#his tenth anniversary still feels so recent

[alterigo06]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAITO 🫶

#kaito vocaloid #vocaloid #I draw requiem KAITO every year for Halloween #but I was too busy this year #I sketched this out but I never finished it #so here it is!!! #he’s 18 now!!! that's crazy! #his tenth anniversary still feels so recent #it's surreal #anyway happy birthday KAITO #you will always be my one and only

[badpostureart]

It Could Only Ever be Rinharu

Author’s Entry Angle

As of May of 2023, the Makoharu v. Rinharu debate is alive and well, albeit on a much smaller scale than in years prior. I’ve been on team Rinharu for almost a decade now. The earliest I expressed (purely personal) written support for them was back in late October 2014 and my first fanart of them (never shared publicly) was finished in early November of that year. Since then, my writing and art have improved dramatically, but my feelings about Rin and Haru have largely remained the same. Equally, the debate hasn’t changed that much either—at least from those outspoken about their dislike of the other side. Indeed, some variation of the word “toxic” has at one point or another been used to describe both pairings, with fans caricaturing the other side as being overly emotional and/or delusional when faced with content of the pairing they don’t like. It’s honestly quite funny to read!

For me, shipping has been a cheeky exercise in empathy and introspection about relationships more broadly. Rinharu is kind of like a first love. Not only were they the first coupling I would defend with my dying breath, but they were invaluable in contouring my understanding of romantic love in all its absurdities. Undoubtedly, my own experiences (limited as they are) and personality colour my preference, and I’ve spent the last 10 years trying to articulate what I love about these goobers so damn much. What does being a Rinharu truther say about me, if anything at all? I would like to explain my Rinharu-or-bust rationale precisely because this has been such a polarizing debate in the fandom. What is obvious to me is not obvious to others—there would be no debate if that were the case. After all this time, I don’t hate people who ship Makoharu. They have poor taste, of course, but that isn’t worth hating someone over. Heh, just kidding! I’m being an ass on purpose because it’s just so easy!

Being that Free! has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, I understand that people have had a long time to formulate their opinions and dig their heels in either way. I don’t believe engaging in debate will change people’s minds, and that isn’t what I’m trying to do here anyway. This is purely for fun! Additionally, while I’m still relatively new to posting on social media, I’m pretty sure it’s too late to respond directly to some of the points I mention below. Moreover, I don’t want to impose myself onto other people’s conversations—even though they’re public and some are overtly anti-Rinharu and antagonistic towards its supporters. These folks are ultimately entitled to their wrong opinions.

If you decide to indulge me and give my thoughts a read, I offer these disclaimers: I fully appreciate Makoto’s role in the Free! series more broadly and recognize that he is an important person in Haru’s life. Although I’ve never been a fan of Makoharu, I can appreciate where their supporters are coming from. I’m not writing in bad faith and do not wish to antagonize anyone. Equally, if I say anything you agree with, feel I’ve missed something, or think I’m completely out of line, please don’t be shy in letting me know! I’ve long wanted to engage in this conversation, but largely felt too shy to do so!

On Makoto Being “Boring”

Recently, I read a thread on Twitter where someone expressed indignation at the prospect of someone disliking Makoto for being “too nice.” Even after hearing at some point that people who aren’t his biggest fan find him boring, another commentator concluded that it’s “definitely something else.” What that “something else” could be…I’m not sure either! But I can certainly elaborate on the sentiment that Makoto is a boring character.

I, for one, don’t find him incredibly interesting. It isn’t that he’s “too nice,” but more so that his kindness is among the only characteristics I can think of to describe him. Frankly, I don’t know much about Makoto other than he’s kind, considerate, and supportive of others. His biggest flaws, if you could even call them that, are that he has a hard time being assertive and can be cowardly. He’s a nice guy, and how can you hate a nice guy without looking like a complete monster? By the same token, while I can’t hate him, I don’t feel particularly strong enough to like him that much either. I appreciated how Nao asks Makoto in Starting Days whether he likes swimming or simply that it’s something he can do with Haru because it addressed the problem I, (and likely others), had with Makoto’s character: Who is Makoto if Haru isn’t there? Aside from Haru, what does he like? What does he want to do purely for himself? By the movie’s end, I didn’t learn anything new about Makoto. He at least made peace with confirming that although he does like swimming in and of itself, he likes it better when it’s something he can do with his best friend. While completely unoffensive, it’s nothing to get excited about either.

On “Codependency” and “Toxicity”

Based on what we’ve covered so far, is it fair to say Makoto is overly dependent on Haru? Perhaps in some ways, but not to the degree of a complex. Growing up is hard, and being apart from someone you’ve spent virtually your whole life with is quite the adjustment to make. A better example of codependency would be Hiyori and Ikuya, with the former isolating the latter in order to hoard him privately to himself. (But that’s a story for another day).

On the flip side, Rinharu has been called toxic, presumably because they fight and have said hurtful things to each other. Oftentimes, these instances are the result of miscommunications, and while I wish they would be more honest with each other from the outset, they deserve grace too. Being vulnerable is not an easy thing to do—especially concerning someone one has strong feelings for. It may seem easier to push someone away or refuse to let them in to preserve a sense of pride or to protect oneself from the possibility of being hurt all over again. But for all the fighting Rin and Haru do, they have always reconciled and been able to express what having the other in their life means to them. They wouldn’t be able to affect each other as much as they have if they didn’t really care about each other, hm?

On Canonical Material

With translations of the FS Fanbook underway, some folks have suggested that being an “irreplaceable existence” is more significant than “destined to swim together,” but this depends entirely on how each statement is interpreted. Being that Makoto and Haru have known each other for basically their entire lives, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could possibly know either of them better. They were firsthand witnesses to how the other grew up over the years because they did it together. Indeed, this relationship should in no way be underestimated or thought of as dispensable. Still, being a “destined pair” suggests to me that Rin and Haru’s connection is bigger than either one of them. Put another way, it is as if the universe itself declared that the two were on a crash course to meet and would ultimately share a future together. Now, depending on whether you see swimming as just a sport/shared interest or whether you believe, (like I do), that it’s an intrinsic part of who they are and how they express themselves and love toward others, then the implications of the statement “destined to swim together” are decidedly quite different.

I’ve never felt like Makoto and Haru were anything more than best friends. Between running the same “drop the chan already” routine and essentially being able to read each other’s minds, their relationship has settled into something undoubtedly solid. It’s clear that they understand each other very well and have an unspoken agreement to always support each other. If romantic love were a matter of practicality, Makoto would perhaps be the most reasonable candidate for Haru. It’s a safe choice. But the laws of attraction don’t adhere to whatever is most rational—it isn’t a matter of who knows you the best, has known you the longest, or fights with you the least. It’s about who moves you and makes you feel something. I don’t wish for Haru to make choices just because they’re familiar and easy or out of fear of possibility.

Likewise, Rin is special to Haru in a way different from any of his other friends—something that is acknowledged and talked about by other characters throughout the series. Nagisa remarks in season one that “Haru-chan says he doesn’t care about his times or winning races, but he’s motivated when he’s racing Rin-chan.” Why is that? What is it about Rin in particular that motivates Haru in a way no one else does? Even when they first met, Haru knew immediately that the other boy was going to be a prominent character in his life whether he wanted him to be or not. He tries to get ahead of it, even run away from it, but he decides instead to be brave and open up enough to let Rin, in all his fleeting glory, nestle inside his bones. We’re treated to Haru’s entire emotional range where Rin is concerned. (Frankly, he was the first person I think Haru allowed himself to be vulnerable with by agreeing to join the medley in elementary school). Despite only being in the same class for a couple of months, Rin left a deep and lasting impression on Haru to the point where he thinks about the other boy well into high school. Hell, feeling as though he hurt Rin caused Haru to quit (and later come back to) the sport he loves most. For someone who goes out of their way to avoid participating in, well, life, Rin sure does a hell of a job in moving Haru to actively engage with what goes on around him. In season two, Nagisa knowingly asks Makoto why he wanted to compete against Haru in the prefecturals. Makoto can’t give a definite answer, but says, “Maybe I was jealous of Rin.” If the audience were to understand Rin simply as Haru’s swimming rival and nothing more, Makoto’s words are incomprehensible. It isn’t just a rivalry with Haru that Rin has, but a mutual, intimate connection over the sport. In other words, Makoto’s feelings towards Haru are not reciprocated—and he knows it.

Indeed, while Makoto feels swimming is meaningless without Haru, Haru finds the greatest purpose in swimming with Rin. With Rin missing from his life, Haru was prepared to resign to being ordinary. In being able to swim together, he wants to be and experience more. And this isn’t necessarily to say that Makoto and Haru would have an unhappy life together, just that Rin offers Haru something no one else can—namely beautiful sights to be shared. Whereas Makoto has expressed the desire to be a part of Haru’s life no matter what he decides to do, Rin proposes to Haru that they share a life and a dream together. Haru can always be certain that Makoto will be there for him, but seeing all he and Rin can be is realized only if they move forward together. I think it goes without saying how much Rin adores Haru, what with him talking virtually everyone else’s ears off about him. Kisumi didn’t even swim, but he knew who Haru was because Rin (apparently) told all of his buddies at Sano about the guy with the “cool attitude and eyes clear as water.” The guy thinks of Haru in prose for god’s sake!

Rin and Haru’s relationship has undoubtedly gone through growing pains, but they’re getting better at communicating and being completely honest with each other (and, frankly, themselves). I admire their relationship because it’s so god damn dynamic—it’s playful, adorable, rife with tension, beautiful, devastating, frustrating, complicated, and innate all at once. Perhaps precisely because Makoto lacks dynamism I find the prospect of a romantic relationship between him and Haru to be, well…boring. It's not that their connection is non-existent or some flavour of the word toxic—they have a wonderful friendship—but I don’t get the sense that it will change much, let alone develop into anything more in the future. From my perspective, as soon as Rin entered the picture any chance for a romance between Makoto and Haru was soundly squashed. There was simply no going back to the ordinary time before Rin Matsuoka “coincidentally” ended up at Iwatobi Elementary School.

#rinharu #free iwatobi swim club #rin matsuoka #haruka nanase #makoto tachibana #why i ship rinharu #badposture tumbles

[denimbex1986]

'Who knew it would all come down to something as simple as a game of catch – with not one, but two Doctors – just moments after a not-to-be-forgotten homicidal dance montage to 'Spice Up Your Life'?

After three anniversary specials that placed us firmly and blissfully in the crosshairs of a nostalgia play, the moment we had all been waiting for, when David Tennant would sunbeam into Ncuti Gatwa, arrived. Albeit 20 minutes earlier than anticipated and bearing a new piece of Doctor Who lore which will irrevocably alter the show.

Instead of morphing into the Fifteenth Doctor, the Fourteenth essentially birthed him, atop a helipad with Neil Patrick Harris's devious Toymaker looking on with a smirk full of too many teeth. Here, Russell T Davies introduced the fresh concept of "bigeneration" into the Whoniverse.

Davies has already teased the ripple effects this will have on the show as a whole, explaining this moment has bigenerated the entire lineage, so every previous Doctor is now wandering out there somewhere in the time vortex.

"I think all of the Doctors came back to life with their individual TARDISs, the gift of the Toymaker, and they're all out there travelling round in what I'm calling a Doctorverse," he said in the episode's commentary. We'll pause here for a moment to try and process what that might mean.

Aside from the new mythos of the moment, once we could bathe in Tennant and Gatwa's magnetic chemistry, the bigeneration began to feel like a natural progression, gifting Davies the elbow room to usher in the Fifteenth Doctor with a fresh slate.

'The Day of the Doctor' told us that the Tenth was "the man who regrets", while Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor was "the man who forgets" and even though we can see differences in Tennant's two Time Lord iterations, he was still just as introspective this time around.

Throughout the three 60th specials, we saw pained flickers of the Doctor agonising over his recent history, whether it be The Flux or the demise of a string of companions. But while Donna (Catherine Tate) tried to probe what had happened, the appearance of Mad Aunty Mel (Bonnie Langford) touched on how the Doctor's companions only ever see a brief sliver of the Time Lord's life and might then never be mentioned again.

If the three episodes, traversing from Earth to the edge of the universe and back, were all in search of closure, it seems the Fourteenth Doctor got that from a warm embrace with the Fifteenth Doctor. It was only his own self who could truly understand what it is to be the Doctor and to have lived his many, varied lives.

Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer's finale expansion of Slayerdom beyond the lonely life of the Chosen One, having another person to share that burden with transforms Fourteen into someone who can now have the one adventure he told Rose he would never be able to: live a life day after day, with the Noble-Temples.

The decision to bring Tennant back allowed a shift from a Doctor who said he didn't want to leave when he regenerated as the Tenth, to one who said it was time moments before he bigenerated. It was an opportunity to find closure for the man who has regrets and to tend to a number of the defining wounds of his recent life.

Beyond that, it seems a logical step to tie up the big, unwieldy storylines from previous seasons, to create a fresh slate for Gatwa to make his own mark unburdened by the trauma of the Doctor's recent past.

This is not to say that regenerating – or even bigenerating – is like downloading a new iOS system and jettisoning all that has gone before. But going by the episode labels on iPlayer, which has separated this new era out into its own bundle from 2023 onwards, Gatwa's Doctor is going to be a reset of sorts.

You might have now wrapped your head around that new lore, so we can start to hypothesise about how this major bisecting of the Time Lord timeline could result in some familiar faces strolling back onto our screens one day not too far from now.

But it also ushers in a new Doctor Who jumping-off point for Gatwa's Doctor, Ruby (Millie Gibson) and the brand spanking new accessible TARDIS.'

#Doctor Who #60th Anniversary #The Giggle #Ruby Sunday #Millie Gibson #TARDIS #David Tennant #Ncuti Gatwa #Bi-generation #Spice Girls #Spice Up Your Life #Neil Patrick Harris #The Toymaker #Russell T. Davies #The Day of the Doctor #Matt Smith #Rose Tyler #Billie Piper #The Flux #Melanie Bush #Bonnie Langford

[thinkingmystic]

Pricey truth

I was so happy to see that Good Omens has been renewed for a third (and final) season. I’d prefer three good seasons to four seasons where you wish the last two hadn’t happened (cough Sherlock cough), and I’m curious to see how dear Crowley and Aziraphale end up. 

How I envy the young, who get to see their version of SuperWhoLock actually get some action, whereas all the actual SuperWhoLocks got was a lot of flack for daring to interpret obviously queer storylines as queer. After all these years (it was the tenth anniversary of some Sherlock season recently), I still hold a special little grudge that we had to settle for subtext. But, with difficulty, I digress! 

I have such a soft spot for Aziraphale, because 1) Michael Sheen is adorable and 2) Aziraphale reminds me of myself. His decision at the end of the second season? I understood it perfectly. Like him, I tried (and failed) to change the system (institutional religion) from within. For my trouble I received a prodigious amount of trauma. I haven’t been able to set foot in a church in years, and Lord if I didn’t try to love the institution as best I could.

In retrospect, I wasn’t just trying to change the institution from the inside - wasn’t just trying to take the love of God and remove the ts and cs happily slapped on by the church for, I fear, the most banal reasons - money and power. I was also trying to change myself. My queer, neurodivergent self. I feel so silly now for having as much faith as I had that the organisation built on the premise of loving people and loving God would also love and accept myself and others like myself. So I see in Aziraphale’s decision my own, taken many years ago: that I would make it work; that surely the grace of God would carry me through.

Reader, it did not. At least, not in the way I was hoping it would. 

How I wish I’d had a Crowley to try to dissuade me. Now I am the Crowley, my own inability to enter a church (the building or the concept) so similar to his actual aversion to holy ground (remember those little jumping steps he did when he went to save Azi in the church?) Asking a few questions - questioning things in general - having an opinion that someone higher up than you doesn’t like? Anathema to the institutional church. 

These two remind me so much of The Hierophant and The Devil cards. Aziraphale embodies the faith and tradition (and faith in tradition) that is The Hierophant. There is a way to do things and there must be a good reason for doing them! says The Hierophant. Yes, there’s wisdom there, but that wisdom is a gateway - not the final destination*. Crowley gets The Devil, not least because this card is a perfect inversion of The Hierophant - notice the similarities in structure (the central figure, the apprentices, the oppressiveness). Crowley is still shackled in his own way to heaven - a kind of bereavement, a resentment - which he deals with by being debonair and pretending not to care. Which makes the ending of the second season all the more poignant - he risks caring, in a very obvious, if doomed, way - and his answer is rejection. 

I understand that perfectly, too. I was never going to get what I was looking for in church - but I wouldn’t have rested until I’d tried. 

The card I’d pick for them as a couple is The Lovers. A rather obvious choice, but: The Lovers echoes The Hierophant and anticipates The Devil: two apprentices, a central figure presiding**. Not just a card about love (although it is that, too) - it’s a card about choice. About choosing to follow your truth beyond what is “accepted��, even if by extension that forces you to reckon with what choices were beyond your control. That’s a path we have to be willing to walk if the truth is at all important to us.

Our truth is (and I’m sure Aziraphale and Crowley’s will be, too). 

As we enter a new year (I’ll write more about that next time), I pose this question to you, dear Reader: What is your truth? Phrased another way, what can’t you bear to lie about any longer? 

---

*I suppose God is the final destination - “The World”, and then as a mirror.

**Our conscience? 

---

This was originally posted on my Substack.

#blog #good omens #tarot

[theflashdriver]

Poker Face (A Silvaze Fanfic)

Blaze the cat didn't consider herself a nosey person, observant was closer to the term she'd use. While she didn't gossip or snoop in a traditional sense, the now queen of the Sol dimension couldn't deny that she noticed things that others typically would not. Identifying the small failings, like developing faults in an opponent's guard, and obscured intents, like those of the various stakeholders who approached her to meet, came as second nature to the guardian, it was almost reflexive. When it came to her husband however, the feline's perceptive abilities heightened even beyond that.

She'd first picked up on his most recent subterfuge around two months ago, when she'd been awoken one morning by him getting dressed and slipping from their room in the wee hours of the morning only to return through the door mere moments later. She'd debated keeping her knowledge a secret, knowing that it was only natural that he'd try to hide something at this time of year, but watching him flounder as she caught his stare had been more than worth it. The only explanation Silver had dared to give was that he'd been someplace else and doing something really important, his phrasing had only bolstered her teasing. Teasing that had only increased when she caught him again the following month.

Now however, albeit incompletely, Blaze knew the nature of his efforts on that morning. Behind her the hedgehog in question was still getting dressed, having spent admittedly far too long picking a shirt for today's meeting. Meanwhile, the cat had gone to their shared desk, parallel to their shared bed, to flip through the itinerary for the present week. While everything across those seven pages fit with what the cat remembered, she'd dared to look just a little further. On the Monday still to come, scrawled in his unmistakably messy handwriting, was just four words. Tenth Anniversary: Week Away.

