#If u was eating this chicken u would be sentimental too okay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wellhellsbelles · 4 years

Note

Hii!! I'm so so glad you're back :3 your fanfics were truly my faves. I've had this idea for a fanfic where riley wants to ask farkle to prom but is too scared to do so, so she makes a deal with him that if no one asks them to prom, they'll go together, and something happens and riley has to confess that she wanted to go w/ him and asks him w/ a poster that says: you, me, prom?

ahhhh thank you so much for enjoying my stuff and thanks for the prompt! i hope you enjoy this little fic :)

“So, are ya gonna do it?”

Maya’s face pops up as soon as Riley’s shut her locker door, eyes sparkling in a puckish sort of way that can only mean trouble. Riley clutches her AP Literature textbook against her chest, a brow raised.

“No.”

Maya groans.

“You promised! You told me that today would be the day! You said, and I quote, “Maya, if I don’t do it on this date, you’re allowed to make me buy you something from my mom’s restaurant for a month.” Look, I even have proof of you holding up the calendar with the big red circle outlining today’s date!”

Riley’s best friend whips out her phone, swiping through pictures until she finds what she’s looking for. She holds it up as if it’s incriminating evidence, but Riley doesn’t much care—well, she does, because that picture she took is downright unflattering and should be deleted immediately.

“Let me see that,” Riley demands, and Maya hands her the phone, clawing at her when she trashes it.

“Hey!”

“No one needs to see that picture, Maya. I’m trying to forget what my haircut looked like at the beginning of the year.” She begins to walk off, trying desperately to ignore Maya’s prodding to no avail.

“Riley Matthews, are you going to chicken out? I thought Matthews don’t quit,” Maya says, grinning when it stops Riley in her tracks. “Ha! I got you there.”

Riley moves to make her rebuttal, but the warning bell rings to alert them that they need to be heading to their next class, so she simply rolls her eyes, waving goodbye to Maya as she heads in the opposite direction.

“We’re tabling this, Matthews! Don’t think I won’t let this slide!” Maya calls out. Riley shakes her head, sighing as the weight of anxiety starts to lift.

Yeah, she’s aware she’s a coward. But she’s not about to do it—there’s being brave, and there’s being absolutely idiotic, and if she did go through with it?

It’d change a lot.

She’ll take the chance of being a coward any day over spilling her guts.

Riley’s never been one to believe in coincidence, so when Farkle swings through her window effortlessly later that day, she can’t help but damn fate a little.

“Alright, you, me, AP Literature. Now,” he says, tossing his bag onto her floor and landing on her bed with a thud. Riley pushes her feelings way down inside her, swallows them until she’s able to pretend they’re nonexistent, and glances up at him.

“Why does it feel like all you ever come to me for anymore is AP Lit stuff?”

Farkle scoffs.

“Please, we had a horror movie marathon last weekend. Plus, I brought a bribe. You do still take bribes, right?” he asks, pulling out a bag of sour gummy worms.

“Your bribe has been accepted. Gimme,” she thrusts her hand out, making a grabbing motion. Farkle laughs giving her the bag. She tries to tear it open with her teeth when she can’t rip it with her hands, whooping triumphantly when it tears.

“Don’t hog those. I want some, too.”

Riley wants to tell him he could bugger off, but she knows that sentiment would be null and void. She’d rather give up an arm than force him out of her space, and if that meant sharing his gift of sour gummy worms, she would.

“Leave the—”

“Blue-red ones, I know,” he finishes cheekily, pulling a couple of yellow-red ones out and plopping them into his mouth.

“So, AP Lit?” she asks. Farkle pulls out his textbook and notebook, settling himself comfortably on the end of her bed.

“Am I allowed to say I don’t love poetry? Because this class makes me not a fan of poetry,” he says, nose curling as he reads a question, “Why aren’t there any good science poems?”

“There are, you just aren’t looking for them,” Riley tells him simply.

“Lies. Name one off the top of your head right now,” Farkle jibes, throwing a gummy worm at her.

“The Old Astronomer by Sarah Williams. ‘I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.’ If I ever did get a tattoo, it’d be with that quote,” she answers, picking the gummy worm off herself and eating it. She looks back at Farkle, who remains . . . unconvinced.

“Pretty quote, still not interested in poetry. I think it’s the form.”

“Okay, what if I told you to look at the scientific method steps like a poem? Because it basically is. BOOM, exploded your mind with hot knowledge!”

“Riley, please. Don’t ruin science for me.”

Riley sticks her tongue out at him, gently kicking him in the thigh with her foot as she settled comfortably into against her pillows. She’s already finished her AP Lit homework, onto her AP Chemistry homework now, but she’s always ready to help Farkle when he needs it. The degree to which she’d drop everything for him, just for him, is downright . . .

Embarrassing.

But she’s learned to take it in stride. There’s something about his presence that always makes her feel a certain sort of way now, but she just reminds herself that this is Farkle, her best friend since she was five, and there’s nothing to be scared of.

Then Maya texts her, and she remembers what it is exactly she’d been fretting.

i know the minkus boy is at ur house!

he just sent me a snap of u

u look like ur having a midlife crisis on ur bed there

better fix that by

i dunno

ASKING HIM THE STUPID QUESTION

Riley shuts her phone off, tossing it to the side to return to her Chemistry textbook.

Chemistry! She’s supposed to be studying for chem, and she will not—it’s absolutely out of the question—say the question that’s in her head.

I thought Matthews’ don’t quit.

Damnit! Maya’s right, Matthews’ don’t quit.

They shouldn’t.

“Farkle?” she calls out to him, ignoring the way he’s mussed his hair in an adorable fashion from being fraught by the poems laid out in front of him.

“Yeah, Riles?”

“So . . .” Just ask it. Ask him, you dummy! “Uh, are you going with anyone to prom?”

“Oh,” he blinks, as if not anticipating the question (he probably wasn’t, come to think of it), “No, not that I’m aware of. Why do you ask?”

Here goes nothing.

“Youwannagotopromwithme?” Riley blurts all at once, the words rushing out of her mouth like vomit. Farkle stares at her, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times as if he’s trying to gauge if she’s serious or not. In fact, the longer he doesn’t talk, the quicker Riley tries to think of a way to recover from this, because ABORT MISSION ABORT!!!

“You know, if no one else asks you? Or you don’t ask anyone else? We can just go as friends,” she supplies, chuckling nervously. Something flashes across Farkle’s face, something that Riley thinks is akin to disappointment, but as soon as it’s there, it’s gone.

He shrugs.

“Sure, why not?”

Riley sighs with relief.

“Okay, cool. Just let me know, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course.”

The night does not return to normal after that. In fact, it’s awkward up until the moment Farkle swoops back out the window with a goodbye and a half-hearted smile. As soon as he vanishes, Riley collapses face-down into her pillow, screaming into it out of pure frustration.

We can just go as friends.

Who is she?! That’s not what she wanted at all, but she chickened out because Maya was freaking right!

But if she had seen the look on his face before she added that . . . Riley made the right decision. She’s sure of it, because if she had been serious?

That’d probably be it, friendship over.

It’s . . . it’s better this way.

She’s certain of it.

. . . Right?

“So?” Maya asks as she arrives beside Riley’s locker the next morning, their usual meet-up. Riley groans, leaning her head inside the locker.

“I asked him and then added just as friends when he didn’t respond right away. So, you know, I kind of asked.”

“Just as friends?!” Maya screeches at her. Riley places her hands on her own head.

“I know! I know. I wasn’t able to go to sleep last night. It was a stupid thing to do anyway, it just made everything a billion times more awkward. Why did I let you talk me into this, Maya?”

