Like for their charge to be able to use their powers in order to defend themselves, but their charge Is Not

Anonymous said: What would Mitoki think of MSA Izuku?

msa izuku: says Anything msa izuku: pulls Those Stunts msa izuku: does stuff of gray legality without bothering to explain himself, ever msa izuku: also is grudgingly a good person mitoki: this guy is hilarious and a fucking RIOT, i have to adopt him immediately

Anonymous said: i imagine after hearing the music of the universe msa izuku doesn't like human music anymore, huh?

i think he isn’t very fond of any music that reminds him of that experience, and how he nearly lost sight of his sense of self. normal, mundane music with absolutely nothing out of the ordinary is probably a relief

Anonymous said: Just wanted to drop in and say that I really love MSA!!! It's a super refreshing read, and I LOVE how you write everyone. I'm so hooked, you have no idea. Thank you so much for all the work you put into it!!

thank you for dropping in and letting me know!! i love feedback like this, makes me happy to keep writing and sharing stuff. i hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Anonymous said: someone: *gives izuku positive attention* izuku: you come into MY HOUSE

yeah that’s pretty much exactly it

Anonymous said: This might be a little weird and specific, but how would MSA Izuku react to someone who does similar stuff to him? Meaning, constantly does weird eldritch shit while sassing away any attempts to figure it out. And also assuming that they keep crossing paths no matter how either party feels about it.

probably kind of uncomfortable, but if this person is reacting to said eldritch stuff the way msa izuku reacts to spirit stuff, i think he’d just recognize this person as someone else who’s going through a lot of stuff and just wants to be left alone, and then msa izuku would proceed to leave them alone. maybe quietly give them a coffee if they look like they need it, then leave.

if this person was enjoying eldritch stuff, i think msa izuku would be kind of envious of them, and resentful, because hey, this person gets a way better deal than me in terms of eldritch mysteries, why do i get stuck with all the bad stuff?

either way i don’t think msa izuku would spend a lot of time with them, he has a lot of his own stuff to deal with.

Anonymous said: Holy hell. Did Izuku, like, frickin ABSORB afo or some shit??

Anonymous said: Did izu/ku discover afo's spirit's name? And then proceed to destroy afo

Anonymous said: If I was Aizawa, or any other clever member of the hero crew, my assumption would probably be that Izuku is the product of a quirk that makes physical manifestations of other people's quirks. The person with said quirk probably used it on themselves, thus Izuku. It would reasonably explain why he's so dodgy about his identity, can fix/alter quirks, talks strangely to nothing, and is so effected by the eraser quirk. (It's fun manufacturing wrong but reasonable theories!)

oh thats a really interesting theory!! hmm yeah... it could work, but if i was aizawa i would wonder why izuku didn’t just disappear if he was just a temporary manifestation of a quirk. i’ll deffo consider this though and if it proves useful to the story i hope you won’t mind if i use it?

thank you for writing in!

Anonymous said: Goodness, I love your work. A part of me silently lives for the day when MSA!Izu and All Might spend time together and AM's just?? Immune to all of Izu's snark, while still being such a dad. Like "Deku my boy, where's the hoodie I gave you? It's getting cold out."/"Based on the trajectory of the moon and sun, in a garbage bin somewhere."/"Oh! Well it *was* my old highschool hoodie. It was probably getting too old to wear anyway"/*Cue frustrated-mortified screams of the little cryptid child*

frankly i don’t think msa izuku would be able to handle someone knowing About Him and genuinely looking after him at the same time, he’s only ever had one or the other at a time, if all might did this msa izuku would short circuit and have a minor crisis because he doesn’t know how to accept affection from someone who accepts him for who he is. this thought hurts me and i regret thinking about this. really good ask, thanks for sending it in

Anonymous said: Your fic ‘know what i’ve made by the marks on my hands’ is a power move in of itself.

fndlfksldkf THANKS, im putting this in my testimonials

Anonymous said: Ever since the beggining of MSA I can't get rid of a certain though. Bakugou's Quirk something horibly adorable and comepletely enamored with Izuku. Like, the moment it sees him, it just jumps at him with hugs and kisses, possibly some purrs. Izuku avoiding the duo because he's so done and tired of the vilent love and explosive heatred mixture.

izuku hates it because both of them are giving him some form of attention and he just wants them to forget about him and be done with it

Anonymous said: Idk whether this was asked but how do names come across in the second intonation?? Like if izuku was saying senshajou (?) would the name come out in japanese or does the second intonation have a way of saying names without actually saying them? Basically would listening in on their conversation reveal a bunch of static and then just "carwash" in the middle of the sentence??

intonations aren’t a new language, just a manner of speaking, where the fourth intonation takes the most energy and the first intonation (normal speech) takes the least. effectively, izuku and all the spirits are speaking japanese, but the intonation they speak in will take their words to a different energy level. if that makes sense. so, no, ‘carwash’ would not show up in the middle of a sentence

Anonymous said: SIMK IM CHOKING!!!!!! YOUR ART LEFT ME SPEECHLESS ITS SO GOOOOD!!!!

thank you so much!!! this is very flattering, and makes me very happy as well

Anonymous said: Hey have you ever played OFF?? Idk the first pic you drew for MSA rly reminds me of it

i have not! but i love the art i’ve seen for it

Anonymous said: so are the guardian spirits in msa bound to their humans in a distance sense? like can they just wander off to somewhere far away from their human or would they hit a boundary somewhere?

yes, spirits are basically bound by proximity! they can leave their charges behind and go gallivanting to another continent but it’s Not A Good Idea for a few reasons and becomes very unpractical. they can travel pretty far from their charges if the necessity arises, though.

Anonymous said: there is a lot of things i could say about your my spirit academia art but the first thing that i thought of was "wow izuku looks good with nail polish"

fjdlkfjsldf

everyone looks great with nail polish!

Anonymous said: msa!izuku's flirting: you're slightly less terrible than everything else happening in this situation right now

izuku says this stiffly and without looking at the other person because expressing emotion and vulnerability is difficult for him

Anonymous said: Honestly msa!izuku is the most relatable au Izuku. I too wish I could just fade from everyone’s collective knowledge and become the local ghost story middle schoolers dare each other to test. *izuku gets ding-dong-ditched but only because local children are too terrified to stay to see the beast that lives in that apartment*

Wait what does Izuku do for halloween anyways?

i accidentally deleted the second half of your question so that’s just a paraphrase sorry!! but yeah, i’ve infused msa izuku with some of my more cryptid-longing tendencies, i find it hilarious that this has carried through. i love the proposed scenario. it’s incredibly funny and absolutely something that would happen to izuku

i dont think halloween is very widely celebrated in japan? but if it was, izuku would probably just shut himself in his room for the night because he doesn’t want to deal with any aspect of the holiday

Anonymous said: heya!! i just read your msa fic and i absolutely adore it! the whole idea is just awesome in the every sense of the word and ive found myself already completely immersed in it! your writing of izu/ku is very relatable for me and it only makes me love the fic more?? ahh im just head over heels for it!!!!

ahhh im really glad to hear that!!! i hope you continue to enjoy future chapters, as we explore more of izuku’s character, and possibly, his past :^)

Anonymous said: u have probs already gotten this question before, but was msa izuku (or his soul) merged with his guardian spirit at birth? Cause izuku basically says that something went terribly wrong at his birth... so I'm thinking he somehow merged with his spirit????

something like that! there was spirit fuckery involved.