The cat could assume a few things immediately, owing to her knowledge of him. For him to have left the room yet reappear so quickly, she'd assumed some sort of dimensional or time travel had been performed. They hadn't had many holidays, though their workload had greatly decreased, but those they had taken so often involved vanishing like that and almost immediately reappearing, days having passed relative to them but mere minutes for this world. Still, for him to schedule this successfully without it coming to her attention prior was an undeniable feat.

Despite her wiliness, as she heard her footsteps approach from behind, the cat gently flicked back a few pages. She felt his arms brush at her sides, settling to gently hug just above her gut as he leaned in to rest his head upon her shoulder. Blaze had been wise to flick back, without looking she could tell that he was looking over her shoulder. To match his hold, feeling his nuzzle, she brought her right hand up to cup the back of his head and pull him in closer. Everything about him just felt so soft, her want to take advantage of this stolen knowledge was blooming.

"How do things look this week?" He asked, stifling a yawn by kissing her cheek.

"Busier than usual, but still better than we're used to," Her fingers found the back of his ear, she allowed herself to play with it, "Today we're due to oversee the shifting of royal relics in a half hour, a couple of our more ceremonial duties too..."

She heard him hum contently, simultaneously feeling him lean more of his weight into her, "We've got the parents' night tonight too, don't we?"

Despite the somewhat sleepy manner with which the hedgehog was holding himself, the two had already been up for over an hour. They'd taken breakfast as a family and made sure their eight year old daughter was ready in time for Gardon taking her to school, as he did whenever they had morning meetings. While initially she took pause considering how the hedgehog would factor the young feline into their trip away, that thought was interrupted by another. There had been a moment, before coming here to prepare for their first meeting, where they had been separate. Had he snuck off again to plan more while still in his pyjamas? To make some last minute additions or changes to whatever plan he was hiding from her?

"It's factored in, I'm certain we'll both be able to attend this time," Blaze mused aloud, flipping back to the Wednesday it was scheduled. She couldn't help herself as she finally looked at him, catching the sleepiness in his gaze, "Are you okay? You sound tired."

"I probably overthought my outfit, it feels like my head's spinning," It took him some effort but he pulled back, gesturing to himself, "What do you think?"

On the surface there was nothing wrong with his choices, it was a simple shirt, tie and trousers combination. The choice of colours did however arch the cat's brow. While there wasn't anything inherently wrong with wearing a light blue dress shirt with darker stripes and black formal trousers, he'd made a third choice that tore her attention from that normalcy. For whatever reason, the hedgehog was wearing a, heavily clashing, two tone yellow tie. While the two of them had over the years transformed their role as royals, pushing it to focus more on them being guardians of the islands and only ceremonially part of their politics, a certain professionalism was expected.

"Don't you think the tie is a little," She saw his excitement waver at her pause, her urge to tease spiked, "Distracting?"

"Oh, well, that's the point," He gestured to his trousers, "Night sky," Then his shirt, "Day sky," Then his quills, bound back into a ponytail, "The clouds," And finally, his tie, "The sun."

"I... see," She stifled a laugh at the seriousness of his explanation, "You're still so naive."

"What, do you not like it?" He asked, looking surprised.

"I didn't say that," Blaze tutted as she smirked, "It's very you."

"Th-Thank you?" He stuttered, trying to squeeze a compliment from her joking chide.

"Whether it's suitable for signing off on the moving of historic artefacts... well, I'll leave that to your imagination," The cat rose to her tiptoes, stepping in to kiss his cheek, "Though I understand if everything else is in the wash, you seem to have been working overtime lately."

She felt confusion quirk across his cheek before she left it, indicative of deep thought as he tried to determine what the cat had implied. Blaze abandoned him there to consider her implication, moving close to the door out of the room and putting on a set of formal black boots. In theory at least, of the two of them, she was less formally dressed but better put together. A white frilled shirt with puffy lantern sleeves and black trousers, a relatively simple and more comfortable garb than her constantly worn long-coat. Recently she'd had him cut her hair short too, wanting a change after having kept it long for much of her life. It was simply nice to alter her appearance without risk of scrutiny, now that they were less prominent in the public eye.

By the time she'd tied her shoes and risen back to her full height, he'd moved toward the door... still wearing that ridiculous tie. Today's meetings weren't too important; the aforementioned shifting of castle relics to a public museum so that they could by preserved more properly and be seen by the public, the first of their twice weekly communes with the Sol Emeralds and then a trip to the docks for a boat naming ceremony. These were regular things, casual and small in comparison to the loads they'd once bared.

Perhaps on another day, a day she hadn't noticed the oddity in their journal, she would have let his choice go unmentioned. Today however, the now thirty six year old cat saw an opportunity. They surely had a little while longer till the start of their first meeting.

She heard him step to the entryway and saw him reach for the handle, "Should we head down-

A reserve of speed, most often harnessed in combat, was used to catch the hedgehog and push his back against the brown wooden door. While her left hand met with the wood just left of his head, her right immediately went for that stupid tie around his neck to hold it by the knot. Though she was still shorter than him, despite her boots, the psychokinetic was immediately under the pyrokinetic's control.

"Silver," She called, locking her gaze to his tie.

"Blaze?" He responded in kind, surprise evident in his tone.

"Silver," The cat repeated, just to hear him say her name again.

"B-Blaze?" His voice cracked.

"I know you've been up to something," Her eyes shot up.

As she'd anticipated, their gazes immediately crashed, panic was clear on his expression, "Up to something?" He parroted.

"Yes indeed," She confirmed, refusing to break eye contact "And I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

"O-Okay?" He didn't look away, but she could both feel and see him straining, "Get to the bottom of what?"

The sight of him all buttoned up and proper still felt so fresh, even ignoring his fashion choices. A small part of her did want to preserve that visage, as she knew it would need to be restored in time for their first meeting, but a much larger aspect longed to make a mess of him. She supposed it would be quick to neaten all she'd do. A shirt untucked, quills unfurled and that stupid tie entirely removed. Although, that latter feature she'd rather stay where she'd undoubtedly end up placing it.

"Well, that's the question isn't it? Just what is it you've been hiding from me?" Blaze pried, certain she wouldn't get an answer.

"I don't think I could really hide anything from you," He obfuscated, as expected.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," She hummed, "You're just not good at hiding the fact that you are keeping a secret. The details of said secret are themselves lost on me."

The hedgehog bit his lip, as if trying to keep secrets that were set to explode from the tongue caged within his mouth. There was something just so endearing about seeing him trapped and flustered, a truth she'd come to accept well over a decade ago now. No matter how powerful he became, whether or not he was as short and adorable as he had been before, seeing the fluffy time traveler so cutely flapped was undeniably cathartic. Perhaps that feeling was tied to the embarrassment she'd once frequently felt.

"Maybe you shouldn't know the details," He managed to eep out, "What even makes you think this secret is something to do with you? I-It could be something personal."

Blaze let the silence hang for a moment, stepping in closer still. Her knee found the door, presumedly between his legs, and so the distance between them was reduced to naught. She brought his tie to loosen and so her thumb brushed his neck, a shudder or flinch rocked through him. Either way, Blaze felt her excitement bristle hotter.

"Well," The cat began to posit, "It's only natural that I'd presume you're plotting something, we both know what date's approaching and I know that you've been sneaking out."

"Date?" He was trying so hard to keep a straight face, but his lie was far too obvious, "What date?"

"Silver, we've been reunited for twenty one years, married for almost ten," The pyrokinetic bluntly reminded him, "You couldn't get away with such an obvious fib even when I'd first met you," She pushed further, "You're an awful liar."

"Um," He swallowed hard, "I'm sure you've been up to something for that day too, right? Maybe I've just planned something small, to try to keep out of the way of your plans."

"Well, I might have been willing to believe that," Blaze professed, "If I hadn't checked ahead in our planner this morning."

"A-Ah," He squeaked, "So you did see."

Still holding his tie, the cat allowed herself to push against his chest. She felt the pushback from his presently restricted chest fur and heard the door bump to being as fully shut as possible. It only opened inward, he stood no chance of escape. Her efforts had surely untucked his shirt, he was growing messier by the moment. She dropped her hand from the side of his head only to quickly return it to that spot, having snatched up his right hand in her left to pin it beside his head.

She allowed the quiet to linger, waiting for him to speak but enjoying the sight of his face growing pinker and then redder as bashfulness set in. If his clothes were supposed to represent the sky, his white quills included as the clouds, then now his cheeks could acts as the tones of sunrise and sunset. True, it was a little strange for that portion to be set above the day's sky and far from the dark of night, but to see him like this was more lovely than any solar event.

"Do you really want to know what I'm hiding?" He almost whimpered, finally breaking the quiet.

"What do you think?" Blaze asked, half curious and half teasing.

"Th-That you're just enjoying having me trapped like this?" He quickly responded, trying to lean in only to find himself stuck.

"Perhaps you have grown wiser with age," The cat almost laughed but, unlike him, was able to maintain her poker face, "That's a very astute observation."

Finally she brought her head fully close turning it so as to achieve an ideal angle. Her lips first found his neck, her chin brushed the collar of his shirt and she again cursed that tie. If it weren't for it then his top button might have been undone, allowing her more premiere access to the intended site. Still, perhaps it was a blessing. It would surely be uncouth for him to arrive at meetings with a fresh mark upon his exposed skin and photos would surely be taken later today.

Blaze worked her way toward his lips, pecking his cheek twice, "I think you might be onto something."

Her lips collided with his, mere seconds after processing the warmth and softness of that contact she noticed the taste, or rather a lack thereof. Their morning kisses typically tasted of their respective breakfasts, often his sweet meal would clash against her dark coffee. This morning however, the syrup from his pancakes and sweet of orange juice weren't so pronounced. That was all it took to solidify one theory, he had slipped away to plan more.

With that truth in mind, Blaze melted deeper into him as if to make up for the time he'd stolen. She felt the ring on his finger as their grasp intensified, the rubbing of that metal against the joints in her fingers. It served to remind her, almost as much as their lip-lock, of how far they'd come. Even now, with him literally pinned against the door and their daughter on her way to school, this didn't seem entirely real.

"I anticipate that you've planned a journey, to someplace outside of our typical space and time," The Queen hypothesised between kisses, "To put your mind at ease, you don't have to worry about our plans clashing."

The cat had prepared a couple of things in advance of their tenth anniversary, albeit in a manner much more subtle than the hedgehog's own vanishing acts. With the space that would be created by moving the artefacts from their storage, she had elected to have erected a new room in its place. Since they'd had their daughter a few sections of the castle had been renovated, just to make things more like a traditional home. Unfortunately however, up until now they'd never really had a proper family room, just the royal library. With this change though, there would be plenty new space for games and time spent together.

Realising however that her gift to him was also technically something for the two of them, as well as their daughter, she had seen to sorting a couple of additional items. A new photo album, giving a timeline of the first ten years of their marriage, it was the kind of tangible thing that could be built upon for the decades to come. As well as that, more foolishly but certainly likely to excite him, to replace the suites for armour they'd be losing in the coming days, she'd gone about getting a set that would fit him. Admittedly she wasn't certain what he'd do with it, but she could already imagine his surprise and joy upon seeing it.

When they paused again to breathe, just as Blaze was about to resume the kiss, she felt his free hand catch her shoulder. He'd fought to put some seriousness back into his gaze, "I can just tell you if its worrying you, but I'd rather keep this a surprise until the day. Is that alright?"

"If my King is so set on keeping his secrets, then I suppose I have no choice but to accept that," Blaze sarcastically sighed, "It must be a matter of some extreme royal importance."

Technically speaking, Silver wasn't legally regarded as the King of the Sol Kingdom, but the phrase was one the cat enjoyed so very much. She hadn't enjoyed royal monikers when she was alone, they'd felt isolating and alienating. With him though? The way those keywords fell from his tongue, so often whispered in their quietest of moments, was the sweetest delight atop all others.

In their early years of dating, thinking of him with a title had been both thrilling and embarrassing due to the related truth in conjured. The former feeling was still stoked now but the latter had been replaced with total comfort. Regardless of what he was in the public eye, he was her King and no one could contest that.

Silver responded in kind, finally mustering some courage, "I'll do whatever my Queen desires, even if that means spilling the contents of my heart."

"Is that so, my King?" She raised her hand from his chest for a moment, only to gently return it to a site not far away, "Then I think I'll have you do away with this tie."

In a single swift movement, her forefinger set upon the top of the garment's knot and she tugged sharply downward. The movement, started smooth but did admittedly force him to almost bow and bring his lips close to hers again. Still, she then managed grasp further up and slip the whole thing over his head, unintentionally popping his shirt collar as a result. From there, so very casually, Blaze threw the ill-matching garment over her shoulder and onto the floor.

"A-All that just to get my tie off?" He seemed to slump slightly, but he was smiling.

"Just to get it off? That's quite the assumption," Her hand retook its place on his chest, the door creaked, "I haven't let you go yet, have I? Who knows what will come next?"

"I think I do," She felt his grasp on her hand and shoulder tighten, "Perhaps it's my turn to surprise you."

He leaned in, not quite able to push off the door but far enough to bump his lips against hers. Again warmth flowed from her to him and back, unending effort and unabashed comfort. Now, nearing ten years of marriage and years spent dating prior, the both almost instinctively knew how to match the other. There was no more crashing of teeth, no underestimations or overstepping. They were simply and entirely comfortable, both with each other and their positions.

For them, surprises had once been associated with fear. When their home had been broken and burning, a surprise was an unseen foe or a cave in, a life or death situation more often than not. Even during their second lives, Blaze hadn't thought positively of shocks until they'd reunited; surprises had most often taken the form of unexpected meetings and attacks perpetrated by Eggman Nega. Now though? He might surprise her with breakfast, she could sneak up behind him for a kiss or, not uncommonly, they'd end up simultaneously surprising each other.

In truth, Blaze had her thoughts and theories for what Silver had planned next week. It was possible that Soleanna was his intended destination, it was a frequent romantic stop for them, despite certain memories. The fact his planned trip was set to be a surprise though, and that he'd seemingly disappeared multiple times, told Blaze that there was more too the situation. Was he taking her someplace new? Possibly, but the need to disappear so often suggested there was more to it. No, a tour of countries or sites seemed to make more sense.

Blaze pulled back just slightly, forcing the hedgehog to squirm in her grasp as he tried to follow. The moment he blinked his eyes open, the cat pounced, reclaiming the contact and control with a simple push of her mouth against his. Things were growing more intense, her tail was wound around his waist and she could feel her temperature rising. He was just so soft, so pliable beneath her.

Of course, this whole time, the cat hadn't actually wanted to know what he had planned. The thought of that happy unknown ahead was worth more than the kind of peace of mind that came with certainty. If he wanted to keep this a secret up until the day, then she had no reason to deny him that excitement and enjoy her own surprise. Besides, she was set to surprise him; to prevent him from matching her would hardly be fair.

A knock at the door forced their lips to part, the hedgehog would have flinched and pushed off if she wasn't so strongly holding him, "Excuse me, Queen Blaze and Prince Silver? Are you both still in there? The museum curators are set to arrive soon, does the meeting room need prepared?"

The queen recognised the tone as belonging to one of the palace staff, a maid if she recalled correctly. Blaze very almost went to respond, only to detect an opportunity. She wasn't the only royal in this room, capable of assuaging the maid's worries and making a decision... even if she was the best candidate to do it.

Blaze looked at him with a certain slyness, as if to wordlessly say, "You promised to do whatever your Queen desires, now buy us just a little more time."

In truth, Blaze knew their fun couldn't last much longer. Time had surely flown by and Still, she'd make the most of this and watch him squirm for as long as possible. Though they had a fairly full itinerary today, they were hardly life or death situations and their presence was primarily a formality. A decade ago she would have panicked about being a mere moment late, but now that stress was far lighter.

"W-We'll be down in a moment to sort it, don't worry, we're just," Blaze tenderly shifted, careful not to push him harder against the door, and pushed to kiss beneath his jaw. She could feel his pulse skyrocketing, her effort seemed to spark his synapses, "We spilled some coffee, got a little mess to deal with. We won't be long!"

Of course the taste of coffee had been on his mind, just as it was on her lips.

It wasn't a good lie, but it seemed to do the trick, "Ah, I see. My apologies for the intrusion. If they arrive ahead of schedule I'll ask them to wait in the foyer."

"Thank you," He called back, just as Blaze ceased her efforts. Then, much more quietly, but just as flustered, he grumbled, "D-Did you have to do that?"

"Your Queen desired it," She chastised, simultaneously glancing to their bedside clock, "But I am willing to admit that I let myself have a modicum too much fun. We should probably hurry down there."

She went to step away, but only managed a half move. His hand at her shoulder haphazardly held her still, his other had managed to sneak its way around her waist. It took her just a half second to notice that her tail had taken his side in this effort, having come to coil around his leg.

"Just," He'd looked so very sheepish a moment ago, but now there was a certain bravely lurking behind those sparkling yellow eyes, "One more?"

"Just one?" The cat stepped close again, again putting her knee between his pair.

He flinched, his gaze dropped, "Well, f-for now, not forev-

Of course she let him have it. Her lips and his collided with his once more, she pushed into him but he pushed back with equal measure. The embrace was shorter than those that had come before, and it was gentler in some ways, but the passion still burned with that same intensity. Blaze allowed her hand to slip from his chest, up and into his quills to tussle and tease. Now he tasted of coffee too, she couldn't recall quite when that had happened.

She pulled back and squeezed his hand, rousing him back to his senses, "Satisfied?"

"Nope," He gleefully hummed, "I'll always want another, you know that."

"Well, there will be time for more evening," She took another half step back, releasing his head and then his hand, " Perhaps I'll finally manage to top you off," She glanced down at herself, finding her shirt unkempt and moving to sort it, only to catch the hedgehog staring as if still pinned to the door, "Hurry up, we've got a meeting to attend."

As if roused from being paralysed, the psychic quickly pushed himself from the entryway. A few of his quills had come loose, in hindsight she had been a little rougher than intended but that had generated the desired effect. He hurriedly neatened himself as he once would never have thought to, not back when they were young. His shirt was tucked first, he brought his thumb around his waist to ease the material into his waistline. A flare of psychic energy re-flattened his quills, pushing them back into a bobble which had once been hers. A glance was thrown its way, but he didn't dare go for the tie.

Oh, now she'd been staring. The cat straightened her sleeves, repositioning the flared material to neatly cover her wrists before tucking her own shirt back in. She'd ended up quite a lot neater than him, but reaching up and pushing so thoroughly hadn't left the princess entirely unruffled.

By the time she was done he'd opened the door. She swept past him, snatching up his hand as she went and leading him out into the hall. He stumbled, caught off guard, but soon managed to keep pace with the cat's brisk pace.

