#hey uh. long time no see. I have had terrible writer's block for this fic lately but y'alls feedback got me writing again so

[gaybananabread]

☾༺Just a Bit Longer༻☽

~So I’ve been brainrotting over RW&RB for a solid month now. The goblins need a walk, and I cannot productivity until they get one. I love these two’s dynamic; they’re just so silly. Not my best work, but writer’s block be damned; I needed to post something this week. This is completely self-indulgent, but if it’s your thing, I hope you Enjoy!~

Lee: Alex

Ler: Henry

Summary: Alex is overworking himself, going late into the night and working hours without breaks. Sick of his lover’s dreadful work-life management, Henry takes it upon himself to get Alex to sleep.

Warnings: mild Red, White & Royal Blue spoilers! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

Life for Alex Claremont-Diaz was the best it had ever been. Henry came over almost daily from his Brownstone, and he finally felt like he had a definite idea of where his life was headed. The only downside: he was still in school.

The NYU Law course was a bit more rigorous than he’d expected, but it was definitely what he wanted. Sure, that meant long, painful hours of reviewing for extremely difficult exams, discovering that tort is a real word, and trying to figure out a system for coursework that didn’t make his brain want to explode.

His sleep schedule was already shit, so he didn’t think any of it would be a problem. If he just pulled a few all-nighters and pumped out some late-night essays, he’d be fine. What he didn’t think about, however, was how Henry would take it.

Alex was working late on another essay, running off of coffee and pure determination. He hadn’t meant to put it off, but with the three exams he’d had that week, his mind was a scattered mess.

Henry had put up with it for most of the night, but as two AM rolled around, his understanding had run dry, replaced by concern.

Knocking the “shave and a haircut” pattern on his lover’s door, Henry entered the room. He was immediately greeted with the strong smell of coffee and desperation.

There sat his boyfriend, hunched over a computer with a half-eaten ham sandwich (he couldn’t handle turkey anymore) by his side. The blonde couldn’t help the sad sigh that escaped him.

Alex looked up, his glasses nearly all the way down on his nose. It was unfairly cute, though Henry shoved that feeling down for the moment.

“Uh…hey, Hen. Not done yet; gimme, like, another half-hour.” Alex’s gaze was back on his computer in seconds.

Henry rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache brew. For once, why couldn’t Alex just use common sense?

“Alex, darling. It’s two in the morning. You need to sleep.”

Alex scoffed, not stopping for even a second. “Says you. You stay up later than I do most of the time.” While that wasn’t untrue, Henry’s problems were because of insomnia. Alex was just a stubborn asshole.

“Look, I’m going to be brutally honest here. You look terrible, you seem exhausted, and the bags under your eyes could fit the entirety of the Royal Wardrobe. Go. To. Sleep.”

Henry laid things out bluntly, crossing his arms. It was meant to leave little room for negotiation, but defying Henry’s expectations was Alex’s special talent.

“This is due at eight AM…uh, today. I’ve only got six hours to finish this thing, but I’m almost done. I promise, just a bit longer.” This would have been more comforting if Alex hadn’t already said that three times.

“Alex, please. If you sleep now, I’ll wake you up at six, and we’ll work on it together. It hurts to see you like this, dear.” He used pet names, trying to sway Alex to listen. It was a last-ditch effort; if he still refused, Henry didn’t have much of a plan left. Sure enough, he did.

“It’s fine, Henry. I’m all good, just a little spacy. I promise, the moment I’m done, I’ll eat your face. Okay, baby?” Alex flipped the other man’s strategy back on him, hoping to fully bury the concern. He was fine: end of story.

For Henry, though, the tale was just beginning. He racked his brain, searching for anything to help him get Alex to cooperate. He could only remember one time anyone was successful.

Alex had invited him to the White House for June’s birthday party. As the night dragged on, everyone but Alex was drunk and exhausted. To tire him out, June had employed some rather…unconventional methods.

Methods that would be extremely useful to him at that moment.

Casually approaching his boyfriend, Henry put a hand on the laptop. Then, after making sure the work was saved, he closed it. He pointedly ignored Alex’s scoff and protests, grabbing his chin and pulling him in for a kiss. Alex still squirmed, though a smile was breaking out on his face.

That was all Henry needed to continue. He gripped Alex under his thighs, lifting the man up and plopping him down on his nearby bed.

A surprised sound left him, his cheeks gaining a nearly imperceptible red hue. He was expecting some push-back from Henry, but nothing this active.

“Just couldn’t wait for me, could you~?” Alex weteased, starting to sit up on the bed. Henry was quick to stop that, grabbing Alex’s arms and pinning them above his head.

Before his lover could make another joke, Henry tapped a few fingers on his side. That shut him up, if only for a second.

“Henry, I swear to fucking god, if you try anything-” He was cut off when Henry squeezed his side, resulting in an indignant squeak.

“Sorry, dear, but I’m afraid I already have~” With that, Henry clawed his fingers into Alex’s stomach, straddling him.

The tired man tried to bite his lip, but the coffee wasn’t quite enough to give him that energy. A few giggles slipped out, quickly followed by tiny curses.

“What’s the matter, Alex? Something bothering you?” Henry chuckled, leaning down further to try and hold him still.

Kicking and squirming, Alex tried anything to get away from the evil fingers. He was tired, though; his brain was moving at half-speed and felt like it was running through soup.

“Gehehet ohoff me, youhuhu prihick!” Henry has decided to move up to his ribs, scritching and scratching between each bone.

Even on a good day, it’d be hard for Alex to get out from under him. With no sleep, coffee fumes and pure spite, he had no chance.

“Why on Earth would I do that? I’m quite comfortable here. Besides, you seem to be enjoying yourself, if that blush is any indication,” Henry taunted, jutting his chin out. He didn’t really need to, but it was a sure-fire way to rile Alex.

“Fuhuhuck off! Hehenry, I swehehear- quihit!” Alex tried to bury his face in his shoulder, though he only drew attention to a new target. Henry leaned down, blowing a raspberry on his boyfriend’s neck. Alex would rather die than repeat the squeal that left him.

“Wow, Alex. Perhaps the Barbara Streisand accusation wasn't so far off,” he teased, his voice about as smug than Alex had ever heard it.

The typically witty man was in giggly shambles, trying his best not to sound like a child. He wasn’t very successful.

“SHUHUhut uhup, youhu douche!!” Laughing like a toddler, Alex was still pumping out insults. Henry was about to put a stop to that. Going for the kill, he hooked his thumbs into Alex's hip divots, kneading and squeezing the area.

That seemed to work quite well.

“GAH- HEHENRY! You- YAHAHA! FAHAHACK!” The law student lost his shit, practically cackling under his boyfriend.

Alex arched his back off the bed, only bucking into the ticklish feeling. There was no room in his mind for witt; the best he could do was “fuck fuck fuck it tickles oh my god-”

Hearts practically formed in Henry’s eyes at the adorably hysteric reaction. Still, as cute as it was, he had a mission.

“This all ends the moment you agree to rest. Or…would you like me to continue? I bet I could just tickle you senseless all night. You’d surely be exhausted then, wouldn’t you?”

Alex couldn’t even get a word out, shaking his head as he laughed. His curls went wild, getting in his eyes and puffing up. Henry wanted to brush it from his eyes, but he had to keep his priorities in order. There would be time for fawning over him later.

“HEHENRY! PLEHE- snrk” It took a solid minute, but Alex’s resolve was weakening. He was already tired beforehand, and laughing his ass off wasn’t helping. The squirming had died down almost completely, snorts slipping into the lax cackles.

While it wasn’t an agreement, the Prince could tell that his lover would be out in seconds. Henry stopped, switching to gentle traces down his sides. The first son tried to calm down, a steady stream of giggles pouring from his lips.

“H-hoholy shihihit… Thahat was evil.” He tried taking some deep breaths, rubbing his cheeks. Alex hadn’t laughed that hard in a while. He was close to just passing out right there, pure exhaustion hitting him like a freight train.

“Possibly. You deserved it, though.” Henry leaned down, gently kissing his curved lips. This sight was one of his new favorites: Alex, his toned skin flushed, practically a puddle of giggles beneath him.

Alex flipped him the bird before melting into the kiss. He weakly pulled his boyfriend down, snuggling against him. He’d all but forgotten about his essay, eyes closed the moment he laid still; the poor guy was wiped. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but all his energy was gone.

Carefully grabbing his phone, Henry set an alarm for six AM.

They’d finish that research paper; he was certain of that. With a bit of sleep, Alex would be a writing machine. True, the slightly rushed grammar would be atrocious, but that’s what Henry was there for. Pulling the sheets up over them both, Henry breathed a happy sigh.

“Good night, love.”

#rwrb tickle #lee!alex #ler!henry #ticklish!alex #sfw tickling community #tickle #tickle fic #red white and royal blue tickle #rw&rh tickle #rwrb alex #rwrb henry #alex claremont-diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #rwrb

[peninkwrites]

Rocks That Bleed - ch 9 of ?

The Warden calculates his every move. He doesn't know how to cope when those calculations fail.

(CW: character death! It's Ghostbur. y'know how it is)

Crossposted to ao3

Ch 1

Ch 8

Ch 10

~

A question remains– does he tell Quackity?

Sam had no intention of keeping secrets from his business partner, but the fact of the matter is, the ultimate goings on of his prison had nothing to do with his arrangements with Quackity.

Sam convinces himself this is not hubris, that Dream’s snide comments about Quackity being his boss weren’t getting to him.

He feels like he’s getting worse somehow.  Sam is not a liar.

He’ll tell him after, whether it succeeds or not.

<WilburSoot> im here sam!

<WilburSoot> hello sam!

It’s still surreal to see a dead man’s tag on his comm.  He knows it’s just because that’s what Ghostbur has to use, but eerie either way.

<awesamdude> Go on through the portal

Sam waits at his desk, the portal opened now.  No one comes through.  Sam is anxious enough as is.

<awesamdude> Ghostbur?

Finally, he appears, grey and hollow and smiling brightly.

“Hello, Sam!”

“Hey there, Ghostbur, how are you?”

“Hi Sam, how’s it going– I left my sheep in the Nether!” Ghostbur gestures back to the portal behind him.

Sam frowns quizzically.  “You left your sheep in the Nether?”

Ghostbur turns from the portal back to him.  “Well, I was bringing Friend, if that’s okay– he’s my, he’s my little– he’s my comfort sheep!” Ghostbur fumbles for the right words, pushing on without embarrassment or doubt.  He’s so unlike the Wilbur Sam had vaguely known while alive.  That certainty comes with worry, Ghostbur weaving a loose thread on his yellow sweater through his hands anxiously, looking to Sam with such trust.  “And he got stuck, he can’t come through again.”

“Well, that’s alright, we’ll just leave him there,” Sam says gently.  Sam realizes he sounds… different.  It’s something about Ghostbur– no, he doesn’t sound different, Sam sounds younger.  Like his younger self, when being kind felt easy.

Ghostbur gives the portal another glance.  “Well, is he okay?  Is he safe there?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine.”

Ghostbur is relieved in an instant.  “Okay, okay good, good.”

Sam proceeds as normal.  He hasn’t brought in a visitor in so long.  Quackity hardly counts now.  Ghostbur reads aloud the contract and signs without fuss.  It’s easy, procedural, Ghostbur needing some reassurance at times, and there’s something about Ghostbur’s gentle uncertainty that makes Sam feel guilty for reasons he can’t name.

Still, he persists.  When it comes time for the search, he panics.  Sam reassures him.  It really is like guiding a child.  Sam wonders if it’s disrespectful to infantilize the ghost of a grown man, but still, Ghostbur just needs a little more gentleness.  It’s hard not to be endeared.  It still feels strange and unfamiliar, like putting on an old set of armor that doesn’t quite fit anymore.

“Is it a fun job, mister Sam?”

The Warden is suddenly back, he is no longer helping someone along on a journey and once more taking a piece of bait to the cell.  That’s what this is, isn’t it?  Ghostbur is bait, or maybe a bargaining chip.  Neither option feels less amoral.

Sam stares as the floor rises over the lava, the loud sound of redstone working filling his ears, familiar as a melody.  “I don’t know if fun is the word I would use.”

“Is it rewarding–?”

“Follow me.”  Sam needs Ghostbur to stop asking questions if his kindness is going to continue.

Sam cannot remain cold for long.  He almost feels like he’s being especially gentle with a dog before it goes to the vet.  Dream can’t physically hurt a ghost, but he can be cruel.  Sam knows Dream wants something out of this.  Sam also knows he can control whatever that outcome is, but Ghostbur is still being offered up.  Ghostbur will be safe, he is here of his own volition, and then Dream will give something to them finally.

Sam is not paranoid.  This is all within his control.  That prickling feeling on the back of his neck, Sam refuses to let that stop him.  He is in control.  He can make plans and follow through without Quackity.  He will not panic, he will not fail nor assume that something is wrong just because sometimes there’s an echo that makes Sam feel like he’s being followed.  Sam will cling to rationality.

He is in control.

He is in control of everything up until he sees an axe on the bridge.

Dream cannot get a weapon.

Sam tries to follow the axe with his crossbow.  The axe returns to his side, the ghost stays there.

It’s Tommy, because of course it would be Tommy.

“I should kill you right now!”

True.

“Tommy, be careful, I am so close to murdering you right now.”

Not true.

Sam hears a ringing in his ears, three voices shouting at once and him shouting back and no progress made, Tommy won’t get out of the fucking way and Dream is screaming empty threats and now Ghostbur is crying.  Sam cannot get Ghostbur back until Tommy backs away.

Tommy seems torn between throwing a punch and flinching away.  “You let me die in that prison, Sam, you shit fuckin’ Warden– You go over there and kill him yourself!”  Like a knife in his chest, a true accusation but not one he plans on letting go of.

“Tommy, this is the reason I let you die in the prison, what am I supposed to do now?!”

“Fuckin- just-”

“Now Ghostbur’s stuck over there!”

Dream is screaming at him.  Tommy is frantic.  Ghostbur petrified.

And all of it is out of Sam’s control.

“Dream killed me in there, Sam!”

“Tommy, I couldn’t do anything!” Sam is as desperate as he is furious.  He feels like he’s on trial.  He did what he could, but he will not make the same mistakes again.  Tommy stops here.

Tommy’s screaming is familiar, terror masked by rage masking helplessness.

“What have you done, Tommy?!” Sam doesn’t know what to do.  He hates not knowing what to do.  It terrifies him.

“Send me over there!  We can just kill Dream now!”  Tommy has lost his mind.  He cannot think Sam would ever let Tommy back into that cell again.

“I am not sending you over there–”

Dream is still raving.

He has a book.

“–He’s just gonna keep you both!  He’s just gonna keep you both– back up Tommy!”  Sam isn’t losing anyone else.  He’s not losing Tommy again.   Not on his watch.  He cannot be scared of losing him, because he won’t let it happen.  It’s not an option.

He’s not out of control, he just needs Tommy to stop moving and Dream to stop making threats and everyone to just–

“Everyone shut up!  Everyone shut up!” Sam pushes Tommy away from the lava, the boy looking like he was ready to jump over the edge.

“Let me out!” Dream’s illusion of fear or restraint or docile subservience vanishes as he has Ghostbur in his cell.

And Tommy is no longer shouting, instead he’s trying to soothe Ghostbur and some dark voice in the back of Sam’s head wonders if that’s what Tommy had needed from him all those months ago.

“Ghostbur, count to ten, count to ten, Ghostbur– with me!  One, two, three– we’re not gonna die– four five– it’s fine, it’s all okay– six– think of the blue–”

Ghostbur’s trembling voice replies, “seven, eight, nine, ten.”

And Tommy gives him what Sam could never offer.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

“Shut up!” Sam can’t think, all he can think of is Tommy dying alone, begging Dream to stop, while Sam couldn’t get there in time, but he could’ve turned on the comm.  He could’ve told him it would be okay– “Shut up! Stop counting!”  He tries to push Tommy back.  Dream has Ghostbur, an arm around his throat and a book in his other hand.  Sam hasn’t seen Dream like this in a long time, victorious and vicious in an obsidian box.  “Ghostbur is a ghost!”  Ghosts cannot die.  So Dream cannot win.

Sam tells himself this until Ghostbur vanishes, the lava finally lowers, and in that last glimpse, Sam sees the dead fall again.

At least Ghostbur isn’t stuck anymore.  Sam doesn’t understand.  Sam made every calculation, every plan and step taken with the utmost care, he was going to leave them there, Ghostbur safe behind a barrier, and he was going to get Tommy out.  Then he would return for the ghost.  Ghosts can’t die.

Sam doesn’t know what to do when his plans fall apart.

Sam stares at the lava, a hole growing wider in the pit of his stomach.  He wishes it would consume him entirely until nothing remained.  He’s so tired.

“What have you done, Tommy?  What have you done?” Sam doesn’t know how it got this dire, how Tommy crawled his way back within these walls.

“What have I done?!” Tommy is incredulous one moment and frightened the next.  Sam is at a loss.  He should kill him.  At the very least he should put Tommy in a cell, but he’s not going to do that.  That scares him.  When it comes to Tommy, the Warden’s own protocols mean nothing.  After last time, maybe it makes some twisted sort of sense, but Sam needs there to be rules to follow, rules he himself cannot break.  He’s broken enough of himself already, what’s a little more, for Tommy’s sake?

“I cannot believe you, Tommy.”  He’s angry with Tommy.  Right now he is only angry with Tommy.  Not himself.  He refuses.  He did his best, and he cannot resent himself for showing mercy, he cannot hate himself for letting Tommy walk out of here alive.  He’s not that far gone.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill you…”  Tommy mutters behind him.

Sam snaps, turning back to face him, fury and maybe something horribly like hope has him stepping forward.  “You will?!”

Tommy backs away, but he doesn’t keep quiet.  “Yeah, right fuckin’ now–”

“Do it then, big man!”  Sam knows he’s cornering him, he knows Tommy is more scared than angry, but he can’t bring himself to stop, even as Tommy walks ahead, refusing to look him in the eye.  “Turn around and kill me!”

Tommy keeps one hand on the axe of peace still at his side.  Sam should’ve taken that from him.  He hadn’t.  Tommy is still trying to be loud, like a cat puffing up its fur to make it seem bigger.  “Don’t you ‘big man’ me!” He gestures furiously.  He’s without armor, a lanky furious child, but Sam doesn’t stop pushing.

“Turn around and kill me, right now,” Sam stares after him, cold rage turning to smoke inside of him.

“I-I fuckin’ will!” Tommy snaps, finally turning to face him, axe held close in front of him.  He doesn’t back down.  The Warden towering over him, and Tommy doesn’t flinch.  Maybe in another life Sam would’ve found that commendable.

The Warden takes one step closer, they’re nearly nose to nose.  He doesn’t draw a weapon, he just stands over Tommy and waits.  “Do it, then,” he growls.

A weighted silence.

Tommy flinches back first.  He doesn’t let go of the axe.

“You know what, Sam, you’re corrupt,” Tommy turns away, walking further down the corridor, blocked by a locked door and forced to stop.  Tommy stepped back and his anger wilts into cold dread in an instant.

“I am not corrupt, Tommy,” Sam has done everything for this kid, and it’s like Tommy is fucking committed to making them enemies.

Tommy paces frantically, trapped and horrified.  “Where’s Ghostbur…”

“Everything I’ve done I did to try and help this server,” Sam snaps as he unlocks the door.  Tommy stumbles ahead, but he’s not out of fire yet.

“You’re corrupt!” Tommy snarls, torn between fear and hatred.  His eyes are watering.  “You let me die!  You–”

“You’re so lucky I don’t kill you right now.”  Sam can’t.  That’s a flaw he’s not yet removed from himself.  He cannot kill Tommy.  “You should be dead, Tommy.”  Maybe true.  He can’t figure out if letting Tommy live is him salvaging what he can or just another failure.

Tommy’s lip trembles, a hand going to his mouth, he leans against the wall to bury sobs.  Sam will not pity him right now.  He’s just a stupid teenager, a nuisance, not something for Sam to take care of.  He hasn’t taken care of anyone in a long time.  “Where’s Ghostbur..?”  He whispers it, words not really meant for Sam’s ears.

“Shut up, Tommy, I don’t want to hear it.  I should’ve killed you right away when I saw you on that bridge.  You should be dead,” Sam ignores Tommy’s tearful muttering behind him.  “The only reason you’re not dead is because–” Sam stops, words caught in his throat as the vault door pulls back.  Sam had never planned for this.  He can still hear Tommy screaming his name from that cell.  “Just– Don’t– Shut up, Tommy.  I don’t want to hear anything else.  Go.”

Sam can’t even tell if Tommy is hearing him anymore, the kid seems to be stepping closer and closer to a full blown panic attack.  “Where’s Wilbur… Oh no, oh no–”

Sam will not comfort him.  He will not be any more merciful than he already is being.  He should kill Tommy.  He’ll be cold instead.  “Go, Tommy,” Sam’s voice breaks.  He cannot break down now, he needs to be strong, just until Tommy is out of here.  He cannot come back here ever again, he hadn’t thought he’d need to make Tommy stay away.  He doesn’t understand him.

Tommy hesitates for another moment.  “Do you know where–” Tommy stops himself and for once does as he’s told.

A ghost cannot die.  This isn’t possible, Sam had planned for this to be safe.  Silence presses in.  Sam waits for the keycard.  Tommy should never have come back here.  “This is not good… This is not good… Tommy, this is– what have you done?”

“Did you see–” Tommy sounds imploring.  He sounds like he wants Sam to help him.

He can’t.

“Shut up, Tommy.”

“Fuck you.”  Tommy is still choked up.  He’s just a stupid teenager with an axe who thought he could change something.  Sam is supposed to be the responsible one, but this stupid kid ruined everything.

