#instead of a random child who is suddenly a decade older

[all-pacas]

Okay Little Women is one of those "childhood books you read and reread and love" for me. And hot take, Amy has always been one of my favorites and she gets a bad rap. And hotter take, even though Florence Pugh was way too old to play a convincing 12 year old, I really think the 2019 version was absolutely right not to cast a child (aka the 90s version of the film and Kirsten Dunst) in the role.

Because like. The novel spans a decade or so, counting both parts. And when it starts, Amy, while the youngest of the sisters… is 12. Jo is 15. Meg, the eldest, is 16. (Beth is 13.) Amy is the youngest, but not drastically. In the 90s version, Kirstin Dunst did a good job and all, but she's a child surrounded by adult actors. This makes Amy in turn seem even younger, and especially since Amy spends much of the second half of the book a) away from the rest of her family and b) marrying Laurie, having her be a literal child for half the film is… weird. Right? She's only 3 years younger than Jo. And yeah, there is a huge difference between a preteen and an older teen… but when you cast, as in the 94 version, an 11 year old and a 23 year old to play sisters three years apart, and, as the "childhood" part of the story only spans about a year of time before jumping 3 years to Meg's wedding (and then hanging out in Concord for another few years before Amy and Jo take off to pursue their careers/Art, which movies universally skip because they're pretty boring chapters of Meg Being A Newlywed and Look How Great Amy Is)… my point is, it's actually kind of nuts to insist that Amy and Amy alone gets a "child" actor and an "adult" actor, since she's supposed to be basically the same age as her siblings (only a year younger than Beth, who doesn't get a child actor!), and for most of the novel she's in her late teens anyway. The 2019 adaption did it right, fight me.

#little women #i cut out about three paragraphs of digression #about how older amy also makes sense because it does help set up and convince you that she's a viable match for laurie #instead of a random child who is suddenly a decade older #and on reflection it is lowkey pretty funny how much of the second half of the novel is clearly #louisa may alcott being petty as hell and going NO AMY IS SO GREAT LOOK HOW PERFECT SHE IS SUCK IT #OH SHE DOESN'T ONLY GET THE GUY #SHE IS SOOOOO PERFECT #which frankly -- because we know she did it all out of spite -- is fantastic #and despite how heavy handed it is the book really does do quite a lot of work to set up and sell the amyxlaurie marriage #which movies tend to cut out in favor of focusing on trying to make joxlaurie happen #(another reason i really like the 2019 version because it clearly cares a lot about selling amyxlaurie) #ANYWAY

[dhrdrabbles]

“It’s very kind of you to mind Teddy so often, you know.”

Hermione looked up to Andromeda in surprise as she got up from hugging Teddy after their trip to a muggle playground and some well-deserved post-playing ice cream. She had taken care of Teddy frequently since after the war – initially, she had mostly accompanied Harry on his duties as a godfather; but ever since Harry had to study for auror training, she made sure to compensate for her best friend. Every Saturday, Hermione and Teddy went on an adventure of some sorts together, sometimes with Harry, sometimes without him.

“It’s nothing, Andromeda”, she replied, unsure of why the older witch brought it up just now. “I love spending time with him, as I’m sure you know.”

“Of course. And yet you’re taking this extra mile to see him every Saturday.”

Andromeda sounded wistful as she turned her head towards the toddler who now sprawled across the sofa, exhausted. “I guess … I guess I’m being especially grateful since you’re not obligated whatsoever. If there was any family of his left apart from me…”

Hermione said nothing. She had thought about this as well – the tragedy surrounding Teddy almost as much as Harry. Andromeda was a brilliant grandmother to him, and yet the boy deserved so much more than one singular relative, one godfather and the godfather’s random best friend. This was one of the reasons Hermione had put so much effort into early childhood education ever since she entered the Ministry – children like Teddy should not be home-schooled all alone. They should get to know each other, form friendships early on and find themselves a second, non-biological family. Muggle-born children would finally be able to enter Hogwarts with prior knowledge of this parallel world.

“…thought Narcissa and I could maybe reinstate contact after everything that happened two years ago, but it seems I was wrong.”

Hermione barely caught that sentence, getting agitated about education all over again. “So your letter went unanswered?”

Andromeda shrugged, and rolled her eyes. “I thought she was past all of her grudges, honestly. But no, no reply so far.”

Hermione scoffed. Classic Malfoy arrogance – blood purity over family and all that. Narcissa’s blood prejudice had definitely not died with her other sister.

“I’m really sorry to hear it, Andromeda. Listen, I’ll head out – will see you next Saturday? If you want to, I can ask her son about the letter?”

“Draco? I didn’t know you were friends.”

“We’re not!” Hermione could feel her cheeks turning some shade of red and she did decidedly not enjoy it. “I mean, uh. It’s um, it’s really nothing. Work, you know.”

“I see.”

Hermione ignored the deepened laughter lines around Andromeda’s eyes at her stammering. Why was it that after over a year of being on the same team at the Ministry, after occasional lunches and after-work drinks, and sure, maybe after some dinners together and one or the other shared Sunday afternoon where she introduced him to the concept of ‘films’ (although she was not entirely sure if he was aware of the implications of a ‘movie night’), and after one horribly uncomfortable and yet very earnest apology on his part, it was still incredibly embarrassing for Hermione to admit that she sometimes, regularly, increasingly so, spent time with Draco Malfoy and enjoyed it?

*

“Are you sure this is fine?”

Malfoy’s anxiety was written all over his face if one knew how to read him. It actually helped calming Hermione’s nerves. Her heart rate had been unhealthily high all morning, thinking about the meeting between Andromeda and her nephew – and his almost-nephew. However, when she had met with Malfoy around the corner from Andromeda’s flat in an Edinburgh muggle neighbourhood, he had been fiddling with his ridiculously formal suit and made sure his hair was in place every few seconds. His features were as unimpressed as ever, but he was giddy. It made Hermione grin and while her heart rate barely changed, she still felt more at ease.

“It’s fine. She’s excited.”

“And the child?”

“Malfoy. Teddy is two years old. He’ll probably be unimpressed.”

He didn’t respond. Hermione rang the bell. Malfoy’s fiddling increased before he fell completely still, and Hermione saw him straightening from the corner of her eye. It took some effort on her side to not scoff at his ridiculous behaviour. He was meeting his estranged aunt – appearing all arrogant and stiff was not going to help. And yet, she had learned to recognise this as his coping mechanism when things got uncomfortable. It was just the worst coping mechanism imaginable if one had good intentions.

Andromeda took ridiculously long to open the door and once it finally happened Hermione had to laugh. Little Teddy was standing there, looking up expectantly. His face fell when he saw Hermione and he turned around. “Granny, just Auntie Mione!”

Hermione wasn’t sure how to respond when she heard Andromeda’s laughter from somewhere in the flat. “Well yes, little one. I said your visitor was coming with Aunt Hermione, didn’t I?”

Teddy looked back at Hermione who in turn now looked at Draco expectantly. She hadn’t realised he had gone into hiding behind her. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to speak anytime soon, Hermione turned back to Teddy.

“Hi Teddy! Are you going to let us in?”

The toddler didn’t respond or move. Hermione sighed and picked him up.

“Ted, we’ll have to go over your manners again. Letting guests wait at the door is not polite”, she joked, expecting Teddy to squirm in her arms as he usually did when being picked up against his will. But he didn’t. When she looked at him, she saw him drooling on her shoulder while staring at Malfoy. A look behind her told Hermione that Malfoy was equally shell-shocked – he eyed the toddler and didn’t follow as Hermione entered the hallway.

Andromeda came out of the kitchen with a tray of biscuits in her hands. “Hermione! It’s good to see you. And…”

She trailed off when she saw Malfoy who was still firmly rooted outside. Andromeda smiled faintly. “You know, Draco, everyone always says you’re the spitting image of your father and here you are, reminding me so much of Cissy when she was young. Do come in!”

Hermione turned to look at Malfoy who finally came out of his stupor. He entered but seemed to be very uncomfortable despite his aunt’s welcoming words. It took him some seconds and a very intent focus on his shoes as he took them off until he acknowledged Andromeda.

“Aunt Andromeda. It’s my pleasure to meet you.”

Andromeda seemed unsure how to react now as well. Hermione suddenly felt like an intruder, the moment being quite intimate. Now that she eyed the two, it occurred to her that not only had Andromeda been without her family for decades – Draco also barely had any close relatives and even less that were still alive.

Teddy, however, picked this very moment to start wiggling and complaining noisily. Andromeda eyed him briefly and then turned to Malfoy. “I told him you were coming and he got very excited. I guess he assumed you were a bit younger when I explained you were my nephew, though.”

Malfoy’s lips slowly curled upward. “Sorry to disappoint, then. Hello, Teddy, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Play?”

Hermione had to laugh then. Malfoy’s lips curled further upward. “Sure, I’ll play with you. You’ll have to show me all the toys you have to offer so we can pick the best one.”

His reply surprised Hermione, and, by the looks of it, Andromeda as well. The older witch raised her eyebrows as Teddy hopped out of Hermione’s arms and grabbed Draco’s hand, pulling him towards his room. Draco excused himself as he followed, leaving Hermione and Andromeda in the hallway.

*

The week after, Hermione picked Teddy up at Andromeda’s and they met Malfoy at Teddy’s favourite playground.  

“Slide?”

Hermione was about to comply when Teddy let go of her hand and grabbed Malfoy’s instead, dragging him to the slide as effectively as a toddler could, his hair changing colours out of excitement. Malfoy seemed confused but followed, leaving Hermione a little lonely and lost in thoughts. It had never occurred to her that Malfoy could have been missing extended family up to the point where he went to a muggle playground of all things with his nephew. Yet, when she saw him with Teddy, she felt stupid for not considering it. Hermione watched Malfoy watching Teddy sliding and had to grin when he vehemently refused to slide himself. Teddy huffed and seemed to look for something, his eyes finally falling on her. “Mione, slide?”

“Slide, please. Or better yet, ‘Hermione, can we go on the slide together, please’”, she retorted, but walked towards them nonetheless.

“Please”, Teddy said, still struggling with the pronunciation of the word. Hermione quickly looked around to find that no muggles were close and levitated a giggling Teddy up the slide. She followed him up on the ladder and grabbed a still hovering Teddy into her lap. Another quick look around and she extended the slide before she pushed herself and the toddler down. Those small gurgles from his mouth were exactly why Hermione made sure all Saturdays were off and never hungover. She had to laugh herself as Teddy squeaked.

“Again!”

So they went again, Hermione being so immersed in playtime that she hardly noticed Malfoy’s gaze on them. After the fourth time down the slide Teddy trotted onwards and dove straight into the sandpit, where Hermione made sure he was surrounded by sandy animals and buildings that rebuilt once his chubby hands hit them.

“You’re really good with him, Granger.”

Hermione had been so focused on the sand elephants around Teddy, she had completely forgotten their new companion. As she turned around to face Malfoy, she found him a bit closer than usual.

“Harry and Teddy get along even better”, she replied. “But his auror training is quite demanding and he has to study on weekends until his exams next month, so I’m trying to fill in as much as I can.”

Malfoy chose not to comment on Harry. They fell silent again until Hermione changed Teddy’s sand friends into little ferrets to the boy’s delight. She heard Draco exhale sharply and turned to face him again, grinning. “Never gets old.”

“I’d say it does, witch.”

“I am just that, thank you very much.”

Draco’s mouth was open when Teddy squealed “Squirrels!”, his pronunciation going places this time, and Hermione had to laugh. “No, Teddy, they’re ferrets. Ferrets! See? They’re seem to look a bit weird, but they’re actually quite fun to play with.”

Teddy didn’t argue with her logic, having the ferrets running around him. Again, Hermione turned and found Malfoy’s hand on his forehead.

“Granger, you’re insufferable”, he murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

“You chose to come with me again this week.”

“Yes, for this fine young man here.”

“Of course. Any I’m glad you did.”

Falling awkwardly silent now, Hermione and Malfoy both looked at the ‘fine young man’ with his face full of sand and his hair all blue. He returned their gaze and suddenly stopped reaching for sand.

“Draco and Mione married?”

“What? Teddy, of course we’re not married! Why would you think that? We’re actually just colleagues and you’re relatives so it made sense to introduce you two and I’m glad you’re getting along so nicely! We’re further from being married that you could possibly imagine!”

Malfoy snorted.

The sound yanked Hermione out of her babbling and one look on Teddy’s blank face made her realise that she had just given a toddler the ‘just colleagues’ speech. She hid her face in her hands and groaned.

“Just colleagues, yes?”

“Of course, Malfoy! What else would we be?”

He was driving her insane. Hermione looked at Malfoy through her fingers and found he was still smirking. Some things would never change. At least Teddy was back at crushing ferrets – Hermione really, desperately wanted to join in at this point.

“What else, Malfoy?”

“Oh, I don’t know”, he replied, now joining her in her squat next to the sandpit. Hermione could feel his presence just next to her even without looking, her face still in her hands.

“In any case, I got all the ingredients for the ragout you talked about for our dinner tomorrow. Hope you picked a film.”

Hermione groaned again as Malfoy smirked even wider. So he had caught the implications of this whole situation the whole time. Her hands surely were not large enough for her to cover up every last inch of her burning hot face.

*

“In any case”, Malfoy said as they reached their apparation spot after dropping off Teddy for the week, “I can now see why you’re so invested in the Early Education Act.”

“You can? That’s brilliant! You see, I just think children need a social net that exceeds their biological families. It’s not about questioning all the traditions of early wizard education from home and I really don’t understand why Fawley keeps coming back to this argument, Malfoy. It’s just that this viewpoint remains elitist and I just find it completely unacceptable how such structural disadvantage remains embedded in wizarding law and not to mention what it is like for single parents and mothers in particular, so also from a feminist vantage point, I –”

“I get it, Granger, we’ve been over this at least twice this month”, Malfoy replied, smirking. “And I agree, as I did last time. I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner? Bring a film.”

Hermione nodded. Very obviously satisfied, Draco moved one hand to her chin. “By the way, I meant it. You’re impressive with my nephew.”

Hermione blushed again. This while situation now seemed a lot more intimate than it had before.

“And I haven’t really decided if you look ridiculous or very beautiful when you’re flushed. Will let you know tomorrow.”

Hermione had to close her eyes. She thus only heard Draco’s small laughter and jumped a little when she felt his lips on hers.

By the time she opened her eyes again, he had disapparated.

---

Author’s notes

Right, so I’ve been gone for six years. But not only has this whole Covid-19 situation given me a lot more time to read fanfictions, it also allowed me to reconnect with tumblr and finally the motivation to write something up. This far exceeds a drabble but I couldn’t seem to stop and while it’s been a short headcanon of mine for a while I still hope you all enjoy it!

#dramione #dhrtag #dhrdrabble #harry potter #hp #hp fanfic #draco malfoy #hermione granger

[richincolor]

Graphic Recommendations

This year has been an excellent one for readers of graphic novels. I've been reading quite a few during the pandemic when longer form books just seem like too much of a time investment or my attention span is limited. Falling into the visuals can be just the thing I need when the world seems a bit chaotic. Here are a few I highly recommend.

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen Random House Graphic

Real life isn’t a fairytale.

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through?

Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Displacement by Kiku Hughes First Second [Jessica's Review]

A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother’s experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes.

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.

These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself “stuck” back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

Kiku Hughes weaves a riveting, bittersweet tale that highlights the intergenerational impact and power of memory. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Flamer by Mike Curato Henry Holt and Co.

I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both.

I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe.

It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.  — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang First Second

In his latest graphic novel, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.

Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.

But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it’s all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.

Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well. — Copy image and summary via Goodreads

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju, Ryan Estrada Iron Circus Comics [Crystal's review] [Q&A with Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada]

When Kim Hyun Sook started college in 1983 she was ready for her world to open up. After acing her exams and sort-of convincing her traditional mother that it was a good idea for a woman to go to college, she looked forward to soaking up the ideas of Western Literature far from the drudgery she was promised at her family’s restaurant. But literature class would prove to be just the start of a massive turning point, still focused on reading but with life-or-death stakes she never could have imagined.

This was during South Korea’s Fifth Republic, a military regime that entrenched its power through censorship, torture, and the murder of protestors. In this charged political climate, with Molotov cocktails flying and fellow students disappearing for hours and returning with bruises, Hyun Sook sought refuge in the comfort of books. When the handsome young editor of the school newspaper invited her to his reading group, she expected to pop into the cafeteria to talk about Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Scarlet Letter. Instead she found herself hiding in a basement as the youngest member of an underground banned book club. And as Hyun Sook soon discovered, in a totalitarian regime, the delights of discovering great works of illicit literature are quickly overshadowed by fear and violence as the walls close in.

In Banned Book Club, Hyun Sook shares a dramatic true story of political division, fear-mongering, anti-intellectualism, the death of democratic institutions, and the relentless rebellion of reading. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha Balzer + Bray

A powerful and timely teen graphic novel memoir—perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and Hey, Kiddo—about a Korean-born, non-English-speaking girl who is abruptly transplanted from Seoul to Huntsville, Alabama, and struggles with extreme culture shock and isolation, until she discovers her passion for comic arts.

For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.

So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother.

Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

For a few older titles, you can check out the lists we've created in the past: LGBTQ POC Comics 3 Quick Comic Book Reads Women's History Month Getting Graphic

[thewickling]

Winding Moonrise - Bedtime Preparation

Wei Wuxian trails behind Lan Wangji. The pristine and reverent halls of the Lan residence form a stark contrast to the noisy and item riddled Jiang residence of his memory. The scrolls that line the walls and handcrafted ceramics that decorate the path combine with the silence to establish a tone like a museum. The kind of museum where breathing too loudly is considered blasphemy and asking if one can take a picture would be tantamount to sin. 

Lan Wangji fits right in; Wei Wuxian feels as if he is about to be lectured for walking wrong. He chuckles to himself. So this is where Lan Zhan was raised.

He can just picture it: a tiny A-Zhan, who despite his young age looks every bit as uptight as he does now, sitting at a low table practicing his guqin. His clothes must have been spotless. Even then, he must have looked like polished jade only fresher and whiter. 

He covers his mouth. Glancing around, he isn’t surprised not to find pictures on the walls, but he is disappointed he can’t confirm his hypothesis. He ponders if he had ever looked that sweet and innocent even as a child. Even now Lan Wangji looked of jade in his proper posture, his black hair is akin silk, and his skin is white as freshly fallen snow.

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji questions if he has a right to offer Wei Wuxian his room. Isn’t it selfish? Is he not taking advantage of Wei Wuxian? 

Yet he can’t ask that without prompting Wei Wuxian’s curiosity. He can’t phrase the question without revealing his motivation for asking. He frowns. He is indeed selfish. What wolf would not want their moon’s scent to spread through their den. He closes his eyes and can’t inhale deeply.

He does anyway. 

The salt tickles his throat. The refreshing, nature air winds itself through Lan Wangji’s core. He wonders how it will mingle with his own scent. He pictures as he did a decade of mountains and lakes forming the scent-scape of their home. 

By the time he gains enough control to open his eyes, they already stand outside his room. He decides, I will sleep elsewhere. 

He gestures. 

Wei Wuxian quirks his head. His eyes widen. Tapping his chin, he hums with understanding. “Right, we couldn’t catch up over dinner. Your uncle is so fussy. No discussion? Is this a library?”

Lan Wangji blinks.

“You first.” He gestures as if this was his home not Lan Wangji’s.

He freezes. His ears yearn for more of his moon’s voice. But he has no right to Wei Wuxian’s time when he can’t even spend it without imposing on Wei Wuxian’s kindness. It isn’t Wei Wuxian’s fault. He can’t know how Lan Wangji longs for his scent and touch and lips. 

“You are mistaken,” he says, pushing past. “You may rest here tonight.” 

“What?” Wei Wuxian glances around for a camera because he couldn’t have heard right. There’s no way a residence like this doesn’t have guest rooms, that his presence would force Lan Wangji out of a bed. 

He twirls. Grabbing Lan Wangji’s wrist, he asks, “Where are you going?”

Lan Wangji locks in place. The heat that diffuses from Wei Wuxian’s fingertips through Lan Wangji’s wrist sends his mind reeling. His skin dreams of more. His hands itch to grab and hold. His fingers to drink in the firmness of collar down toward his—

“Ah, is Lan Zhan getting a pillow? Are we having a sleepover?” Wei Wuxian nods to himself. He’s a little old for  that but it’s been so long since he’s had a chance to talk to old friends. Sharing a room means he won’t have to stumble to a guest room bleary-eyed later. 

Lan Wangji stares at Wei Wuxian. He wonders, How did Wei Ying come to that conclusion? I can barely hold myself from scent-marking him and he wants to share a bed? 

He smiles back.

This is the scene that Lan Xichen walks in on. The question he has dies on the tip of his tongue. He doesn’t need the conflicted medley of his didi’s scent to tell him that Lan Wangji has absolutely not informed Wei Wuxian that they are mates. He understands the moment he sees Lan Wangji unable to move. Lan Wangji muscles locked in place as the intent to move them conflicts with his desire to remain near his soulmate.  

He sighs.

“Xichen-ge,” Wei Wuxian chirps. “Hello. Are we standing in your way?” 

Lan Wangji implores his xiong with his eyes. They widen with panic. He pleads for a way out.  

“Wei-gongzi,” he says, recalling the words he just overheard. “No. I wanted to check that you had enough to share for the night. Lan Wangji told me how excited he was for the two of you to talk.”

A tiny part of him feels terrible about the betrayal that shines in Lan Wangji’s eyes. He rationalizes, Even if Wei-gongzi may reject him, if didi never tells him that they are fated, then he will never find happiness. 

“He was just about to get them!” Wei Wuxian tugs Lan Wangji’s arm. 

Gesturing, Lan Xichen offers, “I am heading this way. I’ll send some your way. You should catch up.”

“Great! Thanks!” 

Wei Wuxian drags Lan Wangji, who can’t bring himself to properly be reluctant, into the room.

“Inside or outside?” Wei Wuxian asks, appraising the bed. It’s a little tight for two grown men but it isn’t like they will be packed like sardines. The bed isn’t a twin after all.

Staring at his bed and Wei Wuxian’s curious gaze, he swallows. Boyhood dreams of boxing Wei Wuxian in flit up his memory. Lan Wangji at last says, “You take the bed.” 

“I can’t steal your bed.” He scratches his neck. “I’ll take the floor. I’m used to roughing it.”

“No.” What kind of mate would Lan Wangji be if he allowed that? 

“No? Should I find a g—”

“Stay here.” His mouth moves before his brain. His instincts scream, Wei Ying is in our den. We have to keep him here.

Wei Wuxian steps back, giving Lan Wangji a once-over. Did he misunderstand? Lan Wangji has always been concise but did he misunderstand something. He repeats, “Inside or outside?”

Lan Wangji knows this is selfish but Wei Wuxian isn’t leaving him much choice. If he changes his word, that will create suspicion. He can endure a night though it will be a test of his will. He doubts he will sleep much. “Outside.”

“So! Anything interesting gossip?” Wei Wuxian flops down, making a mess of the neatly tucked sheets. The dark wash of his clothes contrast with the white of Lan Wangji’s sheets. He haphazardly spread limbs expose a few centimeters of belly.

Tearing his gaze away Wei Wuxian’s happy trail, he shakes his head. “The pack prohibits gossip.”

“The pack or Lan Qiren-laoshi,” he mutters but it makes sense. If you pry into other people’s business, they are bound to pry into yours. He asks, “Any interesting news? That doesn’t break your finicky rules does it?”

Lan Wangji thinks, turning over the last decade or so. His memory is filled with many events but he doubts most would interest Wei Wuxian. Events such as weddings, deaths, and births would have already reached Wei Wuxian’s ears.

Wei Wuxian smiles, leaning forward. Resting his weight on his knees, he says, “You don’t have to take it so seriously. Just say something.”

“You likely have more news than me.”

He stretches. His clothes crinkle. Flakes of brown and red drift off him. The color is a shock of color on the sheets.

A whiff of earth and copper scratch Lan Wangji’s nose. The scent is too old for him to place but that he suspects at all that it is blood makes his wolf pace. He instinctively steps forward.

“Sorry. Sorry.” He claps his hands together and bows. Suddenly it hits him, he rubs his nose. “Ah, Lan Zhan, can I borrow your clothes?”

Lan Wangji turns from stone to plasma. The words he hates claw his ears, followed by something his brain can’t quite process. He thinks, Wei Ying in my clothes, wrapped in my scent. 

It isn’t as good as scent-marking him but it is the closest action Lan Wangji has any right to do. He blinks.

“Ah, if that’s weird I can just—” He wonders if Lan Wangji is myopic. The Lans have always been excessively neat but did he offend Lan Wangji by shedding cinnabar, blood, and paste onto his sheets.

“No. If you don’t mind it, I can lend them to you.” He walks over to his dresser. He removes two pairs of matching pajamas.

Wei Wuxian is somehow both surprised and underwhelmed. Of course Lan Wangji wears pajama sets instead of a random assortment of shorts, sweats, pants, and t-shirts. It fits Lan Wangji to a tee.

“We should shower.”

Together? Lan Wangji exclaims in his heart, but his face remains expressionless.

He glances over Lan Wangji. “What’s that look? Ah, are you a morning shower person?” 

“But you just ran through the woods.” He wrinkles his nose. “Or does the transformation just magick away the dirt?”

Before he can begin to understand how Wei Wuxian reached that conclusion, a shallow knock at the door tells Lan Wangji how distracted he was. His ears should have noticed the footsteps long before the knock. 

“Enter.”

“Father,” Lan Sizhui says, closing the door behind him. “Xi-bo sent me.”

He carries in two pillows. Crossing the room, he peers at Wei Wuxian. He questions, Why is bobo acting weird and father and granduncle?

A second later, he realizes there’s only one bed and there’s nothing to form a second bed with. Lan Sizhui would never describe Lan Wangji as distant but of all their pack he rarely sees Lan Wangji sharing skin contact with other pack members of his generation or older. If he hadn’t crawled into Lan Wangji’s bed as a child, he suspects he would be among those who consider his father cold. He notes this. Pieces of a puzzle line up in front of him and he’s short of full work.

He stops short of Lan Wangji who stares at his hands pointedly.

“Is something wrong?” He hands over the pillows.

Lan Wangji shakes his head. Nothing of Lan Sizhui’s scent or heart beat suggests ulterior motives. He wonders if xiong intentionally picked the only person in their pack who could not tell if he was hiding something. He pushes down his complaints and gives his thanks.

“Oh! A-Zhui can show me the bathroom.” Wei Wuxian hops up. Throwing his arm over Lan Sizhui’s neck, he gestures.

Lan Sizhui furrows his brow. “Is that father’s clothes?”

Waving them, Wei Wuxian jokes, “Hm… Did you want me to share a bed with your baba in the—”

“Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji scolds and tries to ignore the fantasy those words conjure up and how he itches to make them more than a reality.

Lan Sizhui flushes.

“My bad. My bad. Lead the way A-Zhui.” Wei Wuxian waves. “I’ll be back soon. So think up a good story.”  

