#the family had been looking for clues about him and causing extra mischief for a year or so before Silver disappeared

[reploidbuddy]

Last day of posting Silver’s family with the before-last member, uncle Prague

He’s on Turin’s side of the family and not a full uncle since they only share a father. Contrarily to Turin, the father was a bit more present in Prague’s home... but he still wasn’t a very good person and Prague’s mother was basically putting him aside to care for the dad like a spoiled 5 years old emperor. He and Turin met as young teens when they were both on an angry stroll and became friends, and it’s only WAY later like months later that they realized their father was the same guy. Turin basically went "your parents failed you too, huh? Welcome to the team." and they've referred to each other as brothers ever since. Prague is about 3 years younger than Turin. He’s single and lives alone, but he comes over often (or well, came. More on that later).

Prague’s psychokinesis is some kind of jack of all trade type where he can do most of what his family does but never go as deep into the technicalities of it. His powers also need to be "fired up" to work, so while Silver can just lift a car, Prague has to start with a mug or pen and slowly work his way to the car. He doesn’t seem to have a ceiling for his powers though, but he can get overloaded rather quickly if he makes his powers grow too exponentially. They go back down to needing to lift a pen first if he rests. It’s the same principle for other types of psychokinesis. It’s very hard for him to make something that’s not a big blur when it comes to psychokinesis similar to Venice, and any mind link he creates ends up fading. So far, the only semi-functional one is what he has with Turin, and it’s easier to close it off than it is to use it. He still keeps it though because he’s his brother and it’s a way to have an extra bond even if it’s not worth much. Gold had surpassed most if not all his telepath skills when she was five or six. So his powers are very varied and can get very powerful with time, but it affected his skill level in each. Except Turin’s magnet-like psychokinesis. Prague never manage to figure out how to do it, he just ends up lifting himself like Silver lifts people, he does not understand it.

His variety made him a good teacher though and he taught the basics of all the kids’ psychokinesis and helped them find techniques to recenter themselves. They developed the rest on their own and that’s how they grew so skilled, but the basics on how to feel their powers and flow them properly and control some elements was taught by their uncle.

He never had any reactions about Silver’s disappearance because he went missing roughly a year before Silver did. He went to their apartment one morning asking if he could stay with them for a bit and even slept there. According to pretty much everyone, he acted off and weird and seemed like some odd kind of sad. Turin tried to convince him to stay another night or let him come over, but Prague insisted he had to go (even if it was long after curfew) and that everything would be fine. Nobody believed him and Turin decided to go check on him later that night... only to find an empty unlocked apartment with the heater off but still warm, bed still made at 2am, and a half-finished cup of tea on the table that was still not quite cold. He had just... vanished.

Platine’s dad said him vanishing like that was a very familiar situation. Nobody liked that.

#He’s a mixed in design of two OCs I barely used #It’s a mix between a porcupine I had created for a friend’s story but it never left the ideation phase so #and the other mixed in was a hedgehog and originally Silver’s dad back when it was a hedgehog dad and a mink mom but I had already- #-repurposed him as a not-dad in the pirate fic so I just decided to dive into the uncle role fully and mix in the porcupine #I mean Prague’s og hedgehog design wouldn’t really have any issues tbh but I thought it’d be neat to add another species especially since- #-Platine’s a hedgehog already #re-used the name tho I liked it too much to change his name #the family had been looking for clues about him and causing extra mischief for a year or so before Silver disappeared #they had to put the search on pause for a while due to this because everyone was a mess for a long while #rep draws #rep writes #Silver’s family AU #keeping my personal favorite for last <3 #his eyes aren’t green due to genetics #they were brown until he overloaded for the first time and they've been green since then #he doesn't understand why either he would have thought they would have gone back to brown after rest

[kyoongaroo]

All Over Again — 01

summary: one of Baekhyun’s goals was to be CEO of his father’s company. But unless he was married, or at least, in a serious relationship, he wasn’t qualified to take on the role. The board meeting was coming soon, and he was desperately looking for a girlfriend to introduce to his family. That’s when he found you.

genre: romance, fluff, smut in later chapter.

a/n:  slow update sorry :,(

“You want me to do what now?”

Your roommate clung tighter onto your arms. “Please,” she begged, staring up at you with round, pleading eyes. “I really need your help.”

“Uh,” you hesitated. Fake-dating? You had no clue how that was done. But Jane was your best friend, what does it say about you if you don’t help a friend in need? You sighed. “Okay, but you need to talk me through it again.”

“So I’m on this app that put me in touch with this guy who’s looking for a temporary girlfriend. Babe, you won’t believe the amount he’s willing to pay me.” Her eyes lit up. You raised your brows, mentally guessing the numbers in your head. She held up her pointer and middle fingers. “Two thousand dollar for a meeting.”

Coming from a wealthy household yourself, money had never fazed you, even after you moved out and stopped living off your parents’. Now, you were running a bakery business that was going pretty well. Your friend however, needed this extra cash to get by. She had just recently lost a job and was currently hunting for a new one. The stress might’ve caused her to fall sick, which was why she couldn’t take on whatever this is she signed up for. Things would’ve been easier if she didn’t reject your offer to pay for this month’s rent in full, the two of you were sharing an apartment.

“What are the terms like?” You asked.

“Nothing complicated, you just have to escort him to events and pretend you’re his girlfriend.”

That seemed feasible, you thought. “As long as there’s no sex involved.” You said firmly. She may be your best friend and you cared for her like a family, but there’s no way in hell you’re going to prostitute yourself for her.

“Wait til’ you see this guy,” she grinned, her eyes twinkling. “I bet all my money you’ll wanna have some with him.”

“Money?” You huffed, rolling your eyes. “You have like what? two dollars?”

She grabbed a pillow and slammed it across your face, making you laugh as you tried to duck away. She grunted. “You’re mean.”

You grinned apologetically as you hugged her closer to you. “So, what time do i have to meet this guy?”

“Seven, I’ll let him know that you’ll be replacing me.” She said, reaching for her cellphone from the bedside drawer.

“What’s his name?” You asked.

“Bernard?”

“He’s a foreigner?”

She shook her head. “He’s a local, last name’s Byun,”

At six fifty five, you found yourself at a place not so unfamiliar to you. Your sister happened to stay in the apartment building where Bernard stayed. Your stomach roiled with uneasiness as you waited for the door to be answered. There were so many things to worry about. Meeting your potential fake-boyfriend, possibly being ted-bundied by him, bumping into your sister.

Your fingers clutched tightly onto the strap of your baguette bag. Jane didn’t mention anything about dress code, and when you went back to her room to ask, she had already fallen asleep. At last, you settled with a white tube top beneath a Balmain tweed jacket and a fitting pair of jeans. It’s nothing formal, nor casual.

You glanced around cautiously when you heard soft chatters coming from afar. If your sister found out what you were up to and told your parents about it, they’d probably disown you. You wouldn’t be surprised if they did, considering how your relationship with them was already strained.

The beep from the digital lock caused you to flinch. You shifted your gaze to look ahead, breathing deeply as your lips stretched into a smile. The door opened. You were so short, the first thing you saw at your eye level was the Versace logo printed on the stranger’s shirt. Craning your neck, you met the strangers eyes.

Except.

Your eyes doubled in size at the realization. You stared at the tall man as he stared back at you, both trying to figure out if your mind were playing tricks. Until he opened his mouth and said, “You?!”

You swallowed. “C-Chanyeol?”

You had no time to move away. The guy was so quick, in a second you were in his arms, your legs floating off the ground as he hugged you so tightly that your organs nearly crushed. “It’s been so long! Where the hell have you been?”

“Are-are you Bernard?” you stammered.

Chanyeol finally let go of you, and your legs touched to the ground. God, did he grow taller?

“He's waiting for you inside,” he said, his lips twitching.

You narrowed your gaze, noticing the mischief in his eyes and the way he held back a smile. In the past, that look meant no good to you. You had a feeling you’re in for trouble.

“Oh, Bernard will be so damn pleased to see you,” he muttered to himself as he stepped aside to let you in.

You were filled with nervousness when you walked through the door. Your heels clicked over the gleaming travertine tiles as you followed behind him. Your gaze drifted over everything. Unlike your sister’s, the owner had completely remodelled his flat. Now it was looking more like a loft with the open space and the brick wall. The space was so enormous, you felt dwarfed being in here. Finally halting at what seemed like a sitting area, your eyes zeroed in on a man’s back as he stood facing a huge window.

“Look who’s here, Bae—“

The man raised a hand to shut Chanyeol up. He was on his phone, his deep voice resounding in this spacious room. Your gaze dipped down his body and back up again, thinking this man had a very nice build. He was dressed in a black turtleneck tucked in a pair of dark jeans. Despite standing at a distance from you, you knew he was at least a head taller than you. You tried to make up how he looked like through the reflection on the glass, only to give up and be completely enthralled by the breathtaking view of the skyline.

“Is she here?”

Your eyes moved over to Bernard as the man himself turned on his feet. Pocketing his phone, his eyes landed on you and yours on his.

Your heart was suddenly in your throat and you froze. In that second you wished you had the magic to make yourself disappear. Because Bernard wasn’t Bernard. Bernard was Baekhyun, and Baekhyun was your ex-boyfriend.

What the hell did you get yourself into?

The three of you were seated on the leather couch after a short, awkward catch up. For the next few minutes, you listened as Baekhyun explained his situation to you. Long story short, his father was stepping down as the CEO of Byun Holdings, and he was making Baekhyun and his stepbrother compete for the position. Since Mr Byun was a family man, he thought it was important for his children to be committed in his personal life too. Because, despite owning one of the biggest companies in the country, his father believed there was more to life than work. Which means, unless Baekhyun was in a serious relationship/married, he wasn’t qualified to take on the role. The board meeting would be held next month, that’s why Baekhyun was desperately looking for a girlfriend to introduce to his family. As for Bernard, it was an alias since he didn’t want his identity to be revealed.

“He’s gonna be here anytime soon,” Baekhyun said, startling you with the sudden news.

“Wait what? Who’s gonna be here?” you glanced between the two, confused.

“My brother,” Baekhyun said.

“Jaehyun?” You looked at him to confirm.

When he nodded, you paled. Jaehyun was his stepbrother, and you remembered that the two despised each other. Which only means, he would be more skeptical of you than a normal person would be.

The doorbell rang, effectively stopping your train of thoughts. The three of you turned your head towards the door.

“That must be him,” Chanyeol said.

You glanced anxiously between the two. “What do I do?”

“You need to be more affectionate with each other in order to sell this.” Chanyeol advised, his eyes moving from you to Baekhyun, then back at you again. “Get up,” he ordered as he rose to his feet. You confusedly obeyed him, letting him grab your wrist as he guided you to Baekhyun’s side. “Sit here,” he said, surprising you when he pushed you down by your shoulders.

You let out a gasp when your ass landed on Baekhyun’s lap. His hands caught your waist to keep you still. Your eyes widened at Baekhyun before you glared at the other male. “What is this for?”

“Stop being so awkward around each other or no one’s gonna believe you’re a couple,” He said just as the bell rang for the second time. “I’ll get that. Stay where you are.” He gave you a warning look before walking away from the couch.

You turned your attention to Baekhyun who was already staring at you. “This is so not awkward,” You mumbled to yourself.

Baekhyun smiled softly. “Relax, everything will be fine.”

“Is it necessary to cuddle in front of your brother?” You asked, incredulous.

“It’s just for a show,” he said.

You tsked in annoyance “Why did I even agree to this?”

As he grinned, you heard a male’s voice calling out to him. Turning your head, you saw a man approaching you both. There’s an air of superiority in the way he walked. You swept your gaze over his physique and gulped. You’d never seen a creature like him, so big and buff. He looked like he could crush you like a bug in between his two palms.

“You need to relax, sweetheart,” Baekhyun whispered into your ears, his hand caressing your back.

Inhaling deeply, you slid off his lap and rose to your feet. “Hello,” you greeted, waving your hand at his brother.

Awkward...

The man sized you up before glancing at Baekhyun. “Who’s this?”

You felt a hand sliding around your back and rested on your hips before the words “My girlfriend,” were uttered.

“Since when?” Jaehyun asked, studying you with skeptious eyes.

“Since when do you care?” Baekhyun said.

“Of course I care, you’re my beloved brother,” he said it with a little to no sincerity at all. You were startled when the big guy leaned forward, pinning you with his stare. “How did you meet my brother?”

“W-we’re high school friends,” you answered, a tremble in your voice. 

”Right,” He scoffed. “You’ve known him for so long and I’ve only met you today?”

The question caught you off-guard. You paled, your lips parting and unparting like a confused fish as you tried to come up with a believable answer.

“We’ve only started seeing each other recently,” Baekhyun chimed in to help.

“Recently when?” He looked at Baekhyun.

“What’s with the inquisitions?” Baekhyun asked, his tone biting.

“Chill brother,” Jaehyun said, raising both hands up in fake surrender. “I’m so happy for you,”

Oh, he is so not happy for him...

“You didn’t come all the way here to feed me that bullshit, so why don’t you tell me why you’re really here Jaehyun?”

“Ah,” Jaehyun said, plopping himself down on the couch and spreading his arms over the headrest. He glanced up at Baekhyun. “You rejected the proposal from Sodam Group. Why?”

“I’m not putting millions on a company that nearly goes bankrupt.” Baekhyun said.

Jaehyun’s jaw clenched. “I’m helping out a friend,”

“That’s not how you do business,”

“You’re fucking heartless,” he spat.

You watched from the side as the two engaged in a heated staring contest. The silence was so stiff, you didn’t dare to even move.

“Is there anything else you need?” Baekhyun said, his voice tight with annoyance.

“We’ll discuss this again at the office,” He stood up and threw you a disdainful look. “Do you have a job?”

He said it with such distaste, given different circumstances, you would’ve definitely flipped him off.

Your lips stretched up in a tight smile. “Yes. I run a bakery business,”

“What’s the name of your shop?

“A piece of cake,”

“Our sister works there too, you know?”

Baekhyun has a sister?!

“Y-yeah I know,” You tried to keep your expression as neutral as possible despite the shock. You had no idea his sister worked there, you didn’t even know he had a sister.

Jaehyun moved his gaze to Baekhyun, a grin stretching across his lips. “Funny because Baekhyun had never mentioned that his girlfriend owns the shop.”

“I didn’t see you talking about your personal life either,” Baekhyun said.

He sneered. “I find it very convenient of you to show up with a girl just a month before the board meeting.”

You stiffened. Oh God. Did he find out already? “I wasn’t ready,” you blurted out, earning the attention from the three males around you. You smiled, albeit nervously. “Baekhyun wanted to share the news long ago, but I told him I wasn’t ready.”

“Oh really?” he said, stepping forward to drop his head to look at you. “Why do you look so nervous, sweetie?”

“Jaehyun,” Baekhyun warned, stepping in between you and his brother. ”get the hell out of here.”

You glanced at Chanyeol who had his eyes shut tightly, probably in frustration. As soon as the door closed and Jaehyun was out of sight, Baekhyun let go of his arms around your waist. “That fucker,” he spat under his breath, running a hand through his hair.

You can feel the fury emanating off his body. It was unnerving, being in a room with two very very angry men.

Chanyeol, who had been silent up until that point finally groaned in frustration. “What do we do now? Because I can tell you that asshole is definitely not buying it.”

“It doesn’t matter what he thinks. It’s my parents we need to convince.” Baekhyun said.

“When are you meeting them?”

“This Sunday,”

“Alright, you have a few days to prepare,” Chanyeol said. “First of all, you two need to practice getting comfortable around each other, and–“ he turned to glare at you. “This isn’t gonna work if you keep acting like a fucking robot around him.”

“Chanyeol, watch it,” Baekhyun warned.

The taller man sighed, taking a moment to cool down before he spoke up again. “I’m sorry. It’s just...our jobs will be at risk if Jaehyun ever gets appointed.”

“What would happen?”

“Knowing Jaehyun, he’d probably demote us,” Chanyeol said.

You paled at the thought of their careers lying in the palm of your hands.

Definitely not a pressure.

“Don’t stress about it, sweetheart,” Baekhyun assured, smiling at you as he patted your back. You watched as he pushed his sleeve up to glance at his wrist watch, then he looked at you. “Do you drive here?”

You shook your head. “I can get a cab home.”

“I’ll send you home,”

The ride with Baekhyun was filled with nothing but silence. You stared out of the window the whole time, distracting yourself with the view of the city. A few men had taken you out for a drive before, but none of them made you nervous like Baekhyun did. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was your ex and you couldn’t get over the suprise of meeting him. Or the undeniable fact that he looked so sexy while driving and you were so uncontrollably turned on by it.

“My sister talks about you all the time,”

Too absorbed in your own thoughts, you were startled by the sound of Baekhyun’s voice. You took a breath before glancing at him. ”I didn’t know you have a sister,”

“She’s a cousin actually. My dad took her in when my uncle died.”

“What’s her name?”

“Dami,”

“Short hair, hazel eyes, a little shy?” you guessed.

He nodded. “That sounds like her,”

You couldn’t believe you had been working so close with his sister and you had no single clue. “She is one of my best bakers.” you said with a smile.

Baekhyun glanced at you again, his smile soft and proud. “She likes you a lot, you know? Talked about you all the time, but never once mentioned your name. She just refers to you as her beautiful boss.”

You snorted softly, not knowing how to respond to that. You were turning your head away when Baekhyun started talking again.

“She’s right,”

You looked back at him, knit forming in between your brows. “Right about what?”

“Her boss is very beautiful, indeed,” he said, softly staring at you.

Heat rises on your cheek and you quiet down. You didn’t know what to say. You were never good at accepting compliments.

Baekhyun chuckled at the look on your face. “Your reaction to compliments is still so adorable.”

Thankfully, the lights turned green and he was forced to look ahead. Another silence stretched, but it didn’t last long because he started speaking again. “How’s your business going?”

“It’s going pretty okay,” you said. “I’m looking to open a new branch in Myeongdong.”

“Your parents must be so proud of you,” he praised.

It was the opposite actually, but you weren’t ready to share about it. Instead, you changed the subject and said, “You did the right thing not investing in Sodam Group.”

“Why do you say so?”

“That company has been stealing my cake designs for years.”

“Can’t you sue them for copyright infringement?”

You shook your head. “It’s pointless. They’re an established company.”

Baekhyun gave a mild nod of understanding. For the next few seconds, he seemed to be in deep thoughts.

“Have you ever thought of expanding your business?” He finally asked.

All the damn time. “I’m working on it.” You said.

“Then I have a deal for you,”

“What deal?”

“An investment offer,”

You gaped in shock. Byun Holdings was one of the biggest holding companies in the country. They were well-known for their investment in global food companies. Having them as your first investor would increase your brand value by tenfold.

“Okay…what do I have to do?”

“Just do a good job of being my fake girlfriend. If you manage to win parent’s heart, it’ll increase my chance of winning this thing.”

“How long is this arrangement going to last?”

“Indefinitely,” he said, and you began to hesitate. He studied you. “I’ll compensate you for your time, don’t worry.”

“It’s not about the money,”

His brows arched. “Are you seeing anyone right now?”

“No,”

“So?”

“Given our history,” you bit your lower lip, doubting. “Do you think it’s a good idea to spend so much time around each other?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said casually. “We’re both adults, and I’m sure we are capable of putting the personal aside.”

Honestly, it bothered you to see him acting as if nothing happened between you two. Did he forget that you were his ex-girlfriend? or was it not significant enough for him to care? All along, you’ve always wondered if he hurt as much as you did after the break up. You couldn’t ask, though. He would get the wrong idea, or worst, assume that you were still hung up on him.

“Think of it as a mutually beneficial relationship.” He added.

You were still doubtful, but you knew it would be stupid to deny this once in a lifetime opportunity. You had always dreamed of expanding A piece of Cake.

“Okay,” you agreed. “I’m in,”

“We have a deal then,” he said.

As soon as that, his car drove into the basement of your apartment. “That way,” you pointed to the left side towards your block.

“Are you staying alone?” He asked when the car halted at the entrance.

“No, I’m sharing a unit with my friend.” then you added, “The girl who’s supposed to be your fake girlfriend? She’s my housemate.”

He smiled. “I’m glad it turned out to be you,”

The words made your heart skip, but you didn’t know how to respond to that. “Good night, Baekhyun.” You were turning away to leave when grabbed your wrist, stopping you. You glanced back at him.

“Are you free tomorrow night?” He asked.

“I’m done at around eight,” you said. “Do you need me?”

He hummed. “We should practice being a couple before meeting my parents,”

“Huh? What do you mean practice?”

He moved his hand from the steering wheel to your direction. Your breath hitched the moment he touched your skin. His fingers brushed over your hair, curling around the side of your face. “We should get used to being intimate with each other,” he said, his thumb carressing the high of your. “You can’t freeze up like this everytime I touch you, or no one's gonna believe that you’re my girlfriend.”

“T-touch me?”

He hummed and the corner of his lips tilted up, “I might even kiss you...”

“No way,” your response was immediate. “No way I’m gonna let you kiss me,”

Baekhyun grinned harder, “Why? You afraid I’m gonna find out that you’re a bad kisser?”

“You know I’m not!” You blushed even deeper now.

“I know, sweetheart,” He murmured, staring intently at your lips. Your breathing stopped when he swiped his thumb over your lower lip. Then he lifted his gaze and stared into your eyes. “I used to kiss you a lot,”

You swallowed hard, not knowing what to say.

Baekhyun sensed your nervousness and moved his hand off your face, but, his eyes were still clinging onto you. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night. Goodnight, sweetheart.”

a/n: hiiiiii :D i hope it’s not too terrible!!!  I’d love to hear your feedback if you enjoyed what you read :,) thank youuu...

#baekhyun #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun smut #baekhyun fics #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun imagine #baekhyun x you #exo fanfiction #baekhyun romance #smut #baekhyun angst #fluff #baekhyun fanfics #exo smut #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun series #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun drabble

[gwenbrightly]

Lloyd Nearly Gets Tetanus

Written in celebration of Ninjago’s 10th Anniversary.

Lloyd had never really liked his eyes. Sure, they had come in handy when he was still dedicated to leading a life of villainy and he needed to look scary to keep the other kids from picking on him. But now they reminded him too much of the father he’d never really gotten to know. Of the legacy his family had been cursed with.  Of the way his family had been ripped apart as a result of the Great Devourer’s venom. 