“You did this.  You can blame me all you want, but this is not my fault, Tommy!  You did this,” Sam does not acknowledge the fact that Tommy has not thrown blame at him beyond a frantic why didn’t you let me go over?

“Sam, go to hell– what the fuck–”

Sam is waiting for blame.  He refuses it.  He did his best and factors which weren’t even meant to be at play ruined everything.  A hostage… Dream ruined everything with a hostage.  One he should never have been able to threaten in the first place, let alone kill.  A hostage that would target Tommy who wasn’t even supposed to fucking be there–

“Say what you want, Tommy, I don’t care. I don’t care. I told you, you weren’t gonna come here again– I said that no one else was gonna come in here! Every single problem at this prison was caused by you. ”  Tommy, always the one thing out of control.  Just one more thing Sam doesn’t want in common with Dream but has anyway.  “Everything is perfect when it’s just me and him! Nothing bad has ever happened.”

Tommy looks visibly disgusted, stepping back with a shudder.  “What’d you mean just you and him–”

“Until you started coming here– you are the greatest security risk on the server for this prison and keeping him locked up!”

“Sam, he needs to die–”

“What were you thinking?!  What did you think was going to happen?!” Sam doesn’t know how Tommy thought this would go any other way.

“Stop talking to me!  Stop!” Tommy shouts over him, before stopping, breathing hard.  “Let me out.  Let me out of the prison.”  Tommy is still bottling panic.  He really thinks Sam might keep him here.

Sam holds back a shudder at those familiar words, let me out of the prison.   “This is… I cannot believe you, Tommy… You should be dead. I should have– I should have killed you. I should have just shot you when you were over there.”  Sam nods him along to the next room.  “Go.”

Tommy and Dream need to be kept as far away from each other as possible.  Tommy is sick in the head, he must be, and considering his last prison venture, it only makes sense, because Tommy breaks things.  He comes here, and people try to break Dream out.  Maybe Tommy came here to kill Dream, maybe he was right to, but that doesn’t matter.  This is his prison and his prisoner.  Dream doesn’t get to escape.  Not even through death.  Not even by Tommy’s own hand.  After everything Sam has heard from that monster, especially not by Tommy’s own hand.  Dream would find it poetic.

“Tommyinnit.”  Sam will not kill him.

“Yeah..?”

“Let me make something clear to you,” Sam’s voice shakes.  He tries to make himself sound steady.  It feels like a weak mask, but it’s the only one the Warden has.  “You are never to come near this Prison again. And if I ever see you even near the grounds of this Prison one more time, I will murder you. I will take your last canon life and then I will hunt the ghost that remains. Do you understand me? I will not let Dream escape this Prison. And you seem to be the only one that wants him to be free, for some reason. Even though we’re–” Sam stops himself.  There can be no we with him and Tommy, Sam cannot disillusion himself to think he and Tommy have some understanding when it comes to Dream, not when it’s abundantly clear that’s not true.  He can’t pretend he doesn’t care about that boy, but he will keep those feelings contained.  “Come on, Tommy.”

He’ll keep those feelings contained, and still when that boy needs help, when he gets frantic over that stupid sheep, asking Sam for a lead with the utmost care because while he shouts at him and raves and tells Sam he hates him, he’s still just a kid who needs help.

For all his efforts to remain cold, to do his duty as Warden and only his duty, Sam can’t help but give Tommy one more bit of kindness.  He still hopes he never sees this kid near here again, he still hopes there won’t come a day where he has to kill that boy– as if he ever could, is he really trying to lie to himself and think that there is ever a situation where he could bring a sword down on Tommy?

To keep Dream here, you’d kill anyone in your path.

But he will still help give Tommy a lead.  He won’t threaten to hurt him, to demand he leave, kill the sheep just to get it out of the fucking way– Sam pretends it’s practical.  It’s the fastest way to get Tommy the fuck out of here, but the part of Sam that let Tommy get the lead, that let Tommy get Friend through the portal, might be the last remnants of the man who offered Tommy a place to stay in exile, that brought people pumpkin pie, that wanted to take care of people.

Finally, Tommy is gone.

The Warden is alone.

Not entirely alone.

Everything is perfect when it’s just me and him.

He belongs to me.  No one else.  Worse– we belong to each other.

Revulsion is too simple a word for how Sam feels returning to his prisoner.

“Sam?!  Sam– you should’ve let me out!  You should’ve let me go!” Dream is pleading and mocking him.  He’s calling him Sam again.

Sam should leave him to his ravings.  He shouldn’t indulge this.

He’s furious and he can’t be angry with Tommy anymore.

“We had a deal, Dream!” Sam snaps.  When he turns on the comm, he notices his hands are still shaking.

“Yeah– Yeah, we did, Sam!  And I held up my end!” Dream paces.  “Wilbur– He’s– He didn’t show up here,” Dream mutters.

“What, things didn’t go according to your little plan?” Sam pushes on.  “Like hell you did– Did you know Tommy was going to be there?!”  It doesn’t make sense.  He knows it doesn’t make sense, but he has to ask anyway.

“What– Tommy– No, how the hell would I know?” Dream waves him off.  “It was helpful though, Sam!” He laughs, high and hoarse.  “Thanks for pulling him back, if Tommy killed me, none of us win, right?”

“Shut up, Dream!  We had a deal– You’re– I’m gonna have to punish you now, you do realize that, right?!” The Warden does not make empty threats, even if he has no idea what to do here.  Quackity acts without mercy on the daily.  There are no threats left to be made.

“What do you mean, Sam, I held up my end of the deal!” Dream’s irritable frustration turns to smug jeering in an instant.  He knows as well as Sam does there’s not much left that the Warden can do to him.  Dream snapped a long time ago, and all Sam can do anymore is witness it.

“You tried to escape–”

“I showed you!  The ghost– You saw!  I showed you something you need for resurrection, Sam, aren’t you happy?”  Dream’s escape attempt failed, and he can only laugh.  He collapses to the floor, hysterical and broken.  That diseased version of worship, Dream eager to get any reaction from him, it’s pathetic but no less unnerving.  “I told you I’d show you, Sam!  I held up my end of the deal!”

Sam doesn’t reply, he can’t bring himself to bother anymore.  He leaves Dream to his mania and tries to stop his hands from shaking.  Tommy should be dead.  Sam let him go.  Sam’s system of rules failed him.

He’s tired of failing.

Now comes the hard part.

He said he would tell Quackity, failure or not.  Maybe this will be easier, if anything.  Quackity has no high ground to stand on, not when he’s been in that godforsaken cell every day with no progress made.

Sam finds him in Las Nevadas.  Maybe he’s looking for a fight.  He is not reporting to an authority, nor to someone who scares him, Sam is updating his business partner as a matter of curtesy.  The Warden is the only one who holds the prison, mistakes and all.

“Quackity.  I need to talk to you.”

“Hey, Sam!  Come on in!” Quackity grins, stepping back from the doorway into the half built casino.  “You look a little miserable, Sam.  Too many late nights at the prison?” He says it like they share an inside joke.

Sam glances around the hall.  “Are we alone?”

Quackity’s bravado falters into something more somber.  “Yeah, yeah we’re alone– What happened?”  What happened.  Two words so much kinder than what did you do?  Sam knows he’ll change his tune real soon.

“I… I got some information out of Dream, but there was– there was a cost.”

Quackity’s confusion turns to a wary dread in an instant.  “Get to the point a little faster, Sam, will you?”

Sam pauses, eyeing Quackity carefully.  He knows this man.  Or at least there was a time he had.   Quackity will get angry, but Quackity’s anger was manageable once.  Sam has seen other sides of him.  Then again, Quackity has never been good at violence when the other person isn’t chained to a wall.

Sam doesn’t know where to begin.  He decides with the worst of it.

“Tommy got back into the prison.”

Quackity steps closer, a wide, unnerving smile that Sam doesn’t believe for a second.  “Got into the prison, Sam.  What do you mean?  No one gets into the prison, no no– you let him in.”

Sam’s jaw is tense as he bottles every defensive remark trying to rise up.  He made a mistake.  He will own it.  Even if it wasn’t his fault.  He calculated everything.  It was the variables which didn’t obey.

“He had an invis potion.  And I didn’t notice him, because I was escorting another visitor.”  Sam does not mention that he felt something was off, that he had dismissed it as paranoia– or rather had refused to let it be paranoia.  Sam had been resisting that part of himself, the one which took everything with grave seriousness, which believed utterly that everything would try and tear his prison down.  He won’t make that mistake again.

“Another visitor?” Quackity hisses.  “If you let anyone in there, Sam, anyone besides me, you realize who that falls back on, don’t you?  That falls back on me.” Quackity steps closer, so much smaller than him but acting like he doesn’t even see that Sam could break him like a twig.

“Calm down, Quackity,” Sam turns cold.  This is his prison, not Quackity’s.  “It was Ghostbur.  He wouldn’t have remembered anyway–”

“What– Ghostbur, what do you mean Ghostbur–?”

“Let me finish, Quackity,” Sam snaps.  Quackity falls silent, arms folded over his chest and that vicious smile returns, like he can’t wait for Sam to dig himself into a hole.  “It doesn’t matter, because Dream–” Sam stops himself with a sigh.  “Dream killed Ghostbur.  He said he was going to revive Wilbur, now, I don’t know about that, all I know is Ghostbur disappeared.”

Quackity grows serious once more.  “Wait– Wait you saw it?  You saw him revive someone– revive Wilbur?”

“I don’t know about that, all I know is Ghostbur is gone.  I got Tommy out of the prison too, but the deal was Dream had to show me something he needed for resurrection, and, well, I guess it’s a ghost.  Or maybe a vessel, like a body or something, not everyone has a ghost–”

“Hold on, back up, Sam,” Quackity raises a hand to silence him.  “You did all that– behind my back, might I add– to learn that you need a fucking ghost?  That’s– That’s nothing, Sam,” Quackity laughs, sharp and patronizing.

Sam steps forward now, towering over him, Quackity doesn’t step back, but he leans away, eyes narrowed.

No– This is the last fucking straw, everything Sam has lost today, every failure, every struggle, every offense from the universe, and he won’t have fucking Quackity tell him it isn’t good enough.

“At least I’m actually trying to make progress– at least I got something done instead of wasting hours performing for my own sadism, Quackity!” Sam jabs an accusing finger into Quackity’s chest.  “Tell me I’m wrong!  Do it!”

Quackity steps back, that defensiveness remains behind his eyes and for a moment he’s at a loss for words.

Sam is breathing hard.  His chest feels very warm now, but he waits.  He waits for an excuse, for Quackity to tell him that’s not what it really is, that he’s trying, anything.

It’s worse that Quackity doesn’t.  He just shakes his head like a disappointed parent.  Sam hates it.  That had once been his role to play, and for Quackity to now masquerade some warped version of that authority, it’s worse than an insult.

“If that’s what you think,” Quackity laughs, cold and sharp.  He hasn’t yet told Sam that he’s wrong.  “You should’ve talked to me, Sam,” Quackity sighs.  “You made plans behind my back–”

“It’s my prison, Quackity.  He is my prisoner and I can do what I want with him,” Sam snaps.  That statement doesn’t feel wrong to him, not in any way.  Sam has ripped himself apart, sold pieces of himself to that devil in a cell, it’s only fair Sam gets to own him back.

Quackity lets off another unnatural laugh.  “Oh, your prisoner, Sam!  I didn’t realize how personal it had gotten– I thought you were the immovable Warden, huh?  Clearly you can’t be trusted to make rational decisions regarding him, am I right?”

“I told you this out of courtesy, Quackity, nothing more.  And if you want to keep having your little power trip sessions, you’re going to respect my authority as Warden, got it?”

“Yeah, where else am I gonna work out my sadism, huh, Sam?” Quackity scoffs.  He still hasn’t told Sam he’s wrong.

Everything is perfect when it’s just me and him!

That thought scares Sam just as much as he still holds it to be true.

“I’ll still allow you to visit the prisoner, Quackity.  But don’t disrespect me like that again,” Sam turns to leave.

“Is that a threat, Sam?” Quackity laughs, jeering and sharp as he walks away from him.

“A threat, Quackity?” Sam looks back over his shoulder with muted disgust.  “No, I don’t need to threaten people.  You know the rules, you know what contract you signed, so I suggest you follow them.”

He doesn’t need threats when there are rules.

Sam refuses to think on how many of his own rules he broke today by letting Tommy walk away.

#dsmp fanfic #villain dream #/roleplay #my writing #hey uh. long time no see. I have had terrible writer's block for this fic lately but y'alls feedback got me writing again so #thanks for being patient #is this anything #is this still relevant #who knows but c!Sam my beloathed beloved #c!dream #c!tommy #tommyinnit #c!quackity #quackity #c!sam

[omni-scient-ramblings]

I posted 22 times in 2021

6 posts created (27%)

16 posts reblogged (73%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.7 posts.

I added 65 tags in 2021

#writing - 11 posts

#panda writes - 8 posts

#writeblr - 7 posts

#not writing - 7 posts

#fic - 6 posts

#my writing - 6 posts

#panda posts - 5 posts

#watcher - 5 posts

#and they were oarmates - 5 posts

#fan fic - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#also i will warn you that i am a notoriously slow writer so you may send in a request and i may not get to it for like six months

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Daily Writing Challenge - June 9th 2021

This was a terrible idea, Sarah thought to herself, sitting on the edge of the boat, seated next to Jesse.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

1 notes • Posted 2021-06-09 23:27:46 GMT

#4

Hey! So uh, long time no post, at least not to this blog, so uhh, basically I need to practice writing BNHA stuff in preparation of a fantasy au fic I wanna start, so like if y'all wanna send stuff to my asks of like requests and whatnot, as long as it doesn't include spoilers for like the manga or season 5 of the anime or the third movie, I'll see what I can do

Also please make it an AU, idc what kind of AU just put your suggestions with an AU and make it SFW, as well, with like canon typical violence at most

Thanks!

3 notes • Posted 2021-09-22 02:07:36 GMT

#3

Daily Writing Challenge - June 1st 2021

Her lungs felt like they were about to burst. All she had to do was get to the surface. If she could make it to the top then everything would be okay. When she had signed up for the scuba diving trip she'd expected to see some coral and some fish, a manta ray maybe, but that was all. Not... Whatever the heck this was. She wanted to glance behind her but she couldn't, looking back would cost her seconds she didn't have. She had to keep going, she had to keep swimming, just a little farther and she'd make it-

"AHHHHH," her words came out as an underwater garble of words as something - no, someone - grabbed her leg.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-01 21:33:08 GMT

#2

Daily Writing Challenge - June 2nd 2021

Based off the Song Adventure Is Out There by AJR

Also a prequel to the short story I wrote yesterday... This is leading up to the day Sarah met Evan

Sarah sat on her bed, covers thrown over her head, intent on blocking out the world around her. Her hair was a mess and so was her room. Her joints ached from being curled up in one spot for so long and while she was tired of feeling this way, she couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed and actually do something about it. 

The world was terrible and cruel anyways, there was no reason for her to actually get up and do anything anyways. People would dump you for no reason and they’d break your heart through a text message without a second thought to how excited you were to celebrate your six month anniversary.

~Cut to make the post shorter, click the link below for full story~

7 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 00:09:03 GMT

#1

Writing Master Post

So all my writing can be found in one place ;)

And They Were Oarmates

A series about the gay oars from Puppet History

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6 (Yell at me if this isn't posted by the end of November)

Epilogue/Part 7 (Yell at me if this isn't posted by the end of 2021)

Grishaverse Fics

Anything I've written about any of the characters in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse or the S&B Netflix Show

The Green Eyed Merchling

Tales of Arcadia Fics

Anything written for Trollhunters, 3 Below, Wizards, or Rise of the Titans

Alternative ROTT Ending

The Owl House Fics

You guessed it, any fic I've written for the Disney Channel Show: The Owl House

Hootlingo - Origins (Crackfic)

Writing-Prompt-s Stories

Includes anything I've written based off a prompt from the famous @/writing-prompt-s

Wrong Timeline

Poetic Ramblings

My edgy semi-vent poetic sounding ramblings, these are all okay to reblog btw

Second Place

Who Needs Friends

Writing Before Death

Empty

Written In The Stars

Do You Lie Awake At Night?

Daily Writing Challenges

Mostly challenges from my summer writing camp but maybe if I'm feeling productive I'll do some unprompted too

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021 - "What's Life Without Adventure?"

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021 - "Adventure Is Out There"

Wednesday, June 9th, 2022 - "Adventure Is Just A Little Ways Away"

9 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 01:57:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #not writing #i promise that i will write more in 2022 #there will be so many more original posts #or at least more than 6 #i swear it

[lloydskywalkers]

There’s Insurance for That

In which Skylor buys lunch, stops a criminal, and learns the best way to blow up the kitchen electronics section, which is a pretty normal week for her, she guesses. Or, five places the ninja are no longer allowed into, featuring Skylor.

(been hitting a bit of a writer’s block with everything else lately, so here’s this...disaster, i guess?? because these ninja are definitely a disaster in this, but i was having fun so. this is the bed bath & beyond fic btw, in case anyone was wondering gdfkgdh)

1. My. Kazami’s Ramen Place

At this point, sadly, Skylor’s used to it.

It’s around a quarter to noon on a Monday, just as she's leaving the noodle shop for her well-deserved lunch break, when a familiar scream splits the relatively-quiet afternoon air on this side of Ninjago City.

The only reason Skylor does not immediately dissolve into panic at said scream is because she is — also sadly — familiar with the variations of it, and this one sounds less like it’s Lloyd’s “I’m-in-terrible-danger-and/or-pain-again” scream, and more like his “I’m-free-falling-on-purpose-from-the-sky-again” scream. Which is, in and of itself, not entirely concerning. In fact, it’d probably be more unusual not to see Lloyd go falling from the sky at some point during any of the ninjas’ higher-than-eight-feet battles, because somehow that’s become a habitual thing. The sky is blue, fire is hot, Kai uses hair gel — Lloyd is going to drop screaming from the sky at some point this month.

So instead of panicking, Skylor figures she’ll just stand in the vicinity until Lloyd either climbs out of another dumpster, or lands on top of her. Kai doesn’t seem to be around to catch him, so Skylor’s prepared to step up, even though it looks like Lloyd’s got a pretty good handle on landing, at the angle she’s watching him from.

Still though, she muses. You’d think he’d have started actively wearing a parachute at this point.

“Kai suggested that,” Lloyd says, after he’s finally able to stand straight, and he’s not quite as cross-eyed. He frowns at his reflection in a store window as they pass by, scuffing at his windblown hair again. “But it gets in the way, you know? It throws off my backflips.”

“That’s a nail in the coffin right there,” Skylor agrees, leading them across another sidewalk. Lloyd’s attracting a lot of looks, with his bright green battle gi and razor-sharp sword strapped across his back, but fortunately no one’s started crowding them yet. Probably because the razor-sharp sword strapped to his back. “Can’t have your fighting style completely crippled,” she adds.

“I don’t backflip that much,” Lloyd huffs. Yes, you do, is on the tip of Skylor’s tongue, because she’s seen him fight, but she decides not to pick that battle…this time.

“Besides,” Lloyd continues. “I don’t really need a parachute, anyways. I always make sure to aim for like, somewhere safe to land. Relatively safe. Safe-ish.”

Skylor eyes him. “You landed in a dumpster.”

Lloyd bristles in offense. “I did not! It was a perfectly respectable recycling bin.”

“Same thing, if you ask me.”

“Not even close. Dumpsters are gross. Recycling bins you just crash through a whole bunch of cardboard and old newspapers. It’s luxury trash diving.”

Skylor just sighs, shaking her head, and edits the text she’s been tapping out for Kai.

Skylor > found your kid in a recycling bin

Skylor > taking him to lunch bc you’re clearly starving him again

Skylor > he’s alive btw

Kai > oh thank fsm

Kai > tell him he’s grounded

Kai > u never take me for lunch :(

Skylor > maybe if u dropped on me from the sky sometime i would

“Hey, are the others busy?” she asks Lloyd in afterthought. “Like…fighting anyone?”

“Huh?” Lloyd blinks. He then flushes, rubbing the back of his head. “Ah, no. We’d pretty much finished up the fight when I, uh…there was a break-in, on the Bounty? We had the guys all taken care of, but they blew part of the mast up, and it left debris all over the deck, so I kind of…maybe….tripped…”

Lloyd is bright red by the time he finishes the sentence. Skylor wouldn’t feel so bad about it, if she wasn’t doubled over laughing at him in the middle of rush hour traffic.

“You are a trained ninja,” she breathes out, between snickers.

“I know,” Lloyd moans.

“You’re like, part god.”

“I know,” Lloyd moans again, into his hands this time. Skylor has to grab his shoulders and forcibly drag him along down the crowded street, trying not to cringe inside at all the looks they’re getting.

“Kai says you’re grounded, by the way,” she says, as the last of her laughter fades.

That snaps Lloyd out of it. “He can’t ground me,” he scowls. “I’m leader.”

“Stop falling from the sky, and maybe he’ll give it a rest,” Skylor replies, glancing down as her phone buzzes again.

Kai > I’d join u but I’m stuck on prison delivery

Kai > nya’s coming to pick up the demon spawn tho

Skylor > nice I’ve been wanting to buy her lunch

Kai > cruel

“—don’t know what you mean, I don’t fall that often, and most of the time it’s on purpose, anyways—”

Skylor chooses to ignore Lloyd’s slightly-concerning, sulking rambling, and pats his shoulder instead. “Nya’s coming for lunch, too,” she says. “Does ramen sound good?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lloyd brightens, seemingly cheered by the reminder he’s getting food out of this. “It’s been a while since I’ve eaten out.”