Anonymous said: I cant help but think prototype!izu/ku's hair would match msa izu/ku v well

im laughing because ive actually drawn msa izuku with a hairstyle DISTRESSINGLY similar to prototype izuku’s hair. msa izuku has got that unhappy, emo vibe about him that just naturally attracts the kinds of vibes that prototype izuku’s hair gives off

Anonymous said: is izu/ku's guardian spirit like nessie or bigfoot or something? cause i swear to fuck he's such a cryptid omg

HRNGLDFLKSDF IM LAUGHING

nah, izuku doesn’t have a guardian spirit. only... himself

Anonymous said: Did All Might give Mirio One For All in MSA?

no idea, haven’t thought about it, won’t figure it out until i actually need to address it

Anonymous said: I just wanna say that I love msa and kirishima is trying

kirishima *is* trying and we are all loving and supporting him for the amazing work he does

Anonymous said: Say, would Shinsou’s quirk work on MSA!Izuku?

you will find that out in, sports festival msa au, wherein msa izuku accidentally takes his canon counterpart’s place right after he’s finished the obstacle course event in the sports festival. i need to get through the end of the sports festival before im satisfied with publishing it... but i’ve finished the shinsou fight. so! you’ll see :p

Anonymous said: Hey I sent you an ask a while ago but idk if you saw it or not, but I just wanted to say that I really liked your latest chapter of msa! The music that you described in the chapter was really amazing and it made me think of this song called “the heaven’s flock” sang by the Texas all state choir. Obviously it won’t be anything close to the ethereal other-worldly music that you describe in the chapter, but it’s what came to mind while I was reading it. You can find it on YouTube, hope you like it!

hey im super glad!! i spent a lot of time editing those paragraphs for Maximum Spiritness, it’s always gratifying to know someone enjoyed them. and yes, i checked out the song on youtube, and it’s pretty cool! choral pieces usually don’t interest me a lot but this one was fun. thanks for telling me about it!

Anonymous said: i just found your ff and I love them! Tired(tm) Midoriya is great and I love him.

thank you!! izuku who is tired of this bullshit and calls it out when he sees it is definitely very fun.

Anonymous said: where is msa!izuku's physique in comparison to the cannon timeline? is he closer to how he was at the very start of series, or while he was training with All Might before he got One for All?

he’s pretty lean and wiry with plenty of stamina, so i’d say he’s about on par with canon izuku after training with all might pre-yuuei. he probably doesn’t have as much raw strength but i think he has more stamina

Anonymous said: Msa izu/ku escapes from the Precepts' clutches and starts booking it around the tunnels and just. Stumbles upon Eri. Stops and takes the time to fuckin wrangle her spirit to stop it from unexisting him and just books it with her "I'm taking her now bye"

this is hilariously close

Anonymous said: you used a lyric from meet me in the woods for the 4th chapter of msa and god thinking about it that song fits the au?? at least as much as i've seen about it.

thank you!! and yeah, i’ve actually got that song on my msa playlist. specifically, my msa kiri/deku playlist, because it fits so well. [sips that heart hurting juice] im happy someone caught the reference!

Anonymous said: just read the quote from Morrison 'she utilised violence in a purely feminine way' by chucking hot pokers at people and all I can think of is msa!izu/ku being so done with everything and being violent 'in a purely deadpan way', chucking his collection of spray paint cans/ art supplies/ occasional chair at the spirits because he's just so done and LET HIM SLEEP OR AT LEAST TURN UP WITH COFFEE GODDAMIT.

you are not, wrong

thats what his scripts are for!

Anonymous said: Msa! Izu/ku's laugh sounding like a dead rustling/ raspy monotone that is simultaneously eerie and extremely concerning to the point you want to wrap him in marshmallows.

msa izuku’s laugh sounds very, very tired, which is arguably the same thing

@iamlikecain said: Hi ! I juste wanted to say that I love your fic My spirit academia and sassy Izuku is what I now live for. Btw, he doesn’t deserve to suffer omg that poor baby and uuugg I hope he’ll be happy ;—-;

haha thank you!! i’m glad you like msa izuku’s shenanigans!! and yeah. he really doesn’t deserve any of this. things will, hopefully, look up for him soon! i am not setting out to write a pessimistic story, eventually things will get better

Anonymous said: Your my hero academia spirit AU is super frigging interesting??? Im dying to read more :DDD

thank you! im super glad you enjoyed it

Anonymous said: What are your favorite msu!izuku headcannons?

just the fact of him existing in this unrestrained, unintentionally chaotic state of being wherein he does what he needs to and may even do what you want him to, but in a way that makes him and you and everyone else involved feel like you’re all just a bunch of clowns. heres a couple more facts about him though

his goal in life is to become a famous reclusive calligrapher who has retired to the isolated countryside to do calligraphy, where no one can bother him

secretly still really passionate about heroics but kind of embarrassed about it so if you find out or bring it up he WILL try to kill you

messy and not very good at cooking, but doing his best

knows some kind of weird trivia that you wouldn’t really expect

Anonymous said: b r u h what would inko's quirk spirit creature look like?? soft and playful and curious about all sorts of smol trinkets/objects??? would they be combative w izuku too??? ;-; or reach some sort of grudging acceptance of their presence??? smol green abomination belongs to my beloved human, so no fighting little abomination

honestly i haven’t given a lot of thought to inko’s guardian spirit, other than that it’s probably pretty small and not one of the most powerful spirits out there. it’s kind of distant from izuku, bc izuku makes it uneasy, but it cares about izuku in its own way.

#some of these asks are incredibly funny to read after writing & planning ch5 #ask compilation #ask #msa stuff

127 notes · View notes

aileen-hollingsworth · 7 years

Text

Ties, Baguettes & Titanics ~ #3

A/N: First challenge. Ngl this turned out long, like real long. Thanks to @prince-consort-erik for role playing Haiden. Forgive typos and stuff like that, I had little to no time to edit. There are small mentions of @sophiemoreaux, @baguette-le-chef, @alexandra-amaria, @mila-regan , a guard and fictional actors.

“No, there’s no real point to being nervous.” Sophie shrugged. “I’m just going to wait and see what happens, it isn’t that big a deal.”

I could see many of the girls nearby gave her glances full of disbelief. The how-is-she-not-nervous-about-dating-a-prince look…okay, that’s not a thing but you get the point.

I just nodded at her and eyed the other girls. I was still a bit uncertain of most of them so I didn’t really tell her (or anyone else) if I was nervous or not. I was a bit too used to keeping my opinion to myself when in a new public place, so with so many Selected in the Women’s room I had some issues talking much. If it was a ‘one on one’ conversation I had no problem—like when I’d bumped into Naomi in the library while looking for pretty editions to take photos of, or when I’d gone looking for chips in the kitchen with Mila in the middle of Viola’s sleepover—but when it was conversations with people in earshot I was too self-aware.

When my maids asked me in my room if I was nervous I just shrugged and Anne, the oldest, frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t take my eyes of my polaroid photos scattered across the floor when I answered. The palace definitely had some aesthetically pleasing books. “I don’t know. I guess I’m giddy because he’s a prince and all, but I’ve talked to well-known celebrities because of my parents before.” I picked the photos that captured the lighting better and offered them to Janet to inspect.

I’d heard the whispers around the Selected. Everyone seemed to think Haiden was shy. I didn’t want things to be awkward; I was just hoping to have a good time. “I’m trying to tell myself there isn’t that big a difference between him and, I don’t know…” I shrugged again. “Ezra Lynley.”

Janet who had been admiring the photos immediately glanced down at me. “You know Ezra Lynley?”

A Two. Star of a gazillion movies. Nice cheekbones. Most importantly, a great guy and one of my cousin’s closest friends.