He really hadn’t expected the Golden Weapons to react to him. After all, he definitely wasn’t Green Ninja material. Kai would have been a much better choice. He had that comforting, protective big brother presence that Lloyd found himself clinging to after all he’d been through in his admittedly short life. And he’d actually wanted the title. Unlike Lloyd himself, who would rather hide in a cave for the next decade than fight his father. 

 It had been a shock. A big one. And even the initial surprise (and terror) of being labeled as the Green Ninja was nothing compared to the way he felt when he glanced in the bathroom mirror early the next morning and noticed that something had changed. His eyes, which had always managed to stay consistent in color up until now, were green. Green. Not blue, or brown, or some other color that he could live with while pretending the whole thing had been a sick dream, but green. Inescapable proof of the destiny that had been thrust upon him.  

Lloyd’s breath caught in his throat. This couldn’t be happening. It was too much. He scrambled backwards, away from the mirror, and tripped over a snag in the carpet. His elbow bumped against the floor as he fell and he let out a cry of pain. That was going to leave a mark. But that was the least of his problems. He lay on the floor for what felt like hours, unable to rouse himself from the mantra of this can’t be happening that repeated itself over and over in his head. Pathetic. 

Creak…. Somewhere on the Bounty, someone moved, causing Lloyd to sit up. If anyone saw him like this… no. The others already worried about him enough as it was. Lloyd couldn’t handle having to talk about this. Not now. There would be too many questions. What if they decided it was a sign that he was meant to fight his father here and now? After all no one else’s eyes had changed colors when they’d discovered their destinies. Well. No one would be able to notice the change if they didn’t see him at all. He’d just have to hide so good that Kai and Nya, and the others, wouldn’t find him.

 “You’re fine.” Lloyd told himself quietly as he stood up. It was definitely a lie, but he couldn’t afford to acknowledge that. He crept towards the kitchen – he’d need supplies if he were going to pull off this vanishing act – and tried not to think too hard about anything involving the color green. He already knew exactly where he was going to go; it didn’t take long to snag a box of animal crackers and a bottle of water and make his way down to the engine room. The motion activated lights flickered on. There, behind some pipes and machinery Lloyd couldn’t name, was his query. The perfect hiding spot. He’d initially discovered the hollow they formed while exploring the Bounty when he’d first arrived, but Nya had called him away before he had the chance to really appreciate it. He crawled and squeezed his way to the furthest depths of the hollow and prepared to settle in for the long haul.

 “You look like I feel…” Lloyd dejectedly told the caged lion on the front of his box of animal crackers. And then lights went out and he was left in total darkness.

 ___________________________________________________________

 “Has anyone seen my son?” Everyone glanced up from their pancakes when the warlord spoke.

 “Um, no,” Nya said carefully, “we thought he was still asleep. He’s had a rough few days.”

 “That is what I had hoped, but I checked his room just now, and he wasn’t there.” Garmadon stated. He looked worried. 

“That’s strange.” commented Kai, frowning. The others nodded. After just narrowly escaping the Serpentine yesterday, they had all assumed he’d want to surround himself with family and forget the experience. Not hide away somewhere.

 “Perhaps we should look for him. He’s quite good at getting himself into mischief.” Zane prompted, getting up from the table. Everyone was quick to follow his lead, feeling extra protective of the small boy. 

Knowing his habits better than anyone, except maybe Kai, Nya began searching Lloyd’s favorite hiding places. First was the little alcove beneath the steering wheel, then the Bounty’s roof. A few dead leaves drifted lazily on the breeze, a bird screeched in the distance, but Nya found no sign of human life. She called Lloyd’s name several times.  There was no response. With a frown, she clambered down from the roof. Where else would he go? Neither the training room, where Jay was digging through the cupboards where they stored weapons, nor the living room, where Cole and Kai had pushed the couch away from the wall, yielded any clues to Lloyd’s location. They were running out of places to look.

 “He can’t have just… disappeared,” she told her brother, attempting to hide her worry. She collapsed onto the couch while she tried to think of anywhere they might have forgotten to check. Kai sat down next to her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. 

 “He’s gotta be here somewhere,”Kai agreed, “Lloyd’s not stupid enough to go wandering off on his own again so soon, and I think we can rule out kidnapping – Garmadon said there were no signs of a struggle when he checked Lloyd’s room earlier.” 

“That’s promising, I guess.” Nya admitted with a sigh. The small boy wouldn’t have gone anywhere without a fight. Which meant he had to be here. Somewhere. But why couldn’t anyone find him? Why would he hide from them?  

“You don’t think he would’ve gone into the engine room by himself, do you?” Kai wondered aloud. Nya stared at him. Oh. 

 “Has anyone checked there yet?” she asked. He shook his head. “Kai, it’s not safe for him down there. There’s all sorts of broken machinery and old pipes, and the lights haven’t been working lately…”

 “We need to get down there before he hurts himself.” Kai decided, standing. Nya leapt up behind him, praying they would find Lloyd unharmed. Tetanus shots were the last thing she wanted to deal with. The walk to the engine room took far less time than it normally would. Kai and Nya sped down the hallway to the stairs before edging their way down into the dark room. Nya powered on the flashlight app on her phone. 

“See if you can get the lights to turn on. They usually start working okay if you poke them with a broomstick a few times.” She instructed as she wandered deeper into the engine room to look for Lloyd. Kai grabbed the broom that was leaning against the wall by the stairs and got to work poking the light with a bit more force than was truly necessary. When Nya had made it about halfway across the room, the lights flickered to life. Finally.  

Satisfied that the lights weren’t going to go out on them too soon, Kai joined her in looking under and behind the variety of machinery and junk that cluttered the engine room.  Together, they hunted for the small boy, certain that he had to be hiding somewhere in this mess. They searched behind the engine itself to no avail. Next, they looked in an old chest. They even pried up a loose floorboard to see if he had somehow gotten himself stuck underneath. Alas, there was nothing there. 

“Maybe we were wrong. Maybe he did get kidnapped by Pythor or-or-” Nya choked on her words, anxiety mounting. Anything could have happened to Lloyd. 

“Nya stop.” Kai insisted. He drew her into a side hug. “Maybe the others found him while we were down here.” 

She allowed him to guide her back towards the staircase, trying to understand how Lloyd wasn’t where they had been so certain they’d find him. Just as they reached the first step, Nya heard a small voice whisper,

 “No. Come back. Please don’t leave me down here.” 

“Lloyd!” Nya cried, wrenching free of Kai’s grasp, “Where are you?!”

 “M’stuck…” came the muffled reply. 

“Where?” Kai repeated. There was a rattling in the corner of the room, and Lloyd spoke again. 

“Over here behind this… this whatever this piece of junk is. The lights went out and I got stuck…” 

The siblings glanced at each other and followed the sound of his voice. They could just barely make out his shadowy form inside of the hollow he’d been hiding in. He looked so small, curled in on himself and facing away from them. One of the pipes had toppled over, blocking his way out. 

“Oh, Lloyd… what were you thinking?” Nya asked softly as she and Kai began tugging away the pipe. She wished he would turn around so she could make sure he wasn’t hurt, but he stayed frozen in place. “Just get me out of here.” Lloyd begged. The resignation in his voice sliced through the air like the katanas he was always begging to play with. 

“Something’s wrong,” Kai stated, saying what they were both thinking. Nya nodded in agreement. Whatever had happened, Lloyd definitely hadn’t come down here for fun. The pipe finally came loose, opening up a path of escape for the small boy. Only, he didn’t move right away. It was almost as if he were trying to avoid them. “You can come out now.” Kai prompted. 

Lloyd seemed to pause for a moment before scooting backwards towards them. He shakily made his way out of his hiding place, to the relief of his adoptive siblings. 

“Thank you,” he said to the floor. Nya scooped him into a hug. She could feel him beginning to relax. 

 “Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

 “I…. It was stupid, I know.” Lloyd admitted, still not looking at either of them. He tugged his hoodie down to cover his face. Why was he acting like this?

  “Lloyd, honey, please. Talk to us. What’s wrong?” 

Lloyd sniffled.

 “I don’t wanna talk about it.” 

“Okay,” Kai told him slowly, “we don’t have to talk yet. Do you need something to drink? A snack?” 

The boy gratefully accepted the bottle of water Kai held out to him. They sat there, together, not saying anything for what felt like an eternity. Nya leaned against the wall while Lloyd quietly sipped his water. Kai hummed absent mindedly. The engine whirred in the background. Eventually, Lloyd sighed. 

“It’s my eyes.” He told them so quietly they almost didn’t hear him. Nya blanched. 

“Your eyes?”

 Lloyd let out a small whimper as he removed his hood and looked at Kai and Nya.

 “There’s something wrong with them.” 

They stared at him in surprise. For the first time, since they had found him, Nya could clearly see his tear streaked face and the source of his distress.  

“They’re definitely… different,” Nya began carefully. Oh, First Spinjzu Master! How was she supposed to handle this? “but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.” 

“Yeah! There’s no reason to freak out.” agreed Kai, flashing him a weak smile. Lloyd didn’t seem to believe them. 

“Guy’s. It’s because I’m the Green Ninja. Isn’t it?”

 “It could be.” Nya offered. In all honesty, it was the most logical explanation for the striking emerald green color his eyes had taken on. Lloyd’s lip trembled.

 “And if it is… what if it’s a sign? What if the universe wants me to take down my father, like, right now.” 

Yep, there it was. Nya was pretty sure she had figured out exactly why Lloyd had resorted to hiding down here. He hadn’t wanted to be pushed into another hopeless situation. She caught Kai’s eye and nodded.

 Kai turned to Lloyd and asked, “Can I ask you something, Lloyd?”  Lloyd shrugged, but didn’t answer. The master of fire continued anyway. “When Zane first found his true potential, he started being able to freeze things on command. Do you think we suddenly decided he was the world’s most powerful ninja and sent him off on the most dangerous solo missions we could think of?”

 “N-no... Of course not.”

  “What about when Cole started bench pressing twice as much as before?” Nya added, “Or when Jay learned how to charge his cell phone with his elemental powers? Did we push them into situations they weren’t ready for?”

 Lloyd cringed, clearly not missing the point they were trying to make. He looked back down at his feet and muttered a soft, “no,”.  

“Then why would we treat you any differently?” Kai wanted to know. Lloyd’s heat snapped up. His voice wavered as he replied.

 “I’m the Green Ninja. It’s my destiny to-”

 “Screw destiny!” Nya cut him off, frustration filling her voice. She wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. “You’re just a kid, Lloyd! The color of your eyes doesn’t get to dictate when you face your father – you do!” 

 It was then that she realized that he was crying. Poor Lloyd. He hadn’t even made it a full 24 hours on the Bounty before trauma had struck again. Nya took a deep breath. She gathered Lloyd into another hug before he could protest and began brushing away his tears. Kai joined her, and, together, they held him as he continued to cry. “We won’t let anyone make you do anything you're not ready for.” Nya promised, ruffling Lloyd’s hair. 

He didn’t say anything, but his breathing began to slow from the near hyperventilating it had been moments before.

 “Nope. Why else would we have these cool powers?” Kai added. He winked at the small boy. 

“They are pretty cool,” Lloyd admitted with a sniffle. As the small boy started to relax, Nya and shared a smile of relief with her brother. 

“You’re safe with us, kiddo. Always.”  

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago 10th anniversary #myfics #apologies for any formatting errors #Lloyd has an identity crises #Kai and Nya have a heart attack #everything ends well #I guess?

[anika-ann]

The Troubles Are Lurking in Queens - Pt.1

Of Arrogant Lawyers and Cheerful… Spider Vigilantes?

Pairing: Matt Murdock x reader        Word count: 1860 

Type: Two-shot, reader insert

Warnings: swearing, mention of attempted assault and a gun and a knife, pregnancy, adorable Peter Parker aka your friendly neighbour Spiderman

Summary: When an arrogant lawyer demands his paperwork right now or better yet this very moment, you’re a good wife to Matt and decide to deliver the documents yourself – for your husband’s mental health sake (and for the sake of the meeting he’s running to).

The catch is the said lawyer has his office in Queens – and whoever said Hell’s Kitchen was the least safe place in NYC was clearly lying. 

You were staring at barrel of a gun. And your first thought was: the universe is punishing me for falsifying legal documents.

It happened approximately like this:

“Mr. Davidson-” Matt murmured, massaging the bridge of his nose, giving up the struggle of tying up his tie with one hand. Though that might have had something to do with the fact you snatched the said hand away to do it for him.

“I understand you would like to have the-"

You couldn’t make out a word, but the male voice on the other end sounded downright outraged. This Mr. Davidson had been pissing you off for quite a while; he was the opposite counsel on one of Matt’s cases and he was making everything difficult in the line of paperwork, well-aware Matt was going to dismantle him. 

He. Was. Indescribably. Arrogant. Which was something you just couldn’t stand and it drove you up the wall.

“I just don’t have time right— no, I do not have a messenger boy on my disposal just to deliver the documents to you, you can be sure as-" You covered Matt’s mouth before he could swear, gaining a look as grateful as frustrated and wounded.

Oh yeah, you would love to even send this guy to hell and back just to kick him back down there, but Matt had a professional image to maintain. He inhaled deeply.

“Mr. Davidson, I’ll even deliver you the document myself-"

“With coffee and ‘go fuck yourself’…” you hummed as you finished the tie, causing the corners of Matt’s lips twitch.

“-but I just can’t do it before noon.”

Matt listened to the man’s raised voice for a while, grinding his teeth.

You felt really sorry for Matt. And what did a good wife do when feeling sorry for her husband? Helped him.

“I can deliver it.”

Matt shook his head, covering the phone. “I need to print it in non-braille version somewhere and sign it. I don’t have time for that-"

“I can sign it,” you shrugged. Matt’s eyebrow shot up. “What? I saw you sign stuff more times than I can count. It will be fine.”

“That’s a fraud.”

“It stays in a family. I’ll be signing by my own last name.”

Matt’s features softened at the note, but he didn’t change his mind. “That’s still a fraud, sweetheart.”

You pointed at the phone wordlessly; the man on the other end of the was so caught up in his monologue, enchanted by listening to the sound of his own voice, that he didn’t even notice no one was responding.

Matt pouted in an ‘okay, you have a point’ way. His eyebrow furrowed with concern – of course it did. He always worried about you, sometimes for a good reason, however, lately… ever since you two had found out you were going to be parents, a new life growing in your belly… well. Matt was anxious and downright paranoid.

“You would do it?”

“Sure. I could use a walk.” Oh, you could. You might be having a day off, but sitting on a couch all day might actually kill you.

“It’s in Queens.”

“...and a subway ride.”

He still seemed to struggle.

“-are you even listening to me?!”

And that did it. Matt cracked. “Of course, Mr. Davidson. You’ll have the documents before noon.”

“Now was that so hard?”

Matt inhaled sharply and you quickly took the phone from his hand.

“Mr. Murdock put you through to me. I’ll deliver you the documents. It was a pleasure to deal with you, Mr. Davidson,” you chatted sweetly and ended the call. Matt was watching you, pressing his lips together, clearly holding back a smile.

“You’re a mischief.” 

He kissed you forehead lovingly.

“Me?” you asked innocently. “I was perfectly polite. He was being a dick. Now, you mean the papers for the Howard’s case, right? Speak fast or you really will be late for your meeting…”

That was how you found yourself on your way to Mr. Davidson’s office in Queens, two copies of whatever paperwork with yours/Matt’s signature and the bloody Google maps app that wasn’t counting on alleyways. And you had about four extra pounds just in your belly, so you really wanted to count any shortcut in.

On a second thought, maybe God was not punishing you for the little fraud with the signatures but for your laziness.

Now you were staring at a barrel of a gun, four pounds of living growing mass of your baby in your belly and you really didn’t know how to fight the mugger off. The memory of Matt’s voice reminding you the first rule – run from the danger – was shushed by a dreamed voice of his that was telling you to just give the thug your fucking purse, because running was not an option in your state and situation; on top of everything, Mr. Davidson’s ‘now was that so hard?’ mocked you and you mentally yelled YES.

“Are you deaf too? Give me your fucking bag!”

“Okay, okay— just… just don’t shoot! I’ll give you my phone and wallet, but I have some legal papers I can’t-”

He shot into air and you jumped, your instinct screaming at you how to disarm him – Matt had taught you how, you had actually done it before, because you fucking lived in Hell’s Kitchen, the most dangerous area in NYC, Matt had taught you for a reason. But another instinct – not to take any risks and protect your baby – was much stronger. You gulped, feeling tears gathering in your eyes.

“Please, just— just don’t hurt me.” Don’t hurt the baby. “Here-"

You barely managed to extend your hand with the handbag when something white curled around the gun – more like cocooned it – and pulled the weapon away.

Both you and your assailant gasped.

“Fuck.”

“Up here, bad guy!” a cheerful male voice called out and you fought the urge to look up, not wanting to leave the still dangerous man out of your sight.

Good thing you didn’t; he pulled out a knife and lunged after you.

You barely dodged the knife and caught his forearm. He seemed surprised at your defence, but let the knife fall, trying to catch it with his free hand. You listened to your first instinct – you deflected the knife before he caught it.

You managed to kick his knee and then his both legs were suddenly tied together with the strange white-- thingie and the thug was pulled away, cursing.

You blinked in shock, looking in the direction he was being dragged. A strange man of not so strong built, dressed in blue and red costu— armour, it must have been an armour, because he was obviously stopping a crime in a dress-up, which made him a vigilante. And as a vigilante wife, you knew vigilantes were in fact not wearing costumes, but armours.

“What kind of a douche attacks a pregnant woman?!” he demanded exasperatedly and with one motion of his wrist, the mugger’s hands were tied too. “Coward!”

And he knocked him out, tossing him aside, looking up at you. What kind of a mask was that? The strange eye area-- and was that a spider emblem on his chest?

He took several steps towards you and you instinctively stumbled back.

This guy might have saved your ass, but he was still a stranger, shooting some white sticky substance from his wrist and he was wearing a spider themed cos- armour and it was really creepy. Which said something considering your own husband was lurking at night dressed like the Devil himself.

“Hey, it’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you! I promise!”

He held out his hands, showing you they were empty and that he meant no harm. Jesus, he was so thin. Was he even a man? Was he a kid? Like, a teenager? His voice sounded like it still some masculine changes to go through.

“Who are you?” you asked cautiously. ‘How old are you?’

“I came to help! I’m just your friendly neighbour Spiderman!”

The who now? “I’m not... from the neighbourhood. I’m-"

“-BLEEDING! Oh god, oh god. You really showed the guy, but you’re bleeding. Oh god, oh shit— now that’s more money to the swear jar-" the kid, and you were now sure he was a kid, started panicking and you had no idea why, because-- oh. 

Your hand was bleeding.

“Oh.”

“Oh god, I have to get you to a hospital-"

You froze. “That’s not necessary-” You didn’t have time for a hospital now. You needed to deliver the stupid papers; your hand had to wait, it didn’t look too deep, you’d be fine. Though it did kinda hurt, how had you missed that?

“What?!” the kid squeaked. “You’re bleeding! I should have done better, oh no-"

You felt a ridiculous urge to comfort him all of sudden, so you crossed the distance, boldly caressing his arm.

“Hey, no, you did great-"

“But you’re bleeding, miss— madam? I should probably go with madam-"

You pressed her lips together so you wouldn’t laugh at his babbling. Had he noticed your ring? Maybe it was your growing belly.

“It’s alright, Spiderman. You saved me from getting shot and mugged, that’s wonderful.”

He looked up. “So you’re not mad at me? Why don’t you want me to take you to the hospital then?”

“Because-"

“Of course! Karen, call mister Stark!” he blurted out, delighted he found a solution.

“What?!”

You wanted to ask who Karen was and where she had been hiding, but Stark’s name kinda caught your attention more urgently. Call Stark? You would hope he was talking about a different Stark, but this kid had some sort of a suit and was playing hero, so-

“It’s okay, he’ll help-” the boy was quick to reassure you, poor kid not having  clue why you did not want to see Tony Stark in the slightest.

“No!”

“He’s a good guy!”

“I don’t need-"

“Oh, Mr. Stark! Thank god. I have a woman— no, not a girlfriend, I mean-- no, not an experimental intimate stuff mentor-"

You almost choked on your own spit. Now you had no doubt he was talking to Tony freaking Stark, because he would make a remark like that. Wonderful. You hadn’t been interacting too much with Tony; in fact, you had only met once, the meeting being pretty intense, with blood, kidnapping and stuff.

“An injured one! She was almost mugged and she’s pregnant and she’s bleeding— from her hand!” he explained exasperatedly, gesturing wildly with his hands. “And she wouldn’t go to the hospital and she’s saying it’s not necessary, but-”

There was a short silence and you wondered what Tony was saying, where, when, how and WHY had he recruited a kid and what the hell was all this.

You checked the time, finding out you really needed to go.

“I’ll show you how she is. Karen, initiate a video call-"

“No! Wait!” you yelped, lunging after a non-existent phone, desperately wanting to stop him. Oh no, please, you so didn’t have time for Tony Stark. You were sure that if Stark saw you, he would recognize you and-

“Mr. Stark is saying I should definitely bring you-"

-and would want you to come. 

You raised your hands in defensive gesture. “I’m walking away.”

You looked around, gathered your handbag and stuff, spun on your heels-

“No way! Mr. Stark thinks you need medical attention-"

“I’ll make sure he needs medical attention unless I’m walking away.,” you growled loudly, more annoyed than anything else. “I really need to deliver these papers-"

“Oh! Where?! I’ll drop them off for you, madam! Maybe it’s even on our way! Where do you need them?”

You were so stunned you stuttered an address.

“Great! Let’s go!”

◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦◦

Part 2 (final)

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Thank you for reading!

(This is an oldie, might feel a bit different than my usual stuff)

#fanfiction #marvel #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock imagine #peter parker #peter parker imagine #matt murdock #mcu #daredevil #spiderman #daredevil fanfiction #matt murdock fanfiction #spiderman fanfiction #imagine #marvel fanfic #the troubles are lurking in queens #anika ann

[genesisrose74]

Hinata Shoyo x Reader: Good Unexpected

Hello there! This is the first time I’ve ever posted any of my writing, so I hope you enjoy reading! I had a really fun time writing about my favorite ray of sunshine and may or may not have gotten carried away with the word count whoops :P Constructive feedback or just comments in general are welcome~

Word count:  6600

Warning(s): None

Another close win for Karasuno’s male volleyball team had a crowd on their feet and a roar echoing throughout the building. There were five volleyball courts in the structure, but none had a more rambunctious crowd in that moment than the once Flightless Crows. The match wasn’t an all too significant one, but it claimed the boys another opportunity to play in this charity tournament, and that’s all they needed to keep their drive going. In the chaos of cheering students, players on break, family members, and those who had simply been enraptured by the match, a duo of young females ushered out muffled apologies of ‘sorry’ and ‘excuse me’ more times than they could count as they edged their way through. A short blonde stuck closely beside her fellow classmate in the sea of people, letting out a breath of relief upon seeing a gap to a less crowded section of the stadium. 

