#ive been thinking about it every single day since i first saw it and i have no way to find it again

[octobergraves]

it's been a few months since I last asked but I am once again asking if anyone knows the name of the Tumblr blog artist who made a comic about a woman on the moon who is being granted a final wish by higher powers and she wished to see a future she could've had with a man she loved and the future was perfect and she's heartbroken and the deities are like "that was only a potential future" and she's like "i dont care anymore. you can kill me now" and lies down and then becomes like part of the moon

#PLEASE I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR MONTHS IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY #dismiss the bis #help #comic #moon #i know I'm being obnoxious with tags im sorry i just literally would die if i found this comic again #ive been thinking about it every single day since i first saw it and i have no way to find it again

[kairismess]

you know who ive been thinking over lately? lev😉. sooooo do you think you can write something about shy reader finally building up the courage to ask him out since he’s never caught her “subtle hints” (she stares at him…) then taking him to what you think his favorite type of date would be? love ya!

HI LOVELYYYYYY omg CUTEEEEEEEEE @zdenque this is for u too bbg :3 ⭐

you mean it? – lev haiba x fem!reader

🏐 genre: fluff !

🖋️ word count: 906

💗 special mentions: @zdenque @xoxo-cha

he always had the tendency to catch your eye, and how couldn't he? standing at 6'5 with ash colored hair, and those tantalizing emerald eyes you couldn't not stare into every time he was near. he such a contagious smile, one that tickled you in the way that you'd be smiling for the rest of the day if you saw his grin–he was just that adorable.

you weren't exactly the bold type, but you did have a very expressive heart that beat a mile a minute, or stopped beating whenever you'd hear his voice or he'd give you friendly pats or touches. and though you weren't one to make the first move, you couldn't help but keep your gaze on him as he jumps up to spike or block–or even just smile and be his jolly, kind of goofy, self.

you loved lev haiba, and it sucked how you could never tell him.

you always worried you'd be too obvious or too clingy, but those concepts never occurred to the boy–he was just glad to have such a caring, loving friend like you; even if that said friend yearned for a more intimate connection with him, something that gave rewarded all the endless affection and adoration you had for him. ultimately, after months of harboring this secret crush on him, you finally took your first step, and... told him in one, swift breath:

"iloveyoulev."

the silver-haired boy stared at you with a neutral expression, his gaze unmoving as you got even more hot in the face, avoiding his stare even more as he laughed a little at your confession, not realizing it was a serious one; because how could someone as cute and gentle as you like someone as reckless and dense as him? "hah, okay, what a funny joke, you really had me there, though! who knew you could look so adorably flustered on command?" he asked you in between giggles, pinching your cheeks and smiling wider.

your gaze was casted downwards as you muttered that, no, it wasn't a joke—you really did love him, so, so much. you always have.

the boy stared at you with a smile frozen on his face, and all of a sudden, your words sunk in; your bashful demeanor at the moment reflected just how true your feelings were... and it finally hit him, after months of you secretly pining for him and dropping hints like crazy—lev haiba understood, in that moment, that the girl of his dreams fell for him. and he couldn't believe a single bit of it.

the smile on his face widened a little, his eyes growing wide as well as he stared at you and blushed like crazy; he looked like a strawberry, one you just wanted to sink your teeth into. you called out his name in a stutter, not meeting his eyes, hoping he wouldn't be too boisterous about it, because if the rest of the team knew, you'd melt. but instead, lev wrapped his arms around you and pulled you a little closer, awkwardly hugging you by instinct.

he chuckled lightly and whispered in your ear, "i... i really love you, too. wow, it, uh...how long have you—" "f-for... several months now—" "months?!" he exclaimed loudly, perking his head up in surprise, blushing tenfold. he couldn't believe that the girl he had been so smitten with, ever since the day he laid eyes on her and shared that first awkward, yet unforgettable, conversation with her actually loved him. he chuckled even more and pulled away, smiling from ear-to-ear.

"c-can i be your boyfriend now...? i-i wanna do all those cutesy couple things with you... l-like go to fairs with you, give you piggyback rides wh-when you're tired, a-and even let you borrow my clothes! i'd let you sleep on me on the ride home, j-just... b-be my girlfriend... and i'll love you the best i can." lev promises as he gets on one knee, barely leveling with you since his height was so massive, but that didn't matter at the moment—what mattered right now was that lev finally had a chance with the most perfect girl in the world... and he wasn't going to let you go from his grasp, not when he wants to try his hand at making you feel so happy and loved.

he takes your smaller hands in his own, and he's shaking; his hands are warm, a little coarse, much wider than you're own—but he's shaking with anxiety and excitement. he wants you to be his first girlfriend, and he wants you to be the most loved person in his life right now. he wouldn't rush you, but... he can't help himself; he's too hung up on the high of love and the feeling of loving you that he can't control himself and take things slow, when he can be the best boyfriend for you if you'd just say the word.

"please... think it through, but... know that i'm right here if you ever decide. i... i love you. so, so, so much!" he exclaims, the crack in his voice becoming increasingly obvious as his ears and nose tinge red and pink, his eyes glimmering with pure joy and love for you. he knew from the start you'd be the one for him, and now, he wants to be the one for you—what do you say to your new, lovesick sweetheart?

#lev haiba #lev x reader #lev haiba x reader #lev haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu lev #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu headcanons

[dearlymrme]

Hasty

Rating: E

Pairing: Terzo x Reader

Words: 3220

Tags: Quickie, Creampie, Retirement, Enthusiastic Consent, Objectification.

Summary: In the past Terzo would hunt you down before a Council meeting in hopes that you would help him work off some energy. Now that he’s retired and the roles are reversed he is more than happy to return the favor.

Read on AO3, or under the cut:

Your relationship with Terzo is a sexually healthy one, even before his retirement. He often cornered you in the halls, the bedroom, the library, even the confessional once, for a quickie before he had to settle with the Council for meetings. Meetings that could go on for hours at a time, listening to old traditionalists argue about how to better settle a matter that's already been settled five meetings ago.