When both leave his sight, Lan Wangji finds a clear patch of wall. He flips onto his hands. Gravity forces all the blood that flowed south to return north. A part of him dreams of entering the shower after— 

Keeping an ear out for Wei Wuxian, he recites the packs’ thousands of rules. He mustn’t impose himself on his moon. His mind still manages to wonder.

It conjures images of Wei Wuxian slick with water. Steam masks the parts of Lan Wangji never seen in detail. The happy trail he only glimpsed tempts him to picture what is lower.

He rocks. Shifting his weight to one arm, he increases the difficulty of his exercise. If shifting skins wouldn’t scare Wei Wuxian, he would pace his room. Even in wolf form, he knows that no part of him would dare leave this room when he knows his moon plans to return here.

He layers on the difficulty. He recalls the rules in a second tongue. He mustn’t allow his body another moment to consider how Wei Wuxian’s fresh scent will infuse his clothes or how Wei Wuxian will smell of the shampoo he uses. He lifts a foot from the wall.

#MDZS #Winding Moonrise #Wangxian #No Sads #I tried to write a happy college years flashback but my brain refused so you get some silliness of two idiots negotiating bed arrangments #Somehow I have accidentally managed to write continuously rather than jumping from sad to sad so yay? #I was also going to write LWJ mooning over WWX but that could very easily get weird and pining sad so I stopped in the middle of the silly #LSZ isn't dumb he's just a kid who can't compute that his dad is in love yet #okay I am far enough in my notes no one is probably reading #Since JZX is alive in this world that means we have a dippled dhampire MY out in the world who was never recognized #wick writes

[nautiscarader]

Wendip Week day 5 - Time Travel

(Ao3) 

Also this was supposed to be short and yet it is 2.5k and still has no plot

==================

- I'm really glad you agreed to help us. - Wendy gave her best friend a kiss to the cheek and waved her children goodbye - We're gonna be by ten. Tyrone, Emma, be good to auntie Tambry. - We'll be back before you know it. - Dipper said, as much to his children, as to the babysitter.

The door to their cozy, two-storey wooden house closed, and the sound of engine soon reached them from the outside, as Dipper and Wendy left for a well-deserved evening alone to celebrate their anniversary. Tambry grabbed a can of Pitt Cola from the kitchen and jumped onto the sofa.

- So, what do you guys want to do? Play some board games, or do you want me to tell you stories? Heh, I have some pretty embarrassing stories about your folks and-

It took Tambry a paralysingly long moment to notice that she has been talking to no one the whole time. She jumped to her feet and frantically looked around, trying to spot all the possible places for a seven- and ten-years old, quickly coming to realisation that there were way too many of them.

But there was only one where a noise was coming from.

The basement.

At once, Tambry dropped her can and rushed downstairs. Other parents might have worried that their children would accidentally break bottles of wine, or cut themselves on some of daddy's tools, but in Dipper and Wendy's case, the consequences of wandering into their basement unprotected were far, far more severe. Apart from the sharp tools and bottles of intoxicants, their basement was a home to their treasure vault.

In the past twenty or so years, the couple (with occasional help from Tambry and others) have travelled around States and the world, to all the places Ford has marked as "of interest". And over the two decades, they have collected many treasures, as well as many objects of interest they kept in their ultra-secure vault, locked not only with technology, but also spells and enchantments.

And when Tambry saw it it wide open, it did not surprise her in the slightest. After all, those were Wendy and Dipper's kids. Tambry's mind went berserk, trying to imagine what the kids could have touched, and as she got into the vault, she saw the Time Tape, a relict from Wendy and Dipper's short-lived part-time job as time agents.

The kids turned their heads around, and just as they began disappearing, Tambry launched herself forward, and as her finger brushed the wobbly, ephemeral surface of time rift, she was pulled forward, but instead of slamming her head against the opposite wall, she began falling, deeper than she ever had, flying though time vortex itself, filled with clocks and occasional telephone boxes, some of which contained two stoned guitarists.

Just as she thought she would feel sick, she felt pain in her arm when she collided with ground.

Tambry turned around, her mind still on Wendy and Dipper's kids. She recognised the place already: she was on the same hill where Woodstick concert was taking place, evidently still with the crowd of attendees. The whole place was filled with people, but as she looked around, Tambry immediately saw two familiar figures: one red-haired boy and one brown-haired girl, just on the verge of the forest, and she leapt towards them, shouting with her last breath.

- Tyrone! Emma! - she grabbed their shoulders Why did you-

But as she looked at the two children, her heart sank as she began noticing subtle differences. Emma didn't have green eyes. Tyrone's hair wasn't as long. And he wasn't as tall as he used to be a moment ago. Emma didn't have a beauty mark on her cheek.

The strange kids stared at her in confusion, but as she was about to ask what happened, she heard a murmur from the crowd behind her. And when she turned around, she nearly fainted. She suddenly realised that the crowd she passed by weren't random people.

As the dozens, if not hundreds of children turned their heads at the same time, in a near-synchronised motion, Tambry began noticing the same features over and over again: red hair, freckles, chestnut hair, birthmarks, brown and green eyes...

- Hi, Aunt Tambry! - spoke the children in blood-freezing, eerie, collective cheer. - What the fu-

And then, she was falling again, through the asphalt, the ground, and the vortex again, but this time, with all the red- and chestnut-haired children. She was still frantically looking for Tyrone and Emma, but she quickly realised it was a futile attempt, and by the time she thought that, she felt pain in her back again, as she landed, this time, in a spacious, gold-and-marble hall.

She expected she would hear hundreds of cries of the children, as they would landed and sprain her ankles or broke their arms, but so far, she was the only one who mis-landed, while every sing;e child or teenager around got onto their feet as if they just exited a school bus.

- Emma? Tyrone?

Tambry asked, being helped by two children, and to her relief, she finally found them, rushing towards her with tears in their eyes.

- Auntie Tambry, we-we are sorry... - Emma cried, closing her arms around her waist. - Yeah, we messed up... - the older boy spoke, without meeting her eyes and joined his sister. - That's... that's okay, kids, everything is fine...

Tambry knelt and brought them into a tight, warm hug, glad things finally started making sense.

And as she opened her eyes, she saw a giant, floating head.

- EMMA AND TYRONE PINES!

The Time Baby boomed, filling the air in the courtroom with its mighty voice.

- YOU HAVE BEEN PULLED FROM YOUR ORIGINAL TIME STREAM TO ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAIN THE TIME ITSELF. - it continued, reading from a piece of paper - TOGETHER WITH YOU, WE BROUGHT ALICE PINES, DAN PINES, PETER PINES, STAN II PINES, STANFORD II PINES, STANISLAU PINES, TERRANCE PINES, DEBORAH PINES, ANNE PINES, DANNY PINES, TYRONE PINES, TYRONE PINES, PHOEBE PINES ...

For the next five minutes, the giant, floating baby continued listing - from the sound of it - names of every single son and daughter of Wendy and Dipper present in the hall. And then it spoke Tambry's name as well, as if she was a punchline to a very long joke.

- DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? - Uh, yeah, about that, I don't. - Tambry spoke, crossing her arms. - Who-who are you guys? I know Wendy and Dipper have been busy once they retired from adventuring, but not THAT much...

Immature snickering erupted around her.

- Auntie Tambry, it's real simple. - Emma tugged her shirt to bring her attention. - All of us here are kids of our parents from alternate universes. Our time-siblings if you will. - Yeah! - another girl, around age of fifteen agreed - Like, in our timeline, our mom and dad are bad-ass freedom fighters... - ...our parents were the same age when they met! - ...my dad moved to Oregon permanently! - ...my mom moved to California! - ...our parents first broke up but then got together again! - ...our parents attended the same sports school! - ...our parents run a coffee-shop!

Everyone in the hall, including the primordial, pan-dimensional Time Baby, collectively groaned.

- Okay, is there *someone*, who can explain to me how to untangle this mess? - Tambry cried in anger - Because I didn't sign up for this... - "Untangle" is, in fact, the correct word.

The crowd of one purple- and many chestnut- and red-heads turned towards the new voice, and just when Tambry thought that something would start making sense, she hiccuped when she understood who just greeted her.

- Waddles! - the crowd of Wendy and Dipper's offspring cheered in unison, and ran towards the chubby pink pig that flew into the courtroom in his leaving chair, Tambry more perplexed than a moment ago. - Indeed, I am Waddles, though not the one you know. I am a distant descendant of the one, brave pig you call Waddles, and who is known in our civilisation as the "Oink-Father". - I need a drink... - Tambry hid her face in hands. - But Tambry here is right - Waddles continued, as he circled the room, until he flew towards the screen - It would seem that one set of children travelled back in time, modified the past, altering their future. Then, another set of kids travelled from the now-changed future, their present, to the same past, hoping to fix it, but modifying it again. Repeat that around, er, seventy-two times, and you get the results!

Waddles spread his stubby trotters, pointing to the crowd of time-travelling children, and continued.

- Your many time travels have twisted the time continuum into a knot-like structure. What's worse, the many parallel universes you've created have ended some of them, and began new ones.

As he spoke, the singular line on the enormous screen began twisting and turning, until it resembled a ball of yarn that has been a target of a whole litter of hyperactive kittens.

- However, hope is not lost. You will find that in order to solve this multi-dimensional conundrum, we must simply use a trivially easy algebraic property of inverting the product.

At least a dozen of children around Tambry let out a collective gasp of understanding and began nodding.

- Er, come again? - Tambry spoke to the talking pig, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. - Simply speaking, you first put on your underwear, and then your pants. But if you want reverse the process, you must first take off your pants, and then the underwear.

The future Waddles looked down at his body.

- I assure you, this analogy is true, even though I have very little experience in that matter. - So... you mean that we need to find which groups of kids brought which one with them, put them in order, and then, like, escort them back, one by one, from the end? - Precisely!

Tambry cursed her best friend under her breath.

- I will never babysit any of you. - she grumbled - I might even never speak to Wendy again either. - she threw a paralysing glare at the crowd of children around her. - Heh, funny story - one of the teenage boys spoke - In our universe, you and our parents... er, kinda-sorta... Ah, never mind, you'll find out. Maybe. - Okay, someone give me some ultra-strong coffee from the future, or something, and let's do this.

And so, it began. Tambry lined up each group of kids together, and after much reorganising they began jumping through time. From universes that looked completely similar to hers, through those still aflame in Weirdmageddon, to those that were literally the mirror ones of hers, complete with traffic signs flipped horizontally, Tambry began the longest school trip of her life, escorting the cavalcade of children, trying her might to keep them holding their hands in line, which was much easier said than done when you are attacked by pterodactyls, or have to swim through the river of chocolate.

After hours, maybe days - she couldn't tell, and she was afraid to ask the children, who she suspected had an answer - she was left with just two kids. The ones she swore to protect, and whom she has failed miserably.

- Okay, guys. Can you tell me WHY IN HECK did you decide to do this?!

Emma and Tyrone looked at each other with shame, and showed her a photo on Tyrone's smarter-phone. A photo only they could have taken. Wendy Corduroy, age 15, kneeling in front of 13-year-old Dipper Pines, as she was telling him goodbye after their first summer spent together. Their future father was still perplexed by Wendy's act of taking his hat and swapping it for hers. She was saying something, but only they knew what they talked about, though Dipper's reddened cheeks gave Tambry a good indication what was Wendy's farewell message.

- We... we wanted to give our parents something for their anniversary. - And we thought we could go back to when they first met, you know, and take a picture. - Emma looked at her younger parents - Look how cute they are! Especially dad! - Yeah, he was heads over heels about your mom. - Tambry smiled. - Except we messed up... Turns out it really matters if you spook that goat and she runs left instead of right! - Hey, it's okay. - Tambry ruffled the boy's hair. - You put all the things back in place?

The two nodded eagerly.

- Okay, we can go back.

Tambry took the time tape, and was about to pull it one last time, but she decided to give it to the children.

- You do it. You know better than me how to use it.

For the last time Tambry felt the now-familiar feeling of her insides somersaulting, and, for the first time, she has managed to land on her feet. Seventy time travels taught her when to flip instead of flopping, something the children seemed to have grasped instantly.  

She opened eyes. They were back in the vault, in one piece, and just as she was about to say something, she heard the familiar sound of engine.

- Quick! get into positions!

She prompted the kids to run upstairs, while she closed the vault's door and followed them soon. By the time Wendy and Dipper opened the door, Emma and Tyrone have managed to bring the plates of snacks, open, empty, and scatter a dozen of cans of soda, and set up entire board and pieces of "Crippling Economy" on the table, to make sure their parents wouldn't suspect anything.  

- Hey, kids! - Wendy spoke, knowing she shouldn't worry too much as their house was still standing. - Did you miss us?

The two adults couldn't even take off their coats, before their children jumped to greet them with the most affectionate of hugs.

- Alright, alright! - Dipper smiled - We got you presents, don't worry... - No, mom, dad, we got you one!

The two nodded and presented to them the freshly printed photo, and watched as their parents' faces brightens in awe.

- Dipper... - Look, we were so young... - You were so small! - But you were as beautiful as today.

The kids let out a simultaneous "yuck" as their parents kissed, knowing to prolong the moment for maximum embarrassment.

- Wow, kids, thank you. - Dipper hugged them again - But where did you get it? - Auntie Tambry was going trough her phone and she found it. - So... we decided to frame it! - That's very thoughtful, you guys. And, hey, where's Tambry?

Just as Wendy asked, a loud snore reached their ears, and the four fund Tambry sleeping on the couch in the living room, the same one she expected to slack off on the entire night.

- You must have seriously tires her out. - Dipper spoke with hushed voice. - Eh, you know how it is - Emma shrugged.  

The Pines family tip-toed from the living room in order not to wake Tambry up. Just as Wendy was about to hang the new picture on the wall, she started thinking "Was Tambry even with us when Dipper left..?". But she was too tired to remember this, and she let out a prolonged yawn, ready to tuck their kids in their beds and join her husband in their bedroom soon.  

=================

Also, this fic contains names that coincide, completely coincidentally, with Wendip kid OCs by @fereality-indy, @nina-a-pines, and Supergroveraway.  

#wendip #wendipweek #wendip week 2020 #nautiscaraderfics #time travel

[dessiekarma]

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boys (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt.6

Chapter Six: Sorry For Your Tragic Backstory, But Don’t be a Dick!

 “Son, are you up?”

 Hara lifted his head up to glance at the large time on his phone. He was probably going to be late to school again, not that it really mattered.

 “Yeah I’m up.”

 “I wanted to remind you that you’ll need to skip practice today to make your doctor appointment.”

The door swung open with Hara facing his father, a clearly unhappy look on his face.

 “What appointment? I told you I didn’t want to go to any other doctors.” Hara whisper hissed at the older male.

 “Your mother and I had you on a list for an experimental treatment, we think it may actually help to stop-”

 “It won’t stop!” Hara exclaimed before glancing back into his bedroom and lowering his voice again. “How many doctors have to tell you two that? I accepted it so why don’t you!?”

 “Maybe not stop but slow down the degeneration an-”

 Hara stopped listening as he turned back into his bedroom and shook the girl in his bed quickly. His father watched on with pursed lips, clearly wanting to say something but biting his tongue instead.

 “Hey, you need to get going.” Hara nudged her out of the bed and ushered her to gather her stuff and take her leave.

 “Kazuya, you know we don’t mind you having…friends but we’ve asked you not to let so many people into the house.”

 “Then you shouldn’t have agreed to give me the room with the door leading outside.”

 There was a brief stare off between the two before his father finally gave in and made no further effort to correct his son’s behavior. Hara sighed heavily as he pulled on his school uniform.

 Of course, neither of his parents had the actual backbone to upset him in any way. Anyone who didn’t know their situation would call him a spoiled brat and he knew they were right.

 “I gotta go.” Hara said pushing his bangs firmly over his eyes and walking past his father. “I’m staying late for practice…I’ll be home later.”

 “Please, Kazuya why won’t you at least give it a try?”

 The teen stopped walking but didn’t turn back to the desperate sounding man.

 “Because we’ve been doing this for more than a decade…I’m sick of getting my hopes up.”

 The older man flinched as the front door slammed harshly.

~~~~~

 “Oh shit, what’s with the face?” Yamazaki asked as Hara practically slammed his lunch tray down on the table beside him.

 “He’s just all up in his feelings because we had to give Mako back today.” (Y/N) said with her own eyes looking red and glassy.

 “I can’t believe she said we did the best on the project.” Hara commented cracking open a can.

 Seto chuckled just a bit. “Probably because you two were the most realistic parents I’d ever seen with all that fighting. It’s no wonder everyone kept thinking Mako was real. I don’t know that the assignment had the desired effect, I thought you were a great mother.”

 “Oh…” (Y/N) didn’t exactly know how to take her friends compliment. Her heart was suddenly beating faster and the room was a second from spinning.

 Squinting her eyes shut tightly she focused on keeping her breathing leveled. She could NOT have a panic attack right now in front of her friends. Bringing herself back down she smiled at him.

 “Thank you! I’m actually still pretty upset about giving him back but I know that’s pretty silly.”

 “I don’t believe so.” Furuhashi commented. “You developed a motherly instinct and bond with Mako. It would be hard for a mother to give up her child.”

 “Yeah.” (Y/N) pushed her food her plate before placing the spoon down. “Hanamiya, you want my lunch? It’s not going down right and I hate wasting food.”

 “Sure whatever.” The black-haired male took her plate slowly and tried his best to seem uninterested in her or the food.

 Though not a lie that she didn’t feel hungry anymore, she wondered if the rest of her team noticed that Hanamiya wasn’t eating today. And come to think of it there were other days when he didn’t eat much more than a can of coffee.

 She didn’t want to assume but the thought had been in her mind ever since she ran into his mother. If she was working at a department store in the mall, she couldn’t possibly be making that much money. The tuition here was ridiculous and the lunch prices not much better. How the hell could he afford to go here?

 Rich dad?

 Benefactor?

 (Y/N)’s thoughts were cut off by some random guy coming up behind her and slinging an arm around her shoulder. The guys watched as the girl stiffened upon immediate reaction before regaining her cool composure and turning to the male with an almost deadly look.

 “How can I help you?”

 “So polite, I can tell you’ve been in this business for a long time.”

 The guys looked at each other in confusion while they watched (Y/N)’s face instantly grow darker.

 “What do you want?”

 “Come on you should know that one! I want a date!” The guys said pressing up against (Y/N)’s back harder, his hand rubbing her shoulder creepily the other slipping under the table. “So, what’s your price? Hourly or do you charge by our activities? How much to let me do it all hmm?”

 The entire table went frozen at the male’s implications. Clear snickering could be heard from the table of girls not too far away. Sitting there was none other than Yamazaki’s ex-girlfriend herself.

 Both groups waited patiently to hear what (Y/N) would say. Having been ambushed out of nowhere there wasn’t much time to think, she would either snap at him or give some cliché remark about her rates being too high for him. Her team looked on in surprise as the girl smiled at him with an almost genuine look.

 “I haven’t thought about my pricing in a while! It’s a little tricky because too high and I won’t get nearly enough customers. But too low and I may put your mother out of business!”

 The boys at her table almost started laughing before the mystery guy yanked the girl out of her seat by the collar in rage. (Y/N) held no expression as the male pulled her up closer to him and drew a fist back ready to land square on her face.

 Just as the team was about to get up to help their manager, they saw her head slowly tilt back before jerking forward to make hard contact with an unsuspecting nose.

 The loud crunch was sickening and by now most of the cafeteria had gone totally quiet. Any grip that was still clinging to the girl’s collar was soon released as she drew her knee back and brought it right up into the place no guy wants to be hit.

 The team along with every male in the cafeteria cringed hard at the sight of the male literally throwing up from the force of that knee. With her would-be attacker on the floor curled up in a helpless ball the boys figured it was over but looking into (Y/N)’s face there was a dark look they hadn’t seen before.

 Sure, enough her foot reeled back before making impact with the boy’s side. He yelped out in pain but (Y/N) kept the blows coming, sometimes lifting her foot to stomp on various parts of his body.

 Hara stood up slowly and placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder making her jump hard and take a swing at him. The punch landed directly in his stomach, making him double over in pain.

 As if suddenly becoming unblinded by her rage the girl’s face melted back into the look they had all become used to.

 “Kazuya! I’m sorry!” (Y/N) said taking the male’s face into her hands and trying to look into his eyes unsuccessfully of course.

 Wheezing just a bit Hara managed to straighten up and give her a reassuring smile.

 “Remind me to never play punchies or bloody knuckles with you. Are you okay?”

 “What on earth is going on here?” One of the school administrators bellowed, slamming the doors to the cafeteria.

 Before anyone could speak up it was none other than Mei running up to him, looking as if she’d been traumatized by the events.

 “My friend went up to (Y/N) to ask her out and she totally freaked out! Look at him!”

 The administrator looked to the boy struggling to get up off the floor and narrowed his eyes at the accused girl. Before he could open his mouth, it was Yamazaki who was out of his seat.

 “That’s not the truth! He accused (Y/N) of paid dating! He said he wanted to know her rates and he did it with the intention of embarrassing her! He said it so loudly everyone in the cafeteria heard him!”

 “It’s true!” A small voice piped up from the other side of the lunchroom. The guys recognized her as one of (Y/N)’s reverse trap lovers. “He went up to her and asked her how much she would charge to let him ‘do it all’ totally unprovoked!”

 “Be that as it may, it was no need for physical confrontation.”

 (Y/N) sighed before whipping off her jacket and unbuttoning her white shirt to pull over her shoulder. There on her clear skin was a shiny dark bruise. Hiking up her skirt slightly, the boys gawked at a handprint shaped bruise colouring her thigh. The markings were so dark and done with so much force, it was a wonder she hadn’t cried out.

 “He was purposely squeezing me to intimidate and hurt me. I was defending myself.”

 “(L/N) (Y/N)? You’re the Tōō transfer…Surely you’ve heard of excessive force, right?”

 (Y/N) bit her lip so hard the boys knew it was seconds away from bleeding. She looked pissed and expectant.

 “Young man, get to the nurse and get patched up. (Y/N) please come follow me to the Headmaster’s office.”

 “What that’s complete bullshit!” Hara found himself yelling loudly. “She has the proof that he was hurting her and she’s still in trouble? Excessive force my fucking ass! He was going to punch her in the face and if she let him get up who knows what he could have done to her!?”

 “Settle down!”

 “No, that’s the stupidest fucking shit I ever heard!”

 “That is enough! I am giving you one last warning. I know your parents may allow you to do whatever you like. I however will not, condition or no condition.”

 Hara was boiling with rage at this point.

 “Fuck you!”

 The administrator looked just as red and angry however his eyes flickered with thought. Sighing heavily, he deflated and waved a dismissive hand at the boy.

 “Sit down and finish your lunch. Come on (L/N).”

 The cafeteria sat dumbstruck at the lavender-haired boy. Anyone who talked to any of the school’s staff like that was sure to be suspended, yet here he was with nothing but a reprimand.

 And you would figure anyone would be happy with that but not Hara. No, he was absolutely trembling with rage. His teeth grit harshly, and his eyes blurred even more with tears that he wasn’t going to let fall. Maybe he was crying because he was angry or maybe he actually just sick of this constant reminder.

 Pounding his fist into the table he stalked off after (Y/N). Without hesitation Yamazaki followed quickly behind his friend.

 “I should really go and make sure they don’t make things worse for (Y/N).” Furuhashi said throwing away his food.

 “You aren’t afraid you’ll get into trouble and they’ll call your parents?”

 “I’ve recently gotten engaged, they are content enough with me at the moment to let a few things slide.”

 “I’m going too. (Y/N) didn’t look right and I never thought she could lash out like that. Best if we gave her some team support. Hanamiya you coming?”

 The pale boy simply sat and continued eating his lunch like nothing ever happened. He shrugged his shoulders.

 “What good would that do? I’m gonna stay here.”

~~~~~

 “So, you see why we have to keep such a close eye on you?”

 (Y/N) nodded her head solemnly. She knew she only put herself in this situation based on her current and past actions. Disagreeing did no good.

 “You better not be expelling her!” Hara’s voice rasped from the other side of the door. “I will shit all over your office!”

 The young girl couldn’t help but snort at the principal’s taken aback expression. Shaking his head he turned back to (Y/N) and gave her a small fatherly smile.

 “That’s an interesting boyfriend you have there.”

 “Kazuya isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just my teammate who cares whether or not I will still be a part of the team tomorrow.”

 “You will be. Regardless of everything, I know you’re a good kid. You have a 4.0 GPA and have even managed to reign in that unruly basketball team with their rough play. Though I do hope they continue to win without it.”

 “W-what? How long have you known about that?”

 “Oh I’ve had my suspicions ever since Hanamiya hurt that Seirin player a few years back. Between you and I, so long as the ref never called them out on their play, I would have allowed it to continue in an effort to keep bringing in those wins.”

 (Y/N) sat awestruck. Things just weren’t adding up. Hanamiya had said outright that the Headmaster was unhappy with the team’s actions and was keeping an eye on them. In fact, it seemed to be the exact opposite.

 “Dear don’t look so concerned. Rough play is simply a part of sports. Take the Detroit Pistons for exa-”

 “You never asked Hanamiya to stop the rough play?”

 “No, I can’t say I’ve spoken to the young man since he asked permission to be coach. Which brings me to the deal I want to make.”

 “A deal?”

 “While I can understand self-defense, even you admitted to using excessive force. Now I can’t let that go without punishment. However, you know as well as I do that those boys on your team are a stubborn lot. They never will agree to this if I asked it of them myself. A local newspaper has asked two Tokyo high school basketball teams to sit for an interview and Kirisaki Daiichi would be one of them.”

 “Why would the newspaper want to interview us?”

 “They are doing a feature on student leadership and wanted to feature two excelling teams led by student coaches.”

 (Y/N)’s minded whirled for just a bit before the lightbulb went off. Her lips parted into a soft o shape as her Headmaster nodded with a smirk.