“Yachi, could you text Kiyoko and tell her we’re on our way? Takinoue and Shimada said they’d take care of the banner since the next match is tomorrow,” you instructed.

“Sure thing,” Yachi replied with a small nod, fishing her phone from her back pocket.

You both continued your move down a set of stairs, searching for the main entrance to court three, on which Karasuno had just played.

“Hey, I think I see Tsukishima by the water fountain over there! The rest of the boys must be close by.” Yachi gestured to the slim middle blocker, donning the unmistakable Karasuno High VBC sweatshirt each player was given at the beginning of the season. 

“Yeah, that’s him for sure! Good eye, Yachi!” you acknowledged.

Jogging over to the towering blonde, you flashed him a warm smile in greeting. Tsukishima replied with a brief nod, his usual hello.

“Hey, Tsukki! Where’s the rest of the boys?” you inquired, now used to Tsukishima’s little expressed enthusiasm, even after a victory.

“Daichi, Sugawara and Ennoshita are checking out the standings for who we’ll face off against tomorrow, Yamaguchi is in the bathroom, and the dumbasses who share one brain cell went to check if the snack bar was open. I have no clue where the rest of them ended up,” Tsukishima listed, scrolling through his phone.

Yachi giggled at his last description of what you could only assume to be Tanaka, Nishinoya, Hinata, and likely Kageyama. Those boys had a way of getting into the stupidest situations, and their immense distaste for anything school related made their title quite fitting, although it was safe to say that you had a soft spot for the knuckleheads - especially one in particular. 

“Speak of the devil,” Tsukishima stated as he looked up from his device. Sure enough, two of said boys had returned from their little food run with bags of snacks in hand. Tanaka had already ripped open a package of beef jerky, two of the sticks stuffed in his mouth as he spoke incoherent words to his fellow second year teammate, Nishinoya.

“Hey boys!” you waved enthusiastically. “Nice win today!” 

Upon seeing you, Nishinoya and Tanaka gasped simultaneously, the remaining jerky in the latter’s mouth falling onto the floor. You could see a grossed out Tsukishima cringe in your peripheral vision, but you didn’t really mind the duo’s antics at this point. 

As everyone knows, Kiyoko was the team manager, an absolute goddess to all, and the master of avoiding the flirty nature of any guy she came across. It was evident that she had a huge effect on the rambunctious second years, two of them in particular melting any time they were given the slightest bit of attention (affectionate or otherwise) - and she could even pull a reaction out of the calmest of boys, including the ever respectful and reserved Karasuno captain from time to time.

However, despite a deep infatuation for the beautiful third year female, the team had been introduced to a new kind of character in the past year that had thrown Nishinoya and Tanaka into a frenzy: a competitive yet kindhearted first year student who just so happened to be a volleyball player herself: you. 

You had arrived in the boy’s gymnasium one afternoon, on the day of the week that the Karasuno girl’s team had practice off. You were hoping to find some tasks or drills to help out with, just to keep yourself active during your free time after school. Since Coach Ukai always appreciated an extra set of hands, especially some that held experience, you began appearing as a regular during Wednesday practices, and the team took a quick liking to you. 

Despite your focus and intensity whenever you were on the court, you were almost always there with an encouraging word or bright smile if the Karasuno boys ever needed, and your consistent sweetness caused many players to view you in a similar manner as Kiyoko. While the more reserved Kiyoko Shimizu was more or less dismissive of the constant attention she would get from boys, you were always happy to jump in and boost the team with your enthusiastic words and actions.

Nishinoya briefly brought up that he likes when girls compliment his hair? You make a little mention of how good it looks at the end of practice that day. Tanaka isn’t feeling particularly happy with his spikes? You’re sure to compliment him extra when he gets a shot off that he likes. Yamaguchi gets frustrated with his jump floaters? You offer up a few words of encouragement to keep him going. Even after practice is over and it’s just a normal day that you can spend time with the team, you happily accepted the compliments and the affection you received from the boys - specifically Nishinoya and Tanaka. Of course, you never lead them on or anything of the sort; you’re all just very close friends.

It was an interesting dynamic to say the least, but the differing personalities of you and the team manager Shimizu had two second year boys going wild to get your attention. 

But, the two troublemakers had discovered who you had your sights set on pretty quickly.

“N/n! I didn’t realize you came to watch today!” Nishinoya grinned, quickly making his way over and wrapping his arms around your midsection. You laughed and placed a hand on the libero’s head, patting his hair gently.

“Hi, Nishi,” you smiled. “Of course I came to see you all. I couldn’t miss watching my favorite libero in action, now could I?” 

“How did you think we did? Wasn’t that an awesome last set?” Tanaka joined in the conversation, giving you a side hug in greeting.

“Yeah, it was pretty exciting to watch!” you agreed. “I’m all for the heart pounding matches, so long as you boys keep winning at the end of them.” 

“You know we will!” Nishinoya smiled up at you. 

“I do know that,” you affirmed before looking around the space. “Tsukishima mentioned something about you and some of the other boys getting snacks, but right now it’s just you two. Where’s the rest of your little group of mischief-makers at?”

“Kageyama stopped by a vending machine to buy some milk. He said it was cheaper than the prices at the snack bar.” Tanaka clarified. 

“Hinata decided to stick with him to talk about the team we’re likely playing tomorrow, but they shouldn’t be far behind us.” Nishinoya concluded, a small grin playing at his lips. “Speaking of which, didn’t Hinata do pretty great, N/n? You should tell him how good he looked doing those quick attacks out on the floor today.”

You stuck your tongue out at the boy who still had his arms secured around you.

“Very funny, Nishi.” you pouted. “At this point you’re not even trying to be discreet.”

Nishinoya was the first player on the team to pick up on your attraction to Karasuno’s prized decoy. You had nearly walked into the wall of the school gymnasium while shagging volleyballs during a hitting drill, watching intently as Hinata did his approach before jumping and slamming the ball onto the other side of the court with ease. It would have been incredibly embarrassing if anyone else had witnessed your distracted movements, but fortunately Nishinoya was the only one to see, and had prevented you from smacking straight into the side of the building.

Initially, the libero thought the mishap was merely because you didn’t want to get nailed by Kageyama and Hinata’s quick attacks, but then he watched you nearly choke on your water when Hinata tossed his practice shirt off the same night, leaving the you to gape in silent astonishment as the middle blocker searched for a less sweaty replacement. Since Nishinoya was already quite close to you at the time, he was quick to corner you about the instance and declared himself an unofficial wing-man when you admitted you had feelings for the ginger.

He may or may not have let the secret slip to Tanaka one night when the three of you were walking home - and then profusely apologized to the point where tears visibly brimmed in his eyes - but Tanaka promised that he wouldn’t say anything to Hinata. Besides, even if he did make a not-so-subtle mention about you to the aspiring ace, you doubted that the dense boy would even understand Tanaka’s implications. 

Little did you know, you were just as oblivious as Hinata when it came to people crushing on you. And the two second years beside you knew much more than you did.

“Awe, you look so cute when you get all pouty,” Nishinoya chuckled, reaching up to tap you on the nose.

“Oh, hush. Don’t make me bring up the time when you went completely rigid after Kiyoko-senpai gave you a high five at the scrimmage against Nekoma last month,” you countered.

“Don’t you mean the greatest moment of my entire life?” 

“Wow, I’m hurt that she gets a higher placement than me in that regard.”

Despite being quite a bit shorter than you, Nishinoya easily hoisted you a few inches in the air and spun around, eliciting a surprised yelp on your part.

“Nishi, put me down!” you squealed, albeit laughing while doing so.

“You know how much I love you. Kiyoko might be my queen, but you’re definitely an angel sent to grace us with your presence!” he declared playfully.

The libero gently placed his friend back on the floor, a lopsided grin on his face as she ruffled his hair fondly. 

“I know, and I love you too, little Guardian Deity.” you conceded. “Now, show me what kind of snacks you bought. I forgot to grab money before I left the house, so I could use some food.”

“You got it!” Tanaka opened up his backpack filled with goodies and offered it out to you. “Take your pick. We stocked up on a lot of food to munch on for the team meeting later today.”

“Speaking of which, you should come and sit in on that! I’m sure the rest of the guys would like to see you,” Nishinoya added.

“Actually I was already planning on going,” you mentioned while acquiring a bag of pretzels from Tanaka’s stash. “I texted Kiyoko that I was going to be here today, and she said that if you boys got another win that I should come to the meeting.”

“Sweet!” Tanaka exclaimed. “Since it’s not all that late, some of us were thinking about having a small practice in the gym after. If you had the time, it would be fun to have you stick around and maybe play if you wanted.”

“That sounds like fun!” you smiled, “just make sure you all don’t tire yourselves out completely before tomorrow’s game.”

Tanaka gasped dramatically, “We wouldn’t dream of it.”

“-I’m just saying that you have a serious obsession with milk, Kageyama. It’s almost unhealthy.”

“Milk is a good source of calcium, you dumbass. So what if I drink a lot of it?”

“If you had the chance to marry a carton of milk, you absolutely would.”

“Would you shut up already?”

Two voices bickered back and forth as they approached the area near your little group. To anyone even barely associated with Karasuno’s volleyball team, these two arguing idiots would be easy to recognize from a mile away, and sure enough, a head of fluffy orange hair rounded the corner, quarreling with his dark haired teammate.

“Are they seriously having an argument about Kageyama and his milk?” Tanaka questioned.

“I’m honestly not even surprised at this point,” you sighed.

“Hey, morons!” Tanaka yelled at the two boys, who snapped their heads in the direction of their senpai’s distinct voice. “Quit fighting with each other and get the hell over here!”

You could feel your stomach flip involuntarily. Despite seeing the aspiring Karasuno ace many times during Wednesday practices and around school, it was always a sight to behold whenever he was suited up in the official team uniform. Hinata always got into these moments of intense focus during matches, which you deeply admired, and you affiliated such occasions with the jersey he always donned during each game. The look quickly became one of your favorites, but that piece of information was never shared with the boys. Only Kiyoko and Yachi knew about that secret preference, which they had promised to never bring up near any of the Karasuno team.

You were thrown out of your stupor when Nishinoya nudged you knowingly, a single eyebrow raised in a playful challenge. You only scoffed and shook your head, giving the libero a little nudge in return. 

“Such a schemer, Nishi.” you murmured.

“You’re such a scaredy-cat.” he muttered in response. “Go compliment him about the game or something, you do it all the time with me and Tanaka.”

“It’s not that easy.” 

“Excuses, excuses~”

You huffed in exasperation, sparing another look at the little ray of sunshine with which you were so enamored. At this distance, the boy was close enough to recognize you, and you felt a gentle smile grow on your face when warm brown eyes met your own. You offered him a small wave in greeting, as you both were still a ways away from each other.

Hinata was quick to close that distance upon seeing you from across the hallway, making a beeline for the familiar girl that he had grown to love seeing walk through the gymnasium doors every week. He was glad to see you whenever he got the chance; you were always there to help him and Kageyama practice a few more quick attacks after practice concluded, always ready to try a few serves of your own when the boys wanted to get in some extra receives, always happy to help the young decoy with his studies when a particularly difficult exam was near. Not to mention, he found you to be the prettiest person out of his entire class of first years, so that was a plus.

The whole team may or may not know about Hinata’s very obvious affections, despite the boy not telling a single soul about the way his heart goes bwah!! whenever he thinks about you. Tanaka and Nishinoya found the entire ordeal utterly agonizing, being the only two boys on the team knowledgeable of your own feelings, and being sworn to secrecy about that fact. The Karasuno manager and the manager-in-training also knew the irony of the situation, but they didn’t dare meddle in your love life.

If your friends were all being honest with themselves, as torturous as it was to watch you two timid first years dance around each other’s feelings all the time, it was also incredibly adorable to watch your interactions. The usually loud and energetic middle blocker would lose all sense of function every time you would praise his game play, to the point where Kageyama had to kick his teammate from behind to get him to focus again. Hinata swore he nearly ascended when you had launched into his arms after beating Shiratorizawa in the Spring High Finals.

Yet, despite these moments of mutually lingering gazes and light blushes that often dusted both of your faces, the ginger rationalized that you acted this way towards every player on the team, and brushed such encounters with you off as nothing but platonic. He didn’t mind simply being friends, if that's all he could be. He was content so long as he got to be near you.

“Hey, Y/n! I didn’t know you were coming to watch the game today,” Hinata addressed you with a smile that put a blazing summer sun to shame.

“I wanted it to be a surprise! The student council meeting ended up being shorter than expected, so I called Kiyoko and let her know that I was on my way,” you explained. You then turned to Kageyama, who had eventually made his way over to the small group. “Nice game today, Kags. That one set you sent to Asahi in the second match from behind the attack line was insane.”

Karasuno’s starting setter nodded in acknowledgement of the commendation. “Thank you.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya, now standing next to their two teammates, aggressively attempted to gesture to Hinata with their eyes; a silent urge to get you to say something to the boy.

“And I think that one super fast quick attack you guys pulled off in the final set was really cool,” you tagged on. “It’s always fun to see the other team’s reactions whenever that happens.”

The two second years shot you a deadpan look. That’s not exactly what they meant, but they could see you struggling to string together any coherent sentence to your crush and decided not to press any further. You just couldn’t help it! You wanted to tell the present ray of sunshine that he played a great game, that he always played amazingly, despite his occasionally awkward receives or missed serves. He always gave each match 110%, and you wanted to express to him just how phenomenal he was, but just couldn’t find the right words without the fear of sounding completely obsessive and embarrassing. Nishinoya and Tanaka both glanced at each other, a silent agreement occurring between them in a matter of seconds. 

Unlike Yachi and Kiyoko, the two boys weren’t opposed to a little meddling.  

“Y/n is going to come to the meeting and maybe stay for that extra practice time we have planned,” Nishinoya mentioned, saving you from trying (and failing) to say anything else.

Hinata’s eyes lit up at the news. “For real? That’s great!” 

The middle blocker enjoyed your presence at the Wednesday practices you’d attend, especially since it was where he got to witness your competitive and athletic side. So, getting to see more of that was welcomed any time. 

You nodded in affirmation and popped a miniature pretzel in your mouth. “And since I was just dropped off at the complex and kind of need a ride, Kiyoko said that there was plenty of room for me to go back on the bus.”

“Hell yeah there is!” Tanaka grinned, slinging an arm around your shoulders. “You can sit with me and Nishinoya, duh.”

You smiled up at him. “Well obviously. Who else would I sit with?”

Nishinoya cheered, picking his game bag off the floor and gently grasping your hand. “Well let’s go find the others, then! Coach Ukai is probably getting impatient waiting for us at this point,” the libero insisted, pulling you towards the doorway of the building with Tanaka in tow. 

“Alright, alright! Don��t make me drop my pretzels, Nishi,” you warned, letting yourself get dragged by the excited teen.

Hinata, Kageyama, and Tsukishima also started to gather their things to get on the bus, Yamaguchi doing the same after exiting the bathroom not long before the previous trio ran off to claim their seats. Tsukishima looked over at Hinata, who still had his eyes glued to the door from which his friends had just left, and seized the opportunity to try to get under Hinata’s skin just a little. 

“Nishinoya and her are pretty close, don’t you think?” he mentioned briefly, before turning on his heel towards the doorway with Yamaguchi beside him. The pinch server spared a glance back at Hinata as he fell into step with his childhood friend. “Tsukki…” 

Now Nishinoya was clearly a close friend to Hinata, as both of the boys were big balls of energy all the time, and as they both shared an immense love for volleyball. Hinata acknowledged his teammate’s tight knit relationship with you, and he was totally okay with that fact. But occasionally, the middle blocker would get a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had never really experienced before as he watched you interact with some of the boys on the team. It wasn’t an excessive amount of instances, but that feeling would bubble up from time to time - most notably when you would spend time with Karasuno’s libero. And whatever that feeling was, Hinata didn’t like it in the slightest.

“Oi, you coming, dumbass?” Kageyama questioned, snapping the ginger out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m coming, Bakeyama,” the middle blocker replied, readjusting his backpack and following Kageyama to the door.

******

The team was glad to see that you had come to watch them play, and you were quick to praise the boys on their well fought match. The ride back to school was relatively quiet, as many of the players wanted to either relax and listen to music or take a quick nap after their tiring game. As the bus continued on its route to Karasuno High School, it was evident that the energy and adrenaline felt earlier in the complex had calmed down, the boys given a chance to rest from the day’s events.

You, Nishinoya and Tanaka were seated near the back of the bus, with Hinata and Kageyama in the adjacent row. Tanaka was out like a light, his face pressed against the cool window next to him, while Nishinoya was struggling to get situated in the spot beside his teammate. From the corner of his eye, the libero could see Hinata sneaking subtle glances at you, as you unsuspectingly gazed at the passing scenery. With a mischievous smile playing at the corners of his lips, Nishinoya decided to kill two birds with one stone: try to help out with his friends’ crushes, and try to get himself a more comfortable napping spot.

“Hey, would you mind doing me a favor?” Nishinoya asked you in a soft tone, but just loud enough for the boy on the other side of the aisle to hear. You turned your attention to the libero, tilting your head to the side. “Sure thing, Nishi. What do you need?” 

“Could I maybe lie down on you? It’s been a little difficult to find a decent position to get comfortable in,” he asked sheepishly. “If not, I totally get it.”

You smiled at the light pink that dusted his cheeks, and you patted your lap. “It’s alright, go ahead. You deserve to get some rest.”

Nishinoya offered you a smile of his own. He placed his legs over Tanaka’s snoozing form, knowing that his friend wouldn’t mind as they had been in similar positions on previous team bus rides. He then placed his head gently in your lap, gazing up at you before speaking up once more. “Thank you. You’re seriously the best.” 

“It’s not a problem at all,” you waved it off. 

The libero closed his eyes, sighing contentedly when he felt your hand brush through his hair. You absentmindedly hummed the soothing melody to a lullaby as you let your fingers carefully undo any tangles on his head. You paid special attention to the blonde streaks of hair that you always told the second year you adored, twirling the strands between your fingers and letting them fall back into place. 

You were completely ignorant to the fact that the boy on the other end of the aisle felt a burning envy in his stomach as he witnessed the display from his peripheral vision. Your voice, which would have mesmerized Hinata under any other circumstance, did nothing to ease the emotions licking at his insides like unpleasant tendrils of flame. He desperately wanted to be able to sidle up next to you, wanted to feel your hands weave gently through his messy ginger hair. The fact that it wasn’t him made Hinata feel nauseous - worse than how he felt before a big game. 

Because although Hinata was absolutely fine with you being close to the boys on his team, it didn’t mean he couldn’t get jealous.

Seated beside the middle blocker, Kageyama took note of his friend’s clenched fists and slightly tightened jaw, a stark contrast to Hinata’s usual happy-go-lucky enthusiasm. One look at the opposite side of the bus blatantly explained why. Kageyama was confused, though; Nishinoya knew just as much as the rest of the team that the decoy had his sights set on you, so why was he disregarding that fact right in front of him? The libero either didn’t realize what he was doing would upset his friend, or he knew exactly what he was up to. Was the whole thing intentional?

*****

Ohhh, it absolutely was. Kageyama figured that much out as soon as the team meeting started.

Nishinoya had been occasionally looking at Hinata to gauge the boy’s reaction, being careful not to overstep his boundaries, but pushing it just enough to see if the ginger would step in and make a move on you. From what Kageyama could tell, Tanaka was also in on this plan, but the wing spiker let his fellow second year handle most of the interactions with the brunette.

You were settled next to Kiyoko on the gymnasium floor, sitting with your legs stretched out as you listened in on the meeting. Nishinoya had his head resting on your shoulder the entire time, only shifting from his spot to steal more snacks from Tanaka’s backpack. If it weren’t for what Hinata had witnessed in the bus earlier that evening, he likely would have thought nothing of the second year’s actions. But now it was all he could think about, barely even focusing on the words coming out of Coach Ukai’s mouth. That feeling in his gut still hadn’t left him alone.

His discomfort was even more apparent when a number of the boys stayed behind after the meeting for some extra practice. Sugawara, who was the only third year who decided to postpone his walk home (mostly to keep an eye on his rambunctious children juniors), helped divide the group of six players into teams. Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka were on one team of three, while Suga, Hinata, and you were on the other. Despite the fact that he was on the same team as you, the middle blocker was still in a distant mood, and this showed when he completely botched the first two sets Suga tossed to him. 

“Are you alright, Hinata? You seem a bit off at the moment,” you spoke softly behind him. When the ginger didn’t answer, she frowned slightly. “Shoyo…”

His first name coming from you had Hinata’s face heating up, not just because he loved the way his first name sounded on your lips, but because he was embarrassed. His bitter emotions had completely messed up his game, and caused him to practically ignore your concerned inquiry. 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just a little tired is all,” he brushed it off. “I‘ll be good to go now that I’ve warmed up a bit.”

“Oh, okay. Tell me if you need some water or anything, your face looks hot.” You instantly flushed at the choice of words. “I mean, it looks warm! Like a red - you know what I mean.” 

Tanaka snickered at your stammering, and you shot him a glare of annoyance before turning on your heel to retrieve the volleyball that had rolled away from the group.

After that, the three-on-three game went pretty smoothly. Hinata was in a better mood, working well together with his two partners. You even got a few good spikes in during the match (although a majority of them were thwarted by Karasuno’s Guardian Deity). Before you all realized it, the moon was shining brightly in the sky, and Suga instructed everyone to go home and get rest in preparation for tomorrow’s first game. After putting back the equipment the group had borrowed from the storage room, you were on your way out the gym doors, until the voices of Tanaka and Nishinoya stopped you midway.

“Wait up, Y/n!” The libero called out to her. You turned her attention towards him, a soft smile resting on your face after the impromptu practice. 

“There’s no way you’re walking home all by yourself at this time of night.” Tanaka declared firmly, and Nishinoya nodded his head vigorously.