Old men, pompous and entitled with little regard for how the world works today and would much rather argue on how it used to be done. Outdated, needing the cobwebs swept up and definitely needing some new blood. He believes half of them to be on dementia medication. It’s probably this line of thinking that got him dragged off stage in the first place. Not too much of a surprise but rather an eventuality, he's heard horror stories from Primo and Secondo, and lived it himself since being a boy. Their callousness and disinterest in how they uproot lives and-

But that's neither here nor there.

He's learned since his Cardinal days that a quick fuck, be it with you or into the comfort of his own hand, always turns his brain into a pleasantly flavored jelly after. It makes the meetings more bearable. An orgasm strong and satisfying enough that all their pedantic droning does is jiggle his gray matter to the point it tickles. It distracts him with forging a game plan of how better to repay your kindness once he’s freed, or to find you later for an even more spine tingling fuck.

After his forced retirement though it seems the rolls are reversed. Instead, as both his wife and prime mover, you've decided to saddle the paperwork transitions from III to IV. It's work truly meant for him and he’s told you that he is more than, if not begrudgingly, capable of doing it himself.

You shushed him, pushed a cup of coffee brewed just the way he likes into his hands, and told him that you’d handle it. You explained that you were more than a little bit pissed that they so forcefully removed him, making such a public show of it, and then tried to dog him after with more work as if to say that it’s his mess to take care of in the first place.

You were enraged that the Council even assumed that he would continue performing any kind of duty on their behalf after they axed him. No, they instead made a mockery of him and everything he did for them. You are not going to stand for their hounding. You felt it wrong that they still tried to push paperwork Primo’s way after retirement, you weren’t going to let them do it to Terzo.

“You deserve a break. You were one of the hardest working Papa’s of the Ministry. I know the fans seem to think you’re the player but we both know the truth.” You gently kissed him, his lips, his nose, his forehead. “You let me handle everything and just enjoy sleeping in for once.”

You've been called and pulled from every which way to organize the schedules and new duties for his remaining Cardinals as the rest turned their loyalties from him to Copia. Not all of them favored the new Papa and many of them wished instead to retire. Copia was kind enough to keep the ones who agreed with him and merciful enough to let the others go with no fuss. You wrote up the forms and all that was required of him now was a single last stamp of approval. He was happy for them. A lot of hard workers in his group and he saw a few familiar names on the sheets that made his job easier. He hopes they enjoy their new titles of Archbishop and complimentary responsibilities.

The Bishops, the Deacons, followed lastly by the Sisters and Sons of Sin. Every new hole left behind from the Cardinal’s they lost needed to be filled and formatted. Promotions for everyone. Seeing who’s qualified, who’s been in the church long enough, and most importantly who actually wants the job? Turns out, not a lot of them living in the Ministry itself did. After the showcase with Terzo being removed a lot of people now felt threatened and that gave you a little more work as they sent notes and mail of condolences and concerns.

He feels like everyone was taking advantage of you, himself included. It leaves a bad taste in his mouth but you took to the work like a fish to water. Afterall, you were his secretary before you both became physical. That fact alone better adds a spoonful of sugar to the bitter medicine.

The fact that he knows you're more like a shark than a fish, helps the flavor too. He knows you're making this as much of Copia’s problem as your own. He’s told you to go easy on the man but he also knows not to bait the water with more blood.

Now he has time to settle into the new role as husband. Despite your jab of sleeping in, he’s getting up earlier than you now. He makes breakfast, breaking out a cookbook that smells of bittersweet memories that calls back his boyhood to him. Not much has changed since growing up. Still loved by a woman not afraid to bare her teeth at those who would try to bully him. The whole wing starts to smell of his childhood and sentimentality. Early morning cartoons beat your own alarm clock as by the time he turns on the TV, breakfast is ready.

He’s already sitting on the couch, plate in hand and coffee made. A smile on his face and giggles as you sluggishly stumble and try your best to give him your most appreciative good morning kiss, often missing. You’d watch TV for at least thirty minutes and you’d be ready and leaving before the hour is up. You’d be back for lunch at roughly the same time every day, which he will have ready and warm and almost always something new. After work you’d come back from a meeting and he can almost always expect you to pin him to the nearest wall and attack his mouth like it’s been calling you names behind your back, a bit of opposites; you preferred after the meetings than before. You tell him it’s to make you more optimistic and alarmingly sweet when the old crones droll on. They have no idea what’s waiting for you at home, but you do, and you keep it close like a little secret. You’re near giddy when they seem confused as to how you can stay so happy during the hours-long conference.

He knows exactly what you're talking about. You do it with him too when there is the seldom argument. He dubs it: Hostile Friendliness.

As for what he does in his down time, he’s picked up his old hobbies. Primo has his multitude of plants to tend and the gardens. Secondo has his venture card and a long bucket list of places to go. Terzo himself likes reading and losing his mind in another world of words. Daring fantasies, fighting dragons, befriending monsters.

You’d told him the work is only temporary, that it’ll be done and over soon and then you could enjoy the retired life together but for now, that was the schedule he could expect until it was over.

So, when that schedule is thrown off even by the tiniest of pause, it’s very noticeable.

He glances at the time on his phone, idly browsing for new titles on the couch as you ready to leave. Breakfast is already done and put away. He raises a brow at the half hour mark and you still haven’t left yet.

“Don’t you have a meeting today?” He asks, knowing you can hear him through the open door of the bedroom. It's more of a concerned statement. He knows you do, he also knows that your anxiety for being punctual would usually have you already out of the door by now. That by itself should have had him braced for what you were about to do next.

You appear at the bedroom door, wearing a lovely blue sundress that is just long enough to be considered modest with brown flats. Your makeup is flawless and armed like a knife for whoever tries to talk down your decisions. The dress code for the Ministry is lax unless times of Ritual. But the Council expects professionalism during meetings but that’s exactly what you radiate. He can smell your usual perfume and your hair is already styled for the day.

“Yes.” You huff and take long, promising to the point of threatening, steps towards him.

There is that look in your eyes; viciously hungry, like a starved animal eyeing its prey. He sees your muscles coiled with purpose and itching to spring. The air is suddenly charged, tastes of promise and the sirens of an approaching storm ring in his mind. His body hums with the change of energy, his own instincts telling him that a challenger approaches.