 “So, then the school we will be interviewing with is…”

~~~~~

 Seirin sat awkwardly on the other side of a huge round table.

 (Y/N) could feel her captain’s stare burning holes in the side of her head. The energy in the room was incredibly tense and the only sounds were breathing and the occasional pop from Hara’s gum.

 “You’re going to run so many suicides for me when we get out of here.” Hanamiya whispered into (Y/N)’s ear, sending a chill down her spine.

 It had truly been a struggle to get all the boys to agree to sit for interview questions and that had been without mentioning the other team that would be.

 Yamazaki had agreed the moment he found out it was to help her while the other guys requested favors in exchange for their presence.

 Furuhashi requested to be lifted from the homework duty he’d gotten thanks to the Valentine’s bet.

 Hanamiya requested that she make him lunch for the rest of the month, no store-bought or chef-prepared bentos allowed.

 Hara’s dumbass jokingly requested a kiss, which he got. Not expecting it, however, he had no time to react and bitched about being “caught off guard” and not getting the opportunity to kiss back.

 Seto merely waved the girl off and said he would save his favor for another time when he could really use it.

 Now the guys were thinking that they had been lowballed. Not only was this the team that killed their chances at the winter cup last year, but they were also the team they had the most tension with.

 To top it off, the interviewer was running late and now they were all stuck there as neither wanted to be the “weak team” that ran away.

 (Y/N) looked at the players on the opposing team. She had seen them during the Rakuzan v. Seirin game but just as she found with Yosen’s ace, it was much different being face to face. Kagami was nothing short of intimidating, with his piercing almost unnatural eyes.

 Their captain was scowling hard in direct contrast to Hanamiya who had this aura of faux innocence surrounding his face. The glasses guy looked about ready to jump across the table and throw hands.

 Kuroko was another story, looking as if he was the one analyzing her team intensely. Several times (Y/N) locked eyes with him and gave him a small smile which he surprisingly returned. Seeing him too, made her wonder how exactly he was this “phantom” or “invisible” man. He had baby blue hair for fucks sakes!

 “Kuroko Tetsuya, I don’t believe we’ve met.” The blue haired boy said extending his hand to the girl, who hadn’t said a single thing the entire time they’ve been sitting here.

 “(Y/N) (L/N), it’s very nice to meet you. I saw your game against Rakuzan and thought it was amazing!”

 This seemed to snap the attention of all the team to her. Before she could reply the dark-haired male, in front of her slipped a paper to her secretively.

 ‘Blink twice if you’re being held against your will.’

 The young girl was caught between a laugh and a scoff, confusing the sharp-eyed male who’d passed her the note. He tilted his head as he tried to examine her face.

 “Okay you blinked like four times, so I’m a little confused.” Izuki said with genuine concern.

 “I’m perfectly content where I am. I have classes with Kazuya, before I knew it one thing lead to another and I was managing the team.”

 Before anyone could even comment on that, she was already noticing the looks on their faces and continuing with her explanation.

 “I am not a naïve person and am very aware of the things they have done. We were able to have a nice clean game against Yosen not too long ago. It would go against everything I believe in to judge someone on only their worst qualities.”

 “I agree.” Kuroko’s calm voice resonated in the room with a strong conviction. “It’s hard to defend someone when only you’ve seen the good in them and everyone else has only seen the bad. I know that too well.”

 “Exactly, spoken like a true protagonist.” (Y/N) said with a wide smile.

 “This guy is way too bland to ever be the protagonist of anything.” Hara chuckled snapping his gum rapid fire.

 “You think so? He talks like one and even has the ‘spot the protagonist’ hair.” (Y/N) leaned across Hanamiya, ready to defend her opinion to the death.

 “We just played a purple giant and there’s split brow red head right in front of us!” Yamazaki replied, clearly siding with Hara.

 “All the generation has weird ass hair.” Seto added acknowledging the obvious.

 “Because if the story was told with their team as the main cast then that Miracle would be the protag. Kuroko is the protag of Seirin because blue hair is way more unnatural than red. Come on guys, it’s really simple.” Furuhashi interjected after picking his side in the debate.

 “Then am I the protag of KiriDaii?” Hara asked, twisting a portion of his bangs between his fingers.

 “Hell no, that’s me!” (Y/N) said with indignation.

 “What why?”

 “Because your hair isn’t natural and I’m the middle of the year transfer student!”

 Seirin didn’t know how to respond to the conversation that had unfolded in front of them. Talk about anime protagonists and hair colour wasn’t something they expected, especially from a team like Kirisaki Daiichi. Clearly (Y/N) had been some sort of catalyst for the group.

 Of course, the boys have always made their public image out to be very presentable. If they ever did attend some sort of event, they usually came across as cold but polite. The stereotypical image of a rich kid who thinks they are better than you but know better than to show it.

 To see them acting like normal teenage guys was almost unsettling. But it made sense…after all, regardless of what they were like on the court, off the court they were just that. Teenage boys.

 Kuroko’s eyes left (Y/N) when he felt a different pair glaring in his direction. Turning, he met with a harsh pair of olive eyes. Hanamiya had gotten up in his face before and the two had definitely had a stare down to the death but this expression was unreadable. Finally, after what looked like an internal debate the older male opened his mouth.

 “Wait, there’s no way that’s actually your natural hair colour.”

 “Well I was born with it, so yeah. All the generation have natural hair.”

 “Shut the fuck up, are you serious? I thought the rainbow scheme was just a gimmick.” Hanamiya asked looking more or less stunned and in disbelief. “What the hell was in the water your moms were drinking?”

 “I don’t know how to answer that.”

 (Y/N) snorted into her hand. She didn’t expect this whole situation to turn out the way it was. If she was being honest she was almost prepared for a fight to break out instantly.

 Still it didn’t go unnoticed to her that one of the Seirin members was neither speaking to his teammates nor ever bothered to look up at her team. And she wasn’t naïve to who this person was. In fact, he was the first face she looked for when she walked into interview room today.

 Extremely tall and one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen in her life, she wished he had an actual smile on his face. Her captain pulled those a lot.

 Hanamiya did it to seem indifferent and strong to others. And the guy at the end of the table was fundamentally not so different, he was trying to put on a strong front and pretend like being there didn’t bother him. But from what she’s heard of him, he did that for others…not himself.

 “Terribly sorry for running so late!” A flustered looking man said nearly out of breath. “Were you waiting long?”

 “Not very, though Kirisaki Daiichi arrived before we did.” Riko said standing to shake hands with the journalist.

 “I will admit it was a bit of a wait, seeing as my team strives to be professional with our time.” Hanamiya said with a bright smile through the subtle snark of implying the older man was in fact unprofessional.

 “Right! My deepest apologies. Now, we can get through the joint questions first and then move onto individual teams. Now Seirin, there have been lots of eyes on your aces and while we are interested as well we figured this would be a great opportunity to get some info of your other members.”

 “Of course!” The short-haired girl nodded.

 “As for Kirisaki Daiichi, for such a high-ranking team in such a prestigious school there haven’t been many interviews conducted with you. And to my knowledge absolutely none since Hanamiya Makoto has taken the team. So, we would very much like to change that today!”

~~~~~

 “I uhh”

 While the tension had completely once been eradicated in the boardroom, the stuttering and aching silence let everyone know it was back with a vengeance.

 “I apologize if that was an inappropriate question to ask given our current audience but I did my research. It would seem the only remaining player from that team is Hanamiya, however he seemed not to be directly involve-”

 “Not directly involved?” Hyuga exclaimed before he had the chance to stop himself.

 The other Seirin team members were trying their hardest to get him to calm down. (Y/N) nervously bit on her nail as she glanced to her captain. He was sitting almost unfazed, staring at Kiyoshi waiting for him to give his answer to the question.

 ‘After your terrible injury in the game against Kirisaki Daiichi, how have you managed to deal with these limitations?’

 “Why don’t you finally admit it!? You had every intention of hurting him and everyone in here knows it!” Hyuga shouted to Hanamiya who finally looked away from the brown-haired male.

 “He’s not wrong.” Hanamiya’s voice came out smoothly, shocking his entire team. “I was just an ordinary player on the team back then, but still…it was me who gave the order to use rough play on him.”

 Even the reporter looked shocked by this admission and simply nodded before scribbling words down on his notes. Turning his attention back to Kiyoshi the reporter urged the male out of his overall shocked state.

 “So, how exactly are you coping? Is there a lot of resentment…anger?”

 “Acceptance. You can’t change what’s happened you can only come to terms with it. I’ve accepted that my peak has come and gone. It was halted early and without me ever even knowing, it passed me by. I’ll never be as good as I could have been, but I’ll keep trying to be the best that I can be now. That’s how I’ve coped with it.”

 “I see. That’s very unfortunate but inspiring that you have continued to push out of a bad situation. And for you Hanamiya, is there any guilt? Was it your intention for it to escalate this way? Any comments?”

 All of KiriDai was watching their captain closely. Way before now all of them had formed their own opinions on the incident with Kiyoshi but it wasn’t their game, none of them played in it so none of them ever bothered voicing their opinion.

 Hanamiya always acted like he couldn’t be bothered to give a shit about anything or anyone but still they wondered if there was something else there. Then again, they figured he would give some bullshit answer to keep a public façade.

 “As you can see Kiyoshi refuses to be broken by me and continues to put himself out there when playing me. Some people call that bravery…I call it reckless. He’s put his own flesh and bones on the line for others, I believe he will come to have resentment but not towards me.”

 (Y/N) tried to read the male’s eyes but found them to be blank.

 “I’ve lost every game I’ve ever played against him. I’ll never get the chance to beat him at his best….and I am unbelievably sorry for that. I take full responsibility for everything that’s happened to him.”

 Kiyoshi was gaping at the male who refused to make eye contact. He heard it in his voice, that was almost an apology. Of course, he knew Hanamiya well enough to know that he would state that in the most selfish and underhanded way possible. He wasn’t smirking or mocking them for believing a lie…he was, for the first time, being genuine.

 “I see…So, Hanamiya Makoto, what inspired you to play basketball?”

 “My father.” Hanamiya replied without missing a beat, once again surprising everyone on both teams.

 “Care to elaborate?”

 “No.”

 “Uhhh okay.” The journalist seemed to be fumbling with his notes, clearly trying to steer the topic away and remove the heavy veil hanging in the air. “Ahh yes Mitobe! There isn’t much information that’s been gathered for you. Would you be open to a few questions?”

 “I don’t think I’ve heard you speak since we got in here. Talk about a man of few words.” (Y/N) smiled at the male who had appeared to be slightly nervous.

 “More like a man of no words. Mitobe is mute!” The cat-mouthed boy stated awkwardly to (Y/N).

 The girl covered her mouth in shock and appeared wide eyed. She wanted to smack herself for even trying to talk. Honestly, she had just been trying to break the tensions between both teams.

 “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend!” The black-haired male lifted his hand as if to tell her not to worry about it but of course (Y/N) dug herself even deeper. “Do you want me to run and get you a paper and pen to write your answers down?”

 “That’s okay, I can translate for him.” Koga replied with a smile as he tried to calm the girl down.

 “Okay umm if you need to sit closer or something I can trad-”

 “Oh my god just leave him alone! He’s mute, not invalid!” Hara shouted in a fairly loud and angry voice, startling everyone in the room. “He survived just fine without you, he doesn’t need your help now. So, sit down and quit embarrassing us!”

 “Hey, you shouldn’t talk to your manager like that. She was just trying to help, even if coming off a little strong.” Hyuga spoke up in the girl’s defense.

 “Yeah you were really too harsh with her, Mitobe knows she meant well.” Koga urged, seeing the face of a clearly distressed girl.

 “She’s fine!” Hara asserted only to hear mumbling under the breath of the boy on the far end of the table. “What did you say?”

 Fukuda almost didn’t respond, not really having expected the male to hear him from that distance. Still Hara was coming off as rude and it wasn’t gonna take much urging to him to repeat the comment he gave.

 “I said ‘You must be blind or stupid not to see she’s obviously upset.’”

 It happened so quickly that (Y/N) almost didn’t process what had happened. One second Hara was drawing his fist back at the boy and the next Yamazaki was pulling him out of the room.

 “Okay, I’m calling it guys. We should probably end it here.” Seto said getting ready to stand before (Y/N) slid out of her chair first.

 “No, stay and finish the interview. He probably doesn’t want all of us around him right now.”

 “And you think he’ll be okay with you?” Furuhashi asked with slight concern in his eyes.

 “Doesn’t matter.” (Y/N) said, heading out to find her friends.

 With that the girl bowed respectfully to the other team and journalist before excusing herself. Almost immediately after turning the corner, her perpetually pissed-off looking friend nearly slammed into her.

 “Zaki! Where’s Kazu-chan, what the hell happened?”

 “He’s just sitting on the roof, sulking. Really, he just has some personal stuff he’s going through, and I thought it’d be best to leave him alone.”

 “Nah, I need to talk to him.”

 “(Y/N) wai-”

 The girl was no longer listening as she bolted down the hall and right up the flight of stairs. Her legs were aching as she climbed the steps incredibly fast. Finally seeing the light shining in from the small window, she pushed the door open and squinted her eyes in an effort to adjust to the brightness.

 “What the hell do you want? If I didn’t want Zaki here what makes you think I’d want you either?”

 “God you’re in a bitchy mood today.” (Y/N) commented, finally spotting the male sitting on the opposite end of the roof.

 Walking over to him she sat directly in front of him with crisscrossed legs.

 “Just leave me alone. Why are you always in everyone’s business?”

 “Because you’re my friends.”

 “Friends usually know when to leave someone the hell alone.”

 “Do they? I haven’t had many friends since I came to Japan so I wouldn’t really know. But in everything I’ve ever seen, the friend usually keeps pushing.”

 “Yeah well this isn’t one of your fucking anime okay? All I need is for you to leave me alone and go away.”

 “Kazuya just tell me what’s wrong? Why did you go off on that Seirin guy? Why’d you start yelling at me? I refuse to believe those were just bad attitude actions, so what gives?”

 “I’ve had a bad week okay?”

 “Well why?”

 “Oh my god it’s just one question after another with you!”

 “Yes! Because I want to know what’s happening with you. Maybe I can help!”

 “You can’t! “

 “How do you know that!?”

 “Because I know me better than you! Not everything has an answer and not everything can be fixed! Stop trying to fix me!”

 “I’m just trying really hard to understand you.”

 “Fine! You want to try and understand?!”

 (Y/N) flinched as he got up in her face and turned her head away from him screwing up her eyes. She didn’t think he’d hit her but it was her natural reaction to cower away. Hara suddenly had his thumb and forefinger on her cheeks, gripping her face slightly to turn her.

 “Look at me.”

 The young girl allowed him to face her towards him and was instantly surprised to see him looking at her eye to eye. He’d pushed his bangs off to the side and was staring at her intensely.

 Maybe she didn’t know the words…but she knew right away something was different.

 “Your eyes…”

 “Are creepy?” Hara scoffed still holding onto the girl’s face.

 “Suit you.”

 The girl honestly meant that. His eyes were a pretty hazel colour with the black part of his pupils extending way too far down to look natural. Both seemed to split the coloured portion of his eye from the middle to the bottom. It made him look almost feline in appearance.

 “What’s up with it?”

 “It’s called coloboma.”

 “Huh it makes you look like a demon or like a pissed off cat. That kind of fits your personality don’t you think?” (Y/N) smiled only for Hara to finally release her and sigh as he sat back. She thought about what Fukuda had said and as if all the pieces were clicking together, she cocked her head at him. “But that’s just cosmetic, if you went off on that guy back there…. Hara can you see?”

 “Shittily but yes…for now. Something called a comorbidity or whatever the hell. One of my brothers has the keyhole eyes like me but I was just even more unlucky. I was four when I realized my eyesight was shit at night.”

 (Y/N) could see Hara staring off to the side and knew he was about to let out everything and anything he had ever kept secret.

 “So, they tested it and turns out that was just the beginning. Choroideremia, which basically just means my eyesight is going to gradually get worse and worse until I just can’t see at all. Completely, totally blind and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do to stop it.”

 There was a hard silence cloaking the two. It was even heavier than the one they had just experienced in the room with both teams. Hara was ready to just get up and leave, he didn’t regret telling her…with that outburst she would piece it together eventually.

 His whole team probably would, when the only person who had known was Zaki. He knew it was foolish to think he could keep it from them for so long. His team would think he was a worthless player and he would gladly take that. But he knew (Y/N) would pity him and that was going to set him right back off.

 “Yeah well I’m sorry to hear that but don’t think telling me that is gonna excuse you for being a dick.”

 Hara’s eyes widened and his head snapped towards her like he couldn’t believe his ears. The girl was pouting and with arms crossed looked pissed off.

 “What?”

 “Like I said, I get that you’ve been going through a lot, but you were seriously about to fight a guy. He doesn’t know your life, cut him a break. And don’t ever fucking yell at me like that in public again! I’m your friend and manager, not a damn kid!”

 “Is that seriously what you’re worried about right now?”

 “Uhh yeah! You embarrassed the hell out of me! I think you owe me and everyone in there an apology!”

 Hara blinked very slowly at the girl. Everyone who had ever found out about it pitied him. They treated him like some sort of feeble infant. Even Yamazaki had to outgrow that habit.

 It would seem that, it didn’t matter the situation, (Y/N) was never going to react the way he thought she was. Whether it was her reactions to an arranged marriage or to a disability, she was never overly soft with people. Some people would even call that apathetic or kinda bitchy.

 “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me right now?”

 (Y/N) sighed heavily and let her angry face fall into one of concern.

 “It’s not that I don’t care about you, Kazuya or what’s happening. But it honestly changes nothing between us. You don’t get a free pass to do whatever the hell you like just because you have shitty eyesight. I’ve known you not even a full year. You managed to survive without me and I’m sure you’ll continue to do the same. I’m not saying I won’t make a mistake ever or that I won’t worry about you from time to time but you’re still the same person with or without your problems.”

 “And when the day comes that I can’t see at all?”

 “Then you’ll deal with it as it comes. We’ll get you a basketball that beeps or some shit. Look I don’t know much about blindness but millions all over the world deal with it and when it happens, I’m sure you will too.”

 “Huh…you know you’re the only person whose ever reacted that way. I guess now I must just seem like a fucking moron that threw a tantrum huh?”

 “Hell yeah, a big ass temper tantrum! Honestly one more outburst like that from you and I’m gonna have to put you in a time out corner or something.”

 Hara laughed before looking up at her again. Under his bangs he could always see that she had a very cute shape to her body but with his eyes out for the world to see…he was really looking at her for the first time. From the face, she was plainer than he’d been able to see previously. But still he found himself drawn to her.

 Crawling over to her again, his face was only inches away from hers. She was staring directly into his eyes in a way none of the other girls he’s ever been with has. She wasn’t staring AT his eyes she was looking into them. She was seeing him, looking at HIM.

 His hand was gently caressing her face and he noticed her own eyes gently flicker to his lips. His smirk grew before he drew even closer and whispered,

 “And how many tantrums do I have to throw before I get a spanking?”

 The girl clicked her tongue before pushing him away.

 “I’ll have Furu give you one now! He’s the sadist of the group, I’m sure all you have to do is ask!”

 “Fuck that shit! I want a spanking from a cute girl not a flogging from my sicko teammate.”

 “So, I’m a cute girl huh?”

 “Yeah you are.” Hara admitted without missing a beat, surprising (Y/N) who had expected him to give his typical sarcastic ass comment.

 “Ha funny, come on we should head back to the guys!”

 “Awe don’t leave yet! I figured we could have some fun up here for a bit, after all I did just reveal to you my tragic backstory!”

 “Yeah whatever!”

 “Don’t even pretend! You were really into me for a second there!”

 “Maybe in your dreams.”

 “Come on, I’ll make you feel really good.”

 “Don’t say things like that so nonchalantly!”

 “So, is that a yes?”

~~~~~

 “Why the fuck did you two take so long!?” Hanamiya shouted out at the two as they made their way down the final stair.

 “Yeah we were kinda worried.” Yamazaki said looking between his two friends.

 “Worried my ass! I just wanna get home but I can’t because (Y/N) has my damn train pass.” Hanamiya mumbled sounding just as grumpy as he’d been earlier with Seirin.

 “Honestly though, is everything okay with you guys?” Seto asked (Y/N) more so than Hara.

 “Yeah Kazu-chan had a bitch fit but he’s cooled off now. Maybe he is the protagonist considering how much he openly cries and causes drama.”

 “Shut up.” Hara laughed, pushing the girl playfully.

 The guys all narrowed their eyes at the two. They could see the clear shift, half as those who have experienced it first hand with (Y/N) and the other half as having witnessed it from their other teammates.

 He was falling for her.

 “Well now that that matter is solved, I think you owe us more than was offered.” Furuhashi broke the silence, placing his hand on (Y/N)’s shoulder.

 “Yeah I know.” The girl deflated, not wanting to be reminded of the deception she used to get her team there today. “How about I treat us all to ramen? I just got paid and I think I can spare to feed my team.”

 “Hmm you have a job?” Seto asked raising a brow at the girl.

 “Yeah, of course! I told you I like to earn my things and not just leech off someone. So, are we getting food or not!”

 “Fine, let’s go.” Hanamiya said, all but dragging the girl along out the door.

 Standing at the back of the group, a certain two males stayed behind Hara was staring out after his team and Yamazaki was staring at him. When the rest were finally out of earshot he spoke up.

 “She knows, doesn’t she?”

 “Yeah.”

 “And you willing told her?”

 “Yup.”

 “Why?”

 “I guess after seeing how she handled Furuhashi’s situation, I was hoping she would surprise me too. Tell me something I wasn’t expecting to hear, and she didn’t disappoint.”

 “…You know Furu’s got it bad for her too, right? That he’s just too stoic to show it more than he already does?”

 “Yeah, I’m not stupid.”

 “And I’ve told you how I feel.” Yamazaki sighed as Hara looked at him almost sullenly. “You’re still not gonna give her up easily, are you?”

 “You know I can’t.”

~~~~~

 “Who the fuck wrote that!” Hara yelled accusingly at the now frightened students in class.

 (Y/N) stared at the words on her desk, owlishly. The classroom had grown so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet and Hara was sure to cause hell when he found out who was responsible for this bullshit.

 “Well!? I’ll look through everyone’s shit to find a pink marker! And when I find it, the person I found it with bet-”

 “Haha how pathetic!” (Y/N)’s voice chirped out, laughing genuinely. Hara turned to her in surprise and watched as she licked her middle finger and swiped it over the desk smudging the ink.

 While her voice and demeanor oozed confidence, Hara could clearly see a hurt look in her eyes as the words ‘Yariman’ and ‘Slut’ smeared across her desk.

 “What kind of weak shit is this? If you’re gonna vandalize a desk, don’t be a fucking pussy and use a marker! Carve it in there to get your point across! Oh man, Kazuya, I’m gonna go grab a wet napkin to wipe this crap off.”

 Hara watched as the girl took off down the hall, avoiding the gaze of everyone in class. He knew exactly who it was that went and wrote that on the girl’s desk.

 It was growing more and more out of hand. Something told him there was more going on than just a jealousy for Yamazaki. (Y/N) said they’d had issues from before.

 Whatever happened in middle school was finally exploding all around her.

 And now that he thought about it, how much did any of them really know about (Y/N)?

#knb #knb x reader #knb imagines #knb scenario #KIrisaki Daiichi #kiridai #hanamiya makoto #Hanamiya #furuhashi #furuhashi kojiro #seto #seto kentaro #hara #hara kazuya #yamazaki #Yamazaki Hiroshi #kuroko no basket #Kuroko no Basuke #kuroko no basuke imagine #xreader #reader imagine #imagine #scenario

[jinmukangwrites]

Benefits

"I’m not too sure how big of a Zelink fan you are but could you write about the other links meeting Wild’s Zelda? Like everyone else is ready to bow and be all forming but Wild just straight up runs at her. And then Zelda pulls a Steven Universe and says smth like ‘I’ve been waiting to kiss your cute face,” (if you haven’t seen Steven universe I’d recommend it it’s pretty cool)" -anon

-o-o-o-o-

The stable could be seen through the distance and Time couldn't be more relieved. Everyone was aching; Wild's Hyrule was such a wide and vast place, most of the others in their group were simply not used to traveling long distances like him. Wild was the only one not stopping every few minutes to rub at his feet or take a gulp of water. Four and Wind were both exhausted, thankfully Sky offered to carry Four on his shoulders and Twilight did the same with Wind.

They would have stopped earlier, but Wild told them a stable was close by and after a few minutes of discussing the issue, it was decided that a soft bed with a roof over their heads was more desirable than the hard forest floor with the chance of rain.

"That's the Riverside Stable," Wild said pointing at the towering building that looked like a horse head.

Riverside Stable was a very fitting name for the building. It bordered a beautiful river with little bridges connecting small islands where goats laze around, eating grass and enjoying the company of their shepherd dog. Soft music could be heard as they approached and the air of civilization whispered over them.

"Let's go," Twilight said, sweat lined the top of his forehead and his arms were slightly trembling with exhaustion as he carried the practically asleep Wind.

Legend took the first move towards the stable with Warriors following close behind. Time gave the rest of the group the go ahead before they all began to follow after. As they walked, Time noticed Wild's eyebrows come together.

"What is it?" He asked.

"There's soldiers…" he said quietly. Time looked back to the stable and sure enough, there were two armed soldiers standing guard at the entrances of the stable, not allowing Legend (who was yelling at them) inside.

"Are there usually not?" Time asked wearily. Everything about Wild's Hyrule was almost barbaric, not that he'd tell them that. Time was used to a land filled with guards and soldiers watching over and protecting every inch of their land. He was used to order. Not the hastily glued together pieces of Wild's world.

"We don't have a big enough army," he said quietly. He reached up and brought down his hood and began to stride over towards the stable.

Time looked at the others before following after.

"I'm sorry, but we cannot let you in-" one of the soldiers were saying. He was strong looking, like he'd lived doing labor his whole life. The stature of knight, yet his armor looked like a rusted puzzle instead of what a knights should be. The other soldier looked much the same.

Wild ran up and shoved Legend aside before a fist fight could commence. The soldiers looked shocked for a moment as they stared at Wild with wide eyes glinting behind their rusted helmets.

Legend rubbed his arm and glared. "Wild, what the-"

"Sir Link!" One of the soldiers said, gasping.

And before anyone could do anything, both the soldiers fell to their knees in a low, respectful bow. Time stopped and Twilight gave him a confused look with Four looking at the oddity with half open eyes full of interest.

Wild took a step back, as if he himself were shocked by the action, but he shook his head and cleared his throat, but no noise came out. The next shock came when Wild signed, and the soldiers understood.

What are you doing?

"We cannot let travelers in, sir," one soldier said, slowly rising to his feet. The other nodded as the stable master leaning against the counter scoffed. "The Queen needs to freshen up-"

"Queen?" Wild asked, his voice choked with surprise. His mouth hung open and his eyes flicked past, trying to catch a glimpse inside. She's here? His hands asked.

The other soldier nodded, "we're returning from Hateno Village, Queen Zelda has had a long trip and needs to-"

"Zelda!?" Hyrule gasped, voicing the other's surprise and shock. Even Time found himself shocked at the information, sure, it's been a few decades in his time, Zelda eventually married and became queen, but… they were older. Zelda in this world couldn't be older than eighteen. It seemed the others were also expecting a princess, not a queen.

A feminine voice suddenly called out from inside the stable. "Are you not letting people in again?" The voice asked, sounding annoyed. "This is a traveler's stable, not a royal-"

The voice stopped as a girl dressed in a blue traveling cloak and brown trousers stepped out of the stable and ended up with her mouth open, standing right in front of Wild. Her hair was golden and her eyes were a beautiful green. Time didn't have to ask who she was, and neither did the others in their group.

"Link," Zelda breathed.

Time watched as Wild stared at her. Wild had never told them what his relationship with Zelda was, in fact, he hardly spoke about her unless he was talking about his fight against Calamity Ganon, which was very rare.

Suddenly, Zelda surged forward and grabbed Wild around his jaw and smashed her lips against his. Behind Time, Sky gasped and Wind made a small snort of disgust, yet Time remained silent as Wild gently wrapped his arms around her waist and returned the kiss hastily. She broke it for a moment, running the tips of her fingers lovingly across  his scared cheek. "I've been waiting to kiss your stupid face," she said.