“I’ll be fine, you guys. Besides, neither of you live all that close to me, so it would be unreasonable of you to walk me home,” you told them.

“Well, doesn’t Hinata live in the same area as you do? Why doesn’t he walk you home?” Nishinoya suggested.

On the other end of the gym, Hinata had caught wind of the conversation. The ginger’s head perked up at the idea of accompanying you home, and standing beside him, Kageyama finally realized what the two second years had been up to the whole day. You narrowed your eyes at the boys in suspicion, but you couldn’t deny that it was a good idea to have someone else with you at this hour. You gazed over at your fellow first years, finding that Hinata was already looking your way, and a light shade of pink dusted your face.

“I mean, if he wouldn’t mind it, I suppose it would probably be smart,” you shrugged.

“It’s not a problem at all,” he uttered out.

Tanaka and Nishinoya shared a sly grin. This was the most that the two could do for their two dense kohais, so the rest was up to you both.

“If you’re uh, ready to go, my bike is just outside,” Hinata sputtered. 

“Oh! Yeah, I’m good to go,” you responded with an awkward thumbs up that you mentally smacked yourself for.

“Don’t go having too much fun now,” Tanaka smirked. “He’s still gotta play tomorrow.”

His raised eyebrows and overall suggestive expression were met with a playful smack on the arm. 

“Shut up, you big weirdo,” you scoffed, and before any more comments could be made by your two dorks of friends, you rushed out the gym door after Hinata.

Seeing the boy waiting outside for you, his fiery orange hair illuminated by the glimmering starlight like a cliche movie scene, you nearly tripped on the staircase by the school’s entrance. When he turned to you with an easy smile, your heart practically busted out of your chest. Damn him and his cute face. 

You approached him at the gate and readjusted the bag on your shoulders, trying to remain calm at the realization that you were going to be alone with her favorite ray of sunshine. Beginning on the path up the hill, Hinata decides to push his bike alongside him in order to stay closer to you.

“I didn’t realize you lived that close to me until Noya said something tonight,” the middle blocker mentioned. 

You raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? I’m surprised you haven’t been over before.”

“Maybe I should come visit sometime.” Hinata’s eyes widened at the implication and quickly added, “Like, with the rest of the team!”

You laughed softly. “That sounds like fun.”

You both walked in a slightly uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Hinata spoke up.

“So, does that mean Nishinoya has been over to your place before?” he asked.

“Yeah, he’s been over a few times now,” you confirmed. 

“Oh, that's cool.” 

Your eyebrows furrowed at his response, his voice laced with what you could only recognize as disappointment. 

“Why do you ask?” you inquired.

“Well, you both just seemed really close is all.” The first year ran a hand through his hair. “Even Tsukishima noticed.” 

“Well, Nishi and I are really good friends, and we know a lot about each other, so I guess that’s an accurate description.”

Hinata glanced at you and titled his head a fraction, which you thought made him look like an adorable little puppy.

“Really good...friends?” he murmured.

You nodded affirmatively. “Yeah, he’s like an older brother. Did you think we were dating or something?” you laughed. You meant it as a joke, but when the boy didn’t reply, your eyes widened a fraction and you stopped walking. 

“You thought me and Nishi were, like, together together?” you gaped. 

At this point Hinata was burning red. He nodded bashfully, and you fell into fits of giggles, placing your hands on your knees for support. 

“H-hey! It was a justified question!” Hinata defended himself. “He fell asleep on you in the bus today and it looked like a normal thing for you two, so I just figured!”

You stood straight and composed yourself, a teasing smile playing on your lips as you started walking again.

“As much as I love Nishinoya, we’re definitely not dating,” you explained. “It’s a platonic relationship, nothing more.”

Hinata mentally celebrated at the confirmation that there was nothing going on between you and the libero, although he was embarrassed beyond words at this point in the conversation.

“I’m super sorry!! I just thought- I shouldn’t have assumed,” he apologized, scratching the back of his head. 

“Awe, it’s okay, Shoyo. I guess we do act a bit like a couple sometimes, but...I’m not actually seeing anyone at the moment.” You added on without a second thought, “Nishi knows who I really like, though.”

Hinata frowned a bit at the latter sentence, but he remained in a better mood than before.

“So…do I know this person?” he inquired, feeling quite courageous himself. 

You hummed, a blush creeping up your neck. “So what if you do?”

“Is it someone on the team?” 

“Are we playing twenty questions or something now?” you laughed nervously. 

Stupid! Why did I even mention anything in the first place? you mentally cursed yourself.

The ginger felt his heart rate pick up. Out of hope or anxiety, he wasn’t exactly sure.

“What’s he like?” Hinata heard himself asking. 

You couldn’t help but smile fondly at the ironic inquiry, and decided to answer his question.

“He’s probably the most energetic person I’ve ever met, but in a good way. He’s really kind to everyone, even though he can get very competitive. While he’s not the most studious, I can tell he tries his hardest to do his best in everything he does. Not to mention he’s incredibly cute.” You chanced a glance at the intently staring first year for a brief moment before focusing your attention back on the sidewalk, thankful for the dim lights of the street. “Sometimes I find it just…so difficult to not mess with his hair, too. It’s so overwhelmingly fluffy.

Hinata let out a small sigh. He didn’t think there was any way he could compete with the special someone that you had described so fondly. 

“Well, it sounds like you really like him,” he said simply, a halfhearted smile on his face. “He’s a really lucky guy, whoever he is.” 

At his genuine tone, you raised her head to lock eyes with Hinata, who was looking at you with such an honest expression that your breath hitched in your throat. You slowed down in the middle of the empty walkway.

“It’s you, ya big dummy,” you admitted quietly, fiddling nervously with your sweatshirt sleeves. 

Hinata heard it. You could tell that much from the way his eyes widened as he stopped dead in his tracks. 

“It’s me?” he echoed.

You nodded once, not able to speak as you evaluated his reaction. Hinata clumsily pushed the kickstand of his bike down with wide eyes, maneuvering around it to step closer to you and examine your face, trying to determine if this was real or all in his head.

“I like you too. Like a lot,” he managed to confess, a delighted grin gracing his features.

You felt like you were dreaming and about to wake up at any moment, the urge to pinch yourself just for confirmation that this was all real itching at the back of your mind. But your train of coherent thought quickly dissipated when Hinata gingerly moved a hand up to your flushed cheek, brushing your jaw with his thumb and looking up with warm brown eyes. 

“Could I kiss you?” he asked gently, voice barely above a whisper.

“Please do,” you conceded.

Hinata brushed his lips with yours, in a brief but sweet exchange. He did so the second time in the same manner to experiment, and again, just to confirm that this moment was actually happening, before all but backing you into the bike behind them as you tugged at the collar of his shirt. His lips were softer than expected, and you tasted the fruity flavor of what you assumed to be lip balm lingering on them. You could feel the boy grinning into the kiss, this one longer and firmer than their predecessors, and you eagerly tangled your fingers in his fluffy orange hair that was impossibly softer than imagined. His own hands found themselves planted firmly on your waist to secure you from losing balance, drawing small circles into your sides with his thumbs. Your entire body was buzzing with excitement, practically melting when Hinata traced your bottom lip with his tongue. 

Hinata pulled away briefly to catch his breath, a fire blazing in his eyes that had you shying away from his gaze. He took a hand off of your waist and tilted your face back towards him with his index finger, a newfound confidence radiating off of the first year in droves that had you flushing darker than you thought possible.

“Shoyo,” you spoke his name softly, pulling a bit at the fiery strands of hair still twirled between your fingers. The little hum elicited from Hinata’s throat was one of your new favorite sounds.

“Please use my first name more often,” the boy breathed out, and you couldn’t help but laugh airily at the request, Hinata unable to suppress the satisfied smile that bloomed across his flushed face at the sound.

“That was… unexpected,” you murmured. 

“Good unexpected?” the ginger inquired playfully. 

“Very good unexpected,” you joked lightly.

Hinata wrapped you in a warm hug, snuggling his face into the crook of your neck. You reciprocated the action, arms encircling around his figure, taking in everything that had happened with an enormous smile.

You might just have to thank Nishinoya later.

#hinata shoyo x you #hinata shoyo #haikyuu!! #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu anime #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu oneshot #hinata fluff #hinata #hinata imagine #hinata x reader #hinata shoyo x reader #hinata shoyuo #hinata shouyo x reader #fluff

[manage-mischief]

The Padfoot Trap

Read on: AO3 or FF.net

Summary: James enlists Lily’s help to reconcile his quarreling best friends. Lily is skeptical about James’s true intentions.

Author’s Note: Tumblr @manage-mischief. The Jily fluff no one asked for :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

“Oi, Evans!”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to—”

“I already know the answer’s no,” Lily said sternly, eyes fixed forward. James Potter had materialized next to her, panting slightly from his sprint down the hall to catch her. Lily walked quicker. She quite enjoyed toying with him. His windswept black hair bounced up and down as he walked, trying to keep her pace.

“Please Evans…Lily.” James smiled sweetly. Lily rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t ask, but I need your help. You are the smartest, most cunning, most beautiful—”

“What do you want, James?” Lily sighed, sure she would regret asking. His hazel eyes lit up with glee.

“Well, it’s Sirius’s birthday this Saturday, and I need you to help me with a surprise.”

Lily raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected such an innocent request. Still, judging by the look in James Potter’s eyes, he wasn’t giving her the full story. “Why can’t you ask Remus?” Lily asked, suspiciously. “He’s Sirius’s boyfriend, and one of your best friends. And, he’s clever. I’m sure he’s more than capable of helping out.”

James ran a hand through his messy hair, sheepishly. “About that…you see…Remus and Sirius are sort of…fighting…”

“Fighting? What about?” Lily was genuinely concerned. Though she didn’t pretend to approve of Sirius Black’s behavior—honestly, sometimes he was worse than James—she liked Remus and thought that he and Sirius made a wonderful couple. It would be a shame to see them break up.

“Not important…” said James, vaguely.

“Sirius was being an ignorant arse, again, wasn’t he?”

James grimaced. “I will neither confirm nor deny that statement. Point is, I have a plan to get them back together. This Saturday—Sirius’s birthday—there’s a Hogsmeade trip. I need you to go with me.”

Lily stopped in her tracks, causing a student to slam into her from behind. She ignored their muttered curses as she stood in the middle of the corridor, eyes narrowed at James. “James Potter, is this just some giant ruse to get me to finally agree to go to Hogsmeade with you? Because if it is—” Lily stormed closer to him, causing him to stumble backwards.

James vigorously shook his head, spreading his hands out in front of him to defend himself. “No, no! It’s not! I promise,” he hastily assured her. Lily cocked her head to the side, clearly not convinced.

“Trust me, Evans,” James replied, regaining some of his usual swagger. “When I finally get you to agree to go to Hogsmeade with me, it’ll be because I’ll have won you over with my immeasurable charm and good looks. I won’t have to resort to such common trickery!” He proclaimed dramatically. Lily rolled her eyes again, hoping that her mother had been lying when she’d told Lily that rolling them so much would cause them to get stuck that way.

Lily considered James’s proposition. On the one hand, if he was indeed being honest, he was doing an incredibly sweet thing for two of his best friends. On the other hand, he could be lying, and Lily would look like an idiot. But, something in James’s face told Lily he was being genuine. Plus, Lily figured he wouldn’t dare trick her into a date, knowing very well that Lily (who was quite skilled with curses) could turn his…important bits…into a salamander.

“Fine,” Lily said, backing off. “Tell me about this master plan of yours, and maybe—maybe—I’ll be convinced to help you.”

James grinned widely and pumped his fist. “Thank you, Lily, thank you! I knew you were the kindest witch of our generation. Poets will write ballads of your generosity for generations to come!” He waved his arms in the air, poetic.

“Don’t make me change my mind, Potter.” Lily looked away to hide her growing smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Evans. Wouldn’t dream of it.”

---

By Saturday, the plan was set. James would take Sirius for a celebratory birthday butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. Meanwhile, Lily had convinced Remus to accompany her to Hogsmeade, where they would “accidentally” run into James and Sirius at the pub.

Convincing Remus without drawing suspicion had been a feat. Lily was not nearly as smooth of a liar as James, and wasn’t sure if Remus truly believed her.

“When’s the last time we hung out, just you and me?” she had asked Remus.

“Um…Prefect duty last year?” he’d responded dubiously.

However, Lily had managed to wear him down without garnering any major suspicion. James had winked from her across the Common Room after her successful mission.

The day of the ruse was crisp and clear. Lily pulled her scarf higher up her face as she and Remus set off along the windy, wooded path to Hogsmeade.

“So,” Remus said, awkwardly, “how’re Head Girl duties going?”

“Um…fine,” Lily replied, absentmindedly. She was busy keeping lookout to make sure James and Sirius were nowhere to be seen.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Huh?” Lily was shaken out of her distraction. “Oh! No!  Not at all!” She gave a fake laugh. Remus looked skeptical. “Can you believe it about Professor Dodson?” Lily hastily tried to change the subject.

“Yeah. Can’t believe she retired after just one year. Not that she was very good.”

“I know. What’d you think of this new bloke? Seventh Defense Professor in seven years!” Lily tried to keep the conversation going. Luckily, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Department’s staffing drama was enough to engage Remus. The two of them launched into an intense discussion of various conspiracy theories, wondering why the post seemed cursed.

Finally, Lily and Remus arrived at the town. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw James peak out from the door of the Three Broomsticks and give a thumbs up. He and Sirius were already there, exactly according to plan.

“Fancy a butterbeer?” Lily asked, yanking Remus by the arm towards the pub. He stumbled as she dragged him along.

“Blimey, I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

Lily swung the door open forcefully, ensuring that the bell made plenty of noise to alert James of their arrival. She quickly scanned the tables in search of the two boys, and laid eyes upon both of them sitting at a secluded, corner booth.

Lily, who still had a firm grip on Remus’s bicep, pulled him along to their table.

“Oh, my, would you look at that? It’s James and Sirius! Fancy meeting you two, here!” she remarked, trying her best to sound casual.

Sirius glared at James. “What the bloody hell are you playing at, mate?”

James looked at him innocently and shrugged. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, Pads. C’mon, Evans, Remus, why don’t you both join us?”

“Why, of course, James. Remus and I would love to join you,” Lily replied, shoving Remus into the half-circle booth so he was seated right next to Sirius. James and Lily sat on either end, trapping the quarreling lovers in.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Remus whispered to Lily resentfully. He and Sirius refused to look at one another. Lily felt the atmosphere thicken with awkwardness. She desperately wanted to squirm out of her seat and escape the discomfort. But James flashed her a warning look.

“Almost,” he mouthed to her. Then, turning to Sirius, James said, “Pads, didn’t you tell me just last night that your only birthday wish would be to have Remus back by your side?”

Remus’s eyes softened.

Sirius flushed. “…drunk of firewhiskey…” Lily heard him mutter. He stole a quick glance at Remus, betraying his emotion. “Yeah, I did. I—I’m sorry, Rem.”

“Evans, why don’t we go and order the drinks?” James asked, obviously trying to give the couple some alone time.

“Oh, right! Of course! Let’s go!” She and James headed towards the bar, leaving Sirius and Remus alone. They took two seats at the far end of the counter so they could watch the boyfriends make up.

“Oi, Rosie, four butterbeers, please!” James signaled the bartender, Madame Rosmerta. The older woman chuckled.

“That’s ma’am, to you, Potter!” Rosmerta scolded playfully before pouring the drinks.

Lily began to rummage through her pocketbook for change.

“Nah,” James waved her off, “It’s on me.” He discretely handed the coins to Rosmerta and whispered “keep the extra.” Rosmerta smiled at the boy, grateful.

“What’s this?” Lily teased. “The almighty James Potter not bragging about his immense wealth?” However, James didn’t rebuttal. Instead, his faced flushed crimson and he looked down at the counter, clearly embarrassed. Lily immediately regretted her joke.

“I’m sorry, James. I was just joking.”

“I like to think I’m a bit above flashing around daddy’s money. But, if that’s what you think of me, Evans,” he teased, though his usual jovial tone was muted. He looked genuinely hurt.

“No, James, I don’t. I honestly didn’t even realize you…um…had money,” Lily assured him. And honestly, she hadn’t. Sure, Lily always assumed James’s family was well-off enough, but, she didn’t realize that the Potter’s had enough wealth that James would become self-conscious about it if the subject was raised. Lily got the feeling, based on James’s reaction, that his family was loaded. And now, she felt like an absolute wanker.

“Really, James. I’m sorry. I…you…I mean,” Lily stammered, trying to find the words to make it up to him. “This year, you’ve proven that a lot of the things I used to think about you are untrue.” Lily surprised herself by admitting this out loud. She hadn’t even really thought about it herself. But, now that she said it, she knew it was true. Lily was beginning to see a different side of James Potter—a side that intrigued her more than she cared to admit.

James smiled. “Wow, Evans, a compliment? I’m not as terrible as you thought I was? Can I get that in writing?”

“Merlin, never mind. Forget I said anything. Git.” Lily winked before taking a sip of butterbeer.

“Oi!” James tapped her shoulder. “Would you look at that!”

Lily glanced towards their abandoned booth, where Sirius was currently straddling Remus, lips locked. She chuckled. “Well, I guess they’re making up.”

“Making out’s more like it. I always knew Pads was the top.”

“James!”

“What? It’s a natural thing to wonder when your best friends get together! Tell me you haven’t thought the same thing about Dorcas and Marlene?”

“I—I—point taken,” Lily conceded. She met James’s twinkling eyes, and began laughing. James joined in. Other patrons looked over at them curiously, as they devolved into hysterics. Lily didn’t want to stop. She quite enjoyed the sound of James’s laugh.

“Potter!” Rosmerta had returned to their side of the bar. Lily blushed and stared down into her butterbeer, feeling the eyes of the other customers boring into her back. Lily suddenly became very self-conscious. “This is a family establishment, and if you can’t control your friends over there,” Rosmerta jerked a thumb to Remus and Sirius’s rattling table, “then I’m going to have to kick ‘em out!”

“Ah, Rosie,” James said, flashing a cheeky grin, “Just give them another two minutes. It’s Sirius’s birthday.” Rosmerta fell for James’s charm.

“Two minutes, Potter, and then you either pull them off of each other or tell them to take the show over to Madame Puddifoot’s!”

Lily met James’s eye, and they started laughing again. A strange, warm feeling blossomed through Lily’s core.

“You did a really good thing for your friends today, James,” Lily said sincerely. James shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, uncharacteristically shy.

“It was nothing,” said James. “I’d do anything for my friends. Anything.” He looked very serious. “They’re my brothers.”

Lily was surprised by his intensity. But, she found it very sweet. James Potter—the boy she’d spent her entire career at Hogwarts hating—had a soft side. He was a caring and loyal friend. Lily really valued that, as she had had one too many experiences dealing with so-called friends who ended up treating her like garbage (cough, Snape, cough cough).

Snape had once told Lily that James Potter was the worst person at Hogwarts. And, true, there was a time when James had been mean, rude, and immature. But, despite all of his arrogance and pranks, Lily was finally discovering James’s kind soul. James had matured so much since Lily had first met him on the train seven years ago. It was jarring.

“Lily?” James asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Why’re you looking at me like that? Have I got butterbeer foam on my face?”

Lily blushed. “Oh…um…no reason…” she stammered. James raised an eyebrow. Luckily, Lily was saved from having to reveal her developing crush by Madame Rosmerta’s scolding voice.

“Potter, go get your boys!”

James hopped up out of his seat and extended a helping hand to Lily. She took it and pulled herself up before hastily letting go. James’s cheeks tinged pink, and Lily could feel her own face go hot.

“Time to break up the love fest,” James said as he began to walk back towards the corner booth.

“James?” Lily blurted before she could stop herself.

“Hm?”

“If—hypothetically—you ask me to accompany you on the next Hogsmeade weekend…I might—hypothetically—say yes.”

James stopped in his tracks and turned to face her properly. His face was plastered with a massive, goofy grin. He looked utterly victorious.

“Don’t say anything stupid, or else I’ll change my mind,” said Lily, trying to act tough.

James kept on grinning. “Whatever you say, Evans. Whatever you say,” James said offhandedly, as he positively skipped back towards his lip-locked friends. Lily couldn’t help but smiling herself. Perhaps, James Potter would continue to surprise her.

#jily #wolfstar #james potter #lily evans #sirius black #remus lupin #marauders #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #jily fluff #marauders era #the parent trap #my writing #fluff

[braincoins]

This isn’t leaving me alone, so... Here we go, more random Schism-verse shenanigans. Starring more Nate & Velanna this time though. @yslanam is probably the only one who might care about this besides me though. xD Well, maybe @tybunnythehellmoose PG-13 

There was a knock on her door. “Come in,” she called, setting her voice deliberately brusque. She didn’t want to be disturbed if it wasn’t important, and she didn’t want the shems thinking they could bother her with every little thing...

The door opened and revealed Nathaniel. “Sorry, am I disturbing?” he asked. 

Yes, she thought. “No,” she said. 

Things were like that where this one particular shemlen was concerned. He just... wasn’t like the others. He listened to her, he considered her words, he... seemed to care about her.

It was weakening her, making her of two minds about him. She didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty he brought with him into her presence, the anxiety, the heightened awareness of his every breath, his every mouth, er, move. It was like being in a never-ending battle, and she hated it almost as much as she liked seeing him.

“What is it?” she asked him, pushing past her thoughts and walking over to him.

He came into her room properly and held out a scroll of paper. “Anders wanted a translation, if you don’t mind.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Why did he not simply deliver this himself then?” she asked, reaching for it. She was on reasonably good terms with her fellow mage, precisely because they were both mages, and because he, too, knew what it was like to be spat upon by the majority of what passed for shemlen ‘civilization’.

“No idea,” he said with a shrug, releasing it to her. “He just showed up, shoved it at me, said, ‘Get Velanna to translate this, will you?’ and took off.”

She huffed in annoyance. “That sounds like more of his mischief to me.”

Nathaniel nodded. “As it does to me. But I can’t figure his angle on it this time.”

“Hm.” She opened the scroll and almost recoiled. “Who wrote this?” 

“No idea. Why?” He walked around to look at the parchment.

It was written in bright gold lettering and an almost unintelligible font. “How does anyone read this?” she asked. She turned and took it to her desk, putting a couple of scroll-weights on it to keep it open and allow her eyes to adjust. As she got used to both the brightness of the... ink? and the elaborate scrollwork of the font, she began to see and understand words. 