I nodded at Janet, trying not to make it seem like a big deal. She shared a surprised glance with Anne. During late-night conversations I’d told them my father was a movie producer, but maybe they didn’t expect a Three to know someone as popular…which kind of made sense. My father was popular mostly between the media and the world that knew his work. Being a movie producer wasn’t “important” in comparison to being an actor or artist. Of course, actors wouldn’t get any work if it weren’t for movie producers (same way some artists wouldn’t be as good without music producers). People working on the media would recognize my father’s name immediately, but it wasn’t as common for all civilians to know who he was.

Janet sat down next to me, avoiding the polaroid photos surrounding me with a smirk. “Is he as hot in person?”

Anne scowled and I chucked.

He tripped over me. He actually tripped over me. That’s how it started.

“What the—” I grunted as something hit my legs.

As I sat up to look at the person who’d fallen next to me he said: “Lady Aileen! What… are you doing?”

Oh boy. He was lying on the grass with a confused frown. “Prince… Haiden? Oh wow, I’m so sorry….I didn’t mean to make you, um, trip.” I mumbled taking my headphones off. The rest of the piano’s melody still vaguely stuck on my head without them.

He gave me an awkward grin and adjusted his glasses. “N-No, it’s all right. What are you doing anyway?”

What was I doing here? I blinked without saying anything, and then snapped back into focus. “Oh, you know getting some fresh air before our— ” My eyes widened as I tried to figure out how long I’d been here in the gardens. “Oh wait, what time is it? Tell me I didn’t forget about our date…”

“Date?” he mumbled still confused, but then something seemed to click into place in his thoughts. “Is it really?”

I raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You forgot about it?”

He laughed awkwardly, and my smirk widened. “Well, so did you apparently.”

“Well, I kind of lost track of time so it’s different.” I chuckled.

“I would’ve remembered eventually.” He countered. Then looking down at my headphones and sitting up he added: “Uh, what are you listening to?”

“Just some music samples.” I turned up the volume and pressed one side of the headphones to his ear. “Piano can make such a beautiful sound.”

“They sound nice. You like music then?”

“Yeah. If being a princess doesn’t work I gotta make a life out of it.” I said winking.

“What instruments do you play?”

“Oh, I’m not precisely one with many instruments. Just piano, guitar and basic ukulele…but music producers don’t usually need to know how to play an instrument, you know. Knowing how to play some—like I do—is kind of a plus.”

“Oh, so you’re a producer. What’s that like?”

“Umm, I don’t think I can qualify as a professional producer just yet, but I will get there hopefully. It’s mostly getting to choose what tracks sound well together…like for example figuring out what’s the best moment in a song to let violins join the drums and the piano.”

“That sounds crazy. I could never do something like that.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “Of course you could. You just need to learn how to listen to the music.” You need to actually pay attention to how it sounds. Feel it to your core.

“Trust me that talent is far away from mine.”

“And what may that talent be?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Breathing.”

Very funny. “Oh wow, that does sound very complicated. Got any tips on that?”

“Well, it gets harder when you run, so you have to do it more.”

I pretended to nod thoughtfully. “True, true. What happens when you’re under water though?” I said trying to keep the ridiculous game on. He didn’t seem so nervous.

“You can try to breathe, but usually it doesn’t work, so I’d advise against it.”

“Gonna keep that in mind if I ever find myself under those circumstances.” I smiled, rolling my eyes amused. “Any other talents you’d like to share?”

“Eating, for one. But I also do incredibly well at sleeping.”

“You are such a talented prince it’s actually shocking.” I said, trying to sound serious.

“I know, the country should be so pleased.”

“Yeah, you should already be King to be honest. I mean, I’m good at eating and breathing, but sleeping is rather hard to handle.”

“Oh, most definitely.” He finally couldn’t keep it up and laughed. “How did we get on this topic again?”

I laughed too. “I don’t know, I’m just trying to break the ice here, I’d say I’m doing pretty well in a very strange way.” Strangest way possible.

“I’d say so for two people who forgot their own dates and ended up in the palace garden after I tripped over you.”

“Yeah,” I looked up at the sky confused picturing his fall. I’d been with my eyes closed and missed the incident. “How did you not notice me on the ground? I had my headphones on, what’s your excuse?”

“I’m wearing glasses. And I don’t usually expect for girls to be lying down in the middle of a garden.”

I brought a hand to my chest pretending to be offended. “Why not, it’s a perfectly normal thing to do.”

“Apparently. I must be so unsocialized.”

He makes up words. Nice. “Obviously,” I said reaching for his glasses and placing them on my nose “it’s practically etiquette for ladies to do it at least once a week.”

“I can’t see now.” He said, slightly squinting in my direction.

The fact that he didn’t seem bothered by my lack of consideration for his personal space was a good sign. It meant he was relaxed. I continued, squinting through his glasses. “You got some heavy lenses I see…at least you look cute with them.”

I was pleased to hear him laugh at that. “I usually wear contacts.”

“Makes sense, I usually never see you wearing these” I replied, making the glasses move up and down on my nose. “I thought it was a fashion statement or something.”

“Nope, I’m just blind as a bat.”

I placed the glasses on the top of my head like a headband to see him properly. “Bats have great hearing though.” I kept talking as I waved a hand in front of his eyes in an attempt to tests his sight. I was hoping to be annoying actually. I myself used glasses, but just to read. “Maybe being a music producer wouldn’t be as hard as you think.” I raised three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding?” He gave me a serious glance, but I could see the corner of his lip twitch. “Quick Haiden, you’re life depends on your answer!”

“It’s three, I’m not that blind.”

“WRONG IT’S THREE.” I corrected him.

This time his face broke into a confused smile. “Is there a difference I’m not getting?

“The accent of course.”

“Accent? Well, I didn’t know that was a factor.”

“…Well I had to correct you in some way so now it’s a factor. You have to say it like you’re about to drink tea with the Queen of England.” I explained, raising a pinky as I zipped tea from an invisible teacup.

“I didn’t realize. I only know how to have tea with two queens.”

I’d forgotten about his aunt, Queen Sabine of France, for second so he had to clarify, but then he laughed and started talking in a British accent as his face faked smugness. “I come from a long line of blue bloods.”

I tried to do my own impression. “Is that so? Well, so do I, your Highness.”

“That is an awful accent, I can’t lie.” He cooed amused.

I shoved him. “Shut up you fancy pants, I do a great accent.”

“Wow, assaulting the prince tsk tsk.”

I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes at him but quickly recovered with a: “Tripping over a lady tsk tsk.”

“Stealing my glasses tsk tsk.”

“Insulting my accent tsk tsk,” I am running out of tsk-tsks “which is very good by the way.”

“Nay.”

“Whatever,” I said, dramatically flipping my hair. “I know my own talent.”

“Well then. I’m offended.”

“Because of my superiority?” I winked.

“Obviously.”

“Don’t feel intimidated by my talents Haiden, I am a very normal girl…” I paused, realizing that wasn’t entirely true. “Most of the time.”

“What’s the rest of the time?”

“Well, wouldn’t you like to know?” I said, tauntingly.

“In fact, I would very much.”

I smiled looking up at the clouds in the sky. One actually looked like a scrunched man’s face yelling. “It really depends.”

“Ask me a question, Lady Aileen.”

I looked over at him, curious about his choice of words to carry on with the conversation, but then looked back at the yelling-man cloud. What did I want him to tell me? “It’s not a question but tell me about something you love.”

It didn’t take him long to pick something. “I love my sisters.”

I knot formed on my throat at the words, but I still smiled at his choice. “I bet they love you too.”

“Hopefully.”

I laughed. “Hopefully?”

“I always wonder.”

I shook my head with a faint smile. “That’s some trust you’ve got in them… why the doubt though?”

“I don’t know. They’ve never said they didn’t love me, but it’s something I always naturally wonder.”

Sam’s face popped up in my head but I pushed it away. “Haven’t they ever told you they do?”