“Alright, did he say yes to that, at least?”

Riley nods her head.

“Okay, good. We can work with that. We’ll just have you romance him at prom, no problem.”

“What do you mean ‘no problem’? Yes, problem! I am not doing that, Peaches. I’ve humiliated myself enough for one lifetime. I think I’m going to opt out of prom, maybe bow out of senior year in disgrace or something.”

She hears Maya exhaust a long breath before she’s helping Riley out of her own locker, spinning her around and resting her hands on her shoulders.

“Riley Matthews, you are letting your feelings for a boy get to you too much. Yeah, he’s Farkle, but you’re Riley. You’re magnificent and amazing and if he doesn’t like you back? That’s his loss, because he missed the mark.”

“Thank you, Maya,” Riley smiles softly, hugging her best friend. Maya hugs her back and then releases her, giving her a look that can only mean trouble if Riley knows her well enough (and she does.)

“Okay, you know what? This whole ‘friends’ thing isn’t going to work. I need you to ask him out for real, because I know you’ll hate yourself for it if you don’t. I know it’s a hard thing to do, but you know better than anyone about making hard decisions. So do me a favor and ask him again by the end of this week—properly, mind you—and then the two of you will live freaking happily ever after because if I know Farkle, he’ll be hard pressed to say no. That boy has spent too much of his life in love with you. It’s not any different now.”

Riley allows herself to soak that in.

Is Maya really right? He did love her, but Riley’s not certain that was a real type of love. But then again, Farkle’s never been one to half-ass things. He’s loved her so many ways, so why not love her the way she loves him now?

“I’ll do it,” Riley agrees against her better judgement.

Wednesday passes. She doesn’t ask Farkle to the prom. Thursday passes. She doesn’t ask. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all whirl by her quickly, but she still hasn’t mustered the courage to ask. Even after the wonderful pep-talk Maya gave her, Riley still couldn’t find it in herself to breach the subject with him because she was just scared.

Liking Farkle really scared her, and she didn’t like that at all. Because scaring her meant that these feelings were more than just a passing phase, that she was bound to be stuck in this limbo of he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not for the rest of forever until she broke it.

So Sunday night she plans to ask him Monday at the end of school, even gets Maya in on it so that she can’t back out again.

She can’t back out this time; she won’t do it.

When Monday rolls around, Riley thanks whoever is out there that, while they share classes, she and Farkle don’t share the same class periods. It’s what’s helped her endure her second semester of senior year; while she appreciates having him there, she’s not sure she wouldn’t waste her class time glancing at him across the room.

Her last class period of the day moves both fast and at a snail’s pace, so when the bell rings it surprises her so much that she takes her several minutes to gather her things. Riley’s never been more off her game in her entire life, but then again, she’s never had to actually ask Farkle to prom for real before.

(Well, she’s never had to ask Farkle out period. That was always his game, not hers. Too bad she can’t get pointers from him.)

Riley heads out to meet Maya at her locker, passing by the stragglers who haven’t made it out yet, but something catches her eye instead.

It’s Farkle, at his own locker, with a girl who has people standing with her, holding several letters decorated with fake flowers spelling out PROM.

Riley’s too late.

PEACHES

where were u???

i stayed at ur locker

like we planned

i even asked farkle if he saw u

he said he didn’t

so something happened

pls tell me ur okay ☹

Riley doesn’t bother texting Maya despite knowing she owes her best friend an explanation. She’s too busy wallowing in self-pity and the humiliation of rejection to deal with anyone right now.

She should’ve been quicker. She shouldn’t have been a chicken about it and just told him about her dumb, stupid feelings and gotten it over with. Anything at this point would be preferable to the sting Riley feels in her chest when she thinks about how she missed out on not just being Farkle’s date to prom but experiencing prom with him. It’s not the same without him by her side.

So no prom for Riley Matthews. She cashed in on her one chance at going Junior year, and as far as Riley was concerned, this probably meant her chance with Farkle, too.

But fate is not as kind to her, because Farkle climbs through her window, landing on the cushions of the bay window bench with a soft thud.

“What the heck,” he says, breathing out a sigh of relief when he’s spotted her, “Maya and I thought you died in a ditch! What were you thinking?”

Riley has no response for that. In fact, she’s pretty certain her brain’s shut off entirely for the foreseeable future, because in no way had she planned on encountering Farkle for as long as she could hold it off.

It’s now or never, Matthews, a voice that sounds vaguely like Maya whispers in her mind. Riley exhales.

Right.

“Are you going to prom with that girl?” she asks instead, eyes set with determination. Farkle stares at her, bewildered.

“What?! Your response to Maya and I worrying about your safety is some trivial question about prom?”

“It’s not trivial to me!” Riley exclaims, the burn of embarrassment bubbling up out of her. The intensity of her words must cross Farkle’s radar, because his eyes are widening.

“Riley? What’s going on?”

She makes a decision then, unable to fight with these godforsaken feelings any longer. She tosses the poster she’d worked painstakingly on for hours onto the bed, gesturing to it brazenly.

“I was going to ask you to prom for real today. I know I made a joke of it the other night, but I really meant it. I wanted to go to prom with you because I like you, Farkle. I’m tired of ignoring my feelings and pushing them away because I think it might benefit you. These feelings I have are real and they’re not going away any time soon, okay?”

Farkle’s eyes shift over to the poster, eyes tracing the words over and over again, as if it’s taking him a while to register it.

You. Me. Prom. Let’s do this thing?

It was hard for Riley to come up with a way to ask him that was both clever and meaningful, and she chose something that was between them and only them. He had once told her, “You. Me. Mars. Let’s do this thing.” It was always something that hardly meant anything to her back then but means the world to her now, or at least, it did before she realized she’d been too late.

“So?” Farkle asks, voice rough as if his throat had run dry. Riley tilts her head.

“What?”

“Are you going to ask me properly or not? We’re losing daylight here, Matthews,” Farkle says, arms crossed against his chest. Riley scoffs, rolling her eyes. She doesn’t quite get why he’s trying to be cruel to her at this point, but whatever.

“Farkle Minkus, I wanted to know. You. Me. Prom. Let’s do this thing?”

“Yes,” comes his answer, flowing off his tongue as if it’s the easiest thing he’s ever said in his life. Riley nearly jumps out of her seat but recovers at the last second.

“Yes?”

“Riley Matthews, yes, of course I’ll go to prom with you.”

“But—”

“No, I didn’t say yes to that other girl because I had already told you that we could go together. Sure I was kind of disappointed when you said it was as friends, but . . . you’re my best friend. It doesn’t matter what capacity our relationship is, I just want to be with you.”

Riley doesn’t get it.

“Wait, so what you’re saying is—”

“Riley Matthews, I’ve loved you since the first grade. I don’t think I ever stopped, really. So yes, I’ll go to prom with you as your date, because I’m so in love with you it isn’t funny,” Farkle tells her, giving her a gentle, lopsided grin. Riley scrambles off her bed the same time he rises from the bay window bench, the two of them embracing harder than she ever has in her entire life.

“I’m sorry I freaked out on you,” she admits into the crook of his neck. He chuckles, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

“It’s okay. You’re the same Riley you’ve always been, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

#riarkle #ask #riarkle fanfic #riarkle fanfiction #riley x farkle #farkle x riley #i should not have stayed up this late to finish this #but i was determined

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zirizant · 4 years

Text

senses and other oddly specific headcanons

tagged by: @edhelaran ( stolen but bless u ) tagging: @ringwon. @thelittleburglar. @elflinqs. && you !

1. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE SMELL LIKE?

worn leather ; cinders ; high mountain air ; clean wool ; musk ; river water ; fresh lumber ; star anise and cloves ; the distinctly damp, earthy, living smell of a cave.

2. WHAT DO YOUR MUSE’S HANDS FEEL LIKE?

rough and calloused from working in the forge and training with his swords ; wearing gloves is for elves, men, and pebbles. his skin is pockmarked with scars caused by sparks and cinders ; the pronounced hairs along the backs of his hands and fingers are fine and soft. there is a large scar, pearly white and raised, on his left palm, given to him when a white-hot sword he was forming slipped in his grasp and showed him why the forge commands respect. his thick, relatively short fingers are surprisingly dexterous and gentle, gentle enough to pluck a single petal from a daisy without damaging the rest ; but they’re also strong enough to bring down his warhammer with enough force to shatter a warg’s skull.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE USUALLY EAT IN A DAY?

breakfast possibilities —— boar bacon, sausage, black tea, eggs if he can find them ( from any bird, he isn’t picky ). traveling snacks —— apples, salted pork, cheese, nuts, berries. luncheon —— ham, bread and butter, pickles, rabbit stew when available. dinner / supper —— meat pie, baked potatoes, fish, roasted turkey / chicken / boar / venison, & lots and lots of ale. sweets —— apple tarts, sunflower seed cakes, scones, cider.

dwarves are quite happy to eat the same few things over and over again, though fíli has a somewhat more discerning palate than most ; he’s the third most willing of the company ( behind bombur and dori ) to try new things. fíli is an expert forager, and loves searching for good things to eat in the wild.

4. DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE A GOOD SINGING VOICE?

absolutely. there’s nothing better to do while on the road than to sing a traveling song and play the fiddle, both things fíli excels at. he doesn’t have the deep, rumbling base of his uncle, and that will forever vex him ; his voice is a sonorous baritone that tends towards tenor, not unpleasant to any ear, but hardly the stuff a king is made of.

5. DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE ANY BAD HABITS OR NERVOUS TICKS?

bad habits? what bad habits? this lovely golden prince, held to the highest of standards, would never have any bad habits. surely drinking to excess, smoking too much pipe-weed, and cursing so much that his father is turning in his tomb aren’t bad habits. ( narrator : they were, in fact, bad habits. thorin does not condone excess. )

when nerves arise or he is deep in thought, he’s known to fiddle with his braids, twisting the beads around and around in his calloused fingers. it’s not uncommon to find him drumming a leg, or turning a blade over and over in his hand, either.

6. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSE USUALLY LOOK LIKE, WEAR?

clothes —— wool tunic, painstakingly hand-sewn by his mother ; breeches that once belonged to his father ( his mother cried when he could fit in them for the first time ) ; thick leather boots with straps to hold throwing axes ; dense ox-hide bracers that can conceal small blades, with a matching vest ; a substantial elk-skin coat with a mantle of fur taken from the largest elk in taur-en-faroth ( this was a gift from thorin when fíli came of age and was officially announced as his heir ).

hair —— always down and left wild, except for the braids : one at the back of his head, holding the hair back from his face ; and two on either side of his head, one pair in front of his ears and one pair behind. these, along with the braids of his whiskers, are clasped with beads hand-made by his mother.

7. IS YOUR MUSE AFFECTIONATE? HOW MUCH? HOW SO?

oh definitely. like almost all dwarves, fíli craves physical closeness and finds it hard to recognize other peoples’ space bubbles. his range of affection goes from gentle forearm touches and forehead bumps to tight embraces and unabashed skin-on-skin contact, the latter reserved for those he feels especially drawn to ( i.e. is in love with ). to fíli, contact says ‘ I’M HERE ; I’M OKAY ; EVERYTHING IS OKAY ’, and he doesn’t hesitate to get up close and personal with anyone he feels connected with. physical contact isn’t just for lovers : that is an elvish sentiment. fíli, like his kin, seeks physical contact and comfort in many forms from many people.

and along with simple physical intimacy, fíli greatly enjoys giving gifts to those he cherishes ; hand-made braid clasps forged of iron are the standard gift from him, but those he truly adores may receive ones made of glass. fíli is a master glassblower, a trade hardly fit for one of durin’s folk but one he fiercely loves, and he relishes the long hours spent at the furnace, making gifts for family and friends. and he won’t just give these gifts : he will also put them to use, happy to sit with his companion and braid their hair or their whiskers and clasp them in place with his handiwork. mahal forbid someone fall in love with this dwarrow.

8. WHAT POSITION DOES YOUR MUSE SLEEP IN?

this varies with circumstance. as a rule, fíli takes up relatively little space, especially when compared to his brother. in happier times, times abed in ered luin and perhaps in erebor, he can be found on his back, arms resting comfortably atop his belly, hands clasped, likely softly snoring. on the road, he prefers to sleep on his side, back to the elements, usually pitifully attempting to encircle his taller brother in an unconscious bid to protect him, as he always has, and always will. never far from kíli, he is loath to sleep without him ; the days in esgaroth, when kíli tossed and turned in feverish half-sleep and he could not be with him, were some of the hardest days of his short life, and indeed, he slept little, if at all, then.

9. COULD YOU HEAR YOUR MUSE IN THE HALLWAY FROM ANOTHER ROOM?

mahal yes. fíli, as with most dwarves, is not known for being light on his feet ; and beset as he is with concealed weapons, he can be heard many rooms away.

#▌ ( ibkhinruk: discover the truth. ) —— 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍. ▐#this was hella fun

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fedine · 6 years

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Hey answer all of those

I told you guys it would happen! I’m putting it all under a cut.

moon: what is your astrological sign?

Virgo!

gingerbread: your moral alignment

I struggle with whether or not I’m ‘chaotic’ or ‘lawful’ a lot, so I usually just settle for ‘Neutral Good’

birdseed: family or friends?

Hmm, this is a tough one always, because I love both a lot, but sometimes when it comes down to it one group is going to be healthier than the other for me to be around at certain times.

sheets: your sexual orientation

Bisexual! I am polyamorous too, but I’m in a very very happy monogamous relationship, and I plan to keep it that way.

warm milk: when do you usually fall asleep?

Usually after 12 AM, and normally before 6 AM, but it depends on what the boyfriend and I watch on Netflix that night, since we’re doing that now, or how long we decide to role play for.

pot of honey: your gender identity

Oof, this is a really hard one for me, because I’ve been questioning stuff again. I normally fall into that “feminine” category, because that’s how I present, but I am really unsure of how I actually feel on that matter on a deeper level, you know?

snow: what is your favorite time of year and why?

Autumn-Winter... It’s not even Summer yet right now, and it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside today. That time of year just has my favorite days/holidays too! I’d say starting in September (mine and my boyfriend’s anniversary and my birthday) until probably February (Valentine’s Day)? I think that’s when all the fun stuff is!

yarn: what are your most enjoyable hobbies?

I love repainting/customizing dolls, and I would love to get back into it! I had plans to start a little Etsy shop and a YouTube channel for it, but things haven’t gone well for that lately, so I just play a lot of World of Warcraft! Currently, I have a goal to start dual/multiboxing two Mistweaver Monks, AND raid on them (without wiping the raid). It’s gonna be tough, I know, especially in a raiding environment, but I figure if someone can 20+ box a team of Paladins in Emerald Nightmare successfully, I can handle two healers.

bicycle: what are you talented at?

I’m pretty alright at art! I used to be a great jazz bassist, but I haven’t played in years at this point.

folktale: what stories remind you of your childhood?

I don’t really have many that do, if any at all, because I don’t remember a lot of my childhood.

woods: where do you feel at peace?