“Take off your pants.” You command, like a boom of retribution, already halfway across the room and by that point his phone is already somewhere else and fingers are playing pestissimo with his belt buckle.

The demand sets off a Rube Goldberg machine in his body, nearly prophesied timing that would kill a weaker man. His blood suddenly ran hot and hellwards, cock already hardening by the split two seconds it takes before he's able to undo his pants, just in time for you to slide into his lap and ensnare his lips into a bruising kiss.

He grasps and clutches at your body like you're his anchor and he's the ship at sea. The storm is already settled upon him, tumultuous waters stirring as you roughly kiss and suck on his tongue. A thrilling amount of teeth nibbles his lip and pulls, ensuring him in a sweet stockholm trap. Were it not for his grip on you his vessel would have already capsized. Rowing and rocking against your insistent hips as they clash against his. He pulls his cocks free from his briefs, you have your underwear parted in less than a second.

“Sit on it.” He pleads, already bleeding for you. Already splitting himself open from sternum to throat and begging for you to feast. “Sit on me. Please, use me.”

You have him. You can have him. He's already yours.

You line up, the lip of your cunt spreads around his shift and it’s more than just the penetration that knocks the breath out of him.

“Soaked!” He laughs, nearly hysterical on the discovery as though he had just found a treasure lost to history. He glides right in as you sink like a rock. It’s a key fitted in place. A cog knocked loose and the gears resumed turning. How long have you suffered? How long did you go this morning without a balm for this need? You need not a moment more before you are slicing your hips, rowing through your own treacherous currents. .

He shakes nearly like an addict, scratching at your thighs for that good fix only you can give him, only he can give you. He pleads, rucking up the fabric of your dress, gliding his hungry hands over your favorite places and basks in the softness of your heated skin. As you take from him he drags tender and sultry kisses up your throat and jaw. You arch your back, grasping at his knees for balance. He watches you with his solar eclipse gaze, memorizing the near blissful and self satisfied expression you wear with pride.

“Yess.” Follow your snake like hiss. Your walls flutter around him, persistently squeezing as if to perfect a mold. He damn near chokes from the feedback of your relief. A devilish itch being scratched with every roll of your hips that has you both purring.

His back shudders as his love turns near revenant in glee. The heat of your core shooting bullets of pleasure through his gut and stirring his insides to knots. He swoops down to track his lips across your neckline and digs in his hands when you run one of your own through his hair, cradling him close before fastening to his shoulder, pushing him back into the cushions before you start a pattern of rocking and grinding.

A breathless and bubbly laugh escapes his mouth as he seeks a hand to the flat of your back to press against him. He slams his hips up and aims directly for your weak spot, like breaking stone with a chisel. The scream that escapes you is loud enough to threaten anyone outside the hallway. But with retirement, damned if he has to keep appearances anymore. The following glee that he can be as loud as he wants makes his cheeks apple a smile.

His body vibrates like a tuning fork, synchronizing all that is him together. Warm and gooey between his joints that melt into his veins and smother his insides in honey. You demand of him; push and pull on him, putting him exactly where you want and how you want. You command for kisses and bites that he savagely provides with no argument. The satisfaction of your praises, your want for more, faster, harder, and flittering kisses as reward. No, he’s not taking orders from the Council anymore. Now, he can worship his one and only matron.

So lost in the righteousness of giving you everything you want, it sneaked up on him. That spring threatens to bounce as it coils tightly in his stomach. There is a zip in his toes that starts to travel up his legs and settle in his core. He’s not long for the world.

“Use me, cara. Get off on me! Use me. Useme!” It's like sin in his veins. Euphoria as you take everything you need from him. Your personal fuck machine to use however you want. All you need to do is tell him how high to jump and he’ll double it. The hold you have on him, invisible strings tangled on your fingertips and him the marionette. He dances to your tune perfectly, wanting nothing more than to put on the best show possible.

He’s already to the point of babbling. Heat melting his core and his balls tightening. He pants, air coming in thin. He watches you, lost in the vision of your unadulterated beauty that would make every tapestry in the Ministry blush.

Your face is one to remember; eyes pinched and brows furrowed. Your pupils have long since devoured the color of your eyes. Your mouth is open, baring your teeth threateningly to the orgasm running to escape you as your gaining ground.

“Your’s! You use me any way you want!” He’s high on the skin contact, as little there is with your thick and strong thighs pinning his own. He’s experiencing sainthood through your body. This is His Lord at work. As close as he can get to divinity by being yours and wholly yours. Your growl, feral, like a beast as you tear into his flesh and rip him apart. He is a feast for your mouth.

One of his hands left your hips to fist at the sofa, like it had a mind of its own. A stupid self preservation instinct kicking in to try and keep him grounded. He rerouted, grabbing his since gone wild hair and pulling, the pinch meant to stave off his orgasm but the pain had the opposite effect, egging him on closer and closer to the finish line. Tears have already escaped his eyes, leaving tracks down his cheeks, and finding their destination in your cleavage. This is thirsty work and he can only hope you'll give him enough time to drink them up once you're done with him.

He breathed in loud, open-mouthed heaves for air as every cut of your hips felt almost like a stab. His chest rhythmically rises with a hitch and despite his best efforts he feels as though he is suffocating. You grab him by his chin and lean into him, ghosting your lips against his own. He opens his mouth and flicks his tongue, beckoning you to play. You marvel at him, eyes casted in shadow. A statement. A promise. His undoing.

“Mine.”

He jerks, going into near excorcistic bodily spasms as he lifts his hips and fucks as deep into you as he can, nearly hurting his back by pressing his heels into the floor and thrusting. His ass leaves the sofa for a bare second before he collapses and his mind sent into delicious subspace. Even with the satisfaction of coming it still wrecks devastation through his nerves.

But a good husband still provides. He gives and gives before you finally have your fill three more rolls in, your clit having tenderized against his groin with each pass before it slaps at just the right angle and sends you spiraling. You slow, fierce cuts turning into leisurely rolls as you allow your pleasure to carry you like sand in the ocean.