They stared at each other before a moment more before Zelda pushed herself from him, smiling at the rest of the heroes. Wild too turned, though he was blushing hard enough to almost hide the scars on his cheeks, clearly he had forgotten the rest of the group were there.

"Where are my manners," Zelda said, as she folded her hands in front of her and smiled, "I'm Zelda, and you all must be-?"

-o-o-o-o-

Zelda and her small group of knights decided to stay the night at the stable with the heroes. She didn't seem surprised to hear about how each of them were previous incarnations of her hero, more fascinated than anything. She sat them all down by the fire and practically grilled them on their own Hyrules… or more of the kinds of things in their Hyrules.

"Interesting, so you're able to play songs with plants?" She asked Twilight, leaning forward. Twilight laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. Everyone was preparing themselves for a graceful maiden, not a geek. Not that that was bad, just surprising.

"You'll have to teach me," she said, "I have never thought that plants could create music, I was always more interested in the properties they pass on when consumed."

"Yeah," Twilight said awkwardly. Time smiled and brought his hands a bit closer to the fire toward the chilling night away.

Wild smiled and leaned against Zelda, "he collects bugs, too."

Her face lit up and she launched into a list of her favorite kinds of bugs and why they're interesting while Twilight gave a helpless look to the smirking Wild. She was in the middle of explaining why the Energetic Rhino Beetle was so important to the ecosystem before she cut herself off with a gasp. "I need to get something, I just remembered-" she untangled herself from Wild and half sprinted over to the Stable entrance. The two soldiers gave her a "here we go again" look as she ran past.

Wild was grinning over at the stable when suddenly Legend nudged Wild. Wild yelped, rubbing his upper arm. "What?" He asked.

"So what are you?" Legend asked, leaning back into the makeshift log chair below him. "Future king of Hyrule?"

Wild opened his mouth and gapped like a fish, blood rushing to his cheeks. "N-no! It's not-" his hands rushed in front of him before they were slammed onto his face, hiding his ever growing blush. "It's not like that…" he whispered.

Legend laughed and Warrior smirked as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Ah," he said, "so it's friends with benefits."

Wild whimpered and moved so both of his arms were wrapped around his face, curling into himself, as the multiple voices broke out into laughter. His protests went unheard.

"Wild, you sly dog!" Four said, laughing.

Time rolled his eyes as the laughter continued. Wild kept trying to tell them they were wrong but he was too flustered to mutter more than quiet no's and shake his head.

Twilight too was smiling until Wind nudged him. "What's friends with benefits? What's that?"

Twilight looked at Wind with horror as Time also came down with the realization that they had a child with them. "Warrior!" Twilight snapped, "there are children present!"

"Hey!" Wind protested.

Warrior had the decency to at least look a little shamed as the laughter died down. Wild looked relieved beyond measure that the attention was taken from him. Awkward silence sat around the campfire until Wind spoke up again.

"Is no one going to answer me?" He asked. When no one answered, all looking at the fire or in random directions into the sky, he growled and stood up. "I'm not quitting till I get an answer."

"Um," Hyrule said, he cleared his throat when Time gave him the don't you dare look, "it's… friendship is the benefits. Just- ah… super close… friendship."

Wind didn't look convinced but Zelda decided to return at that moment, stacks of papers towering in her arms. "Sorry I took so long," she said, plopping down next to Wild, "I had to search for all of them in my travel bag…"

She brought the papers out and placed the stack on her legs, nimble fingers flicking the corners of the pages. "I heard laughter?" She said, as she searched through the papers, "I'm curious to what was so funny?"

Wild looked horrified for a moment and no one could stop Wind from folding his arms across his chest and speaking. "Just about how you and Wild are friends with benefits."

Zelda visibly started as Legend desperately made motions with his hands, trying to tell Wind to cut it off now.

Zelda looked at each member of the group with wide eyes before she turned to Wild, who looked like he'd rather be a puddle. "Did you-"

Wild shook his head and in one fluid motions he brought his hood above his head.

"Yeah," Wind continued, eye's narrowed mischievously, "at least that's what War-hmoh."

Warrior lunged forward and grabbed Wind by the mouth and locking him against his chest. "I'm sorry your majesty," he said, his smile way to nervous, "kid hears things while traveling, gets terms mixed up. Grew up on an island, doesn't know how to treat royalty-"

Wild let out muffled curses and struggled to get out of Warrior's grasp while Zelda studied them for a moment longer. She cleared her throat and looked back down to the papers. "It's alright. Anyway, I was wondering if any of you can read this?" She asked. She held out a small group of the papers and Warrior let go of Wind. Wind sat back down, looking satisfied.

Time reached out and took the papers. They were ancient and browned. The edges were torn and crinkled, the writing faded from years of being left alone.

"I don't recognize it," he said, looking at the characters. He passed it on, each Link saying they didn't recognize the writing, until it ended up in Legends hands.

He flicked through the papers and looked at the faded characters for a minute before he looked up. "it's a recipe of some kind," he said, "looks like for a health potion."

Zelda reached forward and grabbed the notes, flicking through them herself. "We're rebuilding the lab," she said quietly, "and we found hundreds of these papers. All notes and recipes I believe. It's fascinating." She looked up at the group, "if… before you leave, if you wouldn't mind helping me translate some of the papers."

Legend cleared his throat. "Of… of course."

Zelda smiled brightly and then turned to Sky, "so tell me about Skyloft. Are the legends about it true?"

Sky nervously smiled and folded his hands together. "That depends on the legends you have heard…"

#linked universe #hero of the wild #hero of twilight #hero of time #hero of the sky #hero of hyrule #hero of legend #hero of warriors #hero of the wind #hero of the four sword #Zelda #botw #breath of the wild #legend of zelda #fan fiction #jin writes #prompt fic #zelink #sorry this took a bit longer #didnt like some parts #didnt know how to end it either

[froggybaek]

poor unfortunate souls - lee minho

♛➩ genre: Disney!au, hella fluff, minor angst?

♛➩ pairing: neutral!reader x lee minho

♛➩ warnings: this is a rewrite of the original story, “brawl” that I posted ages ago on @kamino-ink

♛➩ summary: you’re not exactly the most interesting of fairytale characters in town, the offspring of a couple that maybe appeared once or twice in a background illustration; but that was it, nothing special. yet, somehow, you’ve managed to catch the eye of ursula's son - and he would do anything, anything to protect you.

♛➩ word count: 6.8k

 You are just fifteen when your mother and father practically drag you through the dense forestry of Neverland, their lips pursed into thin, worried lines. Your own lips are parted to release desperate cries of confusion and anger - a mixture of emotions that you would choose to never feel again if truly given the option.

 You have barely lived long enough to understand what was happening. All you know, for the record, is that something big was coming - something so big, so dangerous, that it had the entirety of Neverland running for cover... for safety.

 You also know that your parents won’t be coming with you, wherever you’re going. They tell you that you’ll be on your own in this - this “new world,” according to what Pan told everyone. He had been able to locate the curse before it had been enacted and read the foreign language on the scroll; what he read, well, it would be the thing that condemned your world.

 “Ursula, Cruella, and the Evil Queen all came together to write this curse,” Pan had spoken to the crowd of creatures, his voice reaching the deepest, darkest depths of the mystical island, “their powers combined have made it so our entire universe will fall victim to its bounds. In a few weeks time... our youngest will be casted away into a new world - from what I know, their own children will likely be the top dogs in this place. They call it a restart.”

 The man - or rather, the eternal boy, paused for a moment. His gaze wandered over the frightened beings of his people, of his land. How he hated this - this absolute madness. Once upon a time, Peter Pan himself had been a curse to Neverland, so he understood the everlasting consequences of the three women’s actions. Perhaps they knew of this as well, what effect it would have on their lives and the lives of their own children - but maybe it was part of their plan.

 A plan that not even Peter Pan, the King of Neverland, could come to comprehend. “Families will be separated during this curse. Your children will be sent to their created land, but those of us who have surpassed the certain age of youth... we will stay here-”

 “What do you mean?”

 “We came here to never grow old, to stay together forever - will we have to live without our own children as they grow old!?”

 “What of my son? He is ill - if he continues to age in this new land, won’t the sickness spread and k-kill him?”

 The brunette boy stares down at the rumbling crowd, listening closely to the worried complaints of humans, mermaids, and fairies alike. Should anyone else have been in his place in that moment, they would assume that most everyone there would be sent to the new land together - after all, there were many, many younger looking boys and girls in their midst. Unfortunately, many of those inhabitants had ventured to Neverland decades ago - if they stepped off of the island at any given moment, they would promptly revert to their true age, likely surpassing the stages of youth.

 Pan was like them, of course, having become a resident of Neverland when he was very young; why, by now he would surely be into his fifties or sixties.

 “I am afraid that I don't have all the answers to your questions. I can try my best to give you all comfort, but I suggest preparing yourselves - and your children, for the worst possible outcome.” He continued his solemn announcement, his eyes following and meeting the others of random creatures crowded beneath the spire he stood on. When his own sad gaze happened to catch your own frightened one, your felt the hands of your parents squeeze you tightly between their bodies; in Neverland, you would forever be fifteen - but you three had only arrived a mere two years ago.

 If the curse was as he described it, then you would surely be sentenced to whatever evil it held.

 “I don’t know the cut off, but we should all be ready just in case. My best guess would be around the age of twenty-five, although if you are eighteen or younger it is guaranteed you will be sent off. Say your final goodbyes, and... know that us who stay will never forget your legacy here, in Neverland.”

 You are only fifteen years old, technically seventeen if time had not been paused in Neverland, when your small family reaches a familiar campsite in the middle of the dense, lush forest. A few other families and their children hold each other tightly, clinging to one another as the dark, purple cloud - otherwise known as the curse, floats closer and closer to the inner parts of the island.

 Pan himself seems to be lecturing the “youngest” Lost Boys, or rather, those who had come to Neverland far later than the others and would likely be swept up by the curse. The older Lost Boys do the same, rounding up their youngest boys - some cry, some don’t, but the depressed and anxious atmosphere hanging in the air is enough to hint at what is soon to come.

 “Y/N, you are our only child,” your father begins breathily, dropping down to his knees so he can be at eye-level with you, your mother quickly following his actions and grasping at the palms of your cold hands, “no matter what - no matter what the goals of those other children are, the ones born from the evil monsters who cast this curse, you must protect yourself and no one else.”

 “Try to seek out anyone from Neverland once you arrive. Stick together, but don’t forget-”

 “- to protect myself.” You breathe out quietly, glancing upwards to see that the cloud has reached the camp, just feet away from swallowing you whole. Just as the purple haze begins to touch the toes of your parents, you meet their watery gazes once more and give their hands a gentle squeeze.

 “I promise to keep myself safe.”

————————————————————————

 You kept your promise.

 The second you were transported out of Neverland, out of your home and away from your mother and father, you had cautiously looked around your new, foreign surroundings.

 You had dug your toes into the gritty sand beneath your feet by the ocean’s edge, steadying yourself in the case of a surprise visitor or attacker; after all, who were you to trust other than those who you knew from Neverland?

 Luck had a fifty-fifty chance of being on your side that fateful day, truly. A couple of days before the curse was set to reach Neverland, a good majority of its inhabitants had decided to group their children or their youngest into the camp of Peter Pan himself - that way there could be at least of sliver of hope that you all would wind up together from the very beginning.

 Unfortunately for you, and likely the others who had been transported by the curse, you had ended up completely and utterly alone.

 You weren’t sure how or why, but you had ended up alone on the beachside. It had been very, very quiet, with only the occasional call of a bird or the ocean lapping at the sandy shore being your source of company. There is a small, slighting movement between your toes still bare from the process of going through the cloud, to which you tilt your head down and find yourself spotting a little crab. Its bright orange shell contrasts immensely with the pale grits of the beach, the claws attached to its body trying to snap at your exposed skin.

 Crabs were not new to you, obviously, but this little creature was from an entirely different world - maybe even a different universe. After all, you had lived on an island for the past two years of your life, accompanied by a beautiful beach all for itself.

 But... would everything else in this new place be the same? You couldn’t be sure, and in all honesty, you weren't quite sure if you wished to venture beyond the comfort of the oceanside. You had promised them - you had promised to your mother and father that you would keep yourself safe before anyone else.

 You don’t even wince when the crab’s sharp claw pierces the skin of one of your toes, instead finding yourself leaning down and opening the palm of your hand. Reaching down slowly as to not frighten the creature, you manage to scoop it up into the now sandy palm of your hands. For some strange reason, it suddenly ceases in its furious little attacks on your body.

 The orange crab manages to comfort you, in a way, just as the waves of the ocean and the gentle breeze sweeping across the shore did. This singular area of the new world helped you feel closer to home - and home... was always safest.

 “Thank you, little crab,” a breath of air escaped your lips, a sense of relief washing over your bones, “you may not know this, but you have helped me feel safe.”

————————————————————————

Three years. Thirty-six months. One-hundred and fifty-six weeks. One-thousand and ninety-two days. Twenty-six thousand, two-hundred and eight hours. One million, five hundred seventy-two thousand, four hundred eighty minutes.

That is how long you and, from what you happened to understand, the rest of the fairytale characters had been stuck here - on a planet called Earth. To be more specific, you all were located in a place called Maine in a country the humans from Earth called the United States of America.

Only a select few from your world had been able to find out this information after having gone past the boundaries of the designated area - or town, if you could call it that. From what they had learned, everyone who had come from your world into this one were recognized as fairytale characters in children’s tales.

For instance, your beloved Peter Pan had a book published about him some decades ago, though it had been dumbed down for the sake of the younger kids who viewed the fairytale as something more, something hopeful. To be frank, this world wasn’t exactly familiar with the actual children of their beloved bedtime story heroes and villains, more so the parents instead. Not that any of them would recognize you, as you had been born to what they called “background” characters.

In your mind, that was perfectly alright - being the offspring of two people who weren’t exactly heroes nor villains. That in itself meant you could be whoever you wanted to be - whatever you wanted to be, especially in such a foreign land; you call it foreign, anyways, as you rarely, if ever, ventured away from the beach that you called home.

Yes, home... while it could never compare to the simple yet wonderful paradise that was Neverland, it suited you well enough. Not even a yard away from where you had first appeared after the effects of the curse, there had been an abandoned hut of sorts all for the taking - your taking, to be precise. Made of driftwood and other oddly natural resources, the hut offered you shelter and safety while you found your bearings all those years ago.

“Stop pinching me, you little demon.” You break yourself out of your mindless thoughts as a familiar stinging sensation erupts from your ankle. Glancing down on the wooden steps of your porch, your bored gaze spots Sebastian clawing at your raw skin. The damn crab always pinched at you whenever he wanted something nice to eat, mainly algae, though.

Ever since you had first picked him up when he was just a miniscule, pretty harmless crab, the damn thing had stuck by you and went everywhere with you - and yes, that did include the occasional trip to the market when you had to pick up some food or anything of that manner. Some people gave you strange looks every now and then, although most of the population had already been so used to animal companions back in the old world that it wasn’t much of a hot topic at this point.

Although you did have to admit, spotting a local resident who rarely left their home on the beach carrying pounds of food with ease, along with a strangely protective fiddler crab perched on their head most certainly had to be a sight to see.

There’s another pinch to your ankle, making you groan under your breath as you look down to scold the crab again; and then you hear it.

Or rather, them.

“Ohhhh Y/N! We’ve come to annoy you!”

“No, Jisung - you dragged me here so they wouldn’t beat your ass again. You alone came all the way out here to be annoying, as usual.” Seungmin grumbled, sending you a tired grimace while his wild companion darted across the sand, sending it flying comically into his front side.

The younger boy raised by silverback gorillas and just two humans stumbled a bit as he ran closer and closer to you, his toes catching on the sand (somehow) more than once; then again, he had been trained to walk and run a certain way for a majority of his life. How his mother never bothered to teach him to be a bit more careful or proper, you would likely never know.

“Look out, Ji,” you say in an otherwise monotone voice, the corners of your slightly chapped lips twitching into an amused smirk as he nearly falls into a quick stop just a foot away from your form sat on the porch, “Sebby here will not hesitate to pinch you.”

“I don’t get why that - that thing hates me.” He whined, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes, glaring at the crab that had taken the liberty of perching himself on top of one of your feet as if to guard you - not that the poor thing could, but it made your heart flutter in adoration for how he tried.

Seungmin, who had been a wee bit preoccupied with sweeping the microscopic grains of sand off his shirt and pants, walked up to the two of you and managed both a soft look to Sebastian as well as a nasty glare to his comrade. “You were literally raised by gorillas most of your life with the exception of your parents, Jisung. To be frank, you have zero grounds to wonder why a crab doesn’t like you, of all things.”

“Okay first of all, neither of these cases have anything to do with each other, Mr. Witch-”

“The fuck do you mean it has nothing to do with - whatever you gremlin, don’t call me a witch. I am a fairy!”

“Ohh, because that is so much better-”

You let out a pitiful sigh once the two start to bark at each other, arguing back and forth as they usually did. How they never actually fought, you would never know. Figuring that they might want a bite to eat or at least a drink to sooth their soon to be sore throats from all the yelling, you heave yourself off the top step of your porch, getting ready to turn around and head inside when a hand suddenly rests on one of your shoulders.

“They are... quite the pair, aren’t they?” The newcomer hums in utter amusement, their long fingers squeezing your shoulder, their footsteps somehow being heard by you even over the consistent arguing going on just a mere foot away.

“Mhm, they sure are. Although it is a bit entertaining, seeing them fight and all, it does hurt my ears.” You reply with a little more volume than usual so you can be heard by the man who now comes up to stand next to you just on the front porch of your hut, with him using your shoulder to push himself up right beside you. “What brings you here, Minho?”

The slightly older man grumbles at your all too formal tone. He had, on many occasions, especially when you first met, asked you to not use that bland tone of voice when speaking with him; mostly because it felt so weird for a friend to address him as if he was someone of importance. Which, he arguably was, to a degree.

He parts his lips to chastise you for the same issue once more, but the words he was about to say wither into nothing when he sees your lips pulled into a smirk filled with mischievous delight. Damn you for being so - well, you.

Speaking of you, you had started to wave a hand carelessly in front of the man’s face, one eyebrow quirked in amusement as he simply stares off into space as if he had some sort of vision. “Hello? Earth to Minho?” When he still didn’t manage to utter a response of any kind, you step closer to him and poke at his nose, “hey, octopus, you still there?”

“I told you to stop calling me octopus,” he retorted quickly, snapping out of his daze within mere seconds, “you got that stupid name from Chan, didn’t you?”

“Course I did - he gave me a cookie to seal the deal of me calling you octopus. I never turn down food, Minho.”

The silver haired man groans quietly under his breath, silently cursing Cruella’s son for using his own best friend against him. “He only does it because I called him a bastard when we first met, you know; rightfully so, too!”

You snort in disbelief, already making your way back into your home with the complaining man following closely behind. “Uh huh. Tell me again, why did you resort to calling him a, and I quote, ‘half-and-half bastard’?” You question him, hearing his footsteps on the wooden floorboards of the shabby hut while you wait for his answer.

“Cause’ of his dumbass fucking hair, love. I mean, black and white hair of all things? I get his mother is literally Cruella de Vil, but I don't think that’s how genetics work.” Minho continues his miniature rant with a hint of whine to his voice, unknowingly causing your lips to curl into a small smile, “the whole bastard issue arose when he lunged at me for petting one of his thousands of cats. Said’ that my ‘fishy stench’ would rub off on them, or some bullshit like that.”

“You know, you sure do curse an awful lot, Minho.” You point out with an airy laugh, bending down to grab a pair of spare, sand-covered shoes.

He actually whines out loud this time at your comment, all the while resisting the strong urge to stare at your backside when you bend down - bloody hell, why was he so disgusting? Before he could usher out a snippy retort, he was interrupted by the sound of two other pairs of feet walking into your hut.

“Alright lovebirds, we need to go to the store before it closes. And knowing Jisung, well, we’ll be held up for at least twenty minutes looking at the mangos so he can find the perfect one.” Seungmin announces suddenly, although it left you mildly confused; had they all really come down to pick you up and drag you into town just for a grocery run?

As if he could read your mind (in reality he could simply read your expressions like an open book) Minho explained what was happening, “Chan is having a big party tonight to celebrate Jeongin’s crew returning from their voyage. Apparently the kid might have found a way to get back home.”

Home... that’s right - you weren’t truly at home, watching two of your closest friends bicker almost on a daily basis outside your front door. You weren’t technically back home where you originally came from, feeling your heart race even the slightest bit when the only son of Ursula made eye contact with you while you spoke with him. The little crab, now having perched himself on a makeshift “bed” of sand and pebbles by the front door, did not come with you all when the curse had hit the other world.

Having mostly isolated yourself from the rest of the new world, not including the few friends you had somehow made, you sometimes forgot that a good majority of them had always desired to go back to where they came from. Jeongin, who was the offspring of the great yet foul Captain Hook, frequently took his crew across the ocean as far as they could go in search for any clues to get home. You see, there was technically a limit to how far any of the fairytale characters could venture outside of town, lest they wish to lose all of their memories (which had been learned the hard way, unfortunately,) though the pirates had somehow found a loophole in the town barrier. They could sail the sea with no issues, for the most part.

Sometimes, you wished that you could have been born in this world. You felt much more at peace, here, not having to worry about warlocks or evil queens threatening to curse everyone at a moment’s notice.

A hand cautiously finds solace in wrapping around your wrist, nearly making you jump a good foot into the air. You glance to your side, breathing a bit heavily from having been brought out of your thoughts.

“Y/N, are you alright?” Minho asked you softly, a great contrast to his normally sarcastic tone. Knowing that you were, in fact, not quite alright, you go ahead and nod anyway just to reassure the worried man. Though, from the way he narrows his eyes, you can just tell that he knows you’re outright lying to both him and the other two concerned boys.

But he doesn't call you out on it.

Instead of pointing out your blatant lie to avoid talking about whatever had suddenly begun to bother you, he pushes himself in front of your body and hunkers down. Before you can process what in the world he’s up to now, he had somehow managed to grab your arms and haul you onto his back with ease.

 The single shoe you had shimmied up to the end of your ankle falls to the floor with a distinct ‘plop!’ and you, of course, huff in annoyance and surprise; even so, you don't hesitate to gingerly wrap your arms around his neck, curl your mostly bare legs around his waist, and tuck your face into the crook of his neck just above his shoulder.

 “Minho, what’re you doing?”

 “I’m carrying you while we go out, obviously.” He replied almost softly, his voice laced with a foreign sort of tone that you couldn’t quite pinpoint. It sounded akin to a sense of caring and gentleness, very warm - it reminded you of how Peter Pan used to talk to everyone in Neverland. “Now hold on, love, we’re probably going to have to chase after that damn monkey and Seungmin.”

————————————————————————

 You had to make a mental note to yourself to never, ever go shopping with those three hot messes ever again. 

 Minho had refused to put you down the entire time you lot wandered around the grocery store, stating each time you complained about wanting to walk that it more than likely had a policy where you couldn't just - wander around barefoot; and yes, that meant you had to scold Jisung for wanting to rip off his shoes and climb on the shelves instead of shopping like a normal person on more than one occasion.

 Then there was the little monkey demon himself, resisting the urge to hop around and swing from the ceiling lights a majority of the time instead of actually helping to cross items off of the list. The other percentage of the trip in his case meant staring at a box of mangos and arguing with the nearest clerk about their ripeness and making sure the one he wanted to purchase was “absolutely perfect with just the right amount of mango,” whatever that meant.

 And finally there was poor, little Seungmin - not so much poor, really, as he too started a plethora of arguments with the sales clerks at almost every corner. The feisty fairy boy would point out the tiniest of flaws in how they arranged and organized their products, even going as far as to scold fucking adults for putting a single jug of two percent white milk in front of a row of whole milk cartons.

 From what you could recall, you had left the beach at some point early in the morning, as you had been watching the sun rise over the blue ocean with precious Sebastian at your feet; that was just when the trio had arrived. And now it was around midday from what you could tell. You would have resorted to taking a quick glance at your mobile phone that you totally weren't still getting used to, but Minho had snatched it the second you attempted to use it to distract yourself from the chaos that was the grocery run.

 Understandably enough, you had at least tried to sneak the phone out of his pants pocket at least four times during the passing hours, although your attempts had left Minho with a noticeably flushed face.

 Now, here you were, practically glued to the man’s back as he walked a couple of feet behind Jisung and Seungmin, who were bickering yet again about god knows what while carrying the many bags of food and drinks to Chan’s house so they could start to set up for the party.

 Every now and then, you would feel a strange shiver run up your spine - as if someone was staring daggers into your very soul. You had brushed the creeping sensation off for quite some time now, figuring you might have been feeling a little paranoid being out in the public since you didn't make it a priority to head into town too often.

 At some point, though, the feeling of being watched so, so closely had overwhelmed your senses, sending you into an overload of confused emotions - mostly worry. While Minho diligently walked with a certain pep in his step, his hands resting just tight enough on your calves to help keep you steady on his back, you suddenly twisted your head back just enough to look behind you.

 Almost immediately you had made eye contact with some of the most repulsive boys you had ever seen in your lifetime - not to say they were ugly, no; rather their hungered stares that had previously been aimed shamelessly at your backside made you shiver in disgust.

 “Minho, please put me down.” You turned back around, knowing full well the little perverts had gone right back to eyeing your rear, your words hushed and soft.

 To Minho, you sounded like a kicked puppy. “How come, love? You aren’t wearing any shoes, you’ll end up with blisters.” He pointed out quietly, slowing down a bit and almost melting in with the rest of the crowd.

 For some odd reason, he felt like he had to slow down even though you weren’t trying to keep pace with him; that in itself made him worry just a bit. “Y/N? Hey - what’s wrong?” He pressed on gently when you didn’t come up with an excuse, as he could now only feel your somewhat labored breaths brushing the shell of his ear.

 “... c-could you hand me your coat, then?”

 “Are you cold?”

 “M-my legs are a bit chilly, I just want to wrap it around my waist is all.”

 Lying has never been your... strong suit, to say the least. If anything, trying to get away with anything that wasn’t the truth was your weakest point, to put it nicely. Most of your small group of friends knew this all too well, considering you tried (keyword tried) to fib about the most miniscule of things, and usually they would let it go - no big deal.

 But not Minho - he could read you like an open book, and he dared to call you out on your bullshit ninety-nine percent of the time.

 “If you were cold, you would've been nagging me about giving you my coat ages ago when we first left the store,” he places a certain annoying amount of emphasis on the single word ‘nagging’ as if to mock you for constantly nagging him - which you did on occasion, not all the time, “tell me the truth right now or I’ll make sure to tell Chan about the time you had a wet dream about him-”

 “Okay, okay! Just - shut up, octopus,” you interrupt him quickly, cheeks flushing a deep red as if the older man mentioned was able to actually hear what your friend had just announced to the public - those who cared to listen, anyway, “those two boys behind us are... they’re um - they’re staring at my ass and it’s making me uncomfortable.”