I feel really at peace in... Skyrim, of all games. Usually just wandering around, exploring out in the wilderness. It really is a beautiful game, landscape wise. I also really like this one spot in the Grizzly Hills/Howling Fjord in World of Warcraft, this tiny clearing in the mountains with a tree and a couple of shrubs where my boyfriend and I go to RP a couple of my personal favorite characters. It’s where they set up camp! I like it a lot! There’s a few other places like that in WoW that have huge sentimental value to me, but if I went over every single one I’d have a massive post here!

chicken feet: what is your emotional “flaw”?

Probably my hyper focusing tendencies that cause me to fixate so hard on one goal that I MUST see it through to the point of almost self destruction, or even worse, when I hyperfixate on too many things at once and it causes me to do that but faster.

red cheeks: what makes you nervous?

Oh jeez, asking stuff from my parents, or confronting them about stuff.

sunflower: what do you love and cherish?

Okay, this is going to sound so cheesy, but... Every single moment I spend with my boyfriend. We’ve spoken for well over 12 hours a day for almost every single say we’ve known each other, since we met formally in July of last year, but I have loved every single second. I really love my boyfriend, okay? Everyone knows.......

bells: what sounds are your favorite or calm you the most?

Oh, well, it’s in the title of this question! Brass and bronze bells are my favorite, especially the big ones!

turnip: what is a food you could eat everyday?

Spaghetti with meat in the sauce, be it meat balls or part of the sauce itself.

spit: do you get jealous easily?

Not really! I used to get more jealous about stuff, but I can’t really see myself in that position anymore, at least with like relationships.

mushroom: list unique things you like about yourself

Hmm, I gave this one some thought, but I really don’t think I have any individual traits that are “unique” because there are so many people in the world that probably display the exact same stuff like: ‘can draw well,’ or ‘can play bass nicely.’ It’s not individual unique traits that make someone unique because there really aren’t unique traits. It’s the combination of them that makes someone unique! Like bricks in a house! All of the bricks are the same, but the house isn’t.

cupboard: a good childhood memory

I remember fondly a time where I once spun a teacup ride on a carousel so fast once my younger sibling got sick. Wasn’t funny at the time but now that we’re like twelve or so years older it’s hilarious now.

eyebags: what do you think makes a person attractive?

U h... Well, I really like long, messy hair, and facial hair. Blue eyes, really tall... Accent....... Really sweet, kind of shy but gets louder and sillier when you get to know him.............

fallen log: something you’ve gotten over that you never thought you would

I honestly never thought I would get over this one relationship I had in 10th grade, but... I got over it... Boy did I get over it... And away from it... Thank Goodness....

dagger: your worst fear

Meeting someone specific from my past, probably.

whisper: do you have any secrets?

Just one really big one, really, but I’m slowly coming to terms with it.

wild boar: which person do you feel closest to?

My boyfriend! Though I also have two best friends, one of ten years, the other of two, and then my sibling is pretty close to me as well!

sweet: what candies or cakes are you fond of?

I love sour candies a lot, and vanilla cakes are my favorite! Ice cream cakes are amazing also.

footprints: do you remember your past lives?

I think I used to, if it’s a real thing that is. I’m still trying to figure that out about myself.

fur: name an animal you feel connected to

Oh man, there’s really so many, but I love dogs and cats, ravens and cockatoos, bees... The list continues.

vodka: do you drink?

Not at the moment, but I’m turning 21 in like 5 months.

sour cherry: an obscure tradition from your family?

We eat king crab around Christmas/New Years. Specifically king crab.

pine needles: what is your favorite scent?

For Valentine’s day, my boyfriend sent me his favorite jacket to wear, and I didn’t take it off for a while because it smelled like him, and I wanted to feel like he was there with me as much as I could. Gosh, I can’t wait to steal another jacket from him meet him for the first time.

heart-shaped: do you believe in love? are you in love?

YEAH, I REALLY DO, AND YEAH, I REALLY AM.

home: where do you dream of living?

Somewhere in California still, with guess-who living with me. I’d love it if my best friends could live nearby as well, but that’s unlikely. Still, it is a dream.

spice: list your favorite herbs

Oregano and Thyme, because I use them in my meatball recipe.

mud: something you’re insecure about but trying to love

My weight. Usually when I imagine what I look like to other people I don’t really imagine anything flattering or kind to myself, but I am trying to work through it. It’s something I kind of have to live with too, no matter what, since I haven’t been able to lose weight for a few years.

tobacco: do you have any addictions?

I play World of Warcraft non-stop for several hours on end every single day. I have been for over two years, which is the longest time in my life I have since I picked the game up ten years ago.

sock: how would you describe your clothing taste?

Expensive, and usually made for much thinner people. I really like the sweet lolita fashion style, but there are a few other styles I like. All still expensive though. Except for flannel + T-shirts. Those always look good together, and are pretty nice and casual enough for me.

cuckoo clock: are you a morning, a noon, or an evening person?

Evening! I usually wake up past noon, and it’s not until around three or four I get to talk to my boyfriend.

wooden fence: a favorite memory

When my boyfriend asked me out!!!! Gosh, I remember it so well. We were role playing together on those two particular characters probably for the... third? Fourth time ever? Well, he asked RIGHT before we were going to start, and all of the week before I kept getting nervous around him. I had decided I wasn’t going to pursue him (because... not going to lie, I thought he was gay for a while there) but every single time he addressed me in voice chat, ESPECIALLY when we were alone, I would tense up and ask myself, “Is he going to ask me out right now?” I had rehearsed what I wanted to say to him in the situation so that if/when it happened, I would be prepared, but I forgot how to talk when it actually happened! I even thought it wasn’t going to right then; it was the one time I thought he wasn’t going to ask. Well, I went silent a couple of seconds, hitting my push to talk button a few times while my mouth hung open. I did say yes though! Both times, because he asked again after I said yes the first time!

#bf tag #tagging that because boy do i love him and talk about him a lot in here!#long post #even though it's under a cut #gem-licker

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rainsonata · 7 years

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A Day Off

Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; hints of VCBH Rating: K Word Count: 1,626

Summary: With no missions and chores to be done, Elesis was bored when she caught Raven walking back to the inn. Birthday fic for @blazingsnark.

Edit: Oops, deleted original post and reposted to add a Read More bar. Sorry for taking up space!

Shouts and murmurs overlapped one another, swords clattered against the blacksmith’s hammer, and wind chimes clang with the sea breeze carried over from the ports. Foreign spices overwhelmed one’s sense, a mixture of everything that made it hard to pinpoint its components. Even the air felt different, sharp and salty to the taste if one was to close their eyes and breath in.

It was hard to believe this was the merchant’s area. Everything about the city was pristine, sculpted out of white marble with gold and blue stones decorating the exteriors. There were cracks on the floor and several of the buildings, but not many. They contrasted against the ruined buildings in Hamel’s outskirts, where the demons’ influences had spread.

Bouncing in her heels, Elesis stopped when she caught a familiar face among the crowds of merchants, civilians, and soldiers. She pushed through the packed streets and waved with both of her arms, happy to see him.

“Heya, Raven!”

The Veteran Commander did a double take when she approached him, but gave a steady smile, “Hello, didn’t expect to see you.”

Why? Because most of the group was out, there was no need to upgrade weapons, shop for equipment, or any of that because they were already completed on their last free day? The redhead crossed her arms and twitched.

“Shopping for dinner?” She noticed Raven holding grocery bags that could feed two or three households for a week, although with how big the Elparty had grown, it wasn’t an exaggeration. It was already hard to balance the party’s money without including living expenses like eating and resting at inns. Would it be ungrateful to ask Aisha to conjure food out of thin air?

