#we wouldn’t have news if i didn’t visit my cousin every week honestly

[adrunkskeletonsduck]

May I please request some Anakin Skywalker x jedi! reader, she’s from earth and she met Anakin during their padawan years. (y/n) has a different Jedi master, they're always excited to see each other after training. A few years later (y/n) and Anakin went to earth to visit (y/n)’s parents at Christmas. Anakin doesn’t know what Christmas is.

Anakin is very much welcome to her home, (y/n)’s parents treated Anakin like their own. (y/n) and Anakin spent time with one another and got together in the end.

honestly we all know Anakin needs some love and a place to call home. Thank you sm for the request!

Hᴏᴍᴇ

➜ Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x reader

➜ Synopsis: Christmas time was something you treasured greatly. Whether it be the gentle caress of the white wisps snow on the once sullen ground or the warmth of the crackling flames casting winding shadows along the house, it was a time you missed greatly. The holiday had been reduced to a far away memory during your time at the temple and now you presented the council a thinly veiled plea to return to your homeworld of earth to bear witness to the celebration after 15 years. Only this time you will bring a peice your new home to the familiarity of your former life.

➜ Warnings: Gn!reader, fluff

➜ Word Count: 2.6k

➜ Notes: I’m abt to hit 100 followers soon and I want to do an event but idk what to do, so pls send some ideas 🫰🏽. Also I’m so sorry for my inactivity last week and this week, I'm just super busy and in all honesty unmotivated asf 😭. Also i got a user name, hehehehe i love it sm, you better like it to >:(

Sᴛᴀʀᴡᴀʀs Mᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

You remembered your early life on Earth. You remembered playing outside with your friends, coming home caked in mud to be scolded by your mother before she would push you into the shower and help clean you up. You remembered dressing up for Halloween, you remembered watching your favorite channels on nickelodeon and small bits of elementary school. Playing on the swings, talking to your teachers, and getting into petty arguments with classmates. You even remembered when the Jedi had knocked on your door and you agreed to go with them, you remembered the confusion at their words, and how you stood by your mother as they spoke to her.  

A Jedi?  

Your favorite and most prominent memory's, however, where around Christmas. You always were reminded of them as the year neared winter and the air grew cold. You often found yourself replaying them in your head during this time. The smell of freshly baked cookies every Christmas eve, running around with your cousins as you waited for dinner to be served while your aunts and uncles talked amongst themselves, sipping wine or beer. You remembered willing yourself to sleep, eager to wake up the next morning and see what Santa had left you under the Christmas tree.  

It was nearing the middle of December when finally, Anakin convinced you to ask the council about a visit, he had been listening to you talk about the tradition for years and could tell how badly you wanted to go back and experience it all again. The council, although hesitant, agreed and aloud you one other person to take with you for security measures, which you quickly decided would be Anakin since he was your closest and oldest friend in the order.  

The two of you were planned to arrive the week of Christmas, and come back the day after, which gave you plenty of time to take part in the festivities and catch up with old friends. Although you wouldn’t have minded one more day. You were very anxious about how this would go; you hadn't spoken to your parents or anyone from your home world since you had been taken, and the anxiety had been eating at you for days. 

What if they didn’t recognize you? What if they were angry at you for not reaching out? What if they were scared of you now that you were a true Jedi? What if they had moved on and forgotten you while you had clung to memories of them? The list of things that could go wrong only got longer with each passing moment that you and Anakin raced through hyperspace, and the worry seeped into your force signature.  

“I’m sure everything will turn out fine,” Anakin tried to assure you from where he sat next to you in the pilot's seat, but you just shook your head 

“I haven't seen any of them in years, I mean so many things could go wrong! Like, what if we bring the war to them!” you exclaimed, a new horror washing over you. It was Anakins turn to shake his head now,  

“The council gave us a ship with some of the best cloaking technology in the galaxy, the separatists couldn’t follow us out here if they tried. Besides I highly doubt they will turn their attention to a planet so far out.” You never understood how Anakin seemed to be able to soothe your nerves in a way no one else could. Well, you sort of understood, it was probably the small – massive – crush you had had on him since you were padawans at work.  

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding at his words, he was right. There was no reason to worry. “No, you're right, I need to get it together,” Anakin chuckled at your words in agreement, beginning to flip switches in the ship.  

“Alright were exiting hyperspace, buckle up.” You did as you were told, taking a deep breath as you exited hyper space and your home world came into view.  

You had only seen Earth from space once, and that was when you were leaving for the Jedi temple, the Jedi who found you had told you that you were the only force sensitive child from your planet and answering all your questions as you sped away from your home world, watching the planet get smaller and smaller and then disappear as you entered hyperspace. Other than that, though, you had only seen it from the satellite photos that your teacher showed you when you were studying the solar system. 

 It was a truly a beautiful sight, one that made a feeling of awe and joy wash threw you the minute you caught your first glimpse of it. Anakin glanced at you, a smile curling at his lips at your expression, content to see you so happy.  

You were here. You were home.  

The rest of the trip was spent in a comfortable silence until you landed, making sure to hide the ship well, despite its cloaking capabilities. Lucky for you, they lived in the country side in a small town, so there was plenty of forest to wedge the ship in between and under. You kept it not far from your parents' house in case the two of you needed to make an emergency escape. You vaguely remembered where your parents lived, you had faint memories of the exterior of the house but didn’t know the actual address. The council had somehow dug up all the quadrantes and such you needed though and supplied you with them, but you were a bit wary of their accuracy. 

You and Anakin didn’t exactly have very earth appropriate clothes to change into, so you did get weird looks from the locals while walking through town, especially because you were practically skipping out of delight, but you couldn’t seem care less. The excitement of being back here, back home, after such a long time distracted you from their judgmental eyes and Anakin didn’t think he had ever seen you so happy in his life as he watched you point out yet another area, place, or name that had a story tied to it, nodding as you explained it to him enthusiastically. 

The minute you stood in front of the house, you instantly knew that it was the right one, you could feel the two faintly familiar force signatures inside and the beaten down porch and door mat instantly rung a bell of familiarity. You stopped in front of the door, taking a shaky breath and trying to shove all your anxieties down. You looked to Anakin for support, your expression telling him everything he needed to know as he took your hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze and giving you an encouraging nod. You pursed your lips, your hold on his hand tightening ever so slightly as you brought your other hand to the wood of the door and gave it a firm knock.  

Once 

Twice 

Three times 

It took a painfully long moment before you began to hear the padding of footsteps getting closer, and then stop as the door swung open, squealing on its hinges as it opened harshly. Your eyes widened as you looked at her, your mother, for the first time in fifteen years, it felt like a dream. Your breath hitched in your throat, at the sight of her.  

“I already told you peo-” she started, but cut herself off at the sight of you. Recognition flashing through her eyes as she looked at you. You didn’t give her time to process that you were actually there, throwing yourself at her, and wrapping your arms around her tightly. Tears filled in both your eyes, and she slid her arms around you.  

“Welcome home honey...”  

___ 

It had been five days since you’d arrived, now you sat cozied up on the couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket in front of the lit fireplace and a warm cup of hot chocolate in your hand, enjoying the sight of your family all together once again. You’d already caught up with everyone earlier, introduced yourself to some of the younger cousins that were a relatively new addition to your family and you’d never met before, as well as your oldest cousin's new husband and your new niece. You’d talked to your aunts and uncles, exchanged tight hugs with them and watched as they looked at you in disbelief. It had felt good knowing that they had missed you as much as you had missed them.  

You watched as your relatives chattered around you, passing around neatly wrapped and bagged presents as they played white elephant on the floor of the living room. The Christmas tree glowed with colorful lights in the corner of the room, and Anakin chatted happily away with one of your uncles. He’d fit in nicely with your family, being excepted with open arms by everyone. Although it had taken him a minute to warm up to your parents, they both had been patient with him, and you could tell he appreciated it greatly. He especially seemed to appreciate the warmth and hospitality that your mother had shown him, and you hopped it had eased the pain of losing his own, even if it was the smallest of comfort to him, you were glad he knew that he had a home here.  

“So,” your mother started, sitting down next to you and pulling the blanket over herself, breaking you out of the trance you were in, “how have the Jedi been treating you these past few years?” 

The entire time since you’d arrived, she had been talking about it like you had simply been gone for a year or two in college, not for fifteen years in a boarding school for people with powers. None the less you smiled at her as you answered, the joy of being home had rooted itself deep in your emotions this past week, you weren't sure it would ever leave. Even after you left.  

“Well, the best it can treat us in the midst of a galactic war,” you joked. She furrowed her brow at your answer, obviously not amused by your joke, “Of course it’s nothing you have to worry about though,” you added quickly in an attempt to reassure her.  

“That doesn’t sound ver-” she started, a deep frown on her face, but she was quickly cut off by Anakin who had seemingly appeared out of thin air behind you and clasped his hands onto your shoulders, sending you a wink which made your face heat up as he spoke,  

“I wouldn’t worry too much about this girl, she knows what she's doing on the field and with a saber.” Your mother, however, didn’t seem very reassured at his words. “Besides,” he continued, “I’ve got her back.”  

She looked at you, a raised eyebrow and motherly judgment painted on her face as if to silently ask ‘just friends?’ for the millionth time that week. You answered with a role of your eyes and a weak glare. She just chuckled, getting up from her spot on the couch, a smile on her face to replace the look of worry that had previously been there as she looked at Anakin.  

“Well, I’m sure she’s in good hands then,” she said pausing as she caught Anakin glancing at you, and a small smirk tugged at her lips, “I’ll give you two some space.” Then she turned, walking out to the dining room were your uncles and aunts sat with glasses of wine and an endless list of topics for conversation.  

“Have you packed yet?” Anakin asked as he took the spot next to you, and you sighed at his words, leaning into him ever so slightly, chasing his warmth.  

“No...” you replied, without looking at him and continuing to watch the game of white elephant that was beginning to come to a close. Anakin hummed at your words,  

“You probably should tonight, we leave at noon tomorrow.”  

“Yeah,” you agreed, “I probably should.” Your hold on your cup of coco tightened, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Anakin, and neither did the gentle sadness that began to roll of you in waves at the talk of leaving. He understood what it was like all too well, and he didn’t want to be the reason you spent the last of a very enjoyable night in sadness, so he cleared his throat and got up, extending a hand out to you.  

“Why don’t we take a short walk?” he suggested, and you nodded taking his hand and letting him help you up. Throwing on a coat, you told your mom that you and Anakin were going to step out for a minute, and you’d be right back.  

Shutting the door behind you as you followed him out, you told him, “I don’t want to think about leaving right now,” he nodded in understanding.  

“Then we don’t have to talk about it.” You didn’t let go of his hand as you walked down the drive way and off the property to begin on your route around the block. At that moment he was like your anchor, keeping you grounded in the moment, and bringing you back to reality. Reminding you that right now you were still on Earth, that for now the Jedi, the war, the Sith, all of it, didn’t exist. For now, all that existed was you and him, here, in this moment. Neither of you would have had it any other way.  

Soon the two of you found yourselves at the park, laying side by side in the fields of grass and staring up at the sky, fingers still threaded together. Anakin was the one to break the silence,  

“y/n?”  

“Yeah?” 

“I’m in love with you,” he blurted and you sucked in a sharp breath at his confession. There was a long pause of silence were the air seemed to become thick as butter, and everything seemed to stop.  All of a sudden you were back at the temple, seeing him for the first time. Your heart was racing at every word he spoke or glance your way, and you were stuttering and tripping over your words while your cheeks flamed a deep red as you tried to talk to him.  

You could feel Anakins nerves as he waited for a response from you, while you contemplated your answers. These feelings were against the code, and admitting them would be your final act of treason. You weren't sure you cared at the moment though. Anakin was already looking at you when you turned to him and pressed your lips to his.  

The kiss was sudden and unexpected, and you could tell he hadn't been prepared for it by the way he froze, every muscle in his body tensing and you couldn’t see it but his eyes were wide in shock as well. But after a moment, his heart beat slowed back to a normal pace and his eyes slipped shut and he relaxed into you, kissing you back, his lips molding against yours in an endless flurry of kisses, each more passionate then the last. His lips were soft and you could taste the lingering sweetness of desert on them as you kissed him.  

He was the one to pull away, making you whine quietly and lean forward, chasing his lips. He chuckled at the sound of displeasure you let out, a signature smirk tugging at his lips which made you roll your eyes at and push yourself up.  

“Common,” you said, reaching a hand down to him, “we should start getting home.” He took your hand graciously, letting you help him to his feet as he agreed with you.  

“Yeah, we should.”  

#anakin skywalker #star wars #starwars the clone wars #the clone wars #starwars #anakin skywalker x reader #anakin x reader #anakin x y/n #anakin x you #x reader #anakin fic #anakin skywalker fic #starwars fic #christmas fic #gn!reader #adrunkskeletonsduck #anakin skywalker starwars #anakin skywalker star wars

[random2908]

Little cousin update:

His mother told his middle brother “I don’t have a favorite son, but I do have a least favorite.”

She thinks the middle brother is very religious. My sister took both my little cousin and his middle brother to lunch right before my little cousin moved to California, and the middle brother picked a pork-themed restaurant. Their mother doesn’t know, but that’s another blow-up that’s surely coming down the road.

His mother talked his middle brother into dropping out of community college. She’s got him signed up for some worthless online class as a pretend thing so he can feel like he didn’t drop out of school.

However, the middle brother is currently visiting California (staying with my cousin/his uncle, because he promised his mother he wouldn’t stay with my parents), so there’s still a decent chance of the middle brother escaping. My little cousin at least has a week to convince him, in-person and away from their mother, that he needs to go back to real school.

The middle brother is academically inclined so it shouldn’t be that hard a sell, except that he hates to fight with his mother.

We still have hope for the middle brother in the long-term, but in the short term my dad thinks he’s probably going to let his life get a lot worse before he puts in the work to make it get better. You can hold out your hand, and the other person can know they’re in a bad situation and you’re offering a better one, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll take your hand. But someday he’ll probably get out.

The oldest brother also dropped out of community college and does nothing but play video games. My little cousin thinks he’ll have to support him his whole life. It remains unclear whether he understands anything that’s going on, beyond that his youngest brother doesn’t live with him anymore.

It’s honestly unclear how much my cousin--their father--understands what’s going on, either. Or what he thinks of any of it, beyond what his wife tells him to say. Normally he’s a really spacey but good-natured person, but if someone is whispering poison in his ear every day he will absorb it.

In better news: my little cousin passed his written test and now has his learner’s permit!

He had his first driving lesson today. He had been very excited about it, but actually found it very scary. Which my sisters and I can empathize with a lot. But it’s one big step closer to the freedom and independence that he’s been working toward.

He’s starting at community college I think next week! Another huge, exciting life step for him.

[matteblacklips]

june updates i

Disclaimer: I would like to begin this email thread by saying if you didn’t want to receive emails from me you shouldn’t have given me your email to begin with.

Joke of the chain:

Hello all,

So much has happened in the last few weeks, I don't even know where to start, but the show must go on. The last time we spoke, it was the first week of May, and now, almost five weeks later, I am no longer unemployed, I'm not grieving over a breakup and I am suffering from the worst allergic reaction/sunburn known to man. I’m sorry but you already know I’m going to be the biggest whore Boston has ever seen. Run back hoevid-19. Being in my slut era is gonna be so fun because I always keep the roster at a good four and usually when I have a boyfriend or main hoe I cut off side joes 1-3. I’m prolly marrying #4 so gotta keep him on the back burner til we’re ready for him. 

I've been traveling like crazy the last couple weeks, and I started in the trashiest state known to man -- New Jersey. I went for a cousin's babyshower and immediately flew to Dallas afterwards for an interview. I got the job but more eventfully I thought the first man with green hair was Marcus Smart at the bar  like why would Marcus Smart be at a rooftop bar in Dallas during the playoffs? Boy Update: Alex is the worst influence — he had me text my ex (the one who I gave a concussion to while we were ~u know~ and the one that was a pathological liar). Fortunately for my mental health he wasn’t in DC this weekend or Alex would’ve had to explain to his parents that his sister decided to ditch family plans for mediocre dick and a summer of trauma. 

Pop culture Update: Celtics lost to the Warriors and I got absolutely blacked out drunk because of it. DC was so much fun and every time I visit I feel like I’m always blacked out and Alex is just enjoying the fact that I’m the drunkest person in the room. We got back from day drinking and I ended up taking a nap before dinner on the swing and then slept for literally nine hours cuddling with Pablo. I got to hang out with more of Alex’s friends this weekend and I thought you wouldn’t be able to beat Serena Bronk but honestly Dillion O’brien (yes that’s his name) might take the cake. I’m not exactly sure who he reminds me of but he’s probably top ten funniest people I’ve met. Aumiller made an appearance as well as a quick hello from Matt Rob. 

Memorial Day: Spent the weekend in Boston & it was out of this world. I had decided to celebrate my birthday that weekend with all of my favorite people, and it was probably one of the best weekends I'd had in a long time. Sevin, Kiersten and I reunited and had a hot girl weekend, and the lovely Catherine Ngyuen came out. We had gone to Mother Anna's and I appreciate the OG boys, Allen and Anthony, for fully planning the dinner cause if it were up to me, I would've cried because of how last minute the plans were. The girlies and boys, Mina and Thomas included, went to Bodega and I swear it was one of the best Bodega nights in a long time. The music is always amazing and the vibes are always immaculate. The day after, the girlies went to a rooftop pool in Fenway and it was so calm and chill, up until this lady called the front desk on us because some of the people we knew were ~chaotic~. Overall 10/10 weekend, would run it back in the future.

Birthday Pt.2: I ended up seeing my sneaky link but because so absolutely fucked up that I did not even get to third base. I woke up abs hungover and I could not function. He spent $120 on Ubers just to listen to me complain and a drunk make out. We call him ___ wonderbread cause he’s so boring but we have yet to speak since I went to dc and he went to Miami so I’ll give you an update on that afterwards.

Work: I absolutely love the job I have. It's exactly what I want salary-wise, and opportunity-wise. I had got the offer on my birthday and I had started almost two days afterwards but the job itself is so fulfilling. I’m learning so much and the fact that this job is a direct gateway to my future makes me feel so much more committed to it. Also 30 PTO days??? You're fucking kidding me right.

Birthday's to look out for: Sevin, June 25, Sonali, June 26, Ila, June 27

Availability this week: I’m available Thursday 6pm for a Cisco moment but other than that don’t talk to me at all. I’m working remote on Friday so I can be persuaded to do a little day drink moment but it’s Sevin’s birthday weekend so nothing crazy.

Best,

Shefali Patel

Keep in mind you would be responding to the chain so don’t blow my spot if you can help it. I would really appreciate keeping my dignity if I could.

What to expect: weekly to biweekly emails regarding things that matter to me including but not limited to bad jokes, an update on plans, current events, and my personal favorite new recipes and places to check out!

#shefalipatel_ on ig

[thesoulspulse]

When Blue Eyes Meet (Good Vlad AU ~ Oneshot)

Summary: I couldn't sleep and got this beautifully heartfelt idea in my head about how my Good Vlad met his cat Madison for the first time and how she helped turn his life around. It's about she adopted him, sensing how bad Vlad needed a friend after Jack and Maddie moved on with their lives until they finally meet again at their college reunion. Warning, this mentions character death.

Vlad's POV

I'll never forget that day, the day I met a very special little lady.

I had only been fully discharged from the hospital for a few weeks but...after I insisted on making sure Jack and Maddie could move on with their own lives without me since I wouldn't drag them down, but once returned home I was suddenly reminded of how alone in the world I really was now. Both my parents had passed away before I started my freshman year of college but they left me with everything I would need to secure a bright future, even the house which gave me a place to return to in the first place since we had no idea the accident would result in me being bedridden for several years.

But as soon as I stepped inside the house, just like my heart it felt so...hollow.

The warmth I used to feel there was long gone, and it had nothing to do with still needing to pay the heating bill. And I suppose it's fortunate that the money I had set aside to pay for my school supplies and my half of the rent was enough to pay for my hospital bills so I had just enough left over to invest in gaining a new lease on life after the accident. It would take time, but I was confident I would be able to go back and continue my studies eventually, but for now I need to focus on figuring out how to cope with the other huge transformation I had undergone.