“I can tell,” Skylor says, eyeing him. “Cole hasn’t been cooking for you, has he?"

“No, but we put Zane on mandatory break so he could relax a bit, and we’re all suffering for it.”

Lloyd and Skylor both jump at Nya’s voice, not having heard her coming up behind them.

“Nya!” Lloyd beams. “Skylor is — ouch, hey, let go!”

“That’s what you get for giving me gray hairs again,” Nya scolds, digging her knuckles into Lloyd’s hair. She looks up from the hold she’s pulled him into, and smiles brightly at Skylor. “Hi, Skylor. Nice to see you.”

“Hi, Nya.” Skylor gives a little wave, watching Lloyd squirm out of Nya’s grasp in amusement.

“So, ramen?” Nya says, giving Lloyd one last elbow in the side before joining Skylor.

“Yeah,” she says. “I was thinking the place down on seventh, the Sobahouse, I think?”

Lloyd and Nya both stiffen, their steps slowing. Skylor pauses, turning to stare at them in confusion. “That’s not the one owned by someone named Mr. Kazami, is it?” Nya finally asks, hesitantly.

“Uh, yeah, it is, actually,” Skylor blinks. “He’s pretty nice, we go to the same grocer on weekends.”

“Ah,” Lloyd says, carefully.

“Hm,” Nya hesitates.

Skylor looks between the two of them, now completely stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.  She really hopes no one is getting pictures of her like this. There are enough flash articles about the rumored orange ninja cryptid on the internet as it is. “Is that…a problem?”

Nya pointedly stares at the sky as if it’s the most interesting thing she’s seen all day. Baffled, Skylor tries the weaker link. Lloyd swallows, avoiding her eyes as he bounces from leg to leg, as if the mere thought of trying to enter the restaurant is terrifying. Which is mildly alarming, because this is the same kid who power-walked straight into a prison full of escaped violent criminals, his psychotic ex, and his undead murderous dad without hesitation.

“We can’t,” Lloyd finally mutters, staring at the sidewalk. Nya elbows him in the side, hissing “weak link” as she does. Lloyd just glares at her.

“O-okay,” Skylor says, unsure. “I mean, that’s fine if you guys want to go somewhere else. I just didn’t know you…didn’t like this place…”

“No, we do,” Lloyd grinds out, and he looks more embarrassed than terrified now, so Skylor aborts her half-formed plans of speed-dialing Karloff. “We just can’t. Go in, that is. We’re not allowed to.”

Skylor stares at him. “You’re not allowed in? Why not?”

“Because,” Nya forces through gritted teeth. “They banned us.”

“They what?” Skylor gapes.

Nya presses her lips together tightly. Lloyd stares very hard at the ground, as if desperately trying to convince himself to keep quiet. Skylor can pinpoint the moment he breaks, his expression contorting as he throws his hands up wildly. “You blow their electrical system up one time—”

“Oh guys, no,” Skylor groans, before bursting into laughter at him for the second time that day. Lloyd looks incredibly unappreciative, his expression scrunching up in annoyance like she hasn’t seen since that one stupid skating match with Chamille, and that just makes her laugh harder.

“We were trying to save them!” Nya defends indignantly. “It’s not our fault they had weak wiring—”

“I just got a little too into it, it’s — it’s Nya’s fault, she’s the one that said it’d be cool if I tried to do shockwave thing like in—”

“That was a mutual thing and you know it!”

“Oh guys, no,” Skylor wheezes into her hands.

“It worked!”

“Poor Mr. Kazami,” Skylor manages, through snickers. Lloyd’s shoulders slump, his upper lip pouting, and Nya crosses her arms, as if refusing to look ashamed.

“It’s not like the other guys aren’t banned from anywhere, either—”

“Alright, alright,” Skylor waves her hands, taking pity on them. “We’ll go somewhere else.”

“Good,” Nya mutters, as Lloyd exhales in relief. Skylor just snickers again, leading them down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. She bites her lip, shaking her head, before a thought occurs to her.

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘it’s not like they aren’t banned from anywhere’?” she frowns. “You guys are banned from more than one place?”

“No,” Nya says firmly, before Lloyd can even speak up. “Forget I said anything.”

Skylor will do no such thing, but she decides it’s in her best interest not to pursue it. Nya is not the sort of person to trifle with, and she does want that ramen.

She gets her answer soon enough, anyways.

2. Ninjago City Aquarium

While Skylor has the early shift on Tuesdays, she does get the afternoons off, which is pretty nice for the most part, if it didn’t mean she’d be bored for the rest of the day. So she hits the grocery store and decides to take the long way home, partially because walking is supposed to be good for you, and partially in hopes that one of the ninja will drop in on her again.

She’s not disappointed.

Granted, a minor explosion going off from inside the Ninjago City Aquarium wasn’t exactly what she was expecting today, but the figures in bright red and white arguing furiously outside the security perimeter are par for the course.

It’s a little odd that they haven’t already rushed in yet, Skylor notes, but with the way they’re loudly yelling at each other in the middle of the street, she figures she’ll find out soon enough.

“No, Kai, it is our civic duty to follow the laws put in place for the safety of civilians—”

“Oh come on, you get brainwashed into a slightly-murderous emperor one time and now you’re a stickler for everything?!”

"One time was enough, Kai!”

“Uh, hi guys,” Skylor approaches the two, hesitantly. “Is everything alright?”

“Skylor!” Kai whirls on her, his eyes wild. “Thank FSM, you’ve gotta help us out — they won’t let us in!” He shakes his fist at the aquarium doors, before springing for the security gate. “Let us in, let us in—”

“Shaking the gate like an animal is not going to convince them, Kai!” Zane pleads, prying Kai away. He shoots Skylor an apologetic glance as he wrangles Kai into a gentle chokehold. “We would greatly appreciate your help, if possible. There’s a low-threat criminal with an unfortunate assortment of weaponry who ran into the aquarium, and we’re legally unable to pursue. If you could try to drive him out, perhaps?”

“I — you — you’re what?” Skylor has the weirdest sense of déjà vu, before it’s lost in confusion. Her head swivels from the frustrated expression on Kai’s face to the pleading one on Zane’s, then to the grocery bags in her hands. She looks back up at Kai, who’s now giving her the puppy eyes. Something from inside the aquarium explodes loudly.

“Sure,” she sighs, handing Kai her grocery bags. “Just one guy?”

“Just one guy,” Kai exhales in relief. “You’re a lifesaver, Skylor, I — hey, are these those snack cakes they made to look like us?”

“Yes, eat them and you die,” Skylor hisses. She turns to Zane, holding her hand out half-hesitantly. “Lend a girl some ice powers?”

“Of course,” Zane nods, letting her take his hand. There’s a brief moment as Skylor melds her power with Zane’s, absorbing the icy force and mimicking it to her own — a part of her notes vaguely that it’s stronger than the last time she borrowed it, but she shakes it off, pulling her hand back and tugging the hood of her jacket up, mentally hoping no one writes another article about the possible existence of a cryptid orange ninja after this.

“Alright,” she says. “Be back in five.”

“Thank you,” Zane says fervently, as Kai sputters, “Hey, why didn’t you borrow my power?”

“Because fire is explosive, and you’ve gotta be banned from here for a reason!” Skylor calls back, ice already misting over her fingertips as she sprints inside the aquarium.

“You’d be surprised,” Kai mutters, after her retreating back.

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

“So,” Skylor says, flexing her right hand and wincing briefly. That last right hook she’d thrown at the guy might have been a little too hard, in hindsight. But he was being a jerk, and threatening to set off a bomb near the little seahorses — and it did do the trick, so now the aquarium can have the host of cop cars off its back. Skylor feels pretty accomplished in her good deed for the day, actually. “Why, again, couldn’t you guys have taken care of that yourselves? Not that I minded,” she adds, quickly. Using the ice element had been fun. She’d forgotten what she could do with Zane’s powers.

Kai gives a nervous laugh that’s so fake it almost hurts, especially with the pained expression he makes at the end. Zane just rubs his temple with a hand, looking eternally weary.

“Like I said, we are legally not permitted to enter the aquarium, until…when was it again, Kai?”

“Five years from now,” Kai mutters. “Or whenever the director dies.”

“Yes, five years from now,” Zane repeats, with a dead sort of look in his eyes. “So your assistance was very much appreciated. Thank you.”

“It was no problem, but — wait, hold on, how are you banned from the aquarium for five years?” she stutters. “I mean, I can get Lloyd and Nya with the ramen place—”

“Ha! They told you about that? It was great—”

“Kai, please.”

“—and I can understand Kai, but you, Zane?”

She feels a little guilty for calling him out so bluntly, but it’s Zane. Zane doesn’t just get banned from places, she has to know. And he doesn’t look too upset at the question. Kai looks mildly betrayed, but not that much. They both know Skylor’s point is too valid for him to argue with effectively.

Zane gives another bone-weary sigh. “There is a small chance, that there was a time we were pursuing another villain here, and during that battle, I might have…underestimated the amount of ice I was putting out.” Zane shifts, looking pained. “Which in turn accidentally spread to any bodies of liquid that happened to be nearby at the time, which perhaps were filled with rather expensive aquatic life.”

“You froze a fish exhibit,” Skylor deadpans.

“They were merely in extreme hibernation,” Zane grits out. “They would have been fine, had Kai not tried to fix the ice.”

“Hey, it made sense! I could melt it quickest!”

“Except you didn’t just melt it, did you? No, you had an entire fish fry—”

“The poor fish,” Skylor says, staring at them blankly. “What were they?”

“Like, these rainbow fish, from way up north, I think?” Kai says. “I swear I didn’t make it that hot.”

“The water was boiling, Kai!”

“You fish murderer,” Skylor says, the corners of her mouth trembling with the laugh she’s holding back. Kai glares at Zane, then her, then Zane again.

“I didn’t freeze them solid.”

“Whatever the cause of their death, they died, and we’re banned now,” Zane says, hastily. “End of story. Would you like to take this back to the Bounty, Skylor? I know the others have been wanting to see you, and we can at least offer you tea in thanks.” He eyes the grocery bags Kai’s still holding. “Unless, of course, you wish to return home…”

“Nah, tea sounds good,” she smiles. “Besides, I bought the snack cakes for you guys to try anyways. They’ve got little squashed ninja faces in icing on ‘em.”

“You’re the best,” Kai says, looking somewhat relieved, and oh, he definitely ate one while Skylor was in there. She’s going to have to pay him back for that one…

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she says airily, figuring she’ll take her revenge later. “You can tell me more about the fish massacre on our way back. By the way, Pixal wouldn’t happen to have heard this story, would she?”

Zane gives her a look, and she almost feels bad about it. “I’m going to regret inviting you, aren’t I.”

“Maybe,” she grins. “Jury’s still out.”

3. An Entire Drugstore Chain

Wednesdays are always busy at the noodle shop, for reasons Skylor has yet to figure out. Fridays she understands, but the middle of the week? Nothing kills your drive like knowing you’re going to do this all over again in a day.

It’s good money for the shop though, she reminds herself as she locks up that evening. Any money is good money for the shop, because her stupid dad made sure she’d have a real hole to dig herself out of there, but Wednesday money is always especially good. Even if she ends up leaving the shop late and can’t get the noodle smell from her hair for the next three days.

Normally, she’d trudge home and crash into bed after these kind of shifts. But tonight is different, because she stayed long enough at the Bounty yesterday to get invited to game night, and once you’ve promised the ninja you’re going to bring snacks for Monopoly, you can’t just say no. Not unless you want Lloyd to shoot betrayed glares at you the rest of the month.

Besides, she’s promised Kai she’ll sneak out to the movies with him afterwards, and she can’t just go breaking that promise. Plus, she’s not heartless enough to deny Cole cake when he’s got the most spectacular black eye she’s seen all year bruising up around the left side of his face.

“Lucky hit,” Cole grumbles, after she’s been caught staring too long. She hasn’t wanted to ask him about it, since it seems a sensitive subject and he’s already taking the time to help her pick up (carry) all the snacks. But it’s impossible to miss, even in the dim streetlights they’re walking under, and Skylor cares about her friends, thank you very much. “We busted some drug dealers today, and I got too relaxed.”

“They normally really aren’t any match for you, to be fair,” Skylor offers.

“They weren’t this time either, that’s the sad thing,” Cole says, scrubbing a hand through his thick hair as they wait at the stoplight. “This was all on me. I kinda deserved it.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Skylor tries to console him, even though the ugly red at the edge of his eye says otherwise.

Cole gives her a bleak look. “Jay made a joke, and I laughed at it. And then I got hit across the face with a baseball bat, mid-laugh.”

“Ouch,” Skylor hisses through her teeth. “Never mind, that’s bad. Was it a good joke, at least?”

“No, that’s the thing,” Cole groans, as the light finally turns red, allowing them to cross the street. “It was terrible. And I still laughed hard enough not to notice a bat coming for my face.”

Skylor grimaces. “You were just being a good friend, I guess,” she says, and Cole snorts. “Like you are to me, right now,” she continues, glancing ruefully at the shopping list she’s been sent. “I was going to say I had it handled, then I actually looked at everything you guys asked for.”

Cole laughs sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s…that’s us, I guess. Sorry about that. We’re paying for it all, don’t worry.”

“What?” Skylor blinks. Oh no, no way. The ninja have done enough for her, the least she can do is cover a couple bags of popcorn and like ten things of M&M’s. “No, I got it. I owe you guys, anyways.”

Cole bristles. “No way. We owe you, if anything. The amount of times you’ve covered our tab at the noodle shop?”

“How about the amount of times you’ve saved my noodle shop?” Skylor shoots back. “That outweighs a few measly tabs.”

“The only reason we had to save it was because we were there in the first place,” Cole points out. “We’re danger magnets.”

“I’m sorry, I’m the daughter of Chen, remember?” Skylor huffs. “I can attract enemies all by myself.”

“Not as many as we do,” Cole says. “Also! You helped us beat Chen, and get Zane back. We’re eternally indebted to you.”

Skylor narrows her eyes. “Only after I stabbed you all in the back. So I eternally owe you.”

“Bold of you to assume we haven’t all stabbed each other in the back at some point,” Cole scoffs. “Trust me, you’re nowhere as bad as Lloyd — he like, single-handedly ruined our whole month by letting a bunch of snakes out.”

Skylor pauses at that, torn between refuting his argument and asking how in the world Lloyd, of all people, could possibly manage to wreak enough havoc to—

Actually, she doesn’t have any trouble believing that at all. But to be sure— “Lloyd let the Serpentine out? All by himself?”

Cole looses a bit of his fire, and scuffs his shoe awkwardly across the sidewalk. “I mean, we did give him a pretty hard time when he was like, eight years old and homeless and starving, so uh, it might’ve been a little...provoked.”

“FSM’s sake,” Skylor mutters, staring at the sky and trying not to be surprised, because she really shouldn’t by now. “I can’t believe you guys are all still alive.”

“Neither can we, if it helps,” Cole shrugs, grinning. “But you know, technically—”

“If you make another ghost joke, we’re skipping the cake section,” Skylor says, firmly.

Cole sulks. “Jay would’ve made a ghost joke,” he mutters.

“Jay also got you hit in the face by a bat, so his judgement is questionable as it is,” Skylor shakes her head. “Oh! There’s a drugstore right here, wanna hit that instead?”

“Sure,” Cole says. “As long as it’s not…oh.”

Skylor makes it another three steps before she realizes that Cole’s fallen behind. Confused, she turns to stare at him where he’s frozen on the sidewalk, looking up at the bright red drugstore sign and biting his lip.

“Everything okay back there?” Skylor says, wondering if he didn’t get hit in the head harder than he’s let on. Cole nods, but he also takes several steps back out of the streetlight, hiding himself from view of the store.

“Here’s an idea,” he says, suddenly. “How about we go anywhere else.”

Skylor stares at him, a sinking feeling in her chest coupled with the slowly-growing-familiar sense of déjà-vu. “Cole.” He doesn’t meet her eyes, and Skylor sighs. “Please tell me you haven’t been banned from somewhere, too.”

“It’s not just me, Lloyd and Jay also got banned,” Cole snaps, before realizing his mistake and ducking his head.

“You’re kidding me,” Skylor says flatly, looking back at the drugstore, then to Cole. “This is like, the shadiest drugstore on this side on Ninjago. How?”

Cole mumbles something under his breath, and Skylor strains to make it out. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I kind of, um, threw Lloyd through their wall,” Cole mutters again, looking as if he’d like very much to disappear entirely into the street side. Which is funny, because—

His sentence finally registers, and Skylor blinks rapidly. “Wait, you what?”

Cole’s eyes widen, and waves his arms quickly. “Not like — not like Garmadon-throwing him through a wall! He was fine after.”

Skylor has a brief, bizarre kind of moment to digest the fact that there is a distinction for throwing the youngest of their team through a wall, before Cole continues.

“I was aiming for the window — that one right there, see? The robbers were already on the move, so Lloyd was like ‘launch me, Cole’ and I said ‘great idea’, but we were also maybe high on adrenaline at the time and I forgot how much of my lava punch I had going, so I overshot and ended up smashing him through their wall, a little bit.”

“You smashed him through their wall. Just a little bit.”

“Hey, it worked. He took out all five guys in one go and only had a tiny concussion after—”

“How do you even have a tiny concussion—”

“I still don’t get why they were so mad, I mean we stopped the robbery! Sure, half their storefront wall sort of collapsed afterwards, but like, we got their money back.”

“So that’s why they were closed six months for renovations,” Skylor groans into her hands.

Cole crosses his arms, glaring stubbornly at the store’s sign. “It wasn’t six months,” he protests. “It was only like, four. I don’t see how that gives them the right to ban us for life.”

“For life—” Skylor can’t decide if she wants to laugh at him, or cry because her list of places she can hang out with the ninja is shrinking faster than she’d thought possible. She finally blows her breath out, rubs a hand across her face, and glances back down at the shopping list.

“You aren’t banned from the one on eighth street, are you?”

Cole bites his lips. “We’re uh, banned from all of them. It’s a chain store, so…”

“Of course,” Skylor sighs. “Walmart it is, then.”

And if anyone pesters them about being late, she’s going to ask how many times, exactly, somebody’s smashed Lloyd through a wall. Because really. This is getting ridiculous.

4. Bed Bath & Beyond

Thursday is normally her day off, but whatever she had for dinner last night gave her freaky dreams, so Skylor ends up puttering around the shop early that morning just to take her mind off it. It’s a bit overcast outside, and the forecast predicts rain, so Skylor’s already making plans to curl up in her bed and watch movies all day, and maybe get a bit of laundry done.

She should know better.

It’s a commonly known fact that the ninja, Kai especially, would do pretty much anything for their pseudo-little brother. Skylor’s actually heard Kai, on multiple occasion, threaten to die for Lloyd, then immediately try and make it reality. No one ever really appreciates that, Lloyd especially, but Skylor can give him credit for trying.

However, it’s a commonly overlooked fact that Lloyd would do anything for his pseudo-older siblings. It’s an even more commonly overlooked fact that Lloyd is the spawn of satan, and was raised at a boarding school for future villains and terrible children. Combined, these two facts mean that while you should definitely fear Lloyd trying to die for you, you should probably fear him trying to look out for you more, because it’s likely going to end with somebody dead. Or at least the total disruption of your plans for the day, as Skylor opens the shop windows to come face with an absolutely terrifying expression on Lloyd’s face, followed up by a deadly calm “Kai came home sad last night.”

Skylor scrubs at her eyes, and thinks, it’s too early for this.

A while back, when she was still stuck with her jerk of a father, Skylor might have found Lloyd’s part-Oni expression of doom intimidating. Now, however, she just rolls her eyes, and sticks one of the little ‘50% Off!’ stickers she’s been putting on rice cakes across his forehead.

“The dog died in the last movie we saw last night,” she explains, as Lloyd sputters at her.

He pauses, nose wrinkling. “Oh,” he says. “Boo.”

“Yeah,” she says, stepping back and allowing him to neatly front-flip through her window. Darned show-off kid, she thinks despairingly, watching him land perfectly on her freshly-waxed floors.

“Well, you’re good then, I guess,” he says, expression lightening. “That makes sense. How many movies did you make it into this time, by the way?”

“Only four this time,” Skylor sighs, turning to plaster the rest of her stickers on the nearly-expired rice cake packages. “We caught the beginning of that new superhero movie, then the opening fight of some spy movie, and the middle of that one horror movie with the dolls.” Lloyd shudders. “Yeah, Kai wasn’t a fan either. Anyways, we made it into this new romance one, but we ran into a theater employee on the way in and Kai had a guilt attack, so we stayed until the end of that one.”

Lloyd tsks. “Oh, Kai. And he’s so sold on his bad boy image.”

“One day he’ll embrace the fact that he’s just a big softie,” Skylor nods. “One of these days.”

“Yeah, when hell freezes over,” Lloyd snorts. He glances around at the empty shop, then back at her. “Hey, today’s your day off, right?”

Skylor gets a sinking kind of feeling in her stomach at that, alarm bells going off in the back of her head. “It might be,” she says, warily.

“Good,” Lloyd grins. “You should come to Bed Bath and Beyond with us, then.”

Well, she wasn’t expecting that. “Why…would you be going there?” she asks, blankly. Do they have a secret ninja weapon bargain bin she’s been missing out on? Is Bed Bath & Beyond secretly hosting an illegal crime ring she’s been unaware of? Does she need to return the shower curtain rings she bought there last week on basis of being a good citizen?

“Zane froze the blender solid before practice this morning,” Lloyd explains, his mouth twisting a bit. “We were making smoothies and someone accidentally brought up the Never Realm.”