“Yeah,” Raven chuckled, “Elsword ate the last bit of leftovers for lunch.”

“Let me help!” The Blazing Heart didn’t wait for an answer and stole three bags to carry with both hands.

There was a bounce in her footsteps when she almost skipped back to the inn they were staying at. Elesis counted her lucky stars that their destination was close to the marketplace, a few minutes’ walk at most, but the extra weight made it feel longer when they stopped to take a breather.

“Are you done with training already?” Raven asked.

She shrugged, “There’s only so much training you can do in a day.”

He nodded in understanding, “It’s hard to stand still when it’s quiet, isn’t it?”

“They’re missing out on the fun we’re having,” Elesis joked. Her voice was steady, but was it convincing enough? The look Raven was giving her gave her the feeling that it wasn’t.

Although none of them said it out loud, the red sparks threatening to erupt from her fingertips seemed to express the sentiment the most. Hamel was partially submerged because of the demon invasion, leaving their recent missions to involve investigating the depths of the sea. Being fire users, that meant she, her brother, and Raven were for lack of better word, useless. Even before she joined her brother and his friends, she was rarely alone because she had her men to think of and worked with them through many of the missions assigned to them. It was unrealistic to think she would never stumble on obstacles that would block her ability to fight, but watching the party leave without them felt wrong.

“You think those four know how to swim?” Elesis mused at the funny image: a mage, elf, nasod, and child wading underwater in search for clues to the El’s whereabouts. Could nasods swim? When she asked the nasod queen, she was provided with a long explanation she couldn’t make head of. She was going to assume it was a yes if Eve had no qualms about going near water.

“Chung and Rena should,” Raven said. “I don’t know about the other two. Do you?”

“Of course!” No child from Ruben grew up without learning to swim at Lake Noahs. Among house wives’ whispers were rumors that the water had special property that could heal the tired and the sick. “Do you?”

“Yes, but it would be unwise for me to.”

It took Elesis a moment to understand the statement until Raven waved his nasod arm for her attention. Oooh, right, nasod arm. Waterproof or not, the additional weight would slow them down.

When they returned to the inn, the front lobby was packed with travelers and soldiers lined up at the front desk. Squeezing past the crowd and making their way back to their rooms, it took them several tries to get the key to work so they could open the door. Once they stored most of the food, Elesis followed Raven to the chicken to see the Veteran Commander wearing a pink apron.

Was it already time? Elesis glanced at the stove clock to see it was half past four, then turned her head to see the sun high up and gleaming down through the windows. The sun here felt different too, less intense and cooler than Velder.

“They’re not back.” The redhead rested her eyes on the empty main room connected to the kitchen. It was a suite styled rooming with a hallway leading to multiple rooms for different people, perfect to house full parties such as themselves.

“The enemy must be hiding the duke well,” Raven opened a bag of flour to pour into a bowl with a plastic cup. He dug through the pantry for the paprika, salt, and pepper to toss with the flour to make the seasoning.

“Some mission,” Elesis scratched the back of her head. “All this to save someone who can’t keep his head above the water.” She grabbed a knife from the drawer to open a bag of vegetables on the counter. A number of questions spurred in her mind as she began chopping them on the cutting board beside raven. Unable to control the panic from the demon invasion, going missing, being rumored to be kidnapped by mermen of all things… was Duke Rod Ross worthy of his title?

A smile tugged at the corner of Raven’s mouth at the play on words, “It’s hard to sympathize when his secretary said this wasn’t the first time. Nobles in Hamel aren’t too different from the ones in Velder, it seems.”

“It seems so,” Elesis laughed.

Despite the struggles she had when she was stationed in Velder, nostalgia overwhelmed her when she was thought of the people she met and the places she traveled to with her men. Hearing Raven’s occasional comments about the army made her happy to see she wasn’t alone.

“It’s hard talking to them sometimes,” she admitted. “It’s like they’re talking another language!”

“They do say things differently than the common folk for certain things,” Raven agreed. “Didn’t you live in Velder for a time?”

“I did, but it was mostly teaching my men how to fight more than talking to the nobles.”

“We’ll have to cooperate with them more in Hamel,” he said. “Are you okay with that?” While he appreciated Elesis’ enthusiasm, he knew Hamel was different from the experience Elesis must have had with Velder holding less emphasis on nobility but was more military based.

“Me? Nah, I’ll be fine!” The Blazing Heart shrugged it off, but paused when she thought she heard someone walking down the hallway. That must be Elsword, she noted.

Raven must have heard the footsteps too and said, “Well, Elsword seems to represent us and I worry if we encounter someone who won’t be as forgiving if he accidentally steps out of line…”

Her expression wavered. Elsword did use a Ruben slang a merchant mistakened as an insult when the Rune Slayer tried to make a bargain the other day. Perhaps she needed to talk to him. She pondered on what to tell her younger brother.

“You seem fluent in doing this sort of thing,” Elesis made her decision. “Teach me how to talk to nobles then!”

“H-hey, I’m no expert!” He made a choking noise she assumed as surprise…of happiness? Raven coughed, “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon-”

“And that’s why you’ll be a great teacher!” She beamed, “You tell me the common folk equivalence with the fancy talk and I’ll teach Elsword afterward!”

“Fancy talk?” The older man blurted out a loud laugh before controlling himself and stifle a smile. Raven finished mixing the eggs with water in a separate bowl and a bit of salt and pepper.

She finished cutting the last slices of onion and bell pepper, stringing them together on a kabob and was pleased with herself. It looked like Raven was almost done too with washing the chicken and covering them with the seasoning he made earlier. All was left was to cook them on a frying pan and wait for them to cool.

Elesis grinned, “I’ll pick it up, no problem!”

Raven returned one and chuckled, “I’ll see what I can do then. Tomorrow?”

She beamed, “Tomorrow, after breakfast.” Elesis watched Raven heat up the stove in preparation to fry the chicken and had a gleam in her eyes when she offered to add extra paprika to the first piece.

“Be careful,” he said.

“Hey,” she said with a wink. “Just a little.”

Raven stared, “You poured at least two spoons.”

Elesis waved it off, “This isn’t for me.”

Color drained from Raven’s face before he realized when she meant when he caught her with a devious expression.

“This is for Elsword eating the last sandwich,” the redhead cackled while Raven groaned. It looked like Raven did have a soft heart after all as Rena claimed. She couldn’t wait to tell the elf the good news tonight when the rest of them came home.

Author Notes: Thanks being a good friend and going over my writing over the years! I’m glad I found your fics long ago and got to talk to you u v u/. Don’t let the hot summer melt you!

#elsword #eltag #elesis (elsword)#raven (elsword)#veteran commander #blazing heart #blazingsnark #oh no i forgot to put read more i'm dumb #was i awake when i posted that?#deleted the other post and replaced with this #my writing #elsword fanfiction #mywriting

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andreaphobia · 7 years

Text

fic: love is just another game for two. (SHINO & YAMAGI)

Characters: Shino/Yamagi, Eugene, Mikazuki, Akihiro, Orga

Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS

Wordcount: ~4500

Summary: Shino gets hooked on an MMO, and one day he meets a mage who may or may not be the cute guy from the dining hall.

Notes:

For @skyfireflies, who got me to watch this show in the first place. Also, my first Gundams ever! Hooray!

Also on AO3, if you prefer.

So when Shino comes slouching into class on Monday morning, puffy-eyed and bleary, Eugene doesn't even need to ask why—but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it, either.