I almost had to laugh at the irony because perhaps I'm only living a half-life since the accident turned me half-ghost. It was difficult at first, hiding the truth about my condition not only from Jack and Maddie, but the nurses and doctors as well. Thankfully, I inherited my father's sharp wits and managed to conceal my powers fairly well. As for the rest, it was just easier to let people assume they were only seeing things whenever they saw a strange light or my hand seemed to pass through solid objects. After all, who would ever believe that a human with ghost powers could possibly exist...?

Still, I suppose one good thing about returning to that house is that it was nice to finally be able to relax somewhat knowing I wouldn't need to hide my powers from anyone, or at least not nearly as often when I was still a patient. I would still have to be careful if someone came to visit me, but honestly the odds of that happening ere  highly unlikely. I say this because I have no living relatives left. No parents, no cousins or siblings, just me.

Sighing I set down my bags and started unpacking boxes. I needed something else to occupy my thoughts because I still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that I lost my scholarship. Realistically I knew that couldn't be helped given what happened to me so instead I turned my attention to the things I still could control, such as ensuring I still had a place to live since I was no longer a student and Jack wasn't my roommate anymore.

Speaking of which, right from the start I wanted make sure to avoid living somewhere with too many people around so although my original plan was to move back here after graduation I made the decision to return to this town ahead of schedule in light of my extenuating circumstances.

There were still faint traces of my old life here back from when my parents were still alive such as my father's desk and my mother's cooking supplies. And quite honestly, being back here and suddenly feeling their absence all over again...it made me sad. I missed them, just as much I miss Jack and Maddie but I had to start moving on too. So I shook my head, turned our old record player, and kept myself busy by unpacking my belongings.

Luckily I had everything I owned in the dorm moved here after it became painfully clear I wouldn't be able to attend classes anymore due to my critical condition. Jack and Maddie offered to do it for me personally but I declined their kind off because for one thing I didn't want them to find out where I live before I had enough time to gain full control of my powers, and for another I wanted to make a clean break for their sake...

I was dangerous to be around whether I liked it or not so exposing them to danger while my powers were still a bit difficult to control was not a risk I was willing to take. Especially since those two are all I had left and someday...I really hoped I'd be able to meet them again and tell them the truth about my powers. But until then, all I could do was try my best to start over and hope for the best.

~

Once I settled in, I began testing out my powers more, taking notes, pushing my limits, and yet the more I learned about myself the more I wished I had someone to share my discoveries with. Jack could be overzealous at times, but I missed how excited we both felt after making a new discovery about ghosts or ectoplasmic energy. And Maddie, she always knew how to reign us in so we could look at things more objectively even though she was usually just as eager to find out more too.

Having no one left to talk to or come home to had finally started to get to me and sadly as a result that's when the nightmares started up again too. Just like back in the hospital I would wake up in a cold sweat, clutching the sheets in both fists as the ghostly blue glow of my eyes cast flickering shadows on the walls. I had gotten careless because I thought I would be alright as long as I didn't have to worry about a doctor or a nurse walking in at any second and seeing my eyes glowing in the darkness.

That's when I realized I had to do something about this before things escalated even further and my emotions spiraled out of control again without some sort of outlet. I needed to make a connection, a way to overcome this shadow looming over me, so I considered seeing a therapist to prevent these nightmares from overtaking me. But I was afraid that if I did talk to someone...what if I became too emotional and exposed my powers to them? That could be a huge problem. I could always overshadow them, but I'd still be avoiding dealing with this terrible helplessness I felt.

That day, I was wandering around town in a daze, conflicted about how to deal with the problem when I happened to enter a local animal shelter. The people at the front desk were friendly, but I had never considered how my...ghostly attributes might make most animals wary of me since they have a sixth sense for the supernatural which quite honestly made me feel even more detached from the person I once was. As a boy I got along well with most animals but I never felt particularly attached to them. Dogs were a bit too energetic for my tastes and I had to deal with that enough with Jack but cats on the other hand, well I have always appreciated their independent spirit but I never considered them to be very affectionate animals...

That all changed the instant I saw her.

On my way out the door after satisfying my idle curiosity about how animals seem to perceive me now that I'm only half human I noticed this sleek black kitten staring directly at me with the most stunning blue eyes I've ever seen and when our eyes met, what I felt...I can't even describe it. It felt as though she was looking right at me, into my heart, and for the first time since the accident, it was like someone had noticed how lost I was and there was this unmistakable look of gentle sympathy in her eyes.

Mesmerized by her gaze, I turned around and asked the person at the desk more about her and they told me she had been abandoned which I could relate to to some degree. To be fair I hadn't been abandoned necessarily, but I felt that way sometimes since it was gradually becoming harder and harder to wake up alone in that empty house every morning, not sure what I should be doing with the rest of my life now that I'm all alone and don't have friends to confide in anymore I can visit whenever I want.

Impulsively I asked if I could hold her and they agreed, smiling at me secretively as if they already knew I felt an instant attachment to her and as soon as they handed her to me...she clung to me like her life depended on it and then crawled up onto my shoulders, wrapping her tiny body around my neck as much as possible and as soon as she was comfortable she started purring. It was like a hug of sorts and I had no idea how starved for the gentle contact from another living creature of any kind from someone that wasn't just another doctor poking and prodding me that all I remember is falling to my knees soon after, sobbing and resting my cheek against her head as she rubbed against me, licking away my tears.

Finally, I thought, this is what I've been searching for ever since I came home. I've missed having someone there who cares about me, someone to remind me that I'm not alone, someone who can stay by my side so I don't have to suffer in silence anymore without a friend there to comfort me just when I start to think I can't bear it anymore.

I'm sure everyone who saw me that day were just as stunned as I was by my meltdown, but I didn't care. I needed her. And she needed me, no, for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom she WANTED to be with me and no one else. It's like she had been waiting for me to walk in that door from the very start. Waiting for me to give her a home, a family, and most importantly...a name. And that name would become a bond that could never be broken, not even after her tragic death some years later when she returned to my side once more as a ghost because she knew I still desperately needed a friend-

And that's how Madison became my closest and dearest companion.

We’ve been inseparable ever since.

#danny phantom #danny phantom au #good vlad au #danny phantom oneshot #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #oneshot #danny phantom fanfic #danny phantom fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #fanfiction.net #story snippet #story concept #danny phantom headcanon #headcanon #maddie the cat #black cat #short story #thesoulspulse #thesoul'spulse #the souls pulse #the soul's pulse #potentially triggering #character death

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

pick me

Fiance!Jung Jaehyun x Fiancee!Reader

Summary: After getting engaged, Johnny and Taeyong keep fighting over who gets to be the best man

Word Count: ~1k

A/N: Thank you for reading! If you read this before... I reuploaded because the tags didn’t work :(

--

When Jaehyun proposed it was quite the ugly day outside- rainy, stormy, dark, and gray. By no means was the proposal even close to what Jaehyun had even thought, but they say when the moment is right, the moment is right. While the weather outside was less than ideal, Jaehyun was just so overcome with his love for you while you cuddled him that he just asked you to marry him. Of course, you said yes.

Now months later the awe of the engagement had yet to wear off, “I still can’t believe this, I’m still so happy.” You smiled cuddling into Jaehyun’s side, staring at the engagement ring on your finger. 

He pressed a kiss to your temple, “Is it too soon to start planning?” 

“Jaehyun! You haven’t told anyone besides our parents yet, there’s no rush babe.”

“Haven’t told anybody what?” Yuta asked.

“Hi by the way,” Doyoung added as he and the rest of 127 filed into your and Jaehyun’s shared apartment. 

“Did you invite them?” Jaehyun whispered to you.

“No, I thought that maybe you had and just forgot to remind me.” You replied under breath before getting up to greet the guys. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Jaehyun asked. 

“Hyung, I missed you!” Haechan whined, throwing himself into Jaehyun’s arms. 

“Hello, Haechan.” You smiled.

“Ok I lied, I missed Y/N more. If you ever get tired of him, you know where to find me.” Haechan winked playfully.

Jaehyun chuckles nervously, “Uh well, I- we actually have something to tell you guys about-”

“Y/N, is that an engagement ring?!” Mark exclaims as he pulls your hand into his hold to examine your ring, eyes big as he pulled your hand closer to his face. 

The room became chaotic, the guys crowding around you to examine the ring for themselves while asking a million questions at once. 

“Why did nobody tell us?” Taeil asked.

“It was spur of the moment honestly, I had an idea in mind for how I wanted to propose, but when I did it, it just felt right. Nobody besides our parents know anyways, we were going to get around to telling you guys… eventually.” Jaehyun explained.

“We were actually just talking about that as you guys were coming in.” You added.

“I call the best man!” Johnny shouted. 

“No! Jaehyun will pick me.” Taeyong pouted. 

“Well, if you guys get to be Jaehyun’s best man then I get to be Y/N’s maid of honor,” Jungwoo added. 

“I want to be the one that objects!” Haechan yelled, earning a glare from Jaehyun.

This of course led to a whole new wave of chaos. Everybody arguing over the roles that they would have at a wedding that wasn’t close to being planned just yet. 

—

Now months later and months before the wedding, both of you were going over the schedule for what was done and needed to be done for the wedding. Thanks to a wedding planner, his mom, and just overall your excitement and eagerness to get married, things were right on track. Probably even a bit ahead of schedule. Except for one thing, Jaehyun had yet to pick all of his groomsmen. He had chosen a cousin of his and one of his childhood friends that he talked to pretty regularly, but still no best man. 

Though Taeyong and Johnny did try very hard to win the both of you over. A week after the guys came to visit, Taeyong sent flowers to his favorite couple on the planet, but most importantly both of his best friends ever. Johnny took you and Jaehyun on lunch dates about twice a month, not so casually bringing up the vacant role of best man every single time, always pairing the question with a puppy dog look. When Taeyong heard about that, we started coming by with breakfast and wedding magazines every once in a while, mentioning that his sister had them accidentally mailed to the dorm. So Johnny took to creating vision boards and plans for the wedding, even “accidentally” crashing the first meeting with the wedding planner, bringing up the fact that he paid very close attention to both your dreams for the wedding.

“I just don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.” Jaehyun sighed, hands running down his face.

“Babe, they love you. I’m positive they won’t be mad at you for not picking them. Worst case scenario, we renew our vows every five years and you switch the best man every time. Don’t worry, my love, they will be there for you no matter what.” You reassured. 

And while it didn’t feel like you said a whole lot, your comforting words did help Jaehyun make his decision- though it did take a lot of thought and a restless night or two. 

“You’re probably wondering why I called this meeting.” Jaehyun started.

“No, not at all actually, we’ve been waiting for you to choose your best man,” Johnny replied. 

“Yeah, it’s about time our bribes brought us here, so, who is it?” Taeyong asked.

Jaehyun went on and on for a while explaining to them how much they each meant to him, and while even if he did not pick one to be the best man, he’d be more than happy to have the other be a groomsman. They were both his best friends, and even though one would be the best man and the other wouldn’t he would still love for both of them to join him on his special day.

“So… Johnny, will you be my best man? And Taeyong hyung, will you be my last groomsman?” Jaehyun finally asked.

“Yes, of course! It was the vision board, wasn’t it? God, it was! I knew I really got you both when I showed you that hydrangeas might be a better filler flower for the centerpiece arrangements than a simple baby’s breath.” Johnny smiled widely, puffing out his chest.

“I’ll gladly be your groomsman Jaehyun, thank you. I’ll just step up my game when Doyoung is getting married, or use force.” Taeyong trailed off. 

“Or who knows, maybe I’ll just be the best man at everybody’s weddings!” Johnny laughed.

“Like hell, you will, not at mine you won’t!” Taeyong argued.

“Well, we’ll just have to see about that won’t we?”

“I should have chosen Mark.” Jaehyun sighed.

#kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop au #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun fic #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun x reader #nct 127 #nct #nct scenarios #nct oneshot #nct au #nct imagines #nct fluff

[fanfic-collection]

Loki x Reader: Apocalypse ch 7

Thank you for comments/likes/reblogs

-

For the first time in your recent memory, you were warm. In fact, you could almost say you were hot. Part of you wanted to peel off your sweater and sweatpants and just lay in your undergarments and feel the soft fabrics against your skin. The scent enveloping you was intoxicating, and the warm strong limbs tangled through yours holding you tight against the other persons chest…

You opened your eyes.

One of your hands was on the pillow beneath Loki’s face, cupping his cheek, the other laced between his fingers down by your tangled legs. He had his long, long leg thrown over yours and dragged you close to him, holding your chest tight to his chest. Your breath was reheating your face as you breathed into his chest. At some point, someone had pulled down the covers so you wouldn’t suffocate, whether this was done knowingly or not was beyond you.

You stayed completely still, a hare caught in a trap. Do you move and wake him, risking the embarrassment while you try to extricate yourself? Do you stay still and try and fake sleep and let him wake up first and deal with the situation? Had he woken first and was letting you deal with the situation? Do you just wait for him to wake and apologize profusely about your sleeping body clinging to him for warmth? And yet he was clinging to you for warmth also, he definitely did not need warmth in the same way you did.

Loki started to stir.

There was a brief moment of panic as the two of you untangled yourself and pulled apart. Loki’s cheeks were pink and you could feel the heat on your face as you looked at him and he looked in your general direction.

The embarrassment was quickly cut off by a soft cry of agony from Loki gripping the collar on his neck. He straightened up into a kneeling position, trying to straighten his neck as much as possible to stop the spikes digging into his skin.

You moved towards him and gripped his shoulders, steadying him so he was better upright.

“What is that thing, exactly?” You asked, your eyes scanning it up and down.

“It inhibits my seidr.” Loki replied through grit teeth.

“How do you get it off?”

“I have to be worthy of Odin.” Loki tried to look away but gave up quickly. “An insurmountable task I have found in my long life.”

You nodded thoughtfully. “I remember Thor having that happen, Tony talked about it.”

“Tony knows about Thor’s trial?”

“Eh, he found out about New Mexico and how Thor lost his hammer, alien tech, it was some good learning experience for his weapon arsenal.”

“Lovely. More ways for humans to slaughter each other.”

You shook your head, “He’s trying to put it towards better use than that, but anyways, Thor wasn’t worthy of it, right?”

“Yes. He became mortal, not that I was told. His precious son truly became human.”

“Yea, you smacked him pretty hard, they said.”

Loki grimaced. “Yes… I was not in the best state of mind I will admit.” He trailed off.

“Don’t worry, Tony thought it was great. It’s all bygones, no one is mad at you anymore. Trust me.”

Loki frowned, “Why are we discussing this? I’m not exactly fond of that period of my life.”

“Well, if you can’t get it off by the means Odin intended, since he clearly set you up to fail…” You trialed off.

Loki turned towards you, “What do you mean by that?”

“Why not cheat?”

A smile slowly touched the corner of his mouth, then faded. “It’s impossible, there’s no way a mortal could have something to pierce this metal.”

You raised your eyebrow at him and put your hands on your hips defiantly, “You really doubt Tony Stark?”

“Why would he help me?” Loki responded dryly.

“Because I’m going to ask him to.”

Loki leaned back.

“Here, give me a second, let me find my phone.” You got up and started walking around the small room, digging among the collected supplies from the last few weeks.

At last you found your phone at to your great joy it still worked and even had a dial tone when you opened to Tony’s number.

“Hey kiddo.” Tony answered on the second ring. “I’ve been starting to get worried, your phone has been off, I had no way of contacting you, I was going to come visit soon.”

“I’m fine, really. Listen, I need a favor.”

“A favor?”

“Can you bring your sharpest cutting device and come visit?”

“You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“It’s a little hard to explain over the phone.” You glanced over at Loki.

Loki stared blindly at the wall next to you.

Tony sighed, “I’ve got a lot of things on my plate, kiddo.”

“You know I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t urgent.”

“I wouldn’t mind you checking in occasionally if it wasn’t urgent. Things have been really dangerous. More and more are dying to the cold each day.”

“And to the monsters?”

“How’d you hear about that?”

“It was on the news. And…”

“And what?”

“I can tell you more if you visit.”

“Don’t you hold information against me.” Tony griped.

“Hey, I know how to barter with you. You give me something, I’ll give you something in return. Come as soon as you can.” You ended the call.

“What was that about?” Loki asked curiously.

“Whatever those blue monsters were, the Avengers will want to know. I saw a news segment on it. They don’t know what have been attacking people, and it seems like we’re the first ones to survive them.”

Loki turned away. “They’re called frost giants.” He said softly. “Jotuns, if we’re being accurate.”

You furrowed your brow at him, “You know about them?”

Loki sighed, “I’m… familiar.”

You thought of his red eyes behind the gauze. Best not to press it.

There was a streak of red outside your window and you heard a heavy thud at the street below.

“He came now?” You asked shocked. “Go, go, go get dressed.” You ushered Loki to the bedroom so he could change back into his armor, your face heating up as you tried to fix your messed up sleeping hair.

A knock sounded at your apartment door followed by Tony’s voice, “You’re decent, right? I do not want to be traumatized for life.”

“Ha, ha, come in.” You sat down on the bed and pulled your knees up to your chin, waiting for Tony to come in.

The door opened and Tony walked in wearing his Ironman suit. “Hey!” He looked around, “Wow, what’d you do to the place?”

“Consolidated. I figured if I only heat the main area, I’d save electricity.” You stood up and walked over to him.

Tony’s suit melted away and left him in a thick sweater and jeans and a pair of leather gloves. “I’m so glad that suit is insulated.” He caught you in a hug as you squeezed him tight. “So, who’s the guy?”

You pulled back, cheeks burning. “Guy, what guy? Who said anything about a guy?”

Tony raised his eyebrow and pulled off his glasses, letting them melt away. “You definitely don’t wear, uh, what are these?” He bent down a pinched a pair of men’s slacks between his fingers, trying to keep them as far away from himself as possible. “And if you were deciding to, I would definitely be getting you a better stylist.”

“Look, warmth is the most important thing right now, I wasn’t going for style.”

“Uh-huh. Right. So, who’s the guy? You meet someone while rescuing?”

You hesitated, “Kinda.”

“Did he at least sleep on the couch?”

You shoved Tony’s chest, “Who I sleep with has no business of yours.”

“You sly cat, you. How long have you two known each other?”

“Tony!” You dragged out his name. “I didn’t sleep with him. Look, I found someone out in the cold and I brought him back here. I just gave him a place to sleep, I’m not kicking him out.”

“I wish every woman I met out in the cold invited me back home and let me spend the night with her.”

“Honestly Tony.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just teasing. You’re so uptight. I know nothing happened.”

You sighed, shoulders slumping, and shook your head.

“Well what’s his name, let me meet him, see if he’s worthy of my baby cousin.”

“He’s injured. Did you bring the tool?”

“Oh yea, right.” Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red tool. It was rather stick like with two prongs at the end. “It can cut through anything, but it’ll take a while if it’s really thick. Laser technology, I won’t bore you with the details.”

“That should be good.”

Tony raised his eyebrow.

You turned and went to your room, knocking on the door, “Are you, uh.” You glanced at Tony, not wanting to have him hear you ask if Loki was dressed.

The door opened and Loki stepped out, fully dressed in his leather and metal armor.

Tony blinked, nearly dropping the tool. “That is not who I expected you to have in your apartment.”

#Loki x reader #Loki #Loki laufeyson #Loki friggason #Loki x you #loki laufeyson x you #reader insert #no y/n #ficbit #avengers fanfic #avengers x reader #avengers fanfiction #avengers fic #multi chapter

[butteraway]

when time runs out | i

⋆ summary: A young girl has fallen deeply ill with an unknown disease in her, so with all her free time spent in an empty hospital room, she spends it online playing video games. That's until she meets her cousins friends, one spiking her interest with his extremely vulgare language.

pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader

warnings: nothing much really, mentions of blood

word count: 1.3k

author’s note: Hey guys!! I just wanna let you know I made a few changes here and there in this chapter, nothing too big. Ah but seriously, I’m tired, but I’m having a lot of fun rewriting these huehuehue

No one saw it coming.

Who would have thought this could happen?

Of all the people who it could’ve been, why her?

L/N Y/N wasn't your average girl. Being related to a clutz like Kaminari Denki was no easy task. Despite them only being cousins, they had a relationship almost as tough as iron. No one would believe that the two were related, both being on different sides of the spectrum.