Terzo’s hips still shake, his doglike whine breaks the chorus of heavy breathing and you start to move again. You shift, squirm, and finally remove yourself from his lap. He hiccups as his cock, still throbbing from pleasure slaps his stomach in freedom, a pained ‘oh’ punched from his gut.

It’s both the best moment of his life and near torture as he watches you adjust your underwear back in place and brush down your dress. You lean back over him, he can see the concern in your eyes along with those threatening clouds you brought with you. Quickly, he blows away those clouds rendering them as simple fluffs of dandelions. Reaching up with a trembling hand, he cups at your cheek and gives you a confidence instilling kiss. You sweetly melt into him before breaking away.

His body is heavy and muscles are screaming from sudden exertion as they finally relax, he half expects a cramp later. It’s the best feeling in the world. He glances at your retreating figure as you walk towards the door, leaving him a near husk as you make off with all he has to give. Hair and dress back in place, your thumb wiping at touching up your smeared lipstick, glancing at the nearby mirror. You flash him a bit of teeth as you palm the doorknob and chime a wish you well and he's again stunned by the grace of your beauty.

Then he glances down, giving a pained groan as his poor and abused cock twitches at the sight.

The traces of his cum he can see steadily sliding down the inside of your thighs, the image sheared into his mind as a core memory. The knowledge that you’ll be sitting with the Council with the stains of his release on your panties. Fuel for later today when he knows you'll be back, after all your work is done, to better take your time appreciating him.

He can't wait to be picked apart.

#ghost band #the band ghost #ghost the band #terzo x reader #papa emeritus iii x reader #papa emeritus iii #reader insert #MDNI #dee writes

[maaarshieee]

⎯⎯ ୨ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐫 ୧ ⎯⎯

➢ Kᴜɴɪᴋᴜᴢᴜsʜɪ x Gɴ!Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

➢ 1.3k ᴡᴏʀᴅs ┊ Fʟᴜғғ

➢ Mᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

a/n - greeting scaranation. he's been in my twitter feed and tumblr reccs for weeks now. i cant escape him. so why not embrace it? heres a oneshot for that once idle animation he has! credits to my platonic spouse for their wonderful idea <3 anyways, i hope you like this one! ive never played genshin but i've made a character analysis on him to write him accurately, abeilt a bit soft on this oneshot to further showcase what i think his change would be after receiving a vision/being in nahida's care. titled "caring for"! have a good day/night!

The Wanderer likes his Vision more than he'd like to admit, you observed.

Ever since he received it, there's this spark of life in his eyes when he looks at you and a slight upward curve at the corners of his lips. They're not noticeable, but they are to you.

Kunikuzushi cradled that Vision as if it was a baby the first few nights he had it. He wasn't aware you knew since you'd peeked into the room he was temporarily resting in before entering it. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, hands shook uncontrollably. For a while, there was hesitance and doubt that resided in his mind.

Of all people, him? A puppet? Attaining a Vision?

There were times when he would entrust his Vision to you. He was still in denial. Holding that Vision was like holding a piece of burning coal to him. But you were very patient with him, so you cared for his Vision in his stead.

Perhaps he learnt to accept it when he saw you tend to his Vision as if it were him. You occasionally wipe it with a clean piece of cloth, polishing it and showing him the way it shines against the sunlight. When you held it, it was almost mesmerizing. The faint glow of turquoise complimenting the color of your loving eyes, painting beautifully along your features.

He had thought that it would be best if you had a Vision, not him. Eventually, he changed his mind. All because of you, of course.

"You don't want it?" You hummed, rubbing a hand on your chin thoughtfully whilst you stared at his Vision. It prettily fits you more, He wanted to say, but held his tongue and instead hid his face with his hat. "Alright," You quickly accepted which elicited a confused look from Kunikuzushi.

You just laughed softly at his expression, holding the Vision close to your heart. "This is undeniably part of you, and if you don't want it, I'll keep it for you." You say with a sigh, a tender smile etching your lips. "I'll care for it for as long I can, whether you accept it or not."

To the Wanderer, your laugh is comparable to the gentle breeze that greets him every waking morning, making his hair flutter against the wind and his skin quiver from the cold. Your smile radiated warmth, it reminds him of the campfires you two make every single night, where you share meals, talk about whatever, and enjoy the warmth of the dancing flames. It made his hollow chest clench.

He's never snatched something from your hands so fast before. "I was merely testing you," He lies, holding his Vision whilst he stared you down threateningly (not really), "This is mine, you hear?"

Kunikuzushi felt heat crept up his neck when you burst into a fit of giggles, nodding your head in understanding.

More often than not, there's a stride in his walk whenever he's outside with you, freshly obtained Vision placed right on the left side of his chest, where his heart should be. You didn't miss that when he revealed his new outfit to you. He would puff out his chest briefly when he spoke to you, hands on his hips and a smirk on his face.

Your chest swelled with pride when you see him be so proud of his Vision, finally accepting it as a part of him. It made your grin stretch ear to ear, placing a hand on his bright, glowing Vision.

A hand on his heart.

Kunikuzushi glared at you when you touched his Vision, telling you to; "Get your dirty hands off!" but he never made a move to push you off, nor pulled away from your hand. There was a scowl on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes. He invited it warmly with a softened gaze, his own hand wrapping tenderly around your wrist. He fully understood your gesture.

Out of all the people in the world, only you could ever touch his heart.

You were always the first one to notice. He always stares at his Vision with eyes filled with wonder as he drifts off into a daze. He holds it so carefully with his hand and just gets lost in its powerful glow. Today was different, for you couldn't hold back your laughter.

Kunikuzushi snapped out of his little daydream when your pleasant laughs reached his ears, albeit confused as to why you were laughing. His eyes bore into your figure that was not too far away from him, sitting on the grass. He almost melted when he bear witness to your joyous, carefree expression.

"What's so funny?" The Wanderer asks, at a loss. You quickly wiped away a tear that was forming, coughing into your fist as you smiled sheepishly at him, a little embarrassed now he caught you staring.