“I'm gonna give Orga a piece of my mind,” he mutters, as Shino collapses heavily into the seat next to him.

“Ah?” Shino yawns, scratching an unkempt chin. “Why’s that?”

“Because he got you into that damn game, that’s why! And now you’re up all night playing it, you fall asleep in lecture and then you beg for my notes, and I’m telling you now, if you want me to be your private tutor, you better start coughing up cold hard cash for the privilege, 'cause it don’t come free.”

“Oh, come on,” Shino says, grinning apologetically. “You’re being dramatic. I don’t play half as much as Mika, anyway.” Which was true; Mika had hit level cap weeks ago, and God only knew what he kept himself busy with to while he was waiting for everyone else to catch up.

(To be fair, Eugene knew this because he was also playing Art of War Online—but at least he had some self control.)

“Besides, I wasn’t up late last night just playing. I was talking to someone.”

Suspicious, Eugene narrows his eyes. “In game, you mean?”

“Well... yeah.” Shino grins again. “They were nice. Real friendly-like.”

To this, Eugene can only put his face in his hands. “I can’t believe you’re even trying to pick up girls in a video game.”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate that! I think we had a real connection, you know?” Shino seems to reflect on this for a moment. “Besides, I don’t even know if it was a girl. Their character was a guy, at least.”

“Dude, they’re probably more likely to be a guy if they have a female avatar,” Eugene scoffs. “Do you know anything about online games?”

“Guess not,” Shino says cheerfully, “but at least I'm making friends!”

Eugene is about to retort when the professor comes bumbling into the room, hitting the pause button on their conversation, and soon Shino is out like a light, snoring gently with his head lolling on his seat back. He rouses himself occasionally, just long enough to jot down a couple of formulas or a tidbit of knowledge, before passing out again, and proceeds in this fashion until the bell rings at the end of the period.

As Eugene tucks his books and notes away, Shino stretches, smacking his lips noisily and giving his head a little shake. He crams his stuff unceremoniously into his backpack, and beams at Eugene.

“Up for lunch?”

Eugene grins at him. “Yeah, if it’s on you.”

“Tightass,” Shino grumbles. He pulls out his wallet and peers into it as if that proves something, but Eugene only rolls his eyes; since meals at the dormitory dining hall are paid for on a point system, he’s not feeling much sympathy.

“Nah,” he says, as he follows Shino out of the lecture hall. “I’m just resourceful, that’s all.”

At the dining hall, Shino picks up a plate of three eggs, four sausages, and a steaming great heap of baked beans. Eugene, sensible as usual, has a complete meal from the Chinese food stall; rice, chicken, some wilted vegetables on the side. Healthy, Shino thinks—unless you’re trying to bulk up, in which case he’d consider it anemic, plain and simple.

“You sure you don’t want some more protein with that meal?” Eugene says mildly, glancing at Shino’s breakfast-themed abomination as they pay for their food. (In exchange for access to Eugene’s notes, Shino is bankrolling the entire meal with his point card.)

“Eh.” Immune to sarcasm, Shino glances down at his overloaded plate. “I think this’ll tide me over till dinner.”

They pass through the checkout line together, heading out into the hall proper. Scanning over the crowd of heads parked at various tables, Eugene spots who he’s looking for.

“Hey, Orga and the others are over there.”

Unfortunately for him, Shino’s not listening. Halfway through trying to figure out where the group Eugene mentioned is sitting, he gets distracted by the sight of something that’s very high on the short list of things that he finds interesting at the moment.

“Ohhh, is that Art of War Online?”

The blonde boy Shino’s addressing stops dead, fork halfway to his mouth. He’s wearing a look reminiscent of a caged animal. In front of him is a tablet, resting on a stand and playing what looks like someone’s live stream of a game.

“It is, isn’t it?” Shino says proudly. (He knows something about that now, after all.) “It’s fun, huh?”

“Um,” the boy says, immediately going red. He looks vaguely familiar; Shino thinks he must have seen him around the dorms, once or twice. The most striking thing about him is the length of his bangs. Shino wonders how he can see through that curtain of hair. (Nice eyes, though.)

He’s just on the verge of following that interesting chain of thought wherever it may lead when Eugene pops up, having finally noticed that he’s wandered astray. “You’re bugging strangers about that damn game now? Give it a rest.” He nods to the boy. “Sorry. Don’t mind my friend, he’s a frickin’ dumbass.“

“We should play together sometime,” Shino says brightly, as Eugene starts dragging him away. The boy does not respond; he’s staring intently at his hands resting in his lap, bright red all the way to the backs of his ears. Kinda cute, actually.

Once they’re out of earshot of the kid, Eugene finally releases his arm and lets him walk on his own.

“‘samatter with you? Don’t bother people when they’re eating.”

Shino beams. “I’m just making friends!”

“You didn’t even ask for his name.”

“Oh, you’re right!” He’s about to turn back and ask when Eugene seizes his arm again, with an exasperated grin.

“I don’t think so.” He steers Shino firmly over to the table where Orga, Mika, and Akihiro are already seated, and strong-arms him into a chair. “Give the poor guy a break.”

“Okay, okay.” Shino laughs, putting his hands up in surrender.

Akihiro’s looking between the two of them with interest. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know...” Eugene mutters, plopping down into his own chair. “Just Shino things.”

Mika, who barely seemed to have noticed they’d arrived, finally looks up from his plate. Mouth full of food and still chewing, he asks, “So, when are you guys getting to 60? It’s boring being the only one.”

At the end of the day, after class and several abortive attempts to do homework, Shino gives in to the siren call and logs on to the game. (Another good thing: Eugene is out doing honor society crap, so he’s not around to give Shino any grief about this.)

It’s gratifying to hear the loading screen music, but it still takes way too long for him to get into the game; he’s got to look into getting something better than a potato to play it on.

The first thing he does when he finally loads in is check his friends list to see who’s around. Akihiro’s online, but currently in a dungeon, according to his status; Shino kindly decides not to bother him. Mika, surprisingly, is not—then again, it’s almost dinner time, so maybe not that surprising after all. The only thing that boy loves as much as dominating everyone at video games is eating.

And then there’s—Shino’s stomach does a weird little flip when he sees this—his new friend, in an area pretty near him. Which makes sense, since they were just playing together the night before, but is also really convenient.

He’s just wondering how desperate it would seem to message the guy when the problem is solved for him. A whisper appears in his chat box, followed by a party invitation.

<Newt> Want to party up? <shinon> yeah!

There’s a little bit of logistical back-and-forth after he accepts the invite, but eventually they decide to meet up at Goldshire, and venture out from there. Even though they’d had a time of it last night, Shino’s still surprised by how easy the conversation flows; this guy—or girl—is really easy to get along with. (Let’s say guy for now, Shino decides, going by the avatar; if only to make his internal monologue less confusing to himself.)

It shouldn’t surprise him they get along, though, considering the circumstances of their meeting. He’d been neck-deep in kobolds at the bottom of Fargodeep mine and was mentally steeling himself for his demise when this mage just appeared out of nowhere, saving his ass with a couple of well-timed fireballs. But then all the heat was on the mage, and just as he was about to be overwhelmed, Shino got ‘em back with some good ol’ healing holy light. And you know, maybe this is just Shino being sentimental, but personally he thinks it’s hard to save each other’s butts at the bottom of a cave and not become friends. That kind of thing is a real bonding experience!