Quite popular at school, no one really cared much for her quirk, surprisingly, since she never had one to begin with. What made her so cool though, was her bright personality. Though she was quirkless, she had a big heart and was a strong girl. Y/N was ambitious for someone her age and had excellent grades that could rival a high school student's knowledge. In store for a very promising future, for a thirteen year old, she basically had it all. 

Well. 

Almost had it all.

It was until that unfaithful day, everything came crumbling and crashing down around her. 

Family had only assumed that her light coughing that would come out every now and then was caused by an itchy throat. But when the light coughs turned to violent gasps for air, they were more than concerned. Especially when Y/N began coughing up blood. They took her to every doctor in town only to have the same answer thrown at them. 

"I'm sorry Mrs. L/N, but we can't find any causes for her condition."

"Mr. L/N, test results show that nothing is wrong with your daughter’s health."

Of course, despite all the long trips and visits to hospitals and well known doctors, Denki and Y/N's relationship never once wavered. Having every opportunity when she was forced to stay indoors, she would spend her time playing video games with Denki. 

Of course, when she did have the chance to go outside, she'd most likely be playing with Denki or picking flowers. As they both sat on the swing set in a park near Y/N's home, they cracked jokes trying to make the other laugh. 

"Y'know what's a real good joke?"

"What? Your grades?"

"Pshhh, noooo. Me becoming a hero!" 

Y/N smiled as she let out a loud laugh, sending her to the dirt on her knees as she tried to regain her breath. Her laughing soon turned to her clutching her chest, ragged breaths escaping from her mouth.

"H-hey Y/N, it wasn't that funny."

The harsh breaths turned into coughing as her face turned paler at the second. Soon she was gasping for air to enter her lungs, clawing at her throat, hoping for all the pain to stop. Denki was long on the floor, kneeling with a horror stricken face and shaky hands hovering over Y/N’s body.

"Y-Y/N, what's happening?!"

Of course Y/N never answered, Denki wanted to kick himself for even asking such a dumb question at the moment. He quickly scooped her up from the ground only to struggle with keeping her in his arms. His arms were far too weak to be holding all her body weight, but Denki only prayed he'd make it back home. He ran as fast as he could, yelling for his aunt and uncle to help him. By the time they came out, Y/N’s mother shrieked in terror as she took the poor girl from Denki's arms. Y/N was only gasping for what little air entered her body, blood slowly dripping from the corner of her mouth. Quickly getting inside their car, her father drove at an alarming rate to the hospital. The cries of his aunt only scared Denki even more when Y/N had stopped her struggling. Doctors whisked her away as fast as possible, stabilizing her and drawing out the blood from her lungs. The married couple could only pace in anticipation while they waited for a doctor. Denki, on the other hand, stared blankly at the white wall in front of him. 

Was she going to die? Was it his fault that she was in such a devastating state? Seeing the color quickly drain from her face was the only thing Denki could really think about. It was his fault. Those thoughts plagued his mind, even after his parents raced into the waiting room, hugging his aunt. His mother bent in front of him, staring directly into his sunken eyes. Tears formed and fell down as he looked down to his hands.

"I'm s-sorry, it's m-my fault she's like t-this."

His mother embraced him, reassuring him that none of this was blamed on him. A couple hours passed and a doctor had arrived to inform the family of devastating news. 

"Though your daughter is in critical condition, we have stabilized her enough to where she will be able to survive on what medication we have given her. Even with what tests had shown us, we aren't receiving any type of diseases coming from her. This could mean that she possibly has a newly formed disease in her. There isn't any information on how it could have formed in her, but we could only guess she had formed some germ of a sort and it grew from there. And with the condition she's in now and the lack of information of what we know about this, we won't be able to determine when she will get better, or even if she will get better. So as of now, it is highly recommended that she will have to stay in the hospital for her recovery and to prevent any more events like the one that happened today."

And despite the devastating news happening inside the bleak hospital, the outside world seemed to only flourish with life.

Y/N's parents were devastated and Denki could only stare at the doctor with sadness. As weeks passed, Y/N only got worse, it was a miracle that she was still alive. While doing research, doctors and some scientists had found out that the bacteria in her room worsened her body. They were confused on how this disease worked, but they couldn't complain. They moved the weak, thin girl to a secluded part of the hospital. Spotless, almost dust free, and clean her room was, it barely looked like a normal room to be put in. (Y/N) had little consciousness during the whole situation, not being able to lift her own pinkie, even if she tried. Months passed, and Y/N's body began to strengthen itself back slowly. Though, the only thing that could possibly kill her was having other people around her. So family members would have to look through a window and talk through a microphone in order to communicate with her. 

Y/N honestly felt like a caged bird.

Denki would visit (Y/N) regularly, talking to her as she smiled and laughed. Every now and then, a doctor with a protective suit on would enter her room and quickly shut the door to check up on her. (Y/N) was silent during those times, looking at the doctor, examining the suit with an unreadable look on her face. Two years she had spent in the confined room, and during that time she had gotten her own computer, console, and tv as her form of entertainment. Playing online with strangers and getting to know them brought a smile to the girl's face. She knew she wouldn't be able to go outside anymore, not with how she was now.

Doctors have found out that overtime, her body had been slowly eating away at the medication, but it wasn't too severe at the time.

"Y/N's body has been rejecting the medication we have been giving to her. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything to prevent this and we have estimated she will have a year or so until her body doesn't take any of the medicine. We will need to ask permission to add higher doses of medication to her medicine. We will try our best to find a solution to this, but we can only apologize."

And this was how Y/N was in her position now. Despite the short time allowed for her, she didn't know how many things will happen in just one year. And who she will meet at that fact.

#bakugou katsuki #bakugou #bakugou x reader #mha #bnha #mha angst #bnha angst #bnha fluff #fanfic

[fayeimara]

Meant To Be Series || One For Every Billion

Episode 3. Angel's Blessing | Pt 1

Your weeks in Miyagi flew by so fast, you're a little sad that you'll shortly be heading to stay with your aunt and uncle in Tokyo soon. It didn't feel like you'd spent nearly enough time with Toshi. You'd also had only a couple days to visit Tobio and Miwa, your cousins from your mom's side that also lived in Miyagi, but you didn't realize it wouldn't be nearly enough time. You'd had to promise him, Miwa, and their parents that you would stay with them the next time you visited.

You had a little over a week left here and Toshi and the guys from Shiratorizawa had just started their summer break so it was the perfect excuse to make the most of your time left while taking them out to celebrate. You'd gotten to know them well during your stay, with constant drop ins to their practices - You could swear even Coach Washijo had warmed up to you! ...or maybe just gotten used to tolerating your presence.

You'd also spent a lot of time chilling with the guys on their time off but that was usually chilling indoors playing video games at one of their places or stopping by cute little shops. Toshi, Tendou, and Semi had even come shopping with you a couple times which was a hilarious circus in itself but you repaid the laughs you got by torturing them and buying them gifts. Although you didn't realize it wasn't quite regular at first but they got used to it... well, at the very least Semi stopped getting flustered and just let you have your way.

It's not like you couldn't afford it and when you said that to his face, he literally just rolled his eyes and said something about rich kids which you threw back in his face because... hypocritical! At least you had your own hard-earned money, but you just refused to tell him how and why it was still so much and you think he was kind of concerned now.

Regardless, you'd be leaving soon and you really wanted a special night to commemorate this trip and your new friendships so you told the guys that you all were having a nice dinner somewhere, your treat. They protested that at first but you stood firm and finally they picked the nice sushi restaurant you were headed to for dinner tonight.

Hence, you out here in a chic semi-formal outfit, which is basically a cute dress and flats with a couple layered necklaces and matching bracelets on each wrist.

"Y/n!" You're standing with Toshi and Tendou, already outside the restaurant when you hear your name. Looking over, you see Semi, Yamagata and Soekawa walk up to the three of you.

"Thank you so much for offering to treat us tonight!" Soekawa says as they reach you.

Semi's scowling like usual but he sounds relaxed when he adds, "Yeah, although it really should be us treating you."

You laugh and shake your head, "No way! I'm just so glad to have made great friends like you guys here, how can I not want to celebrate our friendship before I leave?"

"I wish you could stay." Yamagata's looking down both literally and figuratively, "You could come to Shiratorizawa and we could chill all the time like we have been."

"Aw, you'll still have me!" Tendou exclaims with his arms up in the air. He's moving towards Yamagata, who dodges before he replies.

"We see you every day! It's not the same, she's actually nice and doesn't always poke fun at us for every little thing!"

You giggle at them because their dynamic is great, yeah, but what you think he really means without saying it is that all these boys need is some platonic estrogen in their lives.

Tendou narrows his eyes at you when he hears though and you think he knows you well enough to know you're amused at their expense so you're ready for his move.

"Hmm..." He pretends to think, "Maybe if we kidnap her, she'd miss her train to Tokyo and have to stay here longer!"

Before he even finishes his sentence, he's running at you and you're embarrassed to say you shriek in surprise before spinning to run away, calling over your shoulder, "It doesn't work that way! I'd just get on a train the next day!"

Too bad you're not watching where you're going because you run right into a wall in your path. Just a metaphor this time because this wall stumbles back with a soft 'oof-' as its arms reach out to wrap around and steady you while you fall over together.

Oh my god, you just ran into, and took down, chocolate boy- you mean chocolate eyes. Wait, no- "Oikawa!" His name slips from your lips in disbelief as you look up at his face and then your face turns to what you're betting is a very embarrassed shade of red - and for too many different reasons, oh god.

He's a little stunning stunned but you think that's from the fall so you can't fault him when he responds, "Angel?"

Tendou's standing right by the two of you and you swear this boy really doesn't know how not to tease in an already pretty embarrassing situation because he just has to say, "So.. Y/n. Getting up off of our rival anytime soon?"

"I'm so sorry!" You blurt out again as you carefully try to move off him without using him as leverage since, you know, he just took the brunt of a fall that was your fault for the both of you. You also don't want to embarrass yourself any further by accidentally placing your hands anywhere intimate inappropriate.

His arms only release slightly and he's already sitting up while you're kind of maneuvering your limbs to find purchase on the ground around and in between him so you end up basically straddling his leg and your faces too close for comfort in that split second before you stand back up. And you never want to think of this again. Like if there was ever a time for a hole to open up and swallow anyone into oblivion it would be now and that person should be you.

He's way nicer than you would have expected from a pretty boy though because he just laughs brightly as he stands too, "No need to apologize! I think we reversed and I was just the one in the way this time."

"No, this one wasn't you at all. I'm really sorry, Oikawa."

Another voice chimes in, quite seriously, "Dropped the honorific already, Y/n? And that's the second time in minutes.. I wasn't aware you met more than that one time."

Even Semi is teasing you?! He almost got you for a second, his voice was perfectly serious, you only realized because you noticed the glint in his eyes when you looked over to make excuses. So instead you.. still make an excuse.

"I didn't grow up with this? It's pretty normal to use someone's name without honorifics back home!"

"Hmm." He looks like he'll drop it, but oh my gosh, Yamagata picks up the let's make fun of Y/n game by throwing back, "I don't know Y/n, you've had no trouble fitting in like a local for weeks. Seems suspect."

You look to Toshi for support but he's silent and just calmly looking back at you.

What. Is. This.

Even Iwa and the other friend behind Oikawa are various degrees of amused. Like. What?

You can't look at him, but you'll make it worse if you don't so you literally use all your remaining dignity to turn your probably flushed face back to Oikawa and all your control to keep a serious, sincere expression before trying to apologize again.

"Please ignore them, they were just telling me how nice I am since I don't tease them when they're down but apparently not enough to return the favour. Anyways, I hope you can accept my apology." No way are you saying his name again, because whether you use the honorific or not now, either option will just get you teased more.

You finally manage to look into his eyes again and that's when you realize that you're not the only one that's incredibly flustered. Like, he is too? Did he hit his head when the two of you fell? And.. has he just been staring at you this whole time?? Oh god, you're wearing a dress! Are you somehow flashing yourself?? The guys would tell you right? You quickly run your hands down the flared skirt to check without looking and making your consternation obvious, but no, everything seems in place.

He clears his throat, catching your attention again, and then there's a smile on his face, maybe more like a smirk, "That's okay, really... Now we can make it up twice."

Suddenly, your embarrassment is forgotten and you're smiling back. How can you not? You had said that back then because, what were the chances, really? So you definitely hadn't expected that cute moment with a cute boy to mean anything and yet here you are.

"Okay, yeah, sure." You lightly laugh out your words, because you're a little unsure about your coming offer but you're still about to go for it. "I'm treating these guys tonight so, if you and your friends would like to, you're welcome join us. If you think that might be enough to make up for running you over this time."

He's a little taken aback and shaking his head, "I can't let you treat me."

"Why?"

He blinks like he doesn't understand, "We both have to make it up to each other anyways, right? So that wouldn't make sense-"

"But we'll join you." His friend Iwa cuts him off as he steps forward, "We're celebrating his birthday tonight anyways and it'll be nice to have some buffers for his stupid."

Aw, his pout from last time is back and he's actually whining, "Iwaa, you're so mean to mee. And on my birthday?"

"Ohh goodie, this will be fun!" Tendou is literally the heart eyes emoji now but you think it's from the thought of all the fun he'll have torturing so many different people tonight.

"Yes. We have a table booked because we were unsure how busy it would be." Toshi adds, "I will inquire as to increasing our reservation."

It seems Oikawa's realized that he's going to be having dinner with his enemy and honestly looks a little sour about it but then you catch his eye again and he sees the smirk on your face. He tilts his head as he studies you because maybe he's only just realizing you're not such an 'angel'. No, you're definitely more a devil, it's probably why you and Tendou get along so great.

Either way, it looks like he's made his choice because he gestures for everyone to head into the restaurant after Toshi and now there's nine of you instead of the original six.

As you wait, you're properly introduced to Iwa - who is actually Iwaizume - Hanamaki, and finally Oikawa, before you introduce yourself. The first two call you by last name, but Oikawa calls you Y/n-chan or even just Y/n and you let it go because who are you to insist on proper etiquette when you're not even from here? Yeah, right, that's your story.

You end up sitting next to him and you think that was definitely manipulated by at least his friends if not also Tendou, who's managed to snag a front row seat right across the two of you.

It's definitely lively with this group and once everyone places their orders, it only gets louder as they all start talking and joking around with each other. For rival schools, they're making a surprising effort to get along, minus Tendou, but you think everyone has mutually decided to ignore his jibes.

"So..." You look over to your right at Oikawa with a bright smile to match his, "I didn't get to say it yet but.. Happy Birthday!"

"Aw thank you Faye-chan! I'm pretty lucky to have an angel wish me.. I have a feeling I'll be blessed for this year - if not the rest of my life!"

Ack, why are you blushing again? Is he genuine, flirty, or right on that line in between that you usually manage?

Probably the last, since you can't tell and you're the master at it. Okay then, fine. Let's play, pretty boy.

"Hm, I guess you didn't know that an angel can only pass blessings through tears or kisses.. if you want a blessed year, you'd have to make your angel cry... or fall in love." You inform him casually, holding eye contact the entire time so you don't miss the widening of his eyes, the colour on his cheeks, and that completely taken aback expression that slides on his face. Yeah, you went there. You have no filter when you're being impulsive but it's not like anyone else is listening either so you can be a little risky.

With a smirk, you finish, "Not just anyone can receive an angel's blessing after all. You'd have to be one of the luckiest guys in the world."

Something slightly shifts across his expression, like he reached a thought or decision you can't read, before he composes it to a conciliatory smile, "Well, then I'll just have to do my best to make sure I don't make sure I don't make you cry."

You get a warm, fuzzy feeling even though you left that opening for him, because that's a pretty sweet implication to make. You know you're both playing, but you can't help but wish he actually was going to try and make you fall in love.

Your wrists tingle at that thought, like an ever present reminder that fate in love is chosen for anyone who decides to follow that path. You refuse to get sad and melancholy, you've known the multiple markings on your wrist have decided your supposedly perfect matches since the moment you was born.

Unlike others in the world, who either choose to completely follow that path and dedicate themselves to the names etched on their skin or even those that completely oppose the idea of that kind of pre-destined love and shy away from it, you decided long ago that you would be neutral and give your soulmates a chance when you found them. So, you're not exactly available to just anyone, but you're not closed off to options, especially given that you're a little on the rarer side given the number of names currently hidden on your skin.

You don't realize you're adjusting the bracelets on your wrist until you notice him watching with a curious look on his face. What are the odds this cute boy you ran into has six currently indecipherable markings on his own skin? He hasn't rolled the sleeves of his shirt up this whole time so you haven't been able to check, if you would have even bothered to before, but by now you have a small, little percent of you that wants to know. It's just considered pretty bold and forward to ask or really keep trying to catch a glimpse of others' marks and even you're not that shameless. Maybe he's among the people that decided to completely ignore his marks?

Okay, now you're a little sad, but it's supposed to be a good night. You can hear the chatter of my and his friends around the two of you, but it feels like, for a moment of mutual quiet between you both, you're in your own little world together, with just each other and your shared thoughts. Or maybe you're just projecting.

You're glad when Iwaizumi distracts him from his other side because you dropped into this rabbit hole in your head so fast, that you're sure you got all weird and quiet and pretty obvious. You look up and see Tendou staring at you with a raised eyebrow and a pretty rare serious look on his face. Aw, he's checking to make sure you're okay. You really hope he didn't hear your conversation, though, because he's been one of your sounding boards on this matter way too much so he needs a break and you just don't want to talk about it.

Thankfully, the food arrives and your mood is back up as you all enjoy the delicious appetizers and variety of sushi that's been prepared for your table. You make Oikawa try a spicy dynamite roll when he admits he hasn't before and Tendou and Semi both keep stealing your gyoza before you can slap their hands away.

You're full well before any of the guys at the table when the topic of your trip comes up.

"Y/n-chan, what did you mean when you said you're not from here earlier?" Oikawa looks over to ask before dipping his last roll into some soy sauce and popping it into his mouth.

"Oh, I'm actually visiting Japan for my summer vacation. I spend my school year in America."

Maki pipes up from across Iwaizumi, "That's a pretty specific way you worded that. You live there?"

You smile happily knowing that he's caught on fast, you're a big fan of how words are used for communication, "I mean, I've spent so much time in different countries with friends and family and am usually travelling when not in school that I actually did mean that how I said it. Technically, I've been living here the past month, haven't I? And the next month, I'll still be living in Japan, only to return home when school's about to start."

"You'll be in Japan, but not Miyagi?" Iwaizumi is holding his green tea, his head tilted like he's trying to read between the lines now that he's realized you mean more than what you typically say.

"Yeah," You fiddle with your chopsticks, lining them up perfectly before looking around the table with a sad smile, "I'm off to stay in Tokyo instead, next week. I'll miss it here, but I'm also looking forward to my next adventures and new friends." You say the last with a smirk aimed at the Shiratowizawa guys who either smirk, whine, or roll their eyes (I see you, Semi) in response. Toshi seems completely unaffected but you know he'll miss you so you're not offended.

"So that's what you were yelling about taking a train before you ran into me." Oikawa states with a smirk while your face gets hot remembering that awkward encounter outside. Didn't you decide you never wanted to think of it again?

"Weren't you the one 'in my way'?" You throw back quickly but he's already shaking his head.

"No, pretty sure you made it clear that one was on you and only you, and who am I to argue with an angel?"

"Oi, shittykawa, stop trying to embarrass her, you're acting like trash." Wow, can you take Iwaizumi everywhere with you? Knight, shining armour.

"Iwa-chan! I think you've already forgotten what day it is again!"

"Yeah, it's the day you're supposed to grow up."

They're going to start bickering again so you think Soekawa is diffusing the tension when he return everyone to the original topic, "It's almost like you grew up here, though, I wouldn't be able to tell you're just visiting since you fit right in."

"Even when you claim not to be familiar with common customs!" Yeah, thanks Yamagata, I'm going to ignore that.

"Well I have a lot of family in Japan. Toshi, of course, and a few other cousins, aunts and uncles in different regions. So I guess it's like a second home for me where I've spent the majority of my breaks when I'm not travelling anywhere else." Soekawa already knew that, as did the rest of the Shiratorizawa guys, so you're just following his lead to keep the peace and share a little more for the others at this point.