"Oh, nothing," You stood up from the ground, patting off the grass that stuck on your pants. Walking towards him, you glance at the hand that cradled his Vision. A chuckle escaped your lips and you softly stated; "I just think you just adore that more than you let on."

His eyes trailed down where your eyes were and he tensed, immediately pulling his hand away from his chest and shooting a small glare at you. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He huffs, crossing his arms and turning to look away from you. You don't miss the redness on the tips of his ears.

You giggle, stepping back into his field of vision, a teasing smile on your lips. "Really now? You were cradling it oh-so tenderly, it was as if like it was the most precious thing you've ever seen!" You teased in a singsong voice, further annoying Kunikuzushi. (Not that he actually minds it though.)

"What are you talking about?" He sighs irritably, a brow raised at you. "You're the most precious thing I've ever seen." Those words rolled off his tongue smoothly and naturally, but he hadn't meant to say that. The was a pause between the both of you, taken aback. Before you could even react, Kunikuzushi turned away and hid his face once more with his hat from you.

You caught a glimpse of his reddening face. You couldn't help but burst out laughing, holding onto him for support. All the while, the Wanderer grumbled under his breath but willingly assisted in carrying your weight. He may be embarrassed and quite annoyed at your existence at the moment, but he can't have you falling over, can he?

"Awwww, you're so romantic Kuni," You teased, tilting his hat upwards and leaning down close to his face, earning a silent gasp from him. Goodness, he wants to wipe that smug grin off your face. "Don't worry, you're the most precious thing I've ever had the grace to love," You whispered to him, planting a kiss on his nose.

Why does he even let you get away with this? If it were someone else, they'd be dead- err, beaten to a pulp. No one would dare to get too close to him. While he's learning how to mingle with humans, he can't bear to be this close to anyone.

Except for you, of course.

Yeah, his hat couldn't help him hide his flustered face this time. Not when you're holding his cheeks in place and kissing him so passionately on the lips. Before, he reprimanded you for sudden actions like these. But now? Instead, he held onto you tightly, arms wrapped around your neck and pulling you in closer.

He can't have you letting go of him. Of his heart.

- ̥۪͙۪˚┊❛❛ If you like this a lot, consider reblogging! I'll appreciate it very very much! Don't repost and/or translate my work anywhere. ❜❜ ┊˚ ̥۪͙۪◌

#scaramouche x reader #kunikuzushi x reader #wanderer x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #:;marshie.writes #:;oneshots #:;kunikuzushi.scaramouche.wanderer

[ghostherlig]

even more random hcs!!

bc i probably wont be home until after christmas :')

anyway, take more johnrailaoshi bc ive been thinking about them all day-

(if you saw this early no you didnt- im stupid and pressed the wrong button-)

raiden really loves valentine's day bc it gives him extra reason to show his appreciation for the people he loves in his life- he always hand makes cards and folds origami pieces for his bfs to find around the house- he went all out one year and made each of them a jar full of paper stars

johnny and kung lao's favorite holiday is halloween!! they go all out for costumes and always decorate the house to match- johnny even hires smaller actors to dress up and play characters outside with him and lao to have fun with the kids- they have a scare actor section and a section for cartoon characters

kenshi's favorite holiday is christmas!! he doesnt have a lot of fond memories from childhood, but after johnny first asked kenshi to celebrate christmas with him, oh that man was hooked- johnny was happy to see kenshi beam all throughout december, holding warm mugs and wrapped in blankets since the cold always got to him

jax and johnny still have this kind of strange rivalry, esp when kenshi is around- kenshi thinks it's funny bc most of the time it's them trying to out do each other with history facts, but both just end up having a nice convo.... it's the only time kenshi can get paperwork done without headaches

lao and raiden still have mini bets they place with each other all the time- half the time kenshi and johnny find out abt them bc lao brags abt winning- raiden bets poorly on purpose sometimes bc he knows lao likes to win and it only costs him a little..... sometimes he humbles lao, though (the superbowl is the biggest bet of the year for them)

raiden isnt known to swear, but his favorite song is "I Don't Fuck With You" by Big Sean (thanks kung lao) and he can be heard singing the lyrics, uncensored and all, randomly

kenshi can very easily peel or cut any kind of fruit- apples, oranges, pomegranates, persimmons, pineapple, watermelon, anything- if he is handed a fruit and asked to cut it he will and it will be fast and done beautifully

raiden has johnny do his hair!! braids is usually the most common style outside of his bun, but johnny always insists on doing his hair if they're going out-

kenshi has lao help him cut his hair!! lao does his own undercut and knows his way around a buzzer/clippers- the first time lao asked to cut kenshi's hair the swordsman was unsure, but he decided it wouldnt hurt and lao did it perfectly and has done it since

johnny has a cameo on a sooby doo episode!! he somehow convinced them to put him in an episode with the hex girls and it actually was so awesome-

johnny is super good with puzzles- like insanely good- kenshi, lao, and raiden just started getting him those really fancy puzzle boxes for christmas/his bday and he's cracked every single one without fail-

they have board game nights!! monopoly and uno have been banned- but when everyone is over their favorite game to play is 'one night ultimate werewolf'

for several years johnny has done a Santa Livestream on his insta and has donated a lot of money to charities that buy gifts for kids in need as well as done fundraisers to get others to chip in too- he got tomas, syzoth, kuai liang, lao, and raiden to help him keep people entertained on the live- kenshi even agreed to do a "face reveal" if they hit ten million in a day- they hit the goal in six hours

raiden and tomas are actually pretty close as friends- both bond over their combat abilities and their lives in general, and both have dragged the other into different media- now they watch episodes of different series' weekly and talk over the phone about it- their bf's know better than to interrupt them on the phone with each other

lao is the only Only Child in their polycule- raiden has his sister, johnny his brother, and i hc kenshi as having an older sister and a younger brother-

johnny will randomly start dancing, sometimes bc he just has a song stuck in his head, other times bc he just needs to move- his bf's always smile when they catch him- the most extreme move any of them have seen him do is drop into a split

none of them are fond of using their powers for silly or stupid reasons... however, each of them have definitely used their powers in a way they werent supposed to- kenshi has for sure used his telekenesis inappropriately, raiden has used his lightning to cook smth, kung lao has used his force/air manipulation to throw things at ppl, and johnny uses his weird shadow powers (give him his green back ]:) to scare his bfs-