And she went crimson very quickly.

“What.” He meant it as a question, but Nathaniel almost groaned it. Her reaction was a sure clue that the mage’s shenanigans were coming to light. 

Rather than tell him, she held her hand over the paper, closed her eyes and concentrated. “I see now. This parchment wasn’t written by anyone. I feel faint traces of magic in the ‘ink’.”

“It was written by magic?”

“The words were applied to the paper with magic.” She opened her eyes, withdrew her hand, eyes scanning over the words. “But the words were said by someone and the spell recorded it to the paper.”

“Magical scribe?” he asked. She glanced at him: his eyebrows were raised, his eyes a little wide. “Could be very useful.”

“Especially for those with filthy minds and too much time on their hands.” She looked back to the paper, feeling her face heat as she read more and more of it.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t look at this before you brought it to me.” It wasn’t a question at all; he would have mentioned how bright the ink was to look at.

He confirmed her suspicions with a simple, “No.”

“Surely you recognize this word?” she asked, pointing at one in particular.

He stepped closer, his shoulder brushing hers. He squinted at the page, blinked a few times and then read it out loud. “Alistair.”

She nodded. “And these shorter words here, here, and... well...” She gestured to the scroll; the short “Ah!”s and “Oh!”s were scattered all over it.

He was starting to blush a little as well. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Of course it is!” she said in disgust. “Because, for some reason, Anders and that fenedhin durgen’len are obsessed with our leader’s sex life.” She scowled at the scroll. 

“So, basically, they had this scroll record what Kiv was saying while, uh... in the throes of passion,” he summed up.

“And they expect me to translate it for them because they know she won’t!”

“She’ll assign them extra duties for a week, at least, if she knew about this.”

“And likely cut off Oghren’s supply of ale.” She folded her arms.

“Not that that’d mean much, for him. I think he’s got stashes of it all over the Keep.”

She raised the scroll-weights and let the parchment roll back up. She turned to Nathaniel to inform him, “Tell Anders that I will not be party to such voyeurism and filth, and that he owes me for my silence.”

“You’re not going to turn him in?”

“This time. If I ever see another scroll like this again, I shall.” She grinned. “I find it more valuable to have him in my pocket for the time being.”

Nathaniel snorted in amusement. “I’ll pass that along. Though I still don’t get why he asked me to bring it to you.”

She was about to agree with his confusion when the reason struck her. “Fenedhis lasa,” she swore under her breath. 

“What? What is it?”

He KNOWS. This wasn’t just another prank upon their commander. This was Anders’s way of letting her know that he knew about her burgeoning feelings for Nathaniel. Why else would he have him deliver to her a scroll of a Dalish woman’s erotic babblings as she laid with a human man? Her eyes darted to the scroll, and even without being able to see the words, they came back to her mind. The things Kivral said about her shemlen lover, so out of her mind with bliss that she’d reverted to her native tongue. The things she said despite - perhaps because! - of the fact that he couldn’t understand them. 

She jumped a little when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, and blinked out of her thoughts to see Nathaniel’s eyes studying hers. “Are you alright, Velanna?” he asked.

She swallowed hard and nodded. “I... I’m fine. Forget what I said earlier. Just tell Anders I refuse to translate this for him.”

His brow furrowed. “Really? But...”

“That’s all,” she said gruffly. “And I-I’m fine. Truly. No cause for concern.”

“If you’re sure.” He patted her shoulder gently, which might have annoyed her, once. She would have chalked it up to his treating her as fragile, when she was anything but.

But she knew him better now. He was a gentle man when he didn’t have to be otherwise. And... and perhaps she was fragile, where he was concerned. It took some effort not to glance at the scroll again. 

“Do you want me to return the scroll to him?” he asked.

“No,” she said, snorting derisively and letting her annoyance at this entire charade steady her. “And give him more chance for mischief with it? No, no. I’ll be keeping this. Just in case.”

“Ought to throw it in the fire,” Nathaniel warned her, heading back to her still open door. For some reason, seeing the door not closed briefly filled her with panic, as if she had been engaged in private activity... which she had not. “If Kiv finds you with that...”

“She will not. And I know how to keep secrets.” Or, at least, I thought I did.

“Very well,” he said. He smiled.

And all the wind seemed to have been knocked out of her at once. Leave, she bade him in her mind, or come back over here and put your mouth against mine, so that I have air to breathe again. Part of her still reflexively rebelled against the very idea of letting a shemlen touch her, let alone...! And the rest of her just wanted to be done with this confusion, to make a decision and follow through on it, even if it meant... 

He left, and closed the door behind him. She fell back against the desk, concentrated on inhaling and exhaling for a bit. She looked back at the scroll.

She didn’t know what to do about any of this, but she knew she had to do something and soon. If for no other reason than to keep Anders from targeting her in his mischief next. 

Kivral’s words came back to her. They were never far from her mind when Nathaniel was around, truth be told. “I am from the Dalish, but I am no longer of the Dalish. I am a Grey Warden, Velanna, as you are now, as Anders and Nathaniel and Sigrun and Oghren are. I will always respect and honor the past from which I come, but it is the past. I will be a Grey Warden until I go to the Deep Roads to meet my end. That is my present and my future. There is nothing else. The Grey Wardens are our clan and family now.”

She pulled out the chair and sat, and let her thoughts happen. Kivral’s words on the scroll, and her words in her memory. Nathaniel’s words and deeds, and his smile.

Hate had been easy. She wasn’t sure she knew how to love a shemlen, or even a Grey Warden.

But... maybe... maybe she could learn how to love Nathaniel. 

#Dragon Age: Awakening #Dragon Age: Schism #Nate/Velanna #(Velannate?) #bgd Warden/Alistair #this got long #anyway

[rockynfriends]

Tricky Treat

(This is a commissioned story from the fantastic @incaseofart​, just in time for the spooky season! Hope you all enjoy -- we have another post coming out later today so don’t touch that dial ;)

Two voices shout in unison “HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN!”

“Alright, alright, hang on a moment. Before we leave, we need to establish some ground rules.”

“That’s right. Fugue and I want to make sure no one does anything that puts them in danger.”

“But Rocky -- you said that Halloween was a dangerous season!”

“I SAID that it was a season of intrigue and danger. I also said that it was a good reminder to be aware of your surroundings and not let yourself into situations with unnecessary risks.”

Fugue smirks as he listens to his friend talk about the merits of avoiding risk and describe the other ‘ground rules,’ thinking about the many and various ways in which Rocky has personified unnecessary risk.

“What? You don’t agree with me?” asks the latter, looking at Fugue with a coy grin.

“You know that when it comes to reducing danger I’m always in favor,” replies the Ampharos with a shake of his head. “I just never thought I’d hear YOU telling someone else.”

Rocky scratches his head and chuckles. “Well, a year ago neither of us expected me to be taking my little brother trick-or-treating either.”

“Like my costume?” asks Pizzicato gleefully.

Rocky smiles. “Absolutely. It’s very fitting, sweetie.”

“If he’s not careful he’ll end up being another dad friend,” Fugue thinks to himself as the younger mons grab their baskets.

“Ready to go, everyone?” Rocky asks.

“What about Cynthia and Deneb and Cassie?” asks the Azurill quickly, apparently noticing their absence for the first time.

“They’re gonna stay home and watch Arsenic and Old Lace. It’s one of Cass’s favorites – apparently they’re in it, though they’ve never told me where,” Rocky replies with a shrug and a smile.

Fugue stifles a chuckle at this. “I imagine Deneb will get a real kick out of that one. It’s the one with Boris Karloff and the psycho great-aunts right?”

“Psycho what?” Riley tilts his head.

“I’ll explain later,” Rocky replies. “For now, let’s get some candy.”

This is met with cheers from all sides.

“Now then,” Fugue begins, as they make their way to the first house, “Is there a reason you wanted to help chaperone instead of look for candy yourself, Rocky?”

“Uh, well…to be honest, I liked the idea of watching Riley more than getting extra treats for myself. He’s my brother and I wanted to just be there for him, I suppose. I’d like him to have a normal Halloween. No monsters, no villains, just candy and family and friends.”

“That makes sense. You’re pretty good at this big-brother stuff.”

“Ha, thanks. I’m learning that apparently it means being the responsible one, which used to be Cynthia’s job, but now I find myself trying to stop her from getting him into mischief! She loves him to death, honestly. Personally I think--”

He pauses as they stop at the first house.

“Uh, Fugue? Has this place always been…creepy?”

It’s a fair question. The building seems to loom over them with its spiked tower in the center leaning slightly forward and a dimly lit porch.

“Let’s uh, skip this—” but before Fugue can finish, Pizzicato has smacked the door several times with her tail.

“Ding-dong ditch?” asks Rocky nervously.

Fugue nods. “Normally I’d say no but let’s—”

He’s interrupted by a hissing sound, and then the air fills with smoke.

“Uh…what’s happening?” Riley says with a mixture of confusion and nervousness in his voice.

“Welcome travelerssss…” replies a voice with an unusual tone. “You’ve found my housssse of secretssss.”

“Great,” Fugue mutters. “Weird neighbor. Probably just pranking would be candy getters. Alright, then, thank you for the excitement but we have to go now.”

“Ssssooo ssssooon?” asks a Seviper, appearing in the doorway through the smoke. “Sssssurely you’re here for Halloween treatsssss!”

Riley looks at Seviper skeptically. “Yeah, without the smoke and scary expression, thanks.”

“Jussst sssstaying in the sssspirit of the ssseasssson,” laughs the Pokémon, “I like to keep trick-or-treaterssss on their toessss.”

“You don’t have toes though,” says Pizzicato innocently.

“True, ssssmall one,” replies Seviper with a chuckles.

“We appreciate your time, but I just remembered something important,” Rocky says. “We have to go get it. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Yeah…you’re creepy,” Riley chimes in.

Seviper laughs again. “Yesss…but that’ssss the point of Halloween, issss it not?”

A moment later, the Pokémon vanishes. Fugue shakes his head.

“Come along, then, onwards to—” his sentence is cut off when turning around makes him aware the group is now suddenly IN the house despite never making an effort to cross the threshold.

“Okay…” he frowns. “Rocky, any thoughts?”

“I’m thinking we just went straight to the trick part,” replies the Pikachu, looking around the large foyer into which they seem to have been transported.

“How do we get out?” asks Pizzicato. “We haven’t even gotten any candy yet!”

“I like her,” says the voice of the snake, though the direction from which it comes is no longer clear. “If you can find your way through thissss place, there will be a very big treat. Your firsssst clue issss to figure out which of you issss the odd one out.”

“Odd…one out?” Riley frowns.

“That’s me!” Pizzicato giggles. “I’m water and you’re all electric!”

Rocky nods slowly. “That sounds about right.”

Fugue shakes his head. “Yes, but there’s another interpretation. All of you are mouse Pokémon, and I am not. So it might be me too.”

Riley shakes his head. “It’s Rocky.”

Everyone looks at him surprised.

“Why me?” asks the Pikachu.

“You’re the only Pokémon that can use a move normal Pikachu can’t. I’ve seen you do it.”

Fugue pauses for a moment, then agrees. “That’s a good thought, Riley.”

“Indeed it isssss,” comes the hissing voice of the snake. “Up ahead there are doorssss with your facessss on them. Pick the door that you think hassss the ansssswer.”

Sure enough, a variety of doors appear out of the smoke.

“How did he get our faces…?” Fugue begins, but is interrupted by Riley marching to the door and throwing it open – only to nearly be tackled by Rocky.

“Careful!” the Pikachu nearly shouts. “Let’s at least see if we can figure out what is going on in there!”

So saying, he peers into the door…and a light comes on, revealing a wooden staircase leading downwards into a darkly-lit basement.

“Good choice, Riley,” the snakey voice says. “You’re on the right track.”

Fugue shakes his head. “Me first. I can light the place up.” The orb on his tail glows bright, showing the whole room – inside there appears to be a Rube Goldberg machine of sorts.

“What does this thing do?” asks Pizzicato as the rest of the troop follows Fugue downstairs.

“I dunno, but I want to find out!” Riley says excitedly. “After all, this is the right door.”

Rocky pauses. “How do you know?”

“Because it was your face, Rocky. I haven’t gone wrong by following you yet!”

The Pikachu is not expecting this reply, and sniffs slightly to hold back sudden happy tears.

“Well, how do we trigger it, do you think?”

Fugue looks it over. “I think that’s our next obstacle to clear. Figuring it out, I mean.”

No one notices that Pizzicato has wandered up to a small bowl and hopped inside. A moment later, it lifts into the air, taking her with it.

“Whee!” she shouts, much to everyone’s dismay.

“Pizzicato!” Fugue cries, but the machine continues to whir to life.

Her weight counters another weight, thereby knocking a lever over. It smacks into a cup with dice, which roll across a drum of some sort, which lets out a sound that fills the room and causes the plunger below it to pump once or twice, pulling a block of wood down a pipe and letting another ball roll down a ramp until it smacks a plank, which seesaws into the wall, knocking it down.

“All that effort just to open a door?” Rocky frowns.

“Sssssometimessss it’sss about making ssssure the participantssss are paying clossssse attention,” says the voice. “The next room will require ssssome extra thought. Better sssstay alert! Sssso far the young onessss have been more obsssservant. Can the adultssss catch up?”

The others exchange a look before Fugue reaches up and picks Pizzicato out of the bowl.

Rocky shakes his head. “This feels like a sort of game, but what kind of prize is there for winning?”

No answer comes, and Fugue shrugs. “All I know is that the kids seem to be having fun.”

“Yeah, but I’m missing out on candy,” Riley pouts a bit as they enter the next room. Suddenly carnival music plays and they find themselves surrounded by mirrors on each side.

“Did it suddenly get hot in here?” asks Rocky, shuddering.

“Who knowssss thissss ssssong?” calls the Seviper with a hissing laugh. “You’ll find your exit in the rhythm!”

“I don’t know this song,” Riley shakes his head.

“Me neither,” Pizzicato chimes in.

Rocky shrugs. “I’m lost, personally. Any ideas, Fugue?”

The Ampharos pauses. “Hold on a moment…I think…I think I’ve heard it before…”

“Holding on” proves to be a somewhat difficult task, as it only continues to get hotter in the room. It’s not long before everyone’s sweating.

“Fugue, no rush, but uh, if you have any ideas, we’d love to hear them,” Rocky says in a dry whisper.

The Ampharos’s eyes are determined – and suddenly they look inspired. He claps twice, stamps his right foot, then spins a somewhat clumsy circle – and the room almost instantly cools down as the mirrors fall away to reveal another door.

Pizzicato cheers. “I knew you’d figure it out!”

Rocky tilts his head. “What was the song?”

Fugue smiles, shaking his head. “Someone I care very much about sang it to me when I was younger. We had a dance we used to practice for it too. You know, like kids like to do? What you saw just now was part of it – it took me a while because I hadn’t heard it in years. I haven’t the faintest clue how Seviper knows it.”

“Sssome ssssecretsss ssstay that way,” replies the hissing Pokémon. “But you’ve done well. Can you ssssolve my lasssst puzzle? It’sssss a real doozy.”

“Last puzzle?” Pizzicato frowns. “I was hoping there were a few more.”

The others all give her a “you’ve gotta be kidding me” look, but only Riley says it out loud.

“Sure it’s fun but we’re missing out on all the treats!”

“Come on,” Rocky shrugs. “The more we stand here, the longer we’ll be missing out whatever’s out there.”

The group makes their way into what appears to be a great dancing hall, with portraits of Pokémon clad in formal, almost Victorian style attire, hung on the walls. It’s not long before they recognize their own faces in some of them.

“Hey that’s…” Fugue has to stifle a laugh as he notices Deneb, wearing a frilly collar and a somewhat dour expression. “I uh…I wonder what the puzzle here is supposed to be.”

“Hey, isn’t that your trainer?” Riley asks, pointing to another painting.

Fugue nods, perhaps even more baffled. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but that puffy wig actually looks pretty good on her. How did they get her likeness, though?”

Before they can discuss it further, the snake interrupts, suddenly appearing in another burst of smoke.

“You’ve sssspeculated plenty. It’ssss time for the main event! If you can bessst me in a fight, then I sssshall releasssse you!”

Rocky frowns. “Well…that’s sort of disappointing. I had hoped you planned a real mind-bender, not just a throwdown.”

“Ah, but you ssssee,” laughs the snake. “I will not be battling you directly. I have insssstead devisssed a battle of the witsss unlike any other!”

Another puff of smoke fills the room, and before them stands a perfect facsimile of Cynthia!

“What the heck?” Riley practically shouts.

“Don’t worry,” she laughs. “Your challenge isss to determine what move you have that could bessst counter an attack I ussse. If you win, then you will try another opponent, then another, before the tessst endsss.”

“So it’s a simulated battle,” Fugue thinks. “Well, I don’t have everyone’s movesets memorized just yet but—”

“I do,” Pizzicato says happily.

“Then it fallsss on you to determine the bessst courssse of action,” smiles the Eevee with her strange enunciation still in full force. “I trussst the othersss will not regret having you in charge!”

“Uh, Fugue? Are we floating?” Rocky asks calmly, but with a certain tremor in his voice.

“Quite suddenly, yes. Except Pizzicato,” mutters Fugue. “I guess the final test really is all hers.”

“The adultsss never quite caught up, did they?” laughs their Halloween host. “Nonethelessss, here’ssss the firssst tessst! Cynthia approachessss and ussesss ssswift! What do you do?”

“Riley! Use Protect!” Pizzicato says with confidence. Riley complies, though a moment later he looks quite confused.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Rocky says.

“Uhhhh, neither did I?” he replies.

There’s another puff of smoke, and this time it’s Deneb facing them off. As if to remain in character, this time the Pokémon does not speak, instead presenting them with a Psychic attack.

“Fugue, try Rock Throw!” The Ampharos does so, but his confusion is even more evident.

“Um, I can’t…actually do that,” he whispers. “I think Pizzicato doesn’t actually know what I can do.”

“Well now’s not the time to correct her,” Rocky says quickly. “We’ve KINDA got to rely on her so—”

He’s interrupted by the sudden appearance of Cassiopeia where Deneb was.

“Crap,” Riley mutters, only to quickly apologize when Rocky gives him a look.

“Here’sss a Ssshadow Ball!” they declare, only to have Pizzicato immediately say “Rocky! Bug Bite!”

For a moment the older trio all exchange a look of despair – but then Rocky stirs, looking as lost as he possibly can, and executes the move with perfect precision.

“Okay….” Fugue says, scratching his head. “I assume this means we win?”

As if to answer his question, Seviper reappears and smiles. “Well done, travelerssss. You’ve defeated my obssstaclessss and proven your ssskill. I presssent you with your reward.”

A golden plastic card appears in front of each Pokémon and Seviper vanishes, revealing the exit just ahead.

“What’s this?” Pizzicato asks plaintively, apparently bummed that the game has ended.

“Well, it’s…10,000 poke worth of candy – or rather, a gift card for that – for each of us,” Rocky says with a half-stunned expression.

“Candy? You mean that weird snake gave us free candy? And we get to pick it out?” Riley asks quickly.

“That is…indeed the case,” Fugue says, scratching his head again, this time with a smile.

“Wow! What a prize! Hey, can we play again?” Riley wonders out loud.

“I had fun too! I don’t even need another prize!” Pizzicato adds, only for both of them to find themselves half carried to the exits and into the night.

______

“That was pretty fun, Cassiopeia. I didn’t know you were such a prankster!” laughs Cynthia as they make their way home.

“I believe Halloween is an opportunity to enjoy the chance to give others a bit of excitement. I couldn’t have pulled it off without your help. Your portrayal of a Sevipers’ accent is quite convincing, Cynthia.”

“Ha, well, Deneb here had it the hardest, but she still pulled it off wonderfully!”

The fusion Ampharos grins and wobbles with delight, nodding in agreement.

“So they’ll probably need to go do more trick-or-treating, and tell us their story when we get home. In the meantime, shall we actually go watch Arsenic and Old Lace?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll pop the popcorn!” Cynthia grins.

So, having finished their own trick, they make their way home to enjoy their treats.

#pokemon #halloween #fugue #rocky #pizzicato #riley #cassiopeia #cynthia #deneb #short story #have a great one all!

[bigherosixfeels]

For the fanfic requests, Karmi and Hiro playing random pranks on each other. (Examples: Air horn taped to the bottom of an office chair, taping plastic wrap across a doorway, etc.)

nerd children mischief? I’m in >:)

High Jinks

Fandom: Big Hero 6: The Series

Rating: K

Characters: Hiro Hamada, Karmi, Baymax, Wasabi,Fred, Gogo and Honey Lemon

Word Count: 2,585

Summary: Karmi and Hiro get themselves into aprank war

It started off as a typical, Monday morning.Another day of school was about to begin and Hiro’s first class was withProfessor Granville. He developed a habit of being one of her last students toarrive to class, but he was never late (most of the time). Thankfully, she wasunderstanding of his occasional tardiness due to his double life as asuperhero. Of course, that didn’t stop her from lecturing him on the importanceof maintaining a balanced lifestyle.

With thirty seconds to spare before her classstarted, Hiro hurried inside the room, making his way over to the seat healmost always took. He put his backpack down and sat, but the second he did, aloud ppppprrrhhhhh sounded beneath him.

The sound that heavily resembled a fart initiallymade the robotics major jump in his seat and shocked those sitting near him.Yet, it quickly followed with laughs and snickers immediately after.

Hiro felt his face flushing. That wasn’t him! Hestood up and looked at his chair. Sure enough, someone had placed a whoopiecushion there.

Normally, he would have laughed it off too, buthe was so surprised by the classic gag, that he was curious to know who did it.

“Oh, Hiro! We need to open a window!”

The second he heard who said that, he knew exactlywho was responsible for this. Karmi. Looking over at the fellow teen genius,she was holding back her laughter while also pointing her phone in hisdirection. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she not only planned thispractical joke, but also filmed it so she could post it online later.

Hiro rolled his eyes at her before removing thewhoopie cushion from his chair and sitting back down. His slight embarrassmentturned to frustration and annoyance. Why did Karmi do this? Of course it was anact of public humiliation, but there was no reason for it. Hiro hadn’t doneanything to motivate Karmi into doing so. He came to the conclusion that shesimply wanted to make him look bad for a few seconds.

As Professor Granville’s class began, Hirodecided that he wasn’t going to let this go. He may have been a victim in aharmless joke, but what Karmi had yet to discover was that Hiro loved pranks.