"So you come back a lot?" Why is Oikawa asking? You don't want to read too much into it.

"Sure, if I don't have any other obligations, then yeah, I love spending time here."

"Why not just move? You could live here and come to Seijoh!" Aw, Maki's the sweet one in their group.

"If she were to live here, she already knows she should come to Shiratorizawa." Guess who?

Oikawa's reply follows so quick after Toshi's statement, like he just knew where it was going, "Yeah, no. She'd definitely like Aoba Johsai much more."

Ugh, you should have expected this too. The table erupts into a slightly heated debate but you can't fault this rivalry, it gets even worse between the academies back home so this is really oddly polite and low-key in comparison.

You excuse yourself and leave them at it to go wash your hands before dessert arrives and surprise, surprise, who do you bump into on your way back out to the dining room but pretty boy himself. Definitely curious if he was waiting for you for some reason or it's just a coincidence because, you know, people are allowed to use the restrooms when they need to.

"You know, Angel, you promised to make it up to me for running into me earlier."

"I thought we were supposed to make it up to each other?"

"Well.. then, how about we choose what we want from each other to fulfill our promise?"

You hesitate because it seems like he already has something in mind, but you don't think he would ask for anything you wouldn't be okay with. You're caught in his gaze as you take way less time than you probably should to consider his proposition before agreeing, "Well, it is your birthday, I guess. So tell me, how can I make it up to you?"

His smile becomes positively wicked, if you could call it that on a cute teenage boy, "Since I'm hoping for an incredible year and I got it wrong the first time, I'd like to ask for an angel's blessing."

You choose your words carefully, because, is he asking for what you think he is!?

"I don't suppose you want to make me cry?"

He chuckles and it's just a divine sound that rolls right through you, holding you still in this mesmerizing moment, "I'm sure I already said I don't ever want to make my pretty angel cry."

"I'm not your anything, Oikawa."

"Call me Toru, Y/n-chan. You're at least my friend, aren't you?"

You swear he's just stealing your smiles and blushes, because you can't stop the amused pull of your lips and light, warm flush at his playful tone. "I don't know, Oikawa, I don't think friends ask for kisses in return for... small mishaps."

"Well, I think we're friends," he pouts before settling back into an almost serious expression with a confident, sincere smile on his face, "but I'd really like to know what it's like to be the luckiest guy in the world."

"Hmm." You pretend to think it over but you already know your decision because you're so ridiculously charmed by this guy, "Well.. I suppose if it's a birthday wish..."

And before you can overthink it, you cross the step of space between you two, lean up with your hands resting on his chest for balance, and close your eyes before softly gifting him a small kiss on his cheek, right by the corner of his mouth. You must be as reckless as your friends say but you can't help but love the electric feeling that comes with the adrenaline of making bold and risky choices.

You want to look away so badly but you're also stubborn so you force yourself to keep meeting his eyes as you drop back down from your tip toes and pull away slightly. He'd immediately reached for your waist when you stretched up to reach him, as if to help steady you, but you're realizing now that was like some conditioned automatic reaction because he's actually looking frozen in shock and a little disbelief now that you're studying him.

Is he surprised that you actually gave him a kiss in some way, when he asked for it? Wow, you hope he wasn't completely joking around.. you hadn't thought you were reading that wrong. Oops?

His eyes are slightly wide again and mouth a little open like he was about to say something at whatever point he froze- why does he look so cute like this?? What a face he's making.. You smile at him and repeat your wish to him, "Happy birthday.. Toru."

He blinks like he's coming out of a trance, arms gradually dropping back to his sides, and this time, his smile is slow to spread but so sweet and happy. You think for a moment again about the marks on your wrist and wonder.. no. What are the odds?

"Angel, you... I'm really already the luckiest guy, aren't I?" Oh my gosh, why does that make you blush? He sounds incredibly genuine, maybe that's why.

"I guess, as your friend, I'll have to agree." It was supposed to come out sounding playful and careless, but there's a certain tension as you're kind of looking at each other for a moment before you feel the need to get some space from this.. weirdly intimate scene. You start to step backwards, with a friendly smile back on your face, "I'll see you back at-"

"That was my birthday present, right?"

You stop moving and tilt your head in confusion, "...yes?"

He smirks, "So what about 'making it up' once, let alone twice?"

You're pretty sure disbelief is sliding across your face now, "Seriously? I don't just go around giving birthday kisses, what more could you want?"

His laughter is warm and ripples in the space around you, "Don't look so suspicious, angel! The kiss was a birthday gift, we both agreed. But to make it up for running into me earlier, I just think exchanging our socials should be more than enough. We're friends anyways, right?"

"Oh." Okay, now you're a little embarrassed. You guess that's not really a sacrifice and it would be nice to keep in touch with him when you leave. It makes you sad to think you'd never run into or get to talk to this sweet chocolate boy again. "Okay, sure. But here's the thing, Oikawa. That's your request, not mine, so you still have to make it up to me for running into me that first time." You hold your hand up, briefly uncurling your first finger to make your point, before dropping it and tilting your head at him with what you hope is an innocent smile on your face.

He doesn't look thrown off at your challenging retort, so you're pretty sure he's got a feel for your unpredictable nature at this point. Oh well, you're sure you can still keep surprising him if you continue your friendship.

"Feel free to let me know what you want whenever you're ready then, but don't wait too long, Angel. It would break my heart to think I didn't pay off my debt to you."

You laugh off his lighthearted words with your own, "What a heavy word for our deal! Aren't devils the ones that hold debts over you? Pretty sure angels wouldn't ever do something so unkind."

He raises an eyebrow at your playful statement before remarking, "Are you trying to warn me? Pretty sure devils make deals, too, the debt just comes after. Sounds familiar, now that I think about it."

Your mouth drops at his teasing, even though you once again left him that opening, but before you can respond, Tendou finds you both, "Are you guys hiding out here from the rest of us? Sneaking some alone time, hm?"

You roll your eyes, because at this point, there's a lot worse moments he could have walked into that he'd never let you live down so, you're just thanking your own blessings. Toru's actually the one that snarks back something about getting away from him because he's annoying, as you all head back to the table together. That's when you also realize that he didn't head to the men's room so.. he'd been waiting for a moment alone with you.

Was it just about the birthday kiss and both of your 'debts'? Or was there something more left unsaid between you both?

You settle that thought away for later while the two of you quickly exchange your contacts before dessert arrives. Toru offers you his mochi in exchange for trying some of your coffee jelly and you almost give him a bite of your own spoon before you see the blush on his face. See, you do forget some things are still considered more intimate here in Japan than in North America.

He's still about to go for it, leaning towards you and opening his mouth for a bite, when you withdraw your spoon with an embarrassed laugh because, hey, his friends are watching pretty closely. Although, Toshi, Tendou, and even the other Shiratorizawa guys must be pretty used to you slipping on these things around them because it hasn't caught their attention.

You take that bite yourself, savouring the flavour and texture, while grabbing a spare spoon and handing it to him with a look out of the corner of your eyes. He accepts it with the slightest pout, actually looking a little disappointed, but then ends up digging in and finishing the rest of your dessert. He's ignoring your protests, grabbing the cup and turning so he's blocking you as you try to reach around him so you retaliate by taking away the rest of his dessert, which is pretty good too.

You find a moment while the guys are distracted and finishing up to quickly stand and find a staff member in order to cover the dinner before anyone else can do anything about it. When you return, Toshi and Tendou are looking at you, Toshi with a resigned look on his face and Tendou smirking at you. Yes, you're stubborn - these boys know it, some of the others are learning it, and the Seijoh guys will be getting their first taste of it. Pun intended, you guess.

You all stay a little longer before Toshi decides it's time to be heading back so you, him, and Tendou stand while the rest of the guys look at you three like you're missing something.

Iwaizumi's the one to speak up, kind of like he's not sure if you're oblivious, up to something, or that he's missing something, "Uh.. we need to pay the bill."

"Wait, are you serious?" And cue the realization for Semi, but then, he's also spent the most time with you apart from your cousin and bestie here, "Y/n?"

You just smile at him, not wanting to actually upset anyone, while Tendou responds, "I don't know why you look so surprised, Semi-Semi."

The others guys are starting to catch on and protest but it's Toshi who cuts them off, "If it pleases her to have taken care of the bill for us, than we should not disrespect her wishes. Do not throw her gift back in her face or feel indebted, I can guarantee it's no trouble to her and it makes her happy."

"Thanks Toshi!" You hug his arm while looking at the guys, "He's right, I never really agreed with anything when we first discussed it and this was my intention the whole time. I hope you guys enjoyed it and don't let it bother you, because I, for one, am just happy to have had this time tonight with all my new friends."

You swear, even Iwaizumi blushes and Maki actually hugs you. Toru's giving you a narrow-eyed look but he does have a smile on his face so you know he's letting it pass. If you're going to be friends, he'll have to realize that you're not one to stand on formalities or politeness. You do think things through and observe etiquette when necessary but, mostly, you do what you want to when you want to, especially if it means making the people you care about happy.

When you exit into the warm, summer night, you all start to head the same way. Most of the guys have grouped off with Soekawa and Yamagata walking furthest ahead, far enough that you can barely hear their voices, let alone their conversation. Just behind them are Toshi, Tendou, and Semi close enough that you can heard the lilt of their conversation but can't quite catch the words they're saying. Somehow, you and Toru have gravitated together and you think it's done purposefully again, because Iwaizumi and Maki are trailing slowly behind the two of you as if to give a little space too.

Toru is complaining about something Iwaizumi said but it seems like a pretty standard occurrence, their antagonist friendship, so you're just listening to the sound of his voice and appreciating the moment in time. You don't know when, or even if ever, you'll find this sort of relaxed comfort with someone you only barely know. You guess that's why you miss it when he grows a little quiet before asking, "So what's your life like when you're living your school year in America?"

You look up at the sky, thinking over all the thing you might say, and you settle on, "Busy, I guess."

"Hm. Me too, but that's typical, right?"

"Is it? What keeps you so busy?" You're looking over at him now so you see the smile slip on his face while it seems like now he's the one looking at something in the distance.

"I mean, other than school, I'm the setter for Aoba Johsai's volleyball club."

You laugh out loud but explain when he looks a little offended, "No, sorry, it's just, I already knew that!"

"Oh? Keeping tabs on me?"

"No, silly." You reach out to smack his arm and he grabs it like you've hurt him, pouting yet again. "I mean, aren't you and Toshi rivals? Like, everyone here plays volleyball, right?"

"Except for you?" He sounds almost certain, with just the slightest question in his voice when he throws that out there so you smirk, interested to see his reaction.

"I'm the setter, you know. Toshi apparently said once that I could teach you a few things." He whips around to look at you and you can see he's torn between several emotions - definitely curiosity and competitiveness among them.

"You were talking about me?"

"Semi mentioned it to me, I don't know if Toshi has actually ever complimented me on my skills to my face." You laugh a little, thinking about your cousin's quiet, serious, and direct nature. "Wait, no. He definitely has, but I think we were in single digits then. He hasn't seen me play in person for a long time."

"Hm. Well, he does have a good eye for talent."

"Right, like I don't know how much he bugs you about joining his team." You tease lightly, tilting your head so you can look sideways up at him, "Haven't you heard? You should have gone to Shiratorizawa."

He rolls his eyes, matching your tilt with his own to look sideways and down at you, "Don't you start too or we're not friends anymore."

"Aw." You copy his signature pout, "Toru-chaaan, you're so meeaan!"

He's shaking his head in complete disbelief at your silliness but you've got him smiling wide - and slightly blushing - too so you consider it a win.

"We're going to be a really strong team. I wish you could come see me play." There's a pause and you think he's finished but he adds, "You know, when we beat your cousin and his team."

"Hm." You don't agree or disagree, choosing instead to divert, "Or you could see me play and I could teach you that thing or two."

"I wonder." He actually sounds thoughtful and you're kind of glad because it means he's not as conceited as he sometimes acts. You wonder why?

It's almost time to move on, and you're anticipating your goodbye already, "You know, I'm glad we ran into each other."

He looks surprised that you would say that and thrown off because it's not flirty or teasing. You're genuine and sincere in your statement and you're sure that comes across.

"Really?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? You're a good person to be around, Oikawa. I can tell that from just a couple run ins and a couple hours. I'm happy to call you my friend."

The look he sends you is as undeniably warm, tender, and sweet as it is slightly apprehensive and thoughtful. You don't know why he seems to question his value or worth in some way, but you can tell he appreciates your words, however he decides to accept them.

"I'm glad to have run into you too." It's said softly before he seems to switch back into his confident smirk, "I'm really glad to have received a blessing from a pretty angel like you too."

You're not going to blush, nope. No. You can feel your face heat up so you throw out a random statement to cover your fluster, "Aren't all angels pretty, anyways?"

"You're extra special." He smiles and then adds, "You look especially pretty tonight."

"Uh.. thanks. I mean, it was a celebratory dinner one way or another."

He's still studying you, particularly the bracelets that cover your wrists, so you're not exactly surprised when he reaches out a little, to lift your arm. You don't notice you've stopped and are facing each other at this point because he's asking, "Do you always wear these?"

You study them when you don't need to, for once avoiding that inner urge for strength to look up, face your fears, and see what might lie in his expression. "No. Obviously I can't when I play."

"The rest of the time?"

"Not really. Not these specific ones a lot, either, but other bracelets or sleeves or gloves, sure - it's probably like fifty-fifty." You don't know why you're even telling him this but his expression is a little apprehensive, a little hopeful, so maybe you want to see where this goes.

"Why?"

You look up at him then, at an unusual loss for words and not knowing if he understands what it's like. He must know, of course, like every child in this world learns growing up, how diversely fractured the beliefs in this concept is. You're sure he's aware of the people that completely support the soulmate system and push others to believe in it just as faithfully. He must also know about the other side of the scale, people that literally hate the concept to the point of forcing their disbelief, mistrust, and active rebellion onto others. That's all common knowledge quite well understood around your world and anyone can fall anywhere on the scale, like with politics or religion.

But does he understand how it feels, even in a world where almost every person has at least one name on their skin, to have six? To either be an object of awe, or envy, or disgust. To be you, in that position, an overthinking, overachieving daughter of an almost empirical family, and to have to account for how the marks you were born with might be received in the various environments you're in. You haven't even been able to use your real last name for years thanks to your last deal with your grandmother.

You don't know what his mark is, if he has more than one, you don't even know what he thinks of any of it and where he falls on that scale. And you're supposed to explain why?

He's still looking at you, waiting for something. You don't know if any of your thoughts have hit your expression because you're so conflicted and a little scared. But you're also oddly curious too, like a little part of you is hoping that out of the 7.6 billion people in the world, you just happened to run into and click immediately with one of your six actual soulmates. Seriously, what are the odds? 1 in every 1.2 billion, you guess.

It's like he can see you're retreating, even though you feel like you haven't even moved to take a breath, and he asks, "Can I?"

It's like your heart stops. Why? Why? But you're biting your lip and nodding, like in some kind of trance-like moment. You don't move to help him figure out the clasp and he's just about to snap it open-

"Oi!" You look over and see all the guys stopped a little bit further down from the two of you, where they're clearly going separate ways. When did Iwaizumi and Maki even pass you both??

You burn with embarrassment and concern at how completely unaware you were while talking to Toru. Has it only been a minute or two since you stopped walking? It felt like eternity and a single moment all at the same time.

When you look at his face, he has an equally complicated mix of emotions on his face, that same embarrassment and shock, but also frustration and.. what looks a little bit like a question, if you both can stay here and see this moment to its end. What end would that be?

"Yo! Stop flirting, it's getting late!"

Without looking over at the others again, the both of you pull apart and, metaphorically, pull yourselves together before breaking eye contact and turning to walk the rest of the way.

"You know," You've almost reached the group and you don't expect Toru to talk so you're a little startled when he cuts into the silence but, "I'm really excited to meet mine."

You look over at him at him again, grateful he's diffused the tension so beautifully, even though you're left with what feels like hundreds of questions. You push it all away to bring back some of that easy comfort you were enjoying and answer him with a bright, sincere smile, "Me too. I always have been."

You hope that conveys something to him or explains it a little. You've never been ashamed of the marks on your skin. You're not enamoured with them either. You're simply open to what the possibilities could be and happy to accept whatever makes you and the people you care for happy.

You don't bother questioning the odds or worrying about all the pressing thoughts you've chosen to tuck away for the rest of the night, even after you say your goodbyes and part ways. One way or another, at least some of your questions will be answered. Because in a little over two years from now, if you're the youngest of all your soulmates, the designs that so prettily cover the six currently unreadable names between both of your wrists will change as if they've melted away. A little over two years from now, on your 16th birthday, the names of your soulmates that have been etched into your skin from birth, will finally reveal themselves.

And from your perspective, what you do then won't be any different from how you operate now. Because your future and your fate will always be your choice.

-x-x-x-

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Masterlist

Behind The Scenes!

-Y/n is pretty solid on where she stands regarding soulmates, including hers specifically - She wants to give them a chance, which means no serious commitments or relationships until she's learned who they are and met them; if any of all of them want nothing to do with her, she's decided she'll move on and explore new possibilities with a higher degree of commitment at the time

-She's aware things don't go as planned or imagined.. you might call her realistically optimistic.. she's also well aware through personal experience that what you think you want to do might not line up with how you feel about people since, you know, you can't control the feeling, heart wants what the heart wants, etc, etc :')

-And, like any teenager that is constantly undergoing different experiences, particularly one with a tendency to overthink many things, she also suffers moments of doubt and questions if her philosophy should change - for her, there's no perfect answer, just the best she can do or choose

-Essentially, she has a flexible mindset in that, while she has her opinions which she stands for pretty steadily, if new information does manage to sway those opinions, she's always willing to adapt and learn, consequently updating those opinions and beliefs with new information

-Oikawa... isn't playing around. Actually, he loves to play around, lol, but he's definitely interested in Y/n. He also definitely questioned their odd instant attraction to each other but he's not going to push or make anyone actually feel uncomfortable, especially with a ridiculously high chance of being wrong

-He wasn't lying when he said he's excited to meet (and know) his soulmate, but he's also still just a kid and he currently already loves something real/tangible with all his being so he's okay to wait for something that's supposedly meant to be

A/N: Hi friends! I felt like the written part of this chapter was really long so I'm posting the SMAU part on a different post tomorrow morning. It'll also give me time to make sure everything is in line since I have a lot more trouble with putting those together, as previously mentioned. As always, feel free to send me a message if you noticed any mistakes or even just have anything you want to say about the story so far. I'd love to hear from you! <3

Taglist: @delusivist

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu soulmate au #poly relationship #haikyuu x you #haikyuu suna #haikyuu osamu #haikyuu atsumu #haikyuu kuroo #haikyuu oikawa #haikyuu bokuto #haikyuu fanfic #haikyuu smau #hq smau #haikyuu smau series #haikyuu x f!reader #hq #suna x reader #osamu x reader #atsumu x reader #kuroo x reader #oikawa x reader #bokuto x reader #suna rintarō #miya osamu #miya atsumu #kuroo tetsurō #oikawa toru #bokuto kotaro #haikyuu x y/n

[krreader]

SEVENTEEN scenario → seeing a foreign reader and being smitten with her.

pairing: seventeen x reader fandom: seventeen warnings: / genre: fluff word count: 1.7k+

a/n: one of the requests that has been sitting in my inbox for a long time, I’m very sorry it took this long, but I hope you like it, my love!

choi seungcheol

As their leader, this wasn't just amazing for him to be here, but to experience his band member's reaction to it.

Billboard Music Awards.

They really did that.

Seungcheol looked around with the biggest smile on his face, when he spotted you. You were on the red carpet, but you weren't a performer. It seemed more like you were one of the staff members working.

Still, Seungcheol continued staring until you finally noticed.

You smiled, brightly so, but he was super embarrassed and looked away, but only for a small moment.

He knew that he couldn't approach you, not here, not when all eyes were on him and his members. But he hoped he had the chance to talk to you later in the evening... when it was, hopefully, only you and him at some point.

yoon jeonghan

Korea was freaking cold right now and he wasn't into that.