"I presume you've factored our princess into your plan, whatever it is," Blaze checked, throwing him a glance.

"Of course," The hedgehog confirmed, a wily smile on his face as he now came to be beside her, "She knows her part to play in all this, she has for a while now."

At first she let those words sit for a moment, considering what he might have schemed with that kitten of theirs, before a smile broke onto her muzzle. That smile was soon followed by a laugh and that laughter eventually made her slow. A truly silly truth had crossed her mind.

"W-What's so funny?" Her husband asked, slowing to match her pace.

"She already has a better poker face than you," The cat managed to snicker out, "She hasn't revealed a thing."

Ten years of marriage, many prior spent together, and yet their own child was already better at hiding the truth from her than Silver. On one hand, she supposed that was to be expected. She'd know him long enough to read the hedgehog like a book and the same was mostly true of him with her, he could detect her emotions from a mile away. On the other however, he probably should have learned at least one technique to better hide surprises from her; at least so much as to not write his surprise in their shared diary.

"Well," A blush crept its way across his muzzle, coming to fully reclaim it, "G-Good, clearly she takes after you with that regard. I'm sure you've got something schemed too, not that I have a clue what it is."

"That I do," She resumed her prior pace, her wiry smile softened as she resumed leading him, "And that's all you get to know."

#silvaze #Blaze the Cat #Silver the Hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonic

[magiclegacy]

Gravity Falls Season 1 Review

Since the start of the 21st century I’ve noticed there’s an animated show every decade that redefines the landscape of western animation. That may sound like a bold claim, but when you really look at it, there are a couple of stand-out shows. The 2000s saw Avatar: The Last Airbender take home the crown, becoming a hit with audiences and critics with elements that were rarely exhibited in Western children’s animation. It featured well-rounded characters, a serialised narrative, references to East Asian culture and mature themes including war, genocide, totalitarianism, and free choice to name a few. The show remains one of the best-rated series of all time, winning several awards during its runtime and staying in the Top 10 lists of reviewers almost 14 years after its conclusion. And if Avatar claimed the top spot in the 2000s, Gravity Falls won the crown in the 2010s.

It’s hard to believe Gravity Falls is now 10 years old. The show was a significant part of thousands of childhoods, including my own, and remains one of the most beloved animated shows to this day. The show is a brilliant example of multi-generational entertainment with a story, characters, and humour that children and adults can both enjoy without fear of being alienated. It’s the main reason this show remains a modern-day influence in children’s animation and why many still enjoy 10 years after its premiere. I’d go so far as to call Gravity Falls the start of the modern Golden Age of Disney Channel Animation with its influence present in other hit shows Amphibia and The Owl House as well as other shows on different platforms.

To celebrate Gravity Falls’ tenth anniversary, I feel I should share what I, as well as many others enjoy about the show. However, if you know Gravity Falls, you know there is a lot to cover. Even with a finite runtime, the show thrived on its mysteries, conspiracies, and ciphers, creating a sizeable fanbase that tried to match wits with showrunner, Alex Hirsch. If you google “Gravity Falls theory”, then you will be jumping into the deep end of one of the largest online discussions in recent years. So to make this review more manageable, I will only cover Season 1 in this review, and I will discuss Season 2 when it turns 8 on August 1. Gravity Falls is one of the most beloved and interesting shows in recent memory, so I want to make sure it’s given the respect and recognition it deserves. With all that said, let’s take a look at Season 1 of Gravity Falls.

The show has one of the best-written narratives of modern television, taking elements from Hirsch’s own childhood, eighties pop-culture and modern settings. The Pines twins, Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) spend their summer vacation in the titular, fictional town of Gravity Falls. They live with their con-artist “Grunkle” Stan (Hirsch) who runs a sketchy tourist trap called “The Mystery Shack”, staffed by teenage girl Wendy (Linda Cardellini) and Soos (Hirsch). It’s simple, but it works. Hirsch placed many of his childhood experiences in the show, projecting his memories of growing up onto Dipper and basing the characters of Mabel and Stan around his sister and grandpa. This is a major reason why Gravity Falls is timeless, it invokes childhood and summer nostalgia, living with a distant relative, summer camp, going to the pool or goofing off with friends, there’s something for everyone. Gravity Falls combines this nostalgia with a fantastical element, taking inspiration from eighties and nineties pop-culture, blending fantasy and reality to create a compelling story.

The plot begins when Dipper notices strange things happening around town, but nobody believes him. After wandering though the woods, Dipper discovers a mysterious journal written by an anonymous author with a gold hand with six fingers and the number 3 on the cover. The journal chronicles several entries about paranormal activity and odd goings-on that plague Gravity Falls which Dipper and Mabel use to combat various foes. These include classic monsters like ghosts, sea monsters, and zombies as well as video-game characters, time travellers, and psychics. For most of the season, the show goes very old-school Scooby Doo with a new monster every week, however, what separates Gravity Falls from similar fantasy animation is that there’s typically an unconventional twist that changes the episode, giving a humorous and often profound conclusion that makes us laugh, think, develops the characters, or all of the above. At the same time, there is an overlying serialisation the audience is constantly reminded of when the journals are used: who is the author and what happened to them?

A notable trait animated shows are known for is the “floating timeline” method with a new story every episode. Gravity Falls instead incorporates a serialised narrative where an overarching story takes place together with character-focused subplots. Hirsch has stated that finding character stories was the hardest thing to write about, but necessary to push the show forward. The writers did a great job at keeping focus on the central cast and while Season 1 didn’t have too many episodes that pushed the main narrative, they still served to establish character development. In order to have the emotional scenes create the desired impact, it was important to show them enjoying their summer, learning about themselves and others, and just having a good time. “Land Before Swine” probably didn’t need a conflict between Dipper and Soos, however, this is necessary to have them grow as characters and have them establish a firm relationship that lasts the rest of the show. While not all the episodes had gripping character growth, they still served to establish them as believable characters and make the action and emotional scenes more jarring.

One of the best aspects of the show are the characters. The Pines twins are two of the strongest child protagonists I’ve seen in a Disney cartoon. They have different strengths; different weaknesses and they rely on each other to balance them out. They are a great pair because they go through the same experiences, but they have different ideas as to how to spend summer. Dipper wants to embrace and solve the mysteries of Gravity Falls whereas Mabel just wants a fun time. These clashing goals form an easy source of conflict to drive the story forwards, but it’s not malicious, sometimes Dipper saves Mabel and other times Mabel saves Dipper. It’s a real sibling relationship and you can tell they both love each other with nearly every episode giving them a happy ending. The dynamic between the pair works great, but it’s taken up to eleven when the rest of the Mystery Shack crew is involved.

Grunkle Stan works well as a character and plot device with most of the show’s humour and mystery focusing on him. He always schemes new ways to make money and his often-elaborate plans put him in hilarious situations that provide the more mature humour. Whether he succeeds or fails, Stan is a stand-out character. Another stand-out is the shack’s handyman, Soos, the otherwise comic-relief who joins the twins on most of their adventures. While the twins highlight the child-like side of fantasy, Soos represents the more young-adult part. He’s a fan of video games, anime, and other nerd culture Dipper is too young for. He’s also incredibly loyal to the Pines family, notably Stan, always coming through when it counts. Finally, there’s the part-time cashier, Wendy Corduroy, the teenage tomboy who is always ready to kick ass. As befitting of a teenager, she is rebellious laid-back, and while she doesn’t carry many episodes on her own, her wit and sarcastic attitude help balance out the main cast, and she also provides some of the best action scenes that are rivalled only by Stan.

This is only scratching the surface of this incredible show, and I don’t think I can compress it all into one post. That said, Gravity Falls is a masterwork of modern animation, and its influence and legacy can still be seen in other animated Disney shows. It has intriguing mysteries, fleshed characters, an equal balance of light and dark humour, and expert storytelling for the serialised narrative and single-episode plots. It’s great television, and half the time, you forget you’re watching an animated show, and I’m so grateful to Alex Hirsch for creating something that you can enjoy as a kid, and still enjoy when you’re an adult. I may be in my 20s now, but I don’t think I’ll every stop loving this brilliant show, and I don’t think anyone else will either.

KDSSB ELUWKGDB JUDYLWB IDOOV

#2012 #disney #disney channel #animation #gravity falls #gf #gravity falls ten year anniversary #review #dipper pines #mabel pines #grunkle stan #soos #wendy corduroy #I could write a whole essay on how much I love this show #Happy Birthday Gravity Falls

[misosovp]

ok maybe it's bc i tried sending a pic of my doggie on anon😖 i'll try to remember everything i said...

sooo those pics are beautiful she's truly so gorgeous 🥺 is that her kitty? women + kitties = ♡ .. rec some twice songs?💗

+ i like ladies codes songs but i dont know much about them or your girl! i think my fave is lorelei<3 rec me her solo songs too (⊼⌔⊼ ) u like main vocals huh😏💕 hehe

i dont really listen to boygroups bc i hate men but i do love exo and shinee🤍💙 if u want a shinee rec listen to Orgel♡ my fave by kibum is one of those nights(jpn) and bad love and helium and honest and another life and good good and*gets booed* (´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

well i do like songs by boygroups but mainly older onea bx nowadays they all sound the same😭 its like trrrrrrrpumpum *loud weird uninteresting synth sound* blalalababa *low weird bad rap* aaaaaA *off key shriek* :/ i go to kpop choreo class and learning where to place the moves in those songs is impossible like girl whete is the rhythm ...  ･ิĹ̯･ิ 

anyway i'll try to send my doggie pic separately(｡◕ˇ_ˇ◕｡)

byeeeee ilyyy

(totally mysterious anon💗)

okay i’m putting this under a read more bc it got so long </3

yeah we’re not allowed to send images on anon 😔 you have a dog, though?? i bet it’s so cute. i have two dogs, too 💕 did you know momo has an evil little dog? it’s super cute, too, even though it sounds kinda like a demon

yes! her name is bbuyo. ikr. women and cats make my heart stop a little like 💘 noo it’s true, the majority of my favs are vocals <3

okay! these are my current tops in each category. i’m currently listening through and categorizing their discography again so it’s constantly changing. my absolute tops, though are: cry for me, just be yourself; 1, 3, 2; doughnut

performances/mvs: cry for me; doughnut; the feels (first performance i saw<3); cheer up

title tracks/singles: up no more; likey; alcohol-free; TT

b-sides: stuck in my head; bring it back; cruel; last waltz; hell in heaven

japanese: just be yourself; perfect world; breakthrough

obviously don’t feel obligated to listen to any of them. but lmk if you like any of them (or if you hate them and why. i love different perspectives on music tbh) or if you like any of their other songs!

lorelei is so pretty. my favs are galaxy, the rain, chaconne, and pretty pretty. lc was actually the group that really got me into kpop. i listened to others before, but they were the group that i really fell in love with first. they’re on hiatus now since their contracts ended, but they’ve mentioned that they’d love to have a reunion for their tenth anniversary next year 🤍

sojung doesn’t have a lot of solo music rn, so i’d definitely recommend listening to everything she’s released. it’s mostly (exclusively?) ballads. my favorites, though, are: love in the clouds, nothing between us, and it’s alright (soundtrack). love in the clouds is her most recent single, and she basically said it’s a feel good song to reflect how much happier she’s become in the past couple years (x). she’s been through so much, so i’m so glad she’s finally getting to experience so much happiness and peace in her life again, and pursue the career that she wants.

ahh orgel is so nice. one of those nights????? omg i love it?? like genuinely added it to my favorites playlist omg. good good too! i like the others, too, but those two were definitely my favorites <3 i really do like his voice

yeah… the newer groups are like…. idk what’s going on with them tbh? like i know they’re very performance based, mostly for dance, but like…. the music still needs to be enjoyable ;; but if they’re difficult to dance to too……… anyway, idk any bg music other than txt, but that’s kind of how i feel about itzy. they’re good performers, but they’re music kind of gives me a headache. and combined with their sets/bkgs its just overwhelming for me like 😵‍💫

also to a lesser extent aespa ;; i actually do listen to their music, but i’m always like, idk if i enjoy this actually. the lyrics makes sense in the context of their lore but like… i just don’t know lol. i really like the members, though. i hope they get more songs where they can just like… actually sing. they’re actually really good vocalists so like… let them sing fr 😑 have you heard illusion? you should listen to it. i have so many thoughts about it and i can’t sort out a single one 

that’s soo cool that you do dance classes though!! they sound so fun. tbh idk anything about dancing but i loove watching performances. how long have you been dancing for?

i hope this week is good for you ilyy mysterious anon 🤍

#msg #tyy for being interested in the music i like i literally never talk about it #the more i like something the less i speak about it #unless directly asked and then it turns into this 😐 #anyway ilyyy and im glad you saw the full msg before i trimmed it for privacy 🤍

[theminecraftbee]

Xisuma looks down at the cake and back up at Joe. "Oh, uh, thank you," he says, "but it's not my birthday, my friend."

"This is for something else," Joe says, mysteriously.

"Thanks?" Xisuma says, taking the cake. He frowns. It's a little lumpy. It's a relatively plain vanilla cake. The icing is a number of different colors, and was probably supposed to spell something, but to tell the truth, whatever it was supposed to say is entirely incomprehensible. He squints at the writing before giving up.

"...you really did forget, didn't you?" Joe says, bemused.

"Eh? Forget? Oh no, did I forget something important?"

"Happy ten years, Xisuma."

"Oh, thanks, but I'm not married."

Joe's voice goes a little high and squeaky. "Not - I mean I guess that's true, you aren't married?"

"Let alone for ten years," Xisuma confirms.

Joe wheezes. Xisuma stares at him. He has no idea what he's said to cause Joe to start laughing so hard he starts coughing, but it feels rude. Xisuma sort of pouts at Joe, an act that loses some of its potency due to the fact that Xisuma's been wearing his original armor lately, instead of any of the animal armor, and the original armor is much less expressive.

"You know, Hypno didn't do this when I brought him a cake," Joe says once he's done laughing. His voice is still high and squeaky. "Hypno remembers what day it -"

"Well, I'm definitely not married to Hypno."

Joe wheezes again, and then breaks into coughs again. Xisuma sighs. At this rate Joe's never going to explain himself, and then Xisuma will just have a cake for no reason. Which, thinking about it, can't be that bad. Cake is normally good, in fact. It's more that he doesn't normally have cake for no reason. If he can just ask for cake for no reason, he'll eat nothing but cake, and he's been trying this new thing recently, and, er, not really the point. The point is that he really doesn't get what's so funny.

"Xisuma, how long have you been on Hermitcraft?" Joe finally manages to get out.

"Oh, well the tenth anniversary is today, and I guess I was here since day one, so ten years!"

"X, why would I bring you a cake?"

"I have no idea?"

Joe wipes at his eyes. "Never change, X. Happy ten years."

"Oh. Ohhhhh." X looks at the slightly lumpy cake and back at Joe. "Happy ten years, my friend. Wasn't there going to be a party?"

"Yeah, Cub's holding it later. I'm teaching some rats to play piano or something for it, presuming I don't get stuck at home."

"Huh."

"But I figured, you and Hypno, and even Keralis..."

"...didn't do anything differently from you, did I?" Xisuma says, looking at the cake.

"Needed to practice my baking anyway." Joe shrugs. "I've still gotta take one to Keralis. Will we see you tonight?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Xisuma says, and he waves Joe off as the man flies away. Huh. Huh. A ten years cake, then? He has to say, he doesn't know what he'll do with that. Eat it, he thinks.

...oh, he sure hopes everyone else didn't have the same idea as Joe. He doesn't have room for that many cakes.

He goes back to building, humming as he does the same thing he's done for a decade, and it feels good.

#hermitcraft #xisuma #joe hills #a bee fic #in which xisuma doesn't quite realize the significance of the decade #a thing that definitely feels like something he'd do #mr. thousands of episodes of hermitcraft #happy 4/13!

[watchmegetobsessed]

Waiting for you - Harry Styles

❄️ FANFICmas 2020 ❄️

Read more about FANFICmas here!

i wrote it over like a month ago, but kept it for today, i hope yall will like it! it’s a cute bestfriends to lovers fic, so yeah... happy holidays, hope you are having an amazing time!

word count: 13k

masterlist

Harry Styles has been a household name around your home, but not for the reason many would think. While for the rest of the world he was the famous singer, former member of One Direction and recent solo artist, the guy who performs at the biggest arenas, wins awards and sings his heart out through the radio, for you and your mom he was the goofy, curly haired boy who lived across the street with his mum, sister and stepdad.

You still remember all too clear the first time you met him. You and your mum just moved into your new home after the nasty divorce of your parents, ready to start a new life. You’ve barely turned twelve, it was quite the awkward stage of your teenage years, you were still trying to find yourself on the rocky road of growing up. Moving to a whole new town and switching schools were terrifying and you had quite a few nightmares about possible outcomes of being the new girl in the neighborhood.

You and your mum just finished unpacking the dishes in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She rushed to answer it and you wandered behind her, curiously peeking at the guests under her arm as she held the door open.

“Hi! We saw the trucks and thought we would say hi! I’m Anne and this is my son, Harry,” the nice woman greeted your mum and stepping aside she gestured towards the teenage boy standing next to her.

His green eyes fell to you almost immediately and you forgot to breathe for a moment. You were not the kind to crush that easily on guys, well, not until you laid your eyes on Harry. He smirked at you, nodding in your way in such an easy-going manner and you could feel the heat crawling up your neck to your cheeks and ears.

Anne and your mum quickly became good friends. She was the rock your mum definitely needed after such a bad year behind her and you were glad she found support in such a wonderful woman as Anne. Their newly funded friendship got stronger day by day until the two families just… simply felt one.

Growing up the Styles siblings and Anne came and go in your home as if they lived there too. On many occasions you came home from school only to find Anne in the kitchen while your mother wasn’t even home. Anne always knew when your mum was working the night shift at the hospital where she was a nurse and always made sure you had a warm dinner on those evenings, often inviting you over to just stay at theirs while your mum was away working. Birthdays, graduations, Easters and Christmases, they were all spent at either yours or at the Styles home, strengthening the bond between the two families.

You have always had a strong friendship with Gemma, but maybe because you were closer in age or for something else, but you became the closest with Harry. Two peas in a pod, as your mums liked to call the two of you. You weren’t just neighbors or good friends, it was clear to anyone and to both of you as well that you were the best of friends. You were there for each other at the best and worst of times, before and after Harry’s launch to stardom. You were there with him all along, sometimes physically, sometimes just through text messages and reassuring calls when he just needed a piece of his home away from home. Late night calls and talks were your usual when he was on the road and he made sure to only talk about his life after you’ve told him everything about yours, even if the most interesting thing was that you were able to buy three socks for the price of two. Harry listened and cared for everything that happened to you, not letting you think even for a moment that he would forget about his best friend when he is on the other side of the planet.