There’s a pregnant pause. Both you and the man carrying you fall completely silent, with you nervously nibbling on your already chapped bottom lip and your companion slowing to a total halt. The crowd parts around the pair of you, some small curses flying your way from the sudden stop, but Minho doesn't seem to care at all.

 In seconds he has taken the liberty of obeying your quiet request from just moments ago, promptly helping you slide down his back and stand steady on the warm pavement of the sidewalk. You think, just for a moment, that everything has gone by smoothly enough; that Minho will simply ignore the two culprits and walk with you to catch up with Jisung and Seungmin.

 Oh, you couldn't have been more wrong.

 Slowly, almost comically, Minho turns on the heels of his shoes to face the notably younger boys dead in the eyes. “Apologize.”

 They both stop dead in their tracks. “Uh - what?” One of them asks loudly, the other echoing his words like a parrot.

 “I said, apologize to my friend here,” Minho presses on with a sickly smile, verging on the definition of wicked as he steps forward to the frozen pair and places a hand on each of their shoulders to prevent them from possibly escaping, “or would you like for me to beat the word ‘sorry’ into your empty heads?”

 “H-hey, it isn’t our fault that they chose to wore pants that showed off their ass, man-”

 “Excuse me?” Your huff of offense goes unheard, having been immediately overpowered by the literal growl that emits from Minho’s throat. His fists clench once, twice, and then one final time before he lunges at the two boys, showing no mercy to them as he absolutely pummels them with zero hesitation.

 The crowd that had previously been focused on walking around the four of you now begins to form a sort of circle, encasing you all in a ring. No one dares to try and stop the fight, more than likely because they all recognized the instigator as the very son of Ursula himself, who was notorious for picking fights and always winning them.

 In the distance, you can hear the muffled voices of Jisung and Seungmin coming back to search for where you two had gone off to, only to see their elder beating the shit out of a pair of boys their ages.

 For a split second you just watch. You watch as the two boys begin to bleed from the cuts inflicted by the few rings your silver haired companion wore on his knuckles. You watched in eerie silence as they cried out for help, their lips being busted with ease from their assailant’s precise punches.

 Then you can’t take it anymore. The crowd’s attention pans from Minho to you, as if somehow knowing that he had started the brawl in your name - which, he had, and rightfully so; you knew this fact deep down in your heart.

 But you hated so much attention being brought onto you, no matter if it was deserved or not in any circumstance. You had spent most of the past three years making sure a select few, special people knew who you were and where you came from - no one else did, nor did you want them to.

 You take a tentative step forward - not in fear of the possibility of Minho accidently swinging at you in his fit of rage, but because all eyes had now definitely switched their attention to the smaller person reaching out to the cursing man still on top of the two boys crying out in pain.

 Your hand mimics his actions from earlier that same day, gently going to rest on one of his shoulders, squeezing him reassuringly. “Minho... please, let’s go.” You utter quietly, nearly inaudibly, but he catches your words.

 In no time at all, as if you had pressed a button on a remote that controlled his every action, Minho finally climbs off of the bloodied and bruised boys. He scans the gawking crowd, his fiery glare enough to make them stop staring and move on with their lives.

 He doesn't even spare his victims another glance, choosing to go ahead and turn his back to them and grab one of your hands, intertwining your fingers together with his own. Not a word is spoken between you two as he quietly leads you away from the scene, carefully brushing past a stunned Jisung and Seungmin.

 “C’mon, we have a party to get to.”

————————————————————————

 You never made it to the party, or rather, you never went with the other boys in the first place. The entire encounter from just hours ago had made you feel so gross, so violated and objectified; and you had promptly concluded that going to a party filled with drunk, likely hormonal boys and girls alike wouldn't have been the best idea at the time.

 As opposed to a crowded, booming crowd cramped inside one singular structure, you had found a familiar comfort in sitting on the front steps of your hut. Sebastian was sprawled out between your bare, sand covered feet, his orange shell shining in the gentle moonlight that cascaded down onto the peaceful beach.

 Leaning into the warm side of the man sat in silence beside you, a wave of safety nets over your body.

 “You know, you didn’t have to stay here with me tonight. I know you were looking forward to seeing Jeongin and Felix again.” You breathe out into the night, unconsciously nuzzling closer into the oddly quiet man’s chest as a cold chill wafts over the shore.

 He has one arm slung securely around your shoulders, his hand hanging in the open air. Yet as you scoot closer to him for warmth, he lets his lonesome hand drop down to your waist so he can fiddle loosely with your fingers that rested on the top of your thigh, having been covered with his coat like a fluffy blanket.

 “I’d much rather be here with you, truth be told,” the man admits to you, letting his head fall on top of your own since it had drooped onto his shoulder, “not to mention that half and half bastard would lecture me in front of everyone after what I did to those dirty perverts.”

 You hum softly in agreement. “What poor, unfortunate souls. I’m sure they’re in a bit of pain right about now.”

 Minho chuckles from above you, his rumbling laughs causing both his and your bodies to vibrate. “Hey - what gives?” You whine, tilting your head slightly to get a better look at the amused man.

 “Ah, sorry love - just reminded me of my mother is all.” He responds with a smaller laugh, lips still curled into a warm-hearted smile as he looks down to meet your bright, slightly tired gaze. You swear that, in that moment, you heart skips a beat. His gentle yet somehow mischievous brown eyes seem to twinkle in the moonlight, the reflections of the thousands of stars in the night sky sparkling like diamonds in his gaze.

 What was so different now? Why had Minho started to affect you in ways you didn't even know were humanely possible?

 You had known each other for almost three years, after all. Back then, when he had gone out of his way to make flirtatious jokes with you and banter with you about the silliest of matters just to rile you up, nothing had felt the way it did now.

 These days, you often caught yourself smiling stupidly at any little thing he said, may it be a bland joke or a witty reply that would send anyone else into hiding out of sheer shame and embarrassment. Perhaps it was because he had so quickly come to your defense just that same day; no, that wouldn't make any sense at all, as the man had vehemently done the same thing many times beforehand.

 Like the time where the child of Jafar had innocently enough offered to show you a good time - mind you it had been playful banter, as you had actually been quite close with the man known as Hyunjae for years, since before the curse had been enacted. Yet Minho, not knowing this, had just about called the other man every curse word in the dictionary. Of course, he had ceased his onslaught and even took it upon himself to formally apologize after you’d stopped him and explained the whole situation.

 Then again, there had been another time when a group of “b-listers,” as he had called them, tried to convince you to let them put sunscreen on your back just last summer. Each time you said no, and politely so, one of them would whine like a toddler and insist that you would get a horrid sunburn if they didn't help you out. Within milliseconds of noticing how uncomfortable you were, Minho had plopped down behind you on your towel and applied the cream himself, all the while smiling wickedly at your harassers until they ran away with their nonexistent tails between their legs.

 “Hey, Min?”

 “Yes, Y/N?”

 “Why do you always feel like you have to stand up for me?”

 Your sudden question stuns him for a few seconds, as made obvious by the way his lips part in surprise. He doesn't necessarily hesitate to answer your question, he just didn't know why you would ask - and it flusters him to his very core.

 He recovers from the odd question quicker than you expected, shaking his head at you and your damned curious expression. “Isn’t it obvious, love?” Minho breathes out, although he doesn't give you enough time to answer. “I stand up for you because I need to... not that you can’t do it yourself, I just - I suppose I feel like I have to protect you because all the princes do it.”

 “W-what do you mean by that?”

 “I - well, I am no fairytale prince by any means, given my bad reputation around here and my ancestry... but all those princes protect their partners because that’s what you do when you love someone. You want to protect them from the world and everything bad about it, you want to make them feel safe at all costs.” Minho explains with a quiet, demure tone, becoming more and more shy with each word that spills past his lips. “I stand up for you because I love you with every fiber of my being, Y/N; and if you don't feel the same way, I would still fight for you.”

 “Who said that I don't feel the same way?” You retort immediately without thinking, not that you truly needed to. You knew that you loved him, that wasn't something you had to ponder about inside your head.

 You don't need to think about your next move, which involves you tilting your head up a bit further and scooting so close to the stunned man that you were practically on the verge of sitting in his lap. You don't have to wonder if it’s the best idea to trace his jawline with one of your fingers, if it’s in your best interest to tilt his head down just enough so you can finally connect your lips with his own.

 There aren’t fireworks when you kiss him. There isn't a cliché spark that booms in your chest at the feeling of his plump lips melding with yours.

 You feel safety wash over your body when he makes a small noise of appreciation against your lips.

 You feel love rushing through your veins as he raises a hand to cup your cheek and deepen the kiss.

 You both feel at home as you kiss under the moon and the stars, the sounds of the ocean falling deaf to your ears in favor of the shared love that becomes one with true love’s kiss.

 And you wouldn’t have had it any other way.

#lee minho #stray kids scenario #stray kids imagine #stray kids drabble #stray kids fluff #stray kids angst #skz #stray kids fic #skz fic #skz fluff #skz angst #skz disney #stray kids disney #skz au #stray kids au #kpop #lee Minho fluff #lee Minho angst #Minho fic #Minho scenario #Minho imagine #Minho drabble

[korora12]

Tagged by @corisanna

1. What is your favorite relationship type to write/read? Romantic, platonic, familial, and any subtypes.

I like romantic relationships that don’t rely solely or primarily on physical attraction, but instead on a deep similarity between the two characters. I like when two people meet eyes and realize that “You understand me. You get me better than anyone else I’ve ever met, and I feel less lonely knowing that someone else sees the world the same way I do.”

2. How much or what kind of research do you do for your fiction? If you don’t write, has a fic ever made you curious enough to research something?

Only as much as is necessary. I usually use research as a springboard for inspiration when I hit a block, letting myself wander the fields of Wikipedia until I stumble upon something that knocks the block loose.

Of course, sometimes I research stuff just for fun, with no relation to my writing whatsoever, until some random point down the line where it suddenly does and I’m super happy I already know [Random Fact #237].

3. What was the first work of fiction you remember becoming completely engrossed in?

Hmm. Probably Animorphs. I remember doing everything I could to hunt down the numerous books in the series (back in the ancient, pre-Amazon Prime days). I’d prowl the various school and public libraries near me, ask for specific books in the series for Christmas and birthdays, and even buy the occasional book at the yearly Scholastic Book Fairs, using what little money I got for an allowance.

I made it most of the way through the series, but then there was one book, near the end, that I couldn’t find, no matter how hard I looked. And it was an important, plot-changing, book that I had to read before continuing. Which meant I never actually finished the series.

Of course, nowadays you can find them all online as pdfs. Maybe I should revisit the series sometime and finally finish it. I already know how it ends, but I still feel like those last few books deserve to be read.

4. What work(s) had a lasting influence on you or your writing style?

Going back to Animorphs again. There is a straight-line connection between me reading that series as a child, through my elementary school friends Brooke, who was obsessed with dogs, and Caitlin, who was even more obsessed with dolphins (I used to find pictures of dolphins in magazines and cut them out just to give to her), through my Grandma’s love of science, all the way to my decision to study Zoology in college. If I had never read those books, I wouldn’t have developed the passion for animals and animal behavior that has shaped my life for over two decades.

Also, stylistically speaking, I really respect that series for how it treated its readers. Its target audience was grade schoolers, and yet it never shied away from showing the realities of violence and war. I don’t know that I’ll ever write children’s literature, but I’ll always have this series to remind me of what kids are capable of understanding and handling.

5. What kind of sound environment do you prefer for writing/reading? Silent, white noise, music with/without words, sitting in a public place with the ambient noise of humanity, etc.

Depends on how well my brain is cooperating. Pure silence is ideal, but more often than not there’s some manner of song stuck on repeat in the background of my mind, and the only way to drown it out is with non-lyrical music of some sort. Usually I try to pick songs that match the mood of whatever scene I’m trying to write.

6. Are you or do you like authors who are teases, in story or out?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m a big fan of the Death of the Author trope, so I tend not to get too worked up by whatever the author may be saying and just let the story speak for itself.

My first instinct is to say that an author shouldn’t worry too much about what their fans think and should write the story they want to write, and it will find readers that appreciate it. However, I recognize that the nature of serial online writing, such as fanfiction, changes the game a bit. Such authors have a much more immediate, direct connection with their readers than authors who release one or two physical books every year or so. Some authors take that to an extreme, turning stories almost into a dialogue with their readers, each new chapter in some way defined by how people reacted to the previous one. And that doesn’t even touch on Quests, a type of story on forums sites such as Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity that require player input on a regular basis to continue. In these types of situations, I can hardly blame an author for playing with their readers heads a bit. The reactions they have can be a form of entertainment all their own.

7. Have you ever experienced a “the characters write themselves” or “character rebellion” mental state?

Not yet. For the time being, I remain in complete control of my universes, but I recognize the hubris of assuming this to be a permanent state.

8. Do you have a favorite franchise crossover? Like Bleach/Harry Potter, Madoka Magica/Card Captor Sakura, etc.

I don’t know if I have a particular favorite. I was really fond of Secret Trio for a while, which is Danny Phantom, American Dragon Jake Long, and Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. I’m still very fond of the Disney/Square Enix megacrossover that is Kingdom Hearts, despite being very disappointed in the most recent game in the series. Then there’s Kino’s Journey/Anything, mostly because I love Kino’s Journey, and I love seeing her response/reaction to various other worlds.

Also, Stargate/Anything. The only reason I ever started watching the show was because I’d read several different fics, all in different fandoms (Avatar, Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars, Naruto), and all of which crossed over with Stargate. Despite the similarities, both being sci-fi stories set around the turn of the millennium involving mind-controlling aliens, I’ve yet to see a good Stargate/Animorphs crossover. It’d be pretty easy to do, too. There’s a point in the Animorphs series where they decide to bring knowledge of their guerrilla war to the attention of the US government. If they’re already in the Stargate universe, I’m sure the president will quickly pass the problem along to the experts, and suddenly you’ve got the perfect setup of adults who think they know how to handle the problem, are mostly right, and don’t want kids fighting in a war, vs child soldiers who have no intention of giving up the fight so near its end, even if the adults are more competent than they expected.

I’m gonna have to write it myself, one of these days, if no one else gets around to doing it.

9. Do you remember anything about the first fanfic you ever read?

Two Halves by DameWren. My first fandom was Naruto, and my first fanfic was a NaruHina fic that both introduced me to the concept of fandom, and also sold the ship for me in a way that I’ve never shaken. I remember very little beyond that, except that it managed to correctly predict that Naruto would go on a training trip, despite being written before such an event happened in canon.

10. Is there a work of fiction that you are annoyed doesn’t have much if any fic? Like Bizenghast.

Kino’s Journey, Cowboy Bebop, Double Arts (just never got enough attention in general)

11. What fictional character do you strongly identify with?

Weiss Schnee, from RWBY. While I’ve never been accused of being rich, I am a middle child with a much older sister that cut ties with the family when I was young and a younger brother that I never got along with while growing up. My parents were also abusive, my father physically and both of them emotionally, and they taught me a number of unhealthy ideas about race, amongst other things, that I’ve had to put serious effort into unlearning. And I have, since becoming an adult, traveled long distances across the world, partially for my own benefit, and partially to distance myself physically from a family I’ve never felt particularly close to, resulting in a drastic personality shift that took a couple years to complete, but ultimately left me a very different, and much better, person.

So, yeah, Weiss is basically my favorite RWBY character, and one I really need to write more often, all things considered.

That was fun! I’ve never been tagged in anything like this before. My turn for questions!

1. What is your the most recent fandom you’ve gotten involved in? Have you made any content for it?

2. Do you have a favorite AU/plotline that you love regardless of fandom (ie. Peggy Sue, Coffee Shop AU, Space AU, Self-Insert)? What about it do you like?

3. If you write, how do you go about deciding a character’s sexuality? If not, do you ever have any sexuality headcanons for characters?

4. What’s the longest fanfic that you’ve ever read, beginning to end?

5. How often do you make something you’re proud of? Doesn’t have to be writing, just has to be something that wouldn’t exist if you hadn’t made it yourself.

6. What are your opinions on OCs in fanfiction?

7. What is your favorite storytelling medium (ie. television, written word, spoken word, video games, song, etc.)?

8. What was the last song you had stuck in your head, and what was it about?

9. Do you prefer reading/writing stories set in fictional worlds, or stories set in the real world/real world analogous (ie. Supernatural or Marvel Comics)?

10. If you could bring one fictional character into the real world, who would it be and why?

11. Pick your favorite of the questions I was asked to answer for yourself.

I just realized that I don’t know how many of my followers are writers. I guess @hunkygoddess @tmifangirl21 @queendarktigress @ladyvallhalla @i-mushi @xekstrin @shinobicyrus and anyone else who sees this and might be interested. No pressure, it’s just for fun!

[takaraphoenix]

Question- I got the feeling from one of your asks you dislike Frozen. Can I ask why? I know I dislike it now because it got beat to utter death in terms of popularity and such. It was cute the first time for me... less so the hundreds of times after.

Oh, dislike is too weak a word. I absolutely hate everything (aside from Sven) about this gods damn movie and its gods damn badly built world. ^^°°°

Now, I already wrote a rather elaborate journal entry about that back in 2015. But I feel like that’s a thing I should also have on here and that rant is also 4 years old, so I’ll copy/paste and edit and add some.

Don’t read if you think Fr0zen is peak perfection. For everyone else, in this 3.5k word essay I will elaborate why Fr0zen is definitely not the peak of Disney animation and story-telling.

So, this is a long overdue rant about why Fr0zen is the worst animated movie I've ever seen in my entire life and why Elsa and Anna are horrible characters.

There are many factors that play into why I hate this movie, so let’s structure this a little bit and start off with the characters.

Elsa and the glorification of that character. Back in the day, I found awfully unfitting comparisons between Elsa and Elphaba from the Wicked series and it pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter, because somehow, Elsa is a celebrated strong female character, while... that’s more than undeserved.I mean, Elsa is a supposed queen. She's different from others and decides to hide it. And then she runs and hides in a castle in the mountains because she's too afraid that others may perhaps judge her for being different. A queen. Abandoning her kingdom without as much as a second thought, just to go and pout and brood alone. What I love about Disney princesses is that they usually put others first before themselves. Not her though, no, when madam needs to angst alone, she’ll just freeze over the entire country and build herself a castle.Elphaba has been different all her life and LIVED with the ACTUAL judgement of others for as long. She NEVER hid who she was. She always stood strong. Yes, she too hid in a castle in the mountains - after she co-led a revolutionary army against what can only be called the Nazis of Oz to prevent a genocide and lost the love of her life and father of her unborn child in the process.Putting Elsa as Elphaba's equal insults Elphaba so much that it makes me, as a fangirl, so ragingly mad, especially since it just doesn’t hold true. Elphaba spent most of her life trying to make the country better, trying to help those who are helpless, while all Elsa did all of her life was hide away in her bedroom and then run away to her castle...Another reason for my deeply seated hatred are the fans. Well, like the ones who think Elsa is in any way, form or shape qualified to be Elphaba's equal. There were so many posts pretending like Fr0zen is somehow revolutionary because it‘s about sisterly love instead of romance (like Lilo & Stitch doesn‘t exist) and other such claims that just completely ignored some of Disney’s biggest hits - not even the deep digs, they entirely disregarded very popular and widely known movies and instead pretended like this here was the very first time such amazing things happend! No. It’s just a repetition of tropes and writing that Disney’s been doing for decades.It's like Fr0zen drew in people who have legitimately never seen a Disney movie before in their entire lives.Then there's the whole feminist-thing where they act like Anna or Elsa are good role-models to little girls. The fuck they are. I mean, I've mentioned it before, but I'll gladly get back to it. It's good to vent and let the bad feelings go, eh?Granted, blaming Elsa and Anna entirely is probably a bad move. We need to start with their dumbass parents. Worst movie parents ever.The magical troll TELLS them explicitly that Elsa's biggest weakness is fear. The logical course of action when one of my children has a supernatural and possibly dangerous power is to explain it to her - since they seemed pretty chill about it, like it's a regular thing in their family to be born with some kind of weird powers. To teach her, maybe make her go and visit the trolls once a week for training. SOMETHING. Anything but locking her up in her room where she learns to hate and FEAR her powers, which, obviously grow with age. So by the time she's really powerful, she won't have the faintest clue how to handle them. Worst. Parents. Ever.Then there is Elsa, who has magical powers that she loves. But hey, Anna got a little hurt so let's be afraid of them forever. It's like riding a bike. When you fall and get hurt, you NEVER EVER get on a bike again. Wait, what do you mean that's not the case?

She proceeds to become the queen and seems to be aware that it's a lot of responsibility and that she's now, duh, the queen. So packing it all up and running away at the faintest sign of trouble for her is a totally legitimate queen-move. Instead of handling the situation like a grown up and facing it, she runs away and hides in a castle of ice. Because why should she care about the kingdom that SHE caused the biggestest crisis in probably its whole history? Naw, letting it go and hiding up there is way better. How does that move and that song teach children and little girls to be good? It basically teaches them to run from their problems when something happens that you're uncomfortable with, because you are the only person who should matter to you, especially when you're a queen. Not your family, friends (not that she had those) or the kingdom you rule. As long as YOU are comfortable and happy, it's totally fine. There's not an ounce of bravery, honor or even common sense that Elsa portraits. It’s completely selfishly motivated and while sure, being selfish to a degree, can be a good thing and there are people who need to learn it... to just straight-up abandon everyone who relies on you just because you have been inconvenienced is... not a good lesson?

That super big song is an awful lesson. “No right, no wrong, no rules for me”... yeah, great, love when that’s the lesson my kids learn from a Disney movie. It’s so unnecessarily dramatic and so intensely selfish. Usually the main song of a Disney princess is empowering and encouraging. Not telling you to basically fuck the rules and do whatever you want.

Then there's the whole lazy-ass character design of the white-haired, pale-skinned, blue-eyed, blue-dressed ice-controller. As seen in Rise of the Guardians with Jack Frost one year prior, as seen in Tinkerbell with Periwinkle (getting to that later) also one year prior and literally as seen by Bertier in Sailor Moon, who even has the same braid thrown over her shoulder, for heaven's sake. And granted, yes, you can‘t just fault Disney for that. Everybody who has an ice-controler loves to fall back to those cliche character design elements, but... this is Disney. They are big and they usually care about their character design, but here they were simply the laziest they could be. Not to mention that dress. Oh sure, Disney has always liked to over-sexualize certain characters, but here they did it in an era-breaking way - her dress does not even remotely fit into the overall setting of the movie, which only makes it look even more like some character-designer really just wanted to get off to Elsa...

Not to mention the even lazier design of her powers. She controls snow and ice. So... her magical ice can corrupt a heart and freeze them for good. Oooh and it can create sentinent life as seen by Olaf and that giant-ass monster. And she makes fancy ice-clothes that are not see-through but come it different shades of blue and move like proper clothes would! ...Where exactly are her powers? What CAN she do? Because it's obviously not just ice. It's convenient "She does what we need her to do". Driven even more home by that ridiculous short where she suddenly also has spring-powers. Because sure, why the fuck not.

Usually, princesses have clearly defined abilities. Moana controls the water because she has a bond with the ocean and she gets them from being chosen by the ocean. Rapunzel has healing powers because her mother digested a healing plant while pregnant.

There's no explanation whatsoever to Elsa’s powers. The king and queen are acting all casual about Elsa being born with those powers, but there's not even the hint of an explanation as to WHY she was born with those very random powers. Her parents and sister sure don’t have any powers. And even though they know about them and seem to not be concerned that she has those powers, they are very much at a loss as to how to deal with them. So you’re not actually familiar with them, then why are you not surprised by them...?

They have magical stone-trolls. Why do they have magical stone-trolls? Again, king and queen are totally casual about the magical stone-trolls like they're something completely obvious that is in every kingdom. But where do they come from and how are they linked to the princess’ random magic? Who knows? Certainly not the viewer of this movie, because jackshit about the world-building is actually explained in it.

They're not even attempting to tie in the magic or make it logical in this world. It's there. It's strange and weird. The rulers know about it, but... does the common folk? I guess not, because even Anna was shocked about them. So how did the king and queen know?

Unlike the usual, they’re not even attempting a coherent world-building. Something as simple as “it’s in the royal blood, every firstborn has those powers, king’s older sister had them too”, or whatever, literally any throwaway half-way thought-through explanation would have sufficed instead of “LOL they’re there we dunno how or why and they just do what they we need them to do!”...

Anyway, enough about Elsa. Let’s move on to little Miss Dumbass. The girl without common sense. I'm aware that Disney was trying to be self-ironic with the whole love song under the moon and "I wanna marry him!" thing, but Anna went farther than that. When her sister decides to let it go and run away, she becomes the default leader of the country. As that I totally run after my sister during the biggest crisis of the kingdom. And yes, maybe because she's just a naive kid and loves her sister who hasn't talked to her in like ten years so-so-so much, that sister had priority. Okay, I'll buy it, I guess. That still doesn't change that Anna leaves the kingdom in the hands of the dude she's known for like an hour instead of the generals and advisers who must have ruled while Elsa was busy playing emo in her bedroom for the last ten years. Someone qualified who knows the kingdom and knows how to handle it. Nope, let’s throw caution and common sense out of the window because I REALLY LOVE HIM!!!... And I am also genuinely tired of Disney making fun of themselves and belittling their old movies, to be quite honest. It was a fun joke when they did it the first time in Enchanted, but at this point it’s quite frankly just insulting the movies that came before and... how about not??Now for one of the most important reasons why I hate this movie; they fucked Hans Christian Andersen. The only thing this has to do with his Snow Queen is that there's a queen who controls ice.

I know Disney has been painfully lazy this century.

They've always twisted the fairy tales to make them more friendly for kids, but the core of the real fairy tale remained - Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, well I'm assuming you've heard of them and know where I'm getting with this. They make it less brutal and more child-friendly, but the heart of the story remains the same. Then this century hit and it must have hit them upside the head because they forgot how to adapt a source material.

I liked Princess and the Frog. It was funny, she was a strong character with development, the animal sidekicks were cute. And it's dismissal of the fairy tale is even semi-explained in canon where she points to the actual fairy tale and says it's "like" the tale. Not it is the tale. They weren't even trying to adapt the fairy tale with this one, so it gets a pass, even though I am still peeved that they didn’t actually do an adaptation of either the Frog King or the Frog Princess, because both are great fairy tales that would have deserved to become Disney movies too.

Then there was Tangled, which... was trying to adapt Rapunzel and kept some of the key-elements while striking out other important things - like where she got her name, for example, I mean, really? Though I did like that wink to the real fairy tale at the end when her magical tears healed him. That was a piece of illogical magic in the fairy tale and the whole flower-thing in Tangled, well, it at least tried to make it logical.

But Fr0zen? There is nothing that this has to do with the actual fairy tale and when it was first announced, I was looking forward to another fairy tale adaptation, instead I got a pile of bullshit they placed on HCA's grave.Now, my last point on this agenda - because I could nitpick every single second of that movie, but even I'm not patient enough and it would mean I'd have to rewatch it to actually make it every single second accurately and that is never going to happen. Ever - is that it's a cheap rip-off.