“Ouch,” Skylor winces sympathetically. She’s still not heard the entire story of what went down during the ninja’s jaunt out of realm, besides a whole lot of panicked texts from Pixal and half-explanations from Kai, but she knows it wasn’t fun, especially for poor Zane.

“Yeah,” Lloyd sighs. “So now our blender is dead and we can’t make smoothies anymore, so we’re buying a new one before Nya can start strangling people. Wanna come?”

Skylor eyes him shrewdly. At face, it’s an innocent enough request. She’s certainly been invited to worse places than a household furnishings store, and picking up a blender is quite possibly the simplest thing the ninja have ever asked her to do. Which probably just means it’s going to go horribly and the store’s going to blow up ten minutes in, but hey, Skylor’s day was looking pretty boring anyway.

“Sure, why not,” she shrugs. “Lemme stick the last of these on, and I’m in. Just — hey, no, I’m selling those!”

Lloyd freezes in place, the rice cake package dangling from his fingers. He gives her the most pathetically sad-eyed look she’s ever seen, and not for the first time, Skylor finds herself wondering how this is the same kid who runs a highly-skilled ninja team of unimaginable power.

“Just the one,” she finally relents, because Skylor is a spineless weakling when it comes to puppy eyes, apparently. Lloyd beams, snatching the cakes up happily. “And just because you look like a starving vagrant again.”

“I do not,” Lloyd protests, through a muffled mouthful of rice cake. “I’m just super in shape. I’m jacked as heck.”

Skylor rolls her eyes. “Sure you are, you — hey, I said just one!”

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

So Skylor ends up at Bed Bath & Beyond on her day off, five minutes after the store’s opened for the day, and already wishing she’d slept in later.

Nya brings her coffee, though, and their bright-eyed enthusiasm at reclaiming their means of smoothie-making is infectious, so Skylor finds herself in high spirits as they walk through the store doors, almost to the point where she lets Lloyd go for stealing all her rice cakes.

However, she’s already let him get away with too much as it is, so Skylor decides to take her revenge by ruffling Lloyd’s hair, before informing the sales lady that it’s her “darling little brother’s thirteenth birthday, and he’s finally outgrown his kiddie bed, could you point us to the big kid ones, please?”

Lloyd’s attempts at strangling her are thwarted by Nya as the lady smiles airily, before pointing them to the back, and Zane has to drag Kai along with them before he suffocates on the laughter he’s choking back.

“Family shopping trips are always so much fun,” Jay remarks, as they browse the bedding section, having been successfully distracted by the animal-shaped pillows. They’ve already had to flee the lamp section, after Lloyd and Jay started having a little too much fun, despite Kai’s despair over being robbed yet again of a new lava lamp.

“One day,” he mourns. “One day, I will own another.”

Skylor pats his back consolingly. “I’m sure that’s what everyone else whose lava lamps got smashed by a giant stone colossi say.”

“I still don’t see why we can’t invest in a cappuccino maker,” Nya pouts, as they pass the coffee appliances section. “Look, there’s one on sale, too!”

“Because you can and will abuse the use of it, and then someone will end up going to the hospital for extreme heart rate elevation,” Zane glares pointedly at her. Skylor smothers a laugh as Nya scowls.

“I’m not that bad,” she grumbles under her breath, only for the others to all chime “ice cube incident” in unison. Nya goes a dark shade of red and glares at the floor as if she’s capable of lighting it on on fire with her eyes, but she doesn’t argue back.

Skylor doesn’t even want to know.

“Alright, here are our options,” Cole announces, when they’ve finally fought their way to the blender shelves. “We can get the same one we had, just a little smaller, or we can get this other one that’s half-off.” He squints at both tags. “Having looked at our bank account recently, I vote the half-off one.”

“No way,” Jay argues. “Do you see how small that one is? I can’t make my triple-espresso energy-drink smoothie with that!”

Lloyd stares at him in concern. “That’s…probably a good thing?”

Jay glares at him. “You’re one to talk, Mr. night owl.”

“I’m with Jay, that one’s way too small,” Nya says. “It won’t do.”

“What, and the other one’s better?” Kai shoots back. “Look how cheap it is, I could break this thing in my sleep.”

“The online reviews for both are perfectly fine,” Zane adds, half-heartedly, as if he already knows they’re all going to ignore that particular statement.

“What about this one?” Jay says, his eyes lighting up as he gestures to the extra-large, fancy blender. “Think of all the smoothies we could make, Cole. Think of the milkshakes.”

Cole pinches the bridge of his nose. “We are not investing in some fancy blender, just for you to complain it’s too complicated five seconds in.”

Skylor crosses over to the blenders, glancing at both. “I mean, you could always just return it…later…” She trails off, realizing that everyone’s suddenly gone deadly silent. She looks up, and starts as she comes face to face with the store manager, who is frozen in place, his mouth half-open as he stares at them with wide eyes. Behind her, Skylor is highly aware of six ninja going similarly still, all utterly quiet.

“You,” the manager finally squeaks out. “You are’t supposed to — you can’t be in here, not again—”

“On second thought, let’s get a blender next week,” Cole says, quickly.

“Yeah, I can live without smoothies a little longer,” Jay agrees, rapidly paling.

Skylor’s at a loss. “What’s going—”

Before she can finish that sentence, Kai and Nya both have hands on her arm and pull, hauling her along as they break into a dead sprint for the exit.

“Explain later!” Kai yelps, dodging employees as the manager shakes his fist at them, his yelling following them through the doors.

“I filed six restraining orders! Six!” he shrieks as they slip out. “Do you know how long that took?! Two of them don’t even exist in the legal system!”

Skylor doesn’t miss the incredibly unsubtle fist bump Lloyd and Zane share, nor the near-tears  sigh of despair from Cole.

She really, really doesn’t want to know.

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

Except that maybe she does, so there’s nothing stopping her from asking as they walk home, having bought smoothies from the corner store instead (that they are not banned from, which Skylor is starting to think might be miraculous).

“I don’t know why I’m surprised at this point, but how did you get banned this time?” she asks them, after a particularly long sip of smoothie. “Did you demolish half the store there, too?”

The ninja are silent for a moment, all refusing to meet her eyes. Then—

“It was Jay’s fault,” Cole declares.

Jay whirls on him, his expression wounded. “I trusted you,” he whines. “And you — you bed bath and betrayed me.”

“Because you bed bath and blew up the bedding aisle!”

“It was the kitchen electrics aisle, give me some credit.”

“Oh, because that’s so much better.”

“It is, do you know how hard I’d have to be trying to blow up the bedding aisle? It’s all weighted blankets and like, silk and stuff, no conduction at all—”

Skylor returns to her previous stance on not wanting to know, sips her smoothie in silence as they break into loud arguing in the middle of the street, and hopes once again that no one’s getting any pictures of this.

5. Jamanakai Village Candy Shop

Friday’s her busy day, so Skylor’s spared any chaos other than a jammed mixing machine for the day. It doesn’t come to a head until Saturday, when she cautiously accepts the ninjas' invitation to scout out potential terrorist activity in Jamanakai.

The terrorists turn out to be punk kids who got a little too obsessed with the idea of the Golden Master, which is an unfortunate choice of role model for them, when they have to face up to the ninja. Zane just looks mildly annoyed though, and Lloyd stares into the sun for a full minute before rolling his eyes, so the kids make it out alive.

“We weren’t going to kill them, geez,” Jay says. “Maybe just…lecture them, a bit.”

“Oh yeah, lecture them,” Kai scowls, cracking his knuckles. “The Golden Master, are they kidding?”

“To be fair, they don’t have the same experiences we do,” Cole points out, but he doesn’t look too opposed to the knuckle-cracking, either.

“No harm was done,” Zane says, a bit wearily. “We should simply let it go."

“I dunno, I say we should’ve hung them from a roof for a bit,” Lloyd says, evenly.

The other ninja all cringe in unison, except for Nya, who smothers a coughing sort of laugh. Skylor stares at them, bewildered. “Why would you hang them from a roof?”

“Not sure,” Lloyd says, his lips twitching. “Probably because crime doesn’t pay, muchacho, or something like that—”

“Alright, alright, we get it,” Kai says hastily, clapping a hand over Lloyd’s mouth.

“The guys would know,” Nya smirks, ignoring the looks of utter betrayal she’s getting. “That’s what they did to Lloyd, wasn’t it?”

“Nya, why,” Jay moans into his hands.

“You — hung Lloyd from a roof?” Skylor repeats, thrown for a loop. “Why on earth would you do that? What if he like, fell and died?”

“He was fine,” Cole assures her, hastily.

Lloyd is quick to protest, glaring at them. “No I wasn’t, it was literally scarring! Look, I got this scar from scraping my arm when I fell — oh, wait, oops, that one’s from the Never Realm, it’s this one here.” Lloyd winces as he finishes, suddenly looking contrite as he shoots Zane an apologetic look. “The Never Realm one was from Boreal though, don’t worry.”

Zane looks down, his face shadowed. “It was still my—”

“Nuh-uh,” Jay cuts over him, wagging his finger. “Remember the rule?”

Zane hesitates, looking as if he’d very much like to remember no such thing, but he finally slumps, relenting. “Scars dealt to each other while under the influence of malicious possession by person and/or ancient malevolent artifacts do not count, regardless of extenuating circumstances or deep inner psychological issues that may be brought to light during said influence,” he quotes dully, on a defeated sort of sigh.

Skylor doesn’t know whether to be impressed at that, or depressed that it needed existence in the first place.

“Exactly,” Jay nods. “Which means that any scars from you, Zane, or Lloyd — oh, and Kai, I guess — and Cole, technically, with the Hypnobrai that one time— wow, that’s, hm, that’s a lot of us.”

“If you count the dark matter, we’ve all been possessed,” Zane says, drily.

“Not me!” Kai says, mock-cheerfully.

Jay shakes his head. “Nobody got scars while we were on dark matter! I checked.”

“Why are you saying it like we were on drugs or something?”

“Speak for yourself,” Lloyd scowls. “I’ve still got that stupid ankle one.” He glares at the offending ankle, as if it’s personally disappointed him.

“That was the Overlord, not us,” Nya reminds him. “And uh, your dad, technically.”

Lloyd’s scowl just deepens, his eyebrows tilting downwards hotly. “If I had a dollar for every scar that’s from my dad…”

“I hear you,” Skylor sighs. “Dad scars are the worst. They really know where to hit.”

“Right? It’s always personal with them,” Lloyd shakes his head. “Dads are the worst.”

A beat passes before they both realize the others have fallen quiet. Her and Lloyd blink, and Skylor fights back the urge to cringe at the looks they’re now receiving.

“Well,” Jay says, bleakly. “This is a, um, miserable turn.”

“Hey, hey, no sad faces,” Lloyd scolds, reaching for Kai’s face, which is indeed sporting a pathetically teary-eyed kind of look. “Get that look off your face, off, off—”

“I’m not — stoppit — I’m just— hey, stop it— that’s my face, you brat—”

“Guys, c’mon, cut it out, you’re making a scene,” Cole scolds, pulling them both apart. “How about we stop and get ice cream before we go, okay? To like, cheer us up. Because that was completely depressing, no offense, guys.”

“None taken,” Skylor says, as Lloyd nods in agreement. Cole looks relieved, even if Kai’s still looking a little weepy, and he directs them down another street, heading toward a brightly labeled ice cream shop. Skylor can see tiny rows of candy inside, and there are a bunch of kids gathered around the little stand the owner’s set up at the door. It’s a cute place, all in all — the candy looks good, and it seems pretty cheap.

So it makes zero sense that Lloyd, of all people, would suddenly go painfully tense in the middle of the street, and refuse to take another step forward.

“I can’t go in there,” he whispers.

Skylor’s having that sense of déjà vu again. The rest of the ninja trade confused glances.

“Uh, Lloyd?” Kai says, hesitantly. “They sell candy in there, you know.”

“I know,” Lloyd grinds out, his teeth clenched painfully together. “I’ve been in there before.”

“You have?” Cole frowns. “You — oh.” Realization dawns in his eyes, and he’s suddenly biting his lip, holding back laughter. “Oh, I forgot.”

“Forgot wha—” Jay looks between the two of them, then back at the shop, before something sparks in his eyes as well, and he doubles over in laughter.

“Shut up,” Lloyd hisses.

“Why are we laughing at Lloyd,” Skylor finally sighs, as Kai and Zane break into barely-stifled giggles as well, and Nya rolls her eyes.

“So, um,” Lloyd swallows, shifting anxiously from side to side. “You know how I said they hung me from a roof? There might’ve, uh, been a reason for that.”

“Of course there was,” Skylor says.

“I kind of threatened them, a little bit, and uh, tried to steal half their shop, one time.”

“Of course you did.”

“Lloyd,” Nya sighs. “That was forever ago.”

“I stole from them,” Lloyd bites out. “If I show my face in there again, they’ll kill me."

“I highly doubt they will resort to murder, Lloyd,” Zane says, flatly. “Besides, you did not actually succeed in stealing anything, because we caught you and hung you from a roof. Remember?”

“Yeah, and then I came back with the Serpentine, and made it worse!” Lloyd exclaims. “Just go in without me, I’ll sit out here and cry.”

“We’re not just gonna leave you outside,” Kai rolls his eyes. “C’mon, let’s mend some old wounds. Just go inside and apologize.”

“I would literally rather die.”

“Lloyd, seriously.”

“I’ve done it before, don’t test me.”

“Lloyd.”

“You can’t make me, I’ll fight you—”

“Alright, alright, we’ll find a different shop!”

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

“Okay, I have to know,” Skylor finally asks, as they pass the outskirts of the village, heading back to the Bounty. “How many places are you all banned from, in total? Because this is ridiculous. I can’t take you anywhere.”

“I mean, you can’t take us anywhere even without the bans, anyways,” Cole says wearily. “To be fair.”

“We’re not that bad,” Lloyd protests, only to wilt immediately under Skylor’s stare. “There are just…a few places…”

“Zane, how many is it now,” Nya asks, rubbing her temples.

Zane is quiet for a moment, slowly ticking off his fingers as he stares upwards. “Did we ever decide if that one museum counted?”

“The vote was yes,” Jay mutters.

“And the Explorer’s Club, did we decide that one?”

“I’d say that’s a pretty hard ban,” Lloyd winces.

Nya huffs, crossing her arms. “I still say it doesn’t count, because like, everyone’s banned from there, with their stupid stuck-up membership requirements.”

Zane takes this into account, his eyebrows furrowing. “That leaves us with…seventeen places we cannot return to, I believe? Unless I missed one.”

Skylor’s left wordless, gaping at them. She knew there was a lot, but seventeen—?!

“I’m almost a hundred percent sure we’re also banned from the Never Realm,” Kai points out. Zane gives him the iciest look Skylor’s ever seen. Kai simply shrugs. “What? Just stating the facts.”

Lloyd frowns. “I don’t think we are? I mean, Akita wouldn’t—”

“Oh, Akita wouldn’t,” Jay cuts over him, a gleam in his eyes. “Would she, casanova?”

Lloyd goes scarlet, sputtering. “I told you, she kissed me! On the cheek! I just stood there, you can’t—” He buries his face in his hands, and despite her amusement (and rampant curiosity, because this is Lloyd and kissing), Skylor feels bad for him. “I can’t believe I ever told any of you about that,” he whines, sounding tragically upset with himself.

“You were the one having a mental breakdown over it,” Nya reminds him, almost gently. “You need to work on setting boundaries, bud.”

“It’s not like I didn’t tell her I had horrible issues with romance!” Lloyd throws his hands up, frustrated. “Because I did, in painfully honest detail—”

“And yet you refuse to open up to me about it,” Kai says plaintively.

“Turn into a dog for a bit, you might get lucky,” Lloyd grumbles.

Skylor doesn’t want to know. She really, really doesn’t want to know. “Well,” she finally says. “I do know one place you aren’t banned from.”

They all look up at her, and Skylor shakes her head. “You fly me back to the shop in time for dinner, and noodles are on the house tonight.”

Six faces brighten considerably. “Seriously?” Cole says. “Skylor, you’re an angel.”

“Seriously, the best person ever—”

“Our favorite cryptid orange ninja there ever was—”

“Yeah, yeah, keep flattering me,” Skylor sighs, trying not to smile, and failing woefully.

She doesn’t know why she still hangs out with these people, getting banned from everywhere in the city. What a bunch of nerds.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #nya smith #jay walker #cole brookstone #zane julien #skylor chen #i really have no explanation for this at all #except that i wanted to give skylor more love than i've given her #my fic

[its-ya-boi-autumn]

Hey there! Hope you’re doing okay😊 I just finished reading your Feitan yandere-ish kidnapper fic and I’m totally hooked on it, I love it so much. Would you maybe be willing to write a part 2 of it pretty please?😁 If not that’s okay, then at least you know I liked it a lot!

I actually was kind of hoping someone would ask me to do this, I had plans for it! Sorry about the slow content, I’ve just been having a little writers block and a very minor mental mixup (try saying that ten times fast-) these past few days  but I’m doing okay! Nothing too bad. And thank you so much, I’m so glad you liked it! Here’s part two for you~ hope you enjoy 😊

You quietly tried to flip over under the several layers of blankets, hoping he wouldn’t feel you moving. He didn’t react. You took a soft breath and turned your back to him completely. Your eyes immediately descry the small alarm clock on the bedside table. Reading ‘1:42 AM’ made your heart sink. It had been several months since you had seen anyone besides him. You couldn’t recall exactly how many, but you assumed it to have been a year almost. It was difficult to remember. Everything went by so slowly when you were with him.

He tried to pretend everything was normal. He tried to pretend he didn’t force you into his life. He tried to pretend you were his girlfriend. At first, after he let you out of that crawl space of a room, you refused to play along, never responding to question. Never eating what he made for you, though they were always your favorites. The man had become intolerably sweet and even told you his name. Feitan Portor. 

Some form of confidence had forged its way into your veins and convinced you that you didn’t have to take this. He let you out, and you didn’t think about the consequences. You had no idea where this new attitude had even came from. Soon enough, he got tired of your ‘act’. He enforced punishments for your actions. If you didn’t respond to conversation, you’d be forced down into isolation again with no contact for days. He wouldn’t see to any of your needs until you were practically begging for his attention. For something. Anything.

Hence, you laid with him every night. The thought of those sleepless nights in his basement all alone, with only the company of the moths fluttering in and out of the window you shattered in the torture chamber as they tittered against the steel door. It made you shudder.

You hadn’t realized your mistake until you felt him shift behind you. You felt every muscle in your body tense at the sound. A grumbled groan slipped out of his mouth. You didn’t dare to check and see if he had actually woken.

A slim yet firm arm draped over your side, drawing you closer to his chest. Your breath caught in your throat. You refrained from shaking in fear that any movement might rouse him. You stayed like that for what felt like hours, watching the clock chime on minute by minute. Second by second. Your hands were growing numb from holding them under your head and pillow. You felt the deep swell of anxiety start to die down after about an hour. Though you still couldn’t manage to move a limb. You took deep, even breaths, trying to simulate sleeping so he wouldn’t notice.

He stayed like that for the rest of the night, holding you close and keeping your body in check. You started moving again, trying to signal that you were going to get up. However, to your surprise, he didn’t move. His grip stayed strong around your torso. You took a breath again, trying to wiggle your way out. He didn’t budge. You’d have to wait it out. Whenever he got up was whenever he got up. Another hour passed. And then another. Until it was 6 am.

Another rustle from behind you, a groan, and then he flipped over. You let go of your breath, moving to get up. Quietly, you pushed the blankets off of your body. Sweat dripped down your legs and my back. You had no idea why he kept so many blankets. It was searingly hot in his bedroom. You made an attempt not to trip over anything or knock stuff down. You held onto the wall gently, making your way around the bed to the door. You turned around to look at his sleeping face.

With his eyes closed, he didn’t look like himself. He was so vulnerable like this. You were used to the unnerving alertness in his expressions and movements. His pale face was slack against the pillow. You didn’t turn away from him as you cracked the door open. You took another deep breath, trying to stop the shaking and relax again before leaving the room.

Trying to escape again was futile. There was no use. Yes he was sleeping and yes it would have been easy to just get out and run, but you would be lost before you could even manage a few yards from the house. Even if he didn’t find you outside in the woods, you’d most likely freeze to death or starve before you could find a way out. Though nonetheless, you searched for something again, anything to be used as some sort of weapon. You doubted you would find anything. You had tried several times before to go against him. To hurt him. He locked you up again and hid everything out of sight. Anything that could be used was nowhere to be found.

Not only that, but the locks on the doors and windows were complicated. They couldn’t just be picked with a bobby pin or a lock pick. They were precise. You may have been skilled in lock picking, but this was a whole different matter.

Footsteps. Heavy and low energy. You quickly turned on your heel to rush to the bathroom across from his room. Closing the door and locking it, you stood over the sink, shaking and sweating all over again. Your bodyweight felt burdensome to hold onto, your bones and muscles failing to hold you up. You heard the door open and close softly. Heavy thuds thundered down the hall to the bathroom door. He tried for it.

“Y/n? Are you in there?” his voice rumbled through the wood. For a moment you didn’t answer.

“Y/n?” he tried again.

“Yes…” you responded weakly, “Yes I’m here…” your fingers dug into the white marble of the sink, causing your knuckles to whiten and crack. There was nothing after your reply. You washed your hands, trying to scrub off something that wasn’t there. Suddenly the door creaked open. You gasped, turning to face it, your back hitting the end of the sink. You could have sworn you had locked it.

He entered. Though he wasn’t very tall, he was quite intimidating nonetheless. His aura nearly covered the entire doorway. Your own small frame had somehow managed to shrink against the sink. Your breathing was sporadic. You didn’t think he was going to hurt you, but then again a part of you did. You knew well of what he was capable of.