The two of you grew up together and while his life consisted of concerts, screaming fans, telly appearances and award shows, your mundane everydays went on the same was as any normal young girl’s: you graduated from high school, went to uni and then started a career for yourself. As time was moving it became a little more and more complicated to stay as close as you used to, though, both of you terribly busy with your own personal lives, so the calls, texts and meetings became less frequent, but you were always able to pick up from where you left, it was as easy with him as it could be.

Maybe that’s why you grew to love him in a more than friendly way through the years. Slowly, but surely you started to realize what an amazing man he really was –is. It was impossible not to fall for him, however you valued your close friendship more than to just ruin it with dropping a bomb on Harry. You always thought he doesn’t feel the same way, so you were sadly left with your daydreams and fantasies about him only your bedroom walls heard.

This year it’s gonna be the tenth Christmas you get to celebrate together, quite the anniversary. There were only two years when you didn’t see each other during the holidays, the first one because you and your mum spent it in Canada with some relatives that live there, and the second one was because Harry couldn’t come home a few years ago, having a too tight schedule. But this year, everyone made sure to make it back home in time. Harry called you three month before Christmas to check in if you are still gonna coming home.

“Would be an idiot not to. Can’t wait to stuff my head with cookies!” you chuckled.

“Have you found your sweater yet?” Harry questioned, the muffled noise of the traffic around him broke through the line as he was on his way home when he called.

“Not yet. But I’ve been looking. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna win this year,” you smirked in victory.

“Oh, not so fast with the assumptions, little girl!” he warned you making you laugh.

The two of you had a kind of tradition. Every year, you go on mission to find the ugliest Christmas sweaters one could find, and then perform a chosen song at the karaoke machine after dinner, entertaining the rest of the family. Those performances are the best memories you nurse. Your absolute favorite one was just a couple of years ago when Harry’s sweater was filled with weird looking reindeers in quite inappropriate poses, he even added a glittery pair of sunnies and he sang I Want To Break Free from the Queen. Everyone was on the floor laughing as he took the living room by storm as if it was the Maddison Square Garden filled with thousands of screaming fans, while it was just the five of you.

He won that year, Hell, even you voted on him, giving him the cleanest win of all times, but you swore to live up to that performance and you really feel like this year is gonna be your chance to live up to that promise. You have quite some tricks up your sleeves.

These past couple of years you were anxiously waiting for the holidays to roll around, because you knew you would get to spend so much time with Harry and through the year, even with several occasions of the two of you meeting, you missed him dearly. Sometimes you selfishly wished he would have just stayed the boy across the street so your lives could take tracks that run at least close to each other, but you always reminded yourself that his work was his life and you would have never taken away his true passion and happiness. Besides, you love watching him perform from time to time, that was just one of your favorite sides of him, see his eyes shine so bright as he sang to his fans. You used to envy the fangirls, it always seemed like he had a special connection with them, but you realized that you were one of them. You felt the same excitement when he stepped on the stage, you bought all his albums, even though he made sure you’d be one of the first people to get your hands on it. You had a second copy of them, because buying it gave you the extra jolt of happiness and the feeling that you were a tiny part of his success too. You watched all his music videos, knew the lyrics to his songs and cheered on him whenever he won another award. Difference was that at the end of the day you could call him and tell him how proud you were of him and he stared back at you with that beautiful grin, his dimples digging deep in his cheeks, telling you that he wouldn’t be here without you. You always knew he just said it to make you feel special, but he insisted it was the truth.

“I’m telling you. It you weren’t with me I would have gone crazy already, pulling a Justin Bieber or summat. Don’t think you are any less than what you are, that’s just daft.”

Every time he said something along those lines those damned butterflies in your stomach went crazy and you tried your best to ignore them. You didn’t always succeed, but the effort was there.

 Now it’s two days before Christmas and you are already standing in your old room after coming home from London, leaving your small but cozy little apartment empty until the next year. The walls are still the same lilac color you chose when you were fourteen, a twin bed is pushed against the wall under your window, the wardrobe’s door is littered with old pictures from high school and ones you cut out from magazines. You just never got around to take them down and after a while it brought you a comforting sense every time you came home. A warm nostalgia took over you when you saw them, so they eventually stayed.

Your suitcase is lying on the floor as you unpack some stuff you’ll be using often during your stay, but you don’t get far in the packing when you hear an all too familiar voice coming from downstairs. Leaving your stuff as it is you rush down and throw your arms around Anne from behind, who is standing in the kitchen with your mum.

“My sweet angel! How are you?!” she cheers turning around in your hold to hug you back, giving you a tight squeeze before she pushes you away so she can have a good look on you. “Swear you get prettier every time I see you!”

“Stop it, my head’s gonna get big,” you chuckle feeling yourself blushing a little.

“Never gonna stop praising my daughter,” she smiles and gifts you with a cheeky wink.

Anne was never shy to let you know that she thought of you as a second daughter and you still remember how it felt when she called you that for the first time. It felt nice to know that you could count on her no matter what.

The three of you chat in the kitchen, Anne asks you about your job and how things have been going, she hasn’t seen you in a while. You missed the times when you could just go across the street and have a talk with her whenever you wanted, but since you’ve moved to London, Harry wasn’t the only one you didn’t get to see as often as you would have wanted. Your job and life overall got you so busy sometimes, you barely had time to call your own mum.

“Harry is arriving this evening. Wanna come with us to fetch him up at the airport?” she asks you and of course you say yes. You wouldn’t miss the chance to greet him with a bone crushing hug just after he lands.

However, as the time nears when you’d have to leave to the airport, Anne calls you up and asks if you could go on your own.

“I didn’t finish cooking and Gems is in an online meeting. Would you mind if you went alone?” she asks and though it sounds a little made up, you don’t question her.

On your way to the airport you are nervously drumming on the wheel, the thought of seeing Harry excites and worries you a little. It’s been months since you last seen him in the flesh and though you’ve talked plenty of times on the phone and in video calls, it’s just not the same. You find yourself wondering if he still smells the same, if you’ll fit the same way into his embrace as before. When you were younger you often liked to think about the two of you as two pieces of legos when you hugged. Your frame just fitted so perfectly against his body, he was your absolutely favorite person to hug.

Standing in a corner at the terminal, you keep checking the board until his flight’s status changes to landed. Then your eyes are glued to the sliding glass doors, knowing well it’s gonna take him some time to get his bags and walk out, but you are just way too excited to finally see him again.

People start walking through the doors and your head perks up every time you see a slightly tall frame, only to realize it’s still not him. Until it is.

You can’t bite your growing smile back when you spot him, a beanie and the hood of his hoodie covering his mop of hair, sunnies hiding his eyes, but you’d recognize him even from just the tiniest detail. You push yourself away from the wall as you see him look around, probably searching for his mum and sister, because he was already on his way when Anne decided it’s gonna be you who fetches him up, so he doesn’t know about the change.

“Excuse me, can I get a picture?” you ask teasingly walking up to him and for a moment you can tell he believes it’s a fan who recognized him, but his face quickly changes once his eyes land on you.

“Fo’ fuck’s sake, you had me for a second,” he breathes out, his arms already reaching out to pull you against him and you gladly envelop yourself into his hold. “What are you doing here?” he mumbles tightening his arms around you, and you don’t mind it. As you face is pressed into his shoulder you smile when you realize that he still smells the same. Like home.

“Your mum asked me to come and get you because she didn’t finish cooking. But if you ask me she just wanted to surprise you with me. You happy to see me?” you smirk up at him letting your head fall back so you could look into his eyes.

“Always,” he grins before placing a soft kiss to your temple and letting go of you.

The two of you leave the terminal before anyone could recognize him and packing his stuff up into the car you head back home.

You hand your phone over to him once you hit the road so he can be in charge of the music and it’s no surprise when he starts playing Christmas music straight away. Grinning to yourself you glance over at him and see him scrolling through your camera roll like the nosy little gremlin that he is.

“Hey! I did not give you permission to snoop around my phone!” you warn him, but don’t try to snatch it away from him, there’s really nothing he shouldn’t see, besides, half of those pics have been sent to him through messages.

“Just tryna catch up w’ you,” he mumbles under his breath, continuously opening up photos he is interested in. “New couch, eh?” he asks showing you the screen for a second.

“Yeah, bought it a few weeks ago. You like it?”

“Looks comfy. I should try it out sometime.”

“You never sleep on my couch, what are you talking about?”

“Right, you always drag me t’ your bed,” he snorts and you gasp at him, smacking his chest gently.

“That’s so not true! You always just arbitrarily make yourself comfortable in my bed and I don’t have the heart to kick you out,” you correct him.

There hasn’t been many times when Harry crashed at your place, but when he did, he always slept in your bed with you, and the two of you have shared a bed a few other times prior too. It’s nothing new, though it does have a deeper meaning for you than for him, you think. Waking up with Harry snoring lightly next to you, admiring how peaceful and beautiful he is in this intimate state, you just wish you could see him like this all the time.

Harry smirks at you cheekily, scrunching his nose as he chuckles.

“’Cause I wouldn’t want to sleep anywhere else, Love,” he says before turning his attention back to your phone while you try to ignore the butterflies in your stomach at the nickname.

It’s quite late by the time you get home, you’ve run into some traffic, but it just meant more time with Harry. You gladly listened to his stories and you are happy you got some alone time with him. Parking up to your driveway you help him unload his bags before locking the car.

“Wanna go to the Christmas market in the morning? Promised Gemma I’d go with her and Michal,” he asks, slowly walking down the driveway towards his home.

“Uh, sure,” you nod smiling. Not that you had any other plans, the holidays are reserved for family and the Styles’ are family.

“Great, I’ll be here at ten. And thanks for the ride,” he smirks waving goodbye and you watch him cross the street before he disappears in his home and you do the same.

“Y/N? Is that you?” your mum calls out when you walk in.

“Were you expecting anyone else?” you ask, hanging your coat before you join her in the living room.

“Not,” she smiles giddily. “Was everything alright at the airport?”

You throw your legs over her lap and she squeezes your ankles playfully.

“Yeah, everything fine.”

“How is Harry?”

“Cheeky and smug, as always,” you huff smirking.

“Can’t wait to see him. I feel like I haven’t seen ‘im in ages.”

“When are they coming over tomorrow?”

“Anne said she’ll come around four to help me cook, the rest I don’t know. Dinner will be done around seven though.”

“I’m pretty sure Gemma and Harry will be here along with Anne,” you snort, knowing well they wouldn’t miss a chance to come over, especially Harry. He has been talking nonstop how he’ll be glued to your hip once he is back home, making up for all the time you’ve spent apart.

“They surely will,” your mum chuckles before you both turn your attention at the telly.

You go to bed way after midnight and finish up the packing you left abruptly when you left to get Harry. Shuffling around in your room you glance out the window and see that the light in Harry’s room is on too. Peeking out you lean against the window’s frame, thinking about the times when the two of you sat in the window, talking on the phone after curfew, keeping your voice down so your parents didn’t wake up, sharing secrets and your silliest thoughts. With Harry, you never felt like you had to keep anything back, he would have never judged you for anything, you could be your true self around him and vice versa.

A tall figure appears at the window and as Harry glances out his window he is quick to see you sitting on the window sill, your head resting against the frame. The two houses are not far away from each other and you see him grinning as he sits at the window as well, pulling out his phone, a moment later yours starts buzzing on the nightstand. You quickly grab it, and go back to the window.

“Creeping on me, eh?” he hums into the phone and you roll your eyes at him.

“Was just admiring the street lights, don’t flatter yourself, your head is getting too big,” you huff, but you can’t push your smirk down.

“Admit it, you were hoping to see me roam around naked, weren’t you?”

“As if I haven’t seen you like that before,” you snort making him laugh too. It’s true, Harry has never been shy to get rid of his clothes and he also doesn’t bother to draw the blinds whenever he is changing. You once saw him butt naked when he was nineteen, and when you told him to close the blinds next time he is changing, he just shrugged with a smug smile.

“’M not ashamed of anything, Love,” he told you and you had to turn away because you were blushing for sure.

“Right, you’re a fan of putting yourself on full display when you’re naked, almost forgot,” you chuckle shaking your head. “Millions of girls have the picture of you, lying naked on their walls.”

“You one of them?” he cheekily asks.

“Nah, doesn’t go well with the vibe of my apartment.”

“Shame. Though I think it would definitely look amazin’ above your bed, Love.”

“Now would it? I don’t know about that.”

“I’ll get you a copy framed,” he smirks and you can see it clear even from the distance. “Y’ know what? I’ll make you an exclusive one. One that nobody else has, how does that sound?”

“I can’t believe you, Styles,” you chuckle shaking your head. “I’m not gonna answer this, just gonna head to bed. You should too.”

“So we’re not sharing any secrets like we used to? Thought you’d have something fo’ me.”

“You know everything, Harry,” you sigh with a soft smile, though your heart skips a beat. He does know everything, except one big, fat, heavy secret you’ve been carrying around for way too long, that will probably stay with you forever.

“Right. Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Night, Harry.”

“Good night, Love,” he murmurs and you know he is smiling, thought he steps away from the window as he says goodbye and you do the same before ending the call.

 ***

 “Hey! That’s mine!” you protest as Harry steals another roasted chestnut from your little paper bag, but you can’t stay mad at him when he is smiling at you so sweetly.

“Sorry, tastes better when it’s someone else’s.”

“Sure,” you snort and just let him get as many as he wants. You wouldn’t have eaten it all anyway.

It’s quite cold out in the town, but at least there’s no rain or storm, so the weather didn’t try to ruin your little trip to the Christmas market.

Gemma calls out for Harry to show him something and you just keep wandering between the booths, enjoying the atmosphere quite a lot, you have no idea when was the last time you got to come to the market, though you always loved coming when you were younger.

Finishing up your chestnuts you throw the paper bag into a trash can and turn around to find the rest of your little group, spotting Harry and Gemma deep in discussion next to a booth that offers handmade ceramic mugs. As you walk closer it almost seems like as if they were having a fight, which is just odd, they rarely do that.

“Just get your head out of your arse!” you catch Gemma telling her brother who only groans in frustration before he spots you, a smile plastering across his face.

“Hey, there you are!” he beams.

“Everything alright?” you ask looking at them.

“Sure, just Gemma is being a little nosy, is all,” Harry waves in dismiss. You glance over to Gems, but she is already back in discussion with Michal so you decide to drop it. “You ate all the chestnuts?” Harry asks offended, throwing an arm around your shoulders.

“Well, it was mine, so of course I ate them!”

“Selfish,” he narrows his eyes at you, but you both know it’s just a joke.

You walk further down in the aisle, occasionally stopping at some of the booth when you spot a place that offers hot chocolate in cute little mugs that you can take home with you if you’d like, or just take it back and get your money back.

“Oh look!” you gasp excitedly and head towards the hot chocolate booth. The old lady smiles brightly at the two of you as you take a look at all the choices. “Oh my god, they have caramel flavored!” you cheer, basically already drooling at the thought of a good, caramel flavored hot chocolate.

“What can I get for the lovely couple?” the lady smiles warmly at the two of you and you freeze at her assumption.

“Oh we—“ you start, but Harry cuts you off.

“A caramel flavored and a plain one, please,” he orders, without even batting an eye about how the lady just called you a couple. You can feel your cheeks heating up at the thought, but you try to calm yourself. He probably just didn’t want to get into explaining that you two are not an item and let her think what she wanted.

The nice lady hands you your mug and you take Harry’s as well as he pays for both of them. You would try to argue with him and pay yours, but you are already used to how stubborn he is and he never lets you split anything, it’s always on him.

“Thank you, have a nice day!” Harry calls out to the lady before the two of you leave. You peek at him handing him his mug, looking for any clue that would give away if this little scene got him just as bothered as it did you, but he looks perfectly fine and relaxed, so you decide not to bring it up. You’re sure he didn’t think much of it.

Your little stroll stretches into the afternoon, the four of you decide to have lunch out there too, then you just opt for a walk in town as Gemma wants to do a quick last minute Christmas shopping, so by the time you get home Anne is already over at yours helping your mum with dinner. Tonight you are all eating at yours, then tomorrow it’s the Styles’ turn to host, this is how you agreed this year.

“Woah, it smells amazing!” you call out walking into the house. The delicious smells fill up the whole place and you hear the two women giggling in the kitchen.

“Hi Honey, how was the market?” your mum greets you, a glass of red wine in her hand and the same goes for Anne.

“Great, we have a new mug,” you say holding up the emptied out hot chocolate mug. Stepping to the sink you wash it quickly and drying off you put it away in one of the cabinets.

You stick around in the kitchen and not so much later Harry comes over, the two of you leave your mums alone and get comfortable in front of the telly.

All channels are filled with holiday movies and you don’t mind, really, you like them all even if you’ve seen them a million times, you still find them funny and cute. Harry feels the same way, so when you settle on Love Actually he doesn’t say a word.

What startles you is that he grabs your ankles and pulls your legs over his lap, a small shriek escaping your mouth since you weren’t expecting him to do that. You’re sitting sideways, your legs are bent at the knee and Harry is kind of hugging them as his eyes are glued to the screen.

You find it rather hard to focus on the movie when Harry’s fingers keep fidgeting on your legs, they keep running up and down, sometimes he lays his hands flat on your knees, there’s no spot he hasn’t touched since you started watching the movie.

About an hour into the film he turns to you and you look at him in question.

“’M in the mood to cuddle,” he announces and starts moving around, not even letting you protest as he basically crawls to your lap, resting his head on your stomach as the two of you lay on the couch.

“Am I now your personal pillow?” you ask chuckling, but you wouldn’t want him to move for anything. Feeling him weigh down on you just feels so warm and simple but amazing.

“The best one,” he mumbles, bringing a hand to your side as you let your fingers comb through his curls.

You keep massaging his scalp and he lets out soft moans when you go over a soft spot, you can’t help but chuckle as he melts under your hands. His fingers start drawing circles on your side and the movie is long forgotten by you, all you can focus on is how great it is to have Harry so close to you. He is known to be a physical person, you are used to hugs and touches, but it seems like he is a little needier now than the usual.

You don’t mind it though, you just try to enjoy the moment, because it can end anytime.

Gemma and Michal come over a little before seven, and while your mums finish up the cooking the four of you set the table. You grab the crystal glasses and start placing them to the table, Harry lending you a hand. Once the table is all set you shuffle into the kitchen to see if there’s anything you can help with, Harry following you behind, placing a hand to the small of your back.

As you stand and wait for you mum to finish up the meals so you can help carry them to the table you feel Harry’s hand wander over to your hip, giving it a squeeze as he stands closer, so his chest is pressed against your back.

“Harry?” you ask a little out of breath.

“Hm?” he innocently hums.

“What’s with you today?” Turning your head to the side your eyes lock with his, but he just shrugs smiling.