He'd much rather be inside, under a blanket and with a bunch of candles burning, than in this freezing cold, waiting for the shoot to finally be over.

But then an angel came.

Quite literally – for him at least.

“Here,” you handed him a steaming hot tea, “You look like you need it.”

From the looks of your uniform, you seemed to be from the nearby café. He had heard that it was a foreign café, but he hadn't thought that foreigners were working in there, since it was usually always Koreans working in these places. Not that it mattered much to him. He still stared at you like an idiot, not grabbing the tea because he was too busy studying your features.

You smiled, but weren't sure what to do.

Thankfully, Joshua saw the situation before it could get even more awkward and grabbed the tea out of your hand with a: “He appreciates it, thank you very much.”

And even when you left, Jeonghan still stared after you.

“Hyung has a crush,” Joshua quickly started teasing.

joshua hong

It was only a two-week break, but Joshua still decided to fly back to L.A. to visit some family and friends.

However, his plans got completely turned upside down when he met you the second day that he was back in L.A.

“Did you guys get a new neighbor?” he asked his cousin as he stared at you getting the groceries out of your car.

“Ah, yeah. Her name's (Y/N). She's super cool, man. You should go and say hi!”

“I don't think that's a good..-” but you already caught him staring and there was no going back anymore. You started smiling and straightened your back, before saying: “Hey, do you guys mind helping me move this inside the house? It's a little heavy.”

But before Joshua could say anything, his cousin already started shoving him towards you with a grin, “My cousin would love to help you.”

wen junhui

Los Angeles truly was the city of angels. That's what he thought when he found you standing next to him, waiting to cross the road with him.

You noticed right away, smiled instantly.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” he smiled back at you, but that's about all he could do.

Maybe you thought that he'd say something else, but he didn't. All he could do was stare. And no, this had nothing to do with the language barrier, this was simply because he was too busy staring and his brain didn’t work properly anymore at that moment.

At first, you were disappointed, especially after the lights turned green and you crossed the road, but when you felt someone's hand on your shoulder, you smiled once again.

“I'm... Junhui. And... you?”

kwon soonyoung

This was their last night here, they'd be flying back tomorrow morning.

And of course, this had to be the night where he found someone that he'd love nothing more than to talk to.

Your friend that you were at dinner with had noticed him staring, whispered something into your ear and then got up, walking straight towards Soonyoung.

“She's interested too,” is what she whispered to him before leaving.

And when Soonyoung looked back at you, you were smiling at him.

It might have only been one night, but it was.. one of the best nights he's ever had, hands down.

jeon wonwoo

At first, Wonwoo hadn't even seen you. He was busy paying for his Americano, but when he heard someone speak English next to him, he instantly raised his head, just out of curiosity.

And boy, did he not regret that decision.

You were downright beautiful, glowing, almost. You seemed happy, conversed with the lady at the counter with ease, despite the language barrier between you two.

And when you noticed and smiled back at him, it was completely over for him.

“Uhm.. excuse me?” the lady holding out his cash asked for the third time, after he hadn't heard the first two times, because he was too busy staring into your eyes.

He blushed like crazy.

But you thought it was really endearing. That is actually why you ran after him and were courageous enough to ask him for his number.

lee jihoon

This was... an unusual sight, to say the least.

Jihoon was pretty sure that he knew every single staff member in this company by now, but he definitely would have seen you around before. You had to be new.

“Who is she?” he asked his manager as they were waiting for the elevator to come.

“Ah, that's (Y/N). She's from (Y/H/C). One of the higher-ups thought she'd be a good addition.”

“Who.. who is she going to work with?” he was still staring and when you noticed and smiled, walking towards him, he started to panic a little, “Manager? Who.. who is she going to work with?”

But when he turned around, the manager was already gone and when he was face to face with you, you said: “Hi! You must be Jihoon? I heard you and I are going to be working together from now on!” well, he got his answer.

lee seokmin

Seokmin was standing outside of a café, waiting for the rest of his members to come out, when he noticed this really cute bookstore right next to it.

Originally, he only wanted to check out the books, but then was way more fascinated with who he found standing inside the shop.

He was staring, not even trying to hide it and even when you noticed, he didn't stop, merely smiled like you did.

“Should we.. tell him we're done?” one of the others asked when they got out and saw him having this... connection.

“No, he'll be fine. Let him enjoy this.”

kim mingyu

Mingyu was confident in himself when it came down to looks, if he wanted to, he could probably sweep any lady off her feet in a matter of seconds.

However, no matter how good looking he was, his English skills were lacking and whereas he would have approached you within a minute if you were in Korea, he now just stared at you with an open mouth, too afraid to talk to you because he wouldn't be able to express what he wanted to say to you.

But maybe that was okay.

Because when you noticed him staring, you smiled. Not shyly, but almost in a welcoming matter. That smile gave him the confidence that he needed to walk over to you after all and even though it wasn't easy, he still managed to have a conversation with you and, even better, score a date with you later tonight.

xu minghao

You might think that doing something like this on tour was boring, but during a stressful time such as this one, this relaxed Minghao the most.

Just sitting in a café, watching people, and reading a book. Especially when it was a foreign café as small as this one, when he was sure that nobody would notice or care about him. He could just be himself.

“Excuse me? Here's your order,” you placed it on the table in front of him, but hesitated when Minghao continued staring at you. You smiled a little, though unsure, “Is.. everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he shook his head, then started laughing about himself, “Thank you.”

Oh, he was in deep shit.

“Everything is great, actually,” he added with a happy smile.

boo seungkwan

Originally, Seungkwan had planned on watching all the drama episodes that he had previously downloaded onto his phone, but then you ended up sitting next to him on the plane and there was nothing else he could focus on except for you.

And, honestly, it was a little creepy, to say the least. Because he wasn't even trying to pretend like he wasn't staring.

In the end, you turned your head and smiled a little, “Excuse me, but can I... help you?”

“Oh, sorry!” he quickly said, “You're pretty,” but when he smiled so endearingly, all you could do was giggle.

And that is how the conversation began.

hansol vernon choi

Vernon was downright amazed by you.

They were having this really cool shoot at the beach today and you and a couple of friends were playing Volleyball at a nearby net.

It wasn't even that you were really good at it – and if you were, he just couldn't focus on that, because he was busier noticing other things – but your energy made him want to get up and play with you.

One of your friends must have noticed, because she whispered something in your ear and a moment later you turned around and stared right back.

He thought about quickly turning around and pretending like he hadn't just stared at you for about ten minutes, but was glad that he didn't when you started waving him over.

In the end, him and a few of his band members ended up joining you guys for a match during their break and he ended up with more than just your name.

lee chan

Seungkwan and him were out for dinner, just the two of them after a busy and stressful day.

And it was nice, you know? He got good food, had a little bit to drink... it was just.. nice.

And then it became even better when two girls sat down at the table next to them, one of them being you, and Chan nearly spit out his drink because he really hadn't expected to see someone this pretty tonight and definitely not a foreigner in this traditional restaurant in the depths of Seoul.

You instantly started giggling, even more so when Chan quickly wiped his mouth and then continued smiling.

And so what started out as a dinner for two, ended up with the four of you having an incredibly fun night together, laughing, eating and drinking.

And... a bit more for you and Chan.

#seventeen imagine #seventeen reaction #seventeen scenario #seventeen x reader #seventeen #kpop imagine #kpop scenario #kpop reaction #reader #requests

[plainbrunettelbl]

ABO (A) Lumberjack Kirishima Eijiro x (O) Teacher Reader Battling With Time (Chapter One)

Word count: 1957

Warnings: None

Title: ABO (A) Lumberjack Kirishima Eijiro x (O) Teacher Reader Battling With Time (Chapter One)

Summary: You visit your cousin when she gets married. You come across a shark-toothed Alpha that makes you want to stay.

🦈-You were in town because your cousin was getting bonded. They were like your other half so of course, you traveled from the North to the South to see her bond with her mate. 

🦈-You honestly didn’t expect things to go so well with her Alpha. When she mentioned considering being a mail order bride you thought she was insane. You finally met her mate and he couldn’t be a better Alpha. 

🦈-You were happy for her. 

🦈-The ceremony was a small family gathering so you didn’t get to see any of the townspeople. From the ones you did see walking around the town, they seemed nice. You lived in a big city so the small town of quietness was refreshing. 

🦈-You had just finished attending college for your teaching degree. You had applied for a position at a prestigious all-girls academy before you left. You planned on spending a week here to visit your relative a bit more.

🦈-You arrived four days before the wedding and you enjoyed laughing and talking with her like old times. You wrote letters to each other but it wasn’t the same. The bonding ceremony happened on a Wednesday so straight after you were left caring for her house while her mate and she went on their honeymoon. 

🦈-Today was your first-night alone so you thought you would treat yourself and eat at the one restaurant they had in town. The bonding party had eaten there after the ceremony so you knew the food was amazing.  

🦈-You now sat down at a table and waited for your food. You had ordered mushroom ravioli and you couldn’t wait to try it. The plump older lady who ran the place was a sweetheart. You felt warm in her presence.

🦈-You felt calm sitting by yourself in the big room. 

🦈-You weren’t the only one here for dinner. A few families occupied a few places. Their blonde children filling the room with laughs and giggles. You thought the father would get after them but to your surprise, he went along with their antics.   

🦈-When they started throwing bread at each other he did settle them down though. 

🦈-While viewing the family you noticed a redheaded male walk up and greet everyone. Your table was a bit away from them but you still noticed his unusual pointed teeth. 

🦈-You didn’t know what to think of them. They were a bit scary looking but his wide smile made them less intimidating. You didn’t have much time to think about it before your food came to the table. 

🦈-You gave the person a smile and thank you before setting your napkin on your lap and grabbing your utensils. 

🦈-You didn’t know that a certain Alpha caught your soft voice from across the room. He looked up from Bakugo’s giggling child and his eyes met your frame sitting alone at a table. 

🦈-He was instantly put under a spell. 

🦈-He couldn’t see much of you but just from the small part, he was seeing he loved every inch of you. Your hair looked soft under the light and the crimson gown you were wearing drew him in even more. 

🦈-He almost choked in his tongue. He hadn’t seen you before. Where you just passing through? The thought of never getting to talk to you or see you again made his Alpha whimper. 

🦈-“Who is that Omega over there?” He questioned his friend, tilting his head in your direction. 

🦈-Bakugo turned his head and looked eyeing the Omega. His mate also did the same after she was finished cutting up her pup’s plates. 

🦈-“I don’t know. I don’t get much time to come into town.” Bakugo said, turning back to his friend. 

🦈-“I think of the Omega who works at the bakery just got bonded. I think she mentioned something about some of her family coming in for the ceremony.” His mate explained, rubbing her belly. 

🦈-“I would know. I have been there three times a week picking up their cinnamon rolls. It seems every time I am with a pup I crave cinnamon. I wonder why.” She pondered, patting her stomach. 

🦈-“When the pup is born I would be more than happy to take the kids for a bit so you can get some rest and bond with the new pup.” He said, a smile blooming on his face. 

🦈-“Thank you, Kiri.” She beamed, reaching up to pat his arm.

🦈-“No problem.” He grinned, eyeing the little munchkins messily eating their dinner. 

🦈-He was about to say something else and he heard a chirp coming in your direction. He quickly snapped his head up. His Alpha pushing forward. What happened? 

🦈-He saw you quickly look around trying to reassure the people around you were fine. He said goodbye to his best friend and his mate before walking in your direction.

🦈-He wanted to make sure for himself that you were okay. It wasn’t because he wanted to hear your angelic voice again. He was nervous as he walked closer to where you were sitting. 

🦈-What if he came off as too intimidating? He knew some Omegas feared him a bit because of his big muscles and shark-like teeth. He hadn’t had much interaction with them because of them.

🦈-You must have heard his footsteps since you turned around and your eyes met his. He knew he was a goner.

🦈-“Hello. I was just wondering if you were okay?” He tried not to stammer. His heart felt like it would beat out of his chest. 

🦈-His Alpha wanted to coo at blush creeping on your cheeks. 

🦈-“Oh, I’m fine. I was just a little too enthusiastic digging into my meal. I burned my tongue.” You explained, laughing a bit at the situation. 

🦈-“Oh, I can understand that. I come in here all week for dinner. I love the pot roast they have. I have burned myself nearly a thousand times trying to eat when it only just came off the stove.” He laughed along with you, hoping to come off as less intimidating. 

🦈-It didn’t work. Your gaze was immediately drawn to his teeth. 

🦈-He brought a hand up to cover them. 

🦈-“I’m sorry if they freak you out. I know they are a bit odd.” He mumbled from behind his hand. His mood lowering a bit. His Alpha whimpering at the thought of you being afraid of him. 

🦈-“Not at all. I think they are interesting.” You commented, smiling up at him. 

🦈-You notice his change in demeanor. Your Omega wanted to comfort him right away. 

🦈-“I bet you don’t have to worry about choking anytime soon.” You joked, hoping he didn’t get offended. 

🦈-Kiri instantly tried not to blush at the soft smile you sent his way. An Omega who wasn’t afraid of him. His Alpha all but howled in joy. He was quick to give you a wide smile as well. 

🦈-“I suppose that is a good way to look at it. I noticed you were sitting by yourself. Would it be okay if I joined?” He asked, eyeing the seat across from you. As much as he wanted to enjoy dinner with you he knew he wouldn’t hesitate to find his own table if you didn’t feel comfortable. 

🦈-“Sure. I could use the company.” You agreed, your heart picking up at the thought of him sitting just a few feet away from you. 

🦈-He was quick to sit down. Once he ordered his meal it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. You both laughed and talked. The conversation flowed endlessly. 

🦈-“So what are you doing in town?” He questioned, cutting up his roast with his knife. 

🦈-“I was here for my cousin’s bonding ceremony. They are on their honeymoon now so I am watching their house while they are away.” You replied, sipping your drink. 

🦈-Your plate had already been cleared of food.

🦈-“Oh, that’s nice of you.” He complimented, chewing a bite of his roast. 

🦈-“Yeah. They are gonna be gone for the week so I can only watch it for a few days before I had to head back home.” You responded, shifting in your chair. Your Omega didn’t like the idea of leaving this sweet Alpha behind. 

🦈-“Oh.” He said, his mood dropped a bit at your statement. 

🦈-Before he could fully absorb your news a sweet waitress named Mable came to the table. Picking up your empty plate she turned to Kirishima. 

🦈-“How is it going, Jack?” She asked, leaning against the table. 

🦈-“Jack?” You lifted a brow at him. 

🦈-“I’m a lumberjack.” He informed before turning his attention to Mable. 

🦈-“I’m doing good. We have got a lot of orders coming in so I have practically spent more time surrounded by trees than people.” He responded, giving her a small smile. 

🦈-“Oh well, it is good to hear business is doing well.” 

🦈-“Yeah, it is.” He replied. 

🦈-“Have you heard about Maybelle? Your neighbor?” She asked, eager to share some gossip.

🦈-“No? Is she okay? I have been meaning to go over there to fix a few things. I think she said one of her cabinet doors fell off.” He said, tilting his head up. 

🦈-“Well, I heard some kids were roughhousing on the stairs when school was dismissed and she fell down them trying to break it up. I swear kids these days don’t know how to behave.” She informed, holding her hand to her chest.

🦈-“What? Is she okay?” He worried, sit up straight in his chair. 

🦈-“Yeah. She only ended up with a bruised hip and a sprained wrist. Her mate was worrying up a storm.” She replied. 

🦈-“I will have to go see her soon then.” He added, upset over the news. 

🦈- “Now we are down a teacher and we can’t find anyone to take over while she recovers. The doctor said it will take her two weeks to recover. Normally since school is ending in a month they would just end it till next spring but a lot of the families are worried since a lot of mothers took up winter jobs while their pups were at school and they won’t be able to watch them.” She explained, shaking her head. 

🦈-“Oh, that’s terrible.” You gasped, your hand going to your chest.

🦈-“I know.” She nodded. 

🦈-“I just got my teaching degree. I have shadowed a few times but I haven’t been in charge of a class before. Do you think they would let me take over until Maybelle gets better?” You asked, leaning closer. 

🦈-“I am sure they would be happy to have you. You would be a lifesaver!” She approved, smiling at you. 

🦈-“Who would I have to talk to?” You asked, excited at the thought of getting some practice. 

🦈-The school you applied for was a bit distinguished so you knew this could be a great learning experience before you actually started teaching. Of course, you still needed to find out of you were accepted. 

🦈-“I think the Mayor would like to talk to you before you would start.” She informed, thinking of Mayor Yagi. 

🦈-“I will make sure to see him as soon as I can.” You confirmed, smiling over at Kiri. 

🦈-“I guess I am staying a little longer after all.” You hummed, slightly happy about the situation. 

🦈-Kirishima was absolutely delighted by the news. His Alpha wouldn’t stop jumping around and yipping. His heart warmed at the thought of spending more time with you. He slightly wondered if he could win you over before it came time for you to leave. 

🦈-He wouldn’t mind battling with time if it meant winning your heart. 

🦈-He quietly formed up a few ideas. He couldn’t wait to put them into action.

This was my first time writing for Kiri so I hope he came out well. He really is a big softie. I am gonna make a part 2 so look out for that. Thank you to the sweet fan who suggested it. 💕💕

#mha kirishima #mha x reader #mha fanfiction #kirishima imagine #kirishima eijiro x reader #kirishima eijiro #kirishima eijirou #bnha imagines #BNHA Headcanons #bnha x reader #bnha kirishima #Alpha #Omega #omegaverse #mha omegaverse #bnha omegaverse #bnha fluff #fluff #mha fluff #western romance #western AU

[adenei]

Moving Forward

Written for Round 3 of the Houses competition. The prompt is: [first line] You never know how much you miss someone until you see them again.

A Ron & Ginny sibling fic following the war where Ginny reflects on the past year.

***************

You never know how much you miss someone until you see them again. At least, that’s what Ginny realized as she reflected on the reunion in the Room of Requirement. It had been nine months since Harry, Ron and Hermione had disappeared, with no way of communicating with their family. Now, the war was over, the battle fought with so many lives lost, yet those three had managed to survive.

Ginny was sitting at the table in the Burrow kitchen, nursing a cup of now cold tea. It was well past midnight, and yet she couldn’t sleep. She figured now was as good a time as any to process and reflect on the last year. A soft, yet sarcastic laugh escaped her lips.

Last year, she hadn’t even been dating Harry at this time! Their whirlwind of a relationship had only lasted about a month, and then Dumbledore died, and that changed everything. She’d held a lot of resentment because of that. Everything she’d been waiting years for had been ripped away from her, both literally and figuratively.

Ginny remembered holding out hope that maybe she and Harry could share a dance at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but Harry had to take Polyjuice. It would have been odd if she’d been dancing closely with her ‘cousin.’ Then, the Death Eaters had turned up, and she watched her ex-boyfriend, her brother, and one of her best friends disapparate out of sight. 

She never got the chance to say goodbye.

Sure, her father sent a Patronus to tell the trio that the family was safe, but they couldn’t receive anything from them in return. It would have been too risky. So, they went a few weeks with no news until Remus said he was going to check Grimmauld Place and report back. Yet, he hadn’t; at least not until well after the Ministry infiltration. By then, she was at school, and gaining any information was limited. It wasn’t until Christmas when Fred and George had reluctantly filled her in on what they knew.

Ginny remembered how she did her best to distract herself from the perpetual dull ache in her heart because she was missing Harry. She’d resigned herself to find comfort in no news, and resolved to not allow herself to wallow in the longing. She was stronger than that. If there wasn’t anything in the Prophet, then they must be safe, she told herself. 

Things were easier when she was back at Hogwarts, or so she willed herself to believe. Sure, the constant reminder that several of her friends were missing was always there, but she was able to deflect the thoughts with school work, her secret flies at night, and the small attempts to make Snape’s life a living hell. She shuddered at the recollection of detentions she’d received with the Carrows and the pain they’d inflicted as a result of her actions. It was worth it, she thought. 

Bill showed up just before she was supposed to return to Hogwarts after the Easter holidays, and the family officially went into hiding. She felt awful because there was no way to contact Neville to let him know what happened. Now he’d be the only one leading the charge. The silver lining through it all was knowing Harry was safe. Her heart had nearly burst from Bill’s news. It was a small comfort, even if she still hadn’t been able to visit him. 