“Good morning y/n. How did you sleep?” he questioned you, tilting his head as he shut the door behind him.

“I- I slept fine Feitan, thank you… did you uh…”

“I did, thank you.” he smiled, cutting you off sharply. There was something about the passive tone that set you off. These past few days, he had been gentle with you. Physically and emotionally. You sighed, moving away from the sink. He stood in front of the mirror, not taking his eyes off of you. Everything felt hot and cold at the same time. You hadn’t noticed that your breathing stopped again almost entirely.

Instead of brushing his teeth or looking at himself, he moved to stand in front of you, hands in his pockets. His eyes looked sympathetic.

“Are you alright y/n?” his voice was low. Despite the short height, he knew his place above you. He stayed dominant. It had been nearly a year and you still couldn’t shake off the feeling of pure terror and dread that those onyx eyes filled you with. He was just asking if you were okay. That was it. Why couldn’t you answer him?

“Yeah… I just had a bad night of rest…” you lied, terribly. He could see right through it. However, he made no comment, instead letting a smirk play at his lips.

“Maybe you should rest some more then.” he offered. You forced air down your throat, gulping down a reply. You had nothing to say. Or at least nothing you could think of to say. You fiddled with your hands, tugging lightly at your fingers. Feitan didn’t move either, keeping his hands in his pockets. He was messing with something in them. Though you couldn’t see them, his fingers caressed over something several times. You didn’t ask, afraid he’d get upset.

You didn’t let your eyes linger too long over the object. Blinking, you glanced down at the floor instead.

“Y-you’re probably right, Feitan.” you said his name to feed into his dominant nature. He seemed pleased with the action. Feitan slid over to the side so you could leave the bathroom. You did. As soon as the door was shut, you let out a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding. What was in his pocket? It was yours, wasn’t it? Or maybe you were just overthinking it. Maybe it was someone else’s. Maybe another girls’?For some reason that made you sick, you felt the ache of jealousy throb in the back of your head and in your temples. You shouldn’t have been jealous. This man had kidnapped you and tortured you and left you alone for days on end. He kept you locked up in a basement for the first few months you knew him. Though, something about the thought of him being with someone else made your skin prickle. The thought that he didn’t want you anymore. The thought that you weren’t good enough, or that you hadn’t been good enough, for him. The thought of being alone again.

You let your body sink against the cool comfort of the wall, your legs curling into you and your arms crossing over your stomach. Your head fell forward, an attempt to block out everything going on. Instead, the darkness invited more thoughts of what could possibly happen.

Escape was utterly pointless and you might as well be considered suicide. You couldn’t stay here much longer, you needed to go somewhere. Somewhere else, outside. Even if just in the yard. Even for just a few minutes. You hadn’t built that much trust from Feitan yet though, and with the way your mind was spiraling, you didn’t know if you could make it long enough to gain that trust. You had to. You had to at least try. Maybe even ask when he left the bathroom. He would say no, but it was worth a shot. You had to regain some sort of sanity. Being locked up like this all the time would only progress your pessimism.

The metal clink of the doorknob as it turned disturbed your train of thought. Your body jumped open into a defensive yet submissive position on the floor, springing back in the small hallway on your elbows and your legs ready to kick out at any time. Your chest stopped heaving when Feitan came out to check on you. His brows furrowed at you on the floor.

“I thought you went to the bedroom?” he stated plainly, shutting the light off in the bathroom. You shook your head, dizzying yourself in the process. You raised a hand to your temple to calm down the spinning of the world. Feitan made no move to help you, continuing to stare down at you. You held onto the wall for support while you pushed your legs to stand upright. You forced your eyes to meet his. Quickly, you averted your gaze again. You couldn’t hold eye contact. Not with him. Feitan must have known something was up. He stayed in his spot in the hallway in front of you.

“What is the matter with you?” he sounded more irritated now than earlier. You scraped the corners of your mind for something to say. Asking to go outside was probably a bad idea right about now, but it wouldn’t probably be your only chance to actually ask the question and have an excuse to back it up.

“I was wondering… um… if you’d let me out… just out in the yard for a few minutes...that’s it.” your voice withered as you continued the sentence. There was no change in his expression yet again. His hand dove back into his pocket for the item he withheld from you. He hummed, closing his eyes for a second and then opening them to smile down at you.

“Maybe another time, for now, you stay inside with me.”

#request #my work #feitan #feitan portor #hxh #Hunter X Hunter #yandere #yandere feitan

[vinaity]

😈 just thought of a good request🙃 Okay i would like to request a scenario with Chronostasis where the Yakuza breaks out of jail and ends up coming across Aizawa’s wife at a store and they end up talking he asks her out to dinner not thinking anything of it because Aizawa never has time for her and boom one think leads to another 😏 and they sleep together.

A/N: Finally had some inspiration to write this after this has been sitting in my ask box for a while because i didn’t know how to write it until a discord server helped me out with ideas- thank god. I’m so fucking sorry this took so long hnghh i hate writers block. I didn’t really want to write a full out smut where the fic was 6 pages already so I adjusted it a little in the end.

Also I lowkey want a part 2.. Oh god this is my first time writing for Hari, I hope i done him justice.

Song Inspiration: Talk Dirty by Doja Cat and Boyfriend by Ariana Grande

Details / Warnings: Fem! Reader, oOp suggestive themes at the end, cursing.

“Wait? You’re the guy who tried to kill my husband.” You raised an eyebrow as you looked over to the male next to you. 

You were at a small grocery store near your apartment when you were stuck on what brand of ice cream to get when you saw a figure next to you. Curious, you had turned around to see grey arrow hairs poking out of the white hoodie the male was wearing. 

Your husband had told you about the time he had gotten stabbed by a guy with arrow hair before he had gotten arrested- grey arrow hair- like the hair of the person next to you. So out of curiosity, you had asked him that question.

The male turned his head to you, cocking his eyebrow. He looks at you weirdly, as if he’s trying to recognise you.

“Who is your husband?” He asks, “And if I were to kill him, why would I?”

“I-I uh.” You tried to gather words because of his snappy attitude towards you and his handsome face, “My husband is a pro hero, he didn’t tell me why you wanted to kill him though.”

“What did he tell you?”

“That a guy with arrow hair blindfolded him and stabbed him before getting arrested.”

The male turns back around for a second as if he were pondering, then turned back to you.

“Did he tell you where he got stabbed?”

“At a base or something across those lines.”

 His eyes widen, before looking around and leaning into your ear.

“I know who your husband is. Don’t tell anyone I’m here or I’ll do terrible things to you.” He leans back and starts to walk away from you.

“Wait!” You turn, catching up to him and grabbing his arm, “Let’s talk.”

-

Both you and the male sat on the bench at the bus stop outside of the store, looking out to the busy street ahead. People were walking down the footpaths on each side of the road, on their way to work. At first glance, people would think the two of you were a couple waiting for the bus, but that wasn’t the case.

“What’s your name?” You asked, looking over to the male next to you.“Kurono, Hari Kurono. Yours?” He responds, looking down at you.

“Y/N Aizawa, nice to meet you.” You smile at him before looking at the street.

“So.. Your husband is a pro hero huh?” Hari breaks the silence between you two, “Must be hard for him to be away all the time.”

“Yeah, it gets really lonely at times.” You remark sadly, “Sometimes he won’t come home for days because he’s just too busy.”

“Why did you marry him then?”

“I ask myself the same question, but yet I had hope for the relationship- also I was young and in love.”

“I get what you mean, being young can make you do some reckless decisions. Some of which you’ll regret in the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story- a very long one.” 

“Ah. But I get what you mean, stupid decisions can destroy your future. I mean look at me- I’m stuck in a relationship where I feel like I’m not loved or even needed in some places.” You sigh, looking down at the ground.

“Why don’t you rebel?” Hari suggests making you look up at him in confusion, “Make your life fun for once in a while.”

“What do you mean?” 

Before he could answer, Hari’s phone rang which he picked up and answered. After talking into it for a while, he put the phone back away in his pocket.

“I’ve got to go, but we can exchange numbers and have dinner sometime if you’d like.” He suggests.

“Sure, it would be nice to get out of my house more often for once.” You hand your phone (which you unlocked) to him, which he wrote his phone number in your contacts before handing it back to you.

“I’ll see you some time then.” He says as the both of you stand up.

“Yeah, it was nice talking to you.” You respond, smiling at him.

“See ya.” He says before turning and walking away from you.

You sat back down on the bench for a second, trying to calm your racing heart as you watch him walk further in the distance.

Something about Hari made you feel a feeling you hadn’t felt with Shota in a long time. 

His presence made you feel warm, it made your heart race and it made you feel giddy. But now, you were starting to miss him.

Even if this was the first time you ever met him, you were somehow open to the idea of seeing him more and more and distancing yourself from Shota as he’s been doing that to you for the whole marriage.

Wait. Were you considering cheating on your husband? Why was your heart beginning to betray you?

You had only just met Hari, yet your heart was trying to tell you something.

Maybe Shota wasn’t the right guy for you?

-

About a couple of months after meeting Hari, your phone pinged one morning which you picked up to see a message on the home screen.

Hari:

Hey, it’s that guy you met in the store. 

Wanna go out for dinner tonight? I’m free.

As you unlocked your phone, you thought about your plans for tonight- which was basically nothing because yet again, Shota was busy.

He was always working, he was never really around to spend time with you… maybe you did need to rebel a bit in your boring life.

You grinned to yourself as you texted back.

Y/N: 

Sure, is 6 okay?

-

“Y/N? Y/N?” A voice called out to you as it snapped you out of your thoughts.

Damn it, thinking about Shota again. No, relax Y/N- he’s working again.

You looked at Hari, who had his hand on your shoulder and was looking at you concerned. He sat across from you, as the two of you were at a two-seater table in the middle of a diner.

“Are you alright? You look concerned.” He asked as he quickly looked where you were looking earlier.

“O-Oh no,” Damn Shota getting in my mind again, “It’s just that it’s getting darker outside. I’m just worried for other villains you know- like the ones who are creeps.” 

“I get you, how far is your place from here?” 

“It’s about a two-hour train ride from here, but I’ll probably just try and find a motel for the night.” You replied, grabbing your phone from your handbag.

“Don’t worry about it, you could stay the night at my place, it’s fine.” Hari reassured as he left some yen on the table and stood, “You coming?”

-

Something about Hari had changed once you had entered his apartment, he had gotten more quiet. You couldn’t put your finger on what it was, as he seemed like a man of few words so you just assumed that he must’ve been thinking about what to say to you after a while.

“This is going to be awkward to say.” Hari said as he walked into the living room from taking a shower, “But this apartment only has one bedroom. You can sleep in the bed while I sleep on the couch if you wanna.”

“I’ll feel bad if you did sleep on the couch.” You replied hurriedly, “I-I mean it’s fine if we sleep in the same bed. I’m used to it.” 

“Are you sure? You have a husband don’t you?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine anyways. He is always working at night so he never came to bed with me.”

-

After you had showered (which Hari had let you borrow a sweatshirt to wear for the night, bless his soul) and had watched a movie or two with Hari, you both decided it would be time to go to bed.

That’s when that feeling you felt came back into your mind again. That lovesick thought that plagued your mind for months, the thought that you tried to suppress. 

You were supposed to love Shota, you were supposed to be loyal to him, not get feelings for Hari. But yet here you are, sharing a bed with the man who you had secretly gushed over.

As you sat on one side of the bed as Hari slept on the other side, everything came down upon you. Your walls came crashing down as you looked straight ahead, staring outside the small window to see the city which was dark and lit by retail and takeaway stores. 

You hadn’t noticed you were crying until you felt Hari shift towards you and place a hand lazily on your thigh. Turning around, you saw Hari leaning on his other arm facing his body towards you. 

His grey, arrow hair was disheveled around his face as his grey eyes were squinting slightly due to waking up. His look of concern didn’t go unnoticed as well, as it made you think that did this man really care for you this much?

“You okay?” He asked, adjusting his eyes so they could get used to his surroundings, “I heard you cry…”

“I-I just had some… thoughts.” You sniffled. 

“Come here, you wanna talk about them?” Hari pulled his hand away from your thigh and instead to pat the space near him, “Talking to someone can help sometimes, ya know that?”

You giggled before moving toward him. Your head was resting in the crook between Hari’s neck and shoulder while your body was against his chest as you felt one of his arms wrap around your waist while the other one rested on his side, leaning on the mattress. 

You froze for a second, which made you think of how Shota used to cuddle with you like this.

“So, what were these thoughts keeping you up?” Hari whispered, looking down at you.

“My husband and you.” You replied back, “How mine and his relationship is different now compared to you. I feel he doesn’t really care for me, or make some time to spend time with me.. Then there’s you, who I literally met a couple of months ago, and it looks like you care for me more than Shota has for the 5 years of marriage. I guess, I feel less lonely around you.”

“Keep on going…” Hari was curious, he wanted to know more about what you thought about him.

“But I’ve been having this feeling around you. I can see a future with you in it, and I mean more than friends. I mean.. Way different.”

“Romantically?” Hari was catching on now, you had feelings for him the whole time? And you could see a future with him in it? That made him even more happy.

“Yeah..”

“What if I told you…” Hari leaned against the headrest, using his arm on your waist to roll you over onto him. “That I felt the same way?”

Your legs straddled around his waist and you leaned against him so your and his lips were only millimeters apart.

“I would love that.” You whispered as your lips met his as his arms slipped under the hoddie you were wearing.

Little did you know what you did that night was going to be both the worst and best mistake of your life.

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #shie hassaikai #chronostasis #chrono #chronostasis x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #cait writes bnha #hari kurono #hari kurono x reader #oh damn this was almost 7 pages long man

[rvnclwrites]

Herbology Tutor (Talbott x Female MC)

A/N: Sorry I went on a hiatus for awhile. A combination of writer's block and a serious lack of free time has prevented me from writing, and I was pretty bummed after seeing Akkiarn's spoilers, which essentially confirm canon characters not being options for romance. Because of this and in honor of the latest side quest with Talbott, I decided to write a fic about him. Don't worry though, I will get back to Charlie x MC fics, as well as my current requests soon.

Word count: ~2100

"(Y/N)? Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" (Y/N) said, her attention snapping from the blank piece of parchment in front of her to a disappointed looking Penny across the table. She rubbed her face, hoping to clear her foggy mind. "I'm really sorry, Penny. What were you saying?"

"That you need to get writing! This essay is due tomorrow, and you've never procrastinated like this before. I'm really worried about you."

(Y/N) forced a half-hearted smile, grateful for her friend's concern. "I'm okay. Go finish up your Potions project, I'll figure this out."

"Are you sure? I can explain the steps again if you want."

(Y/N) shook her head. If she hadn’t understood it the first two times, odds were a third wouldn’t be of much help either. "I really appreciate it, but I'll be fine. Promise."

Penny stared at her for a long moment before resigning. "Okay, but please come get me if you need anything."

As the Hufflepuff headed out of the library, (Y/N) grabbed her quill and began scribbling, intent on formulating at least a few meaningful sentences. It didn't take long though for her brain to stop working again. She angrily flipped through the pages of Flesh-Eating Trees of the World, feeling a lump rise in the back of her throat. Why was this so hard for her? She had outstanding marks in all of her subjects, she should be able to figure it out by herself.

"You okay?"

(Y/N) jumped, startled by the unexpected voice nearby, and she was surprised to find a familiar pair of brown eyes peering down at her. "Oh, Talbott," (Y/N) said, placing a hand over her racing chest. How was he always so quiet? "Sorry, you scared me."

Without a word, he slid into the seat next to hers and as he continued to be silent, (Y/N) realized he had asked her a question.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to understand Self-Fertilising Shrubs." She rubbed her temples again and looked up to the ceiling, trying hard to ignore the burning sensation traveling up her throat and threatening to reach her eyes. She was not going to cry. (Y/N) never cried.

"Want some help?" He offered, scooting his chair closer to hers.

(Y/N)'s gaze trailed over to meet Talbott's. The pair had been friends for a few weeks now, playing Gobstones together and drinking Butterbeer on the weekends, but (Y/N) had always initiated it. This was the first time he was offering to help her.

Something warmed in the pit of (Y/N)'s stomach as she tried to decipher the look on Talbott's face. As always, he was a mystery; so tricky to read and it drove (Y/N) nuts. "You don't have to," (Y/N) said, biting her bottom lip. In all honesty, she really did want Talbott's help, but this was so out of character for him and she didn't want to put him out.

The corner of his lips quirked up in a subtle smile. "I owe you for helping me find my necklace."

An unrecognisable feeling fizzed in the pit of (Y/N)'s stomach. Talbott had only smiled a handful of times in front of her and when he did, it always made her inexplicably happy. "Thanks," (Y/N) said, returning the smile. "I couldn't focus during Professor Sprout's lecture and now I'm completely lost. My Self-Fertilising Shrub wasn't too fond of me."

Talbott laughed and flipped through one of the books in front of them, stopping near the back. "Here," he said, pointing to a paragraph near the bottom. "This section better describes their purpose."

(Y/N) frowned, looking down at the book. "Why isn't this page listed in the index then?"

Talbott shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't write the book."

(Y/N) elbowed him in the shoulder before skimming the section. Within fifteen minutes, Talbott had helped her write three lengthy paragraphs on Self-Fertilising Shrubs and the uses of their fertiliser.

"This says to leave around two meters between each plant. Why do you need to plant them so far apart?" (Y/N) asked, glancing up from her textbook.

"They'll eat each other, and most other plants for that matter."

(Y/N) blinked at him. "Oh." She flipped to the next page and frowned. "This says nothing about the feeding or watering process other than they need a lot of it. How in the bloody hell is that supposed to help me?"

Fighting back another smile, Talbott stood up and gestured for (Y/N) to follow him. "Come on, I'll show you how to feed it."

"Are you sure?" (Y/N) asked, not wanting to take up any more of Talbott's time if he didn't want to.

Instead of answering, Talbott's fingers closed around (Y/N)'s wrist and he tugged her to her feet and toward the door, sending a trail of goosebumps down her arm.

Once they reached the Greenhouse, (Y/N) located her shrub from earlier and apprehensively began following Talbott's instructions.

"I can't believe it eats that," she said, scrunching her nose in disgust at the unmistakable pile of animal flesh on the tray. Using the levitation spell, (Y/N) thankfully managed to feed the plant without having to touch any of it. "Anyone who says plants are romantic is insane. I don't think we've ever planted a single attractive flower. No, instead we get to risk losing an arm to this thing."

"Hey, be nice," Talbott said before turning to the shrub. "She didn't mean that, buddy."

(Y/N) bit back a giggle while she filled up the watering can and noticed Talbott tossing seeds into a soil-filled pot. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't worry about me, you've got a shrub to water," he said while patting down the soil inside the dainty pot.

"Are you sure it won't bite me?" (Y/N) asked, her gloved hands trembling as she extended the watering can toward the plant. She may not have been afraid of most things, but (Y/N) had enough common sense to fear anything labeled as "flesh-eating".

"Yes, I'm sure. That's why we fed it first."

Trusting her friend, (Y/N) cautiously poured water onto the soil (not over top of the shrub, per Talbott's instructions) and watched as the plant didn't protest like it had earlier. Instead, it wiggled in approval before standing taller. "I did it!" (Y/N) said, grinning wider than she had after acing her last Potions exam. She dropped the watering can onto the table and without thinking pulled Talbott into a tight hug. "Thank you so much." Talbott's body stiffened against hers, and (Y/N) pulled back quickly, hoping she didn't make him uncomfortable. "Sorry," she said, her face flushing.

Talbott rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, don't mention it. Seriously, don't- I'd never tutor anyone else but you and don't want people thinking otherwise."

(Y/N) laughed and felt that nagging sensation return to her stomach. She wanted to ask what made her special enough to warrant his attention but didn't want to make him start questioning it. "Deal."

(Y/N) began gathering her books from the floor and was caught off guard when Talbott asked, "So, why were you distracted in class?"

Straightening, (Y/N) felt that lump return to the back of her throat. "What?"

"You said you lost focus in class and that's not like you," he said, his attention still trained on the pot in front of him while he sprinkled the watering can over it. "Did something happen?"

(Y/N) dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand, hoping to force away the emotion fighting to creep its way out again. She wanted to lie. She wanted to keep telling everyone she was just having a bad day and move on. But this was Talbott, and not only was he smart enough to see through any of her lies, he had also been trusting and vulnerable enough to open up to (Y/N) despite how hard it was for him. 

"I realized that today is-" (Y/N) took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Today is my brother's birthday."

Talbott froze before lowering the watering can back to the table and turning toward (Y/N). "Oh."

(Y/N) nodded, blinking fast. "I just- I've felt terrible all day because I didn't even remember until second period." She looked down at the books in her hand, hating the heavy ache in her chest. It usually came and went, easily dismissable, but today it just seemed to continue swelling like a balloon.

"I used to spend holidays locked in my room. I didn't want to do anything but sleep and be alone," Talbott admitted, causing (Y/N) to peer up at him despite her misty eyes. "My extended family thought I should go see my parents’ graves or share happy memories, but I would always refuse. I didn't want to be happy without them, it made me feel guilty."

(Y/N) nodded, quickly wiping her face with her sleeve as a tear leaked out.

"It took some time, but now I know that's stupid. Your brother would want you to be happy. You can't spend every second worrying about where he is or what's happened to him- that wouldn't help anyone."

(Y/N) breathed in a deep breath of fresh air, feeling the knot in her chest loosen a little at Talbott's words.

"Just like I can't spend my entire life forcing myself to be miserable. That won't bring my parents back. If anything, that's letting You Know Who win."