“Guess I just missed yeh a lot.”

“You’re weird,” you chuckle shaking your head, but don’t make an effort to push him away. His touch feels way too good to put an end to it and you just want to be selfish a little longer.

His hands leave you when the two of you help to bring the food to the table, and you almost wish they would just return, but you gotta swallow the thought.

The food is amazing, as always. You all sip on some wine, just having a genuinely good time, enjoying that all of you are back at one place, something that rarely happens now that all three of you kids are all grown up.

At one point Harry rests his arm on the back of your chair, no one seems to notice but you. All these little things have been driving you crazy all day and your mind seems to be playing a nasty game with you. There’s no way Harry thinks of these details more than what they are, a friendly gesture towards an old friend of his.

When Gemma is telling a story about some weird guy she met at work Harry reaches up and pushes your hair behind your ear, his finger lingering over your neck a little longer than you would have expected. Turning to face him you give him a questioning look, not sure what to think about his needy and touchy self all of a sudden.

“What?” you mouth him, but he just smiles at you absentmindedly, curling a strand of hair around his finger, playing with it for a moment before letting go of it and going for another lock. You reach up and pull his hand away, feeling yourself heating up from his touch, but when you are about to let go of his hand he grabs yours, lacing your fingers together with yours as he rests them on his thigh.

“Harry…” you breathe out, glancing at the others, relieved to see that they are not paying much attention to the two of you.

“What? Am I not allowed to touch you?” he asks with a smug smirk and you roll your eyes at him.

“As I said, you’re weird,” you mumble under your breath looking down at your now empty plate. Harry gives your hand a squeeze.

“But like, the good kind of weird, yeah?”

“Shut up,” you chuckle shaking your head at him.

You try to tell yourself he is just needy because it’s been so long since you last saw each other. It can’t be more, you push even the smallest thought to the back of your mind, though it surely lingers there throughout the evening.

He helps you with washing the dishes, you stand arm to arm at the sink as you scrub the plates and hand over to him for drying. He gently hums to himself all along, swaying his hips, bumping against yours. At first you resist it, but then you catch the rhythm and start moving along, so your hips meet in the middle before swinging to the opposite side.

“What’s the song?” you ask finishing up the last plate.

“Just something random,” he shrugs smirking over at you. You hand him the last plate, he is still singing, making up gibberish lyrics to his song and once he puts the plate down he throws the kitchen cloth to the counter and easily grabs your waist pulling you against him as he starts swaying with you to his impromptu song. You let out a small shriek at the sudden movement, but eventually melt into his hold. The humming slowly turns into an all too familiar melody as Harry starts singing Sweet Creature into your ear, slow dancing in the kitchen while you hear your mums and Gemma laugh outside somewhere.

Your hands run up his arms and stop behind his neck as you lock your fingers and let him hold you close, his palms are pressed to your waist, fingers gently stroking you through the fabric of your shirt. You take a deep breath and his cologne fills your nose, one of your favorite scents, sometimes you just wish you could spray it on your pillow so it would always smell like him.

“Sweet creature, wherever I go, you bring me home…” he softly sings, leaning back just enough for your eyes to meet. It feels like your heart is about to burst out of your chest, it’s not the first time you feel so intimidated by him, like you could pass out any moment, but this is a little different. As if his eyes were telling you another story, but you can’t completely make up the words.

“Sweet creature, when I run out of road, you bring me home, you’ll bring me home.” He finishes the song, hums the closing melody and you watch him in complete awe. Your lips part when you catch his gaze move down to them and you swear you see him leaning closer, as if he is about to kiss you. Your breath gets caught in your throat, he is so close, just a few more inches and you’d taste those perfect lips of his, the ones you’ve been dreaming about for way too long.

It almost happens, it seems, but just when that last push is about to set in Gemma waltz into the kitchen and you step back faster than light, pushing him away even though the sudden lack of his touch is more painful than you were expecting.

“You guys—Oh, what’s up?” she asks stopping at the door and you feel yourself getting redder with each passing moment, the heat crawling up your neck, ears cheeks, right to the top of your head. What were you thinking? You let yourself believe Harry would ever kiss you, this whole scene was nothing more than just a friendly moment the two of you were sharing.

“I’m—sorry,” you breathe out making your way out of the kitchen, right up to your room to have some well needed space.

“Way to ruin everything,” Harry snickers at his sister.

“You joking? You wanted to kiss her in her mum’s kitchen?” Gemma snaps at him in disbelief.

“We were having a moment,” he mumbles rubbing his face with his hands. “Up until you stomped in with your big mouth.”

“Well, if you were havin’ a moment, just make it happen again.”

“As if it’s that easy, Gemma!” he scoffs throwing his hands in the air.

“Man up and tell her how you feel, don’t have to complicate it too much,” she shrugs before walking out and leaving her brother alone. Harry growls in frustration, the gears in his head turning wildly as he is trying to figure out how to come clear to you about his feelings.

 Meanwhile, up in your room you get out your laptop and busy yourself with checking up on messages and emails you’ve been ignoring, hoping that the uneasy feeling in your chest will ease very soon. Your hands were shaking when you locked yourself up in your room, but as you get focused on other tasks you slowly gain your balance back.

You kind of even forget that the Styles’ were over, you only realize that you abruptly pulled yourself out of the evening when there’s a soft knock on your door.

“Come on in!” you call out and a moment later Harry’s head pops in, eyes softly falling on your sitting figure on the bed. “Hey,” you smile at him faintly.

“Hey. Thought you were sleepin’s or summat.” Coming inside he closes the door behind him then sits on your plush rug in the middle of the room.

“Just… sorted some work related things out,” you sigh.

“Working during the holidays? Tha’s not healthy.”

“I know, I’m done,” you smile shutting the laptop down and putting it aside. “Sorry I disappeared, I just—“

“No worries,” Harry shakes his head. “Mum and Gems went home, they thought you were sleeping too, tha’s why they didn’t say goodbye.”

“Oh, alright.”

“But I thought we could have a sleepover,” he peeks at you with a boyish smile.

“What, like we did in middle school?” you chuckle.

“Yea, thought it would be fun.”

“Well, I don’t think my bed would fit us comfortably and we don’t have the mattress anymore that you used to sleep on,” you tell him looking around.

“Nonsense, I’m not tha’ big,” he insists hopping to his feet and throwing himself on the bed, ignoring that you’re already there. His body takes up more than half on the bed , limbs wrapping around you as he brings you down to the mattress next to him, you can’t help the laugh that leaves your lips.

“You’re like a gigantic baby, Harry!” you laugh as he keeps you down on the bed with his arm.

“It’s perfectly fine for two people,” he mumbles with a smirk, closing his eyes as his head sinks into your pillow.

“Do you ever get no as an answer?” you ask looking at him in awe. You can never get used to seeing him so up close, like not many get to.

“No,” he huffs in satisfaction, his arm bringing you closer to him and you just giggle at him.

“I’m not sleeping just yet, gotta have a shower first.”

“Do what you want, I’ll be here,” he mumbles but you snort at him.

“You’re not sleeping in my bed without having a shower,” you tell him before you grab your pajamas and head to the bathroom.

You have a quick shower and get done with all your evening business. Returning to your room you find Harry sitting on the floor, his back against the side of the bed as he is scrolling through his phone.

“Does mum know you’re staying over?” you ask him as you throw your used clothes into the hamper, moving around the room while feeling his eyes on you.

“Yeah. ‘S all good.”

“You need a towel?”

“Yes please,” he says pushing himself up from the floor.

“Clothes?” you ask with an arched brow. He just grins at you and it’s enough of an answer. “Here,” you give him the shirt and sweats he has left at yours quite some time ago, along with a clean towel.

“Thanks,” he smirks before leaving to occupy the bathroom.

He doesn’t take long in there, you’re lying in bed already when he returns, smelling like your shower gel, strawberry and melon.

He throws his clothes to the chair in the corner and then lies beside you on the bed. You scoot over to the wall to give him space, but he is quick to bring you closer to him once he has made himself comfortable. You lay your head on his shoulder as you are both scrolling through your phones.

When you had enough, you throw yours to the nightstand, and stay cuddled up to his side.

“Do you remember the last time I slept here?” he asks tossing his phone to the nightstand and bringing his arms around you.

“Mm, was it at my twentieth birthday?”

“Yeah. You were so wasted,” he chuckles and you smirk to yourself

“But you took good care of me.”

“I did. You were so cute, rambling about how much you love me when I took you home from the pub.”

You bite into your bottom lip. You still remember that night vividly. Your birthday party had gone a little wild and you had gotten drunker than you intended to. Luckily, he was there to bring your home and he stayed in the bathroom with you as you threw up everything you ate and drank that evening. Then he made you take a shower, got you fresh clothes out and helped you get into bed. He slept next to you that night, holding you in his arms, gently caressing your back and upper arm as you fell into your drunken slumber. In the morning you told yourself he just did what any other friend would do, helping you out when you were clearly knocked out, but he made you breakfast in the morning since your mum was working all night and morning and he stayed over later the afternoon to make sure you were alright.

What you told him in your drunken state about loving him, it wasn’t just your friendly side, it was your drunken self coming clear to him, telling him that you are in love with him, but he didn’t take it seriously and you were too ashamed and awkward to even bring it up to him after that, so it was all forgotten very soon.

Following that you planned on telling him how you feel, several times. You even wrote a little speech you planned to give him when the time comes, but you couldn’t do it. The fear of losing him if he doesn’t feel the same was stronger than you expected and every time you had the chance to come clear, you chickened out. The thought of losing him as a friend is way worse than having to push your feelings down... forever. You just can’t imagine your life without Harry in it and you can’t risk losing him.

The two of you talk for quite a while, laughing about the good old times, until you both fall asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night you wake up and feel Harry wrapped around you, his head lying on your chest as he is snoring softly. He truly is like a big baby, an arm thrown over your stomach, his legs tangled with yours. Good Lord, how amazing it feels to have him so close to you!

Reaching up you tangle your fingers through his hair gently so he doesn’t wake up, his soft curls glide between your fingers easily and lifting your head you kiss the top of his head before letting yourself drift back to sleep.

When you open your eyes the next time the situation is the opposite, you are the one cuddled up to Harry’s side who is scrolling through his phone with one hand, keeping the other one on your arm.

“Mornin’, sleepy head,” he chuckles softly when he sees you awake.

“Mmm, what time is it?” you ask letting your head rest on his chest a little longer.

“Quarter to nine. You can sleep a little more if you want, it’s not that late.”

“No, I promised mum I’d help her wrap gifts,” you sigh rolling over to your stomach as you push yourself up to your elbows to look at him. “Love the double chin you got going there,” you tease him sleepily and he just smirks.

“Yea? Quite cute, right? Worked a lot on it,” he jokes running his finger over it before letting out a chuckle. “Ready for our battle today?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. You are going down this year, Styles,” you tell him pushing yourself up into a sitting position. Harry only pushes himself further on the bed enough to rest his head against the headboard.

“Oh really? I wouldn’t be that sure about tha’,” he warns you, but you are feeling pretty confident about your performance this year. There’s no way he can top it.

“We’ll see. Alright, I need a coffee. Want something for breakfast?” you ask him crawling out of the bed.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

Your mum is already in the kitchen, sipping on her morning coffee while reading the paper. She doesn’t find it even a bit weird that Harry spent the night at yours, it’s been quite the usual for you. Harry helps you make eggs and bacon and the three of you eat together, having a lovely time and you genuinely feel like it’s just like in the good old times when you were still living home and Harry wasn’t Harry Styles, but the boy from across the street.

He goes home after breakfast to help his own mum with the cooking for tonight’s dinner and you don’t do much for the rest of the day, just spend time with your mum, watch movies and relax. It’s nice to unwind after such a busy year behind you.

Not long before five you go to take a shower and get ready to head over to the Styles’ and you pack everything you’ll need for the evening: gifts, ugly sweater, accessories. Harry is going down this year for sure.

It’s a little past six when you and your mum walk across the street, Anne’s Christmas lights are putting the little town house into the spirit for sure. You don’t even ring the bell, just walk straight in, like you always do. The Christmas tree stands tall in their living room and the table is already nicely set. Gemma and Michal are snuggled up on the couch while Harry is helping Anne in the kitchen with the finishing touches.

“I’m rooting for you this year,” Gemma winks at you when you set down your bag in the corner that has everything you’ll need for your performance.

“He’s gonna lose this round,” you smirk proudly, very sure in yourself.

Harry greets you with a bright smile and a tight hug when he walks into the living room, as if you didn’t just see each other a few hours earlier.

When the food is ready you all sit down to eat, and though you’re trying your best to focus on the conversation, you’re getting excited about tonight’s karaoke battle.

“Anxious much?” Harry asks you quietly.

“Why are you asking?”

He doesn’t answer, just places a hand to your thigh stopping it from shaking, making you realize you’ve been probably bouncing it all along. He smirks at you as you just roll your eyes at him.

“’S okay, you can handle one more year of losing,” he teases you and you give him an arched eyebrow.

“Don’t be so full of yourself, Harry,” you warn him, but he just squeezes your thigh again before bringing his hands back up to the table, leaving you a little breathless with his touch.

You all help clean up the table after dinner and when it’s done, you gather in the living room to open gifts.

When Harry’s career launched, the first few years you felt anxious about gifting him, because you felt like you couldn’t give him enough. He had all the money and bought everything he needed for himself, there wasn’t much you could give him. But when one time, you admitted to him this struggle of yours he assured you that it doesn’t matter what you give him, it’ll always be precious to him.

“You thought about me, you took the time to buy something for me, and that’s more than enough, Y/N,” he told you and though it took you time, but you got used to it. Especially when you saw the same excitement in his eyes every time you gifted something to him, you slowly but surely realized he wasn’t expecting a Gucci suit, but a thoughtful gesture.

Gathering in the living room you open the presents one by one and just as always, everyone was quite creative with the gifts. You can’t help but still feel a little anxious when Harry grabs his gift from you. Giving you an excited look he unties the little bow on the top and tears the wrapping paper off.

“Y/N!” he breathes out, eyes softening as he pulls the knitted cardigan out of the box.

“I always saw you wearing all sorts of cardigans and so I finally had a reason to learn how to knit, so I thought I would make one for you,” you ramble as he holds up the baby blue cardigan that has little daisies all over the front. It took you an entire week to just make the daisies, you worked on the whole cardigan for more than two months, usually in the middle of the night, staying up until unholy hours to finish in time.

But Harry’s smile is worth it all, he is beaming, clearly so in love with what you made him, so you breathe out relieved. He then puts it aside and wraps his arms around you pulling you into the tightest hug.

“Thank you, I love it so much,” he mumbles and kisses your temple and you breathe in his sweet scent, burying yourself in his embrace, hugging his waist.

When you part, Harry reaches for a box from under the tree and hands it to you, a nervous smile tugging on his lips. You can tell he wrapped the gift himself, the silver wrapping paper is a little uneven, but the huge rainbow colored bow on the top is the perfect touch that makes it like a piece of him.

You carefully tear the paper off, peeking inside you just see a plain box that doesn’t give much away. Glancing up at Harry you see how he is anxiously biting his bottom lip, even though you’d be happy with a gift as small as a candle. It’s the thought that counts.

“I-I wasn’t sure if this was the one you mentioned to me, so I hope it’s gonna be alright,” he mumbles, eyes fixed on your hands as they open the box, while you try to think back what you have told him about that caught his attention, but you just can’t recall what you wanted to get so badly you told Harry about it.

As you open the box you don’t process what it is immediately, the plastic wrapper making it hard to figure it out, but when you carefully pull out the object, you gasp in surprise.

“Harry!” you breathe out as you pull off the plastic of the old, vintage polaroid camera. It’s not one of these new types you can buy in stores easily, this is a classic, must have quite a history behind it.

Now you vaguely remember talking about longing for an oldschool, vintage camera, but it was months ago and you’ve forgotten about the whole thing since these devices cost a fortune because there aren’t many left from them. But now there’s one in your hands, because Harry not only listened to you, but he remembered and went out of his way to find you one in amazing condition.

“This must have cost a fortune!” you huff, your heart pounding in your chest, though you already know it doesn’t matter to him.

“This face is worth every penny,” he smiles at you softly before you throw yourself at him for another round of hugging. This man surely knows how to have you wrapped around his fingers.

The two of you sit on the floor as you figure out how to make the camera work, Harry bought everything needed, so you have a few packs of films as well. When it’s all done you bring it up to your face and aim it at Harry. It takes him a moment to realize that you’re about to snap your first photo and he tries to snatch the camera away, but it’s too late, the flash goes off and the device pushes out the undeveloped picture.

“You wasted your first snap on me?” he protests rubbing his eyes after the flash blinded him for a little.

“It’s not a waste,” you tell him as you patiently wait for the picture to finally appear.

Slowly, the colors start to show and in a couple of minutes Harry’s face appears, his hand reaching in the direction of the camera, looking out of focus, only his face appearing clearly. He looks so delicate, his eyes dazzling as a soft smile plays on his lips. This moment now will live forever not just in your mind, but on this photo.

 Harry goes out with his karaoke performance this year for sure and you’d be actually anxious about him winning if only you didn’t have the absolutely best performance right in your pocket.

His sweater this year features some really ugly looking penguins and a horroristic reindeer on the back, it’s really ugly and you can’t even imagine who thought it would be fine to make it and then sell it. His choice of music is also excellent, he has a great eye for songs you’d never imagine him perform and then shock everyone with it. This year, he chose Rude Boy by none other than Rihanna, and it’s fantastic, no one can make it through the song without crying. Harry makes sure to put on his best show, even dancing and twerking unapologetically, trying everything to win the battle and you are amazed by his effort. Above all the fun and jokes, he nails the song, that’s undeniable. It always baffles you how he can just slay any and all genres, even the ones that stand a million miles away from his style.

When the song is over, you all cheer for him, because he truly deserves it. He grins down at you in victory, but you just give him a challenging smirk.

“You can just give up now, if you want,” he teases you as you stand up from the couch and the two of you trade places.

“Oh, I think you should be the one to worry about losing,” you warn him grabbing your bag. Stepping to Gemma you whisper into her ear, instructing her to put on your song when you call out from the bathroom, since you are planning on do a grandiose entrance. When she hears what song you’ll be singing she gasps.

“Oh my fucking God, no way!” he looks at your with wide eyes.

“What? What is it?” Harry asks, dying to know what you just told his sister, but you shake your head at him.

“Patience,” you tell him before locking yourself up in the bathroom.

This year, you didn’t find the sweater, the sweater found you. On one of your thrift tours, you were digging up a huge pile of clothes when you came right across it and you knew what you needed to do.

Putting on the sweater you fix up your hair quickly before putting on your party glasses, the one that lights up if you switch it on. You take one last look at yourself in the mirror and smirk at your reflection knowing well you’ll have everyone dead when you walk out.