johnny owns the house, bc it's a five bedroom, six and a half bath, super expensive house- it gives each of them their own room and then a shared room with a big asf bed, a nnice kiving room, incredible kitchen, big dining room for guests, a wine cellar, in home gym, etc- literally a second mansion-

as soon as anyone gets sick, raiden makes chicken congee- he got the recipe from madam bo after he told her him and lao were moving to stay with johnny for a while- she was happy to give him the recipe and even showed him how to de-bone a whole chicken for it

johnny is actually so interested in tarantulas- he thinks they look super cool and that some of the colors and patterns are really pretty- if kenshi and lao werent as insect averse he would definitely get one

lao's favorite reptile (after syzoth) is the arabian sand boa (pls google these guys, they're adorable-)

kenshi really loves reptiles and has always wanted a leopord gecko or a hognose snake- but he fears not having enough time for one with work and his bf's

johnny very lovingly refers to raiden as his wife after kenshi made a joke abt johnny "wife-ing" him by making him his favorite meal- raiden always gets flustered bc johnny is very open abt opening an LLC with them all as a kind of "poly marriage loophole"-

they all have jewelry that they wear as sort of "promise" jewelry that they almost never take off- johnny has his silver bracelet/band, kenshi has a steel ring, raiden has an anklet, and lao has a necklace

johnny, to his personal assistant and manager, refers to his bf's as "The Council" and always answers scheduling questions with "i'll have to consult with The Council"- it's rubbed off on the other three which has to led to raiden telling liu kang he cant give him a firm answer bc he has yet to "speak with The Council" (liu got flashbacks to "I Must Consult With the Elder Gods-")

johnny makes the worst jokes abt US tragedies- the jfk assassination is his personal fave bc he knows he can mess with kenshi with it- "it blows my mind that you can be so childish, cage-" "yknow who else got his mind blown-" "JOHNATHAN CARLTON-"

lao still has his first chakram hat and it's hung up in the mansion living room- all of them will stare at it or remember it's there and think back to lao telling the story of his Inspiration (thanks bi han)

raiden really loves smoothies, especially mango- he will down a mango smoothie if you hang him one-

johnny has all kinds of videos on his phone of all of them doing stupid shit- his favorites are one of kenshi drunkenly eating takoyaki out of the fridge, turning to face the camera with his cheeks full- one of raiden mumbling "i dont fuck with you" under his breath, panning to lao and kenshi who look at raiden like he just vacuumed their hamster- and one of lao dancing for a good minute, really, really well, just to trip at the very end and scream-

johnny has a lot of those videos and goes through them whenever he misses his bf's

raiden will send videos of cats playing or napping together and caption them "us" and send them to whoever or to the gc- all of his bf's always melt and go to find him and give him a kiss if they're in the house together or they'll send back a little emoji if they're apart

you'd think johnny is the worst but kenshi is the most overdramatic abt not getting attention- like "my husband is off to war" levels of dramatic- lao had to get up to use the bathroom and kenshi sighed like a sickly victorian, put his hand over his forehead and monologued until lao came back- he does the same to raiden and johnny, always "why has my love left me?? i am always abandoned by my dearest... beloved, where have you gone? why have you forsaken me??" "i need to pee, ken-" "am i so unimportant?? so easily forgotten???? so unloved??????" "🙄✋️ okay-"

johnny isnt as dramatic but he does pout and sigh and sometimes follow his bf's around until they love on him a little- johnny needs the little pick-me-up's but kenshi normally waits until he needs a full battery recharge

the four of them talk shit like there's no tomorrow- you do not want to be on the recieving end of their judgemental staring- each of their side eyes alone could kill someone, all of them together??? good fuckin luck-

johnny is mesmerized by the snow- kenshi, raiden, and lao all grew up with it, but johnny isnt used to it since he was born and raised in CA and enjoys the sunny weather- so when kenshi or lao and raiden take him to japan or china during the snowy season he's always so excited- the other three love it bc his cheeks get so pink in the cold

raiden gets super flustered when one of them gives him affection and attention, but all three are evil and will pile affection and attention on him to watch him squirm and act all shy- raiden loves it but also knows to tell them when he's overwhelmed

lao knows all of his bf's humor and how to make them laugh- johnny and kenshi laugh at lao's darker jokes- johnny especially likes anti-jokes- raiden likes puns and "a ____ walked into a bar-" type jokes- kenshi also cant help but laugh at people doing stupid things and kenshi and raiden laugh together at children falling- (older sibling moment)

raiden gets super lovey sometimes and will write out in letters how he feels about his bf's and slide them under their doors- all of them have a drawer or folder or smth that stores all of the letters

lao is the only one with a real sleep schedule- he's a morning person and goes to bed by 10 almost every night- raiden tends to get distravted watching tv, and kenshi and johnny tend to overwork themselves and work into the night and wee hours

sleep is usually tough for all of them anyway (lao takes melatonin to be asleep early) bc of all that they've seen and experienced- they all like congregating in their shared room to sleep together but sometimes they go off to their own rooms when they need/want the privacy or peace

that's all for now- wishing everyone a happy holidays!! <333 hopefully im back home soon :') also pls excuse any typos, it is 2 am-

#ghosts hcs #johnny cage #kenshi takahashi #raiden #kung lao #johnrailaoshi #johnshi #railao #mk1 2023

[rowaelinsdaughter]

𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 (𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗)

i think this fic is one of the longest ive ever written before, but i couldnt stop, i love every single thing about this fic. WARNINGS: lot of angst, mentions of d3ath, fluff, suicid3 mention

you didn't know what had happened in your apartment four decades ago. the feeling that someone lived there was present since you moved in, but you didn't believe in ghosts, or in heaven and hell. You didn't believe in the paranormal, but that feeling was still there. like now.

you notice a look penetrating every pore of your skin. little by little you open your eyes and look at the foot of your bed to discover that there is no one there, however the window that you know you left closed before going to bed was now open, and the air moved the curtains creating a dance. You get out of bed and close the window, the smell of fire, iron and winter sunrise permeates the room slightly. with that aroma that aroma, you get back into bed, hoping that the aroma has faded.

weeks go by and strange things continue to happen. open closets and drawers, clothes in places where they don't belong... one day you decide to try something you had never thought you were going to do, a Ouija board. Sitting on the floor of your living room, you had everything ready to start. You rest one hand on the pointer.