Disney doesn't really do the whole original routine. Their movies are based on fairy tales and books and plays. And they occasionally get lazy and re-use things from their old stuff. But Fr0zen is such a copy of even one of their own movies.The movie I'm talking about here is Tinkerbell: Secret of the Wings. Yes, it's not even one of their big hits or a fairy tale movie. It's like the third sequel to the spin-off of a book-adaptation.

Let's see...

We got two sisters. Check. Anna and Elsa. Tinkerbell and Periwinkle.

One of them is naive, yet optimistic and good-natured and easy-going. Check. Anna and Tinkerbell.

The other is pale, blue-eyed, white-haired and has ice-controlling powers. Check. Elsa and Periwinkle.

But our main protagonist isn't the powerful one, it's the naive goody-two-shoes one. Also check.

The two sisters were separated for a long time. Check. By locking herself into a room versus by being in another realm.

Reunited at a late teenage-age and realizing wow, we got some stuff in common. Check.

There's the matter of the ice harming the naive one. Check. Anna gets hurt as a little girl and Tinkerbell catches a cold when she's first in the winter wonderland.

This harming is cause for a separation, because finding a way around the pain is too easy and we need drama. Check.

Winter takes over the kingdom. Double-check on that one.

The sisters need to find a way to work together to save their kingdom from eternal winter, but that's hard because the ice once again harmed the naive one. Check, with Anna's frozen heart and Tinkerbell's broken wing.

Dramatic moment, because the naive one seems in a dire situation without any way out, but there is a weird sister-love-magic going on that totally solves that problem! Check. Elsa kissing Anna and making it better, while Periwinkle's wings can heal Tinkerbell's wings via twin-wing-magic.

And the kingdom is saved and they lived happily ever after, finding a way to see each other and be best sisters forever! Also check. The end.

It's just embarrassing to rip yourself off like that. Seriously, borrowing some elements of a movie you have done before is one thing (like Maleficent shamelessly “borrowing” from Fr0zen). But the extend to which the plots of those two movies align is ridiculous.

Not to mention the internet going nuts over Elsa like she's the best thing since sliced bread. All the J€lsa everywhere still makes my stomach turn. How does the internet see two characters who dress the same, look the same, have the same powers AND the same fears and think "My, those two characters who are basically twins, I'd like to see them make out!".

Which also plays heavily into why I don’t just dislike the movie is that it is mercilessly shoved down your throat at every turn. You go to a regular groceries store? Here are the Fr0zen plates and band-aids and toothbrushes and what not! No other Disney movie has ever been commercialized to that degree, it really doesn’t matter what type of store you enter, there will be merch for this blasted movie. You literally couldn’t escape it. And if you don’t like a thing but at every turn, it is shoved into your face, then your dislike tends to grow.

Another huge point in that regard is that stupid ““short movie”“ they aired before Coco.Those two movies were in such different settings that the disconnect actually threw you off, seriously I had a hard time getting into Coco for the first 20 minutes or so because I had just been in an entirely different place, story-wise, setting-wise, heck even climate wise. To go from white wonderland Christmas special to Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico?? That’s literally as far apart as you could get...

And it was just too long. If you put a short movie before a movie, make it actually short. The five minute ones, as was the usual. That is fun, that is nice. This one was twenty minutes long.

Again, a part where the fans piss me off because they bitch that people shouldn’t complain about it, they “didn’t have to see it”. Bitch, no. For one, I do not know how long this movie is when I sit in cinema and am suddenly hit outta left field by there even being a short-movie. So why would I leave? Is it 5 minutes? 10 minutes? If I stay outside the cinema too long, I will actually miss the beginning of the movie I came and paid for.

And I’m a grown adult. The situation with kids is far different. Every single kid in the theater with me was absolutely confused and asked every two minutes “Why is that on? Are we in the wrong theater? When will the movie start?”, multiple ones leaving... and not returning at all, because they thought they indeed were in the wrong movie. And even then... there is a reason a children’s movie is roughly an hour to an hour and a half. Because of a child’s attention span. Now if you pack a nearly half hour long ““short film”“ in front of a one and a half hour long actual film and after another half hour of trailers and ads, you have forced those four to ten year olds through a total of two and a half hours. Heck, me as an adult I got a hard time with that length. But among the kids who actually stayed and didn’t leave because of the short, most - especially the younger ones - got really cranky toward the end of Coco, obviously, logically.

So, aside from being a horrible movie (seriously, it’s just one song after the other and the other and the other and focusing on the solely worst part of this franchise, Olaf), it was also forced upon people. Not like other random spin-off shorts to their movies that just air on TV and you can watch them if you like them. Nope. You wanna see this beautiful masterpiece about the Day of the Dead? You gotta watch this Fr0zen short before!

There’s more things (like the just mentioned fact that I think the obnoxious, unfunny and unexplained magic snowman was the worst thing), like I mentioned above I genuinely could nitpick every second of it if I would want to, but this is already long enough with the big bullet points.

TL;DR: It’s just too much, it is forced upon people, it has lazy world-building and character design, it has a horrible message, it is constantly treated like it’s in any way or shape revolutionary when it brought literally not a single new thing to the table, it has nothing to do with the fairy tale it was first announced to be an adaptation of and a huge chunk of its fans are really freaking obnoxious.

#Disney #Anti Frozen #I mean #yeah #Phoe's Random Movie Rants #Anonymous

[timeclonemike]

Random Idea: “Portia” Spider-Man AU

I haven’t actually seen Into The Spiderverse myself, but I have read that it has started a trend towards people coming up with their own Spider-Man AUs. More specifically I read that there’s a lot of people lashing out against that for some reason, which I don’t get.

I also watched a walkthrough of the PS4 game, which actually motivated me to work on a completely different project.

I might as well state right now that I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Spider-Man in particular, or the Marvel multiverse in general, much less the exponentially greater possibilities that come from a huge fan base. To the best of my limited knowledge, I don’t think I’m treading on anyone’s toes, and if it turns out somebody had the same ideas before me and reads this, I promise I’m not trying to steal your thunder.

The Origin: Pyotr “Peter” Parker is second generation Russian-American living in the Big Apple. He’s a scientific prodigy, and he was well on his way to getting a scholarship that would launch him to dizzying academic and technical heights when his life was demolished; his mother, father, and uncle were all killed in some sort of crossfire between different mob families. His academic performance and social life were also casualties, first from grief, and later from the impotent rage burning inside him from seeing nothing at all happen to find and punish those who had done so much harm. The kid who was on a fast track to following in the footsteps of such scientific visionaries as Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Oswald Octavius did the bare minimum of work needed to keep his teachers and Aunt May (his only living relative) off of his back; the rest of his days and much of his nights were spent in an angry haze of revenge-based daydreams and fantasies.

The Transformation: Peter does not remember exactly how, but one morning he woke up with a painfully swollen spider bite. After a day or so, the swelling went away, but it was replaced by other “symptoms” that were decidedly more permanent. In no particular order, he could stick to various surfaces, detect motion nearby, and found that his strength and agility were dramatically increased. Most dramatic of all, he could jump much, much farther than any human being had any business jumping. To an angsty, hormonal teenager who had fumed and raged inwardly as he watched the injustice perpetrated on his family go unpunished for years, it was like Christmas morning. (It was actually Arbor Day, but that’s not really important.) With barely enough sense to get gloves, a ski mask, and goggles to hide his identity, he set out to to do by himself what the police and the courts could not, or would not, do through proper channels.

The Defeat: Superpowers or not, a teenager is not a match for multiple, competing organized crime families. Peter was shot four times, twice in the left leg, once in the right shoulder, and one glancing blow to the skull that would have punched his clock if not for his Spider-Sense based reflexes. With a concussion, a leg that couldn’t support his weight, and a whole lot of lost blood, Peter was forced to back off to some place safe, call 911, and nearly collapse right after tossing his “costume” in the closest dumpster. Emergency surgery and a blood transfusion saved his life, and while his recovery was almost miraculously fast according to the doctors and nurses keeping an eye on him, he still had to convalesce.

The Lesson: The time spent in bed, with nothing to do but mull over his defeat, forces him to reconsider what he is doing and why. He was about ready to throw all his dreams of revenge out the window and move on with his life... when the assassins showed up. After all, gunshot wounds are reported to police, and not every officer who swears to uphold the law actually keeps that oath. The assassins try to smother Peter while he pretends to be asleep; for their trouble, they get kicked with the same amount of force that previously launched Peter across streets and up the sides of buildings. Fortunately for them, they are in a hospital already. With a paranoia that has nothing to do with his new danger-detector in his head, Pete leaves the hospital without being officially discharged, makes it home, and discovers that his Aunt May ended up taking out two home invaders... and instead of the invaders being carted off, Aunt May is the one being held on trumped up charges. Peter has the consequences of his actions thrust into his face, and he angsts over his irresponsibility for all of five minutes before he has an epiphany that few Spider-themed superheroes ever figure out: Not everything bad that happens is automatically his fault.

The Comeback: While only a few days older, Peter is now much wiser, and begins a methodical plan of attack. The forces arrayed against his family cover the city like a web, but he’s learned a lot about spiders recently. Between phone calls, letters, and Duck Duck Go, Peter maps out the people he has to fight. These include a hanging judge, an attorney general living beyond her apparent means, and a couple of cops who have some black marks on other people’s social media, if not their professional records. With a new, thematically different costume, some cheap smartphones, and gadgets put together from dollar store specials and dumpster diving, Peter starts collecting evidence of corruption and leaving flash drives and SD cards in the mailboxes of the people who seem to be trustworthy. The gears of justice start to grind, while the gears of corruption have sand thrown into them. (What actually happened is that Peter found the AG was in the mob’s pocket, kidnapped her, called her “handlers” and played back some carefully edited sound bites recorded from a rival family’s conversations. Her “execution” was interrupted, but her home and worldly possessions went up in flames at the same time. She suddenly has much larger problems than she did before.)

The Arch Enemy: Aunt May’s two counts of justified self defense are properly rendered as such by a court that does not have multiple actors in somebody’s pocket. Turns out a whole lot of internal affairs investigations have opened up, and a laundry list of cold cases have been opened, in addition to the conflicts already set in motion. What keeps May and Peter safe, though, is what happens to a mover and shaker way up in the food chain (known as “Hammerhead” to his subordinates because of his shark-like ferocity). Hammerhead gets a mysterious visit from a masked figure who kicks his ass three ways from Sunday, and who lets him know that he’s taking his time to make him suffer for killing the masked figure’s brother. Three bullets are put into Hammerhead with his own sidearm, but the bullet that would have gone in the man’s skull misses, apparently because his guys finally showed up to help him. Hammerhead falls for the ruse hook, line, sinker and compressed air tank, and all the resources dedicated to finding this spider-themed vigilante get aimed in different directions, including the ones that had been sent after this Pyotr Parker kid, since he’s an only child. (The guys sent after Parker don’t have much to say, because his kicks packed a wallop and also because nobody contradicts Hammerhead when he’s angry.) This lays the foundation of a mutual hatred that lasts for the next decade at least, and “The Hammerhead versus The Spider Man” becomes a popular topic of discussion and speculation in the criminal underworld, law enforcement, civilian social media, and the hero community.

The Method: Unlike many Spider-Men, Peter isn’t explicitly an out and out hero. The last time he had ambitions of heroism, rushing in like Iron Man or Thor or Daredevil, he ended up in the hospital. To the contrary, by imitating the methods of his criminal prey, he achieved results far beyond his most optimistic predictions. In that sense, his spider-motif resembles that of the Portia Jumping Spider, a genus of spider species that hunt and prey on other spiders. His powers reflect this, with his impressive jumping abilities. Also like the Portia spiders, Peter stalks his prey and studies their strengths and weaknesses before developing the perfect way to take them down. Sometimes this comes from capturing sensitive information and delivering it to those who can do the most damage with it. Sometimes this means a more immediate response, like a kick that can ruin somebody’s whole day plus the rest of the week. What really sets Peter apart, though, is the “criminal” empire that he is growing using the resources he steals from his targets. Granted, his “Drug Labs” are churning out generic insulin at affordable prices, but it’s the principle of the thing. Likewise, the sex workers and street walkers in Spider-Man’s “territory” have seen a massive drop in violence once he cornered a particularly belligerent john in an alley and mentioned that a lot of male spiders have their sex organ bitten off by the female.

The Gadgets: Unlike most, if not all, Spider-Men in the multiverse, Peter never came up with the idea of web-shooters or web fluid. He has a number of other tricks up his sleeve, sometimes literally, that fill the vacuum when it comes to mobility, combat, and controlling the combat environment. The most complex of these would have to be his costume, which also diverges dramatically from what other Spider Themed Heroes use, in that it is designed to blend in rather than stand out. The basic suit color scheme is a grey-green mixture that’s hard to see under low-light conditions, and Peter has a number of optional “urban ghillie suits” that can look like grey concrete, brick, rusted steel, or other patterns. He’s also been known to take his enemy’s clothing, but it’s not clear how much of this is intended to help him infiltrate them and turn them on each other and how much of it is just humiliating his defeated foes. His mask incorporates multiple vision enhancement devices, from light amplification to infra-red to sonar and radar, and these give him a multi-eyed appearance in keeping with the spider theme. Defensively and offensively, he has arm-mounted weapons that incorporate compressed air guns that can fire chemical darts at range, and provide a close-range electrical charge to incapacitate people in close combat. (In the early days he carried a literal dart gun and stun gun but kept losing them during fights.) Finally, he carries a small arsenal of counter-intelligence tools designed to let him eavesdrop on targets, clone their cell phones, break into secure areas without leaving signs of forced entry, and jam or intercept enemy communications. All of them are incorporated into his suit. He has ambitions of getting an Octavius Harness, since extra arms would complete the spider motif and also make him far more dangerous in combat, but he can’t afford it and he’s years away from learning how to jailbreak the safety features that Doctor Octavius put on his technology to keep it from being stolen.

The Cover: When he’s not making life interesting for the criminal underworld of New York City, Peter works as a photographer. He’s done contract work for the Daily Bugle, including the occasional shot of this Spider Man character, but most of his income is from people needing photographs of their belongings for insurance reasons. After all, this is a world where superheroes and supervillains go toe-to-toe at least twice a week. He’s done weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, family reunions, anniversaries, baby gender reveal parties, and more. He’s also done some stuff that would normally be within the purview of a private investigator, despite the legal risks, in order to make ends meet. His social circle is limited to a handful of people who still tolerated him when he was lashing out at the world as a teenager, which is basically a handful of former classmates that have moved on to college, trade school, or something else, especially Miles Morales (who also lost family at a young age), Felicia Hardy, and Eddie Brock. His dating life is non-existant despite multiple attempts by both Eddie and Miles to play matchmaker.

The Rogue’s Gallery: The Spider Man has a long standing antagonism with Hammerhead, but has occasionally faced off against other supervillains and even some superheroes. On the villain side, Peter has defeated an electricity controlling lunatic named Electro, some guy in a rocket assisted flight suit the press called the Vulture, the enigmatic and theatrical Mysterio, and some one or something called the Sand Man. Unfortunately, Peter beat the Sand Man by fusing him into glass, and was not able to pull off the same stunt twice. The former Sand Man, calling himself Vitreous, had to be stopped by the Avengers, and The Spider Man’s role in the creation of a much more dangerous villain is what got him on the radar of so many heroes in the first place. For the most part, he knows he’s outclassed and doesn’t really want to fight people who, in theory, have the same general goals, so he tends to run from these encounters. So far he’s managed to evade Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Oswald Octavius in his superhero alter ego of Doctor Octopus. His encounter with Loki resulted in Peter getting the upper hand in classic trickster legend style, earning the God of Mischief’s respect. In other cases, Peter has not been so lucky; while he managed to escape each time, he’s been almost crushed to death by Giant Man, beaten to a pulp by Captain America, and drop kicked into the East River by the Hulk as if he was some sort of football. He has technically never fought Dr. Strange, but was involved in a fracas between the Sorcerer Supreme, Deadpool, and Dr. Doom that resulted in the Eye of Agomotto being lost for five years; everyone involved has agreed to never speak of what happened again. Finally, there’s the matter of Sean Gargan, an aspiring superhero with Scorpion themed powers who has sworn to bring The Spider Man to justice after his father, Mac Gargan, was injured while The Spider Man was fighting Electro.

#spiderman #spiderverse #AU #Portia Spider

[internethorrorfan]

Commentarypasta: Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack (originally posted on deviantart in 2017)

You know what's almost as creatively bankrupt as Jeff the Killer wannabe stories and Slender Mansion fics? Versus stories. Today's gem, hailing from the Spinpasta wiki, is one such story. Because why write original suspenseful horror stories or possibly put a new creative spin on an older idea or character when you can just take two unrelated creepypasta icons and have them lay a WWE smack down on each other, right? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story... Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack by OptimusPrime27 There are legends of the Slender Man. Some say he's a kind nurturing father figure that lives in a big beautiful mansion full of other monsters and killers as one big happy loving family who do all sorts of cute family activities with each other when they're not going on mass murder sprees. Nobody over the age of 12 believes such things.

He is a dark spirit. He is truly evil. Wait, what you mean to tell me is that the murderous, child snatching eldritch abomination who forces people to become his slaves in order to commit horrific acts on his behalf is evil? You don't say? He stalks people and murders them. But now he is gone. He's been gone. People don't know why, but he just... disappeared. Everything changed after the Fire Nation attacked. One day, he just left. Never to be seen again. Except in terrible fanfiction written by pre teen girls. Only a few people still remember him. This sentence is so easily contestable that I won't even bother. I wouldn't even know he existed if it wasn't for that dark, dark night... and that video-game that made. That sort of helped... This joke might have been funny is the grammar wasn't messed up.

You see, Slender Man disappeared because less people feared him. This sounds awfully similar to Freddy's plot in Freddy vs. Jason. Instead of that dark, mysterious force he became that cool, popular guy. "Yo Slenderbro, pass me that brewski when you're done droppin' those phat beats!" Just that guy. People didn't care how terrifying he really was, they just liked him. What if people liked him because he was terrifying? I like Slenderman because he's creepy.  Creepy if done well at any rate. Video-games, toys, shirts, Hold the phone here, since when has there official Slenderman merch? he was everywhere. Less people feared him, and he became more of an internet icon than a despicable creature. So you can't be a despicable creature and internet icon at the same time? Someone better tell [insert well known internet personality who gets a lot of hate here)! More people knew him and they learned to stay away from him, how to avoid him, There's no official way to avoid Slenderman. and thus he didn't get their souls. Many people don't know this, but Slender Man needs souls. Many people don't know this because you completely made it up. They give him energy. He harvests them. He feeds of them. He lives. But now people don't fear him at all. He's just that guy.

That guy. He's just that guy who stalks people, kidnaps kids and drives people insane. Ya know, nothin' special.

But you see, Eyeless Jack is a different story. A story so bad its own writer personally asked for it to be deleted from the creepypasta wiki.

Eyeless Jack is a dark, undead spirit. Says who? A young boy brutally murdered, his eyes ripped out of their sockets. A vengeful spirit, Eyeless Jack's a ghost now? he spent the rest of his eternity getting his revenge. Which he accomplishes by eating random people's kidneys. Out to find the man who killed him. Until then, he could never truly be at peace. Less powerful and less famous, Jack was just a little kid compared to Slender Man. Which might have something to do with Slenderman being 6-10 feet tall. No match for this monster. Stories over! Goodnight everybody! Slender Man is basically the king of modern horror. I'm a huge Slender-verse fan and even I think that's bit of an overstatement. How can he be the king of modern horror anyway if supposedly no one takes him seriously or cares about him anymore? Creepy, mysterious. Slender Man has given existence to many wannabes and copy-cats like Jeff the Killer or Laughing Jack. Laughing Jack and Jeff the Killer have nothing at all to do with each other let alone Slenderman.

Slender Man saw potential in Eyeless Jack, and decided to use his superior power to manipulate the poor lost soul. This is literally just the plot of Freddy vs. Jason. One night, Jack was lurking through the forest, when Slender Man, now weak but still more powerful than Jack, appeared before him. Jack was shocked, but then the figure seemed to disappear into thin air. Jack turned around as Slender Man reappeared in front of him. Slender Man began to stalk the evil spirit as he ran through the forest. What sounded like static assaulted Jack's ears. He fell down and began to faint, everything else in the world fading away... Slender Man was now in control of Jack, and ready for the harvest. Now this is where I get involved. Me and my friends were having a sleep-over. It was a dark, rainy night. Lemme guess: You really wanted to write "it was a dark and stormy night" but you realized that was too cliché even for something called "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" so you thought wording it differently would mask the unoriginality.  Newsflash: it didn't. We were watching a crappy, blood-filled generic horror film, yet we kept screeching. We didn't know what true horror was yet. It's certainly not this story, I'll tell you that much. Not yet. You could’ve removed those last two words entirely and just said you "didn’t know what true horror was. Yet". We heard the back door creek open, so me and my friend Anne went to go see. The suspense was killing us. Suspense from what? The door creaking open? Do you guys flip out every time there's a light breeze? The entire house was pitch black. Turn on the lights then. We stepped into the dark hallway and slowly stepped closer and closer to the door. We heard heavy breathing from behind the door. And...JUMPSCARE! We went to grab the door knob, and when we saw what was behind it, we shrieked in terror. It was just our friend Mark. You held the tension here for 1 sentence. He and his friends Brad and Chuck were here. The idiots tried to scare us. "They're gonna be dead soon is what I'm saying." Me and Mark are sort of more than friends, but not really dating. Just sort of... into each other or something. It's complicated. We watched the movie together, and the guys kept making fun of us when we got scared, but they themselves kept getting freaked out now and then. Suddenly, we heard glass breaking. Mark volunteered to go check it out because how we were such "chickens". His words, not mine. I'd say that last sentence was completely superfluous but this whole story is completely superfluous. He walked into the hallways, closing the door behind him. He saw broken glass on the floor. He knew somebody had broken in. He turned around to warn us, but saw a masked, hoody-wearing creature. I thought he was a spirit. Now he's a creature? The mask was blue, with deep, empty, black holes where the eyes were supposed to be. I asked myself this same question when reading the original Eyeless Jack but how can they tell he has no eyes when he's wearing a mask in the dark?

The creature grabbed Mark's throat, squeezing it tightly. Mark gasped for breath, but the grasp on Mark's throat increased in strength. Tighter, tighter, until Mark couldn't breathe. Mark closed his eyes and dropped down onto the ground as the creature finally let him go. The creature observed his corpse, as if marveling at his own work of demented art. Oh no, not Mark! He was such a well developed character that we knew so well!

It was half an hour later, and we were worrying. I went to go check on him and found his corpse. So all of you just stood there and waited for 30 minutes while a monster choked Mark to death instead of alerting the police? What truly wonderful people you guys are.  I nearly puked. There was no brutal damage or harm to it, but that's what scared me. In the movies it's always bloody and chopped up, nearly unrecognizable. But this was... was so real. Just a lifeless body there on the ground, nothing more to it. The police said he was strangled to death by... something. Poor Eyeless Jack always getting described as a "something". The finger prints on his neck Fingerprints is one word. Like, nobody writes "head aches" or "bed rooms" do they? were something odd. They tasted great! They scanned them and all, but the person they belonged to was murdered long ago. Jack Robins was a young boy who was brutally killed back in the 1970's. I sure am glad these cops committed every important detail of this decades old case to memory. His parents were on a date, and he was being babysat by a local teen trying to get some quick cash. You say that as if all teen babysitters aren't just looking for quick cash.

A strange man broke in while he was asleep and the sitter was busy on the phone. Being on the phone doesn't automatically cancel out all other sounds. I think she'd be able to hear someone breaking in. The man went through the house stealing everything he found useful. The sitter saw him and shrieked, only to be shot down by the robber. The robber found Jack and pulled out his carving knife. Jack saw him and shrieked. The robber, not wanting to get caught, shot him, and then cut his eyes out with the knife. Why? How could cutting out Jack's eyes possibly benefit him in any way? If he's trying to be sneaky then carrying someone's eyeballs around would be super easy to trace. There is literally absolutely no reason for this guy to cut out Jack's eyes other than "well he's gotta become Eyeless Jack somehow!"

I was shocked when I heard this. That poor kid. But what was the killer doing with his fingerprints? Was it a coincidence? You don't know what coincidences are, do you? Was the killer the same one who did this terrible, terrible thing all those years back, and the sicko kept Jack's hands with him? If the killer took Jack's hands the cops would've said that. How is that your first thought? Why would a robber cut off the hand of someone they murdered, keep it on their person and use it decades later to strangle some random person to death? I was scared. Me and my parents were staying in a hotel room since the murder, but I couldn't help but wonder if he was still in the house... Meanwhile, in the woods, Jack woke up. He saw that he was in Slender Man's body. I'm sorry, what? This is a body swapping story now? Why does "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack" need to be about body swapping? But more importantly, he actually saw. He discovered that Slender Man didn't just take over his body, he switched both of their souls into each other's bodies. I have so many questions. This story keeps calling Jack a spirit so how can he have even have a body/soul to swap? Since when did Slenderman have a soul? Didn't this story also say Slenderman ate souls?  How would swapping souls allow Eyeless Jack to see? How can EJ do all the things he does if he can't see? I have the sneaking suspicion that none of these questions will go answered. Jack, now able to see, used this to follow the Slender Man's foot prints to the house. The police were investigating the scene of the crime, and went into the basement. The entire house was totally dark. If the power went out it'd be nice of you to let us know that. The two police man walked slowly down the stairs, and entered the dark room. The basement was flooded up to the police men's ankles because of the rain. Our house was an old one and it was always in a really crappy condition. Get it remodeled it then.

They found the old light switch and flipped it, only to be attacked and killed by Slender Man in Jack's body. He took on the other cops as they ran down the stairs. Their bullets did nothing. The body may have been harmed, but it was just flesh and bones. Useless flesh and bones. If they're so useless why did Slenderman even do this whole body swapping thing in the first place? How does switching souls with Eyeless Jack benefit Slenderman in anyway?

As the battle in the basement was going on, Jack in Slender Man's body broke down the front door, searching for his impostor. He rushed down the stairs to confront Slender Man. Slender threw his knife into Jack's face, distracting him as he grabbed a metal pipe up from off the floor. He hit the already dazed Jack in the head, knocking him to the floor. Remember: Jack's in Slenderman's body. So according to this story Slenderman can be stabbed, dazed and knocked to the ground. Jack got up and pulled the knife out of his head, impaling Slender Man with it. Slender Man seemed to slow down for a bit, but no real harm was done. "Besides the gaping chest wound I mean." Slender Man tore the knife out and dropped it to the ground. It was useless. Slender Man hit Jack with an uppercut, grabbed him and threw him into the furnace, closing him in and turning it on. Jack struggled to break free, but Slender Man was holding him in with all his strength. Eyeless Jack's body is capable of picking up and throwing the body of Slenderman, who is a 6-10 foot monster with teleportation powers, tentacles, and psychic abilities. Ok then. Jack pushed against the furnace with all his might, and finally jumped out, tackling Slender Man over. He held Slender Man's face down under the water, trying to drown him, but Slender Man managed to push up and knock Eyeless Jak down. Wow, Slenderman knocked Eyeless Jack down so hard the c fell out of his name! Jack reached for a nearby tool bag and pulled out a drill, sticking it into Slender Man's face. He turned it on, and it began to cut into his face. Why is EJ trying to kill Slenderman when they've switched bodies? I assume the body swapping is the reason EJ is mad at Slenderman in the first place so why would he ruin his chances of ever getting his real body back? Guys, Eyeless Jack is drilling into his own face. Slender Man grabbed the drill and pulled it out, throwing it over onto the stair case. Getting shot, drowned and stabbed didn't kill him so cutting into his face with a drill probably wouldn't either. Shouldn't Eyeless Jack know the limitations of his own body? Slender picked up the carving knife, slashed Jack across the chest with it, and jumped up and cut a pipe above Jack's head. Tons of sewage poured down onto Jack, knocking him to the ground and covering him with the slop. Did the writer of this even know Slenderman's power set?