Despite her sniffling, (Y/N) forced a smile at Talbott, grateful more than ever that he was her friend. "Thank you- for everything." (Y/N) peered up at him innocently and his eyebrows raised in response. "Can I hug you again?"

Talbott laughed, shaking his head before bracing himself. "I guess."

With that, (Y/N) wrapped her arms around Talbott’s waist and rested her head against his chest. "Thanks," she whispered, smiling to herself as the gap in her heart fill just a little bit.

At first Talbott was rigid again, but as she stayed there, (Y/N) felt his posture slowly relax against her and, for a brief moment in time, she could have sworn he even hugged her back.

"Tell anyone about this and you're dead," he muttered into her ear, causing an unfamiliar nerve to prickle at the back of her neck and send a tingle down her spine.

(Y/N) squeezed her friend one last time in response before pulling back, feeling for the first time that day that everything was going to be okay. "Thanks again for being my tutor. I really appreciate it."

"Stop thanking me," he groaned. "That's what friends are for, right?"

(Y/N) beamed at him but before she could respond, Talbott placed the small pot he had been fiddling with into her free hand. (Y/N) blinked at it, staring down at the single flower in front of her.

"There's a pretty flower for you. It's called a Moly."

(Y/N) just continued to stare down at the black stemmed, white petal flower, utterly speechless. Did Talbott Winger just give her a flower?

"It can counteract enchantments if you eat it."

(Y/N) gasped and pulled the pot defensively close. "No one is touching this flower, let alone eating it. You green thumbs are weirdos." She brushed the soft petals gently with her thumb. "How did you make it so fast?"

"I used to help my mom plant them all the time. They're really valuable to Healers, it's no big deal."

"It is to me." (Y/N) looked down at her flower admiringly. "So, how do I not kill it?"

Talbott laughed. "All it needs is water a couple times a week."

"Low maintenance, I like it. You know what, this is better than a friendship bracelet."

Talbott groaned again and started toward the door. "You're ridiculous."

"What? I finally have proof of our friendship," (Y/N) said, grinning.

"You know I'll deny it if anyone asks."

"I know." She glanced down at the flower again, unable to stop the flutters in her stomach. "Hey Talbott, would you show me how to plant this sometime?"

Talbott paused for a minute before briefly glancing over his shoulder at her and nodding. "Sure."

(Y/N)'s stomach flipped and she held the plant tight to her chest. She could definitely get used to having this new Herbology tutor.

#talbott winger x mc #talbott winger x reader #talbott winger x you #talbott winger x jacob's sibling #talbott x mc #talbott x reader #talbott x you #talbott #talbott winger #jacob's sibling #hphm #hogwarts mystery fanfic #hogwarts mystery #harry potter #fluff #fanfic #mine #mywriting #rvnclwrites

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: A Wish Your Heart Makes (Keanu x Reader) 2/3

Author’s notes: part 2 from Cinderella AU. Catch up on part 1 here!

Wordcount: 2294

Warnings: none that I can think of.

As Keanu headed down for breakfast that morning, he could swear that he still felt the taste of her on his lips.

Rationally, he knew he was being ridiculous, but it just felt like every aspect of his night with her was lingering. Her taste, her smell, the feel of her soft skin under his hands, the sound of her voice and laughter… Keanu couldn’t remember the last time he felt this smitten for someone, but this woman had caught him completely off guard.

Despite what tabloids liked to publish about him, Keanu wasn’t a womanizer, he just went out with friends. Were some of them gorgeous models? Yes. Did that mean he was sleeping with all of them? Of course not.

As a matter of fact, it had been quite a few years since he had an actual relationship. Business kept him busy and he preferred that way really. Business didn’t break his heart.

Though Keanu had to admit it felt really nice to spend time with her. The party had been so boring, and he was considering taking his leave when he crossed paths with her at the catering table and then again by the stage.

She had been honest and sweet. Keanu felt a spark he hadn’t felt in years. And the best thing was that he knew there hadn’t been any ulterior motive behind it, because he saw in her eyes, when his mask fell, that she had no idea who he was until that moment.

However, she ran away before he could say anything and he never asked for her name. Now here he was, watching everyone that crossed his path at the hotel, comparing them with his memory, wondering if she could be in the room with him.

As he surveyed the restaurant for a place to sit, he greeted some of the guests with a smile and a quick nod. Keanu knew several of his guests, most of them had been at the gala, but he didn’t feel in the mood to socialize. So, he picked a table tucked in the corner, occupied by a young woman dressed in the hotel’s uniform.

Keanu was almost sure she was one of the girls from the front desk, but his hotels had hundreds of employees each and even he wasn’t that good with names.

As he approached he noticed she seemed oblivious to the world around her with her headphones one and book in front of her. So, it wasn’t until Keanu stopped right in front of the table that she actually looked up, her eyes widening almost comically as she recognized him.

“Mind if I join you?”

For a moment, she just stared before she seemed to shake herself out of it and nod.

“Thanks,” Keanu replied taking a seat and noticing her book cover. “Emma, huh? Hopeless romantic?”

“I, uh, actually a big fan of how her protagonists defied societal norm and expectation for women at the time,” she said taking a quick glance at her own book and sighing. “Most of them at least.”

“Writer?” Keanu asked with a chuckle and she ducked her head, hiding her smile, which was a shame because from what he could see, it was beautiful.

“If I manage to finish my masters, maybe,” she said, glancing at her watch and letting out a small wince. “I should get going. Have a nice day, Mr. Reeves.”

She was hurrying away before Keanu could manage another word. Nearly running into Lawrence in the process. She apologized quickly and continued on while Lawrence took her seat in front of Keanu.

“Was it something I said?” Keanu asked, glancing at the path the girl had taken. What was it with him scaring all women these days?

“It’s Friday, she’s rushing off to class.”

Lawrence signaled a waiter who seemed to know exactly what he wanted because next thing Keanu knew, there were two cups in front of them, Earl Grey for Lawrence, cappuccino for him. Another moment and a different waiter brought them croissants.

“She’s a great kid. polite, hard worker, but was dealt a terrible hand these last few months.”

“What happened?” Keanu asked with a curious frown.

“Car accident four months ago. Parents died and insurance isn’t being forthcoming with the money, so she’s struggling.”

“Anything we can do?”

“Keanu, you can’t go around paying all of your employee’s bills. You’d go bankrupt,” Lawrence warned, eyebrow arched as he watched Keanu.

“I highly doubt it,” he snorted.

Keanu was quite aware of how much all his hotels earned a year. He was very far away from being bankrupt for helping out every once in a while.

“Just make sure she’s alright?”

After a moment of hesitation, Lawrence relented with a nod, drinking his tea.

“I couldn’t help but notice you were suspiciously scarce at the party last night,” he commented with a small smirk. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”

Keanu just huffed a breath, breaking his croissant in half. Of course, Lawrence noticed it. He noticed everything. So, he quickly told his friend what happened, watching as his smirk turned into a soft, knowing smile.

“That’s quite the tale, my friend. And you didn’t catch her name?”

“She ran off before I could.” Keanu let out a long sigh.

“Would you like me to check the guest list? Find out your mystery woman?”

“Are you trying to play matchmaker, Larry?” Keanu chuckled.

Lawrence had always been a little overly invested in his very inexistent love life.

“Well, you’re obviously not doing all that well by yourself,” He replied with a snort and Keanu gave him a mock glare.

“It wouldn’t do you any good. She was crashing the party.”

“Ah. No wonder you liked her,” Lawrence said in a teasing tone, making Keanu laugh. “What are you gonna do to find her, then?”

“I have no idea,” Keanu said, finishing the rest of his cappuccino before he stood up. “But I’m sure we’ll cross paths again if it meant to be.”

Keanu spent most of his day at the office, going over the hotel’s books and in meetings with his marketing team. Unlike most of his other properties, the New York Continental wasn’t doing as well as expected and they to come up with a solution or risk closing doors.

And even though he was quite aware of the importance of those meetings, Keanu couldn’t help but be distracted, his mind wandering to last night again and his mystery woman. Sure, he told Lawrence he would let fate take care of it, but it didn’t hurt to give fate a hand every once in a while.

So as soon as his last meeting of the day ended, Keanu headed down to the lobby, eyes scanning for the porter he had seen taking care of security for the gala last night, but even though all the faces were familiar, they weren’t the man Keanu was looking for.

He started to head back to the administrative areas to look for Lawrence or Adrianne when he saw a familiar head disappearing inside the staff’s break room and grinned. He would rather not resort to Lawrence just yet and the last thing Keanu wanted was to deal with Adrienne. The woman was very efficient but too nosey for her own good.

“Hey Austen,” he called out as he walked in, making the girl he met this morning look up startled.

“Mr. Reeves?”

“Keanu is just fine,” he asked, taking a seat across from her. “I need your help.”

“Sure,” she replied, a little hesitant, setting her pen on top of her notebook. He couldn’t help but notice the way she made sure her arms were covering whatever she was writing. “What can I do for you?”

“Were you working last night? Do you know the porter who was doing security at the gala?”

“Sam? Yeah,” she nodded, her face drawing into a frown. “It’s his day off. Did something happen?”

“I just need to talk to him about something,” Keanu replied as vaguely as possible.

It was one thing to tell Lawrence about his crush. Another thing to admit it to a complete stranger.

“You’re not gonna fire him, are you?” Panic flashed over her doe eyes. “You can’t! He has three kids and he’s the best porter around here. Ask any of the guests!”

Keanu couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face at her quick defense of her coworker. He liked this girl already. Anyone willing the talk to her boss like that to defend a colleague was worth having around.

“I’m not gonna fire him, Brontë. I want to talk to him. That’s all.”

“Good,” she said with a tentative smile, her cheeks red almost as if only now realizing the way she talked to her boss. “Also, Brontë?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled awkwardly, gesturing to her and her notebook “Aspiring writer, right?”

“Emphasis on the aspiring.” She sighed, her gaze shifting down. “Not that I’m doing much writing lately.”

Keanu’s smile dropped, reminded of what Lawrence had told him about her. Having lost loved ones himself, he could imagine quite how much she must have been hurting right now.

Without thinking, he reached over, taking her hand. She had such small hands compared to his. Her palm soft and smooth against his calloused fingers as he squeezed lightly. He watched as she took a deep breath before pouring her heart out to him.  

Once upon a time, writing came to her as easily as breathing. There wasn’t a scrap of paper that could escape her assaults. But ever since her parents’ accident, she had been completely blocked.

She knew it was part of her grief. That she was still processing the entire thing and should give herself some time. It didn’t make it any easier though. Or her any less angry with herself. Because writing had always been the way she coped with the world. Not having it now made everything feel even worse. It was yet another thing that damn accident took it from her.

And to make matters worse, since she hadn’t delivered any of her assignments, she was dangerously close to failing her master and then the loan her parents took to pay for tuition would go to waste.

They had been so proud of her for choosing to do it, get a master in fine arts instead of taking the safe route of being a teacher and now they were gone and she was completely ruining it.

Keanu didn’t even know at what point he moved closer, gathering her in his arms, letting her cry against his shoulder. He just realized he had done it after he was already hugging her and rubbing soothing circles on her back.

After a while, she pulled away, sniffling, eyes red-rimmed, cheeks streaked.

“I’m so sorry, sir.” Her voice came out raspy from crying. “I made a mess on your shirt.”

“It’s fine,” Keanu assured with a smile, looking at the mascara stains on his shoulder. “Let me grab you some tissues.”

He moved to the employee restroom, hearing the noise of the breakroom door opening and Adrienne’s grating voice.  

“What do you think you’re doing? Amber is at the front desk all alone! Why aren’t you helping, instead of sitting here on your ass?”

“I’m in the night shift,” the girl replied, still sniffling.

“You’re already here! Might as well start!” Adrienne declared and Keanu rolled his eyes, stepping out of the restroom.

“I was under the impression night shifts started at six, Adrienne.” No matter how efficient the woman was in her job, Keanu wasn’t about to let her get away with being rude with other employees. “And it’s 5:30 right now.”

“Mr. Reeves,” she gasped, eyes going wide. “I didn’t know…”

“That I was here? Clearly,” he said with a dry voice, before turning to look at the younger woman. “Here you go, Shelley.” It dragged a tentative smile from her as she took the tissues.

“I just thought…” Adrianne trailed off when Keanu shifted his gaze back at her. He knew how terrifying he could be whenever he wanted to.

“That you should look for whoever was supposed to take care of the front desk with Amber and talk to them? Yes, I agree.”

“Yes, of course, sir,” Adrianne replied, her face so red Keanu was sure she was gonna pop a vein any minute. “I’ll do that right now.”

He watched as Adrianne took off, heels clicking on the polished floors before his attention shifted to back to the other woman, his serious expression dissolving as Keanu noticed she could barely contain giggles.

“What?”

“It’s just…” she started, her face opening into a smile and he had been right. It was beautiful and he smiled too. “She’s the one supposed to be out there with Amber.”

“Good to know,” Keanu replied. “Do you feel better?”

“Yeah, thank you, Mr. Ree… Keanu,” she corrected herself once he gave her a pointed look. “Maria from housekeeping has this really good stain remover. For the shirt.”

“Well, I do like this shirt,” he said with a goofy smile. “Lead the way.”

He followed her down to the basement where the Continental’s laundry room was located. Keanu waited outside, not wanting to startle any of the employees. Administrative people didn’t really come down here all that often.

As Keanu waited, one of the housekeeping staff pushed out a rack of recently laundered clothes. To his surprise, among the clothes was the red dress his mystery woman was wearing at the gala last night.

He moved closer, checking the tag on the plastic wrapper. Now he knew her name and her room number.

Fate must be on his side after all.

tbc

Tag list (give me a shout if you want to be added)

@poisonedjoinery @ringa-starr @curly-minnie @i-cant-remember-my-old-login

@caryled @beyond-antares @kathorax @krazycags01 @meetmeinthematinee

@red-pill-blue-pill @baphometwolf666 @soarocks @imagine-the-fanfics @moonlit-raven-haven @cumberbatchbaps @coolbreezeinkeanureeves

#keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves imagine #keanu reeves x reader #keanu reeves x you #request #fanfic #cinderella au #alternative universe #a wish your heart makes #fluff

[girls-scenarios]

Start It Over (It Was All New)

Idols: Yves and Vivi (Loona)

Prompt: Jo, I make a second request but if only one is allowed I can ask another time again! LOONA now!: Can I ask for a story where Yves was being punished by God for being such a player and the curse makes almost all LOONA girls developing such a huge crush on her to the points where it gets creepy or annoying? Except for ViVi who acts more neutral-aggressive against her and the problem is that ViVi had an unknown crush on her before and this need two need to break the curse? (Sorry Chuu, now YvesVi)

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: Whew, this was quite the request to write! It took me a while to decide how I wanted to go about this, especially since I’ve never thought about shipping Yves and Vivi before. But hopefully this was what you were looking for! Also I’m using their real names in this fic (Sooyoung for Yves, Kahei for Vivi) as well as all the member’s real names. Also this is long so get some snacks kids.

As soon as Sooyoung woke up, she knew that something was off. She’d had the weirdest dream that had left her with a headache behind her eyes, and the room seemed too hot. Oh, and there was someone in the bed with her. It took her a moment to recognize the arms around her torso, but when she did, she was wide awake, sitting up and looking down to see who the offender was.

“Jiwoo? What the heck?” The younger girl blinked, startling awake.

“Hm, what?”

“Why are you in my bed, and why are you hugging me?” Jiwoo yawned and pulled her arms away, rubbing at her eyes.

“Mm, because I wanted to. You looked pretty in your sleep.” Sooyoung arched an eyebrow at the girl beside her.

“Uh, what? Jiwoo, are you okay?”

“Yeah? Why?” This was not the Jiwoo she knew. Jiwoo would usually flush pink when Sooyoung flirted with her and would fall back into Jungeun’s arms, whining at her to stop it. Sure, she liked skinship, but this? This was not normal. Was she still asleep?

A pinch to the arm told Sooyoung that she was, in fact, awake, and she shook her head, shuffling to the end of the bed to get up.

“Okay, weird,” she muttered, and Jiwoo sat up.

“What do you mean weird? Aren’t you always flirting with me? Don’t you like this stuff?”

“What is up with you today?” Sooyoung asked, looking back at her with narrowed eyes. “Is this some kind of prank? You’re dating Jungeun, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t have to know,” Jiwoo said, and the hair on the back of Sooyoung’s neck stood up. This was not Jiwoo in her bed. Jiwoo would never say that, she loved Jungeun unconditionally.

“Alrightcoolseeyoulater,” she babbled as she stood up, stumbling over to the door. What was going on?

Yerim was in the hallway, and when she saw Sooyoung, she smiled immediately. “Oh, good morning!” This was normal, Yerim was always smiling. What was not normal was that she was now clinging on to Sooyoung’s arm, leaning in a little closer than she usually would. “I was waiting for you!” Her encounter with Jiwoo, or not-Jiwoo, had made her wary, and she tried to lean away.

“You were? Why?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you!” Sooyoung tried to pry her hands off, to no avail.

“Um, okay? Can’t you do that any time? We’re in the same band and we live in the same house.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you in private,” Yerim said, her voice soft so that no one else could hear, and Sooyoung felt like jumping out of her skin. Yerim, quiet and not wanting to be around literally everyone, especially her loud sister Yeojin? Unheard of. Had aliens replaced her friends?

“Nope, nope, nope,” she said, managing to get her arm out of the younger girl’s grip and quickly stepping away. “Got things to do, sorry.”

“Unnie, wait!” Yerim called after her, but there was no way Sooyoung was going to stop. With a slight jog to her pace, she moved towards the kitchen, where she could smell food being cooked. That meant Haseul was up, and if anyone could tell her what was going on, it would be her. Haseul was terrible at pranks, she wouldn’t be able to keep this up.

“Haseul, I need to ask you-.” It was just the leader in the kitchen, and Sooyoung skidded to a stop. Kahei stood there beside her, and Jinsoul was at the fridge. If they were pranking her, those two would be able to keep her from spilling it. That is, if Jinsoul was even in on it herself. “What’s going on today?”

“What do you mean? It’s just a normal day, honey,” Haseul said, and Sooyoung shuddered. Honey? Sure, she might call the younger girls pet names from time to time, but she never did that to Sooyoung because she knew she hated them.

“Oh god, don’t call me that.”

“Why? You love being loved.” Haseul placed the spoon she was using down and walked over, and Sooyoung instinctively took a step back, right into Jinsoul’s arms.

“You’re pretty today too, Sooyoung” Jinsoul said as she wrapped her arms around her torso, and Sooyoung jumped, immediately wrapping her hands around the other girl’s skinny wrists.

“Haha, thanks, very funny, now please let me go.” She could feel Jinsoul pouting, and Haseul gave her the “disappointed mother” look that was usually reserved for Yeojin.

“Why are you so mean today, honey? I didn’t even get a kiss.” At the mention of a kiss, Sooyoung’s face flushed bright red.

“A kiss? Why would I give you a kiss?”

“You always give us kisses,” Jinsoul whined from behind her, and Sooyoung struggled against her lanky arms as she looked into Haseul’s eyes. The other girl wasn’t joking around, she couldn’t hide a secret to save her life and there was no sign of a smile on her lips, and Sooyoung swallowed, panic swelling up in her chest. Seriously, what was happening?

“Kahei unnie, help,” she squeaked, looking over at the older girl, who was watching from the oven with something unrecognizable in her eyes.

“Why? Don’t you enjoy this kind of thing? You’re always flirting with everyone.”

“As a joke!” Kahei raised her eyebrows, and had Sooyoung had time to really look at her, she would have seen the look that she threw Haseul and Jinsoul. But Sooyoung didn’t see it, as she was busy wiggling out of Jinsoul’s arms to escape back to her bedroom. On her way there, she passed Jungeun, who called to her and tried to catch her arm, but she jumped away and ran faster.

Thankfully, the room was empty, and she slammed the door and locked it, breathing heavily against it for a moment before walking back to her bed. On the covers sat a note, and she picked it up only to wrinkle her nose at the exclamation scrawled across it. Hyejoo’s name was signed at the bottom, and Sooyoung crumpled it up and tossed it away, curling up on her bed. Only then did she remember her dream.

In it, someone who looked like Sunmi had been dancing in front of her before she suddenly stopped and looked her in the eye.

“You’ve become too much of a flirt for your own good,” had said the Sunmi in a voice that was not Sunmi’s. “Change your ways, or you’ll pay.” She’d woken up right after that with a headache, and then all of this had happened.

Biting her lip, she stared down at the floor, trying to make sense of it all in her head. Had her dream come true? Was she being punished for being a flirt? If she was, then by who was she being punished? And why now?

“Okay then, god, I get it, I’ll stop being a flirt. Just put everything back to normal,” she said, and got silence in return.

“Sooyoung! Come out, I made you coffee!” It was Yeojin’s voice, and Sooyoung shuddered. Yeojin making anything for anyone was completely unheard of, she barely made coffee for herself because she knew she could whine to Haseul for her to do it.

“Nope, not thirsty!”

A voice answered her back, but Sooyoung put in her earbuds to block whoever it was out. How was she supposed to stop this? She’d gotten the lesson, loud and clear, but it was still happening. Was she just going to have to live with this? She glanced at the clock on her phone. 8am on a Saturday. They had schedules later, and she’d have to come out for those, but she was determined to stay hidden in her room until then. For her own safety.

-

Eventually, she couldn’t avoid it any longer. Her manager yelled her name, and she reluctantly left the room, clinging to her phone like a lifeline. She felt exhausted, even though she’d slept longer than she usually did.

“Sooyoung, what’s going on? We have to go!”

“Sorry,” she said, ducking her head down, and her manager tsk-ed.