"anyone here?"

anything.

“if there is someone, give me some sign.”

anything.

you wait a few more minutes and nothing happens. you blow out the candles, pick up everything and go to your room. you enter it and find a letter on the bed.

hi little girl

your hands start to shake and some hands cover your mouth so you can't scream and a mouth approaches your ear from behind and tells you to shut up.

“don’t shout”

trembling with fear, you turn little by little to see what or who it was that had entered your house. when you turn around you find the most beautiful woman you had ever seen. her golden brown hair fell down her back like a golden waterfall. with defined features, taller than you, with a slim build and blue-gray eyes, she was the personification of a goddess.

with a trembling voice you ask. “who…who are you?”

a grim smile appears on his lips. “in my world they call me nesta archeron. but you humans know me as hecate."

hecate the goddess of magic, night, ghosts and death.

you hear a noise in the kitchen and nesta tells you to shut up by putting a finger on your lips. with a movement of your hand, you notice a wave heading towards the kitchen and a high-pitched scream is heard. you start to shake more and nesta takes your face with her thin hands so you can look at her, with a kiss on your forehead, you melt back into a deep sleep.

when you open your eyes again it has already dawned and nesta is still in your room. it hasn't been a dream. sitting in a chair next to your bed, it seems that she has slept in the chair, although you doubt if goddesses sleep.

“i'm going to be concise with you. when you decided to do that stupid ouija board, you opened a breach that was already in this apartment, but that made more spirits enter here, that last night i appeared before you, it was only because things had gotten worse and it's still bad. as the goddess of ghosts and death i must make everyone cross to the other side, but it is never that easy and now i must protect you because you were stupid.”

and she is fulfilling it. nesta hardly sleeps, and she hardly eats either, and you don't know how she keeps her skin and hair clean, the only thing you know is that you are falling for the goddess.

at first nesta slept in a chair and although you knew she didn't need it, you managed to get her to at least lie down in your bed, and one morning when you woke up you saw her sleeping next to you. her usual tense face was relaxed, making him look younger than he looked. everything changed for you that morning.

you walked through your favorite neighborhood while nesta was behind you protecting you. although paranormal things were no longer happening, you knew that this was not over. you stand in the window of a bookstore and see the fifth edition of your favorite book. “that's my favorite book. it tells the story of two lovers and one of them dies. lost in pain, he decides to commit suicide to meet her, but he is left in limbo and has to find a way to find himself.”

you turn to look at nesta and find that she is already looking at you.

“and they meet at the end?”

you nod your head. “but he falls in love with the goddess who helps him and she finds herself in the afterlife with her old and only love.”

she narrows her eyes and turns to face you and look directly at you.

“you understand that ours cannot be, right?”

"why not? what's wrong with falling in love with nesta? i already know that you are a goddess, that you are immortal, that when your work with me is finished you will leave and i will stay here, but we do not choose who we fall in love with. and i have fallen in love with you, nesta archeron.”

nesta shakes her head. “ you can't be with me."

“why nesta? tell me, why can't we be together?” you raise your voice without caring about the people around you.

“because if we are ever together, if i ever decide that i want you to be by my side, you will die, it's the price I have to pay for my idiocy, seeing the person i want die and i can't see you die y/n. ”

you notice the tears falling down your cheeks but you make no attempt to wipe them away.

“so, is that it? this is the end? aren’t you even going to try?”

“there is nothing to try, nothing that can be done”

you cover your eyes with your hands trying to calm down and stop crying. you notice a hand caress your hair. you move your hands away and look at n7esta's smile, one you've never seen on her before.

“we will meet again, love”

_____________________________________

2 years later you find yourself walking through the same neighborhood where Nesta left, leaving you heartbroken.

you stop in the window that brings back so many memories. the tenth edition of the book exhibited to celebrate it. you sigh to calm yourself and the aroma of fire, iron and winter sunrise reaches you from behind you.

you can't turn back. you fear that everything is a product of your imagination. you notice how someone approaches you, and nesta's hand rests on your shoulder to turn you around. and there it is. it's her. her blue-gray eyes have lost that shine that characterized her, but a different shine is reflected in them. her features, her hair, everything has changed and now she seems a little more natural... more human, as if everything that made her a divinity had vanished.

you open your mouth to speak but nesta's lips are faster and rest on yours. you had always thought about how her lips would feel on yours, and you still think that this is all a dream, but her lips are real, her body is real, she is real. you separate and his forehead rests against yours.

"how?..."

her finger rests on your lips to silence you, and that same finger gently runs over the shape of your mouth.

“not now, let me enjoy the moment. now that i have you, i'm never going to let you go again."

"never?"

“never, love”

tags; @danikamariewrites @throneofsapphics @thehighladywrites @shadowdaddies @vanserrasswife

all rights reserved to ©rowaelinsdaughter. no tranlations allowed. no copy theme. don not copy my work.