Slender Man left, leaving Jack to die. Slender Man grabbed a thing of matches on the kitchen counter, lit one, and threw it to the ground, burning down the building as he turned and ran out the back door. The entire house burnt up and collapsed in, crushing Jack completely and seemingly finishing him off. Slenderman is leaving his own body to burn to death. Slenderman of all beings should know fire doesn't hurt him! The police told me and my parents about what happened. The cops that were there were killed before any of this crap even happened. They didn't know anything about the two killers or what really went on, but they knew that the house burnt down. I was devastated, but I was hoping that... that THING... was killed in the fire. Can't be, the story's not over yet. Unfortunately. I thought it was all over. I wish it were all over so I could do something more productive with my time like watching paint dry. I told my parents I was ready to go back to school, but they hesitated to let me. We talked it through, and they decided I was okay.  What teenager wants to go to school?

The next day at school, my friends from the sleepover, Anne and Lauren, asked me what happened. I told them everything. Jack, how Mark died, the house burning down, etc.,etc. They were shocked. Everyone who overheard was shocked too. One kid approached us. He said that Jack never really died, and that he is still alive. Everybody that he was crazy, but he said that Jack's spirit still wanders the Earth, searching for the man who killed him. Who is this kid and how does he know any of this? The janitor saw all the commotion, and told the kid to go down to the principal's office. He turned to the rest of us and said to get to class. The principal told the kid that the legend of Eyeless Jack was just crazy talk.

Rumor spread that all these stories of monsters and ghosts and stuff was all actually real and the adults were keeping it from us, like some crazy conspiracy. This kind of conspiracy I hope. Now it was like a rebellion was on the horizon. How could these things really exist without anybody letting us know? It's our right to know these kinds of things! If they're trying to protect us it clearly isn't working because now Mark has been murdered! OK we get it author, you really like Freddy vs. Jason. Can you please quit rehashing plot elements from it?

I was angry. We were all angry. I'm angry because it feels like this story should be over by now. But we still had to carry on. The prom was coming soon, and I planned on asking Mark to go with me and maybe we could officially start dating, but then this whole crazy thing happened. Multiple people, including your own boyfriend,  have been brutally killed by supernatural forces and you're worrying about the damn prom? I went with Brad, Mark's friend, but I felt really guilty. Just because Mark was killed I went out with his best friend? It was messed up, I knew it. Yeah, taking your boyfriend's best friend to the prom the day after said boyfriend was murdered is pretty messed up.

Everything was fine at the prom, until... it happened. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xe0Ba… Chuck and Anne sneaked away to make out or something dumb, and then he came. Obvious joke is obvious. They went over by the lockers and made sure nobody was looking, but then they heard footsteps. They thought they were caught, but it was much worse. That masked man that strangled Mark. It was here! It grabbed Chuck and held him up against the wall by his throat. Anne shrieked in terror as the creature stared into Chuck's eyes. Stared deep down into his soul. You'd think someone called "Eyeless Jack" would have a hard time staring at people. Then it took him and it threw him straight out the window. A car was driving by, and Chuck's body landed straight on the windshield, nearly shattering the glass. The principal and the gym teacher both came running to help us out, but they were no match. The masked man grabbed both of the two and hit their heads together, knocking them unconscious, and then he stuffed both of their bodies into a locker. He slammed the door, locking them inside, and then turned around to face Anne. He ripped a locker door off of the wall and hit her upside the head with it, knocking her down. Why is Slendy-in-Jack's body here in the first place? Doesn't he have better things to be doing than picking off stupid teenagers? She got up and ran, and the man... no, not a man... the DEMON rushed after her. Demon? Wasn't he a spirit earlier?

She ran into the gymnasium, where we all were, and told us to run. Too late. The creature bursted in and impaled her with a leg he tore off a desk. Ah yes desks: a common thing to find in gymnasiums. She dropped to the floor, and he tore the leg out of her corpse. We all ran out screaming, but some of us weren't as lucky. Me, Brad, Lauren, and the janitor all got out alive and took off in Brad's van. The janitor drove us away, and said that he knew about Eyeless Jack. What a totally non contrived coincidence that some random janitor at some non descript school knows all about Eyeless Jack, Slenderman and the conspiracy covering them up. He confessed to us, telling us that the kid from the hallway was right all along. He was privy to this information how exactly? They just didn't want kids knowing to try and keep them safe, but it clearly didn't work. As we were driving, a flaming man in a tuxedo ran out into the road,   Tuxedos and business suits aren't the same thing. and we accidentally hit him. The janitor thought it was a victim of Jack from the prom, He didn't notice that Slenderman was 6 feet tall and you know, lacking a face? so he rushed out to save him, but the faceless man got up and grabbed him, throwing him into the sky with all his might. We screamed in horror, and Brad leaped into the driver's seat, ramming over the man. So did the janitor come down or did he fly into outer space or something?

We drived off as it tried chasing us on feet, but we managed to escape. We were all scared, and none of us knew what was going on. I remembered the faceless tuxedo man, though. I could never forget him. It was the Slender Man. But he was real? Of course he's real! You've seen him attack people and you just ran him over with your car. UGH. We didn't know what was happening, You and me both. we just knew to get away as quick as possible. Meanwhile, Slender Man and Jack had a score to settle themselves. Jack (in Slender Man's body)arrived at the school to face his foe. A high school: truly the best place to stage the climatic showdown of your story.  The two saw each other, and nothing could stop them. Nothing else in the world mattered. It was just them, face to face again at last. Sure, Slender Man had won it the last two times, but now Jack knew better. Jack grabbed the knocked-over punch table, lifted it up over his head, and threw it right at Slender Man, knocking him over. It's damn confusing reading this and having to remember that EJ and Slenderman have switched bodies. Almost like it's pointless or something. Jack quickly ran over and started punching Slender Man repeatedly. Is EJ gonna use a single one of Slenderman's powers while inhabiting his body? Slender Man kicked Jack in the chest and knocked him over. Guess that answers my question. Slender Man started to kick Jack in the face over and over, even stomping on his head. Jack got up and overpowered Slender Man, picking him up and throwing him up on the stage. Jack ran over and jumped up, hitting Slender Man in the chest several times and damaging his decaying ribcage. Jack grabbed Slender Man by the throat and threw him down onto the ground. Jack grabbed one of the band's amps, lifted it up with all his strength, and dropped it down onto Slender Man. Jack picked up a bottle of water off the floor and poured onto his semi-crushed opponent, frying him completely. Eyeless Jack has apparently succeed in destroying his own body. Hooray?

Jack, victorious, left to find me and the others. We were at Brad's house, Can we please just stop with the constant POV and tense changes because this story is testing my patience as it is. and we went inside we saw his dad, dead, hanging from the ceiling by a rusty metal chain. NO! Not Brad's dad! He was almost as well developed a character as Mark! We were shocked, and Brad broke out crying. Me and Lauren let him have his moment, so we went in his room to discuss it. Lauren said that maybe somebody in the town was the one who killed him and that's why this is happening, but I knew it had to be something more. You think it might have something to do with those 2 monster guys running around? You know, the ones you killed your friend and that janitor right in front of you?

I mean, why was Slender Man there? Better question: why is this story still going? Brad walked in, still sad, and asked what was going on. Lauren told him her theory, but he didn't believe it either. Suddenly, a corpse was thrown straight through the window, crashing onto the foor. We all shrieked in terror as we saw the message. It was... written in blood on his chest! It said "If you yourself do not release than it will come to take a piece". "YOU ARE WRONG". He was spying on our conversation? How? Why? For what reason? Suddenly, Jack kicked the door down. Of course, he was in Slender Man's body so we couldn't tell it was Jack at first. How could you tell it was Jack after the fact? How do you know any of this crap involving Jack and Slenderman? He as holding the corpse of Brad's dad, and threw it right at Brad, knocking him to the ground. Brad screamed, and we all ran off, being chased by Jack. We got outside and into the van, but the tires were slashed. Suddenly, Jack ran out of the house and jumped up on the hood of the car, kicking the windshield. It shatter and broke open, and he reached in to get us. Brad kicked him in the face and we ran out, trying to escape on foot. Suddenly, a beaten up and bloodied Slender Man (in Jack's body) I think everybody knows they've switched bodies by now! ambushed us and stabbed Brad in the heart several times with his knife. We shrieked and ran off, when suddenly a car stopped right in front of us on the road. It was Brad's mom, home from shopping! How wonderfully contrived. She said she heard about what was happening and immediately left the store to get us! We drove off as the two monsters fought each other once again. Slender Man stabbed Jack in the face several times, but Jack was unharmed. Which Slenderman should know wouldn't work because it's his body. He grabbed Slender Man, lifting him up off the ground, and threw him into the streets. Jack charged at him, but Slendy kicked him in the stomach and then got up and punched his face several times. Jack overpowered Slendy and pushed him down to the ground, elbowing him in the face. The two struggled and pushed eachother around, until Slender Man managed to push Jack up and throw him off of him. Slender Man got up and ran off to find us, leaving behind Jack. Just finish him off already! There's no reason whatsoever to chase after these dumb kids!

We told Brad's mom what happened, from what happened to Mark, to Jack, to the house burning down, and what happened at the prom. She was depressed that her husband and her son were both murdered, and we were sad about all the murders too. "All these murders are a major bummer, man."

Suddenly, a truck rammed into the car and sent us off road into the forest. The truck chased us into the woods until we hit a tree and the car went tumbling down a path. We jumped out the first chance we got and watched in horror as the car rolled down the nearby docks and fell into the water. You're still alive...how, exactly? 

The truck came crashing after us, and Slender Man stepped out. He began to chase us, and we managed to get to an abandoned factory. We picked up a wooden plank and put in through the door handles, locking him out. If Slenderman was in his own body he could just teleport in the building. Hell, he could've teleport them outside the building if he had his old body. See what I mean about how switching bodies with Eyeless Jack doesn't benefit him in anyway? We went into another room so we wouldn't be able to hear the freak pounding on the door. We were terrified. There was no hope left. What could save us now? Hopefully nobody because all of you are such bland characters that I couldn't care less whether you lived or died.

Suddenly, Jack arrived. Slender Man turned around to face the creature, and was immediately kicked in the gut. He stumbled backwards and slammed into the door. Oh goody, another fight scene. Because we haven't had enough of those now, have we? He grabbed Jack by the throat and began to strangle him. He eventually just lifted Jack up by the throat and threw him down into the ground. He kicked Jack in the face several times, but Jack got back up. How do you kick a faceless man in the face? Jack grabbed Slender Man and threw him over into the distance. Slender Man saw a little canoe and picked up the ore, charging at Jack and impaling him through the ribs with it. Slenderman's body can apparently be impaled with a rock. Sure. Why not?

Jack pulled the ore out and hit Slender Man upside the head, knocking him down. Slender Man got up again, only to be smacked by the ore and sent flying. Slender Man landed on the docks, and Jack ran over at him. Meanwhile, we thought the coast was clear so we opened the door and looked outside, stupidly enough. We saw the two fighting on the docks and couldn't help but watch. Standing there and watching the two fight is obviously a better option than running away.

Jack hit Slender Man with an uppercut, knocking him over. Slender Man got back up and punched Jack in the face repeatedly, knocking him back a bit. Jack picked the ore back up and hit Slender Man in the face with it, knocking him down. Jack was serious now. This time...it's personal. He lifted the ore up above his head and pushed it down into Slender Man's chest. He kept stabbing him and stabbing him with it until Slender Man managed to get up and take the ore from him, throwing it into the water.

Lauren yelled out to us, pointing at a stick of dynamite she found. Oh there just happened to be a stick of dynamite lying around on these boat docks? Oh how convenient. What's next, is Brad's mom going to pull out a lighter she just so happened to have and use it to light the dynamite so they can kill Slenderman and Eyeless Jack? Brad's mom pulled out her lighter and lit it. I was joking! We threw it onto the dock as the two were fighting. This was it. Our last hope. Slender Man and Jack were brutally beating each other, and didn't notice the TNT. Suddenly, it finally went off, and it blew the two into the air. They went off into the sky, and crashed down into their watery graves. It was finally over! Oh thank God! Finally I can move on with my life! We were saved! We ran out to get back to town, but little did we know it wasn't over. Why not? Everything's been resolved. There's no reason to keep going.

Slender Man and Eyeless Jack awoke in a fiery pit, surrounded by a whole crowd of demons. They seemed to be chanting some weird spell, when a strange, creepy statue of Link from the Legend of Zelda series Oh come on! appeared before the two, and smiled deviously.

"Men..." he said, "What seems to be the problem?" You couldn't even have BEN say either of his catchphrases? Either "You shouldn't have done that." or "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" would have worked here. I sort of appreciate the shout out to one of the unused endings from Freddy vs. Jason but missed opportunity here, come on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that, my friends was "Slenderman vs. Eyeless Jack". I have but 1 question to ask: What the hell was the point of any of that? Slenderman eating souls, Eyeless Jack being a spirit, the town trying to cover them both up, Slenderman needing people to fear him in order to gain power and Eyeless Jack's whole backstory were all introduced and then forgotten about. None of the human characters were interesting and they barley impacted the plot at all. The body swapping was completely unnecessary and just made everything extra confusing for no reason and there were just way too many fight scenes. The whole thing just dragged. On the plus side the sentence structure was good and there were relatively few grammar mistakes. It's just that on top of all the other problems the whole premise was silly and it took itself way too seriously from the get go, which is my problem with most vs. fics to be honest.

#old stuff from my deviantart

[bytheangell]

Prompt from @kindaresilient​: “So basically Alec sees Magnus interacting with a toddler and just blurts out "do you want one?" (100 Followers Prompt Celebration!) (AO3)

It isn’t often there are actual infants at the Institute, but when a last-minute emergency arises and a shadowhunter is called away on a vital mission Alec agrees to watch the woman’s child until she returns. He spent his entire existence laying his life on the line in the field, and he was around to help with Izzy when they were younger… how hard could watching one toddler for a couple of hours be now?

...less than an hour later he’s trying to figure out how he’s going to get literally anything done for the rest of the night, because at this rate it’s going to take him until well past midnight just to finish the basic paperwork piled on his desk. The little girl, who was no more than 1 or 2 years old,  hasn’t stopped crying for twenty straight minutes and he can’t even think for five seconds, let alone concentrate long enough to fill out reports.

When Magnus calls to see why he’s running late Alec picks up the phone, holding it pressed clumsily against his ear with his shoulder as he bounces the little girl in his arms, trying to quiet her just long enough to hold a conversation. He doesn’t succeed.

“Hey, I meant to call earlier.” His words are strained as he tries to speak over the crying, but also not yell directly next to the young child’s ears. It’s a losing battle. “I’m going to be stuck here pretty late tonight, don’t wait up.”

“Alexander, why is there a baby screaming? Where are you?”

“My office. Sorry, I can’t get her to stop. She’s been doing this for…” he pauses, glancing at the clock. “Twenty-two minutes now. Is that normal? She doesn’t feel warm so I don’t think she’s sick, but--” He’s trying to sound calm, like this is totally normal and he has it entirely under control, but there’s an edge to his voice that Magnus picks up on immediately.

Magnus ignores the fact that his first question is left unanswered. “Hold on, I’ll be right there.” The line goes dead, and only moments later there’s the familiar swirl of a portal opening up into the middle of his office. Magnus steps through and takes a moment to survey the scene that greets him as it closes.

The little girl is silent now, staring transfixed at the space where the portal just was. “Why do you have a child?” Magnus asks again.

“I needed Nightshade for a last-minute mission, but she didn’t have anyone to watch Tamara, so I said I’d do it.” The little girl starts to squirm in his arms when she realizes the portal isn’t coming back and grows antsy once more. “No, c’mon just stay quiet for two minutes, please.” Alec pleds softly to her, beginning to bounce her in his arms again with a helpless look of defeat on his face.

“Here,” Magnus says, holding his arms out expectantly. “Go finish your work.” Alec only hesitates for a few seconds before handing her over.

“Are you sure? I’m fine, really, I-”

“-not another word, Lightwood. Go on.” Magnus waves his free hand dismissively as he holds Tamara effortlessly his right arm. Alec gives Magnus a small smile and nods, going back to his desk to start on his backed-up workload. It doesn’t take long for Magnus to conjure the softest rug from the Loft to cover the hard office floor, sitting Tamara down on the plush surface.

Except Alec doesn’t manage to get any more work done. He’s too busy watching his boyfriend play with the shadowhunter child, tickling her until she screeches in glee, little arms flailing helplessly in response to the soft brushes of Magnus’ fingers against her stomach and feet until the novelty of that wears off and he switches to entertaining her with magic instead. She watches the colored swirls of Magnus’ magic as they move between his fingertips sometimes like swirls of fog, sometimes like bolts of electricity,  her curious ‘coo’s dissolving into giggles when he rains a harmless shower of multicolored sparks down around them, and soon Magnus is laughing with her.

The sight of them sitting there so content, so effortlessly happy, warms his heart and melts away any tension he felt before Magnus arrived. He doesn’t realize he’s staring until Magnus looks over and raises an eyebrow. “What?” He asks curiously.

Alec is silent for a long while, still lost in his thoughts of how soft Magnus looks just then and how naturally he fell into those little moments, and something falls into place in his mind. Of course he was great with Madzie, but that always seemed like a special case somehow because she was a warlock and always seemed so much older than her young years should allow after everything that happened to her. But watching him here, like this, with the random child of some woman he didn’t even know… this was when it hit him.

“Do you want to have a kid?” The question leaves his lips before he really stops to think about them, but the moment after there’s a flush to his cheeks at the implication those seven small words have, at the weight of them hanging in the air between them. He backtracks quickly as a look of surprise crosses Magnus’ features and he fears he crossed some invisible line they aren’t ready for yet even though they’ve been together over a year now. “Not with me, I don’t mean--”

“...so you’re asking if I want to have a kid with someone else?” Magnus clarifies, the surprise still there but now coupled with a small smirk as he plays with Alec’s obvious nervous fumbling.

“No!” Alec exclaims, and then sighs, wishing his brain was better at keeping up with his mouth. “No, I… I guess I just meant in general? I don’t know if you ever had one, you never mentioned anything about babies before, but you’re a natural at this. I just wondered if it might be something you ever wanted.” Or something you want now, Alec adds silently in his head, the longing settling deep within him all at once with a certainty that scares him.  

Magnus frowns - it’s quick, but Alec catches it before he looks away for a moment, obviously lost in some thought or another before he looks back at Alec with a more controlled, neutral expression. “There were times I wanted nothing more.” He admits, and he smiles softly now but it’s tainted by the sadness he can’t quite keep from his eyes. “Unfortunately, that’s usually around the time most of those relationships ended. I’ve never been with someone who stuck around long enough to settle down into that sort of life before and at some point I just stopped hoping for it. There’s a reason you rarely see a warlock with a family - we just aren’t made for that sort of life.” His thoughts are on Etta, and the countless others before her, and he welcomes the distraction of Tamara who makes a sad burbling noise at being ignored. Magnus pastes on another big, showy smile as his magic forms little blue bubbles in the air that float around her, popping as she touches them, each eliciting a sudden burst of laughter at the surprise of the ‘pop!’.

Alec hears the hurt behind Magnus’ words and he hates it. He hates that Magnus suffered so much loss and pain his his past, but mostly he hates that Magnus was denied such a simple, basic desire - the love of a family. It’s clear that he’s wanted it in the past, that maybe he still wants it now even though he stopped allowing himself the luxury of believing it’s something he deserves. It isn’t fair. Magnus deserves the world, or at least as much of it as Alec is capable of giving to him.

“And what about now?” Alec asks, feeling suddenly emboldened.

“...what about now?” Magnus repeats, slow and cautious, not wanting to read too much into Alec’s question. Not wanting to get his hopes up yet again for a life he wasn’t destined for. For a love he was never meant to have.

Alec swallows hard but he doesn’t shy away from the singular thought that takes over his entire brain, loud and unrelenting. “Would you want to have a kid with me? Maybe not right this second, but I’m not going anywhere. And I think you’d be an amazing father.”

“Really?” Magnus looks confused first, as if he can’t possibly be hearing what Alec just said correctly. All of Magnus’ attention is on Alec now, searching his expression and his words for any sign of doubt, of second thoughts over what he just said.

“I would love to raise a family with you one day, Magnus.” Alec has never said anything with more conviction than he feels just then. “If that’s something you want, too.”

It shouldn’t surprise him any more the way Alec so effortlessly breaks down every barrier he has, but somehow it always does, leaving Magnus stunned as he shows the most honest version of himself he’s lived in decades. Magnus sits in silence for a minute, and Alec patiently gives him whatever time he needs. This is a bit of a bombshell to drop on someone with no warning (not that he expected to say it, either, caught just as off-guard at the turn the night took). He doesn’t want Magnus to say something he doesn’t mean just because he thinks it’s what he wants to hear.

“Yes.” Magnus says finally, and despite the initial hesitation there is no doubt that he means it. “I think that’s something I want very much.”

#magnus bane #alec lightwood #malec #shadowhunters #I hope you like it Carla! <3 #One day I'll be able to write a drabble I keep to actual drabble length and not nearly 2000 words oops #I just got A LOT OF FEELS #also this is almost positively getting a follow-up later #thank you so much for sending me prompts!! #kindaresilient #elle writes a few deadbeat lines

[lady-divine-writes]

Kurtbastian one-shot - “Irresistable” (Rated PG13)

After an argument over a lane change and one joke too far, Sebastian proves to Kurt that he's exactly the man Kurt thinks he is. (2076 words)

Part 39 of Daddies

Read on AO3.

“So” - Kurt purrs, sliding across his seat to whisper in his husband’s ear – a risky move while the man’s driving, but not risky enough to keep Kurt in his own seat. This is the first date they’ve been on sans child and dog in over a month, and it ended far too soon. They’re on their way home. In about half an hour, they’ll be on-the-clock parents again. Kurt intends on making the most out of every second they have alone together - “what did you think of the show?”

“Well” – Sebastian grins as Kurt starts kissing his neck – “it would’ve been better with more strippers.”

“Sebastian” – Kurt chuckles – “it’s The Sound of Music. There are no strippers in The Sound of Music!”

“No wonder I was falling asleep.” Sebastian spreads his legs as his husband’s hand slides between them.

“And most of the actors were children!”

“If they replaced the children with strippers, then that would be a show worth watching.”

Kurt stops palming his husband’s crotch as he stares at the man in disbelief, then he snorts. He can’t help himself. The Van Trapp Family Strippers is too funny no matter who you are.

“How about when we get home I put on a show worth watching?”

“Hmm” - Sebastian hums as his husband nibbles his neck - “will you be wearing lederhosen?”

“I think that could be arranged.” Kurt nuzzles deeper into the crook of Sebastian’s neck, following its curve as Sebastian leans to the side, exposing more skin.

Sebastian skillfully changes lanes as Kurt begins to unbutton his shirt. “Is this a sneak preview? Because if it is, I think I shit!”

Kurt snorts again, fully prepared to comment about his kisses making his husband mess his pants and whether or not that’s a compliment, but he flies abruptly forward, and that ruins the mood. Sebastian shoots an arm out to catch him, so instead of going full force into the dash, his arm whacks the steering wheel.

“Bas!”

“I’m … I’m sorry but … uh! That frickin’ van just cut us off!”

“Which van?” Kurt faces the windshield to catch a glimpse. There’s only one van on the road with them – an old school, Ford delivery van painted glossy grey, and decorated with mouse ears and a tail. Kurt sighs. He knows this van, knows that the front has a nose and whiskers to match. He doesn’t have to see the name on the side to know who it belongs to. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Sebastian side-eyes his husband in disgust. Who was this man returning calmly to the passenger seat as if some random asshole hadn’t cut them off, stopping what could have become an impromptu in-ride blowjob? Where did Kurt suddenly disappear to – the man who once tackled a pregnant woman pushing a child in a stroller during a Black Friday sale to snag the last Valentino sweater on clearance (even though they found out later on she had had no intention of buying it)? Sebastian had been fully prepared to live vicariously as Kurt tore the driver of that van a new one, rolling down the window and throwing out one-of-a-kind expletives that would make for some kinky ass stroke material later on. Had getting married and having a son made his husband soft? “What do you mean oh? Sic ‘em, Kurt!”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “I mean oh. It’s Mrs. Palmer’s Cutie Cakes van, what we down at the PTA call the mouse mobile.”

“You say that like it should mean something.”

“Cutie Cakes is that mom and pop bakery off of 17th and Maple. Well, mom and son now. The woman who runs it is a legend. She makes all of her cakes and pastries by hand every single day. Wakes up at the butt crack of dawn to do it, too. Has since the shop opened. And she’s about eighty years older than God.”

Sebastian shoots his husband a disgruntled look. “Are you … are you telling me some blue haired lol is driving that van!?”

“More than likely.”

“That shouldn’t be legal!”

“I don’t think it is, but who’s going to call her out on it? I mean, she has a run in with the police about once every other week and yet she still has her driver’s license. If they can’t get her to stop driving, who will?”

Sebastian sees the van veer towards the exit that leads to Maple, blinker indicating that’s where it’s getting off. He straightens in his seat and changes lanes in pursuit. “I will.”

Kurt stares at his husband in silence. For a second, Sebastian thinks Kurt is impressed by his initiative, by his willingness to take charge. But Kurt bursts out laughing, and the boner Sebastian got from his husband’s misperceived look of awe withers and dies.

Sebastian frowns. “What?”

“You’re going to call her out on it?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Right.” Kurt bites his lower lip, staring out the windshield as he pictures such a confrontation going down, how epically his husband would lose. “O-kay.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I know you, Bas. You like people to think you’re all big and bad, but really you’re a huge softie.”

“Is that so?” Sebastian snaps. He tries to growl, but it doesn’t come easy for him. Not the way it used to, and that makes him seethe.

“That’s so. I can see it now …” Kurt watches the grey van pull into the parking lot of the Cutie Cakes bakery up ahead. The store front has gone through many transformations over the decades, so he’s heard. Since they moved into town, it has been a wood cottage, the kind one can imagine a tiny baker mouse living in.

Kurt has to admit, the premise is adorable. And brilliant.