“Alright, come on girls, we’ve got to go now or we’ll be late.” She didn’t dare to look up but she could feel eyes on her as she moved to the back of the line, trying to avoid the other girls.

On the bus, she sat next to Kahei, shoulders tense. But the older girl just looked down at her phone, not bothering to say anything other than “make sure to put on your seat belt”, and she let out a sigh of relief, relaxing a little bit. The van ride was surprisingly calm, with half of the girls drifting back off to sleep.

It wasn’t until they were at the station ready to record that it really started to happen.

“Hey Sooyoung unnie, can you zip my dress back up?” Chaewon’s voice sounded from behind her, and she jumped a little bit, still wary. But the younger girl’s back was to her, and she couldn’t really say no, so she carefully reached over to zip it up. After she was gone, Chaewon spun around and caught her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Thanks! Love you!” Immediately, Sooyoung’s face flushed and she yanked her hand back, mumbling something incoherent as she shuffled back towards the wall, glancing nervously around.

Kahei caught her eye before looking quickly away, and Sooyoung’s attention was caught by Heejin and Hyunjin, who had appeared at her side holding hands. She gave them a wary look and stepped away, but they just moved in closer.

“What’s up?” Her usual confidence was gone, replaced by a waver in her voice. The girls that she was usually comfortable around had made her on edge today, and she had no idea what was going to happen next.

“We were thinking,” Hyunjin started.

“And we decided that we want to take you out somewhere tonight,” Heejin finished Sooyoung wished she could melt into the floor. Her wish wasn’t granted.

“Um, why?”

“Because we like you so much and we want to treat you, unnie,” Heejin said, smiling, but it wasn’t her normal smile. Sooyoung hated it.

“Uhhh.” Thankfully, she didn’t have to answer, because the door opened and a member of staff poked their head inside, telling them it was time for their interview. “Oh cool let’s go,” she said, giving the two girls an awkward smile before stepping around them, making a beeline for the door.

She was sat beside Haseul for the interview, which wouldn’t normally be a problem, except for now the other girl kept giving her these looks that she really didn’t like. For the most part, she spaced out, more focused on how she was going to fix this mess. That was, until the interviewer asked that fateful question.

“Who would each of you date if you were a man?” Sooyoung hated that question for multiple reasons (mostly because she was a proud lesbian who would gladly date a girl any day) but today it was even worse. She could feel all eyes go to her, and she fidgeted in her chair as the girls began to name her off, one by one.

“Yves, for me.”

“I’d say Sooyoung.”

“Sooyoung for me too.”

“Yves unnie.” She hated it, wanting to die as the interviewer gave her a judgmental eye. This looked so bad.

“Looks like you’re popular, Yves. Who would you choose to date?” Everyone turned to look at her, and she dared to glance at them for the first time. All of their eyes seemed unfamiliar as they stared, and she swallowed, uncertain until her eyes fell on Kahei. She was looking at her like she normally did, a slightly amused smile playing on her lips. When Sooyoung thought about it, she was the only one who hadn’t been creepy so far. Letting out the breath she’d been holding, she plastered on an awkward smile and turned back to the interviewer.

“I’d date Vivi.” The older girl raised an eyebrow, as if she was asking “really?”

“Why Vivi?” The interviewer asked, and Sooyoung swallowed.

“Um, well, she’s really pretty and a naturally cute and funny person, and I’m comfortable around her.” She was avoiding looking at Kahei as she felt the blush creep up her neck. Why was she blushing? Why was her heart beating quicker? Was this part of the curse too?

“That’s not fair, I’ve known you longer,” Jiwoo whined, and Sooyoung let out a sigh as she looked back at the ground. Thankfully, the interviewer changed the question, obviously uncomfortable, and the girls dropped the subject.

A few “I love Sooyoung”s and a “Sooyoung is in charge of being sexy” later, they were back in the green room getting ready to go, and Sooyoung felt like slamming her head into the wall. This was the worst kind of torture and she was close to going crazy. As much as she loved girls, having her friends be all over her was creepy and weird and she was ready to swear off flirting forever, if only it would stop.

“Sooyoung, sit beside me,” Yeojin called, holding out her hands towards the older girl as she climbed on the bus.

“No, me, you barely said anything to me today,” Yerim whined from the other side, interrupted by Jiwoo and Jinsoul calling her name. Sooyoung’s stomach turned and her eyes shook as she looked over all the girls, knowing that sitting next to them would mean being put into another uncomfortable situation with them all over her.

“She’s sitting next to me again.” Kahei spoke from the back of the van, voice louder than usual, and Sooyoung felt a wave of relief wash over her body as she walked back to her, ignoring the whines of the other girls as she carefully sat down beside her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and Kahei nodded, shooting her a look before going back to her phone.

“We need to talk when we get back to the dorm.” Her voice was serious, and Sooyoung nodded her head, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes, trying to will the headache building in her head to go away. She still didn’t really know what was happening, but for whatever reason, Kahei didn’t seem to be affected by it. Maybe it was because she rarely flirted with Kahei?

She dared a look over at her before quickly closing her eyes again. There was something about the older girl, something about that pretty smile and that chic look she gave Sooyoung every time she flirted that made Sooyoung’s mouth go dry. She’d always told herself it was because Kahei was just that pretty and decided not to think about it too much. But now.... Thoughts swirled around in her head, refusing to let her rest as she listened to the faint sound of music coming from Kahei’s headphones.

It was a long ride back to the dorm.

-

“I’m not going to ambush you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Kahei said when Sooyoung flinched at the closing of the door. “I’m confused about what is happening too.” With a sigh, Sooyoung slumped onto the older girl’s bed, letting her guard down for the first time that day.

“That’s a relief. Today has been rough, unnie.”

“So I’ve noticed.” After a moment, Kahei sat down beside her, but with enough distance that she didn't have to worry. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Sooyoung admitted, running a hand through her hair. “I had this super weird dream about me being punished for being a flirt and then when I woke up everyone was being weird.” The events of the day flashed through her head and she groaned, closing her eyes. “Oh god, the interview today. If that gets aired....”

“You are kind of a flirt.” Sooyoung whined and fell back onto the bed.

“I just flirt for fun! Everyone knows that I’m just joking because I flirt with everyone!” Kahei let out a little hum, and Sooyoung looked at the back of her head.

“You never flirt with me,” she said without turning around, voice soft, and Sooyoung swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat, her heart skipping a beat and her face getting hot. How was she supposed to reply to that? “Sorry. I know now isn’t the time. You not flirting with me might be the reason I wasn’t affected by this whole thing.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Sooyoung said, voice small, “but I’m not sure. I feel like you’re supposed to help me break this thing since I haven’t been able to do it myself, but if I had to flirt with you, wouldn't that just be going back to the problem?” Finally, Kahei looked back at her, fixing her with her dark eyes.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try.” Sooyoung raised her eyebrows, and the older girl gave her a little smile. “Flirt with me, Sooyoung.” Immediately, her face flushed, and she knew even as she sat up that she couldn’t do it.

“I-.” Kahei was too pretty, especially with her newly dyed hair and her makeup from earlier washed away. Sooyoung really was, deep down, a useless gay, and having Kahei this close to her, looking deep into her eyes, was too much. “I can’t.” Kahei’s face fell, and she immediately regretted her words.

“Do you really dislike me that much?”

“No! That’s not it at all....” She’d never had a problem telling girls how she felt until now. Her face was on fire and her tongue felt heavy and awkward in her mouth as her brain panicked over the sad look in her unnie’s eyes. “It's because you’re too pretty and you make me feel a certain way.” It wasn’t the most eloquent way of saying I, but it just tumbled out, and Kahei’s face turned pink.

“Oh.” For a moment, it was silent. As silent as a dorm with twelve girls in it could be, anyway. Tension sparked in the air, and Sooyoung felt like melting again, but this time for a different reason. “I. Feel a certain way about you too.”

“Really?” Sooyoung breathed, and Kahei nodded, biting her lip.

“I’ve actually liked you for a while now, but I figured you didn’t like me back. Especially since you never flirted with me like you do the other girls.”

“That’s because you’re different. You’re... You’re you.” It was simple, but she really couldn’t think of another way to say it. She liked a lot of things about Kahei, and a lot of things about her took her breath away and made her uncharacteristically nervous. But she didn’t know how to say that, so she just told her the truth: she liked everything about her. “And I guess I just didn’t think about it because I was afraid of liking you, since you’re so out of my league.”

“Me? Out of your league? If anything, it’s the other way around,” Kahei said, now giving Sooyoung that smile that made her stomach explode into butterflies. “I’m just average. You’re incredible.”

“You’re anything but average,” Sooyoung said, before letting out an embarrassed giggle and covering her face. “Why are we even arguing about this?” Kahei giggled with her, reaching over to pull her hands away from her face and hold them in her own.

“I don’t know.” Sooyoung knew she was grinning like a fool, but so was Kahei, so it didn’t matter.

“Sorry it took me being cursed by god or whatever for me to realize I liked you. But would you be my girlfriend?” Kahei laughed, and the sound was like music to her ears?

“This is such a weird situation,” the older girl said, “but yes, I’ll be your girlfriend.” Sootoung smiled, then widened her eyes.

“Wait, do you think this might break the curse?”

“What, you getting a girlfriend?” There was a twinkle in Kahei’s eye. “Only if you promise not to flirt with other girls.”

“Is that your request or the curse’s request?”

“Mostly mine,” she admitted, and Sooyoung grinned, a boldness rising up in her.

“Maybe we’ll break the curse if we kiss.” Immediately, Kahei flushed red all the way to her ears, matching her hair, and the younger girl giggled. “Unless you don’t want to, babe.”

“You’re the worst, you giant flirt,” Kahei whined, gently shoving Sooyoung’s shoulder, “but I want to.”

“Close your eyes.” Her voice was soft once again and Kahei let her eyes flutter closed. For a moment, Sooyoung looked at her, taking in her beauty with a swell of emotion in her chest as she realized that this beautiful woman was really her girlfriend. And she was the luckiest woman in the world.

Then she leaned forward and kissed her. It was just a sweet, chaste kiss, but it did more to her heart than any of the passionate kisses she’d ever had in the past. Kahei was really special.

When they pulled away, both blushing, she suddenly felt tired. The other girl was so warm and inviting, and her eyelids felt heavy. Apparently Kahei felt the same way, as she yawned and leaned her head on Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“Why don’t we just stay like this for a while?” Sooyoung yawned, closed her eyes, and let Kahei pull her down onto the bed.

“That sounds nice.”

-

When Sooyoung woke up, nothing felt off. Her familiar, comfortable bed was underneath her, and there were no arms around her. She sat up, blinking sleepily as she looked around the room. When had she left Kahei’s bed? Jiwoo was still sleeping soundly in her bed as Sooyoung turned on her phone. 7:30am on a Saturday. She blinked. Wait, Saturday? Yesterday had been Saturday.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and got up, staring at her phone. She hadn’t dreamed up this whole thing… Right?

She stepped out into the hallway and Yerim greeted her with a bright smile. “Good morning unnie!” Sooyoung flinched a little, but the younger girl just skipped past her, leaving her bewildered in the hallway. She could smell breakfast, though, so she walked into the kitchen with careful steps, still on edge.

Haseul stood at the stove with Kahei beside her at the coffee machine and Jinsoul at the fridge. At the sound of her footsteps, Haseul looked up.

“Good morning, Sooyoung. How do you want your eggs this morning?” She asked as Jinsoul gave Sooyoung a wave before downing the rest of the milk from the carton.

“Um, scrambled,” Sooyoung said, and then her eyes met Kahei’s, and the older girl gave her a dazzling smile as she held up a mug full of coffee.

“I made you a cup. Just how you like it.” There was a twinkle in her eye, and Sooyoung swallowed, accepting the mug into her hands and moving to stand beside her. It hadn’t been a dream, right?

“It wasn’t a dream,” Kahei said, as if she were reading her mind, voice soft. “I think this means we broke the curse.”

“Then are we still...?” She didn’t say it, but Kahei understood.

“You aren’t going to dump me that quick, are you?” There was a playful lilt to her voice, and Sooyoung’s cheeks flushed, but she smiled.

“No. I just wanted to make sure.”

“Everyone, breakfast! Come on, we have an interview to get ready for!” Haseul’s voice echoed as she turned and yelled, and the whining protests of the younger girls could be heard. At the mention of the interview, Sooyoung shuddered.

“Thank god that didn’t actually air, we would have been ruined.”

“No kidding.”

The rest of the group began to move into the kitchen, groaning and whining and asking for food, and Sooyoung stood beside Kahei, quietly sipping her coffee as she watched. The memory of yesterday still lingered in her head, but everything was back to normal now.

Kahei’s hand discreetly slipped into hers, and she smiled, leaning back into her new girlfriend. Well, everything but one thing.

“Wanna hide in my room until we have to leave?”

“I’d love too.”

#loona #vivi #yves #loona vivi #yvesvi #girl group fanfiction #kpop fanfiction #loona fanfiction #girl groups #kpop girl groups #wong kahei #ha sooyoung #loona fanfic

[salty-star-child]

Klance Fic Sneak Peak

[So...I have this fic that I have been writing since a couple days after Season 6 dropped. I had stepped away from it for a while, mostly a mix of writers block and the fact that S7 came out. BUT. I returned to it for editing and wanted to share this bit anyway. Enjoy]

             Lance asks Shiro to join him in the Red Lion the next time they take a pit stop, and he’s relieved when the man doesn’t ask why.

             The first hour is mostly silent as Lance works up the courage to broach the subject that has been weighing heavily on his mind. He fiddles with Red’s controls and bounces his leg. His mouth opens and closes several times as he tries to find the words he’s looking for. The silence was growing heavy and closed in around Lance, squeezing him tighter until eventually what spills out of his mouth is:

             “I think I like guys and I don’t know what to do, please help me.”

             Shiro straight up laughs good naturedly beside him. The hand that had been resting on the back of the pilot’s chair moved down to rest on Lance’s shoulder.

             “Thank you for feeling comfortable enough to trust me with this, but…what exactly is it you’re asking help for?”

             “I-I don’t know! Everything? Like, ninety percent of my family is super Catholic. My mamá is pretty chill and so are my siblings, but, like, my Great-Aunt Carmen? Nuh-uh. Neither is Tío Julio, and he’s so cool, and, just—how am I supposed to tell them? How could I ever bring a boy home to that? And how am I even supposed to tell if a guy is straight or not anyway? How do I know that I have a chance? Aye Dios mio, how do I know this isn’t just all in my head?! How am I supposed to know for sure that I really am, you know, attracted to guys, and not just—just—just experimenting or some shit?”

             Lance looked up at Shiro in a panic. His breathing was becoming spastic, more labored, and he could feel the spike in his heartrate as it felt like his chest cavity was collapsing in on itself. Shiro’s bright laughter had long since ceased and was replaced by a piercing, soul-searching gaze. It was as if Shiro was extracting all of Lance’s fear and worry to reveal the truth that lay untouched beneath.

             “I’m sorry that there’s no one good answer to give you, Lance. But I do want you to know that it is okay to be a man who is attracted to other men. You’re still Lance, a Paladin of Voltron and a boy from Cuba and someone who is always there for his friends. Nothing about that has changed. Nothing about what makes you you has changed. This is just another piece of the million-piece puzzle that makes up Lance. From everything you’ve told us about your family, Lance, I can guarantee you that your family loves you and every piece of that puzzle; they’re some of the people who are helping you find those pieces. In the end, it’s something beautiful, and unique, and you.

             “I wish someone had told me that when I first realized I liked men. My parents were very traditional, and for a long time I felt terrible because I felt like there was something wrong with me. But then I met Adam, and all I wanted to do was share my love for him with everyone. When I told them that I was dating a man, my mother looked at me like…like I was a stranger. She yelled and cried, and I just kept feeling terrible because I wasn’t the son they wanted me to be. She made me feel like a stranger. And that’s not right.

             “I spent the next few years coming to the realization that it was my parents who were wrong, not me. Having Adam with me helped. I just—I need you to know that there is nothing, nothing, wrong with you. It’s the people who say otherwise that are all mixed up,” Shiro said sternly, holding Lance’s gaze and keeping a firm grip on his shoulder.

             Lance could see the tell-tale signs of tears beginning to fall on Shiro’s face. He could feel the warm wetness on his own. He hadn’t even realized he had started crying. He tried to tell Shiro thank you, but all that came out was an odd gurgling sound, so he settled on nodding instead. Neither of them said anything as Lance gathered his composure.

             “I…I’ve never…I’ve never told a-anyone before,” Lance stuttered through shaky breaths. Laughter bubbles up as more tears spilled over. “I’ve never said it out loud before.”

             Shiro’s features relax into a fond smile. His eyes glint with pride and mischief alike.

             “Feels good, right?” Lance nods and his smile is so wide it hurts and he’s sure he looks a little insane. “Like a weight’s been lifted off your chest?”

             “Yeah, exactly like that,” Lance laughed. “Holy shit!”

             Things grow silent again. They watch the approach of planets in the distance, and they watch the planets they pass go by, and they watch the vastness of space and the other Lions flying with them. The silence between them isn’t uncomfortable; in fact, it’s companionable and reminds Lance of the occasions when his house would fall quiet in the hours before bed. It was warm like winter nights sat beside a fire and wrapped in a large quilted blanket.

             “Hey, Lance?” Shiro asks suddenly. Lance hums a noise of acknowledgement, signaling Shiro to continue talking. “Do you mind telling me what brought this on all of a sudden?”

             “Oh,” Lance says, eyes growing wide. The nerves in his fingers and in the back of his neck catch fire, and the muscles in his shoulders have tensed. “Uh, well, I…”

             “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” Shiro reassured. “I just want to make sure everything’s alright.”

             “No! No, uh, everything is fine, I’ve just,” Lance swallowed, biting the inside of his cheek, “I’ve just been thinking a lot about…about how to tell my family because I, uh, think I maybe probably likeKeithalotandIwannakisshisface.”

             Lance had mumbled the last part so quickly that Shiro had leaned forward to give him the full extent of his exasperated confusion, eyebrows drawn tight together and mouth slightly open with an amused smile. Lance pursed his lips and refused to meet the older man’s gaze. He cleared his throat and fiddled with some unnecessary controls.

             “I, uh, said that I think I…really like Keith,” Lance whispered, keeping his eyes on the controls and biting his lower lip.

“I see,” Shiro said, and Lance could hear an undercurrent of smugness and teasing in his tone that older brothers tended to use. “So…Keith, huh?”

             Lance’s face, already covered in splotchy red patches from crying earlier, burns up to his ears.

             “Yeah,” his voice comes out nervous and breathy. “Keith.”

#vld klance #klance #vld laith #laith #lance mcclain #vld lance #keith kogane #vld keith #post season 6 #takashi shirogane #vld shiro #fanfic #fanfiction #klance fanfiction #klance fic #fic snippet #it's a small part of a very long wip

[martxoa]

Why Yes, I Have Written a Fanfic of a Fanfic: The Fanfic.

Okay, a bit of background: @ariabauer wrote The Ultimate Coffee Shop AU, which I highly recommend. It is literally a coffee shop AU of Laura as a barista playing matchmaker by manufacturing various coffee shop AU tropes for its patrons. Which is as fluffy as it sounds. 

There’s a brief cameo of Elle/Danny (my personal favorite crackship) because, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘you spent so long working on it that when I needed ships I thought ‘yes, this amuses me let’s do it.’ xD Which I appreciated. 

I mentioned in the comments that I was half tempted to write a little spinoff of it and I kind of...well here ya go. A brief telling of the Coffee Shop AU from Elle’s POV. 

(For the record, none of this is canon to the fic it was inspired by. This was something I wrote last night because I had writer’s block.) 

Lastly, thanks again to Aria for the cameo who like...I hope won’t find me writing this...too weird...? :P Fic under the cut: 

Elle liked the coffee and it was on her way to study group in the library.

That was the only reason she still went to her ex girlfriend’s coffee shop.

Her roommates liked to tease her. Well, Charlotte--Emily was too nice to continue after the first time Elle pushed them away with a grumpy, “quit it guys.”

“Sorry.”

“Oh come on, Elle, it’s funny,” Charlotte caught back up with her again and gently bumped her hip. “You broke up with Carmilla and you still show up every month to flirt with her.”

“I do not flirt with her,” Elle huffed.

“Then why do you always talk to her and not the other girl?”

“Who, Laura?” Elle stopped and started laughing. “Guys, she’s terrible at making coffee. It’s kind of funny. I don’t know why she works there. Once Carmilla wasn’t at the counter and Laura made my coffee and I’m pretty sure that she didn’t even know what I ordered. She just threw a bunch of stuff in a cup and then threw sprinkles on it. The only thing she understood was ‘sprinkles.’”

“I don’t know, maybe they just don’t have enough people to work there?” Emily suggested. “She’s really nice. I’ve gone in a few times during her shift.”

Elle nodded. The three girls stopped in front of the shop and Elle turned to face them.

“I like the coffee,” she stated. “That is it. I swear. Besides, I’m pretty sure Laura is like, really into her anyway.”

Of course she was nice to Carmilla at the counter. It made things less awkward for both of them. But that didn’t necessarily mean she was flirting.

“She is?” Emily gasped. “Oh, that would actually be kind of nice, wouldn’t it?”

“Everytime I talk to Carmilla she stares at me like I kicked her puppy.” Elle shrugged and turned away from them. “I’ll meet you guys at the library, unless you want coffee.”

“No, we’re good,” Charlotte answered. “We get ours at Starbucks. See you Elle.”

“You know Starbucks is like, fake hipster now!” Elle called after them. She laughed a little to herself before she walked into Carmilla and Laura’s store.