He’s successfully pulled pranks for years. Themain recipients of his antics were his family. He recalled the numerous prankwars him and Tadashi had gotten into when they were younger. And of course theyalso teamed up on the tricks they’d pull at random on Aunt Cass. Karmi had noclue of any of this which made Hiro grin deviously. Two can play it thatgame, he thought to himself.

—

The next day, Karmi happily hummed in the hallsas she headed to her lab. She was looking at her phone, reading the comments onthe video she posted of Hiro the previous day. As she giggled at each response,she pulled her student ID out from her bag. After scanning it, the door to herlab slid open. She went back to looking at her phone as she stepped forward,prepared to check up on her viruses before her first class.

However, instead of walking inside like usual,she was stopped due to a transparent material. Due to being unaware of theplastic, Karmi processed what was going on a few seconds too late. Thesubstance immediately clung to her, much to her displeasure.

“Ah, hey!” She shrieked, trying to escape from the plastic wrap.

Her small outburst caused other students passingby to look over. The second they saw the biotech major struggling to remove thewrap, they started laughing. Grunting, Karmi peeled the plastic off herclothing, stepping backwards from the threshold of her lab.

Despite the laughter, Karmi didn’t have an ounceof embarrassment. Her blood felt as if it was boiling. Not only had someonebroke into her lab, but they taped saran wrap on the doorway for her to walkright into. Who would do this?!

“Y’know, you should really look where you’regoing.”

Karmi tensed up. She knew who was behind her.The voice belonged to none other than Hiro Hamada. His presence with what justhappened to her basically confirmed that he was behind this act. She’d questionhis actions, but she already knew this was his way of getting back at her forthe whoopie cushion gag.

Of course, that didn’t make her less angry. Sheturned to face her rival, her eyebrows knitted together and a deep frownforming. “You did this!” She yelled at him.

Hiro was holding back a grin. “Me?” He respondedin an innocent, yet sarcastic tone. “What gave you that idea?”

“Don’t pretend it wasn’t you!” Karmi pointed herfinger at him. “And how did you break into my lab?!”

“A genius never reveals his secrets.”

Walking away from her backwards, Hiro’s lipscurled into a smirk. With a playful shrug, the young prodigy turned around,whistling as he went down the hall. Karmi glared at him until he was no longerin sight. She walked back over to her lab, opening the door again so she couldrip the saran wrap off.

Once she was done separating the plastic fromher doorway, she angrily tossed it in the trash. Marching into her lab, shecontemplated telling Professor Granville about this. Surely she’d believe her.Karmi would never lie to her favorite teacher. Plus, Granville knew howreckless Hiro could be. As satisfying as it would be to see Hiro get introuble, she also knew that Hiro would definitely tell their professor what shehad done to him first.

That only left Karmi with one option. She had toget Hiro back.

—

By Wednesday afternoon, Hiro was still proud ofthe prank he pulled on Karmi the day before. Judging by the lack of anothertrick, he felt confident that she wouldn’t mess with him again.

With their classes being done for the day andcurrently no superhero business to attend to, Hiro and his friends went to thenerd lab to work on their projects. All of them had been discussing what theyhad come up with so far, giving each other advice and ideas of what they coulddo to improve them.

All of them went to their respective spaces. Asfor Hiro, he went over to get the spare office chair he often used when hewasn’t in his own lab. He spun it around to face him before grabbing onto thearms, positioning himself to sit.

BWEEEEEEEEEP

The sudden, alarming sound caused Hiro to joltright out of his seat. Everyone else in the room either screamed or flinched asit happened. All at once, everyone turned their attention to where the soundwas coming from.

Placing a hand over his rapidly beating heart, Hiro tried to steady his breathsto a normal level. He had yet to question what just happened and why.

Detecting that his primary patient wasdistressed, Baymax waddled over to Hiro to provide him with the best solutionsto help him. “Hiro, your heart rate has accelerated to one-hundred and fifteenbeats per minute.” He blinked. “I am also picking up moderate levels ofstress.”

Hiro smiled knowing Baymax was trying to help. “It’s okay, buddy.” He let out arelieved sigh, feeling more relaxed. “That noise just surprised me. That’sall.”

Now curious as to what caused that sound, thenerd gang made their way over to their youngest friend.

“What was that sound anyway?” Wasabi asked.

Now more composed, Hiro turned his attention tothe office chair. He looked underneath it, revealing that someone had ducttaped an air horn under the seat.

“Just an air horn, guys.”

They were all relieved to know it was nothingserious. Knowing that it was a prank, Fred started laughing hysterically. “Ah,yes. The classic air horn gag. Works every time.”

Gogo lightly elbowed Fred. “Okay, but who didthis?”

This time around, Hiro knew exactly who wasbehind it. Yet, before he could say the name of his rival, Karmi walked over tothe group of friends. Due to another trick going successfully, Karmi wore asmug grin on her face. However, her expression changed to a softer look whenshe got closer to them.

“I knew I left my air horn around heresomewhere,” she told them in a calm tone. Karmi knelt down next to the chair,removing the horn from it. “What a silly place to put it.”

Hiro crossed his arms at her. “Yeah, because youtotally misplaced it by duct taping it underneath this chair,” he respondedsarcastically.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you sat there.”

Succeeding with her prank, Karmi parted waysfrom the group, flipping her ponytail as she turned her back to them.

As she exited the nerd lab, Hiro growled. Hecouldn’t believe she would prank him again. He definitely underestimated her.He understood that she had done it this time to get back at him, but he hopedthat would stop her from any further practical jokes. Was Karmi more of aprankster than Hiro anticipated?

Whatever the case, Hiro had more tricks up hissleeve.

—

Maybe she was being a little paranoid, but Karmiwas extra cautious the next day. She paid attention to her surroundings, makingsure to avoid a possible gag courtesy of Hiro. To her delight, he hadn’t brokeninto her lab again. Her first class went without any planned incidents either.

Of course, she wasn’t going to let her guarddown easily. Knowing how Hiro could be, he could do something at any second. Itwas best to be prepared for anything. Plus, she figured that if Hiro failed toget her back, he would stop trying.

Unfortunately for Karmi, the last place sheexpected to be pranked was her locker which had been covered in multi-coloredsticky notes. She couldn’t help, but gasp at the sight. It would take at leasta half hour to peel them all off!

The biotech student didn’t have time for this.She had a class to get to in ten minutes and needed to get her textbooks.Ripping off the notes over the handle, she wadded them up in her hand. Shequickly entered in her padlock combination.

When she opened her locker, she went to reachfor her stuff, only to be interrupted by hundreds of folded sticky notesfalling to her feet. She looked down at the floor, her mouth fallen agape atwhat had happened. Looking back inside her locker, everything inside wascovered in the notes. She couldn’t tell one textbook from the other. Not aninch of her locker on both the inside or out was bare.

Karmi didn’t know what made her more frustrated.Hiro breaking into her locker or that he covered everything inside, making itso she wouldn’t be able to tell which book is which. Her hands tightened intofists as she stomped her foot on the ground.

“Hiro Hamada!”

Hearing his name being angrily yelled after therevelation of his prank was Hiro’s cue to step forward. He had watched thescene unfold from around the corner, trying his hardest not to laugh. He madehis way over to Karmi, the smile on his face growing by the second.

“You called me?” He asked. Hiro looked down atthe sticky notes that fell on Karmi’s feet. “Oh wow, what a mess. Whathappened?”

“Don’t act like this wasn’t your doing! I knowit was you! You better clean all of this up!”

“O-oh, well…I’d love to help, but uh…I’vegot a class I need to get to right now. Later, Karmi!”

Hiro rushed off, finally allowing himself tolaugh at one of his best pranks to date.

“Hiro, come back here! This isn’t over!”

When the robotics student was no longer in hersight, Karmi kicked at the loose sticky notes. This was ridiculous! At leastwith her practical jokes, they were just one small item that didn’t require anycleanup. Why did Hiro always have to leave a mess behind? And why did shealways have to clean after him?

She could only hope that Hiro heard her warningas he ran off. This was far from being over with.

—

Karmi stayed true to her word, resulting in theprank war between the two youngest students to continue on. Her prank took placein the cafeteria, where Hiro received the dribble glass gag. The only peoplewho had noticed this happening were Karmi and his friends, but he still lookedstrange walking around with a damp shirt for the rest of the school day.

Admittedly, it wasn’t Hiro’s most elaboratejoke, but he got a kick out of Karmi screaming when he got her back by leavinga giant plastic beetle outside the door of her lab.

Neither of them had expected this prank war togo on for so long. Of course, they weren’t backing down from it either. Thepranks seemed endless, especially since they had been going on into the nextschool week.

Despite the fun in their antics, Karmi realizedthat she had unintentionally started it. She never expected Hiro to get herback and definitely didn’t mean for it to turn into a full blown prank war.

One afternoon, Hiro was in his lab working onsome homework when he heard a knock on his door. Expecting it to be either hisfriends or Granville, Hiro went right over to the door. Opening the door, hewas taken aback seeing Karmi standing in front of him.

“Oh! Uh…hey, Karmi.”

Karmi waved weakly at him. “Hey, Hiro.”

Hiro was confused by her being here. She’s neverstopped by his lab before nor spoke to him so calm and casual. It made himwonder what was going on.

Yet, before he could ask anything, Karmi startedtalking. “Listen…about our pranks lately…I didn’t think we’d go this far.Y’know with me pranking you and then you doing something back. I think thepranks have run their course.”

Hiro nodded. “Yeah. I guess you have a point,but you were the one that got me first. I never would have got you back if youhadn’t done that whoopie cushion joke on me.”

“I know. I realize that I did a prank first, butI didn’t think things would get so carried away. So, I guess I’m just here tocall a truce? No more pranking each other?”

Karmi held a hand out for Hiro to shake. Hirowasn’t sure what to think. He never expected Karmi to call off the pranks, buta part of him was relieved. As much as he loved pulling pranks, he was startingto run out of ideas. And it was also starting to get old anyway.

“Okay. No more pranks.”

Agreeing to the truce, Hiro went to shakeKarmi’s hand. However, as he did so, an electric shock surged through his hand.He stepped back, yelping at the pain while holding his now aching hand.

“Ow! What just happened?!”

Giggling, Karmi showed him the palm of her hand, revealing that she was wearinga hand buzzer.

“Oh this? This is what I like to call the lastprank.”

Triumphant, Karmi walked away, leaving aliterally and figuratively shocked Hiro to stand alone in defeat.

I really loved this request a lot!! I feel like I might have gotten carried away with the pranks, but I loved the idea of them getting into a full on out prank war with each other. The fact that in the beginning, Karmi pulling noise pranks on Hiro and Hiro breaking into either her lab/locker and leaving a mess behind was unintentional, but I think that worked well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you very much for this request @baymaxfangirl! I know it’s been awhile since you got that ridiculous hate message, but I hope you’ve been doing better since then and I love that you’re a part of this fandom!! :D

#fanfiction #these nerd children are up to no good #hiro #hiro hamada #karmi #baymax #wasabi #fred #gogo #honey lemon #(HL doesn't have any dialogue in this but she's heavily implied to being in this) #big hero 6: the series #bh6: the series #big hero 6 #bh6 #big hero 6 fanfiction #bh6 fanfiction #big hero 6 fanfic #bh6 fanfic #pranks #baymaxfangirl

[maedarakat]

Until Sunrise

The Clubhouse was dark this time of morning, save for the fire. Winter meant the sun wouldn’t rise for hours, but Astrid was shocked to find she wasn’t the only one awake.

The flames in the hearth were noisy, hungrily consuming pine branches and chunks of dry maple wood almost as swiftly as the figure by the hearth could feed them into the glowing pile.

She stretched and yawned as she walked over to join him, not wanting to sneak up on him. Tuff glanced over at her and greeted her with one of his mellow grins.

He looked exhausted, and he had every right to be.

The attack on the Edge, led by Ryker, had forced both him and Astrid to stay up for nearly two days straight preparing to defend their home and get Ruffnut back to safety. 

They’d gone on Hiccup’s field trip right afterwards - a stupid thing to have done. Not that it wasn’t interesting, it was just that they really should have gone to sleep in their beds - Ruffnut too. 

Astrid had thought maybe she’d feel better and safer flying next to Hiccup, to see whatever he’d been up to while she and Tuff had been defending their lives and the Dragon Eye. 

He’d been too damn cheerful. It had irked her somewhat, listening to him go on about how smart the the pack was, and what an adventure it had all been showing the wild dragons that he was one of the good guys.

This had all been some kind of adventure to him - he hadn’t been here to see Tuff jump off a cliff, to see him staring off in the direction of more approaching hunters while anxiously gripping his pendant.

Hiccup hadn’t heard Tuff’s voice break when he’d said “Okay, Astrid,” or seen his expression freeze and shut down when she’d needlessly reminded him how serious this was, that Ruffnut could die.

Astrid had felt a disconnect on that flight, where she’d wanted to feel safe and reassured and maybe even just a little fussed over. 

The whole thing had been days ago by now, but she was still sort of avoiding Hiccup - not sure how to tell him how upset she was, or whether or not she was overreacting.

Unbidden, a memory surfaced - Hiccup shrugging off her anger at the Twins, quite literally telling her she was crazy. He hadn’t even really been standing up for the Twins - just dispensing his usual brand of snarky humor, though at her expense. 

“Are you being quiet because you’re mad at someone?” Tuff asked, and it startled her to hear him speak, but not that he’d guessed her mood.

Astrid sat next to him on the hearth and grabbed a handful of twigs, joining Tuff in feeding the fire. 

“I am mad at someone,” she confirmed, but didn’t say more.

Tuff was quiet for a moment, nose wrinkled in thought. “Snotlout?” he guessed.

“Surprisingly no, not this time.”

“Hmm. Can’t be Fishlegs. It’s almost offensive how inoffensive that man is.”

Astrid smirked. Fishlegs had been singing her praises all week, apparently thrilled at not losing his topiaries, books, and rock garden. Oh and the Dragon Eye too, yeah that was great.

“What about Ruffnut? Did she prank you like we both agreed not to for a week?”

“Oh? You mean the Edge gets a reprieve from your pranks for an entire week? Nice of you to tell me on Wednesday,” Astrid ribbed gently.

“No not the whole Edge, just you. And of course I didn’t tell you. Nothing is more suspicious than two pranksters saying they’re going to give you - specifically you - a break. You wouldn’t have gotten any sleep, which defeats the entire purpose of said reprieve.”

“. . . That’s a fair point, Tuff.”

He gestured flamboyantly. “You’re welcome, my dear Astrid.”

She let out a puff of soft laughter, remembering with a shake of her head when she would have been annoyed. 

“So . . . I never took you for an early morning person. Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“Subject changer,” Tuff scoffed, though good naturedly. “But actually, yeah. I keep . . . dreaming. Bad dreams. It’s annoying, because they don’t even have completed stories - just glimpses of what could have happened, if . . .”

Tuff trailed off, looking at the flames intently. 

“If?” Astrid prompted, throwing in a couple of pine cones.

She knew what he meant - of course she knew. She had been there.

“If Hiccup hadn’t gotten there in time. If Ryker had . . . chopped my arms off, or whatever he was going to do with those giant swords. I dream of them coming down and as soon as they do, I wake up - and then my arms feel like they’re on fire.”

Tuff rolled a shoulder, popping it back in with a grimace. Astrid winced and reached over without thinking, rubbing the muscles of his neck with a firm circular motion. Tuff leaned into the touch gratefully, looking pained, and Astrid felt a jolt of concern.

“The guy was wearing some crazy thick armor when I jumped him. Honestly, it would have hurt less to fight a boulder. Or maybe a drunk angry Quaken, or a statue made of Gronckle iron.”

“I think it might have more to do with the fact you jumped off a cliff to fight him. Maybe we should have Gothi look at you,” she started but Tuff’s eyes widened and he shook his head.

“No way - what happens on the Edge stays on the Edge. If Gothi finds out I almost lost my sister to these guys, our family will. And henceforth, I will be forever shamed in the halls of our ancestors.”

“What, your parents don’t believe Ruffnut can defend herself?”

“Oh, it’s not that. She’s just more valuable than me - you know, worth twelve boars - whereas I’m worth about three. So if she’s ever lost, it would be a huge blow to the family fortune.”

Astrid had to take a minute to try and figure out if he was joking. No teasing grin chased those words; rather Tuff had said them without a fuss, as though it was perfectly normal for parents to calculate a child’s worth against the market value of livestock. 

“I don’t want them to know what happened here, or else they’ll demand that Ruffnut move back home, and my sister really needs this place. She’s so over Berk.” 

“But . . . Berk is your home.”

Astrid had to admit, her counter argument felt weak even to her own ears. She had said that mostly because she couldn’t imagine living in a place that didn’t also have the Twins. Especially not now, but even before the attack - before fighting side by side with Tuff against the enemy, home wasn’t home without them there to cause mischief.

“Nah. Home is just wherever you hang your hat,” Tuff said, shrugging. “We’ll go back to Berk if and when you all do. We can live there if you guys are around, because . . . well, you’re like a second family. A really nice family, that likes us.”

Astrid’s arm slung around him, pulling Tuff closer without thinking. Tuff was only a little taller than she was, about three extra inches with the helmet spikes, but he tilted his head quickly so he didn’t poke her with the horns that she had completely forgotten about.

 It meant that his lips brushed across her nose and she felt a light shiver, unsure what to think of the impulsive thought to kiss him.

She instead reached up with her free hand and took off Tuff’s helmet, setting it on the hearth. 

“It’s still hours until dawn. Aren’t you going to suggest we sleep in? As a team?”

“My place is no good, Ruffnut and Chicken are snoring too loud. I figured I should let them bond.”

“My hut then.”

“What if we go find a hill or Fishlegs’ mounded herb garden? That’s pretty warm to lie on.”

Astrid blinked. Fishlegs had been so excited to find imprints in his thyme where apparently a small dragon had curled up to sleep. He was going to keep checking to see if he could get clues as to what kind of dragon it was; there had been a small pile of multicolored scales near the site.

As long as she’d known him, Tuff was and always had been a collector of things colorful and shiny - including feathers, seashells, bones, and yep - shed dragon scales. Astrid bit back a smile. The thought of Tuff as a small dragon with a hoard of items was endearing somehow. Nevertheless . . .

 “Come on, Tuff, are you saying my hut’s not good enough for you?”

“No, that’s - no, it’s fine. It’s just . . . aren’t you afraid of the gossip?”

“What gossip? I’ll just tell anyone who asks that Ruff and I were having a sleepover,” Astrid smirked, all innocence. 

Tuff pouted at her. “Well. I’m beginning to regret that reprieve.”

She laughed, playfully pushing at him. He grinned, and shoved her back, accidentally knocking her clear off the hearth onto her backside, which she for some reason found utterly hilarious. 

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Tuffnut snickered, attempting to help her up. Still giggling, Astrid got him into a brief headlock for a moment or two, but then allowed him to help her to stand.

Together, they walked to Astrid’s hut. It was only a few hours until dawn, and this time they would wake side by side, knowing they were safe.

#tuffnut #astrid hofferson #httyd #rtte #edge of disaster

[hfbeasty]

omg the NPC asssskkkk .....!! can I ask..... Di??? or Hiet??? or Baal?? damn my heart. the one that inspires you most??

ASDFGHJK I’m gonna try all three because fuck it i love my ocs

1. Would they be recruitable?

Yep. Good luck with him.

2. Would they be a class specific character? (ie. Imperial Agent only. Republic character only)

He’s only available for Imp side characters.

3. When would you recruit them? Vanilla story? an Expac? Post KOTET?

I feel like he could fit in anywhere. He’s very simple, one goal and one minded person so where or when wouldn’t really have a big effect on his story or character.

4. Where would you recruit them from?

Anywhere but the Sith Academy. I imagine him meeting the player while already being in his thirties and very experienced yet still unpredictable.

5. What would their recruitment mission be?

Probably something you need to search extra manpower for. Di is that extra strenght.

6. What would be their original recruitment outfit?

Callous Conqueror armor without the mask (see picture). 

7. Would there be a character they don’t like? Would that cause you to choose sides?

Di doesn’t like anyone. If you chose too many options that don’t side with him this might have effects in the future. 

8. Are they romancable? Why/why not

Yes because I think he’d make for an interesting romance with him being goddamn dark sided and having to learn this weird thing called romance while also really wanting it. Also he’s Cathar so a romance with him is gonna be deep since you will be his lifemate. He’d both die and kill for you.

9. What would they say if you clicked on them?

“Don’t touch me.” “ *low growl…* “ “What are you looking at?” “My advice: Kill whatever’s troubling you.” “Did you hear the screams of that last guy? Hehehe..” “Just keep moving.” “Let’s move.”

10. Do they know any other in game characters? (ie. trained under Satele Shan during the civil war. Knew Talos before he went to Hoth)

No. He’s a hermit.

11. What weapon(s) would they have?

Cathar Honor Sword on his back and the Red Unstable Peacemaker Lightsaber on his hip. 

12. Are they better as a tank, healer or DPS?

Dps all the way trough. Good tank but sucks at healing. He’d rather tell you to get over it, that your wounds are proof of you being a warior, you shouldn’t hide them.

13. What gifts do they Love? Like? What would they say when you gave them a gift?

Love: Weapon. “Hey.. Thanks..” “That looks good.” “For me?” 

Like: Imperial and Military. “That’s nice.” “Alright.” “You got me this?”

14. What would they say if you sent them away/changed them out?

“Big mistake.” “ *angered growl* “ “Why must you keep me from battle.” “I will remember this.” “Fine.”

15. What do they say when they heal you? What do they say when they are attacking?

Heal: “Get. Up.” “Giving up is not an option.” “If you die I’ll kill you.” “That was dissapointing..”

Attack: “*deep chuckle*” “You think you can take me?!” “*violent growl*” “Get back here you coward!” “I’m gonna make you bleed…” “I’ll rip your troath out with my teeth.” “You’re gonna be dinner.” “When I remove your legs from your body you won’t be able to run!”

16. What’s their idle chatter like? Do they talk a lot (when you arrive on each planet) or do they suddenly say something in some strange places?

He’ll usually say something before a battle. “Di what do you propose?” “He won’t talk if we rip out his tongue…”

Or in certain areas.

Rural: “Yegh diplomats. Let’s get out of here.”

Outside: “I used to hunt here closeby, quite tasty meat they got around here I must say.”