“Gemma! You can start it!” you call out with your hand on the doorknob, waiting to hear the music. Gemma quickly starts in and you haven’t even stepped out, you can hear a round of gasps.

Best Song Ever blasts through the speakers and you walk out trying your best to imitate a younger version of Harry, wearing the absolute ugliest Christmas sweater ever, that has the faces of One Direction all over it, filling up every inch of the fabric, and all of them have poorly photoshopped Santa hats on, it’s just literal trash and ridiculously perfect for the battle.

You grab the mic and start singing as everyone screams in the room. You jump, sing and even do the dance moves the boys do in the original music video, and when you look at Harry you see him staring at you in disbelief and total defeat. Everyone knows you won, nothing can top this performance ever and you could burst from the sweet feeling of victory.

By the end of the song everyone is up on their feet dancing and singing with you, a mini party forming in the middle of the living room and you all scream the last lines as the song comes to its end.

“I think we don’t even need to vote this time,” you say when the music stops, everyone screaming in agreement while Harry stares down at you, trying to hide his growing smirk.

“Where did you even find this?” he asks chuckling as he takes a better look at the sweater.

“At a thrift store, it called out my name, knew it’d be perfect.”

“It really is ugly, if I’m being honest,” he sighs, his eyes meeting yours again. “And the song… I accept defeat, you earned this victory, Y/N,” he tells you bowing and admitting your victory.

 Later that night everyone is so keen on watching Holiday, you agree to stay even though you feel your eyelids heavily weighing down, threatening to close with each passing moment. You let your head rest on Harry’s shoulder and he presses his cheek against the crown of your head.

It’s not a surprise you fall asleep halfway into the movie, but what you weren’t expecting is to wake up and find yourself not on the couch anymore, but in Harry’s bed. It’s dark, only the moon is shining through his windows and as you turn to the right you see that he is sleeping peacefully next to you on his back, one arm spread next to him, hand hanging from the edge, the other one resting on his stomach, rising and falling in a slow rhythm.

Squinting your eyes you look at the digital clock on his dresser, it reads 3:23 am so you’ve been asleep for quite a few hours now. You don’t even remember him bringing you up here, but you’re definitely not mad that he didn’t bring you home, just up to his room.

Rolling to your side you give yourself a moment to adorn his beauty without fearing he would catch your wandering eyes. Everything seems so perfect about him, the line of his nose, his cupid’s bow that delicately rolls into her lips. The crease between his eyebrows, his soft skin on his cheeks, down his neck that runs into his broad shoulders and inked, strong arms. You truly think there’s no man that could compare to him and you are lucky enough to live your life so close to him, be able to touch him, hear his voice whenever you miss him, see his smile and share a connection with him.

It’s so silly, but you think of him as your personal ray of sunshine in your life. Just the smallest things about him can brighten your worst day, he’ll always have a special place in your heart, no matter where life takes the two of you.

Watching him sleeping you allow yourself to break free from your doubts and fears and scooting closer you shyly curl up to his side, your head resting on his shoulder, but you can’t even make yourself comfortable before you feel him moving under you.

Sucking on your breath you think he’ll push you away, not wanting you so close, but instead, he pulls his arm from under you, curling around your frame as he pulls you tight to him, almost making you lie on top of him. Your whole body is pressed against him and you mingle a leg between his long ones under the soft sheets. You let out a long huff at the warm touch of his body against your skin, completely lost in him.

“You alright?” he mumbles in his sleep laced voice, his eyes remain closed.

“Yeah. Is this okay?” you nervously ask as you lay your hand flat on his stomach. He brings his hand that was hanging from the bed on his other side and covers yours, as he squeezes you tight to his side.

“’M all yours,” he breathes out, his words sending a shiver down your spine. You’re sure he didn’t mean it like that, but it warmed your heart to hear it from him and you let your mind play with the thought that there was more behind his words than a friendly manner.

Nuzzling your head into his chest you close your eyes and listening to his steady heartbeat you let yourself fall back asleep.

 Your morning is filled with coffee, pancakes, laughter and great company. Harry doesn’t let you leave without having breakfast with them, so you sit with the Styles family and laugh about the craziest stories from your teenage years.

“Remember when we tried to run away?” Harry grins at you, his red mug that had white polka dots all over it in his hands as he eyes you.

“Oh, how could I forget that?” you huff and Gemma turns to you with surprise in her eyes.

“Wait, I didn’t know about that!”

“Because we didn’t get too far,” Harry laughs. “We were, what, like fifteen?”

“Yeah, it was a few weeks after my fifteenth birthday,” you nod smiling.

“I had a fight with mum about God knows what, then stormed over to Y/N’s and talked her into running away. So we packed our backpacks and left.”

“Where did you go?” Michal asks with an amused grin as he listens to the story.

“We didn’t want to go into town, running into anyone we know, so we thought we would just go straight out to the meadow that’s there,” Harry says gesturing towards the window. The edge of the town is not so war, and a huge meadow lies there, a little stream running across it. “We walked for quite long, but then it started to get dark and we had nowhere to go, so we just ended up coming back home. No one even noticed we were gone, they thought we just went out to bike or something,” he finishes laughing.

“You knew about this?” Gemma asks Anne.

“Yeah, he came clear the next day, thinking he would piss me off with it, but I didn’t care, he came back for dinner, so it was alright,” Anne explains laughing.

It’s been so long since it happened, but I still remember it vividly, only that it was a more dramatic memory back then, now I can only laugh at it.

“We should go for a walk today,” Harry prompts to you.

“Wanna run away again?” you tease him.

“Always,” he chuckles.

You help cleaning up and agree with Harry to meet outside in an hour to take a walk to the meadow. Going home you take a shower and wash the dishes your mum left in the sink when she left for her morning shift. You put on a pair of boyfriend jeans, a warm sweater and your jacket with your trusty boots and you walk out the house right when Harry steps out as well. He grins in your way as the two of you meet in the middle of the street. He holds his arm out for you.

“M’ lady?” he smirks as you link your arm with his and the two of you head out for your little walk. It’s a gloomy day, might rain later as well, but it’s dry so far, so you’re just hoping to get home before it starts raining. Your runaway attempt wasn’t the only time the two of you came out here, it was kind of your place when you felt like having a break from everyone else. You biked out here, brought your favorite snacks and just ran around, enjoying the stillness.

However it also holds a bitter memory as well.

A little further down among the trees happened Harry’s first kiss and you witnessed it, feeling your heart break to a million pieces when you saw him lock lips with someone who wasn’t you.

Debby Hamilton was a friend of yours in sixth grade, you’d say, your only friend beside Harry and the three of you often hung out together around that time. Debby was a delight, you always desired to be more like her, boys liked her and she knew it damn well, but it didn’t make her cocky and egoistic. You always thought Harry had a crush on her, why would have he? They kind of looked cute together.

It was a Friday afternoon and Harry asked if you wanted to come out and listen to his new cassette he got for his old Walkman he refused to get rid of as technology was evolving. You figured he’d want Debby there as well so you invited her along, but didn’t tell Harry. He never made a move on Debby and you thought he was just looking for the right time.

That afternoon, you were supposed to meet them out there at five, but you didn’t leave until half past five and it takes about twenty minutes to get out there. Though you gave them the alone time technically, it still startled you when you found them under one of the oak trees, Debby leaning her back against the tree as Harry stood in front of her. She was smiling up at him sweetly, saying something to him and you were just about to call out for them and apologize for being late when Harry ducked his head and kissed Debby right in front of your eyes.

That was your first and probably worst heartbreak and you were only twelve. You felt betrayed, hopeless and naïve to think Harry would ever have a thing for you when there were girls like Debby. You left without letting them know you were there. When Harry asked you later why you didn’t come you told him you felt sick to your stomach, which wasn’t a total lie, you had quite the nausea after seeing Harry with Debby, but he didn’t have to know all the details.

He later told you about kissing Debby and you pretended like you didn’t know about it. However they never dated and not long after their kiss Debby drifted away from the two of you. Not that you minded, you had a bitter feeling every time you had to look at her after that, jealousy raging in your chest knowing that she got Harry’s first kiss.

He didn’t bring it up after and you weren’t keen on talking about it, but you still know which tree they were standing under and now as you near the area you see that it still stands tall near the tiny stream.

Peeking up at Harry you see that his eyes are focused on the same tree, but then he catches you looking.

“Memories?” you innocently ask, feeling your chest tightening. You don’t even know why you asked. It’s been over a decade since that kiss, you are both adults, but you still can’t help the sadness that washes over you at just the thought, why would you want to get him talk about it now?

“’S just… that’s the tree I kissed Debby when I was twelve,” he mumbles with a shrug. Biting into your bottom lip you look at the old oak tree nodding your head and before you could stop yourself, you speak up.

“I know.”

“What? How would you? I never told you,” Harry asks stopping, a puzzled look pulling on his face.

“Well I… It doesn’t matter,” you sigh, regretting ever opening your mouth.

“It does. Tell me!” he pleads standing in front of you.

“I know it, because… I was here.”

“You what?”

“I came, I was just very late. And when I arrived you two were standing there and I saw you kiss. I thought I shouldn’t interrupt whatever was happening so I went home and let you two be,” you explain, changing it up a little bit.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why is it important that I saw it? It doesn’t change anything, right?” you ask with a smile that you intended to look innocent, but deep down it’s filled with pain.

Harry opens his mouth as if he wants to say something, but then remains silent and you are done talking about it, so you just quietly keep walking, Harry catching up with you a few moments later.

It’s awfully quiet after your revelation, it seems like Harry is deep in his thoughts and though you’re dying to know what’s occupying his bright thoughts, you’re kind of afraid you’d hear something you didn’t want to.

The two of you soon head back home and slowly, but you forget about the whole Debby thing. Harry starts talking again, but he looks a little keyed up still when you reach your street.

“Wanna come over later?” you ask standing on the pavement in front of your house, it’s just an innocent question. Harry nods his head.

“Sure. Is your mum working?” he asks glancing at the house, though he knows she is, the car is not on the driveway.

“Yeah. She’ll be home around six.”

He nods again and you want to ask if he is alright, but you decide not to. You share a quick hug before he heads over to his home and you do the same. The house waits for you in silence and when the door clicks behind you, it weighs down on you heavier than you were expecting. You hang your jacket, kick your boots off and throw yourself to the couch, covering your eyes with your arm as you huff out in frustration. You feel silly for getting upset about such a small thing even after so much time, but you just can’t help it.

You barely realize the sound of the front door opening, taking your arm off your eyes you see Harry walk in, eyebrows furrowed, a worried look on his handsome face.

“Harry—“ “I was waiting for you that day,” he simply says as you sit up with wide eyes, confused about what he is really talking about.

“What?”

“That day, we agreed to meet out there to listen to my new Stevie Wonder cassette, but you didn’t show up, Debby did even though I didn’t invite her out there.”

“Well, I did, thought you wanted her there too,” you explain, startled by the situation.

“I would have invited her if I wanted her to be there, but I wanted to be with you. Only you.”

“I-I’m sorry?” you breathe out, not seeing where he is going with it.

“Y/N, you don’t understand,” he huffs and he is right. You don’t. “I wanted to meet you, but you never came, or at least I thought. Then Debby showed up, I was frustrated that you weren’t there and she was being all nice, telling me how cute I looked when I was worried and it all just happened so fast and… I didn’t even want to kiss her.” He looks properly upset telling you the story and he takes a deep breath before his eyes meet yours with a hard stare. “I wanted to be with you,” he repeats.

“Harry, I’m sorry, I didn’t—“

He shakes his hair, not even letting you finish, because he knows what you wanted to say and that you still don’t understand the meaning behind his words.

“Y/N, I wanted to kiss you,” he then finally says and you suck on your breath as he continues. “Well, not right then and there, but I’ve been meaning to kiss you, I just didn’t know when. I thought that if we have a moment that afternoon I’d do it, but you never came and I was mad and disappointed. I hated myself for kissing Debby, because I didn’t really want to, it just… happened. I wanted to tell you, and I intended to do it when I told you we kissed, but you acted so happy, I figured you didn’t feel the same way about me as I did for you. So I didn’t tell you the rest, but…” He sighs in defeat, looking for words, but he ran out.

“Why are you telling this to me now?” you ask a little out of breath, your head feeling heavy at the new information you just heard.

“Why didn’t you tell me you saw us and why did you go home without a word?” he asks ignoring your question.

“I… don’t—“

“Don’t try to lie.”

Gulping hard you lick your dried lips as you stare back at him.

“Because I was… jealous.” Your voice comes out only as a whisper. Harry’s lips part as he takes two steps closer to you.

“You had feelings for me?” he asks and you just nod your head, not trusting yourself with your voice. “Do you still have feelings for me?”

“I do,” you whisper your answer and Harry lets out a sharp breath as he leaps across the room in your way. You jump to your feet, thinking that he’ll lash out on your for keeping it a secret and you open your mouth to explain yourself, but you never get to speak up because as Harry reaches you, one hand snaps to the back of your neck, the other one to your waist, yanking you against him as his lips crash to yours.

You gasp in surprise, but it doesn’t take long to kiss him back, your numb mind blindly reacting to his sudden action. Your hands snake up to the back of his neck as you pull him closer, returning his hungry kisses. His soft lips feel so smooth and warm against yours and when his tongue runs along your bottom lip you whimper letting your tongues meet in the middle.

He is intoxicating and it doesn’t help that your adrenaline level is up in the sky, you’ve fantasized about it way too many times, and now that it’s happening your body is burning in flames. He kisses you all over and over again, his body pressing against yours hard and when he even leans in making you lean back, you lose balance and the two of you fall to the couch, both of you gasping as you are forced to part your lips.

“Fuck,” you chuckle as Harry is basically lying on you, holding himself up on his arms, but you feel him everywhere.

“’M sorry, I got a little carried away, but I’ve been dying to do this since forever,” he admits chuckling as he lifts his head and looks down at you with those bright green eyes of his.

“Really?” you breathe out, only slowly processing what’s really just happened.

“Y/N, I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you hiding behind your mum.”

“Idiot, you were just a kid, you weren’t in love,” you chuckle, running up your hands to the back of his neck, your fingers playing with the soft curls. He smirks and nuzzles his nose against yours.

“Oh, I was, I just didn’t know it yet.” Leaning down he pecks your lips softly. “I’ve been meaning to tell you so many times, but I didn’t want it to ruin our friendship. Though I was growing impatient these last few years.”

“Yeah?” you chuckle.

“You can’t imagine,” he huffs shaking his head. I almost kissed you the other day in the kitchen, but Gemma completely ruined the moment.”

“I’m sorry I ran away, I was just—“ “No need to apologize. I guess it all played out well after all, right?” he smirks and you can’t help but chuckle.

“I guess,” you breathe out and the smile slowly fades from your lips. “And now what?” you ask quietly, staring up at him.

“Now… We’ll try to make things work. Test the waters. I’m very serious about this, Y/N,” he tells you. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life so I’m not gonna let go of you now.”

“You have no idea how happy this is making me,” you choke out feeling the tears forming in your eyes.

“Oh Love, please don’t cry,” he begs and leaning down he kisses your tears away. “I’m right here, with you. Sorry it took me so long you get here, but I’m here now.”

“I know,” you huff blinking away the tears as you pull him down and press your lips to his. “I love you, Harry,” you whisper against his perfect lips. You feel him exhale sharply as he keeps kissing you before he lifts his head so your eyes meet again.

“I’ve always loved you.”

 Thank you for reading, let me know what you thought about it!

#harry #styles #harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles au #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fluff #harry styles one shot #harry styles x reader #harry styles xyou #harry styles x y/n #harry styles imagine #fanficmas2020 #fanficmas 2020 #watchmegetobsessed fanficmas #watchmegetobsessed fanficmas 2020

[nikadoesanart]

My predictions on BSD getting animated going forward

I’ll be taking a look at the novel page counts (Japanese and English) and comparing them to the screen time they’ve gotten so far and then using this to predict how long the remaining light novel adaptations will be (approximately). At the end will also be my rough prediction/hopes for the order of some of these being adapted. I say some because I have yet to read what there is so far of the gaiden novel translations, the main story manga has essentially still been on the DOA arc almost since where the anime left off, and I personally think that it’s currently too soon for Storm Bringer (aside from money purposes).

Note, most of this was written well before the anime 5th anniversary livestream but the announcements wound up not affecting it. I then of course made adjustments as needed account for the novel content we do have so far, both in Japanese and in English (officially).

Page to Episode Count

Not counting the afterward, ads, etc for the English/US copy, Japanese is including it

Also all eng page counts are using the Yen Press release and jp page counts are taken from the fandom wiki

*148 is purely counting the Untold Origins portion of the novel. If we also count the A Day at the Agency short story that’s included before it (56 pages), then we get the full 203

Also the English page count for BEAST was noted before the English release date but after page counts have been posted by affiliated retailers, so subtract a couple pages from the written count of 176 for the time being to account for the afterward and possible character sheets being included

Now that we have our page to episode counts (as of April 5th, 2021), let’s find the actual content run time of what we do have animated so far.

Seasons 1-3 and the OVA all have the same episode length/duration. Each episode is 23 minutes, and we can subtract 3 minutes on average from that to account for the OP and ED being played. This leaves us with an average of 20 minutes of BSD story content per episode. So on average, each of the first 3 seasons contain 240 minutes, or 4 hours, worth of story content.

Dead Apple’s total run time is 91 minutes, with the OP and ED making up 9 of those minutes. However, we do have a bit of the story content being played while the ED is playing (as sometimes happens in the anime as well). To keep the math simple, I’ll be approximating story content time at 82 minutes.

Apply these numbers to the novels that have been animated so far and this is (approximately) what we get:

Now let’s use these numbers to predict the screen time needed for the other novels

Note that we can’t really use Entrance Exam as a fair measure because of how much got cut out (just compare the run time of it to Dark Era and it speaks for itself). However, the numbers for Dark Era and Dead Apple are the best ones to use, as they both have minimal changes between anime and novel and both have official English translations currently available. Take out the approximate time taken up by OP/ED and and the numbers pretty much match up.

So with that being said, we can estimate Untold Origins (only) at approximately 3 eps/60 min and 55 Minutes at 1h 40-55min/100-115 min or 5-6 eps if it doesn’t get a movie. We can also estimate the A Day at the Detective Agency short story at the beginning of Untold Origins to take up about 1 ep, probably even a bit less.