So anyway, they get to questing together, and everything’s going smoothly—as much as it can, anyway, considering he’s only been playing for a few weeks and is still learning the ropes, leading to occasional disasters like pulling way too many monsters at the same time, then proceeding to fall off a cliff in the process of trying to escape them. But Newt’s real patient with him; in fact—and Shino hopes he can be forgiven for thinking this, but—he's acting kind of... cute. Lots of jumping around, throwing up a little music note emote every time they kill something. Even through a video game, the cheer is infectious.

<shinon> u seem like ur in a good mood :)

The mage stops prancing around long enough to reply,

<Newt> yeah, kinda, actually! Something awesome happened to me today!

Shino smiles at his screen, and then, quite laboriously, types back.

<shinon> wanna tell me abt it?

Art of War doesn’t have a particularly good emote system, yet Shino is amazed by the expressiveness of what happens next. The mage turns abruptly to look at his character, and then steps back and forth a few times, making movements that Shino can only describe as fidgeting.

<Newt> OK, but... promise you won’t laugh? <shinon> dont worry, i can barely type ‘lol’ <Newt> ;) <Newt> OK, so... I know this is gonna sound really silly, but... the guy I like talked to me today!!

Shino’s eyes immediately fixate on that line.

“The guy you like, huh...?” he muses. (It’s too bad Eugene isn’t there, ‘cause he’d be interested to know how this affects the odds on Newt’s true identity.)

Oblivious to whatever Shino might be thinking, Newt is standing stock still, busy typing up a storm.

<Newt> I was just sitting by myself watching someone’s stream when he came up and started talking to me about Art of War! And OK, I think I must have looked really dumb because I couldn’t say anything back to him, but ahhh he’s just so nice!! <Newt> He probably doesn’t even remember this but there was this one time some guys were bothering me in the street outside my dorm and he and his friends scared them off, and he just looked SO COOL!

Shino reads through this small wall of text, and actually his first thought is, well, sounds like a friendly chap!

His second thought is, Hmmm.

Come to think of it, he had thought the boy at the dining hall looked familiar. And yes, he vaguely recalls now a time when Mika and Akihiro and him were coming back from the gym late at night, found some kid getting pushed around by jerks and scared ‘em off... but... could it be?

While he’s busy digesting all of this, Newt appears to take his silence the wrong way.

<Newt> Omg, I’m sorry, I’m just babbling on and on, this is probably boring you... <shinon> na, i was just thinking that sounds rly sweet <shinon> so, r u going to ask him out?

Newt, the character, starts fidgeting again. So cute, Shino thinks.

<Newt> No, I couldn’t possibly... I’m too shy... <Newt> But maybe someday <shinon> u know what they say <shinon> u miss 100 % of the shots u dont take <Newt> Thanks ;) <Newt> crap, my roommate wants to get dinner, I g2g. Can you get back to town by yourself? <shinon> no sweat buddy <shinon> cu l8r <Newt> See you!

With Newt gone, Shino leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling.

Well... shit.

Whatever Eugene had been expecting on his return to their shared dorm room, it certainly wasn’t this.

“So,” he says, once Shino has finished talking and gesticulating wildly. “Let me get this straight. You think that that kid you were accosting in the dining hall the other day, and your new virtual-reality best friend, are the same person?”

He’s skeptical, and who can blame him? Not that this puts a damper on Shino's enthusiasm; if anything it only seems to encourage him.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he says brightly. “Why?”

Eugene squints at him.

“This is just an excuse for you to bother that kid more, isn’t it?”

“No!” Shino pauses. “But now that you mention it, actually—”

“Look, I know you’re not a math genius, but what do you think the odds of that are? Like, one in a thousand? One in a million? Even if he does play, what makes you think you guys are on the same server?”

“Man, I dunno!” Clearly frustrated by Eugene’s superior logic, Shino throws himself back onto his bed. “Why’d Orga make Tekkadan on this server, anyway?”

“It—” Eugene sputters. “Well, it’s—okay, fine, I forgot that it’s the official server for people from our school until a second ago, but—still! That makes the odds, like, one in a hundred at best.”

“One in a hundred, huh?” Shino appears to be giving this some serious thought; from his expression, Eugene can tell that that doesn’t sound half bad to him. “I’d take those odds.”

Eugene throws his hands up in disgust. “Remind me never to put you in charge of my bank account.”

“Hey, it’s your loss,” says Shino, waggling his eyebrows. (Eugene ignores this entirely.)

“Anyway, so let’s say you’re right and it really is the same guy. So what?”

Once again, Shino has to give this thought, but this answer seems to come easier than the last one.

“I just wanna get to know him, man. That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“No, but—” Eugene wavers; he’s not sure if Shino’s potential love life is something he ought to be commenting on, but... “Didn’t he say he likes you...?” he ventures.

This makes no discernible impression on Shino. “Yeah, and?”

“And... I mean...” For a few more moments, Eugene falters, and then decides that maybe the best course of action is to just let it go. There’s no changing Shino’s mind once it’s made up, after all. “Look, just... be nice to him, okay?”

“I’m nice!” Shino insists. “I’m a nice guy, you don’t even have to worry about that. Like, what could go wrong?”

Probably best not to answer that, Eugene thinks. Well, at least Shino won’t be able to complain he didn’t warn him.

It takes Shino a while to find the kid, elusive as he is, but he happens to be passing by the library one day when he spots a certain mop of blonde hair, bent over a textbook that’s thick enough to kill a man with. When he lifts it up to turn a page, Shino can just barely make out the title on the cover: Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, it says.

Jesus. Well, as long as the guy doesn’t expect him to know any of that as a prerequisite, Shino figures he’s golden. So he rolls right up, barely mindful of the fact that it’s a library, stops by the table the kid’s sitting at, and when he looks up, gives him a big ol’ ear-to-ear grin.

“Hi! We met the other day—well, kinda—but I wanted to introduce myself properly.” He sticks out a hand. “I’m Norba Shino, but you can just call me Shino. Everyone does.”

“I know,” says the boy in a small voice.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing.” To Shino’s great surprise and gratitude, the boy only hesitates a moment before shaking his hand. “Yamagi Gilmerton.”

“Yamagi, huh...?” Shino nods, quite seriously; names are a serious business, after all. “Sorry about the other day, I’m just really excited about this game. Started playing a couple weeks ago and I’m totally hooked!”

Yamagi is watching him with an inscrutable expression, all the more so because Shino can only see one of his eyes. As far as Shino can tell, though, Yamagi doesn’t look annoyed or bored, so in his opinion, things are going just swell.

“...It’s okay.”

There, he said it’s okay! How you like that, Eugene? Shino says in his head, triumphantly. He doesn’t gloat for too long, though, since Yamagi is looking at him expectantly.

“So, are you on—what’s it called—Dark Iron? That’s the server everyone from our school is at, right?”

“...Yeah.”

Shino grins. “Great! So we could play together sometime, right?” At this point he also takes care to turn on what one ex-girlfriend called a ‘killer set of puppy-dog eyes’, making Yamagi go beet red again. Totally adorable.

“...Sure.”

“Awesome. Lend me a pen, I’ll give you my character name.”

From inside a backpack bulging with books and notes, Yamagi locates a pen which he holds out hesitantly. Shino takes it, and also seizes Yamagi’s hand—ignoring the little gasp of surprise that this causes—and writes his screen name across Yamagi’s palm, in big block letters. Then he pushes both hand and the pen back to Yamagi.

“OK, so you can use this to find me, right?”

However, Yamagi isn’t listening, and Shino realizes that something’s not right. Instead of—say—nodding, which would probably have been Shino’s preferred response, Yamagi is staring at the letters reading SHINON scrawled across his palm, shock and horror written all over his face.

“Uh... Yamagi?” Shino tries.