17. What letter’s would they send post vanillia class story/SOR/KOTFE

Me: *hasn’t finished any of the vanilla class stories*

Hi

I’m not gonna let you go

- Di’taqt

Attachment: A rather bloody heart of something (or someone) you may not want to know

KOTFE

You.

I could have known you weren’t dead. No one could possibly kill you. It drove me mad. Not being able to find who killed you. So I just murdered everyone that looked suspicious. Which was everybody I came along… How foolish I was. Should have known. No one is strong enough. You are the most powerful. Everyone else is weak. As am I, for you.

- Your warrior

18. If they are recruitable in vanillia story, where are they during KOTFE/TET? What are/were they doing?

I’m not entirely sure what’s happening during KOTET. But he’s probably wandering on his own again.

1. Would they be recruitable?

Don’t think so. She’d probably one of the more important NPC’s walking around that you can go to for advice. She’s a Jedi Master for certain. More like an advisor that will continue to be in the story (like in Dragon Age Inquisition) and on a special occasion will be able to be used as a companion.

2. Would they be a class specific character? (ie. Imperial Agent only. Republic character only)

I feel like she’d be with both Jedi classes at the start and be available for all classes during KOTET.

3. When would you recruit them? Vanilla story? an Expac? Post KOTET?

Start of Vanilla stories for Jedi Knight and Consular. You’d meet her somewhere at the beginning and she’d guide you trough your journey. And for all classes during KOTET. She’s very accepting so I feel like she’d get along with all classes

4. Where would you recruit them from?

 Jedi temple.

5. What would their recruitment mission be?

You’d get sent to speak with Jedi Master Frodynn for advice maybe? She’ll occasionaly give clues about where you should be heading now and also is willing to help train you. But she isn’t your official Master.

6. What would be their original recruitment outfit?

A flowy and very simple yet comfortable mix between a white dress and Jedi robes. She usually has her hands folded in the sleeves.

7. Would there be a character they don’t like? Would that cause you to choose sides?

Hiet doesn’t hold grudges, is very open minded, gives everyone a chance and believes there’s light in everyone. Doesn’t mean she won’t fuck u up if ur gonna do evil.

8. Are they romancable? Why/why not

Yes because I say so. Romancing her takes time and can of course only be achieved if you don’t care as much for the Jedi rules as she does. It would be a little mischievous and very secret.

9. What would they say if you clicked on them?

“Hello my dear.” “How are you?” “You are doing well.” “ *giggle* “ “I’m here for you.” “Friend.” “ *soft humming* “

10. Do they know any other in game characters? (ie. trained under Satele Shan during the civil war. Knew Talos before he went to Hoth)

She knows most of the more well known Jedi personally.

11. What weapon(s) would they have?

Seven white lightsabers floating around her.

12. Are they better as a tank, healer or DPS?

She’s a healer but can do an enormous amount of damage. Not a great tank.

13. What gifts do they Love? Like? What would they say when you gave them a gift?

She loves Cultural gifts. “Oh my..” “This is wonderful, thank you my friend.” “I will cherish this.” She likes Imperial gifts.  “For me?” “Why thank you.”

14. What would they say if you sent them away/changed them out?

“Untill next time.” “Be careful out there.” “I’ll be thinking of you.” “Remember what I thought you.” “Be kind.” “Farewell.”

15. What do they say when they heal you? What do they say when they are attacking?

Heal: “Now now, come here..” “All patched up.” “Ready for another adventure.”

Attack: “I apologize.” “I am sorry our paths had to cross like this.” “Take that!” “I will not let you come closer.”

16. What’s their idle chatter like? Do they talk a lot (when you arrive on each planet) or do they suddenly say something in some strange places?

She usually has something to say about the areas you travel to. Some information on it’s history. Sometimes she’ll giggle depending on the dialogie choices you make or she’ll say something or make a face when you choose a dark sided option.

17. What letter’s would they send post vanillia class story/SOR/KOTFE

She doesn’t sent letters so it most likely will be a holocall in which she tells you she’s worried and that you should return safely to her.

18. If they are recruitable in vanillia story, where are they during KOTFE/TET? What are/were they doing?

I can’t say for sure as I’m not aware of what’s happening during KOTET, but she’ll most likely be helping the good guys and help the hurt.

1. Would they be recruitable?

Yep.

2. Would they be a class specific character? (ie. Imperial Agent only. Republic character only)

I think all classes would fit. She doesn’t get allong with most Force Sensitive ones though and will leave if you’ve chosen too many dark sided options.

3. When would you recruit them? Vanilla story? an Expac? Post KOTET?

Somewhere in the middle of the Vanilla story.

4. Where would you recruit them from?

Not a planet, but a ship in deep space. 

5. What would their recruitment mission be?

A Bounty Hunter has been causing trouble. Catch her. Instead you realize Baal was framed and together take the ones down that wanted to catch Baal. She joins you after you offer her a free ride and she sticks around for a while. Still very lonesome tho. 

6. What would be their original recruitment outfit?

RD-07A Vendetta armor set. 

7. Would there be a character they don’t like? Would that cause you to choose sides?

She’s very wary of Mandalorians, Imperials and force sensitive people. Also if you side with her family she’s gone forever.

8. Are they romancable? Why/why not

Yes she needs some loving.. I think it would be interesting trying to get the big bad lonely bounty hunter to trust you enough. You may even get some flowers.

9. What would they say if you clicked on them?

“Hmpf..” “What?” “I’m here.” “I don’t have anything to say right now.” “Y’know I appreciated the silent moments between us..” “… Take the hint.” “Hm?” “Stay on guard.” 

10. Do they know any other in game characters? (ie. trained under Satele Shan during the civil war. Knew Talos before he went to Hoth)

She knows all about Mandalorians and some may recognize her. 

11. What weapon(s) would they have?

Mischief and Anarchy pistol set and a sniper rifle.

12. Are they better as a tank, healer or DPS?

She’s a great tank and damage dealer and okay at healing.

13. What gifts do they Love? Like? What would they say when you gave them a gift?

Love: Weapon. “Thank… You…” “This is pretty cool.” “You shouldn’t have.. But I’m still taking it.”

Like: Luxury. “Oh, I don’t have anything for you though.” “Thanks.” “Haven’t seen this in a while.”

14. What would they say if you sent them away/changed them out?

“Bye.” “See ya.” “Don’t make me have to come back and save your ass.” “Stay out of trouble.” “Forget my name.” “I’ll go get some rest then.”

15. What do they say when they heal you? What do they say when they are attacking?

Heal: “Get up.” “The fight’s not over yet.” “Heal up.” 

Attack: “Got one.” “Get out while you can.” “Fool.” “This is nothing.” “Score says I’m hitting more than you.” “Another one for the tally.” 

16. What’s their idle chatter like? Do they talk a lot (when you arrive on each planet) or do they suddenly say something in some strange places?

She really doesn’t say much to be honest. Her dialogue exists more out of ‘hmm’s and dissapointed looks. 

17. What letter’s would they send post vanillia class story/SOR/KOTFE

She also doesn’t sent much letters. They’re more like text messages. ‘you ok?’ ‘text me when you get there.’ ‘look at this picture of a nexu i found. its funny.’

18. If they are recruitable in vanillia story, where are they during KOTFE/TET? What are/were they doing?

She’s most likely back to solo bountyhunting and got hired by Teeg to help fight Arcann.

#kiraia #asks #di’taqt malekh #hiet frodynn #baal estasze #AA THIS TOOK ME SO LONG SRRY #npc asks #long post

[vesperlionheart]

Pompeii 35

Nothing was ever perfect and nothing would ever be truly perfect, but sometimes Sakura started to believe things were as perfect as they could get. She didn’t need anything else but friends like family and quiet nights surrounded by a feeling of security. Stuff was growing more and more hectic with the allergy season ramping up and more people coming into the clinic to act like children about a runny nose, but Sakura still had the evenings to rest and unwind with friends closer than friends.

Behind her, Sai combs through her hair with his fingers, pulling apart strands into sections he would weave together later. He always took his time when she allowed him to play with her hair. Sakura readjusts her position on the floor, bumping one of Sai’s knees with her own before reaching to throw down a card atop one of Yamato’s.

“Go fish.”

Sakura groaned. “Are you going to say that every time? I messed up once, just once, and you need to remind me every chance you get. This is rummy, I got it, I know.”

Yamato’s smile was teasing.

Behind her, Sai stilled. “You’re very intelligent, but sometimes you are not that bright. He only says that to make you agitated and to cause a reaction. If you subtract the reaction from the equation then you will lose the agitation.”

“Hey,” Yamato quips loudly, sitting up straighter and pulling his legs under him. “I like the reaction.”

Sakura chuckled and reached back to pat one of Sai’s hands. “It’s okay, Sai, I already know why he says it. I don’t really mean it when I say it frustrated me. I think it’s cute because it reminds me of times we’ve shared together in the past. So when I get upset sometimes it’s okay.”

Sai’s hands still once more. “How will I be able to tell when you’re really upset?” he asks with a worried tone.

“Here are some clues, if I’m smiling or laughing then it’s okay. If I’m really upset my face might heat up and my eyes might get glassy with tears. I’ll say I’m really upset and I’ll never lie to you if you don’t know and have to ask me.”

“I couldn’t see your face,” Sai mumbled, still sounding troubled.

“There are also tonal intonations I’ve noticed when it comes to Sakura. If she’s really upset her voice will crack and otherwise you can tell it’s really fine if her voice is normal...but I think that’s only true with Sakura.” Yamato frowned to himself. “I don’t know what it’s like for other people though.”

“It’s fine then,” Sai answered. “Aside from you two, I don’t care enough to distinguish such things in others. It’s only troubling to be faced with one’s own failings yet again. Do not mind me.”

His hands moved back into her hair and picked up where they left off, twisting strands over strands. It was almost enough to put her to sleep, but Sakura turned down her cards and reached out to touch his knees. When she felt his fingers still she spoke.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable opening up to others just yet, or learning more about the world at this time, but don’t think you’re incapable of doing so. You’re going to change and grow and things that were harder to you before will become easier over time, I believe.”

Yamato grinned, pinning his own cards down on the floor and using his free hands to cradle the back of his neck. He stretched all the while smile brightly over at Sai. “Yeah, you’re still just a twig of a kid. You’ve got plenty of time to learn these things. And trust me, at least you’re aware of how much you don’t know. Better that than assuming you know it all and don’t need help.”

“I’ve met men like that,” Sakura snickered.

“You didn’t like these men, Sakura?” Sai asked.

Sakura laughed and it felt like a bubble popping, tickling his ears. “Gods, no. They’re the worst, always assuming to know what you want in life, assuming that they’re what you want, ugh, no thank you.”

“What do they think you want?”

Sai asks the question but it’s Yamato whose eyes go wide.  

“They...men like that think that all women want a piece of them, to be with them, and that the reason I say no is because I’m only teasing them and trying to play hard to get.”

Sai nods along, listening and understanding. His expression is serious and it’s apparent to anyone watching that he is taking her words to heart. “And you’re not?”

“No, this is different than when I’m with you and teasing Yamato. I already know Yamato, we’re close, and he knows me well enough to know when I’m joking and when I’m not. If he didn’t, I would tease him so much and pretend to get upset when he says something stupid.”

“Teasing is a sign of closeness?”

“For me it is.”

Sai was quiet for a while as he finished the braid in her hair. Across from her, Yamato breathed an extra heavy sigh of relief that their conversation didn’t stray into the realms of ‘what dirty old men want with pretty girls.’

They had already had one conversation with the boy about sex and it had been brief and terrifying. Sometimes Sai was an adult that saw more than any of them of the cruel world, but other times he was a sweet and innocent child that didn’t know the first thing about what happened to his body when he was attracted to someone. Rumors circulated about the kids from Root being sexless humanoids, and maybe that was the case once before, but Sai was learning...maybe too fast the ways of the world.

“There, done.”

Sai pulled away and Sakura reached behind her to feel for the braid that ran like a crown around the base of her skull. She smiled brightly, turning around to face Sai and grab him up into a hug that made him squeak.

“I love it!” she exclaimed. “Thank you.”

And it wasn’t a moment too soon that the timer above the stove goes off and Sakura can spell the chicken done. She gets up to pull it out and, seamlessly, the boys around her fall into the routine of setting up the table and carrying over the other items that would make up their dinner. They didn’t need words anymore, it was routine by this point, which was funny.

Sometimes it seemed only yesterday that Sakura was on her own, feeling like there wasn’t a spot of her anywhere. Seeing Sai and Yamato clear space for her chicken, as mundane as that was, put a weight in her chest that filled her up.

Sakura cut into the chicken to check and make sure it was done. A beautiful pink meat peaked out at her from the slice and she grinned. Sai would complain if it wasn’t cooked all the way through.

Maybe Pompeii wasn’t a perfect home, but she was almost positive that this was as close as it was ever going to be. For her it was enough. For her it was perfect.

-

“More allergies,” Sakura murmured to herself, frowning at the chart with the list of names she had to meet with today.

It was more of the same and she was beginning to worry if there was something she was missing when she saw so much of the same in different people. Nothing was serious, and most of the time an antihistamine would take care of the symptoms right away. It was almost like most of the people in Pompeii didn’t know how to use traditional pharmaceuticals unless she walked them through it. Did they really need an appointment with a doctor over something so minor?

“He’s here,” Shizune called out.

Sakura looked up from her chart and put it back on the wall, letting the cover papers fall over the names. “Thanks, I’m coming,” she answered.

With her hands in her pockets she walked out, brightening when she spotted the rougher blond with eyes like shards of the clear day sky. Only one was visible, as the other was obscured behind heavy bangs and some other ocular instrument.

Deidara turned at the sound of her and his grin was a cut through his lips. There was mischief in the way he held himself, and she had to remember Ino’s warning about her cousin. After Ino learned that Sakura was, oddly, not intimidated or disgusted by Deidara, and Ino had launched into a whole speel about don’t mess with fire because you’ll get burned and Deidara is worse than fire, he’s fireworks.

Still, Sakura was glad to see him and glad to see he was in much better shape than when she last saw him.

“You look better than the last time you were here. You said it was allergies? They must not be that serious if you look that happy to see me,” Sakura greeted.

“They’re not. It’s just something that’s going around and normally we would just deal with it, but when you have a cute doctor that pampers you, why not take advantage of it? I’ll be honest and admit I might have been looking for an excuse just to come in and see you, yeah.”

Sakura led him into the back, smirking playfully at the way he jauntily sauntered past her, like it was all a game to him.

“How have you been?” she asked, shutting the door behind them.

“Oh just great. There’s this fantastic perch I’ve got going for me that’s ideal for sunsets and last week I was out there when-”

“I meant your allergies,” Sakura laughed, interrupting his ramble.

The part of his face she could see flushed with color as he ducked his head and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ve been a little isolated, I think. It’s been nice to come in and talk to someone who doesn’t chase me out the first chance she gets.”

A part of her heart hurt for the guy. “So it was a nice perch?” she asked.

Sakura took her time with her observation, already knowing that his allergies would yield that same prescription and saw no need to rush their appointment. She still did a thorough job and made sure what she suspected was confirmed, but she also listened to his stories and asked him probing questions.  

“I’ll take you some time if you’re up for it.”

Sakura paused as something conflicting came into her eyes. Deidara caught it and reached for her hand that was bracing on his chest under his shirt. She could feel as well as hear his heartbeat when he tugged her attention to his face.

“Hey, you okay? Something happen in the forest you don’t like?” He swallowed and she felt his reaction to dropping her hand like a spark. “Or-no, never mind. I don’t-no one goes with me anywhere. That’s not-I’m sorry I suggested it. I got caught up and ran my mouth again. I was just-”

“It’s not you,” Sakura sighed, reaching up to pull the stethoscope out of her ears.

She hadn’t finished listening to his lungs, but she needed to not be distracted and calm him down before doing anything else. She didn’t want an inaccurate reading because something she said elevated his heart rate.

“The forest isn’t friendly to me right now. I think I need to stay out of it for a little while more. I was there recently, but I don’t know if that was a mistake.” She wanted to believe her interest in getting to the bottom of the situation wouldn’t be her undoing. Maybe she sounded more responsible than she really was, because in her heart there was that desire to go back, to know, to seek, and to find.

Go go, go!

Her wrist still tingled some days, reminding her that it shouldn’t have healed as fast as it did without the medicine. Her bones remembered and they were whispering things to her that she chose not to hear. Magic was in her bones, now more than ever.   

Deidara looked down at her from atop the exam table and pursed his lips. “It’s sometimes scary, you’re right. Pompeii has always been Pompeii, and that means something to people. Maybe it’s a season of agitation, but it will pass, it always does.”

She pushed down her feelings, stood on top of them, and smiled up at the blond. “You’re right. Let me get a better look at those lungs. Do you mind actually taking your shirt off for this next part?”

Deidara hesitated, his fingers on the hem of his tank top. “No,” he finally admitted, screwing his eyes shut and pulling the fabric up over his head and holding his breath.

Sakura saw a scar over his heart and what looked like another mouth sewn shut. His face was pinched and turned away from her.

“I’ll be gentle,” Sakura said, moving the cold metal piece to his chest and bracing with the other hand. “Breath in, inhale than hold it for me….good, now exhale for me. Yes, thank you. One more time.”  

Sakura listened to his lungs once more before moving around to hear from the back. Where she touched skin he seemed to warm for her.

“Yup, it’s allergies for you too. Nothing more serious than that, thank goodness.”  She pulled away and tugged out the ear pieces so as to not hurt herself. “I’ll be writing up a prescription if you think you need something stronger, but most over the counter medications will be all you need.”

Deidara huffed, ducking his head into the neck hole of his shirt. “I’ll stick to the over the counter stuff, if you don’t mind. That old woman’s grandson has had it out for me for gods know how long.”

Sakura had to pause to think for a moment before responding. “Sasori?”

Deidara’s nose wrinkled at the sound of his name. “That one, yeah. The immortal art obsessed twat. Yeah, um, I probably shouldn’t mention him. I pissed of a witch a while back and now he shows up sometimes because of this hex and it’s always triggered by something like mentioning his name out loud or thinking about him too hard. I hate the guy, I’ll have you know. We always fight when we meet.”

“You meet often?”

He shook his head and hopped of the table. “Nah, it’s not a strong hex and it’s more like, he’ll happen to cross paths with me, it’s not like a summoning.”

“You didn’t ask your cousin to ask someone to look into it for you? Ino knows some witches I think.”

Deidara laughed, straightening out the wrinkles in his shirt, or trying to before giving up and resigning to the rumpled, punk look he seemed to radiate. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before my cute little cousin manages such an impossible task for me.”

Sakura pushed open the door with her prescription notepad already filled out, but paused on a step when she noticed the man waiting for her at her desk, and not in a waiting chair. Behind her she heard Deidara curse.

“You,” Sasori hissed, straightening suddenly.

Deidara’s shoulder hiked. “What are you doing here, scab?”

Sasori seemed more animated in his annoyance than Sakura had ever seen before. His hair seemed to shake the tiniest bit as he held himself up. “I should be asking you that. I have business with Sakura, you’re the outsider here. What are you even doing inside the city limits, you hack?”

Sakura took a step back, drawing more centered between the two opposing males. For a moment it was as if she were forgotten as the duo launched into a well worn script of lines and insults that ranged from art to hair to skin tight jeans.

“Frankly, it’s embarrassing,” Sasori nearly hissed.

“At least my dick has an outline, what are you, sandpaper smooth?”

Sakura covered her face with her hands to hide how it burned. In the background Shizune cackled softly to herself, watching the pair go at it. Her eyes were sparks of mirth. Apparently it had been too long since she last saw something this entertaining for free.

“So the red one is dickless as well,” Sai suddenly spoke up, appearing at Sakura’s shoulder in a breath.

She gasped and staggered away, surprised by his sudden appearance. “What the-what are you doing here, Sai?”

His eyes were wide, looking up at her through pitch black lashes. “I heard shouting and came down to make sure you were safe. Are they bothering you?”

“Who is this brat?” Deidara hissed.

Sasori wisely kept his mouth shut, listening for the answer.

Sai wasn’t an unknown person in Pompeii, but Sakura had learned not too early on, that Sai was a creature for the shadows and had little interaction with others, so it was rare but not uncommon for her to have to introduce him to older residents like Deidara, even though he was well known by someone like Ino or Naruto.

Sai’s expression was back to that baleful blank look when he turned his face to Deidara’s direction. “You do not matter to me. I need not explain myself. Sakura, should I remove him?”

“Talking to me like that, who do you think you are, here?” Deidara hissed before looking to Sasori. “He one of your hack art groupies?”

Sasori snorted delicately. “As if. Art is eternal. This creature is something else, obviously.”

“There you go again, on and on about art being something to collect dust and wear out. You would think you’re a human with such a pathetic outlook. The things that flash, that fade, those are examples of art. The gods looked down with envy in their hearts for all the love humans had for things they could never understand. Immortals were not made to love things,not truly. That’s our sick twist of fate, get it?”

“Close, but neither of us are immortal, or did you forget that, bird brain?”

“Close enough,” Deidara groused, still glaring hard at the redhead before his eyes cut back to Sai, who was standing at Sakura’s elbow. “And you, kid, get off Sakura. She’s working!”

Sai’s tone was even, but Sakura could tell from experience that there was a thread of annoyance under his words. “Both of you are wrong when it comes to art, neither of you should be wasting your breath.”

“I’m not even going to ask what you think, you’re not worth it,” Deidara groused.

“Nor I.”

Sasori’s attention shifted to Sakura and the hard angles of his gaze smoothed out. He paused for a breath that settle him and returned the softer aspects of his beauty.  When he spoke, his tone carried familiarity.

“Sakura, my grandmother wanted to ask you what sort of ingredients and drugs she should be gathering and or preparing in the coming months. She noticed an increase in specific orders and wanted some clarity on what she should expect. I will return tomorrow around this time if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother.” He reached for her hand, fingers brushing in what felt like an effort to do nothing more than capture and hold her attention. “We may speak then.”

“An-and I have to go too,” Deidara rushed to say, attempting to look cool and badass like the redhead by playing it cool. “I’ll leave my check with Shizune.”

“Of course that’s fine,” Sakura said to Sasori before turning to Deidara. “And yes, but come back if it gets worse, kay?”

When both had left it was only Sakura and Sai in the office, with Shizune ducking into the back to make a phone call and laugh some more to a friend. Sai reached for her hand and stopped her from walking away. She turned back, a curious expression in her eyes.