“Of course they have, but… I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if they’d rather have someone else as a brother.”

I sighed. I never do even though I should. “If you love them as much as you say I doubt they’d want anyone else, I can tell you that.”

He shrugged and I desperately wanted to stop Sam’s words from flooding my thoughts so I smirked and suggested: “Well, since it seems I won’t convince you about that, how about we officially start our date? Believe it or not, I actually had something planned…unless you’ve got any other ideas.”

“I don’t know, I’m rather comfortable on the ground.” He admitted, padding the grass as if to emphasize his statement.

I rested my elbows on the grass, keeping the upper half of my body upward. “Am I not boring you with trivial conversation?”

“I don’t know, it always seems like things unplanned go better.”

“Suggestions then?” I actually wanted to give my plan a try for once, so when I noticed his hesitation I wiggled my eyebrows and inquired: “Or maybe you’d like to go on a treasure hunt…or is it scavenger hunt? Either way you get the idea.”

That spiked his interest. “Ooh, how would we do that?”

“Well, it’s simple. I make a list of things we need to find. We look for them together. There’s a catch to it though.”

“Oh?”

“I gotta make it interesting somehow.” I said grinning. “First rule is we can’t ask for permission to take the object.”

“I can work with that.”

No hesitation. Good. I nodded in approval. “Second rule: Every time we find an object we have to make a guess about each another.”

That confused him. “A guess?”

“Like for example…I think your favorite color is green. I don’t know if it is, I’m just guessing.” After the mention of his favorite green tie on our interview I was hoping to get that right.

“Seems easy enough. And it’s blue by the way.”

“Dang it I thought I had it right.” I mumbled, mostly to myself. That meant the green tie being his favorite probably had a backstory then. “Anyway, that’s how it works.”

“Alright, then.” He stood up offering me a hand. “Where to first?”

“We need an autographed book.” I said accepting the help. “Also, I forgot to mention, if you guess correctly you get a compliment or a truth.”

“Oh, well, now I’m very entertained.” He stated and actually seemed on board with the idea. “An autographed book, huh? I have at least 10 in my room. Come on, let’s go.”

The door of his room stood in front of us and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about how it looked inside.

“Um, could I ask you something?” He pondered.

“Sure. I’m all ears.”

“Can you… not tell anyone you were here? I don’t want people getting jealous or the wrong idea…”

“Are you kidding me?” I began with a smirk. “I’m not telling anyone, that’ll get us both killed. Plus we don’t need ‘Exposing Illea’ to go around saying lies.”

He laughed at this. “All right.” He didn’t hesitate again when he opened the door and pulled me in. “Um, pardon the mess.” He immediately went to a book shelved corner and started looking at a particular section.

I slowly walked over to him taking a look around. There was the bed, the bookshelfs in the corner, what seemed like an entrance to a closet, then another door (most likely the bathroom) and also a desk filled with papers and more than one kind of writing tool. He even had ink and a…feathery pen thing.

I was in the middle of saying it wasn’t that bad when I reached him and had to stop to stare in awe at his bookshelf. I’d seen incredible books with different editions on the palace’s library but these were another level. “Oh my God…” I practically whispered as I reached for the book with the oldest looking cover. I stared at every detail. The engraving on the front, the golden ink of the title, the pages tinted with age. “Why did I not bring my camera, these hardcovers are gorgeous.”

“1st Editions. One of the perks of being famous.”

I couldn’t contain my smile as I held up the book for him to see. “You can practically smell the ancient.”

“Why don’t you keep it?”

I had to do a double take of his words in my mind before smiling again. “And here I was about to call you greedy for hoarding all the prettiest books from the library.”

“Got to make sure no one takes it.” He smiled, and then took the book from my hands to flip it open. “And look, signed by the author.”

I peeked over his shoulder to look at the signature. “Well, would you look at that…” I ventured, tracing the dark ink with my fingers. “Pretty.”

He glanced down at me, still smiling, and I decided I liked his smile. “What’s next?”

I told my mind to ignore the closeness between us. “Since we’re already in your room I’d say a green tie. I already know you’ve got one.” I pressed, in remembrance of my interview.

“What are you planning to do with it?”

“It’s part of the list, just trust me.” I shrugged.

Too my surprise he accepted that as a good enough reason and went into his closet. He came out with a green tie on a hanger. My dad usually just had his stashed together.

“Fancy.” I teased.

“Why, thank you. What next? Do I get a compliment yet?”

I laughed. “Not yet. First the guessing, hopefully I’ll get this one right…” I looked him up and down tapping my chin thoughtfully, trying to come with something good. “Okay, I think you’re that person that starts flirting a lot when drunk.”

“I-I… don’t know.”

Stuttering again. “Hmm, that’s not fair, I want a compliment.”

“Fine, maybe you’re right, I’ll give you a compliment anyway.”

I smiled victoriously and waited.

“I like your freckles.”

I raised both eyebrows for a second. “Oh, wow thanks! Sometimes I forget I have them if that makes any sense” I laughed, but was pretty sure I’d failed at hiding my blush. “I really like them too though.” I paused to reach for the green tie and then placed it loosely around my neck. “Okay, your turn to guess.”

“All right, I think you’re a little self-conscious about yourself, but you try not to be.”

Pffft… “I—” well…I was going to deny it, but looking over at him I realized there was really no point in lying. Not if we wanted to see if we could work. “—don’t know… maybe… Just as a defense mechanism.”

“Hey, it’s all right.”

“I know.” I really did. It was just annoying to know that some of the media liked making little things a lot more complicated than they originally were. “When people look at you all the time it’s kind of necessary. I can’t imagine how it is for you being a prince and all.” I shrugged. “I’m just the daughter of a movie producer and a retired actress.”

“No, I think you’re a lot more than that.”

That caught me off guard and I looked over at him again with curiosity. “How so?” I mumbled slightly flustered.

“You underrate yourself. You act as if you’re no one, but I know there’s someone in there that’s deeply passionate.”

I stared at the ground thoughtfully for a few seconds. Why did people think he was shy? “You are better with words than I gave you credit for.” Then staring at him I clarified: “Though I wouldn’t say I underrate myself…I just” it took me a moment to find the right words “I don’t know, I guess I learned it’s better if I hide some of my cards from the public sometimes.” Learned it the hard way.

“You don’t need to hide from me.”

I smiled up at him and reached for the book in his hands. “Lucky you, I wasn’t trying to do so yet.”

“Yet?”

I rolled my eyes amused. Nothing gets past this one. “Or ever. As for your compliment…” I leaned in to give him a kick kiss on the cheek. “I like your occasional stutter.”

He blushed and I giggled at the sight. “I—Uh, thanks.”

“See? Adorable. Now, next object is….a Baguette from Chef Baguette’s kitchen.”

He only seemed slightly surprised. “Well, this’ll be fun.”

“It’ll be great; if he finds out we’ll blame it on you.” Then I placed the book on his bed, reached for his hand and led him out.

“So are you going in or am I?” He asked once we were in front of the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and dragged him in. “Team work Haiden…think Mission Impossible.”

“Alright, we die together.” He whispered as we entered and I couldn’t avoid grinning. Man, am I liking this kid.

I dragged him all the way behind a counter and we sat on the floor. I was glad I’d forgotten about the date. All of the sneaking around would have been a lot more complicated in a dress. “Okay, your moment to shine. Where are the baguettes?”

“On the bread cabinet.”

I covered my mouth trying not to laugh. He was so on board with my ridiculous ideas it was an unbelievable but pleasant surprise. “Okay….” I peeked over the counter looking for the acclaimed cabinet, but the kitchen was way too big. “Uhh, where is the bread cabinet? I just know where he hides his chips so far.” I smirked over at him when I saw the curious grin he gave me. “Long story.” Mostly Mila and I searching every single cabinet in the middle of a sleepover.