The next moment is a blur. Yamagi seizes his bag and his book and promptly legs it out of there, very nearly overturning his chair as he does so.

“Hey—wait!”

Shino attempts to go after him, but then actually overturns a chair in the process, which trips someone else holding a stack of books in their arms, all of which go flying. By the time he’s disentangled himself from this mess, picked up all the books, and apologized to everyone (including the incensed librarian), Yamagi is long gone.

Later, as the sun is setting and he’s standing outside the library alone, Shino says a couple of choice swear words, loud enough to startle a few nearby pigeons. He doesn’t really have a clue what the hell’s going on, but looking at it logically, chances are that it has to do with... whatever Eugene was waffling on about earlier.

Damn it. He hates it when Eugene is right. Well, maybe he can just apologize for whatever it is he did later, in game. Surely Yamagi doesn’t hold grudges forever, right?

However, Yamagi doesn’t show up in Art of War that night, nor the next. A couple of days go by, and though Shino tries to play on his own, he finds that it isn’t half as fun without his questing partner. This leads us into the present: Eugene bent over homework at his desk and trying to block Shino out, until finally, he snaps.

“Stop moaning,” he scolds, as Shino’s rolling around in his bed whining. “You’re driving me nuts.”

“Can’t help it,” Shino mutters. “Sooooo bored. Wanna play Art of War.”

“So play already.”

“I don’t wanna play if Yamagi’s not there!”

“Yamagi?” Something clicks into place. “Oh, you mean that kid from the other day?” Shino doesn’t answer, which he takes to mean ‘yes’. “Isn’t he still playing?”

“I’unno.” Shino sounds sullen; from long experience, Eugene knows this is never a good sign.

“Did you scare him off?”

“No!” A pause. “Maybe. Not intentionally, though!”

Eugene puts down his pencil, sighing. Relationship advice is not his forte, and yet, here they are. “I told you to be nice, man.”

“I was nice!” Then, more doubtful, he adds, “At least, I think I was.”

Eugene can’t help himself; he sighs out loud. It’s hard to believe he needs to walk Shino through every step of this.

“Yeah,” he says, patiently, “but he likes you, right? And you rejected him.”

“I didn’t reject him! I said we should totally play together, and then I gave him my character’s name, and then he freaked the fuck out and ran off! Look...” Shino trails off, sounding dejected. “I don’t even know, man.”

“Dude, of course he freaked out. He spent like an hour gushing about his crush, TO his crush. Can you not see how embarrassing that might be?”

This all seems like it’s coming as news to Shino, but he at least gives it some thought. Finally: “I guess,” he says, in a reluctant tone of voice. “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think it’s cute.”

If Eugene rolls his eyes any harder, they’re gonna fall right out of their sockets. “OK, then go ask him out already so I don’t have to listen to your whining. I have stuff to do.”

“Maybe I will!” Shino rolls himself out of bed in a huff, going to the door.

Well, Eugene thinks, as it slams shut behind him, either way, at least I’ll get some peace and quiet for a while.

If he’d thought it was hard locating Yamagi the first time around, the second nearly kills him. OK, that’s melodramatic, but even though he likes exercise it’s still a pain in the ass to be running all over campus trying to spot him in the crowd. After a few fruitless days of this, Eugene takes pity on him and gives him some advice—try looking in common areas or at the dining hall, he says, places he has to pass through no matter what. And it’s good advice, but all the same, nearly a week goes by with neither hide nor hair of Yamagi, by which time Shino is basically dying from Art of War withdrawal.

And just when he thinks he can’t take anymore—when he’s honest-to-God starting to think he should quit the game because it just ain’t worth it anymore—that’s when a knock comes at the door to his room.

“Nnngh,” Shino moans half-heartedly, face down in his pillow on his bed. “Go ‘way.”

The knock comes again, more insistent. Grumbling, Shino gets up, and goes to open it.

When he does, Yamagi is there.

Shino stares at him for a moment. The relief he’s feeling is almost palpable; it washes all the tension out of once, and he feels himself smiling the first real smile he’s had on his face for days.

Still, it won’t do to be scaring him off again, so he tries to sound casual when he says, “Hey, man, I’ve been looking all over for you! Are you okay? You haven’t logged on in a week, I was worried!”

Yamagi only shrugs, refusing to meet Shino’s eyes. There’s a strange, closed-off look on his face. He’s quiet for a moment, and then sucks in a deep breath and starts speaking, maybe a little too loud for how close they are.

“I’m sorry about—about everything. I know you’re probably weirded out by the things I said, and... I’m... sorry... about them.”

He stops there, as though in the middle of a thought, and his eyes are half-shut, almost like he’s expecting Shino to lash out. Which is such a crazy idea that Shino doesn’t even know what to do about it, except try and change his mind.

“Nah, not really,” he says, easily. “I mean—it’s cool, right?”

Yamagi blinks once, very slowly.

“What do you mean... ‘it’s cool’?”

“Just what it sounds like. It’s cool, man! I don’t mind.”

“But...” Yamagi looks slightly bewildered. “Don’t you? I mean... that was you the whole time, right?”

“Yeah, that was me.” Shino chuckles. “How come you didn’t realize that, huh? I even named my character after myself!”

Yamagi goes red. “Well, who—who puts their real name in their screen name these days? What about stranger danger, huh?!”

“Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet!” Shino beams. “Besides, I couldn’t think of a good name. It’s hard, okay?”

For a moment Yamagi looks like he wants to laugh, but also like he’s simultaneously on the verge of tears.

“But I typed all that stupid crap about you!”

Shino holds up his hands disarmingly. “No, it was cute! Seriously, it’s fine.”

“But—” By now, he’s almost shouting. “But I like you, Shino!”

“Yeah, I like you too!”

In sheer frustration, Yamagi runs his hands back through his own hair, mussing it up until it looks quite wild.

“No—listen to me! I mean—like like. I don’t just—”

“I know what you meant,” Shino says.

This simple sentence is apparently enough to leave Yamagi speechless, and given that he’s not shouting anymore, Shino seizes the chance to speak.

“I’m—what’s that you call it? Oh yeah! I swing both ways, man. I mean, people are just people, right? So it’s all good. Let’s just keep playing, okay?”

“But—”

“No buts!” Shino scratches his chin, thoughtful for a moment. Then he reaches out, brushing Yamagi’s hair back out of his eyes so they can really see each other. “And let’s get dinner sometime too, okay?” He grins. “Just you and me.”

Yamagi just stands there, closing and opening his mouth without a word as he tries to process all of this. Then, as though he barely dares to believe it, he asks, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Well, that’s the idea!” Sheepish, Shino grins. “But I’ve never asked a dude out before, so... maybe I’m doing it wrong?”

“...No.”

And Yamagi’s eyes are watery, but he starts to laugh, which is such a relief for Shino. Laughing Yamagi beats crying Yamagi any day. Smiling, he ruffles Yamagi’s hair.

“So, dinner? Yay, nay...?”

Suddenly embarrassed by his own tears, Yamagi scrubs his eyes dry, and then turns his face up to Shino. “Yes, I accept,” he says firmly.

“Oh, that was fast,” Shino teases.

“You miss all of the shots you don’t take,” Yamagi says, and smiles a little. “Someone who sucks at typing told me that, once.” Then he thrusts his chin out, almost impertinently, like he’s daring Shino to do something about it. “Well?” he demands. “Aren’t you going to take responsibility for all this?”

Shino swallows, but grins, too. “Oh yeah,” he says, with feeling. “You bet.”

After all, he’s always liked a challenge.

#iron blooded orphans #ibo #shinoyama #gundam ibo #norba shino #yamagi gilmerton #fic

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