1+ 3 + 5-6 = 9-10 episodes which isn’t enough for a full single cour season unless they all get put into one big OVA season, but also 10-11 eps (or less) seasons are a thing (ie. Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited, Blood Lad, Black Butler: Book of Circus, The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of a Holy War, FLCL)

My personal predictions/hopes for the anime adaptation timeline going forward

This is considering the manga content, current “pausing/stopping points” what wouldn’t be too awkward, each of the novels relevancy/necessity to the main story manga, and assuming we continue with single cour (12-13 ep) seasons

Hopefully/ideally a 55 Minutes movie

S4: ch 54-70

Early S5 (preferably) or end of S4: Untold Origins or A Day at the Agency

S5: ch 71-88/around where we are now?

A Day at the Agency can, in my opinion at least, be chucked in at any point either as a single episode OVA or as the light novel content for s4 (maybe not even taking a full episode and then starting ch 54 in the last few minutes for example). Keep in mind that the current DOA arc is a long one and has plenty to it, so personally I think it may even be better to not include a novel adaptation in a future S4, as it would likely already be a right squeeze content wise. Remember, we also have a few XX.5 chapters that are continuations of the chapter directly before them.

I still need to read what’s currently available of the gaiden novel fan translations but it can probably be adapted at any point as well. I’m estimating approximately 5-6 eps as an OVA series. I don’t really think it would get a movie, partially because you can make it only so long, especially since it’s an anime movie and unlike Storm Bringer, it doesn’t have Chuuya to practically guarantee the profit.

BEAST also doesn’t directly impact the main story and can be adapted at virtually any point. However, seeing as we do have a live action confirmed for it and it’s page count lines up very closely with Dark Era, it can be either 4 eps or (more likely in my opinion) a movie, as it can be considered almost stand alone content.

Personally, I believe it is currently way too soon to animate Storm Bringer as it came out only a little over a month ago (as of writing this) and has minimal plot necessity as of ch 91, but I do believe it should be either split into 2 movies (a part 1 and part 2) or it would need 8 episodes, likely as an OVA season. If it were to get animated sooner than 55 Minutes or Untold Origins, which I believe to be very unlikely, I feel that it would almost certainly be driven by the financial gains of Chuuya being included, and his popularity alone. Reminder, SB is about Chuuya and not SKK. Dazai’s appearance in SB is proportionally a very small percentage and he’s not even mentioned in the official plot summary.

However, you can argue that SB is starting to have some relevance now, with the recent mention of the Order of the Clock Tower in ch 90 and the increased relevance of sealed ability weapons in ch 91. However, I really do believe that you can’t adapt Storm Bringer before 55 Minutes because of Standard Island and its treaty, it also talks about sealed ability weapons, knowing who Wells is, and 55 Minutes canonically takes place during the “downtime” portion of S3. In fact, here’s Asagiri’s words directly from the Afterward (translation by Yen Press):

“this volume didn’t take place in the past, but rather sometime after the tenth volume of the manga. In other words, it’s a tale about the ‘usual’ detective agency in novel format.” (55 minutes, p 237)

Untold Origins also should be adapted sooner rather than later (at least compared to SB in my opinion) because it’s about Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s shared past, which becomes increasingly relevant ch 70 onwards, as well as the need for the ADA being founded (which ties in with Yosano’s backstory in ch 65-66).

In regards to whether I think each of these would be better suited to a movie adaptation or as multiple regular length anime episodes, it’s mainly due to page count and partly due to the budget difference between the two, as well as how difficult I think it would be to animate each of these based on what needs to be drawn. The anime industry isn’t the fastest to switch to newer technology, hence why we see issues with 3D blending sometimes. I really do think that at the very least, 55 Minutes deserves the movie budget because of how detailed and complex the architecture of Standard Island is described as, as well all the mechanical parts needed for the final battle of the novel. Hate the lizard mouths introduced in Dead Apple all you want, but you can’t deny that the 3D cgi was blended very smoothly. For any of the other novels to be movies, it’s more so because gaiden and BEAST can be considered their own stand alone stories that don’t rely too heavily on the main story in terms of when they take place and get adapted. I feel that SB is more likely to get its own season or an OVA season more so due to its length, but multiple part anime movies have also been done before (ie. the Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel movies), so it’s not entirely impossible. Especially considering that merely having any Chuuya screen time means that you can expect the profit and popularity to really go up, especially with SKK being on screen together (regardless of whether you love or hate how the fandom tends to push a shipping POV on them).

These are all of course just my hopes and predictions and estimates based on information currently available, so take them with some salt. I’d love to hear opinions on how, when, and why each of the currently non animated novels should be adapted going forward. Also please stop begging the relevant BSD official Twitter pages for SB to be animated next and go read the other light novels you Chuuya simp

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #bsd theories #bsd dead apple #bungo stray dogs #bsd manga #bsd storm bringer #bsd light novel #bsd anime #bsd 55 minutes #bsd beast #bsd gaiden #bsd untold origins

[denimbex1986]

'One year since the epic reveal of David Tennant returning as the Doctor following the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration, Doctor Who has released a behind-the-scenes video of how the regeneration came to be.

No one can forget the moment when Jodie Whittaker's Doctor bid farewell and said: "That's the only sad thing... I wanna know what happens next. Right then, Doctor whoever I'm about to be – tag, you're it!" And we were soon met with a very familiar face.

The new video shows how Tennant developed the regeneration with the crew, and how Whittaker was still a part of the process.

Filmed in 2022, Tennant said: "I have no idea what is going on in this scene, all I know is I turn up at the end of it. I've not been allowed to see anything else. It's all a mystery to me.

"Jodie was supposed to turn into me but Jodie's not here. She did her bit a long time ago. We were texting through the whole experience, I wanted her to feel like she was sharing it in the moment."

Fans can see Tennant filming in front of a green screen, attempting to mimic how Jodie Whittaker's final scene went as she wasn't in attendance.

Rachel Talalay, who has directed the first of David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor 60th anniversary specials, explained she was given the footage of Jodie's regeneration and had to ensure her turning into David was executed perfectly.

One part of the video shows Talalay explaining to Tennant how the regeneration is going to work.

"So by the time you come out of that into the forward position. It will be fully you. And then you'll have to tell us what you want to do," she tells him, to which he responds: "[I'll] do it exactly as I did it last time."

In the iconic regeneration, Tennant's Doctor says: "I know these teeth," which is a reference to the Tenth Doctor's first words ("New teeth... that's weird."), before then saying Ten's classic "What? What?! WHAT?!"

Speaking about watching Doctor Who regenerations as a child, Tennant said: "I remember as a kid those moments when the Doctor changed. It was mind-blowing, inconceivably exciting. It was the beginning of a new chapter for this show that I loved so much. So you want to try and remember that when you're at the other side of it, telling that story."

Russell T Davies, who returns as Doctor Who showrunner, made it clear that Tennant is "the Fourteenth Doctor", and that there is "something subtler going on that does get revealed".

Tennant recently teased the upcoming Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, saying the instalments will be "unlike any episode ever".

While details about what the specials will entail remain shrouded in secrecy, Tennant said: "I was surprised when I saw what that first script was based on, then I read the second script, which is unlike any Doctor Who episode ever. These new specials are Russell off the leash."

Towards the end of the video, Tennant said the intention behind the regeneration was to "take a few people by surprise".

"Part of the idea of announcing Ncuti's name was so that people would be expecting him to turn up in this scene," he explained.

Ncuti Gatwa was announced as the new Doctor in May 2022, and makes history as the first Black actor be cast as the regular lead in Doctor Who.'

#Doctor Who #60th Anniversary #Russell T. Davies #David Tennant #Ncuti Gatwa #Jodie Whittaker #Rachel Talalay

[heavyarethecrowns]

Forget Wills and Kate - it's Harry who's found love - May 2007

Gazing into the flames of a campfire on the banks of Botswana's Okavango River, a scruffily dressed young man took a sip of his beer and let out a prolonged sigh.

Minutes later, he was pouring his heart out to the three strangers sitting beside him.

"Apparently, he had fallen in love with some girl in Cape Town who was the daughter of a rich businessman in Zimbabwe.

"He seemed really serious about her, saying he couldn't understand how he had fallen head-over-heels only four days after meeting her," one of those fellow travellers later recalled.

The love-sick youth was, of course, Prince Harry, then on holiday in Africa during his gap year. And the girl who made such an impact was Chelsy Davy.

Three years on, almost to the day, Harry is preparing to wave goodbye to his girlfriend and march off to war.

Much has happened to the young prince in the intervening period: officer training at Sandhurst; periodic brawls with the paparazzi; and his father's marriage to the woman Harry once blamed for causing his late mother so much anguish.

But, to the surprise of many observers, one of the few constants in Harry's life has turned out to be the coltish, snub-nosed girl he met in Cape Town.

Indeed, some of his friends believe that an engagement is almost certainly on the cards, though probably not for a few years yet.

Of course, feelings can change. A tour of duty in Iraq, fighting for his country, may accelerate the progression from pampered prince to more mature man of the world: he may want to close the book on his youth, open a new chapter, find a different kind of soulmate.

But maybe not. Even 12 months ago, few could have predicted that Harry's long- distance relationship with the coquettish daughter of a Zimbabwean wheeler-dealer and former Coca-Cola model would outlast William's romance with the eminently proper Kate Middleton.

The truth of the matter, however, is that Harry has always seen himself and Chelsy as better suited and more capable of going the distance.

"And now," said a well-placed source this week, "he's been proved right."

The 22-year- old prince has become increasingly irritated by what he saw as the "hype" surrounding William and Kate's relationship.

A friend of Harry's says: "Harry doesn't want to be subjected to the level of interest people have been taking in William and Kate.

"It's his idea of hell. But he also feels very frustrated at the way people are so dismissive of him and Chelsy.

"They are always portrayed as a pair of poor little rich kids who will burn themselves out sooner rather than later.

"In Harry's mind, there is nothing ridiculous whatsoever in the idea that one day, in the not-too-distant future, Princess Chelsy could be standing on the balcony at Buckingham Palace - even though she would probably be hiding a cigarette and a bottle of Malibu behind her back."

Despite the stream of paparazzi photographs that reveal a fondness for partying and a distinctly beach-chick style, the 21-year-old Zimbabwean has been an "A" student at school and university.

Harry would not want to change anything about her.

While others - including his own father, according to Harry - find themselves transfixed by Chelsy's more obvious charms - the prince has always believed that his girlfriend has some sterling qualities that Kate probably lacked.

"Harry has always been quietly very proud of the fact that Chelsy - or Chedda, as he affectionately calls her - loves him for who he is.

"In fact, she sees the fact that he's royal as more of a hindrance than a help," says a confidante.

"As the hugely popular daughter of a multi-millionaire businessman with homes in at least three different countries, she doesn't really need to take advantage of Harry's birthright."

One source close to the prince suggests that he actually sided with members of William's circle who felt that Kate Middleton had started to take advantage of the relationship.

"Harry had sympathy with those of William's friends who felt Kate had begun to rather enjoy her fame by association a little too much - unlike his own girlfriend, who he thinks is a 'real class act'," the source explains.

'When she first met William, Kate had few friends of her own - but over the years, she carefully assimilated herself into his circle.

"There was a feeling among some of William's friends that Kate had become a little too self-aware - she even had the cheek to bag herself a cut-price Audi, thanks to her royal links - while publicly insisting that she wanted to be treated as an ordinary girl."

Although Chelsy and Kate were photographed together on several occasions, most notably at the Beaufort Polo Club last summer, Harry's girlfriend apparently didn't particularly take to Kate.

"It wasn't that she disliked her - it's just that they had nothing in common. One only has to look at them to see it," says the source.

"Chelsy is a lot sweeter than she looks, but she is still a very outgoing girl who likes a beer and a fag.

Thanks to her rather indulged upbringing, she is incredibly sociable and self-confident - qualities that don't come naturally to Kate."

Others more sympathetic to Miss Middleton's cause, suggest the reality is that Chelsy has been just as keen to turn a royal relationship to her advantage.

She may protest about the attention, but she has not raised objections about her new status as international cover girl.

Last year, the society magazine, Tatler, even bracketed her with the Duchess of Cornwall as one of the most powerful blondes in Britain.

Her brother Shaun, meanwhile, has taken to styling himself as one of Harry's official bodyguards, and has been known to chase after photographers when they try to take the prince's picture.

Yet, in Harry's besotted eyes, Chelsy and her family can do no wrong.

Courtiers who have expressed concern about the Davys' controversial business links to Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe, have been told that she is a "non-negotiable" part of his life.

And he is undoubtedly entranced by the relative normality of his girlfriend's close-knit family.

Which is perhaps hardly surprising. By the age of 13, Harry had weathered not only his parents' separation but had also been forced to cope with the tragic - and endlessly raked-over -death of his mother.

Since then, his upbringing has been marked by a lack of parental discipline, thanks to his loving but laissez-faire father.

Even those with reservations about Chelsy concede that she has had a positive effect on the headstrong, devil-may-care young prince.

"It's far from a coincidence that when Harry does slip up - the times when he falls out of nightclubs drunk and brawls with photographers in the streets - Chelsy isn't around," says one who knows them both well.

"Believe it or not, he has matured in recent years - in large part thanks to Chelsy, whom he is incredibly protective of - and really does try to keep his head down.

"They are so besotted with each other - like a couple of lovebirds, really - that when they are together, nothing else really matters.

"Their body language is so different from that of Kate and William, who always used to look more like brother and sister.

"The trouble is that when Chelsy isn't around, Harry is easily led astray."

On their recent jaunt to the Caribbean, the couple barely left their luxury condo in the exclusive Glitter Bay resort in Barbados, preferring to lie, holding hands, by the pool.

And at last Friday's raucous Blues and Royals party to celebrate Harry's deployment to Iraq, it was William who stayed out clubbing until 4am with a bevy of beautiful girls.

Harry and Chelsy quietly sipped cocktails in a private booth before slipping off discreetly at 1am.

Lately, friends have noticed that the relationship seems to be deepening - although that is not to say there haven't been some pretty intense spats.

Unlike William, who was accused of leaving Kate to flounder under the weight of expectation while he forged on with his own life, Harry has been actively encouraging Chelsy to make solid plans for their future.

Bristol University has flatly denied rumours she plans to do a postgraduate degree there in the autumn, but friends say she is definitely planning to spend more time in England, where she has many friends from her days as a boarder at Stowe, a co-educational public school in Buckinghamshire.

She has even cancelled her plans to return to Africa over the summer and will instead wait for Harry to return from Iraq on leave.

"Chelsy hates the weather here, but is desperate to be nearer to her darling Haz. She is willing to make sacrifices if it takes their relationship a step forward," says a friend.

And Harry has already asked Chelsy to attend the memorial concert in July that he and William are organising to mark the tenth anniversary of their mother's death, though they are still discussing whether she should attend the formal church service later that month.

A Clarence House source says: "The problem is that every senior member of the Royal Family will be there, and Harry knows that taking her is tantamount to making a public statement on the future of their relationship.

"He doesn't think that it's fair on her to open the floodgates just yet."

In the immediate future, he knows that he needs to concentrate on leading his men in Iraq.

The highly charged public debate over his deployment to the Gulf has radically increased the pressure on him to make a success of his career - and he wants to show that the Army's confidence in him has not been misplaced.

"After what happened to my mother, I'm not afraid to die - but I am frightened for those around me," he recently confided to one close friend.

Although he did once petulantly threaten to quit if he were not sent to Iraq with his troops, his attitude has changed in the last few months.

"He knows that the situation is bigger than him now, and he'll take whatever he is told to do on the chin," says a royal aide.

Indeed, those who know him well say he is haunted by the fear that one of his men could be captured or even killed because of him.

"That's something he just couldn't bear, and he knows he would be held to account for the rest of his life.

"The men in his troop have tried to reassure him - joking that they will all wear ginger wigs to confuse the enemy, which is typical of Army gallows humour - but he is wracked with guilt," says another friend.

Iraq, however, is also Harry's big opportunity to strike out from under his elder brother's shadow.

For the first time in his life, the spare to William's heir will be taking centre stage.

"Harry loves his brother very much, but he is acutely aware of the way in which he is overshadowed by William.

"He is determined to go to war and make his family proud," says a friend.

But unlike William, he will have a long-term sweetheart to sweep into his arms when he returns.

#duke of sussex #prince harry #chelsy davy #article

[the-galaxys--local-catgirl]

Anniversary disaster

Mafia Boss wants to do something extra special for Cooking Cat on their anniversary, but he very much overestimated his cooking abilities.. 

Just a cute fluffy fic I made outta boredom

The Mafia Boss tapped his fingers against the side of his throne, staring off into the distance lightly biting his lip. He was thinking.. Or more so planning. 

Today was a special day for him. Today was his and his wife's tenth anniversary and he wanted to do something for her, sure he did already make her a gift and had been showering her in affection all day but he didn't feel as if it was enough. 

He bounced his leg slightly as he continued to think. He couldn't do something extravagant like most couples would do, Cooking Cat hating those types of things, so that just kinda ruled out a bunch of ideas that he already had. 

Suddenly he had a thought, why not cook something for her? It's the perfect idea! She does cook a ton so it would be good to let her rest for once. 

After a few moments of thinking he decided that's what he was going to do, since it was getting close to dinner time and it'd be a perfect surprise since she's currently taking a nap. He got up from his throne and walked down the steps telling his men at the bottom that they have free time.

The Boss rushed down to the kitchen, he paused for a moment still having to remember they renovated it recently, he wasn't one for getting used to new things quickly, but that's unimportant. He shook his head a bit and took his jacket off, placing it on the close-by rack and rolled up his sleeves. 

He went to the counter and grabbed the nearby cooking book, flipping through the book reading through each recipe to see if he could pick out an easy recipe. He knew he wasn't the best chef, he knew a few recipes but they were all sweets so they wouldn't really be the best. 

After a couple of minutes of looking he found a recipe that seemed easy enough for him to do, he placed the book on something to keep it open and upright. He hopped up onto the counter and opened the cupboards to search for the ingredients. He knew they definitely had them all. 

He managed to find the ingredients one at a time placing them next to him. 

"Uh Boss? What on earth are you doing-"

Mafia Boss jumped, nearly hitting his head on the top of the cupboard. He leaned back slightly, seeing Goofy standing in the doorway with a confused expression. 

"O- Oh Goofy! Uh what- do you need?" He lightly stuttered in his speech due to surprise, he didn't even hear the door opening! 

"Well I saw you rushing in here so I wanted to see what you were doing.. I thought you were allowed to cook after the incident."

The Bods rolled his eyes letting out a small “hmpt” noise. 

"Yes I know, but I'm trying to do something special for my wife by cooking something for her!" He grabbed the last of the ingredients and hopped down from the counter back on the floor. 

Goofy raised an eyebrow. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea, I mean she seemed happy with the gift you made her.. plus I don't think she'd be too happy with you burning the headquarters down again."

Mafia Boss sighed slightly. 

"Goofy I'll be fine, I can do this!"

"You sure? I can help if you want"

"I'll be fine by myself"

Goofy paused before letting out a sigh, he knew better than to try to convince his boss of anything. 