“In the very back of the kitchen. In a safe.”

I snorted a laugh and then immediately covered my mouth. I looked back at Haiden blushing, but grinning all the same. “I promise I don’t always laugh like that.”

“I hope you do.” He said raising an eyebrow in amusement. Then he shook his head and gestured me to follow. “Let’s go.”

We started making our way to the back of the kitchen in a crawl and then I whispered. “I can’t believe he has a safe for his baguettes.”

“His name is Baguette. What do you expect?”

“I wonder if Azalea has a safe filled with Azalea’s on her house then.” I snickered.

“I wonder if Britain has Great Britain under lock and key.”

At that I burst out laughing. I quickly covered my mouth realizing my mistake, but it was a bit too late. “Did you hear that?” Baguette’s thick accent echoed in the kitchen.

“We better get in and out of here fast.” Haiden mumbled and then we crawled the rest of the way to the bread cabinet. There was in deed a safe next to it, a lock keeping the insides out of our reach. I was about to ask what we were going to do about that, but Haiden was one step ahead. “Do you happen to have a hair pin on you?”

I raised both eyebrows impressed. He had some pretty interesting talents he had forgotten to mention earlier. “Such a professional spy, please teach me your ways.” I smirked before taking a pin out of my hair. Lucky him I used pins to secure my braids sometimes.

It didn’t take him long to pick the lock. After a minute or so it clicked and fell off. Haiden’s face beamed at me with pride. “Voila. A baguette for the lady.” He announced, handing me a baguette from inside.

“Such skills, you underrate yourself.” I said taking the baguette.

“VHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING ERE. ZIS ES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!” Baguette had finally seen us and started making his way toward us.

“Uh oh.” I smiled.

“Oh, we better go.” Haiden sputtered, standing up and pulling me with him to an exit.

A bubble of laughter erupted inside me and I couldn’t suppress it as we ran. The smell of different foods flooding my nose as we passed different areas of the kitchen, cooks and other staff members staring at us with confusion as we ran past them with Baguette yelling in the distance. “Ef someone es trying to steal ze baguettes, you vill feel ze wrath of Baguette Le Chef! I vill get you!”

“We better get outta here.” Haiden blurted as we ran. We reached the exit and it took us into the servant’s quarters. I noticed how there was an exit to the palace in there and made a mental note of it. Then, with my free hand, I grabbed a random napkin from a servant carrying a platter full of them. It was one of the fancy shmancy cloth ones.

“What next, My lady?”

I presented the napkin to him. “Well, I just got the napkin that was also on the list… and we have the baguette.” At that I was pretty sure I could still hear Baguette grumbling in the distance. “Uh… let’s get out of here and then do our second round of guessing.” I laughed again and Haiden joined me, dragging me further into the servant’s quarters.

“The maids are probably wondering why their future monarch is running around with a little redheaded girl.”

“Don’t forget I’m carrying a baguette and wearing your green tie.”

He gave me a glance and immediately stopped running. I almost stumbled with him, but then he looked at me and reached for the tie. He untied the loose knot I’d made and replaced it with a perfect one instead, so that it was placed neatly around my neck. “There, now it’s perfect.”

I grabbed the end of the tie assessing his work and smiled. “Oh, how have I survived without your fashion sense.”

“Obviously. So are we going to guess yet?”

“Yes, you go first now.”

“All right. You’ve… never had a boyfriend.”

Ouch. I gasped pretending to be offended. “Haiden Schreave, why would you ever think that? You are lucky enough to get to date me.”

He laughed. “You’re practically a child.”

Oh, you want to play like that huh? “You’re barely older than me honey.”

“You’re still a minor.” He said matter of fact-ly, but then in a teasing tone he added: “And you’re tiny.”

HOW DARE HE CALL ME TINY? “No,” I poked his chest “you’re tall, there’s a difference.”

He still seemed amused as he stared at the finger I’d used to poke him. “Did I get it right, though?”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “Technically…no.”

“Technically?”

“Well, the media kind of expected me to have a boyfriend so I had one…for a while, but we were really just friends.”

“So not technically.”

“We agreed to be a couple for a while so people would stop asking why we were single” I shrugged. “Mutual agreement.”

“So technically or not technically?” He questioned and I struggled to give an answer as I thought of Josh.

We went out to get dinner or watch movies, in rare occasions we even did picnics to make it more “romantic”. We’d been like that on my last months in Angeles before moving to Dominica. We used my temporary move away as an excuse to break up peacefully.

It mostly started because paparazzi wouldn’t stop asking if there was anyone special out there I hadn’t told them about, and because everyone was expecting Josh to date the co-star of the movie he was working on. It was common for actors and actresses to ‘fall in love with each other’ to help the publicity of their own movies, but Ellie Foster made it pretty clear she would “never in her life date a Lynley again.” Josh was not any more interested either. After all she had broken up with his older brother just because she thought he didn’t “act like a Two with all the painting he did.” It wasn’t that she wasn’t smart or pretty, she was just too…condescending.

With me and Josh dating however, people would stop asking me about nonexistent secret boyfriends and stop suggesting him and Ellie become a couple. It was a win-win situation as stupid as having to do it was. Since that moment on I became Josh’s permanent companion on movie premieres—which to be honest happened a lot even before we became “a couple”. We kept regularly seeing each other on set whenever I was there with my parents and we hung out a lot out off set as well. Considering we were already close friends, it was mostly acting like the love we shared was a romantic kind of love… so it wasn’t all a charade. We really did have fun and enjoyed each other’s company. I even thought I might like him for a while…but by the end it was always pretty platonic.

“I don’t know…what would you consider technically?” I asked Haiden.

“I don’t know depends on what you consider dating is. For example, I don’t consider that we’re dating. I believe we’re both in a mutual contract at this point, but I wouldn’t say dating.”

That’s certainly interesting. I raised my eyebrow. “So this is not a date?”

“Mm, technically no. I like to call it a “Rendezvous with a possible spouse”. But legally, I’m supposed to call it a date.”

I laughed at the name he used. “Okay, okay, at what point would it be a date then?”

“When we mutually agree it is…I barely know you. It’d be weird to say we’re dating along with 29 other girls.”

I nodded tapping my chin as I examined him. I agreed with what he was saying, but I hadn’t been expecting those to be his thoughts. “True, it’s kind of weird…” really weird actually. “I’m beginning to think this Selection was not entirely your idea.”

“Oh, it definitely wasn’t.”

I thought about the rebels who had killed the second Azalea. “Hmm…any particular reasons the country needed it right now?”

“Not really. I was just of age and jolly ol’ dad decided it was time.”

“Okay, well hopefully I survive here long enough to get a real date with you then. And also I guess I technically haven’t had a boyfriend.”

“Trust me, I think you will.” He said it without stuttering, but then he seemed to realize he’d said it aloud and cleared his throat. “And wonderful, I’m right.”

I grinned trying to let him know his comment had not gone unnoticed. “Let’s see, a compliment… You’re a lot funnier than you think you are, or than what you pretend to be at least.”

“Why, thank you, Lady Aileen. You’re turn now.”

“Hum, I’m pretty sure you write. I don’t know what, but you do. I mean, with that bookshelf and the bunch of papers on your trashcan… that is practically overloaded with paper balls may I add.”

He laughed. “You got me.”

“Yes! Now a compliment, plus a detail. Is it novels? Songs? Short stories? …poetry? I’ve heard everyone blabbing about how much you love it.”

“Nope, no details. I am not contractually obligated. As for your compliment… I like that you talk back to me.”

“I’ll figure out eventually, but what do you mean I talk back to you?”