She thought she missed him even more after that, as the dull ache had paired with the anticipation and hope that she might still be able to see him again. But then she walked through the door from the secret passageway to the Hog’s Head and was sure her heart stopped beating as she saw him. 

It was so unlike her, letting a bloke influence her emotions so much. But then, it’d always been different with Harry. Taking a sip of tea, Ginny closed her eyes and remembered how their eyes had met; she could practically see her own relief reflected in his bright green eyes. She desperately wanted to run over to him and throw her arms around his neck, but something had caused her to hold back. 

Time and distance had allowed an unfamiliarity to settle between them. It felt like all the progress they’d made had been ripped away from her, like when the other team would steal the quaffle just as she was about to score an imperative goal. Her relief had turned to worry that the time apart would break their bond, and she found herself missing him even more. There was so much at stake that night, and she had no idea—

A creak from the stairwell cut her thoughts short. It looked like she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep.

“What are you doing up?” she asked the figure as she found her voice.

“Could ask you the same question,” her brother retorted as he rubbed his eyes.

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought some tea might help.”

“Same,” he said as he made his way over to the kettle.

“Is Hermione alright?” she asked.

Ron nodded. “She just fell back asleep. The nightmares are getting better, but they’re still there.”

Ginny watched as Ron moved around the kitchen before settling across from her with a steaming mug. They hadn’t talked much since returning, and it felt odd to share the table with him after all those months apart. She almost allowed herself to be consumed in her thoughts again when Ron spoke up.

“What was it like this past year?”

Ginny simply stared at him, trying to figure out if his question was a coincidence or if he’d used Legilimency to find out what she’d been thinking about. She’d always felt a strong bond with Ron, and even being apart for months hadn’t dampened the relationship between them. 

“Rubbish,” she said as she shook her head.

“I’m sure it was still better than—”

“Barely!” Ginny cut him off. “How would you know? You were with Harry and Hermione for a year, so you didn’t have to miss them! You didn’t have to worry about whether they were still alive or not! Every single day I’d wake up and be scared to open the paper to find out that you’d been captured or killed. You didn’t have to watch Mum and Dad cope with knowing you were out there alone! Not knowing was torture.”

She wasn’t sure where all her anger was coming from. Maybe it was the grief of Fred’s death sneaking up on her, or the fact that she’d been suppressing so many emotions for the better part of a year. It wasn’t fair that she’d just unleashed it all on Ron, but he needed to know things weren’t easy for them, either.

“I know,” Ron said, sounding deflated.

“You don’t, though. Look, I know it must have been hard, maybe even impossible, but we just—I just—missed you all so much. I really didn’t know if I was ever going to see you all again.”

“Gin, you’re bloody mental if you don’t think I—hell, we—felt the same way. I spent every day in that bloody tent thinking ‘today’s going to be the day someone’s going to get taken by the Death Eaters because of me.’ We had no way of getting any news. The first thing we heard was when Dean, Griphook and Tonks’ dad were outside our enchantments after we couldn’t go back to Grimmauld Place.”

“But at least you three were together.” 

Ron was oddly silent. She was expecting him to say something about the Trace and not being old enough to go with them, but he hadn’t said anything. Something was off.

“What’s wrong?” 

“We weren’t. Not the whole time at least.”

“What are you on about?” Ginny didn’t like where this was going.

“I left, Gin. I left them in a moment of weakness.”

“Ron, that’s not funny. Don’t—” 

“It’s not a joke. No one else knows, except Bill and Fleur.”

“Why?”

He took a deep breath. “Y’know how the Diary possessed you in your first year?”

“How could I forget?” she shot back icily at him.

“Well, there was another object—a locket—that kind of affected me the same way. It didn’t possess me, but it talked to me. It told me Harry and Hermione were better off without me, were better together, and I believed it.”

Ginny felt sick to her stomach. “No...”

Ron shook his head. “It happened any time I got too close to it. Harry and I ended up in a row, and he told me to leave, so I did. You don’t need to talk to me about missing them. I was terrified that something was going to happen. That they’d be caught, and I wouldn’t be there. They didn’t know about the Taboo. When I finally made my way back, I couldn’t believe how much I missed them until we were reunited. I felt like I was finally home, even if Hermione was in a right state.”

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh, and Ron shot her a confused look. She supposed it was justified since it wasn’t really a laughing matter. “It’s just ironic that you’d say that. About not realizing how much you missed someone until you were with them again. I was honestly thinking the same thing before you came downstairs. Seeing Harry again for the first time, knowing he was still alive, it made me miss him more, as barmy as that sounds.”

“I know what you mean,” Ron agreed.

They were both silent for a few minutes until Ginny asked him, “So, how’d you find your way back, anyway?”

“Huh? Oh, with this,” Ron said, pulling the deluminator out of his pocket. “When Hermione finally said my name, a little ball of light appeared, and when I disapparated, it took me to her.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“I wouldn’t either if it didn’t actually happen to me.”

“Well, at least we made it through, I guess.”

“Yeah. Have you and Harry talked yet?” Ron asked.

“No,” Ginny admitted.

“He’ll come around. I can try and see what he’s waiting for if you want.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I can handle it. Thanks, though,” Ginny said genuinely.

She finished the last of her tea and stood up. “I should probably attempt to sleep, and you should get back to Hermione. Thanks for the midnight conversation.”

“Any time,” Ron said. 

She began making her way up the stairs when he said, “Hey, Ginny?”

“Yeah?” Ginny turned to look at her brother when he called her name.

“Even though we’ve got all the time in the world now, I wouldn’t wait any longer to tell him how you feel.”

When had my brother become so mature? She thought as she eyed him curiously. And then it hit her. “You wouldn’t be giving me advice based on your personal experience, would you?” Ginny smirked knowingly at him.

“Would it matter if I am?” He quirked an eyebrow up at her in response.

Ginny couldn’t help but take the mickey out of him. “Well, it’s about time you and Hermione got sorted. Maybe I’ll take you up on your advice. Even if you’re only suggesting it so I can distract Harry for you.” She shot a mischievous look his way as he rolled his eyes.

She vaguely heard him mumble something along the lines of “just want you to be happy” as she made her way back up the stairs. A small part of her knew he was right as she resolved to talk with Harry in the coming days. She was finally ready to see where they stood.

#hp post war #ginny weasley #Ron Weasley #implied hinny #implied romione

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

Here we come with day two of pegoryu week, and it's gonna be the last one I post on time. I'll still be trying, don't get me wrong, I'm just not the kind of person who can write a fic I'm happy with in one day.

Yet.

As always, bulk of the fic is under a cut, link is in the reblogs, and I will daydream of baking you cookies if you share it.

“I did warn you.”

“Not even an arcade, dude?”

“Not unless you wanna get on a train for forty minutes.”

“Ugh. Laaaaame.”

After nearly a month of planning, Ryuji was visiting his boyfriend for Golden Week. One whole month of bargaining with all of their parents, putting aside every last yen they could spare, studying their asses off to earn the trip, and, of course, long phone conversations that were probably about eighty percent “I miss you”s and “I love you”s and “I can’t wait to see you”s. With Akira’s help via video call study sessions, Ryuji even managed to get into the top thirty percent of the class in their latest exams; a new record for him that effectively guaranteed the visit. But they’d been so busy celebrating and planning getting him out to the country that they may have completely forgotten to figure out what they were actually going to do when he got there. So now they were on the Kurusus’ living room couch, Akira cross-legged on one end and Ryuji stretched out across the rest with his head on his boyfriend’s lap, trying to scrape together a date idea.

“I’ll say it again. I warned you. Several times,” Akira repeated while he ran a hand through Ryuji’s hair. “There’s nothing to see here.” Ryuji caught Akira’s free hand, tangled their fingers together, and kissed the back of his hand.

“Yeah there is. You’re here, so I say it’s worth it.” Ryuji grinned as his boyfriend turned pink at the tips of his ears and wrinkled his nose.

“Sap,” Akira grumbled like there wasn’t a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Like they both didn’t know full well how much he liked hearing how happy Ryuji was that they were together, in every sense of the word.

“You love me,” Ryuji said, his grin widening just a little further. Akira’s expression melted into something almost embarrassingly soft as he went back to playing with his boyfriend’s hair. He curled and combed his fingers gently through the short strands, and huffed out a quiet laugh as Ryuji went boneless when he grazed his nails over his scalp.

“Yeah. I really do,” Akira sighed happily and got another kiss pressed to his knuckles. “You’re kind of my hero, you know.” It was something he’d tried to make a habit of telling his boyfriend, even before they were dating. Ryuji still sputtered and objected like it was his first time hearing it.

“You-- I-- that ain’t…” He sat up and shoved a pillow into Akira’s face with a groan. “Now who’s the sap?”

Akira draped himself across Ryuji’s shoulders and planted a kiss on the side of his neck, then smiled against his skin at the shiver that got. “You just have that effect on me, sunshine.” Ryuji grunted in response. “You like it.” Another grunt. Akira blew a puff of air at the back of Ryuji’s ear and laughed when he got swatted away. “Don’t pout. You were right, a date sounds nice. But you gotta help me figure it out.”

His boyfriend sprawled back out on the couch after pouting for a few more seconds, then looked up at him with those big brown eyes he’d been a sucker for since day one.

“Aight, what kind of food you got around here?” Akira could have been exasperated at his boyfriend’s predictability, but a dinner date was more feasible than a movie date, and a lot more pleasant than a gym date. He may have loved Ryuji Sakamoto with all his heart, but he didn’t plan on running again on the regular unless it was for his damn life.

“There’s only like ten places total around here. We’ve already visited three, two of them won’t serve me because the owners don’t like me anymore--”

Ryuji’s head jerked up at that, knocking Akira’s hand free. It was ridiculous how cute the guy was when he was offended. “What?! Why the hell not?”

Akira shrugged and went back to petting Ryuji’s hair in an attempt to soothe him. “Didn’t exactly bother to ask, but probably my record. Cleared of charges or not, my reputation mutated while I was gone and I haven’t really been able to fix it.” Not that he’d tried very hard when he didn’t plan on staying for even a second longer than necessary.

The frown that wrinkled Ryuji’s features was almost comical, but he probably wouldn’t appreciate being laughed at while he was already agitated. Especially when it was on Akira’s behalf. “Ugh, this town sucks, can’t wait to get you out of here. Wait, only probably your record? Why else would they dislike you?”

Akira huffed out another laugh, wry and joyless this time. “My uncle’s a pretty conservative guy, I heard he didn’t react well when he found out I was dating some guy from the city.” Quite literally heard it; he’d been getting ready to visit his cousin and could hear the old man shouting inside the house from the sidewalk. He’d opted to text Yuuta to meet up somewhere well away from their house instead when that happened. And, naturally, the news had mysteriously spread to the rest of town by the end of that week.

Ryuji sat bolt upright and twisted back around to face Akira with a scowl. “Your own effin’ family won’t serve you? What the hell?!” His expression was thunderous, made worse by the doomcloud over his head when he asked. Ryuji almost never got pulled into fights these days and was very proud of that fact--they both were--but Akira was certain that he was ready to deck the old man on sight on his behalf. He’d never encourage it, but the thought still made something in his chest swell a little.

“Just my uncle when I try to sit in. If it’s my aunt or my cousin taking delivery calls, they’ll still take the order. Plus a discount and extra desserts, if Yuuta’s the one who answers.” Akira shrugged, then tugged at Ryuji’s shirt to coax him into laying back down in his lap. He did, albeit begrudgingly, and Akira went back to running his hands soothingly through that remarkably soft shock of bright blond hair. “Anyways, the other five restaurants in town are fast food that you could get back home. So…” He trailed off and watched Ryuji’s scowl soften into an annoyed frown.

“Yeah, pass.” Ryuji closed his eyes, either to think or soak up Akira’s touch as he played with his hair, then cracked one eye open after a moment. “How ‘bout a picnic? You’re a pretty good cook and I bet we could find us a nice spot to just chill.”

That... was a pretty solid idea. Actually, that sounded perfect, and Akira knew exactly the spot for them to set up. He opened his mouth to agree, but was cut off by a low rumble of thunder outside. “...Maybe later this week? The weather should clear up before you have to go,” he said instead. Ryuji pouted up at the ceiling, or more likely up at the sky beyond it for ruining his brilliant plan. Then it was Akira’s turn to pout when Ryuji abruptly sat back up out of reach, but not for long.

The next thing he knew, he was being crowded up against the arm of the couch by one blond bombshell of an ex-track star. Ryuji was suddenly determined to pour himself into his boyfriend’s lap, all mischief and heat as he crawled across the couch towards Akira. He couldn’t think clearly while facing down that wicked grin curving across Ryuji’s face like Haru’s favorite battleaxe cleaving through the air. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d made out. It wouldn’t even be the first time Ryuji had taken the initiative and left Akira a flustered wreck when they did. But since it had been over a month since the last time he’d seen that look face to face, it was having more of an effect than usual, and Akira was left frantically trying to cling to his cool.

“I have an idea, babe.” Ryuji said lowly and Akira’s mouth went dry. Hands bracketed Akira’s hips on the couch as his boyfriend crept closer. “Y’wanna hear it?” Akira nodded and felt heat flare across his skin when he realized Ryuji was keeping that hooded, heated gaze fixed firmly on his lips. “Since your folks ain’t supposed to be back before tomorrow afternoon,” Ryuji’s tone was as light as his body was heavy as he straddled Akira and looped strong arms around his neck, “I was thinkin’ maybe… we could…” Akira was desperately trying to focus on the words being whispered into his ear over his boyfriend kissing his way up his neck and leaving his skin prickling in the wake of every touch.

“Y-yeah?” He couldn’t help the nervous flutter in his stomach. If Ryuji was implying what he thought he was implying... They hadn’t done… that... yet. Even with the house to themselves all day, they hadn’t actually talked about it, in part because Akira hadn’t even thought about it seriously yet. That nervous flutter hadn’t subsided and was starting to feel a little more like an anxious lurch.

Ryuji continued, oblivious to his boyfriend’s nerves with his face tucked against his neck. “We could maybe…” Akira’s hands flexed involuntarily around Ryuji’s hips. He didn’t dislike the idea, just-- His unsteady train of thought was thrown off again when soft lips brushed over his ear. “...watch One Piece together?” After a beat where Akira was left blinking stupidly for several seconds, Ryuji sat back on his legs with a grin that had gone from sultry to shit-eating on a dime. Oh. Okay, he could handle that. “I gotta get you caught up to me, plus I wanna see how much we can get through in one sitting.”

“...you’re truly a romantic for the ages, sunshine,” Akira responded flatly as his heart rate slowly returned to normal. He was teasing back now, because honestly that idea sounded just as good as the picnic, with a lot less effort to set up.

“I know,” he answered confidently, but his smile slipped a little. “Is that a no? I just thought maybe I could buy us dinner from your shitty uncle, and we can cuddle while we take advantage of that big TV with the fancy sound system.” Ryuji gestured hopefully to the flatscreen behind them that was nearly as big as Akira’s bed back at Leblanc.

“Sounds good. Netflix and chill, it is,” Akira declared. When he caught the way Ryuji’s smile and shoulders tightened slightly, he added, “y’know, in the most literal sense.” It wasn’t as though he was happy to see Ryuji nervous, but when his boyfriend relaxed at the reassurance, he couldn’t help but feel relieved that the two of them were on the same page as far as that was concerned.

---

Aki hadn’t been kidding when he said his cousin would hook them up. There was probably double what they’d ordered plus desserts in the bags the guy handed off.

“So, you must be the boyfriend, huh? He talks about you a lot. Y’know, for him.” Yuuta asked as he leaned on the doorway. Ryuji just grinned, because yes, that was him, he was The Boyfriend. Akira’s boyfriend. Akira’s boyfriend. It’d been months and Ryuji still got all giddy about it like it was brand new. Yuuta interrupted his thoughts when he called out past Ryuji to where Akira was sitting and watching TV, “Man, talk about punching above your weight!” Ryuji blushed and opened his mouth to object before Akira could start bragging on how amazing Ryuji was.

Apparently Akira had other plans, because before he could, two sharp whistles rang out behind Ryuji and he reacted basically on instinct. It was the signal Akira had always used to mean duck or you’ll get hit in the Metaverse, and Ryuji’s knees buckled with almost no input from his brain. He had just enough time to worry if he’d spilled the food--thankfully he hadn’t--when one of the couch throw pillows whiffed past his head and nailed Yuuta in the face.

“ACK! The fuck, dude?! See if I give you free dessert again, jackass,” the guy yelled and hucked the pillow back--and missed, from the sound of Akira’s laughter. Ryuji straightened up with a grin as Yuuta turned to him. “How the hell did you two even do that?”

“We’re just cool like that, I guess.” Ryuji shrugged. No need to explain how many times he’d accidentally taken a Lucky Punch or whatever in the back of the head because he got signals mixed up. “Seriously though, thanks for hookin’ us up, dude.” He held up the food and then added a little more quietly, “and, uh, thanks for havin’ Aki’s back while he’s here. It’s easier to not worry if I know there’s at least someone here talkin’ to him besides that damn cat.” That got a snort of laughter out of the delivery guy.

“No problem? I’d say obviously, ‘cause he’s family, but… Well, I’m sure he told you. Our family kinda sucks sometimes.” He frowned, shook his head, then brightened back up. “Anyways, sweet of you to worry. He really did luck out when he found you, huh?” Yuuta said as he stepped back from the door.

Ryuji shook his head. “You got it backwards, man. I’m the lucky one.” He turned back to where his boyfriend was watching TV, now fully absorbed in the show even if he didn’t really look like it. Ryuji couldn’t help the contented sigh that escaped him; he had his boyfriend again and he was going all in on one of Ryuji’s favorite things just because it was one of Ryuji’s favorite things, and it looked like he was actually enjoying it, too. When he turned back, Yuuta was halfway to his scooter, still loaded down with bags of food.

“You really believe that, huh?” He called back. “You keep that attitude, Sakamoto. Even when he’s bein’ a menace, alright? ‘Cause he’s a menace, but he’s my menace, and I’ll serve you up as dumplings if you hurt him!” The scooter rumbled to life and Yuuta added over the noise of the motor, “And you tell him the same thing. I like ya, so he’s gonna be the next lunch special if he’s an asshole to you!”

Ryuji waved in acknowledgment as he sped off, then closed the door and dropped the bag of takeout next to Akira. They paused the episode long enough to sort through the food; a double order of dumplings, pork miso for Akira, spicy vegetable ramen for Ryuji, ginger pork with rice that he was pretty sure they didn’t order at all, and half a goddamn cheesecake for them to split. It was an impressive spread that Akira was already calculating how much was going to be crammed into the fridge at the end of the night.

“Well. Anything we don’t finish tonight can go with us on the picnic?” He suggested as he started on his soup and turned the show back on. They hadn’t made it very far in just yet, and definitely had an uphill battle ahead of them.

Ryuji nodded, mouth already full of noodles. “Shoundsh good to me, dude.” Akira made a face at him like he always did when he talked around a mouth full of food, and Ryuji washed it down with some of the broth. “Family recipe?”

Akira hummed a confirmation around his own food, but paused to actually finish his bite. “Yup. Not as good as the place you took me, but I could just be biased.” Ryuji could hear the smirk in his voice that always cropped up when he was thinking about saying something sappy. Ryuji cut him off before he could, though. Butterflies wouldn’t leave much room in his stomach for ramen.

“I was thinkin’ the same thing. The Ogikubo thing, not the bias thing. Didn’t wanna offend, though.” Ryuji said and took another sizable bite. Even mediocre ramen was still pretty good in his opinion.

Akira chuckled. “Nah. Actually, the ramen there’s always been a little lackluster. I could’ve offered some advice to improve it once I got back, but now? Fuck that guy.”

Ryuji tried not to choke on his food with the laugh that threatened to escape. Scalding, spicy broth shooting out of your nose kinda sucked, especially if you got a noodle along with it. That was an experience he wasn’t keen on repeating. He swallowed down his bite and rasped, “could always pass it on to your cousin. He seems pretty cool when he ain’t threatenin’ to cook us.”

“Ah, you got the shovel talk, then--wait, us?” Akira nodded, but then froze partway and whipped his head around to Ryuji, who nodded in return after clearing his throat.