The van’s engine turns off, and its owner climbs out. The vehicle sits higher off the ground than the woman can manage, so she pulls out a custom decorated, white washed wood stepstool and sets it down on the cement. Then foot by foot, she carefully climbs down. It makes Kurt’s heart melt.

His husband doesn’t stand a chance.

“… you’re going to walk in there,” Kurt continues, hand over his heart as the woman locks up her van and walks into her bakery, “she’s going to remind you of your grandmother, your favorite person in the whole wide world, and you’re going to buy her out. You’ll see.”

“Wow.” Sebastian clicks his tongue. “You really know how to hurt a guy.”

Kurt considers his husband’s remark with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Hurt? How did I hurt you? I’m saying you loved your grandma and you’re not an asshole. Isn’t that a compliment, all things considered?”

“Not being an asshole is one thing. Being a pushover is another.”

Kurt shakes his head. “I think you’re overreacting.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“Fine.” Sebastian screeches into the lot the second the front door of the bakery closes with the proprietor safely inside and finds a spot one over from the grey van. “I’ll show you who’s a big softie!” He puts the car into park, throws the door open, angrily unbuckles his seat belt, and climbs out. He takes a step, then turns to his husband for one final dig. “You ever seen an old lady cry, Kurt? Well, pay attention!” Then he slams the door shut in Kurt’s face. The interior light fades to black as Sebastian storms to the door, leaving Kurt horrified and dumbfounded.

“Sebastian! No! Wait, I …” Kurt leans over the center console to peer out the driver’s side window. “Sebastian!” he calls louder, even though it’s fruitless. He sits in his seat and watches. He has a front row seat to the tragedy unfolding through the picture window of the bakery, and the show is about to begin.

He can see Mrs. Palmer untying the drapes, getting ready to lock up for the night as Sebastian confronts her. His mouth tightens, lips forming words Kurt can’t hear through several panes of glass, but which he can make out by sight: “Excuse me, are you Mrs. Palmer?”

He sees the kindly woman say, “Yes, dear. I am.”

Sebastian raises an accusing finger.

Mrs. Palmer pulls the drapes.

Then Kurt doesn’t see or hear a thing from either of them for close to twenty minutes. Several times he considers opening the window to try and hear the conversation going on inside, maybe even go up to the front door and listen in, but he can’t make himself do it.

He can’t make himself witness his husband berate a poor, old woman over a lane change.

He never believed in a million years Sebastian would. Sebastian has changed. He’s changed! It took time, and counseling, and about a hundred first dates before Kurt could believe it, but Sebastian worked hard to overcome the aspect of the boy he was back in high school.

That’s why Kurt fell in love with him. Because of the two men Kurt loved – the only two men Kurt had ever loved – Sebastian is the one who made a promise to be a better man and kept it. Was that all a façade? Was Sebastian really still the jilted, sarcastic, bitter boy he’d been? Was that lurking somewhere deep inside, waiting to be stoked to life? When would it surface again? When he was angry at Kurt?

Or at Thomas?

Kurt doesn’t want to have these doubts about his husband. His husband was … is … is a good man. One of the best Kurt has ever met.

Was that all just spin, created by himself, to avoid the truth? That a leopard can’t change his spots?

Kurt hears the door of the bakery open. From his peripheral vision, he sees light flood the parking lot, then snuff out when the door closes, the loud click of a deadbolt ringing in the quiet. Kurt can’t look at his husband when the man returns to the car, shuffling his feet. Kurt holds his breath as the shick-shick-shick of leather soles on gravel comes nearer.

He can’t believe it. He just can’t believe it.

Kurt swallows hard realizing he is in no way blameless in all of this. He goaded Sebastian, knew that with the right amount of teasing, he could get him to react. But Kurt thought it would turn into a battle of jabs that wouldn’t leave the car – slightly sharp, a bit of sting, but within the boundaries of juvenile pigtail pulling and sticking out tongues.

Can he respect his husband after going through with this?

The driver’s door opens, but Sebastian doesn’t get in, standing like a statue, looking over the top of the car.

Kurt swallows again, a mixture of his own shame and a cold, hard fear landing in his stomach like lead. There’s an apology in his mouth, waiting for his chance to take a share of the blame for what his husband might have done, but he can’t say it yet.

He has to know what happened.

“S-so?” Kurt asks.

Sebastian doesn’t answer, and Kurt can’t see his face, his body blocking the door while he stares off into the distance. Kurt hears his husband sigh - the long sigh of a man who’s done something he can’t take back.

And when Kurt sees exactly what Sebastian can’t take back, he sighs with relief, giddy with it, till it takes everything in his power not to laugh his head off.

Sebastian bends down and hands him a pink box wrapped in candy cane string – not a normal, perfectly square, 8-inch round cake sized box, but a long, rectangular box.

The kind you can fit around three dozen donuts in.

Kurt puts the box in his lap and then, simply to try his restraint, Kurt assumes, Sebastian hands him another one.

Sebastian drops into his car seat, closes his door, buckles his seatbelt, and turns the key in the ignition. Through the reflection in the rearview and with the help of the dash lights, Kurt can see Sebastian’s eyes, a little redder than they had been when he left the car.

As if he might have been crying.

What the hell did happen in that bakery!?

Kurt takes a breath, ready to ask for details, but Sebastian cuts him off before the first syllable even thinks of leaving his mouth. “Don’t. Say. A. Word.”

#kurtbastian #sebkurt #sekurt #frankie writes

[derieri]

48-Hour Challenge

I’m late in posting, but I too participated in the 48-hour challenge to write about two characters assigned by a random generator. My pair was Merlin and Zeldris. Please enjoy the first 2,500 words of a fic that I will most likely write more of someday!

Zeldris knew he must have looked a sight as he stormed through the halls: black fury in his eyes, shadow seeping from his skin in tendrils that undulated about him, a murderous scowl on his lips, and one hand on the hilt of the broadsword at his hip. Bitterness and rage emanated from him in an almost-tangible miasma, choking the air around him with his anger and hate.

Despite his dark mood, he did his best not to stomp his way up the hall. He refused to behave like a petulant child when all the responsibilities of the heir to the throne and the leader of the Ten Commandments suddenly belonged to him.

Apparently, those duties also involved spreading the news about Meliodas’ betrayal.

Not one of the many servants and slaves in the castle crossed his path. All the better for them; Zeldris was ready to cleave through anything or anyone who so much as breathed wrong right now.

When he reached his destination, he forced himself to pause and draw a deep breath. If he didn’t calm himself down before he dealt with her then she would not survive the hour, and the weight of his father’s wrath at losing two prized weapons in a single day would fall squarely on Zeldris. It took all the self-control he possessed to raise his arm and knock on Merlin’s door. Maybe he pounded more than knocked, but no splinters flew. No response.

He waited for as long as it took for each of his hearts to beat and then kicked his way into the room.

The loud crash jerked the chamber’s occupant out of her tunnel focus on the text in front of her. Merlin’s head snapped upright and around as Zeldris strode through her door. She blinked a few times, no doubt surprised to see him. Everyone in the castle knew that the two of them did not get along. Personally, Zeldris thought Merlin was closer to the bane of his existence than a mere disagreeable housemate. Now she was his responsibility too, he realized with a resentful lurch in his gut. Meliodas had supervised her training for the last decade.

“Did you need something?” she asked.

Zeldris bristled at her tone. The tilt of her voice was vaguely patronizing as if she found him presumptuous for interrupting something as important as her reading. Fine. He didn’t need that much of her time anyway.

“Yes, I did. I would never suffer your presence just for the hell of it.”

Her eyes lit up, and he couldn’t tell whether it was with irritation or amusement. Knowing her, it was the latter. She loved getting under his skin.

“Of course, I should have known. What is it?”

“Meliodas has defected from the Demon Clan murdered two of the Ten Commandments who tried to stop him. He is a traitor.”

The golden gleam in her eye vanished. Her slightly-parted lips flushed extra pink against her skin as she paled. Despite his stormy mood, Zeldris felt a thin ray of vindictive satisfaction as he watched her crumble.

He was not here to take joy from her distress, however. He’d delivered the message; his task was complete. Without another word, he turned on his heel and left her.

About six paces down the hall, he heard the breathy gasp of a half-stifled sob.

Zeldris paused mid-stride, staring hard at the carpet runner an arm’s length in front of him. Merlin was crying. He ground his rear teeth indecisively. She was not a child, at least not by humans’ developmental standards, and her emotions meant less than nothing to him. He did not owe her any comfort. But Gelda’s admonitions to him to be more sensitive rang in his ears; her nagging that Merlin deserved better than the Demon King’s brutal standard for child-raising and that Zeldris should be the one to provide it to her echoed through his mind. He sighed. Damn woman.

The door hung partway ajar even though he’d pulled it shut behind him, the shattered latch unable to hold it closed. It swung open at the slightest press of his hand. Merlin had not moved from her chair facing the entryway, the only change in her posture how she hunched to cradle her face in her palms. His entry did not stir her.

Zeldris leaned against the wall beside the doorjamb and folded his arms across his chest. A moment later she drew a shuddering breath, and he heard the choke in her throat that threatened the beginnings of a genuine weep.

“Don’t,” he said sharply. She looked up, startled, the sob dying in her mouth. The teasing glow that always lit her eyes had been replaced by a hollow shadow. “Don’t cry.”

She merely stared at him, lost.

Discomfort prickled at his spine. It seemed that that self-assured detachment from the world and the people in it that bothered Zeldris so much, was a front, at least where Meliodas was concerned. She obviously felt attached to him, perhaps just as much as Zeldris himself was. The revelation undercut his impression of her as haughty and belligerent so thoroughly that he wasn’t sure how to proceed. They only ever opposed one another. Now they shared something: the loss of a person who was very important to them both.

He swallowed.

“Don’t cry,” he said for the third time. “The Demon King doesn’t like it,” he continued. “He won’t… tolerate it. You’ll get in trouble, if you weep for him. And today is not a good day to piss my father off.”

She still didn’t speak, but he saw her give him a tiny nod.

“Are you going to burst into tears if I leave again?” A tiny shake of her head. He pushed himself off the wall. “Alright then. You have the day off from training and lessons. Send me your schedule by nightfall and I will start filling in for him tomorrow.”

Meliodas’ betrayal changed their relationship completely. Zeldris stopped avoiding her, at first out of obligation. At some point, he began to spend time around Merlin of his own volition. Gelda was excessively pleased.

He discovered that she was intelligent, exceedingly so for a creature with only fifteen years of experience. She could not keep up with a demon physically nor match their sheer power, but she made up for her deficit in cleverness and razor-sharp instinct. Even the most accomplished human mages were no more than fodder to a demon’s strength; Merlin was something else.

As the war escalated, the Demon King ordered her training to as well. Zeldris enlisted Chandler, who had not had anything to occupy him for nearly a century, to teach Merlin as well. She chased him off within an hour, the ancient demon declaring her ‘deplorably impudent’ as he stormed away and, Kusack informed Zeldris later, ‘terrifying’ in private.

That was the first time that something to do with Merlin filled Zeldris with pride. However, it was far from the last. His personal favorite was when she modified a simple fire spell to mimic the attributes of Enchant Hellblaze and surprised Estarossa with the flames mid-spar. Monspeet’s expression as he spectated was priceless to behold.

Somewhere along the line, Zeldris began to perceive himself as an older brother.

It was a far cry from when he first met Merlin, an encounter he remembered with such clarity that it could have happened within moments instead of decades.

His father summoned him on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon. He was surprised to enter and see Meliodas present as well, looking peeved. The Demon King was impassive as ever.

He closed the door behind him and bowed to the King, then gave a respectful incline of his head to his eldest brother.

“Why did you summon me?” he asked.

“We found her. Belialuin’s Daughter.” Meliodas tilted his head in the direction of a fourth person who Zeldris had not noticed before then. A tiny scrap of a thing with dark hair and a conspicuous lack of a strong magical aura. This human child was supposed to be the legendary trickster? Neither Meliodas nor the Demon King was one for humor, but certainly, this was a joke.

“I thought that survivor vanished.”

His father answered before Meliodas could. “She did. Your brother found her.” Meliodas snorted.

“She recanted her stupid decision of betraying our King,” he explained with a violent glare at the girl, “and chose to serve the Demon Clan.”

Zeldris narrowed his eyes at the child, who stood in Meliodas’ literal shadow with an indecipherable expression. As he examined her further, he decided it was fear—or, at least, something like it. She knew who she was in the room with and what they were capable of, and she was appropriately humbled by it. Damn right after the hell-scape Belialuin became.

“She will be spending most of her time with Meliodas and Gowther. However, I thought it wise to make introductions.”

“I see…” he murmured. He gazed at her as he probed her magic slightly. His eyebrows folded together as he tasted the nature of her power’s weak flicker. “It’s human?”

“Myrdin.” Zeldris barely suppressed his start at the sound of a demon’s name rasping from her throat. No one corrected him when he called her human. As far as he knew, humans were incapable of vocalizing like that. “My name is Myrdin.”

He glanced up at his father, wondering if he already knew she could do this. The Demon King’s expression did not change, but Zeldris knew him well enough to read the expectant look in his eye. A beat of silence passed

“At present, she has chambers here in the castle with a strict guard, to which you will return her now. Meliodas and I have matters to attend to between the two of us.”

“Yes, sir.”

He let the door close behind them before he turned to the left and lead her away. The length of the hallway was silent, and neither Zeldris nor Myrdin spoke a word for several long minutes. She kept pace at his side despite his longer legs and purposeful stride, so Zeldris used the opportunity to examine her more thoroughly than he had in the war room. He could not wrap his head around the idea that this girl had attracted not only the attention but the desire of two gods—enough for them to offer her gifts, at that. She was only human.

“You never told me your name,” she observed after a while. Zeldris thought through the past few minutes, and she was correct.

“I am Zeldris, the Executioner. I am the King’s youngest son.”

Like he had not responded to her introduction, neither did she reply to his. Another silent minute passed. When they were only a hall’s length away from her door, she suddenly decided to speak again.

“You think because I’m human I must be weak,” she said. “That’s stupid of you.”

Any benign curiosity Zeldris had held about her a moment ago evaporated in an instant. In its place, he felt irritation — the very special kind he only experienced when dealing with lesser beings.

He stopped in his tracks and scowled at her, but his face was well above her eye level. She seemed unbothered by his ire. In fact, she walked a few more paces before she realized that he was no longer beside her, and when she paused and turned around her face bore an expression of genuine confusion. No, it only appeared real. In the slight curve of her lips and the glimmer behind her eyes reeked of smugness. She knew her comment got under his skin. In fact, she’d said it just to see if it would.

Politics and manipulation had never featured strongly in Zeldris’ education. He had no talent for restraining himself unless it was necessary. At that moment, he could not help himself but give her exactly what she wanted.

“Seems intelligent enough to me,” he sneered. “Humans cannot fly, you cannot heal or curse, you have no exceptional strength or a bond with the earth, your life spans are brief and your bodies frail. I do not see how that could be construed as anything other than pathetically weak.” She did not flinch.

“Exactly. And in your low opinion of me, I find strength.”

Oh? “And how do you manage that?”

She pursed her lips smugly at his rage. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“If it were not for the fact that my father seems to value you, I would strike you dead for your impudence here and now,” he snarled, glowering.

“I know. Good thing you are such a loyal son,” she snickered.

“That said,” he continued, his voice lowering so that it almost resembled a growl, “I am sure your value can be fulfilled without you being fully intact. You are only a human, after all. In fact, I might be rewarded for humbling you. Clearly, the fate of your village taught you nothing about taunting a demon.”

Myrdin blanched. Zeldris felt not even a speck of remorse at the cocktail of horror, guilt, and grief that bled across her features. He took a half step closer and was satisfied to see her move backward in response.

“Pathetic. Bring up one weakness of yours and you cave. You disgrace your demon’s name.” He bared his teeth at her.

“Get out of my sight.”

He did not miss the flash of hatred in her eyes as she turned and ran down the hall to her room. By the end of the week, everyone called her Merlin instead.

Eight years later, the war Meliodas began was in full swing. Zeldris had been elevated to membership in the Ten Commandments, and his authority grew as the Demon King prepared his retreat to Purgatory.

Merlin’s power grew as her human young adulthood waxed into adolescence. She squared off with the Ten Commandments to hone her capabilities, and on her own strengths and merit, she earned their respect and then their awe. Every one of them was shocked to discover her immunity to the power of their precepts.

As she became more competent and mature, she and Zeldris forgot their bitter introduction. At Gelda’s urging, Zeldris introduced her to Merlin. He had expected them to be too different to get along well, but they hit it off immediately and even began writing letters back and forth. More than once Zeldris wondered if Gelda shared feminine secrets with Merlin that even he did not know about.

In the end, his possessiveness got the better of him, and he and Merlin toed around the topic of his lover whenever it came up thereafter.

All his second-guessing and bitterness about introducing the two women in his life was rendered void about four years after the war began. For there came a moment when Zeldris profoundly needed someone who understood.

To Be Continued...?

#(I truly have no idea whether or not Zeldris is in character at all #I don't know anything about this boy) #I am also 0% satisfied with the organization of this but oH WELL #my fanfiction #merlin #zeldris #demon!merlin au #my stuff

[maltedmilkchocolate]

I don’t understand the gen-z/millennial thing because... Or rather just, the stupid ‘demographic’ names in general. NONE OF IT MAKES SENSE. This is a long vent over stupid names, and vague mysterious dates, and why the hell did they start at the END OF THE ALPHABET!? Also the fact this a western convention, and not a global one.

Experience wise: Anyone born in the 90′s were in the same school/s together. All grew up with the same intense speedy technological developments, and same culture.... Millennials AND Gen-Z are both the technology generations.

Like I was born in 1992. Three years before Gen-Z apparently starts in 1995.

My experiences are gonna be the same as the kid 3 years younger than me. We’re gonna get the same tech advancements, the same economic bullshit, the same school fuckery, the same job prospects, all of us in university debt, all of us with bullshit housing prospects. 

But apparently those in 1995+ are the tech gen??? Sounds fake but okay.  But also everyone between 1995 and 2000 is simultaneously a Millennial and a Gen-Z cause no-one ever made up their mind. Also Canada thinks Gen-Z starts at 1993. Just start it at 1990′. MAKE IT SIMPLE. Start generations on the ‘00′ marker and make life easier to document in terms of DATES. Instead of picking REALLY RANDOM YEARS. WHY DO THESE THINGS START MIDWAY THROUGH THE DECADE???? 

Like Young Millennials, and older Gen-Z experiences are both so interlinked. We shared school years, our siblings were one, two, three years above or below us.

And like......... Who defines where one gen starts, and another gen ends??

LIKE LOOK AT THIS:

The Lost Generation, also known as the Generation of 1914 in Europe,[26] is a term originating with Gertrude Stein to describe those who fought in World War I. The members of the lost generation were typically born between 1883 and 1900. All members of this generation are now deceased.

The G.I. Generation, is the generation that includes the veterans who fought in World War II. They were born from around 1901 to 1924, coming of age during the Great Depression. Journalist Tom Brokaw described American members of this cohort as the "greatest generation" in his book The Greatest Generation.[27]

The Silent Generation, also known as the Lucky Few, were born from approximately 1925 to 1942.[28] It includes some who fought in World War II, most of those who fought the Korean War and many during the Vietnam War.

The Baby Boomers, also known as the Me Generation, are the generation that were born mostly following World War II. There are no precise dates when the cohort birth years start and end. Typically, they range from the early-to-mid 1940s and end from 1960 to 1964. Increased birth rates were observed during the post–World War II baby boom making them a relatively large demographic cohort.[29][30] Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation following the baby boomers. Demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1960s and ending birth years in the early 1980s. The term has also been used in different times and places for a number of different subcultures or countercultures since the 1950s. Millennials, also known as Generation Y,[33] are the cohort of people following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid 1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years. According to Pew Research, in 2019, the Millennials will surpass the Baby Boomers in size in the U.S., with 72 million Boomers and 73 million Millennials.[34] Generation Z, also known as the iGeneration, Post-Millennials, Homeland Generation,[33] or Plurals[33] is the cohort of people born after the Millennials. Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to mid-2000s as starting birth years.

(I bolded stuff)

So that’s:  - Baby Boomers: [Start] early 1940′s - [End] mid 1960′s. (20 years-ish). - Gen X: [Start] early 1960′s - [End] Early 1980′s. (20-ish years) - Millennial’s: [Start] early 1980′s - [End] mid 1990′s OR early 2000′s (WHAT’S THE TRUTH?) (15 years?? 20 years??) Why did they suddenly drop 5 years???? - Gen Z: [Start] mid 1990′s AND mid 2000′s - [End] (No current ‘end’ date). BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE

Xennials (also known as the Oregon Trail Generation and Generation Catalano) is a neologistic term used to describe people born during the Generation X/Millennial cusp years, typically from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. People who identify with Xennials, Oregon Trail Generation or Generation Catalano do so because they do not feel they fit within the typical definitions of Generation X or Millennials.

So that’s: - Baby Boomers: [Start] early 1940′s - [End] mid 1960′s. (20 years-ish). - Gen X: [Start] early 1960′s - [End] Early 1980′s. (20-ish years) - ‘Xennials’: [Start] Late 1970′s - [End] Mid 1980′s - Millennial’s: [Start] early 1980′s - [End] mid 1990′s OR early 2000′s (15 years?? 20 years??)  - Gen Z: [Start] mid 1990′s OR mid 2000′s - [End] (No current ‘end’ date).  So???  SO??????? If Millennials ‘End’ Mid-90′s OR Early 2000′s And Gen-z ‘Starts’ Mid-90′s OR MID 2000′s. Who are these voidless people born between 1995 and 2005???? Millen-Z, X Zennials The Return? Look what you did? You took a weird generation naming system and gave it an existential crisis! Also apparently the ‘every 20 years’ is sited as ‘coming of age’ on wikipedia?? Which??? Yeah If you’re born at the START. But what about the person born at the end, who’s still technically that random Gen. They aint come of age. They got another 20 to go, yet arent the new gen. SO HOW IS THAT A COMING OF AGE DEMOGRAPHIC?!?!?!?! It’s so arbitrary and VAGUE.  But listen, Bob The Gen-Z Kid is three years younger than me. We were in the same school. We played football, or runescape (lol remember that), and neopets together! A ‘Millennial’ born in 1991, had WILDLY DIFFERENT experience to a ‘Millennial’ born in 1981. That’s a DECADE gap. THAT’S A TEN YEAR GAP. They didn’t go to school together! Or grow up together, unless you had a 10 year older, older sibling or cousin. WHICH I DID.  I have cousins a decade older than, born in the early 80′s.  My experiences to theirs? WILDLY DIFFERENT. HUGE DIFFERENCE. But yet??? Me, a ‘Millennial’ born in 1992 A Millennial-Gen-Z-Void Child born in 1995  are somehow... from 2 incredibly different worlds??? Bruh we were trading Pokemon cards together at lunch, until the teachers got pissy and banned them. When we literally shared school years together |D and were part of the same technological, economical, and educational generation. Born within the same 10 years of each other????? WHO DESIGNED THIS WEIRD ASS GENERATIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC SYSTEM????????? IT MAKES NO SENSE. Someone born in 2010? As a Gen-Z kid??? Yeah, that’s a huge difference in experiences. There’s been big school system changes, government changes, etc AND THIS IS THE THING It’s the same for everyone.  A person born in 1979 will have had the same experience as someone born in 1982. It’s a 3 year age gap. Yet they’re 2 different generations????????? I have 2 cousins. One born 1972, the other 1982, and me 1992. All 10 year gaps. All extremely different experiences. Yet somehow 72 = Gen X, early 80′s is Gen X AND Millennial, and 92 is Millennial. My cousins born 1990, and me in 92? Very similar experiences, and struggles. I shared uni classes with friends 2-3 years older than me. Same boat, same paddle. LIKE SERIOUSLY. WHO DEFINES THIS SHIT????????? POKEMON CAME OUT IN JULY 2000 IN EUROPE. I WAS 8. The Gen-Z kids were 5! WE TRADED POKEMON CARDS TOGETHER IN FRONT OF MY NEIGHBOURS HOUSE.  ............ Who started this whole thing?!?!?!?!

The Lost Generation - 1883 - 1900 (17 years) The G.I. Generation - 1901 - 1924 (23 years) The Silent Generation - 1925 - 1942 (17 years) The Baby Boomers -  early/mid 1940s - 1960 to 1964. (20-ish years) Generation X -  early/mid 1960s - early 1980s. (20-ish years) ‘Xennials’: Late 1970′s - Mid 1980′s (10-ish years) Millennials | Generation Y -  early 1980s - mid 1990s/early 2000s. (15/20 yrs) ’Void Generation’ - 1995 - 2005 (10 years. Not A Real Demographic) Generation Z -  mid 1990′s/mid 2000′s - [2020???]

There’s a 20 year theme occurring here.

What will the Generation 2020 be called??

Can’t use X,Y, Z any more. (WHO STARTED THIS AT THE END OF THE ALPHABET???? WHY DIDN’T YOU START WITH THE LETTER ‘A’???? WHY WAS THAT A GOOD IDEA????)  So far, I’ve seen from googling: - Generation Alpha (lol) - Generation C (for computers???) YA’LL. Why are you trying to make ANOTHER computer gen??? You already gave that title to Gen-Z as the ‘tech gen’, completely ignored the fact that Millennials were the ACTUAL tech gen, and now you’re taking away Gen-Z’s identity to give it to Gen-C????? WHO NAMES THESE STUPID THINGS!?!?!? All of this is really stupid. All of it.

----------------------------------------------------- I want the 2020 Gen to the be the Space Generation. Let them be the Generation where they finally invent all the Sci-fi technology we’ve all dreamed of, and they get to use ACTUAL hover bikes, and Tony Stark style holographic computers that are AFFORDABLE and not rich-people-only-tech. And like get non-shitty schooling, and a better government. Millennials and Gen-Z can work hard to get that for them. Let them have something fun and cool and NOT ON THE VERGE OF WAR AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. .............. But then, given how media loves to use ‘demographic terminology’ to demean, insult, and other wise pit generations against each other |D I don’t imagine it will be too great BUT HEY. Hopefully it’s younger Millennials and older Gen-Z’s leading the media hopefully in a more positive, less shitty light... I have way too much faith in journalists lmfao.  Any way. Point is. All of this is stupid |D And i’m pretty sure these things should be classified via economic divides, or even just start dating things on the ‘00′ to make life less confusing, not just for people, but also for researchers, and data gathers, and documenting demographics. Doesn’t it make more sense to just say ‘children born in the 90′s’, or ‘children born in the 2000′s.’ But noooooo ya’ll gotta create a bullshit system. Having vague ‘oh it might be mid 90′s OR it’s mid 2000′s’ is just stupid. The naming conventions??? ALSO MAKE NO SENSE. ON TOP OF THAT THESE ARE JUST THE WESTERN NAMING CONVENTIONS. This is isn’t even a global thing. Ya’ll just like making life difficult for historians and researchers, and confused kids born into void-generations.  In fact, just scrap the dumb naming stuff altogether. It’s so unnecessary and makes a grand total of 0 sense.  .... Consider. Generation M. The Meme Gen.

#rant #long post #demographic naming stupidness