“You don’t brush off anything. If I’m wrong you definitely make sure I know.”

It was a simple compliment, but nonetheless pleasant. “Ahh, well I’m glad you don’t hate me for it,” I winked “someone’s gotta do it. Now, we’re almost done with the list. Next thing requires me to get my camera from my room.”

“All, right,” he said gesturing toward a door near us “after you.”

I opened the door and called for Janet and Anne, but no one replied. I entered and for once they weren’t there. Haiden slowly walked in behind me, double checking no one saw him enter.

“You´re scared to get caught in my room as well?”

“Of course.”

I started moving and picking up the polaroid photos I’d left on the floor and around my desk before I’d left for the gardens. “Why? I get your room, but…well…this is kind of your property.”

“Don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”

I thought again about ‘Exposing Illea’ implying me and David seemed a bit too close. David. My cousin. “Fair enough I guess. I am sorry for the mess as well” I said, still picking up photos from what to him probably seemed like random places. “Anne and Janet do a better job at cleaning really, I just told them not to move some stuff. I don´t want them to accidentally misplace things.” I had a weird way of organizing my pictures.

He laughed. “It looks perfect.”

I smiled and placed the pictures neatly on my desk. “Of course you´d say that considering how your trashcan looks.” I teased, approaching my new bed to kneel in front of it and look for my instant camera under it.

“You know you have plenty of storage in other places rather than the bed.”

“Yes, but no one serious would look under the bed. It´s ridiculous to hide something there…well, unless they are looking for something very important, then they would turn the room upside down.” I took out the camera from under the bed. “Would you ever think of looking under the bed?”

“Um, yes. That’s literally the first place people who have something to hide put things.”

“Fine,” I said rolling my eyes. “I’ll look for a better place….” To be honest I wasn’t trying to hide it there, I just didn’t want people using it without permission. It was a special gift. If I placed it somewhere else—where people might just pick it up while in my room to look at it—I would find myself trying to politely take it back without showing I was bothered by them grabbing it in the first place.

“Take it from a professional spy.” Haiden quipped.

I stood up and remembered how he opened the lock back in the kitchen. “You owe me a hair pin by the way, but you have to teach me that trick.”

To my surprise he took the hair pin from his pocket, but held it high above his head, out of my reach.

You little—I placed a hand on my hip and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Against what you have established, I am not a child, so I will not behave like one…” I said it as eloquently as possible. Heather would be proud. Then I waited for a couple of seconds, expecting him to give ot back, but he didn’t and I was bored and I am Aileen. He’s already seen how intense I am. I sighed. Heather might not be as proud. “Oh who am I kidding, that´s no fun.” And then I tackled the prince.

He gasped as we hit the ground. “Oh, God.” Between laughs he stuck the pin on his hair and shoved me aside. “You’ll never get it now.”

I stood after him. “That’s not fair! Why are you so tall?!”

“Because taller is better!”

“Pfft, I doubt so,” I argued, reaching for the blanket on my bed and throwing it over his head in an attempt to stop him “it makes you a bigger target!

He laughed but kept on walking and crashed into a wall. Didn’t really protest though. “You’re not getting this pin.”

I snorted a laugh, but didn’t care for it at the moment. “Be careful where you’re going, and I’m getting that pin!”

Before I could do anything however he spun around and unraveled himself from the blanket. In seconds he was tying it around me. “No wait!” I tried to stop him, but failed and then ended up tripping over the blanket and bumping into the shelf I had. Because of the tangled mess we were with the blanket, we both ended up on the floor, next to each other. We had burst out laughing as soon as we hit the ground. I hadn’t heard him laugh that hard all day.

“You should let me keep the hair pin.”

I took part of the blanket from my face and proclaimed dramatically: “MY HONER DEPENDS ON GETTING THAT PIN!” But just then the carton box I’d placed on the shelf we bumped into finally tipped over and fell. All of my little paper swans and planes showered on us and the empty box landed on Haiden’s head.

“Well, this is inconvenient.”

I laughed again. “I like origami.”

I unraveled my hands from the blanket and took the box off his head. He smiled down at me and I took the opportunity to reach for the pin. “And so my honor is restored…”

He backed away and wrapped his hand around my wrist before I could grasp it. “Not so fast.”

I tried to hold him still, biting my lip in concentration in an attempt to reach for it with my other hand. “Is it so hard to make you stay in one place?”

“I never stay in one place.” He chuckled.

“Pfft, well first of all that’s a lie.” I kept reaching for the pin and he kept laughing, trying to stop me from getting it, playfully elbowing me away.

“No it isn’t.”

“Oh really, how do you sleep then…” The door creaked and from the corner of my eye I realized how it slowly opened, I glanced back at Haiden with wide eyes. We were on a corner between my bed and shelf, surrounded by a bunch of origami figures, a tangled mess in blankets. It didn’t get any more random than that. I immediately reached for the blanket and untangled it just in time to throw it on top of him. Anne came in with a batch of towels in hand. I was glad the blanket was for a king size bed. Big enough for a prince. Get it? No? Fine.

“Lady Ai—” she stopped midsentence looking at both of us. “Uh…who’s that?” She gestured at the blanket-covered Haiden with her head.

“Oh hey Anne! It’s just Mila.” Silence ensued as Anne frowned and Haiden remained silent. I cleared my throat before elbowing him on the ribs. “Don’t be shy Mila, say hi.”

He only squeaked a little. I could tell he was trying not to laugh. He’d be a horrible actor.

Anne seemed very confused. “Umm..”

“Yeah, uh,” my voice cracked a little as I avoided bursting into laughter “that’s how Mila says hi apparently.” I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. This was ridiculous. We were ridiculous.

“O-okay..?” I could tell Anne knew something was off but I only stood and tried helping Haiden up as well, making sure the blanket didn’t fall off. “Umm yeah we…” I eyed the room for a sec and then reached for a pillow as an idea formed in my head. “We were going to have a sleepover. At her room.” I shoved the pillow at Haiden’s chest. “Right Mila?”

He squeaked in agreement. I did my best not to laugh again. What kind of girl squeals to talk Haiden?

Anne raised an eyebrow. “It’s the middle of the day, why would you have a sleepover right now? And didn’t the last one end up with a burnt bush in the gardens?”

“We’re just getting ready…And yes there was a burnt bush, but Mila and I were some of the few that tried to stop them.” This was true. Remembering that night I leaned to whisper in Haiden’s ear and said: “By the way if it weren’t for us and Elaine your room might have been the one lit up.”

He laughed lightly and whispered back. “Well, thanks.” Then he cleared his throat and slouched down to my height. As if that would go unnoticed now. There was really no point in keeping this going probably, but we did.

Anne squinted at us. “Well Mila, you sure are tall…”

Haiden did a girly giggle in response and I snorted a laugh.

“Yeah,” I cleared my throat and waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s the vitamins!” Then I dragged him out of there, in the rush I accidentally made him bump into a wall. “Oops, better wacth where you’re going Mila.” I snickered, getting him past the door. “Bye Anne! I’m sorry for the origami mess, I’ll clean it up, don’t worry about it.” Then I pushed him outside. “Oh! Almost forgot” I went back in and grabbed the camera. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

He tossed the blanket onto a chair in the hallway. “Well, that was close.”

“That’s the worst impression of a girl I’ve ever seen.” I smirked.

“Well, I’d hope so.” Haiden emphasized and it took me a second to get it before laughing.

“Oh, shut up. Also, now you owe me one for saving your royal behind,” I extended my hand in front of him “so I wish for my honor back.”

“Maybe next time.”

I huffed, not willing to fight for the pin on the palace’s halls as well. “Fine, I’ll trust you with it…for now.”