Elle walked to the counter. There was a little bell and she tapped it, turning around and looking at the store.

She always felt a little...strange being in there. The coffee was great--well, if Carmilla made it--but it was always full of couples. More than any other place she’d ever been to. Everyone was paired up with somebody except for, Elle noticed, one lady sitting near the aisle. Which was new.

She was a girl with long red hair tied up in a braid, swiping away at something on a tablet with a coffee in hand. She looked totally serene, smiling softly at whatever she was reading. Elle found herself watching her for a few moments.

“Hey Elle! What can I get you?”

Elle was startled out of watching Cute Redhead Coffee Girl by Laura. “Oh! Um, hey Laura.”

“Hello, Elle. What can I get ya’?”

She tilted her head a little. “No Carmilla today?”

“Busy,” she answered curtly, still smiling cheerfully. Elle frowned a little.

“Oh. Okay. I’ll have my usual iced chocolate mocha with a shot of espresso topped with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles.”

“Coming right up!”

She disappeared to make the coffee. Elle waited with some trepidation. Laura finally walked back out, holding the coffee.

“There you go.”

Elle took it. It wasn’t as perfect as when Carmilla made it, but it was definitely not undrinkable. “Thank you,” Elle said politely. She dropped her money into Laura’s hand, turning around and beginning to walk out. She was going to pass right by Redhead Girl, and Elle tried not to look at her. She didn’t want to be weird.

“Oh, Elle, wait! I forgot your sprink--”

She felt Laura hit her, sending Elle flying. Elle felt like she had been tackled from behind in a game of football. She braced herself for hitting the floor.

Except she didn’t.

Because she landed in someone’s lap. The iced coffee fell all over both of them and Elle spluttered, wiping at her face.

“What just happ--”

Elle opened her eyes and completely forgot what she was saying.

The girl was looking down at her. Coffee was staining the front of her baseball jacket, and her face was turning bright red.

“I’ll go get you a new drink,” Laura said, turning around. Elle thought that maybe she heard a hint of smugness in Laura’s voice.

She really, really didn’t care at the moment.

Because the girl was looking at her. Right at her.

“Uh...hi,” she stated.

“Hi.”

They stared at each other for another beat before Elle realized what was happening.

“Oh my God I’m so sorry!” Elle scrambled out of her lap, ending up on the floor. She looked up at the girl, smiling sheepishly. “You have coffee all over you. I didn’t get your tablet wet, did I?”

She smiled. “No, you’re good--here.” She held out her hand and Elle took it. Her hand was warm and a little wet from the coffee. Elle stood up.

“My name is Elle, by the way.”

“Danny Lawrence.”

“Sheridan. I mean, my last name is Sheridan. Since you gave me your last name and I didn’t give you mine. My full name is Elle Sheridan.”

Danny unzipped her baseball jacket, revealing a soft cotton flannel. She shrugged the jacket off.

“Did you want to sit?” Danny asked.

“I have a study group,” Elle said, before she could stop herself.

“Oh. Okay…”

Laura wasn’t back with the coffee yet. Elle shifted in place uncomfortably, her throat dry.

“I’m a brit lit major,” Elle added, trying to figure out what to say. Danny’s face lit up.

“Hey, I’m an English major! I’m a TA for Professor Cochrane.”

And the moment she saw Danny’s smile light up, Elle knew she would sacrifice a test grade for this.

“Actually, you know what, I feel good about my next test.” Elle sat down. “So, you come here often?”

It was a terrible line, which Elle realized right after she said it, but Danny leaned in and had no problem with it.

“Elle, I have your coffee!” Laura walked back to the table. “Here you go.”

“Right, thanks,” Elle answered absentmindedly, fumbling with her hand behind her, not even bothering to look back. She finally managed to grab the coffee and put it down on the table. She kept talking to Danny for a few minutes until Danny sighed, looking at her jacket again.

“I should probably get this washed,” she said. “I think there’s a laundromat near here.”

“Yeah, I should do that too,” Elle grabbed her blouse, which was clinging from the wetness. “I can come with you?”

Danny tilted her head and smirked. “Don’t you need clothes to, you know, change into?”

Elle blushed. “Y-yeah, of course--”

“I mean I definitely wouldn’t complain, but I would think you would want to bring some.”

Elle bit her lip. Danny rubbed the back of her neck.

“Sorry. I was joking. Too risque?”

“I think that was just the right amount, to be honest.”

Danny coughed and took a sip of her coffee.

“You know,” Elle added, “I mean...I live with a couple of roommates and we have a washing machine in our apartment. If you don’t want to spend the money.”

Danny’s face turned a shade darker and Elle shook her head.

“I mean you’d literally just be doing your laundry, gosh. You’re cute but you’re not that cute.”

Danny’s eyes widened. She got up, grabbing her tablet.

“That’s really nice of you,” Danny said carefully. “I would...yeah, I guess that wouldn’t hurt.”

Elle grinned. She bit the knuckle of her thumb as Danny turned and started to leave before she followed Danny.

As it turned out, Elle lied. Right before Danny left her apartment, she couldn’t resist slipping her number into the pocket of her now clean jacket before she left. So it was a little more than laundry. But only a little.

It turned into a club that met in the library. The Laura Hollis Matchmaking Club. Elle didn’t really want to join.

“Danny, do you understand how awkward it is to try and get my ex girlfriend together with a new girlfriend?”

“Listen, Elle, you don’t have to do anything.” Danny grabbed Elle’s shoulders and gave her a quick kiss. “But Laura is my friend and I need to do this for her.”

Elle pouted.

“I mean, don’t I owe Laura?” Danny grinned. “If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have the best girlfriend in the world.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Lawrence,” Elle mumbled, trying to look stern even as Danny kept kissing down the side of her face. She finally gave in. “Besides, I still think it's weird. Laura is playing God. That's strange.”

“Mm-hm, and you're complaining?”

“You know what? Hand me my jacket.”

“You're coming?”

“To support my girlfriend? Sure. Besides, maybe playing Cupid will be fun.”

Of course, Elle’s suggestions were not exactly well received at first.

“Alright, operation Hollstein Coffee Shop AU is a go,” LaFontaine said, writing on a whiteboard. “We're going to do a flow chart. Any ideas?”

Elle raised her hand.

“Uh...Sheridan.”

“Blow something up,” Elle suggested.

LaFontaine grinned at her, giving her an air high five.

“No, we are not blowing anything up!” Perry gasped.

“I'm not saying anyone should get hurt,” Elle protested. “Just something for them to bond over. Danny?”

Her girlfriend, arm slung around Elle’s shoulders, looked away from her.

“Really, sweetheart?”

“Elle, you just think it'd be funny to have something blow up in Carmilla's face.”

“If you have any better ideas--”

“Lawrence, control your woman,” Mel said. “Seriously.”

“That's sexist,” Elle and Danny answered at the same time.

“I'm just saying the ex girlfriend shouldn’t have a huge say in this, you know?”

“Bros, why don’t we just get them to share a brownie or something?” Kirsch suggested. “It worked for me and SJ!”

Everyone else agreed. Elle rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. It was decided that they would be the ones that would come in at the end of a shift, and get a brownie. Then it was up to them to figure out how to get Laura and Carmilla to split it.

“How do you want to do this, Elle?” Danny whispered at their table.

“Leave it to me. I’ll just pretend to be sick.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Alright. Just be careful not to like...make it look too fake.”

Elle looked at Danny. She pushed the coffee away from her and coughed a little.

“Elle?”

“I’m fine I just--ack, ack!--suddenly feel a little--” She covered her mouth and kept coughing.

Danny’s eyes widened. She leaned back a little as Elle groaned, clutching her stomach. Her coughing got more and more dramatic until she was practically turning red.

Laura walked back to the table. “Hey, guys, so I have your brown--Elle? Are you okay?”

“Oh God, suddenly my stomach is just--ugh,” she finally slumped over in her chair, still moaning.

“...Elle, isn’t feeling well,” Danny said. “I think I’m going to help get her home.”

“Oh,” Laura frowned. “Feel better, Elle.”

“Thank--ack--you Laura,” Elle wheezed.

“Do you want me to wrap up--”

“Don’t even bother,” Danny interrupted, getting up and helping Elle to her feet. “Why don’t you split it with Carmilla?”

Laura looked back at the counter, where Carmilla was watching events unfold with a perplexed expression.  

“I...guess…”

“Great cool see you Hollis!”

Danny dragged Elle out as she continued pretending to be on the verge of projectile vomiting. People were starting to look. Someone stared at them both, and Danny responded with a sheepish smile.

“Uh...don’t have what she’s having,” Danny advised, before pulling her straight out of the shop.

As soon as they were outside Elle straightened up, flipped her hair back into place, and smiled sweetly.

“And done.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“In a good way though, right? Hold on, I want to see if it worked--I think it did.”

Laura and Carmilla were standing at the counter together, sharing the brownie. But it didn’t look like they were doing anything else.

“Great,” Elle said. “Now can we try blowing something up?”

Danny put her arm around Elle. “Can we just go home now?”

“Depends which one you’re talking about.”

Danny leaned in, kissing Elle quickly. Elle leaned in after Danny when she pulled back.

“My place is closer,” Danny answered. “You want to see who can get there faster?”

Elle grinned. She pushed Danny as she ran past her, and Danny laughed before chasing after her.

The brownie didn’t work.

Kirsch and SJ tried the music thing, which also didn’t end up working, mostly because none of them could, no matter how hard they tried, find a genre of music Carmilla and Laura both liked. Although they did see Laura force Carmilla into a quick, goofy waltz behind the counter before Carmilla stopped, which they considered a win.

After months of work, everyone had come up with a plan. Everyone except--

“Seriously, blow something up.”

“Will you stop suggesting explosions?!” Perry exclaimed.

Everyone else shushed her. It was a library, after all.

“Well, nothing else we’re doing has worked,” Elle answered, pouting. “Laura doesn’t take this long to get a couple together. This calls for drastic measures.”

“I still think you just want to drench your ex girlfriend in coffee or something,” Elsie pointed out.

“And if you guys have any more ideas you’re free to try those instead.”

Everyone looked at each other. LaFontaine sighed.

“Alright, Sheridan, if you want to give it a shot feel free.”

Elle looked at everyone. She jumped out of her seat, grabbed the marker from LaFontaine, and started writing on the whiteboard.

“Okay, I call this Operation Coffee Machine Blow Up. LaFontaine, you’ve seemed onboard with the plan from the beginning and I appreciate it, so you get to sabotage the machine…”

Elle planned everything that particular time, so she stayed away from its actual execution. Still, she couldn’t stand not seeing it happen, so she stayed at a table near the front, away from the counter, keeping her head bowed.

Danny distracting Laura: Check.

Perry keeping Carmilla preoccupied: Check.

LaFontaine gleefully messing with the coffee machine: Check. All according to plan.

When Carmilla and Laura head back to the counter, Carmilla pulled Laura in by the apron, Laura brushed some cocoa powder on her shoulder, and for a moment all of the people for Operation Hollstein held their breath at the thought that maybe they wouldn’t need to blow anything up after all. Elle rolled her eyes when they broke apart.

Elle caught the eye of the others and they all shared a really? Look of annoyance. Elle caught Laura trying to give Danny a thumbs up, almost catching LaFontaine waving their arms.

Then all Hell broke loose.

“Carmilla! Laura’s going to blow us all up!”

Elle had to admit this about her ex girlfriend; she’d broken up with her because she didn’t seem to care about anything. She’d never seen Carmilla care more than when she jumped to Laura’s side, furiously pressing buttons and trying to stop the machine. When it didn’t work, Carmilla grabbed Laura and heroically saved her from the scalding hot steam as they both landed on the ground.

She couldn’t help herself; Elle jumped up, running to Danny’s side to try and see what was happening on the ground.

Carmilla and Laura were kissing, covered head to toe with lukewarm coffee. Elle had expected to feel a sense of elation, a sort of revenge joy in seeing her ex girlfriend drenched.

Instead she felt something different. The same happy feeling she’d expected but...not because Carmilla had to deal with a broken coffee machine.

She was happy for her.

Happy that Carmilla managed to get her own coffee shop AU. Happy that the girl she’d been helping make other people fall in love for months had finally realized she wanted to make Carmilla love her too.

She was so stunned at the revelation that she didn’t even say anything as everyone else started cheering when they got up. She said nothing as LaFontaine explained their plan and nothing as Danny talked about wanting to return the favor. Elle didn’t say anything as Carmilla pulled Laura in again and everyone started congratulating each other with high fives and friendly pats on the back.

“Hey, Elle!”

She was snapped out of it by Perry, shaking her hand. “I want to say that well...that turned out to be a good plan, after all. Sorry for dismissing it every time it came up.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carmilla was watching. Elle swallowed.

“Yeah, well, thank you. What can I say? Maybe I should find my own coffee shop to play Cupid in.”

Perry laughed, going back to talk to LaFontaine. Danny looked back to Elle, taking her hand.

“Hey, Cupid in training,” Danny said teasingly, kissing her on the cheek, “want to head out and celebrate?”

“Uh, I’ll meet you outside.”

Danny looked confused, but she agreed. Elle looked back at Carmilla, walking up to the counter.

“Carmilla?”

She turned away from Laura. “Elle. Should have guessed you’d have the world’s most extra  plan.”

“Look, I just wanted to say...congratulations, okay?” She looked at Laura. “And, um, thank you. You guys deserve this. Really.”

Laura smiled. “Thanks, Elle. I was especially happy with your match.”

Elle nodded quickly before she turned and was about to go.

“Hey, Elle,” Carmilla called after her. Elle looked back.

“You deserve this too.”

Elle smiled.

“But also, fuck you for coming up with blowing up the coffee machine.”

Laura hit Carmilla lightly and scolded her for the language. Elle laughed. She gave Carmilla a joking salute and went back to find Danny.

“What was that?” Danny asked.

“Just basking in the glory of my own success,” Elle grabbed Danny’s hand. “You know when I become famous and start setting up millionaires with my patented ‘explosion’ technique, I want you to know you’ll always come first.”

Danny snorted. “You are always so extra.”

“Hey, be nice,” Elle answered, pouting. “If I think we’re starting to have problems, who knows what will happen to the washing machine next time you use it.”

“You are lucky you’re cute.”

“Yes. Yes I am. But I’m more lucky to be dating you.”

“It wasn’t luck, it was Laura Hollis,” Danny pointed out.

Elle shook her head fondly, sighing as she pulled Danny away.

#fanfic #lol this was kind of fun #ellanny

[xyliane]

height problems

summary: when they’re kids, killua’s taller by a bit. by the time they grow up, killua’s taller by even more. but there’s a brief moment when he’s not. and it’s ridiculous. gon’s ridiculous.

notes: I’ve been in something of a end-of-quarter writer’s block (stares into the abyss of my big bang fic), so uh. have some immediately-post-reunion fluff. G, mostly-platonic killugon, a few years later, fluuufffffffff. 1400 words. (also on ao3!)

---

Killua notices the difference shortly after he turns sixteen and Gon tumbles back into his life, both of them taller and stronger and different in ways that Killua still hasn’t wrapped his mind around. And for a while it doesn’t matter, not with all of the excitement of traveling with his best friend, maybe for a few days but maybe for a few years, until they know each other again better than anyone else. But now it's impossible to ignore, a familiar song that’s slightly out of tune and a hair off beat, and Killua can’t take it anymore.

Their stuff is dumped haphazardly around their hotel room, because who cares about sorting clean and dirty socks when there’s catching up to do? Or that had been the problem at first. But Gon's chatting away about some nen exorcist he visited, a friendly middle-aged woman with a Hunter for a wife and three kids about Alluka's age, blissfully unaware of any glaring issues until Killua interrupts him. "Stand up.”

His best friend pauses mid-sentence, something about one of the kids and a mishap with their wheelchair. "Killua?"

He scowls (or at least tries to—it's hard to frown when he's been grinning for hours). "Just do it."

Gon looks like he wants to say something else, but does what he's asked without complaint. Killua stands too, and walks over until they’re almost nose to nose, staring at his best friend's stupid freckled cheeks. Gon's eyes widen a little, eyebrows drawn in concern. "What's wrong, Killua?"

Killua doesn't answer verbally. He just reaches out and squashes his hand against the spikes of Gon's hair, flattening them out. The pointy tips are just as unexpectedly soft as he remembers, like the ends of a brush. He brings his hand as level as he can towards his own head. It clears Killua’s white curls—barely.

Gon grins.

"When the hell did you get taller than me?" Killua demands. By maybe a finger’s width. Or two. If that.

His best friend shrugs. “I just hit my growth spurt a little while ago. I had to buy all new clothes, see?” He flaps his arms, as though trying to emphasize the long green sleeves and orange vest he’s been wearing.

It all makes so little sense that Killua can’t say anything reasonable either. “You’re not allowed to be taller!”

Killua hates how much he loves Gon’s laugh, gleeful and bright and directed entirely at Killua’s distress. “It’s not really my choice, Killua. I’m even taller than Ging now.”

Which means Killua’s Ging’s height now, and that feels really weird for reasons Killua can’t put his finger on. Will he or Gon be taller than Leorio some day? But he forces the thought aside by trying to smash his best friend’s head down to a more reasonable height, Gon whining even as his eyes dance.

Killua doesn’t realize he’s staring until Gon pulls just outside of arm’s reach, an introspective look on his face that would have been out of place a few years ago. “Do I look like…”

Like he did on the worst night of his life.

Killua swallows hard. He’s woken up in a cold sweat more times than he wants to admit, images of impossibly long hair and empty black eyes flashing on the back of his eyelids. The memories are bad enough but in his dreams, Gon doesn’t wake up, doesn’t come back, and part of Killua has been terrified meeting Gon would make all of those nightmares real. It’s so stupid that he’s been scared of seeing his best friend again, but what if that is the Gon he sees next time? It’s only been a few years. What if that is still Gon’s future?

But it’s not. Seeing this Gon, his Gon, still his best friend even though they’ve been apart for so long, makes Killua realize even if that Gon is still there—and he is, earth-shattering anger just as much part of his best friend as his laughing eyes and stubborn smile—Killua isn’t worried anymore.

“You don’t,” Killua says, and brushes white curls out of his face to avoid the prickling in the back of his throat. “You’re you.”

“But I was me then, too.” His best friend bites his lip, obviously thinking too hard about what he’s trying to say. It makes his nose crinkle like a squished button. “I’m growing, but I don’t want to grow like that. I mean, maybe I will, but it’ll be me if I do. And I won’t push you away again, I promise.”

That’s a conversation they still need to have, but not right now. Killua takes part of the step back inside Gon’s reach, oddly relieved that his best friend doesn’t move away, lets him stay close enough to touch. “Like I said, you’re you, Gon. You’re too selfish to be anything else.”

A small, hesitant smile returns to Gon’s face. “Really?”

“Promise,” Killua says. He looks Gon over from his spiky hair to his booted feet, pretending to not notice how his muscles are filling out or how right his stupid shirt looks. “You just need to stop growing.”

“Aunt Mito thinks I’ve got another year or so before I’m done.” Gon’s grin widens, guileless and wholly innocent. “I’m gonna be so much taller than you, Killua!”

The very thought is ridiculous. Gon is ridiculous. “You are not!” Killua splutters.

And then, horror of horrors, Gon reaches out, and down from the almost negligent distance he’s taller than Killua now, and pats Killua on the head like he’s a fluffy kitten. “You’re so small now. Is this what it was like before for you? And now you’re tiny!”

Killua can’t be held responsible for tackling Gon at that, toppling the both of them to the floor and pinning Gon down. “You take that back, or else,” he says.

Gon wriggles, trying to break free. He really has gotten stronger, but so has Killua. “I’m just saying what’s true, Killua.”

The need for terrible, glorious vengeance floods Killua’s veins and he bends over his best friend, a malignant smirk on his face that makes Gon’s eyes widen. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he says, and attacks.

He’s rewarded by a screech, Gon trying to curl away from the inevitable assault on his most ticklish spots. Killua keeps him trapped with a mix of strength and stubborn willpower as he dances tickling fingers across his best friend, narrowly missing getting a bloody nose to a flailing hand as Killua finds the spot just above the elbow that’s always been a weakness.

“St-staaaaahahahap!” Gon manages to squeak out.

“Stop saying I’m short!” Killua says, pinning Gon’s legs under his thighs to keep from being thrown off. The movement makes Gon’s shirt ride up, and Killua shifts his fingers to dart across the warm brown skin at his waist.

Gon is laughing so hard he’s not even making any noise, just little yelps as he squirms. “Is that a yes?” Killua says.

That earns him a ferocious nod, and Killua finally relents, letting Gon flop against the carpet as he tries to get his giggling under control. He’s turned red from head to collar, freckles deepening along his cheeks and peeking out from beneath the hem of his shirt. When he opens his eyes, they’re full of sunny joy that warms Killua under every inch of his skin, all the way down to his toes.

This is nothing new. Being around Gon makes the world a little brighter, it always has. But what’s unexpected is how the sight of Gon trapped between his legs, flushed and panting and unreservedly happy, makes Killua’s heart do a triple backflip and parkour its way up his throat until he feels like he can’t breathe, like he needs to lean down and—

Um. What.

“Hey, Killua? Are you okay? I’m sorry I called you short even though you are now—”

Killua does his best to shove the weird feeling right back where it came from as he renews his attack, not relenting even when Gon says through choked laughter and giggling sobs that he’ll never do it again, he promises.

What an asshole of a best friend. Why did Killua miss him anyways.

#my writing #hunter x hunter #hxh #hxh fic #killugon #good gravy this was hard to write for some reason #I just wanted to write a silly ficlet about gon getting his growth spurt before killua where did all this come from #killua zoldyck #gon freecss