“Art is an experience you share with others. Maybe sometimes it’s just yourself, but art...is meant to be shared...I think.”

His voice was soft and Sakura’s heart melt to hear it.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

Sai folded his lips into a smile. “I knew you’d see it my way, hag.”

Sakura’s soft smile faltered a little bit, but fell off completely when Sai began to laugh in a horrible, stilted, uneven manner. He sounded more like a metal machine grinding gears than a boy laughing.

“Sai, what did you just call me?”

“I read another book. This one said to use names to increase familiarity. I insulted you because we are close, so this is teasing, right? I’m like Yamato, making you annoyed!”

From the backroom, Shizune cackled louder.  

Another day without sight or word from Pein.

“You sure about this?”

Sakura nodded to the seal master and stepped back. “Yes, I don’t want to put miles on it when returning it, so if you could just seal it and then unseal it at the location designated, that would be wonderful.”

The man looked at the paper in his hands with her order request. “Yeah, that shouldn’t be too bad, it’s not far though. I’d just drive it...at least once you know?”

Sakura smiled sadly, hating in her heart that she was doing this. She wanted the car, she wished she could keep it, but there were too many invisible strings tied to it, she knew she couldn’t. She had to do the right thing.

Damn the right thing.

“You can bill my office here, thank you.” Sakura took one last step back and watched as Pein’s gift was there one moment and then gone the next, blinked between worlds. It would be in his designated parking spot at the dinner and if he came back, he’d see it there.

If he came back.

#Pompeii #Weird Wednesdays

[genogenocrazycatman]

Comfort - J-Hope | Jung Hoseok & OC

Comfort [Archive of Our Own]

Characters: J-Hope | Jung Hoseok, Original Character

Sweater Weather Jin | Suga | J-Hope | RM | Jimin | Taehyung | Jungkook

***

“That was dumb,” I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes at the antics of the girl in the movie that Hoseok and I were watching. Someone’s out to kill you, so you leave the one person, trying to make sure that you don’t end up with a bullet in your head. Stupid, so stupid.

Hobi hummed in agreement, even though he had absolutely no clue what was going on.

We were in the midst of a movie night. They had once been a regular occurrence, but thanks to Hoseok’s crazy schedule, movie nights were now a rare treat for the two of us.

I can’t say that I didn’t mind. It sucked not having Hobi around as much as I used to. It’s a hard adjustment, going from seeing him practically every day to maybe getting a call from him once a week. Thankfully we could text, but it wasn’t the same.

However, it was a small price to pay to see him and the others achieve their dreams and take over the world. Every time I saw him on TV, on my social media feed, heard him on the radio or saw him in an ad, I was reminded that it was all worth it. I remembered it every time he gushed about the people that he met or when he sent me pictures of the scenery or of him goofing off with the other members.

Plus, it wasn’t like I never got to see him. Living in Seoul meant that I got to see him fairly often, when he was home. The same could not be said for many of his other friends or even his family.

I scoffed. “You’re half asleep, just go to bed.”

When he’d shown up to my apartment, he had looked absolutely exhausted. After a long and intense rehearsal for their next music video, he’d run home, showered, changed and then rushed over, despite my insistence that we could do movie night some other time.

Currently, we were both laying on my couch. He was laying between my legs, head resting against my stomach, arms crossed over his chest with his legs propped up on the arm rest.

I was running my fingers through his hair, knowing that it would likely knock him out.

“I’m not tired,” he said. “Just relaxed.”

“Uh huh,” I said, not at all convinced. I tapped his forehead. “Sit up. I’ll go get you a blanket,” I said.

He groaned. “Just hold still. I’m comfortable.”

I chuckled. Our hope, our angel, our tired whiney baby, J-Hope.

I liked being able to see this side of him, when he wasn’t ‘on.’ J-Hope was a near constant ray of sunshine, energy and joy. With me he wasn’t J-Hope. He was Jung Hoseok, and Hoseok was human, which meant that while he typically happy and overly energetic, he could also be sleepy, angry, disgusted, pissed off, sad or sick. While I preferred happy Hoseok –I mean who the hell wants to see someone they care about upset?— I had no problems being there for him, when he wasn’t.

“That’s because you’re resting on the most comfortable hoodie ever made,” I said. It was only a hoodie, but I was still extremely excited about my recent purchase. It was the ultimate hoodie. It wasn’t too thin or too heavy. It wasn’t so soft that it constantly felt like your skin was snagging the material, but it wasn’t so rough that it itched. The most important part was the size. It was oversized, the kind of oversized, where it felt like I was downing in the material. It was perfect.

“Ah yes, the hoodie that you have texted me about 900 times,” Hobi teased.

“I was excited,” I defended myself. “Not all of us have stylist bringing us all the latest perfectly tailored fashions from designer houses,” I said, returning his teasing.

He chose to ignore it. “I’m glad you’re excited,” he said. “You look adorable in it.”

“It is huge!” I gushed. “You can fit like six people in here.”

“Really?”

“I mean I don’t know if you can actually fit six, but it’s possible that you could fit-“

Hobi sat up, grinning at me. The mischief in his eyes was clear as day, but I didn’t have time to think about it, because immediately, his hands were under the hem of the hoodie, fingers tickling their way around my sides, causing me to shriek and cackle like a maniac.

“Hobi!” I yelled, unable to stop my laughter.  

He stuck his head under next and pulled himself upwards, until his head popped out of the extra wide neckline next to mine.

He wore that bright smile of his. “You can fit two people in it for sure,” he said, finally ceasing his assault on my ribs.

“You are such a dork,” I said, trying to catch my breath.

He wrapped his arms around me, burrowing his hands between the couch and my back and rested his head in the crook between my shoulder and neck.

I brought one hand to his back, running my fingers up and down his spine, and the other to his head, running my fingers through his hair once more.

He sighed contentedly and fell quiet for a moment. “Comfiest hoodie ever,” he finally said.

***

Author’s Note: So this is going to be part of a larger series called Sweater Weather, which is going to be BTS and sweaters and hoodies. This is kind of ironic, because I literally run around in ripped up tank tops and shit in the middle of December, but whatever. I was feeling it, so I’m going for it. Plus these will provide me with a nice break from the One Piece hell I’m putting myself through.

***  

Master List | Mobile Version

#teroin writes #BTS #fanfiction #J-Hope #Jung Hoseok #Sunshine

[olicitybishop-clairmont]

Motherboards, Mischief, and Magic CH. 7

Hey everyone! In honor of Arrow being back on, I thought I could post an update for one of my multichaps. Here’s the next chapter of my supernatural/Halloween/magic/high school AU. Hope you all like it!

Master List

CH. 1, CH. 2, CH. 3, CH. 4, CH. 5, CH. 6

Enjoy!

Felicity

Standing in front of the mirror in her room, Felicity nervously smoothed down the front of her costume. She had to admit, it looked pretty good on her, especially with her blonde hair down around her shoulders.

However, her costume wasn’t what made her anxious.

For the past day and a half, Felicity had been watching her friends like a hawk, waiting to see if anything would happen to them because of her brownies, and rather than be relieved that nothing had yet happened, her anxiety only seemed to increase.

Felicity turned at the sound of the door opening, seeing her mother poke her head through the door.

“Felicity, the girls are downstairs waiting for you. Are you ready?”

Felicity tried answering her, but her voice caught in her throat. She simply nodded in response. Donna’s face softened in sympathy.

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m sure everything is going to be all right. We don’t even know if you managed to do anything... extra to the brownies. It’s been almost two days and there’s been no sign of odd activity. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I don't think so, Mom. Something’s... off... about tonight. I can feel it.”

Donna walked over to Felicity, placing her hands gently on her shoulders and turning her away from the mirror to face her mother.

“Well, I didn’t eat any brownies, and the book is down in the kitchen. I’ll be staying home tonight to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. My phone will be with me the entire time, so if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me. Okay?”

Taking a deep breath, Felicity nodded. “That actually does make me feel a bit better.”

Donna placed a quick peck on her daughter’s forehead and said with a slightly forced cheeriness, “I’m glad. Now you need to get going or you’ll be late! Those girls won’t wait outside for you forever.”

Felicity gave Donna a somewhat shaky smile squaring her shoulders and reaching to grab her clutch from her nightstand.

“Well, I am off to see the Wizard! I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

“You be safe, sweetie. Okay?”

“Will do, Mom.”

With that, Felicity went outside to meet her friends. Once in the driveway, she laughed at seeing the costumes on Iris and Caitlyn.

Wonder Woman, Batgirl, are the two of you taking a night off from crime-fighting and saving the world to go to a Halloween party?”

Iris laughed and adjusted her crown. “No more than you are taking a trip from Oz, Glinda. You ready to head over to the party?”

“Yup. Got my phone, some cash, my ID... I am good to go. And I call shotgun!”

Caitlyn groaned, “Oh come on! No fair!”

While walking over to the driver’s side, Iris laughingly stated, “Sorry, Cait, those are the rules. She called it.”

With a huff, Caitlyn got into the back seat of the car while Felicity got into the passenger side.

They certainly couldn't be late to the party.

0o0o0

Friday evening, just before 6 pm, Starling City’s Community Center

The town square in front of the Community Center was rapidly filling with people of all ages in costumes of all kinds. The party would officially start at 6 pm, after the clock tower chimed the hour. Then it would be music, dancing, food, contests, and trick-or treating until midnight.

Felicity looked around nervously at the gathering crowd. There were definitely more people attending this party than she originally thought. If anything was going to happen tonight because of her spell, she didn’t know how she was going to spot it and potentially reverse it with so many people around.

Felicity, Iris, Barry, Caitlyn, Ronnie, and Cisco had found a corner where they could stand as a group and watch everyone coming in with their costumes and offer their opinions on who had the best look, even if they were only talking to each other. According to Cisco, who had taken off his Stormtrooper mask to have a drink and a snack, their group was the one to beat in the costume department.

Iris nudged Felicity, subtly pointing in the direction of the entryway. “Look who just showed up.”

Felicity looked over to see the Queen family walking into the courtyard. Moira and Robert looked fantastic as a very lifelike Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride. Thea looked terrifying next to her parents in a Maleficent costume that looked as if she had gotten it straight from Angelina Jolie. And Oliver...

Felicity giggled quietly as she realized who he was pretending to be in his costume. For some reason, she expected him to go more the superhero route, like Batman or Green Arrow. Although that might not have been the best idea next to his best friend and his new girlfriend, seeing as Tommy and Laurel had come as Green Arrow and Black Canary.

Caitlyn’s statement brought Felicity back to the conversation.

“I gotta say, Oliver makes a pretty good Harry Potter. It looks like he has the scar and the glasses and everything. I wonder if he chose a specific year.”

Felicity silently agreed with Caitlyn. he did make a pretty good fictional wizard.

And he was so rocking those round glasses.

“Quite the coinkydink, don’t you think?” Felicity heard Iris’s coy question.

Frowning in confusion, she turned to look at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“He’s here as a wizard, you’re here as a witch... He’s newly single... You’re not seeing anyone... He has clearly expressed interest from what you told me about that incident in the library...”

Felicity closed her eyes in realization. She hadn’t told her friends about her coffee date!

“First of all, while he is dressed up as a wizard and me as a witch, we are not even in the same fictional universe. Second of all... I guess I didn’t tell you about yesterday?”

“Yesterday? What happened yesterday?”

Caitlyn chimed in. “Oh! Is this about why I saw him walking away from you in the costume shop yesterday?”

Iris looked at Caitlyn in indignation. “Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“Because Felicity didn’t tell me anything!”

Both girls turned to look at her at the same time, saying, “Spill!” in unison.

Felicity raise an eyebrow at their nosiness. “You two already have boyfriends. Why do you need to know about my love life? Or lack thereof?”

“Nice try changing the subject, Lis. Not gonna work. Now tell us before the announcements start!” Iris said, snatching Felicity’s phone from her hand. “You can’t have this back until you tell us.”

Felicity huffed, crossing her arms. “Fine. If you must know, before Cait got me my costume... Oliver came over to talk to me.”

Both girls looked at her expectantly. “...Aaaand?”

“And... he asked me on a coffee date tomorrow!” Felicity’s excitement at her date briefly overshadowed her anxiety, and for a moment the three girls celebrated quietly at Felicity’s new romantic opportunity.

“See? I knew he liked you. Clearly he just needed to get up the courage to say so,” Iris stated smugly. She handed Felicity’s phone back to her with a flourish.

Rolling her eyes at her friend’s tone, Felicity snuck a peek over at the Queen family.

And saw that Oliver was already sneaking a look at her.

Felicity could feel the color rising in her cheeks at the fact that she was caught, but she didn’t drop his gaze. She saw his smile widen slightly into a smirk, and then he did something that, for a split second, froze her brain.

He winked.

A thrill shot through her, and she bit her bottom lip slightly to keep from grinning widely.

The two of them were still gazing at each other when Felicity felt a nudge in her side and heard a whisper of her name. She looked over to see Caitlyn nodding to the Community Center steps, where a microphone was positioned.

“The announcements are about to start. You can ogle your new boyfriend later,” Caitlyn whispered.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Felicity whisper-shouted, causing a few of the surrounding crowd to look back at her.

“But you want him to be,” she sing-songed back.

“Oh, shut up.”Felicity couldn’t keep the small smile off her face, though, at the thought of being something... more with Oliver.

Saturday could not come soon enough.

Mayor Steele walked up to the microphone and greeted the people in the square.

“Hello, and good evening, everyone,” he said in a hilariously fake Transylvanian accent. He had decided to dress up as Dracula for this years’ Halloween celebration.

Mayor Steele’s greeting made the crowd laugh, but then he dropped the act to speak normally. “Thank you all for coming to the annual Starling Halloween Monster Mash. I hope you are all ready to eat, drink, and be scary! As is tradition, the festivities will begin at 6 pm after the last bell chime from the clock marking the hour. Have a wonderful time tonight everyone, and get home safely!” 

Just a moment after he finished speaking, a loud ring could be heard from up above. The clock tower was marking the 6 pm hour.

The first chime brought cheers that the party was about to start.

The second chime brought another sound.

Cries of surprise. Shock. Fear. Pain.

Another chime.

Felicity watched in horror as more and more people around her doubled over in agony.

Another chime.

The cheers turning into roars and screams. Felicity looked over at her group of friends, seeing them all in some sort of pain. She rushed over to where Caitlyn and Iris were sprawled.

“Oh my god, are you guys okay? Iris? Caitlyn?”

Iris shook her hair out of her eyes and said, “Who is this Iris you speak of? My name is Diana of Themyscira. This is not my home. How did I get here? Do you know?”

“What? Iris, what are you talking about? You’re in Starling. Caitlyn? What about you?”

Another chime.

Caitlyn looked at her like she didn’t recognize her. My name’s not Caitlyn, it’s Batgirl. I have no clue who you’re talking about. Wonder Woman, we need to figure out what the hell happened here and get back to the rest of the League.”

The final chime.

Felicity looked as her two best friends walked away from her as if they didn’t even know her. Their departure brought her eyes to the rest of the people in the town square.

At least, they used to be people.

All around her, chaos was ensuing.

Loud, cruel laughter sounded off from near the entrance of the square. That looked like... Thea. Surrounded by green fire. Felicity watched as her nose morphed into a long snout. As her skin turned dark purple and... scaly. As her fingers transformed into claws. Within just a moment, a massive dragon stood where Thea had once been.

And near the punch bowl, it looked like Mayor Steele was bent over someone and he was... was he actually drinking someone’s blood?

A growl made Felicity look in front of her to see what looked like a humanoid version of a wolf, prowling towards her.

Felicity slowly began to step backward, and the wolf’s eyes latched onto her movement.

Felicity froze.

The wolf pounced.

And was slammed into a nearby wall.

Felicity’s arms, which had raised to futilely shield herself, slowly came down. She looked to her left to see Oliver standing there, his arm outstretched and a furious expression on his face.

Felicity, still in a state of shock, stuttered out, “O-O-Oliver?” She looked at the dazed wolf-like creature and then looked back at Oliver.

“W-What was... How did you do that? I thought that thing was going to eat me!”

She took a step toward him, but paused. Cautious, she asked, “Is it you, Oliver?”

He looked confused by her question. “Felicity, of course it’s me.” He stepped up to her, his warm hands closing gently around her upper arms. “Are you okay?”

“I-I think so. But is sure doesn’t look like anyone else is! I’m pretty sure I just saw Mayor Steele drinking blood, and your sister just turned into a dragon. I have no clue what the hell is going on!”

Oliver was about to respond when he looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened. Yanking on her arms, he pulled her out of the way of an arrow that embedded itself into the wall behind where Felicity had been standing. Moving themselves well out of the way, the two of them watched what looked like... Tommy and Laurel come racing toward them. They watched the two of them jump on someone’s motorcycle that had been parked outside the square and peel off down the road.

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other.

“We definitely need to get out of here.”

“Agreed.”

Oliver took her hand and the two of them ran to his car, dodging townsfolk left and right.

Once in the car, Felicity got her phone out of her bag and immediately called her mom.

She picked up on the first ring.

“Felicity?! Sweetheart, is that you?”

“Mom! Please tell me you’re okay? Are you at the house?”

“Yes, and I’ve barricaded myself in. I had to after I watched little Wally West and Jesse Wells from down the street turn into an alien and a clown.”

“Oh, jeez. Mom, do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Oh, honey, I think I do. And so do you.”

“What? What is that suppo-” Felicity thought back to their earlier conversation before she left for the party. She gasped, and tears gathered in her eyes as she realized what had happened.

“Oh, mom, this is all my fault! I turned the whole town crazy!”

At that statement, Felicity heard denials from both her mother on the phone and Oliver in the driver’s seat as he was trying to find a route to get away from the town square.

“Honey, you had no idea what you were doing. This is absolutely not your fault.”

“Felicity, I don’t know what happened, but I am absolutely sure that this isn’t your fault. One person can’t turn a whole town into their costumes.”

She looked at him, confused at his statement.

“What you do mean, turned into their costumes?”

Oliver was focused on the road as he made a sharp turn to avoid crashing into what looked like a zombie standing in the middle of the street.

“I mean that when the clock struck 6 pm, everyone... became the characters they were pretending to be. Tommy and Laurel were the Green Arrow and Black Canary. Mayor Steele was drinking blood because he became a vampire. My sister turned into a dragon because she turned into Maleficent.”

“And why Iris and Caitlyn turned into Batgirl and Wonder Woman,” Felicity breathed. It was all starting to make sense.

Donna’s voice on the line brought Felicity back to the phone.

“Felicity, where are you?”

“In a car with Oliver, trying to find a way out of here.”

“Oliver Queen?”

“Yeah, why?”

Silence.

“Both of you need to get to the house, Felicity. Right now.”

She hung up.

Felicity turned to Oliver and urgently said, “Oliver, we need to go to my house. Now.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but then saw the expression on her face.

The car turned down her street.

0o0o0

Oliver and Felicity parked in the driveway and sprinted up to the front door, where Donna was ready and waiting, holding it open. The second they stepped through and into the house, she immediately closed and locked the door behind her.

Before anyone could say anything, Donna drew her daughter in for a crushing hug. Felicity held her mother just as tightly, burying her head in her shoulder. Donna’s hand came up and stroked her hair softly.

“It’s all my fault, mom,” Felicity’s voice, though muffled by shirt fabric, could be heard.

Before Donna could respond, Oliver chimed in. “Felicity, this is not your fault. I have no clue what happened out there earlier, but you are not to blame here.”

“Actually, Oliver, I am.” Felicity pulled out of her mother’s arms and wiped her eyes. “I am the reason that this is happening.”

“Felicity, how could you possibly have done this?”

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

“Because I can do magic.”

“...What do you mean, magic?”

“I mean I cast a spell. But I didn’t know I was doing it! I was just making brownies from an old recipe book that I found in our attic when I went up there looking for my mom’s old cookbooks and she didn’t even tell me it was actually a spellbook until I got home from the bake sale, and practically the whole town bought a brownie, so now everyone has eaten my weird magic brownies and I have no clue if what’s happening is permanent or how to reverse it and it’s all my fault!”

Felicity took a big gulp of air. She had said all of that in one breath and was ever so slightly light-headed.

“And I’m also wondering why you are not now believing you are The Boy Who Lived, because I know for a fact that I sold you a brownie.”

“I never got to eat it,” Oliver said absently. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything Felicity had said. “I put it down and Thea ended up eating it as a midnight snack.”

“I know it sounds absolutely crazy,” Felicity sighed, pleading with him to understand. “But it’s true. I can do magic, and I did this.”

Oliver looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. “You can do magic.”

Felicity nodded cautiously.

A grin slowly grew on his face. Oliver reached for her, taking her into his arms and hugging her tightly.

Felicity slowly placed her hand on his shoulder, not quite hugging him back. “Oliver? Are you okay?”

He pulled back from her, his arms still around her waist. “I am better than okay. I was so worried about how you would react if I ever told you, but it turns out you’re just like me! This is amazing!” He backtracked quickly at the look on Felicity’s face. “I mean, it’s awful, what’s happening with the town and all.”

Felicity wasn’t focused on that. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘like you’?... Are you telling me that you can do magic too?!”

Oliver nodded, his smile fading and wariness creeping in. “My family comes from a long line of magic. My parent both have it, and so does my sister. Tommy and Laurel do as well. In the past, people who find out about us, people who don’t have magic... They tend not to react well. A lot of our ancestors were either burned at the stake or chased out of towns they helped build. So, we keep it a secret.”

Felicity pulled out of his arms and placed her fingers on her temples. All this new information was giving her a headache. “This is a lot to process in the span of a few days.” She turned to her mother, who was being strangely quiet.

“Mom?”

But Donna was looking into the entryway to the kitchen. Oliver and Felicity turned to see what she was looking at.

The spell book was on the table.

It was open.

And glowing.

The three of them stepped closer to see words appearing on the page.

“By the last chime tonight will all fates be sealed

To remain spellbound or true forms revealed

Say it once, say it twice, say it thrice to be sure

Or else all will be lost with never a cure.”

The three of them read it silently, taking the words in.

Felicity was the first to speak.

“What does it mean?”

They all watched as the glow faded from the words, setting them into the page. Donna answered her daughter.

“It means we have only six hours to reverse the spell put on those brownies, or it becomes permanent. Everyone will become their costumes. Forever.”

And there is chapter 7! Crazy, right? As always, let me know what you thought and if you want to be tagged!

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#arrow #arrow fic #halloween au #Olicity #olicity fic