“Great, because my next option would be to swallow it and my digestive tract could not handle that.”

I made a face. “Ew, that’s my honor you’re talking about.” Then I shook my head and held up the camera. “Now next item! We need a selfie with a guard.”

“I can do that.” He reached for something in his pocket and took out a walkie talkie.

Oh wow. “Modern.” I intoned.

He gave me an amused glance and started talking into the walkie talkie. “Knox, you there?”

I hovered next to him and yelled: “Hey Knox, how you doing?”

There was only static for a second, then a gruff voice finally spoke up. “Uh, Prince Haiden, I’m here, but who’s that?”

“Oh, no one.” He said rolling his eyes and I shoved him. “But, could you come to my room. I need help with something.”

“Uh, all right I’ll be there soon.”

When the walkie-talk was over I elbowed him. “No one? Excuse you, Mr. you underrate yourself, I am not no one.” Then I reached for the blanket and threw it over his face again. Me being petty. “Who’s Knox by the way?”

“A guard. Like you wanted.”

“I figured that, but aren’t you worried he’ll see me in your room?”

“No, Knox knows me and he’s no snitch.”

“A friend then?”

“Sort of. Let’s go.”

Once we were back on his room he asked: “So… are you having fun?”

“Are you kidding? Today has been great, one of the best treasure hunts I’ve ever had.” I said, laughing as I sat on the edge of his bed to wait for Knox. “I was actually worried I’d scare you with my…Aileen-ness.” I shrugged at my own creation of random words. “But I realized it was better for you to see it from the get go.”

He chuckled. “Definitely not. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

That was the best outcome I could have wished for. “Glad I could help.”

Then someone knocked on the door and Haiden walked over to it. “Knox, glad you could come.”

A guard with dirty-blonde hair came in and glanced at me. “Am I interrupting something?”

I couldn’t avoid snickering. “Yeah, we were about to passionately make out Knox, you just ruined the moment.”

He slowly walked out of the room again. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

I tilted my head at him and raised an eyebrow at Haiden. “He doesn’t have a good sense of sarcasm does he?”

Haiden shook his head and replied: “Oh he knew what you were saying. Very well.” Then he gestured at Knox to come back in.

I frowned, slightly confused about what that meant, but I didn’t get a chance to question it as Haiden explained we needed a selfie. When he gave Knox my camera part of me cringed inside, just a little…I had been the one to give Haiden the camera in the first place though—prepared for both of them to be holding it— so it was fine.

Knox laughed and grabbed camera. “Don’t mind if I do.”

I ran over to stand behind him and poked my head over his shoulder. I had to stand on the tip of my toes because he was practically as tall as Haiden, if not taller. “Ugh, why are you all so tall.”

Knox took the picture and tossed the camera at Haiden. I chewed the inside of my cheek to stop myself from reprimanding him for throwing it with such disregard. “Lemme know if you need any more eye candy, babe.”

Wait… “What?

He was out of the room before I could question him again.

“Anything else left?” Haiden asked with a laugh.

I frowned at the door for a few seconds after Knox left, and then turned to look at him. “Well, I was hoping you could choose the last item.”

He gave that a thought. “Up for a challenge?”

I raised my eyebrows mischievously. “You’ve spent a whole day with me, what do you think?”

“Lady Alexandria’s hair brush.” He smirked. “Or comb, whichever.”

My mouth fell open and I raised both eyebrows. Oh my, he’s even more intense than me. I didn’t even mention how he’d gotten her name wrong.

“Or would her soul be better?” He added, mimicking the mischievous smile I’d had a few seconds ago.

I slowly grinned as my brain wrapped itself around his idea. “Oh wow, going for the big leagues. You sure you wanna get in the way of Alexandra’s hair? That could get us killed.” I was only partially joking with the last statement. Apparently she tolerated me so far, but I wondered if she was just acting like that because she recognized my dad’s last name. My dad hadn’t worked with her before, but she might know about him if she recognized movie producers.

“It’s too big. She won’t see us.” He joked, dismissing my concerns. Then he tilted his head. “You coming?”

I bit the inside of my cheek thinking it through. It was risky, but I couldn’t deny I wanted to go. If someone ever went into my room to get something as simple as a comb under these circumstances, and then told me about it, I would find it strangely hilarious. I knew other girls would too… but Alex? I didn’t have her entirely figured out yet. “I’m going to regret this…” I sighed “but at least she doesn’t already hate me. I might survive this.” Probably.

I followed him and he grinned. Most of my concerns diminished after I grinned back.

“You knock and see if she’s in there.” He whispered when we were almost by her room.

I walked the rest of the way to her door and knocked, calling her name, claiming Azalea was looking for her. No one replied so I gestured for Haiden to come. It seemed like the coast was clear. The door wasn’t locked—which I found rather odd considering I always made sure mine was—so we just opened it. Haiden mentioned the maids and I poked my head inside, asking if there was anyone there. After I said I was looking for Alex and got no reply we went in.

As we entered I looked over my shoulder at Haiden. “My guess is you’ve never had a girlfriend.”

“Please, you’re not even trying.”

For a moment I thought that meant I’d guessed wrong, but when I asked if it was a real girlfriend he said: “Nope.”

I was confused by this. “Technical like mine then?”

“Nope, not technical. Just nope.”

I realized then I’d misunderstood his initial reply. “Then I’m right! I thought you said I wasn’t trying because I guessed incorrectly, now I get it…” He laughed at this and I shrugged with a smile. “It’s a fair guess, for all I know you might have had one.”

Haiden almost seemed baffled by the suggestion. “You’ve known me this long and you think I’ve dated before?”

He said that as if we’d known each other for ages which made my smile widen. I pushed him playfully, heading for the vanity to look for the comb. “Now, who’s underrating themselves? You got some tricks up your sleeve.”

“Tricks, really?” He seemed amused by the idea and I smirked.

“Well, yeah. You’re funny, dare I say even bold considering what you just picked for us to get now.” I added, gesturing at the room. “Smart, nice…I could probably list a couple more, but compliments aren’t free in this hunt, remember?”

He laughed. “I suppose so. It’s my turn isn’t it? Well, I’ll say you’re very funny, cute when you don’t try too hard, and not afraid of a challenge.”

“Jeez, now I try too hard.” I chided, shaking my head with a smile. Then I finally turned to look at the vanity in search for the comb. I made sure not to touch anything since I didn’t want to move things out of place; I wouldn’t want people moving all of my stuff around. I also didn’t pay much attention to any of the objects that I saw. I just concentrated on the shape of a comb and looked over the stuff on the vanity. As I did I clarified: “For the record, I don’t try too hard, I just like being dramatic. It is second nature…when I’m not in public.”

He shook his head, laughing. “No, that was a joke. You’re cute most of the time.” He paused only for a second. “You and your small, redhead self.”

I didn’t look back at him but my smile widened again. “Thanks Haiden, don’t forget freckled…” Then I saw the comb behind a couple of different perfumes. I reached for it carefully and slowly turned around to show it to him. “Well, look at what I found.”

“Well, let’s get out of here.”

After that there was only one thing left. Proof of the hunt.

With all the items on Haiden’s bed I picked up the napkin and started folding it to make a swan.

“You know napkin origami?”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure it’s called napkin folding not napkin origami.” I laughed, finishing the swan. Then I held it dramatically in my hand for him to see. “And secondly, yes, I know a bit…more than most people at least.”

Between a fake cough he mumbled: “Napkin origami sounds cooler.”

I only gave him a sideways grin before reaching for the book and placing the swan on top of it. Then I placed the comb to rest on the swan alongside the instant picture with Knox. I placed it all in his hands. He gave me a questioning look, but didn’t ask anything. I took a step away to look him up and down, and then decided he needed to hold the book in just one hand. He would need the other one to hold the baguette.