"Alright but it's your funeral!" He walked out. 

Mafia Boss groaned a little, ha what did he know? He was gonna make this recipe perfectly! he didn't need help whatsoever. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

Okay so maybe that was a lie. 

He'd been trying to make this meal for at least half an hour and everything had gone to hell and back, it just seemed as if nothing had gone the way he wished. He had messed everything up. 

He just stood in front of the mess he caused, his face was on top of the counter after he had slammed it into the counter a few times in frustration. He just gave up and was just staying there still in disappointment. 

Ya know maybe he should've let Goofy help him, then he wouldn't have a complete mess and at least have something to show for his pain. 

He let out a sigh and lifted his head from the counter and stared at the mess in front of him. Great, spectacular, he just wanted to do something sweet for his wife.. 

"Sugar..?" 

Ah shoot. Speak of the devil. 

The Mafia Boss scrambled slightly to hide the mess behind him. Cooking Cat was standing in the doorway sleepily rubbing her eye. 

"Hello mí amour!" He flashed her a grin, a very nervous and anxious looking grin that is. 

She stayed silent for a moment before giving her husband an annoyed expression. 

"Sugar.. What did you do?"

"What are you talkin' about? I didn't do anything!" He slightly bit his lip. 

"I can tell you did somethin' sugar, you're hidin' somethin' behind you right now."

"What? Nooo, I'm- I'm not doing anything, not at all!" He was starting to sweat from nervousness. 

Cooking Cat let out a sigh and walked in front of Mafia Boss. 

"Sugar I'm not upset at you or anything, just- I want to know what you did to act so nervously."

"I know but- I didn't do anything so there's nothing to tell y-"

"Romeo Pelayo. What. Did. You. Do." 

Mafia Boss let out a small squeak noise, it was pretty obvious Cooking Cat was not in the mood for this. 

The Boss stood there for a moment, trying to think of something to respond with but his mind was blank. 

He let out a noise of defeat as he stepped aside for Cooking Cat to see his ruined attempt at cooking. She stared at the mess for a long while with her tired expression, Mafia Boss felt horrible for making her deal with his mess up. 

Cooking Cat let out an annoyed sigh. 

"Sugar I already told you, you aren't allowed to cook-"

"I know! It's just I-  I just wanted to do something special for our anniversary this year.. And thought letting you have a break from cooking for once and surprise you would be nice! I just.. I must've overestimated what I could do.." He let out a  small chuckle and looked at Cooking Cat with a weak smile. 

"Sugar.." She frowned and took one of her husband's hands. 

"You didn't have to do this.. I was already happy with how today was already, you didn't have to do so much. I understand you just wanted to let me rest but you could've just help me instead" 

"Oh.. Right.." Mafia Boss frowned slightly. 

"I'm not upset at you, I'm just saying you don't need to push your ambitions so hard I would've been fine with anything.."

Mafia Boss frowned more, feeling stupid for his plan. 

"Hey don't beat yourself up over it! We can still cook together, maybe I can teach you a few things so this doesn't happen next time" she smiled, causing her husband to smile as well. 

"That sounds nice" 

Cooking Cat smiled more, kissing the Mafia Boss' cheek. 

"Alright we can do that… AFTER you clean up this mess."

Mafia Boss blinked a few times before mumbling a small “oh right..” he walked over to where they kept the cleaning supplies. 

Cooking Cat leaned on the counter with a small smile, she leaned over to grab the cooking book that was thankfully not ruined. 

She started to flip through the pages, looking for the perfect recipe they can do, together. 

#kitty khats #ahit #a hat in time #ahit: 🐟mafia boss❤ #ahit mafia boss #ahit cooking cat #ahit: 🍽cooking cat🧡 #my writing #oneshot #not art #no proofreading #so don't mind if there's anything written wrong/badly #comfort ship: 🧡 cookin' disasters ❤ #comfort ship #comfort #shipping #comfort writing #fluff #minor angst #maybe #saying their anniversary is today because reasons #please help i cannot stop thinking of em ahhh #headcannons #ig #goofy mafia #briefly #I wrote this in a day lol

[just-a-poor-boy-queen]

Infinity bracelet requested by anon

This is an AU where Freddie was never ill/survived his illness and he and Jim have recently celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary (also known as the tin anniversary.)

‘You should really take that thing off when you go to bed, you know.’ Jim teased, leaning on his elbow, his chin pressed into his hand. ‘I swear I could feel it pressing into my back last night.’

‘Tough tits.’ Replied Freddie, poking his tongue out at the other man. He held his arm up again, admiring the bracelet that slipped down his slim wrist. ‘I’m never taking it off. I’m taking it to the grave with me.’

It had been almost a week since the couple had celebrated their tenth anniversary. Naturally, Freddie had thrown a huge party for the occasion, inviting just about everybody they knew. As per tradition, he presented Jim with a number of ridiculous gag gifts – a cat shaped biscuit tin, a tiny figurine of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz and a keyring that read “Happy Tin Years!” – before finally revealing his real present; a genuine leather Cartier wallet. When Jim opened it up, he saw the date of the night they first met had been engraved in gold letters inside.

When it was time for Freddie’s gift, the Irishman was apprehensive as always. He had spent weeks searching for something perfect for his husband, but even after a decade of being together, there was always this nagging doubt at the back of his mind that whatever he bought wasn’t good enough. He could feel his palms begin to sweat as Freddie fiddled with the wrapping paper, his long delicate fingers slowly pulling it apart until a little box fell out.

‘Tiffany & Co!’ The singer grinned, picking up the box eagerly. ‘I hope you haven’t been spoiling me, darling.’ He untied the bow and began pulling the lid off.

Jim could tell the other man was intrigued. Freddie didn’t really wear jewellery, save for his ring, and the Irishman was aware he had taken a big risk going for trinkets rather than the safer option of a fancy box or caviar bowl. He knew Freddie would appreciate his gift regardless of whether he liked it or not; he had only worn the leather jacket Jim gave him ten Christmases ago twice, but it was still preserved in his wardrobe as a sentimental reminder of their first seasonal holiday together. But this was different. Jim really wanted Freddie to like this one. Not only because it had cost him nearly three hundred bloody pounds but because of what it was supposed to represent.

Freddie opened the box, revealing a small bracelet made of sterling silver with an infinity knot at the centre. Freddie stared at it, fingertips gently tracing the metal, before he carefully took it out and held it up to examine in the light.

‘Jim…’ he said breathlessly. ‘Jim, it’s beautiful.’

He leaned over, took Jim’s face in his hands, and kissed him so passionately Peter Straker whistled at them from across the room. Freddie took the bracelet, slipped it onto his wrist, and hadn’t taken it off since.

‘I take it you like it then?’ Jim leaned down to press a kiss against Freddie’s bare shoulder, smiling when the other man turned and wound his arms around his neck, pulling the Irishman down on top of him.

‘It’s one of the most wonderful things you’ve ever given me, darling.’ Freddie murmured against Jim’s lips. ‘Second only to my wedding ring, of course.’

Any thought of getting up that morning was quickly dashed away as the pair exchanged soft, sleepy kisses, the only sounds to be heard being that of their steady breathing and the occasional jingle of the bracelet.

‘You’re my forever.’ Jim suddenly blurted out, so caught up in the moment that he let his mouth talk before his mind caught up. He immediately blushed and hid his face in Freddie’s shoulder. ‘Oh Christ, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever said.’

‘It’s true though.’ Freddie pressed a kiss to Jim’s flushed ear, absent-mindedly playing with the infinity symbol on his bracelet. ‘You and I, forever. I quite like that idea.’

OH MY HEART I LOVE THIS SO MUCH😭

The concept of Jimercury having an infinity bracelet is so sweet, so kudos to the anon who came up with it!

I can imagine Freddie's expression when he opened the gift... and ahhhh I am getting all the feels😭 They deserved to be together, to get their infinity, to get their forever💙 I just hope that there exists a universe where this is true.

You and I forever. I quite like that idea.

I LOVE THIS LINE😭

Oh my heart, this was beautiful💙

(More drabbles by writer anon)

#ask response #anon writing #jim hutton #freddie mercury #infinity bracelet

[adultswim2021]

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #87: “Dreams” | January 11, 2004 - 11:30 PM | S08E06

There is no doubt in my mind that Space Ghost is one of the most underappreciated comedy series of all time. For a show that is so screamingly hilarious, it sure is ignored. Hell, the creators of Space Ghost don’t even appreciate the goddamn thing. It makes it all the more special for those of us who love it. This episode of television, which I regard as a comedy masterpiece, sits on IMDB with 35 votes total. Not only is this an exceptional episode of Space Ghost, it also happens to *sorta* be the series finale, and it’s also the single-most profane episode of Space Ghost in existence. It deserves your respect, goddamn it.

In this one, Space Ghost cobbles together a charity organization for the sole purpose of one-upping Zorak and Moltar. He demands an animal be booked as his guest in order to elect it as the org’s cute mascot. Space Ghost winds up with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.

For those of you who require context: Triumph is an intentionally cheesy dog puppet with a vaguely ethnic accent who makes old-school but also very profane roast-style jokes at his various targets. He was an intentionally one-note character featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Triumph developed enough of a cult following that he wound up recurring pretty regularly. Most notably on Conan he got kicked out of the Westminster Dog Show for humping some of the dogs and generally being a nuisance. My favorite remote he did was where he made fun of nerds waiting in line to see Star Wars Episode II.

In 2003 Triumph released an album which came with a DVD which featured a cameo from Conan O’Brien saying the c-word (cunt) and the recently disgraced Horatio Sanz deep-throating a dildo. That, presumably, is why Triumph is on this show: to promote this album. He keeps trying to steer the conversation to “get to the plug”, and referring to his “beautiful singing voice” There’s a small number of Space Ghost guests who show up genuinely believing that they’ll be allowed to plug their project and that the episode will air in a timely manner. Like Adam West or Fred Willard, this is in fact one of those.

What makes this episode so goddamn funny is that there’s an undercurrent of the Space Ghost staff aggressively trying to undercut Triumph’s shtick. Triumph is almost always the most outrageous character in any given room, and people almost always have a hard time contending with the barrage of fast-paced/profane insults that Triumph supplies. The editing may have had a hand in this, but here we see Triumph doing roughly what he does, but Space Ghost is too boneheaded to really let it effect him. Space Ghost, true to form, misunderstands almost everything Triumph says, taking it at face value. When it finally dawns on him that Triumph is breaking taboos he is briefly shocked. But when Zorak lies and tells him that “money came in” from Triumph’s transgressions he is suddenly motivated to childishly repeat Triumph’s vulgarity.

When Moltar tries to put his foot down he casually breaks an actual network taboo: he says “they will shut us down for that shit. I mean stuff.” completely unbleeped. Not sure what the status of “shit” is on adult swim these days, but in 2004 I don’t think Adult Swim was technically considered it’s own network yet (I’m hazy on the details here, but there was a turning point where Adult Swim ceased to be programming that simply aired on Cartoon Network and was actually registered legally as a network unto itself that shared space with Cartoon Network). So, allowing shit to play on what was still legally considered a children’s network was a pretty big deal. I don’t even think Turner allowed swears that harsh to appear on Adult Swim’s website.

The show escalates beautifully and ends with a song about “retardos”, while Space Ghost inexplicably holds up a Dexter’s Laboratory branded foam finger, a detail I’ve never noticed until this viewing. It is breathtakingly dumb. I love this episode so much.

There are a lot of great lines in this that I’m intentionally leaving out. The length of this write-up might lead you to believe I’ve revealed the entire episode. I haven’t! There’s so many great jokes in this. This begins what I like to think of as the finale trilogy. There are two more quasi-episodes of Space Ghost coming up (not counting the GameTap episodes because they suck or The Room interstitials because that’s so far out from the series true end that it’s practically a reunion special). One is an abandoned episode they aired in an unfinished state. Then comes the tenth anniversary bumpers the Sunday after Space Ghost’s big birthday. But I’ll talk more about that when the time comes. Okay? Alright? Damn!

I forgot to say this earlier so I’m just tacking it on here: my wife and I literally quoted this episode in our wedding vows. It was the “You will lick my shiny boots, for you are now my dog on a leash.” line. This isn’t a joke.

MAIL BAG

Here’s more FUCKING FUCKS writing me dumb shit and wasting my valuable time. Damn. Dang it!

I'm in a minority here but while I loved Home Movies I think it diminished by the time Season 4 rolled around that I think it's straight up overall bad. So much so that I feel you can tack on the camera drop ending to any of the other season finales and have a better show. I don't know why exactly. Is it because H. Jon Benjamin has a writing credit for this one and McGurk is wackier than ever? Did Brendon Small just run out of childhood experiences to mine from? I dislike it.

Huh I wouldn’t go that far OBVIOUSLY. So far I’ve liked a hundo percento of Season 4 even though it’s just two episodes. haha “Aw, who’m I tryinta fool? it’s just two episodes.”

I like the Sonic Guys. Their keen sense to pinpoint the exact craveability of every new Sonic item as well as their overall familiarity and comradery leave the viewer ready for fun and ready for fun: the Sonic way. And if you don't like that, buddy, then you are an Adbusters Stooge.

More like “ready for run” because I would use my feet to get away from their tires, because they’re tired!!!

Do you think the Sonic Guy ever dry over to Popeyes when the cameras aren't rolling. What do you think they would get. If I were them I would get the chicken: it's tender, it's juicy, it has cajun seasonings.

I think they would go there and say stupid cutesy shit like “extra chicken please :D :p” and a teenager would call them n*88*s and they’d commit suicide that night. But what a way to go

Don't give up on ephemera week!, The blog was super fun last week. And it's just a nice way to end the blog after a year of spankworthy stuff. It will be less special if you just pepper them in now and then. How many venmo bucks would I have to pay for you to keep it that way?

What a swanky message to get. I do think Ephemera week will be pretty hard from here on out because 2004 is about where I ended my initial research for this blog and the prospect of doing more of that to give a fairly complete overview of each year would just be too much. I’d much rather just slide it in. You’ll love seeing me slide.

What are your big wishes for 2004?

what the fuck am I supposed to do here? Wish for something to happen in a year that already happened? Do I get to transport myself back there and do this wish all the way back then? Or do I simply feel the butterfly effect of it having had happen in 2004. What the fuck kinda fucked up shit is this anyway.

#space ghost coast to coast #adult swim #adultswim2021

[saline-coelacanth]

Nightmares (Purified Au)

So since today is Ninjago’s tenth anniversary and I feel bad for not really making anything for it, I decided instead to post a fic that I wrote back in October and forgot to post. Ninjago has meant a lot to me and this community has really helped me gain more confidence in my art and fics, and even though I’m not really that active anymore, I figured I should at least post something to show my appreciation

_______________________________

Oliver was in his bed in his new room on the bounty, tossing and turning as he tried to get some good sleep. He still wasn’t fully used to the new room, despite having it for quite a while now since the ninja needed to use the cell in his old room during the whole ghost incident. 

Oliver was happy that Lloyd was back, but something else had been bothering him- nightmares. Ever since he had his outburst while fighting Morro, he’s been getting recurring nightmares that have kept him up at night. The ninja all seemed so occupied recently that he didn’t want to bother any of them, and he figured the nightmares would go away, but they never did.

Oliver jolted awake, breathing heavily as he looked around at his surroundings. He looked around his bed trying to find his beloved stuffed animal, eventually seeing his paw sticking out from under his bed. Oliver quickly grabbed Tofu and hugged him as he started to calm down. He sat there for a while before deciding to go get a glass of water, hoping it would help him feel better.

He hopped out of bed and left his room, still hugging Tofu as tight as he could. He made his way to the kitchen, trying his best not to make any noise that could wake anyone up. 

“You’re up late.”

Oliver jumped as he heard Lloyd’s voice, scared that he was gonna get in trouble. He looked over at the green ninja standing in the doorway.

“H-hi Lloyd,” Oliver greeted.

“Are you ok?” Lloyd asked, walking into the kitchen. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I… I was thirsty,” Oliver explained. He looked up at Lloyd. “What about you? Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Same reason as you,” Lloyd replied. He grabbed two cups and filled them with water, handing one of them to Oliver. “There you go, buddy.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said. He took a sip of the water but looked away.

“Is there something bothering you, Oliver?” Lloyd asked.

Oliver continued to avoid eye contact. “I…”

“C’mon, you can tell me,” Lloyd assured. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

Oliver looked at Lloyd before looking away again. “I had a nightmare…”

“Oh, it’ll be ok, Oliver,” Lloyd replied. “It was just a nightmare.”

“But I keep having the same nightmare,” Oliver explained. 

“Well what happens in the nightmare?” Lloyd asked.

“Well…” Oliver paused as he tried remembering the order of events. “I always hear a scary voice… and…”

“Oliver, you can tell me,” Lloyd repeated.

Oliver looked up at Lloyd. His eyes looked terrified. “You were trapped in a glass container. You looked like you were in pain, and there was golden stuff coming out of your body. And the scary voice was happy that you were hurting…”

Lloyd went silent. He knew exactly what Oliver was dreaming about.

“I’m sorry, Lloyd,” Oliver apologized. “I didn’t mean to dream about you being in pain, but it keeps happening and I don’t know why and I just want it to stop!” Oliver started sniffling as tears started falling down his face.

“C-calm down,” Lloyd assured. He pulled Oliver close to him, giving him a hug. “It was just a nightmare…”

“I know,” Oliver replied. “But I don’t like seeing it every night!” Oliver cried again before managing to form words again. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, you’re not in trouble,” Lloyd assured. 

“The others are gonna be mad at me,” Oliver said.

“No they won’t,” Lloyd replied. “It’s just a dream, it’s not real.”

“Are you gonna tell the others?” Oliver asked. “I… I don’t want them to be upset…”

Lloyd hesitated. Everything would be fine, right? This would sort itself out. This was no reason to worry. Right? “I… I won’t tell them,” Lloyd replied.

Oliver only responded with a quiet mumble. He squeezed Tofu and looked at the ground.

“Are you gonna be ok to go back to bed?” Lloyd asked.

“I think so…” Oliver responded.

“Well then you’d better go get some sleep,” Lloyd said. “It’s late and you need the rest.”

“Ok…” Oliver replied before walking back to his room.

Lloyd waited until Oliver was completely out of sight before taking a deep breath. He knew this wasn’t a good sign. He knew telling the others would be the smart thing to do, but he was scared. Oliver had become a little brother for him, and he didn’t want to risk the others doing anything drastic. He knew that Jay, Cole and Nya were both ok with him, and Kai has warmed up to him, but Zane was the one who was still very hesitant. Lloyd shook his head.

“It’s all gonna be ok,” he told himself. “There’s no reason to worry.”

#ninjago #lego ninjago #fanfiction #purified au #ninjago oliver #ninjago overlord #lloyd garmadon