“Mhm. Said he likes me, ‘n if you break my heart you’re gonna be a lunch special,” Ryuji grinned.

“Asshole. He knows I can’t stand most of what’s in the rotation.” Akira grumbled and pouted into his soup. “What’d he threaten you with?”

“Dumplings.”

Akira’s eyebrows disappeared up into his bangs at that. “Damn, I think he likes you better than me. Uncle’s place is famous for its dumplings,” he explained as he picked the last bit of pork out of his bowl.

“I’m… honored? So is all your family this weird, or is it just you two?” Ryuji asked around another mouthful of noodles. The broth was definitely missing something, but the vegetables were pretty damn good; still pretty crisp but not undercooked. Good flavor on their own, prolly locally grown, too. “Also, how is a place in the middle of nowhere famous for anything?”

“Hey, we still have several other towns nearby, and folks will come here specifically for those dumplings. So you should be honored.” Akira huffed as he popped one of said dumplings in Ryuji’s mouth. Shit, it was pretty killer. Leagues better than his ramen. And of course his boyfriend looked as smug as Morgana when he caught the look on Ryuji’s face. “As for the weirdness? No idea. Around here it’s just me and Yuuta, but I don’t really know much about the ones that don’t live here. Might be because we’re in the middle of nowhere, might be because the ones who live here make a habit of cutting off any undesirables.” Aki shrugged and leaned up against Ryuji. “Maybe I’ll see if I can find any of them when I leave. I dunno.”

Ryuji leaned right back into him and planted a kiss against Aki’s temple, earning himself a pleased little hum from his boyfriend that he felt more than heard. “I’ll be right there with you if you do. I always got your back, babe.” Akira finished his soup and curled up against his side, tucked under one arm. It was nice, even if it meant now Ryuji had to figure out how to eat his ramen one-handed. Eh, he’d figure it out, it’s not like there was much left in the bowl anyway. “So, uh, earlier. You seemed a little tense when I was teasin’ you? And not like usual. I didn’t, like, push too much, did I?”

Akira had suddenly gone very still under his arm. Not the best sign.

“No. But, uh don’t take this the wrong way or anything, I was definitely glad you just wanted to watch One Piece with me. For a second there, I thought you wanted to…” He buried his face against Ryuji’s shoulder. God, his boyfriend was stupidly cute when he got all shy. “...y-y’know. Anyways, I was relieved when you seemed just as nervous about it? Not to be an asshole, but I’m kinda glad it isn’t just me who isn’t ready.”

“Right.” Well, that was that question out of the way, but now he’d paved the way for a new one that’d been rattling around in his head for a while now. God, best case scenario, Akira was probably gonna laugh in his face. Him? Ryuji Sakamoto, of all people, not interested in that? “What if…” He hesitated and tried again. “Well, how long would you be okay with that?”

“What do you mean?” Akira tipped his head up to look Ryuji in the eye. That really didn’t help things, ‘cause even on a good day Ryuji tended to feel small when Akira looked at him like that.

“Like…” Ryuji took a deep breath and steeled himself. “WhatifI’mneverready?” His stomach clenched. There it was, he’d finally said it. Years of wondering if his friends were just exaggerating what they wanted to do with the girls in their class; months of internet research and arguing with himself even when it was the only answer that made sense and trying to backtrack or minimize it with ‘well maybe I’m only kinda like that, maybe I’m that demi thing, maybe I’ll find someone’ to try and soften the blow; a whole year of slowly coming to the realization that that just wasn’t something on the table for him, no matter how attractive Ann was or how close him and Akira got, he just wasn’t wired for wanting that kind of thing, even if he wanted the rest of the sappy, romantic couple shit for as long as he could get it, ideally the rest of his life. All of that had built up to one rushed confession that could make this trip out to the country really effin’ miserable when he still had four more days of crashing at his boyfriend’s place.

“Didn’t... quite catch that?” Akira said after a moment of trying to process what Ryuji had just blurted out. Goddammit. Of course he didn’t.

Ryuji took a deep breath and tried again. “What if… I’m never ready for that? Would that be a dealbreaker?” His heart was hammering as he forced the words out a little more slowly this time. And Akira already looked annoyed. Shit. Shit. He couldn’t look him in the eye and instead stared down at his feet, trying desperately to swallow the queasy feeling in his stomach that threatened to bounce his lunch back up onto the floor in front of him. Ryuji opened his mouth to backpedal, to assure him that if he really wanted to then Ryuji would try for him even if the idea was kind of completely terrifying--

“Of course not!” The sharpness of his tone was what registered first and Ryuji was already braced for a breakup when the words actually hit him. It wasn’t a dealbreaker. It was okay. They were okay. They were... actually okay?

“Wh-- forreal?” Ryuji’s voice cracked embarrassingly and Akira shifted against him, one hand coming up to his chin to make him look at him.

“I already told you, you’re my hero. You…” Akira opened and closed his mouth a few times, like he was looking for the right words and couldn’t find them. One hand cupped Ryuji’s jaw and ran a calloused thumb across his cheek, and Ryuji couldn’t help but press into the touch. “You’re everything to me. I could write books on all the things that make you amazing; your compassion, your kindness, your loyalty, your smile, all of it. So what if we never…” Akira blushed a little, but he seemed determined to power through the embarrassment. “So what if we never have sex? What do I care? I love you, Ryuji Sakamoto, I’m not giving up my sunshine, the best thing that ever happened to me, for anything.”

Ryuji swallowed hard around the lump forming in his throat and buried his face against Akira’s neck. Even away from Leblanc, he still smelled like coffee and curry, still smelled like home. Akira had called it home too, and had told him once that he made Boss’ recipes whenever he was homesick for the cafe, or his team, or… Or for Ryuji. Ryuji wanted to believe him so badly. “It’s easy to say that when you still ain’t ready for it, but--”

“I won’t change my mind,” he insisted so vehemently that no part of Ryuji could even think of an argument. Even the part of him that had been certain for months that even admitting he was asexual to himself would ruin everything. “It’s not like I can’t take care of things myself. And that just means more time for everything else.” Akira paused and pressed a kiss to Ryuji’s forehead. “More time to cook your favorite foods,” kiss, “more time to cuddle,” kiss, “more time to watch our favorite shows, all of it.” Akira dropped one last kiss on his temple and went back to running his fingers through Ryuji’s hair. Then he added, almost too quietly to hear, “for the rest of our lives if you’ll let me.” Let him? He’d fuckin’ beg him if he had to.

“Babe, you’re gonna make me cry,” Ryuji said thickly, as if they couldn’t both feel the wet spots forming on Akira’s shirt from where tears were already streaming down his face. Part of him was still scared he wasn’t going to be enough, and it probably always would be for one reason or another. But for now it was easy to relax into his boyfriend’s embrace and trust that he planned on sticking around a little longer.

Akira kept playing with Ryuji's hair the way he knew he loved and wrapped his other arm tightly around him. He pressed a few more kisses to the top of Ryuji’s head and then asked, “do you need me to stop?” Ryuji shook his head and got another kiss. “Alright. Take all the time you need, sunshine.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“We’re gonna need to restart the episode after, though.”

#persona 5 #pegoryu #pegoryu week 2021 #my writing #had the idea for ace ryuji halfway through this prompt and couldn't resist giving favorite characters the tenderness I have yet to find #so if you clown here I will physically fight you

[onomonopetabread]

Declawing the Cat - Chapter 3

(Sorry it took so long guys, between testing and homework and executive functioning, I could NOT get this done. Anyways,

“Father, do I have to go?” Adrien asked for the hundredth time.

“Of course Adrien. I refuse to go on a business trip as important as this one without you. You’re my son.”

Felix rolled his eyes. He and his mother were visiting the two bachelors (against his actual will, obviously). Everyone in the room knew the real reason why Adrien had to go; he was the face of the brand, and it was common fashion knowledge that to go to such a high-ranking event without your leading model would get you shunned and cancelled. ‘You’re my son’ EVERYONE’S arse.

It was obvious that Adrien was all too aware of this fact, because he couldn’t seem to run out of excuses for why he couldn’t go.

Well, he could also not wish to go because of how brain-numbingly boring the whole affair is, and honestly, who could blame him? This year’s Annual Pre-Junior’s Fashion Competition Assembly was being held in Sydney, and all of the biggest names in the industry were going to attend. The assembly takes place over the course of two. Entire. Months. For what, not even the attendees know. Felix swears, these designers were as mad as a bag of ferrets.

I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing, like Miss I’m-all-that Ginger Breadhouse, you’d probably be in Seventh Heaven there, but if you were, how do you say, normal, you’d sell your soul to be another else. In fact, Felix could almost bet Chat Noir’s Miraculous that Adrien would sign that demonic contract in a heartbeat if that were an option.

“But Father, what about school? I’ll miss so much instruction-”

“Natalie will tutor you, just like she did before you attended that … institution.”

“And my fencing practice? Surely, you wouldn’t want me to miss out on those.”

“Adrien, are you suggesting that they don’t have fencing areas in Sydney?”

“No, I’m just saying that fencing without Kagami wouldn’t be the same…”

“Well, you aren’t going to be fencing with her forever, so think of this as a sample for the future. Now, no more of this arguing, Adrien. You are going to the Assembly and that’s final. Have I made myself clear?”

Adrien’s shoulders slumped in defeat and for a heartbeat, Felix felt sympathetic. “Yes, Father.”

“Good, now go pack some clothes you will need for the weeks. We won’t be at the events the entire time, so I will permit you to bring some of your own wardrobe. Please remember we will be there for a long time, so pack accordingly.”

And with that, they were all dismissed. Adrien trugged upstairs looking particularly peeved. He invited Felix to come with him, and Felix agreed, but only to keep up appearances. If he knew any better, Felix would have sworn that he heard him talking to someone on the way up, but he decided to ignore it; he couldn’t be bothered to guess what weird habits his wanker of a cousin had.

Once they got to Adrien’s room, Felix sat himself down at the piano while Adrien took out a suitcase from his closet and started choosing some informal clothing for when they were just doing day-to-day activities.

“Can you believe that he’s making me go, Felix?”

“Yes, I can believe it.”

“AND we have to leave tomorrow! I won’t even get the chance to say goodbye to our friends.

“Not to worry, cousin dearest. I’ll tell them for you. Anyways, don’t look at this trip as a burden, look at it as a new opportunity. You can gather information and resources for your friend Marinette.”

Adrien’s face brightened at the mention of his friend and Felix rolled his eyes when his back was turned. He swears, all it takes to cheer him up was to be reminded that Pigtails was alive and well somewhere on the planet.

“You’re right, Felix! This way I can help her pursue her dreams! I can’t wait until we get back to tell her everything I’ve learned about the industry.”

“...Can’t you just text or call her?”

“You mean with my phone?”

“No Adrien, I mean with a plastic banana you can buy at the baby store. Yes I mean your phone!”

Adrien paused in the middle of folding a t-shirt and packing it into a suitcase. “I didn’t tell you? Father confiscated it for ‘my own good’. He thinks I spend too much time around my friends and not enough time focusing on my studies, so it’s with him for the time being.”

Well, there goes Felix’s plan to pull a quick cell prank before Adrien leaves. “Adrien Bartholomew Agreste, is that resent I hear in your voice?”

“Yes, it is. I’m tired of responsibilities and having people depend on me every second that I breathe. That’s why I wanted to go to school in the first place; it gives me eight hours of non-Agreste related freedom.”

Felix narrowed his eyes. What did this boy know about responsibilities? All he had to do was play a keyboard, wave a stick around, and look pretty for pictures. Felix couldn’t understand how a job like that could burden someone so badly.

“Goodness, Adrien. You make it sound as though Uncle asks you to carry the weight of the entire ever-loving world on your shoulders.”

Adrien sighed. “That’s just how I feel, sometimes. Anyways, I think these are all of the casual clothing Father will let me take with me. Maybe if I’m lucky, he might not see the video game I hid under them all.”

The next day was a Saturday, so Felix the delivery boy was going to have to give the mega-twits the message at a later time. Today, it was all about acting as emotional as he could for the departure of his Cousin & Co. gabriel thought it would be a good idea for Felix and his mother to stop by the mansion every once in a while to make sure everything was all right, accounted for, and in the case of the house plants, watered. This was news to Felix. He doubted his uncle was even a living being, let alone the type of person to have plants in his home. Right now, they were standing next to the family limo. Natalie and gabriel were talking to Ape Man about transportation in Australia.

“Oh, darling Adrien, I’m so sad to see you go. We only just now got here, and you’re leaving. Why must the fates keep up apart?”

“It’s alright, Aunt Amilie. We’ll be back before you even realize we’re gone.”

“We? Oh, I wasn’t talking about your father, dear. I wouldn’t mind some time away from him. Anyways, I hope you have the best time in Australia. Bring something back for me, will you? I’ve always wanted to get a real boomerang, ever since I was a young girl.”

“I’ll be sure to get you the best boomerang in the country, Aunt A. What about you Felix? Do you want me to get you anything?”

Felix, who was standing some ways behind the others, pretended to ponder it over. “Bring me a friendship bracelet.”

“...A friendship bracelet?”

“If you can’t find one it’s okay I really don’t mind-”

“No, I’ll get you a bracelet. I was only surprised because you aren’t really the type to want one.”

He’s right- there was no way on Good Green Earth would he want some dingly little arts and crafts project. There also wasn’t any way that maybe he wanted his cousin thinking about him during his trip, that he wanted to envision Adrien getting something for him. Don’t even think about considering that Felix felt bad for him, dealing with the devil himself in a new place and wanting to give him something to do. Nope. Not a chance. Felix simply thought that Adrien would look hilarious running around Australia looking for beads and twine.

“...Just make sure you make me a good one, alright?”

Adrien smiled as though he could read right into Felix’s mind, and of course he had to look completely handsome in doing so. Stupid model. They practically had the same face and somehow Felix ended up looking like the off-brand knockoff.

“Adrien, we have to go now. The plane leaves in five hours,” gabriel said, entering the car.

“Why do we need to leave so soon?”

“So that I can buy fabrics with threads, gather all of my designs, double check with Natalie that the suite is still booked for us-”

“Alright, Father. I understand. Well, bye Felix. I’ll miss you.”

With that, he entered the limousine and the four of them drove away.

“Come Felix. Let’s go check the house for anything they might have accidentally left behind. We wouldn’t want them to leave something important,” said Amilie, still a little teary-eyed over the loss of her precious little baby nephew. She couldn’t stand the idea of being away from him for so long, even though his look-alike (her own bloody son) was right in front of her. Of course, Felix wasn’t bitter! Why wouldn’t ever say such a thing?

“Yes, Mother. Would you like me to check Adrien’s room?”

“Please, dear. Oh, look at you, watching over your cousin! And to think you said you wouldn’t like him!”

It was as though his mother never met him. Couldn’t she see that he was just trying to gain some sort of upper hand against Mr. Perfect or to uncover a secret of his? On the sunny side, at least he knows his facade is effective. He was beginning to worry that someone other than Blue-Eyed Phoenix Wright would figure him out.

Felix pushed open the door of Adrien’s room and immediately began to look around and turn things over. He was being extremely careful to make sure that everything he touched was put back in the place he got it from. After looking through his closet and library, however, he was disappointed to find that Adrien was actually as innocent as he seemed (and acted). In fact, the worst thing he could find was a disturbing amount of Ladybug memoria. It was a pity, really. Felix hadn’t blackmailed anyone in a long time, and he was beginning to get antsy. He turned around and headed out.

“Adrien, is that you? I thought you said you weren’t going to come back for another two months.”

Felix did a complete 180 and faced the source of the voice, which seemed to be some sort of floating cat-thing. It looked like a deer in headlights.

“You aren’t Adrien. Wait, are you okay, you seem to be swaying-?”

The thing was right; he was feeling woozy, and it didn’t take him that long to hit the floor, having fainted. The last thing he heard was the talking cat muttering,

“Shit.”

@myazael @2confused-2doanything @thecaptainthunder @thatonecroc @symwinter @mermaidreject @pink-and-bunny @kyrakitesong @your-number-one-second-choice @kayla0binow @hansa-12 @fc-studios @nom-the-king @thetrashypanda423 @chez-pezeater @supertomboyprincess @alyceeve @ceres-zephyr @swiftie-miraculer13 @justafanwarrior @marinettepotterandplagg @starlightshield @sandraf0612

#declawing the cat #chapter 3 #felix graham de vanily #felix x marinette #marinette x felix #marinette dupain cheng #marinette #fanfiction by me #fanfiction #felix #enemies to lovers

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

A few more things that bother me about Simon Lasker.  Not the character himself, but the way the character was written:

1. Can he produce fire or not?  Supposedly he can both produce and manipulate fire, which differentiates him from St. John, but they never really talk about it, and his X-Men costume still features a flame-thrower on his back.

Why?  Why does he have this gear that he supposedly doesn’t need?  It feels like a lazy attempt to just get the look of “Pyro, but he’s an X-Man now.”  It might make sense if he mentioned that he can only produce a limited amount of fire, or that manipulating existing fire is easier than creating it himself (except they keep forgetting to have him use or clean up existing fire in later battles - Storm and Iceman have to put out a wall of fire when Simon is RIGHT THERE and should be the one doing it.)  All of this could still work, but they don’t have any kind of discussion about how Simon’s powers work.

2. Apparently the entire new Brotherhood was mind-controlled or influenced by Mesmero, to varying extents, and the X-Men don’t do a damn thing about it?  They are willing to completely absolve Amara of her crimes with the group (and to be fair, Amara is pretty obviously mind-controlled), but they let the rest of the Brotherhood get taken away by SHIELD.  They don’t make much attempt to reach out to the rest of them, or investigate how much free-will the other Brotherhood members actually had.  It’s mostly just brought up as a partial excuse when Simon wants to join the X-Men, and even then they are initially suspicious and hostile towards him.

3. He burned down a school and it’s never mentioned again:

This scene seems like it should have been much more important, both for the story and Simon’s character development.  I know mutants cause mass destruction every other day in the Marvel universe, but since Civil War started over an elementary school getting blown up, it seems like a mutant burning down a community college and killing who knows how many people would have been major news.  But maybe Mesmero whisked Simon away before the authorities arrived, and no one knew it was him.  This still seems like it should be an important part of Simon’s character development.  How many people were in the school at the time?  How many people did he kill accidentally?  His time in the Brotherhood makes it clear that he has morals and he doesn’t want to actually kill people.  But there’s no follow-up to this story.  I’d expect him to be wracked with guilt, or maybe be keeping it like a shameful secret, afraid that the X-Men will kick him out if he tells them what happened.

I guess it’s possible that the fire happened on a weekend, and there weren’t very many people there, if we want to reduce Simon’s culpability.  I also wouldn’t mind if a later writer wanted to ret-con this and say that it never happened, and Mesmero planted the memory in his mind to make him vulnerable and easier to manipulate.  That would make some sense.

Also, LOL at fake Xavier saying that he “knew” and “helped” original Pyro. 

4. WHY does he look so much like St. John?!

I know Marvel likes their blonde/red-headed fire characters, but Simon also has the same skinny frame and the same facial structure as St. John, with the prominent cheekbones and long, thin nose.  What was the point?  Was it going to be a plot point later on?  Was Simon originally meant to be the unknown bastard son or distant cousin of St. John?  The whole “look-alike” Brotherhood gimmick didn’t really matter, Kitty immediately recognized that it wasn’t the original guys because their voices were different. 

I think the physically similarity of Simon is part of what really sticks in my craw about him.  As if the writer said, “Oh, you want a skinny blonde Pyro to join the X-Men and bang Iceman?  Well, here you go!  Here’s a skinny blonde Pyro to join the X-Men and bang Iceman.  Of course, he ISN’T the original Pyro, he doesn’t have any of the original’s history or interesting personality or back-story, but he LOOKS like Pyro and he’s got fire powers, and that’s all that matters, right?” 

Maybe they just should have let Iceman bang Johnny Storm.  This is what happens when you don’t let Johnny Storm bang Iceman, Marvel!