I made him raise his hand up as if the baguette was a sword and then, realizing my blanket was there, I added it as a cape over his shoulders. Then I pictured the frame in my head. “Hmm, yeah, this works.”

“This is a tad uncomfortable.” Haiden claimed, but the smile on his face was genuine.

I quickly reached for my camera and snapped a picture without really checking the frame, then hurried to help him with the book. “Any other posing ideas were I may actually angle the camera?”

He didn’t say anything for a second but then he jumped onto the bed and made a ‘draw me like one of your French girls’ pose from Titanic.

Oh, my freaking chips. I burst out laughing, and because I was trying not too I snorted again.

“Make me beautiful.” He cooed and I flat out lost it.

I was pretty sure my face had turned as red as a rose from laughing. The whole thing was perfect for a blackmail photo to tease him with later, but I couldn’t hold the camera steady because of my laughter. After a while I finally managed to snap the picture of him with the rest of the items on the bed. Haiden laughed with me and placed the baguette on his mouth like one would a rose during a tango. I leaned on a bed post clutching my stomach, still laughing.

You know how sometimes you laugh and you’ve been doing it for so long it starts hurting? Like you are struggling to catch your breath, but you just can’t stop? It was one of those moments. This was Prince Haiden? The shyest member of the royal family? “You would make a perfect Rose.” I joked.

“But where are your brushes and paint?”

Oh holy macaroni. My laugh immediately returned full on. “Oh my, must have misplaced them…” I sputtered, even though I was dying inside as I said it, and my stomach hurt from laughing, and I was probably a freckled tomato.

He sat up and I could tell he wasn’t going to stop. It was like he didn’t want me to stop laughing. “And are you my Jack?” He alluded.

I was so taken aback by that one I actually slipped from the post onto the bed. My laughter still echoed through the room. I tried to calm down and raised an eyebrow at him. “Would you like me to be?”

He reached for my cheek and I knew my blushing involuntarily intensified (if that was even possible), but then he held out the baguette to me and said: “Hold onto this and don’t let go.”

THIS NERD. I started laughing again but after a moment I cleared my throat and grabbed the tip of the baguette. Then in the most serious way possible: “Haiden, this Baguette isn’t big enough for both of us.”

“Then…” he paused to sniffle “one of us must leave.”

He pushed me off the bed.

“Whaa..” I wrapped my hand around his wrist just in time to bring him down with me. We both started laughing again on the ground. When we finally calmed down I looked at him and clicked my tongue. “Great Haiden now we’re both gonna die from hypothermia.”

He hummed. “Finally.”

I snickered and nudged him before staring at his ceiling. “You’re so dramatic.” Maybe even as much as I am. I took a bite from the baguette and couldn’t blame the chef for having them under a locked safe. I offered Haiden a piece. “Want some before we freeze to death?”

He accepted the offer. “I wonder what Baguette is thinking right now.”

“Hmm, maybe he’s considering what poison to use on our dinner…Or planning world dominance, you know.”

“I’ll have it treated, don’t worry.”

I smiled over at him. “Haiden saving the day.”

“Always. So are we going to guess again? One last time?”

“Oh! Yes, we’re missing one. You go first.”

“All right, um, you have conflicted feelings about me.”

Maybe. “Hmm, depends on what you mean by conflicted.”

“But I’m right.” He cajoled.

“I don’t know.” I rolled my eyes, smirking. “We haven’t even had our first date yet remember?”

“Oh, right.” He chuckled softly. “How could I forget? Maybe someday we’ll have that first date.”

I kept staring at the ceiling and started fidgeting with the green tie that was still around my neck. “I have to admit today could have been a pretty good date.” I only dared to look at him from the corner of my eye, but I noticed him lean closer to me.

“Well, maybe our first real date will be even better.”

I turned my head to face him. His brown eyes stared intently at my own and I found myself moving my head closer to his as well. “It better be or I’m holding you responsible.” I said, smiling softly.

“I’ll be sure to make it worth your time.”

“Good.” This time I smiled coyly. “My guess is you feel attracted to me right now.”

“Possibly.”

My lips turned into a thin line. “Does that mean I get a compliment?”

“Sure.” It took him a couple of seconds to come up with his reply. “You make me…rethink things.”

“Things like…?” I ventured, hesitantly.

“Things.”

I pressed my lips together again, but then smiled with a nod. “Things. Okay. Well, I guess you get a compliment too….” I had to take a moment to pick mine as well. “You make me feel comfortable in a sense.”

“I’m glad.”

“Me too.” I said, staring back at the ceiling.

“So… this is the end, I guess.”

“So…who’s going to return Alexandra’s comb?”

“Mm, stick it in a potted plant.” He suggested.

I glared at him. “She’ll know its missing…I guess I could tell her I was near her room and in need of a comb and just borrowed it.” Not entirely a lie.

“No, don’t tell her anything.”

“Yeah, she’d probably kill me.” I smirked. “Though it was your idea…Maybe I’ll give it to her maid.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“Yeah, that way no one gets killed.”

We stayed silent for a while after that, just casually lying on the floor, as if it were completely normal. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence however. It was the kind of silence you agree on just to give someone else company. Does that make sense?

I wasn’t sure how long it had been by the time I sat up, but I knew our little rendezvous was reaching its end. I hovered over his face while he was still lying on the ground and the tie swung near him. “Any chance you’ll tell me the story behind the green tie before this is over?” I said, still curious about why it was his favorite tie. That was probably the vaguest most interesting thing he’d mentioned during my interview.

Haiden smiled and reached for the tie when it swung near his ear. “We better save something to talk about for next time.”

I grinned wondering what crazy ideas we would have during our second date. “A story for next time then.”

I moved aside and he sat up too. “We should probably go.” He said, standing up.

“Are you walking me to my room?” I asked, picking up the book with the other things from our treasure hunt. I was happy to take that beautiful book with me.

“I had a lot of fun today.”

I snapped a surprise picture of him then. Last picture of the day. I grinned at his smile on the instant picture that came out. “One of the best not-so-quite dates I’ve ever had.” I handed him the picture for him to see.

“If this is not a date, then I’d love to see a real one someday.”

“Agreed…Mutual agreement. When we mutually agree we’re having a date then it will no longer be a…” I paused trying to remember his exact words. “What did you call it? Rendezvous with a possible spouse? It sounds like we might reach the agreement sooner rather than later. Can’t wait to see how that turns out.”

We smiled at each other.

“Thank you for your time Haiden.” I did a dramatic curtsy.

“What are you doing here?” Janet asked when she came out of the closet.

I looked up from Haiden’s pictures and gave her a puzzled look. “Umm, this is my room…?”

“Anne said you were having a sleepover with Mila tonight.” As if called upon, Anne appeared on the bathroom’s doorway.

“Oh, yes. We were organizing a couple of thing…we’re done now. We’re not meeting up again until later.”

“Okay. I’ll have your clothes ready then.”

I nodded thinking I’d dodged a bullet, but then Anne spoke up. “Why are you wearing a tie?”

I placed my hand on the knot without thinking and then looked back at her. She was giving me a very suspicious glare. How had we forgotten about the tie? “I’m—trying to make a fashion statement.” It sounded more like a question than an answer.

Janet tilted her head in confusion.

Anne raised both eyebrows as if unimpressed with my excuse. “Wasn’t your date with the prince today?”

“Uh…” Busted.

She shook her head and walked over to sit on my desk’s chair. It seemed like she was waiting for an explanation. “You know, Lady Mila seems to have very prince-like shoes.”

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#haiden schreave #ugh no time for editing #selectionoc #fic #not a challenge

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