I’m not actually trying to bash, Simon here, I’m trying to accept and not resent this character that I honestly do resent, both for being a replacement for my fave (St. John), and for getting the kind of storylines that I always wanted for original Pyro.  I mean, I enjoy St. John as a bad guy.  He’s a bastard piece of shit, and I like him just fine that way.  But he’s always been a bad guy that I thought had the potential to maaaaybe shift to the good side, or at least serve on a team with the good guys as a reluctant ally.  (I feel that way about a lot of Brotherhood members, like Blob, Toad, Avalanche and Phantazia - they aren’t necessarily good, but they could maybe go that direction if writers wanted to redeem them).  And he was even moving in that direction before his Legacy Virus death, but then after he got resurrected in Necrosha, he’s still running around being a bad guy, with no follow-up or development, completely wasted as a character, and here’s a shiny new (somewhat bland) Pyro to take his place.  In fact, I’d rather have had St. John die again in Necrosha then to pop up in a few books as a villain-of-the-week.  He showed up in the Iceman series just so that Bobby could call him a loser, and I totally agree, but also ugghh........  I’m just gonna pretend that zombie St. John was corrupted and messed up from Selene’s magic.

Of course, St. John has actually gotten to be part of a team, and gotten some glimmers of redemption in Marauders, even if he hasn’t gotten much in the way of character development.  I feel kinda bad for Simon, who barely got a chance to develop before dropping out of the books.  I’d be down with him getting more storylines if he and St. John can coexist as characters.  If nothing else, I want to see them putting on a show at the Gala trying to one-up each other with fire tricks.  It would be adorable.

Also, I think my new ship of choice is Simon/Romeo (the Inhuman).  They’ve never met, but we may as well pair off two of Bobby’s cast-off, forgotten boyfriends.  Also, when Simon brings Romeo to visit Krakoa, and he talks about how much their new mutant society reminds him of Attilan, it might prompt Bobby to realize how completely strange and screwed up everything is.

#simon lasker #pyro #believe it or not I don't actually hate him #I kind of resent him for looking like St. John and not being St. John #but I don't hate him #I'm almost starting to like him #he just needs some better development and he could be good

[literatehiss]

You own (my) a heart

Written for Day 3 of JonEliasWeek Prompts: Entity swap & “We have a problem" Descriptions of Violence Jon needed to get rid of his rather clingy ex, Simon gives him the contact details of his favourite problem solver Read on AO3 here In one reality. Jonah Magnus leant into his love of knowledge, of watching those around him and knowing their deepest secrets. In another he made another, more violent, choice.

Who needs to control people through knowing things about them, when you could break all of their fingers and achieve a very similar outcome. All it took was yet another party with yet another group of rich rats laughing and making snide comments about him, an anger that almost scared him bubbling up until he took a cake knife to the throat of one of them. They fell quickly and he panted, satisfied over their cooling bodies. It wasn’t regret that filled him once the bloodlust faded, closer to irritation, a mild fear perhaps. He couldn’t kill everyone in the room, even if he had wanted to, far too many of the guests had fled the hall that the party was located in. He had ruined his own life. “It was worth it” a voice whispered in his head like music. Another idle thought led him to carve out the man’s heart and replace it with his own. A messy, frantic business that he barely managed to do before the lack of blood flow killed him. At least he wouldn’t get put in one of those awful prisons, he thought in his last moments.

And then he woke up. A new body, a new life, an old, scarred heart.

A man willing to kill anyone put in front of him and able to never be caught was a valuable ally indeed. A laughing Italian artist and an irritable merchant-sailor who had stayed while the rest of the sheep fled the party made fine allies, even if Jonah would never call them friends. One taken by the fear of heights and the other so deeply entrenched in his own loneliness that Jonah was surprised the man could even bring himself to introduce himself to him.

Centuries passed. Bodies of his victims taken and shed like ill-fitting suits. He would find bodies that he quite liked occasionally, and would do his best to keep them, but all would eventually fall to the curse of old age. Elias had been such a body, he had stayed in that one for almost 20 years by the time he met the youngest Fairchild.

Jonathan couldn’t remember the first time he met Simon, he had been very young when his mother had died and even younger when she had started to spend more time with the Fairchilds, taking her young son with her, in an act even the other Fairchild’s thought was fairly irresponsible.

Even when his mother has passed away, damn the Corruption, Simon still came and visited him at his grandmother’s. Not often of course, but at least once every year or so. There were two main reasons for this.

First, Simon Fairchild was 500 years old and hated being bored. It turns out after so many centuries, quite a few things started to become boring.

Second. Children love getting thrown around. Simon didn’t particularly know why kids were born with a complete lack of fear for his Patron, but it was entertaining to just throw the various Fairchild children around. And as he grew older, Jonathan never seemed to get tired of it or grow scared as other children did. So Simon just kept coming back.

Jon had always been a quiet child, had always been the one bullied rather than the one doing the bullying. Despite Simon’s encouragement, he would never be the sort of child to go pushing the other children off of things, to watch them shriek as they fell. He was the sort of child, however, who would happily look up at the stars for hours and hours, long after he should have been asleep. Simon would join him sometimes, he preferred the endless blue of the day, but he could still appreciate the true eternity of space. He told Jon of his plans for a Space Station, the Daedelus, and that he was looking for someone to send up there, and then had to fend off the enthusiastic pleas to send Jon up there. He only managed to calm the young boy down with the assurance that he needed someone who would be scared of the Vastness of space, not someone who would have “Far too much fun up there”. Anyway, it was going to take quite a while to set up everything, Jon might not be interested in space by then, he teased.

Jon could remember the first person he sent into the Vast in perfect detail, even years later. Bullies had started to leave him alone, not because he wasn’t a target, but because it was hard to do anything to a kid who could climb up onto the roofs of school buildings to escape them. He was about fifteen, walking home from school, when one of the school yard bullies caught sight of him (on solid ground for once) and couldn’t help but race after the younger boy, tackling him to the ground. He looked at the younger teen’s face, expecting tears. Jon had always had dark brown eyes, but to this young bully he was sure that they were fully black, like the pupil had expanded so far as to replace his iris. And in those deep, dark eyes were the twinkling of lights, like the stars in the sky. The world went dark around him, Jon vanished from beneath him and he was suspended in space, surrounded by stars that never seemed to end. No sign of the sky or the ground. Before he began to fall.

And fall.

And fall.

No one ever found the young bully’s body and Jon would never tell, but when Simon came knocking a few days later, he couldn’t help the proud grin on his face when the missing teenager was mentioned.

That bully might have been the first but he was nowhere close to the last. Various bullies and cruel teachers vanished from his school in the time he was there, a habit which continued into University. When his grandmother died, SImon was there with a hand on his shoulder and an invitation to join the Fairchilds that was eagerly accepted. He hadn’t finished University by the time the Daedelus rocket was set off, something he would complain about every time he saw Simon, well into his mid-20’s.

Jon was at home, a rather nice apartment that Simon paid for him, when there was a knock at his door, a glance at who was there and Jon groaned. He’d had fun at University, had dated around a bit before he met Georgie and their almost inevitable break-up and he hadn’t bothered since then. Most of his ex’s were either still friendly or he had sent them into the Vast. An efficient way to get rid of asshole exes, except for one. Jack was an adrenaline Junkie, he loved heights, did not get vertigo and most definitely was not weirded out by the mini planetarium Jon had set up in the unused bedroom of the house he stayed in at University. Jack was harder to get rid of, as proved by the fact that he was knocking at Jon’s door. His normal methods didn’t work on the man and he didn’t want to admit to Simon that he was afraid of a random man, unaffiliated with any of the Powers. Not that it stopped Simon from knowing. Three days into Jon’s self-imposed isolation to avoid the man who was camping outside his doorway, a business card was left on the window sill of an open window.

Elias Bouchard

Problem Solver

And then a number and email.

Unlike Jon, Jack needed to eat and eventually he left, leaving Jon enough time to leave his apartment and flee to one of the spacious Fairchild residences. He called the number on the card, he quite liked his apartment and would like to go back without an ex, who kicked a cat on their way home from the pub once, lurking outside his house.

The voice and the other end was charming, assuring him that Jack would be gone and that there would be no link to himself. He also laughed at Jon’s awkward jokes and stated that he “couldn’t wait to meet him” though he qualified that as that he was excited to meet another friend of Simon’s, but the three second hesitation before he said that was enough to make Jon flush.

Jon honestly forgot about the whole deal until two weeks later. He was still staying in the Fairchild house about an hour away from his apartment, when a sharp knock came from the door. One of his “cousins” went to get the door but came back saying that it was for Jon, one of Simon’s friends.

The man at the door was nothing like what Jon had expected. Well dressed and calm, Bouchard shifted a package so that he could shake Jon’s hand. He handed over the package, and watched as Jon peeled away the paper. Inside lay a still bloody heart.

“As you can see. I dealt with your problem Jonathan.”

“Um, Jon is fine.” he couldn’t stop looking at the heart, dripping blood on the stone steps that lead up to the door. The other man smiled widely.

“Then you must call me Elias.”

Jon just nodded, still morbidly distracted.

“Simon will pay you if that’s your sort of thing.”

“Hmm, normally yes, but for you I will waive the charge. Though I would happily accept payment in the form of a date if you are agreeable?”

Jon looked away from the heart, back to the rather handsome man on his doorstep. He watched as the man’s smile dropped slightly as he stepped back inside. Jon placed the heart down on the side table next to the door, someone else could deal with that he thought, and grabbed his jacket. By the time he stepped back out the front door, shutting it behind him, Elias was fiddling with a knife and looked up at him, surprised.

“Well… Are you busy?”

The knife slipped back up into Elias’s sleeve and the grin came back to his face.

“For you? Never”

#joneliasweek2021

[purplesurveys]

1273

What was the longest time you’ve had the hiccups for?  Maybe for half an hour? Mine are never that bad.

What type of TV shows are your favourite?  Not a big TV show type of person to begin with since it seems as if my attention span wasn’t built for once-a-week, season-breaks kind of content haha. I do like sitcoms, I guess...bite-sized ones like Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Big Bang Theory, etc. Drama shows I’d bite into if the plot is extremely intriguing to me or relevant to my interests, like The Crown or Breaking Bad.

Have you ever been a complete fangirl/fanboy over anything?  I was before then I wasn’t for a very long time, then I came back just recently with this BTS shit I got myself into.

Do you know anyone who has died in battle?  Hmm. I don’t think so. My great-grandpa lived a few more decades after the war.

When was the last time you went on an adventure?  July. My friends and I spent the whole day driving around and stopping by sooo many spots around the metro. It was a lot of fun and we were fucking b e a t after.

What brand is your vacuum cleaner?  I dunno. My mom mainly uses ours.

Are you good at rapping?  I have a number of songs and verses memorized that I can recite quite okay, but I can’t write any of my own.

Name one world issue that upsets you.  Racism.

How do you feel about tanning?  I never saw the the big deal. I will say tanning beds and salons are such a culture shock to me, though. Are some people really that obsessed with modifying their skin tone?

Have you ever given a public speech? Hmm, just the one time I was entered into a public speaking competition and was given a topic to talk about on the spot. That was honestly a lot of fun and I wish there were more opportunities to do that exact same thing.

Do you read comic books?  No. I tried getting into that whole thing, but didn’t see the appeal.

Do you force your way into conversations in which you are not involved?  Not always but if I’m starting to feel left out or awkward, I will start to ask a question here and there to ease my way into the conversation. But if the topic is clearly none of my business then I do stay out of the way.

Kiss with your eyes open or closed?  Closed.

Do you believe you can change someone?  This isn’t a black and white matter, I think. The idea of changing a person can have a lot of layers; in my org, for instance, I got to pick up a few quirks and behaviors from my friends just by being around them for a long time – in that sense, I changed. But you can also strive to change someone who’s struggling and try to make them become happy, which I tried to do with my ex – which of course I learned the hard way that you can’t change someone if in that context.

How did you react when your first pet died?  I was bummed out but didn’t throw a fit.

Have you ever drawn anime?  No.

Can you use a pogo stick?  I’ve never even seen one in real life. I’m dying to try it out just once.

When’s the next time you’ll see the person that you like?  I don’t like anybodyyy.

Do you like bathing/showering?  I mean...yes? Like I’m not obsessed with showering, but it’s a necessity that I have to regularly do anyway lmao.

Have you ever considered entering a race?  Sure! Just give me a couple of weeks to practice because my endurance and stamina are embarrassing.

Rihanna or Lady Gaga?  Rihanna.

Who was your first good kiss with?  My ex.

What accessory do you want in your bedroom?  SHELVES

What do you take the most pictures of?  My experiences.

What are you always in the mood for?  Starbuuuuuuckssssssss.

What is something that you never turn down?  A day out with friends. I’ll always make time. What is something that you always turn down when offered?  Food, if I’m a guest at someone else’s place.

Name something sexy about your significant other.  I don’t have any.

What is one of your hobbies that you refuse to give up?  Surveys, I guess. I enjoy them too much and have been doing them for nearly a decade.

If you could be a professional in any sport what would it be?  Tennis.

If you could be a professional at any instrument what would it be?  PIANO.

Would you rather be a surgeon or mortician?  Surgeon. I would be too terrified seeing dead people, anyway.

Have you ever been on a subway? Nope.

Are you in love?  No.

Do you like having your lip softly bitten when you’re kissing?  Sure. Softly, roughly...both are fine hahaha.

Do you want to get married when you’re older?  I hope so. I want my turn, too.

What was the last band shirt you wore?  Eh, I don’t own any. I wore a fanmade V-themed shirt yesterday, if that counts.

You can have a milkshake right now. What flavor do you choose?  OMGGGG that sounds so fucking good rn. Chocolate chip cookie dough.

Have you ever given someone flowers?  Mhm, I used to give my ex bouquets whenever it was our anniversary.

What day of the week is usually your busiest day?  Monday like 98% of the time, so I hate them. It ultimately varies, though. Sometimes some days are a hell of a lot more hectic than others.

Do you have any concerts coming up? I mean...obviously not.

Do you like or hate the smell of fish?  Oh yessssssss. The smell of seafood/ocean always makes me fucking drool.

What’s your favorite brand of chips?  Pringles, or this local brand of salted egg chips that I love to get.

Have you ever written a poem and then read it aloud?  Yeah, once. We had to write a poem as our homework and my teacher picked out a couple that he thought were the best-written, and one of them was mine even though I still firmly believe I did a shit job.

Do you like pineapple?  Oh god no. One of the worse fruits I’ve had.

Does your house have a dishwasher?  No. It seems to be just a Western thing.

Do you know anyone who has a flower tattoo?  I probably do, but I just can’t give you a lineup of names. Flower tattoos seem to be trendy these days, especially in the line style.

How many different languages can you say goodbye in?  So I have goodbye, paalam, 안녕히 가세요, adios, auf wiedersehen, sayonara, au revoir...so that’s 7.

Agree or disagree: You like Adam Sandler movies.  Ummmm definitely childish and I can feel that the humor tries so hard sometimes but I do enjoy some of his movies, like 50 First Dates. 

Have you ever had to get a tooth pulled? If so, what for?  Yeah, I mentioned this on a previous survey.

Have you ever dated anyone while they were in jail?  No, I’ve never dated anyone who’s been imprisoned.

If you’ve ever babysat, do you like it?  I ‘babysat,’ but technically all eldest Asian daughters are expected to look out for their younger siblings and cousins anyway. I didn’t actively enjoy it, but sure, it was fun playing with them and it’s always nice to be viewed as responsible.

What is your favorite flavor on sunflower seeds?  I don’t eat sunflower seeds. I don’t dislike them, I just really never seek them out.

Do you get cold easily?  Yes.

Do you get a lot of spiders in your house?  Hmm no. If we do get visited they are almost always too small to be seen.

Do you admire nature?  Yeah, I try to be around it as often as I can.

Name one naughty thing you’ve done.  Had sex while a few people were in the same room. I pay for it now hahaha; those friends who had the misfortune to be in that situation have never let me live it down and it’s one of their go-to stories when I’m being introduced to new friends.

Name two of your favorite things as a child.  I loved everything Bratz. I also liked Play-Doh.

Do you own a Pillow Pet?  No, I’ve never even heard of that.

Do you tend to solve problems with violence?  Never.

Have either of your parents gone to jail?  Nope.

Do you know a hoarder?  I heard my grandma had been one, but I didn’t see traces of it when I used to visit her. I guess she had been when she was younger and stronger. I show traces of hoarding too, but I don’t think it’s at a concerning level; I literally just threw out a bunch of shit in my room I’ve hoarded over the last five or so years.

Do you wax, pluck, or leave your eyebrows?  I don’t touch them; I’m never all that worried about my appearance. On very rare instances, I will shave some of the excess hair off. Do you have any interesting scar stories?  None of them are interesting tbh, just results of my own stupidity.

Do you hate the texture of meatballs?  I don’t hate their texture but I also just don’t enjoy meatballs in general. I find them boring, which has always led me to think if they’re really supposed to be just boring clumps of meat or if I’ve just always been served average meatballs.

Do you get migraines? Yes, I usually get one after work. They’ve decreased in frequency now but one will drop by every now and then to give me a shit time.

Do you like guns?  No.

Are turtles amazing creatures? All animals are. :') < Yes! Except cockroaches.

How much time do you spend taking surveys?  I dedicate an hour or so every weekend. I often wish I can allot more time, but I also have other hobbies and interests I would usually want to catch up on during the weekends. 48 hours is just too short :(

Would you rather visit: The Eiffel Tower or Egyptian Pyramids? Pyramids, in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t even need to think about it.

Would you like to work at a candy shop?  Uh no. If I had to, it would be on the back-end, maybe in the corporate side of things lol.

Do you have feelings for someone?  Nope.

Which one of your guy friends is the best looking?  JM.

Do you have anything to say to your ex bf/gf?  No.

Which band do you have the most of on your iPod/music player?  I don’t use music players anymore but my Spotify always reminds me of how much I listen to BTS whenever they do one of their quirky listening habit reports lol.

Which song describes your mood at the moment?  I want to go with RM’s Bicycle just because I’m feeling quite content and relaxed at the moment.

Which movie(s) do you quote the most?  Eh, I’m not a big movie quoter.

Which one of your best friend’s friends would you most likely date?  I honestly don’t see any of them as date-able.

Would you ever let anybody else drive your car?  Sure. I’ve let Hans and Gab drive it countless times when I’ve had too much to drink. It’s a small car and is fairly easy to use and navigate. I would let Anj use it too at some point, but I want her to perfect her u-turns first hahahaha.

Which one of your friends will be the most successful?  It’s already one of my friends to begin with but I’m not naming names. They come from a privileged background to begin with and their godfather already handed one of his companies down to them, so. They were also told the CEO position is already a sure slot for them.

What store did you last shop at?  I wanna say NCAT, this Korean-themed store that sells trinkets and jewelries and plushies and stuff. They also sell BTS albums so Anj and I dropped by to check out and touch all the albums we can’t afford yet HAHA

Do you think telepathy is real?  No.

When did you last draw something for fun?  Last Saturday when I played an online drawing/guessing game with my uncles and aunts.

Who makes the most in your entire family?  My dad.

Do you like writing essays?  I love essays, it’s my favorite writing piece to make.

Do you think plastic surgery is no big deal?  It turns into one when it gets obsessive, like when people get excessive plastic surgeries specifically to look like another person. I’m looking at you, fucking Oli London.

Do you take your trash to the dump or have it picked up?  It’s picked up.

When you sneeze do you sneeze into your shirt or your hands?  I look away and just sneeze. Sometimes I’ll put up my elbow.

Do you usually have sex in the morning, noon or night time? Erm, I usually had it at night. I only had morning sex when we would spend the night; and I nearly never had noon sex.

Did you ever fail your learners/drivers test?  No.

Would you rather listen to Luke Bryan or Lil Wayne?  Gun to my head, Lil Wayne.

Name someone you’ve become a lot closer to recently:  Reena!!! I’m so grateful Angela introduced us to each other :) We both tend to get shy so we don’t actually actively get chatty when we see each other irl, but I love her presence and I love that she is my friend. I make up for it by being super friendly and wacky in our group chat haha. Does your car have a sunroof?  No. We used to have a car that did, but we had to sell that during the peak of the pandemic.

Are you closer to your mom or your dad?  Dad.

Have you ever had a friend with benefits? No.

Who’s the last person you cuddled with?  My ex.

Are you friends with any of your teachers on Facebook?  Yeup.

#survey #surveys