#sarah j maas #sjm books #fanfic #acotar #feyre archeron #elain archeron #nesta x reader #nesta archeron #nesta x you #nesta fic #acotar fic #acotar fanfiction #acotar x reader #a court of thorns and roses #a court of silver flames #a court of wings and ruin #a court of mist and fury #cassian #azriel acotar

[the-s1lly-corner]

Sorry for sending too many zooble asks I'm a bit too autistic for them

Anyway uhhh. Hcs or thoughts about the way zooble interacts with other cast members or what she thinks of them pls? 👉👈 we saw them interact with jax, pomni and kinger briefly but that wasn't much and I've been thinking about all that tbh

Zooble interactions!

this one may be on the shorter side (and also indulging in one of my zooble ships ueue) since im feeling a little ouuwuwuuuooo wuu right now also dont feel bad for requesting for zooble! i totally get it! obviously this is based around speculation since we only have the pilot and they were absent for most of it so uhuh though i guess that goes with this entire acc as a whole

Jax- as much as i wanna say they hate each other, the more i think about the more i can see them having a love/hate friendship going on. like they arent buddy buddy, but there probably exists some moments where they can agree on something and perhaps even work together in a decent duo. though it is rare you see them interacting and hanging out one on one

Pomni- weirdly enough i think zooble would be sympathetic to pomni, given her freak out when she first landed in the digital circus and her wanting to escape instantly. do i think zooble was the same when they got stuck? not exactly, but hey that's something else. as for actual interactions, i think if they got to interact more one on one i think the constant anxiousness from pomni would get on their nerves, since they're more of a "this is how things are now and theres nothing that can be done to change our fate, so its better to just accept it" person (at least thats how i read them)

Ragatha- finds ragatha to be one of the most tolerable of the group thanks to ragatha just. being kind to others and understanding. they stay in their own lanes for the most part, but zooble knows if they need something they can go to ragatha for a hand!

Kinger- torn between saying they hold a grudge over the gloink thing or not. i feel like it would be a baby grudge, like they dont think about it every single day and they can still talk to kinger without thinking about it but when they DO remember they get a lil mad. as for actual relationships, they would probably find kinger's antics irritating (namely the screams) so i don't think they would hang out with him much either

Gangle- wife/j no but ive been thinking about gangle x zooble since i was introduced to it because i genuinely do love the idea of them so much i wanna make more ideas for these two. anyways! these two hang out a lot, actually if you're looking for one you should probably try looking for the other since odds are the one you need isn't too far off. as stated in a previous post gangle is the only person allowed in zoobles room. love these two

Caine- neutral, i think, at the end of the day. i mean its not like caine forces them to do things they dont want to do (caine goes out of his way to tell zooble that they dont have to participate in the pilots in house adventure, so caine is more than willing to listen to input from the members i think) (ignoring the fact that zooble got 'napped by the gloinks, but i dont think caine sicked them on zooble)

#tadc #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus #zooble #tadc zooble #zooble headcannons #tadc headcannon

[darkk-academic]

From the Shadows

[Five Hargreeves x Reader]

[Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV] [Part V]

Summary : From one promise to another, and the confession in between.

Warning : None.

Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them.

At the beginning, when your friendship with Five was new, he'd been wary about you running away once you saw the macabre reality of the Umbrella Academy. You'd promised him that you won't ever run away from him.

And yet.

You are not strong, neither was your promise it seems.

What you are is a coward. A self-aware one at that.

Why, oh why, did you think that professing your love not just to Five, but in front of every single student was a good idea?

In one fleeting moment of brave impulsivity, you'd done it. After that, the cowardice in you had reared its head back with more force.

And when you saw Five approaching you, you'd taken the best course of action. The most mature one.

So yeah, you ran away.

"How long are you planning to ignore him?"

Lila's voice snaps you out of your sulking.

"For the rest of eternity," you proclaim. Gazing down at the book you've been trying to read for the past ten minutes.

"I never apologized," she begins. You look at her, confused, but before you can question she continues, "For telling him in the first place. Had I known it was because he was interested in Delores, I wouldn't have."

You sigh. Eyes softening, you shake your head. "It wasn't your fault, Lila."

"Still." She shrugs, chewing on her lip, contemplating. "I thought… I thought he liked you."

You laugh, melancholic and low. "Why would you think that?"

"If you saw yourself and Five from an outsider's perspective, you'd understand."

You lean back in your chair. Blinking away tears. If crying is a language, it's one you've become fluent in.

Silence descends upon the two of you after that. Lila gives you space to sort the messy knot of your emotions, just as she has been doing since the past few days.

You aren't doing a good job at that, though, seeing as you are sitting in the library. Where it all began. Honestly, it's like you're torturing yourself, and while you can acknowledge it, you can't stop it.

"You have been ignoring me."

Your heart goes thump. Breath hitching. A pool of dread and anticipation spilling within, the beats of your heart kicking up, simultaneously despairing and hopeful.

It's him. It's him. It's him. It's him.

"I have not," you reply. The least you could do is maintain the integrity of the lie.

There's a pause.

You can feel his piercing gaze on the side of your face.

Your eyes stay glued to the same page that you've been reading since the dawn of time.

It's Lila who breaks through the awkward tension. Eyes darting between the two of you. "I'm gonna go." No Lila, no, don't do this to me.

She stands up, collecting her things. And as she passes by your chair, her hand falls on your shoulder, squeezing. "Good luck," she says. Loud. You want to melt and become one with the chair.

Five clears his throat. "So—"

"So!" you blurt out, startling him and yourself. Standing up abruptly, the book you've been holding falls down.

Sweat gathers at the back of your neck. Hands shaking as your eyes look everywhere but at him.

"I had this thing I had to do," your voice is so high-pitched, it makes you cringe. "I should get going."

You start to walk away.

Five's hand closes around your wrist, halting your escape.

"I don't think so," he states. His grip goes firm before he tugs at your wrist, pulling you back.

The pounding of your heart is all-time high, if only there wasn't the cage of your ribs, it would've happily escaped and nestle into him. Traitor.

"We need to talk."

Gulping, you turn around. Instinctively, your gaze snaps down, too afraid to see him. The sight of his hand curled around yours greets you, and your heart can successfully qualify as a disco.

A soft touch on your chin snatches your attention— Five tugs your face up.

Finally, after so many days, your eyes lock with his. You sway on your feet, blood rushing in your ears, brain going warm and foggy. Unable to hear anything but a buzz, even as his lips move.

"Huh…?" you mutter, eloquent. I think I'm gonna pass out.

Amusement glitters in his eyes as they peer down at you. "I said," he repeats, "we need to talk."

"Um," you blink, "could you take your hands off of me?"

The beginning of a frown marks his features, he cleans it away before formation, acquiescing with your wish. The absence of his hands leaves you with a sense of imperfection. Fragmented in half.

"I can't seem to think straight when you do that," you clarify. Not wanting to hurt him. You're sure, when you are alone, you'll bang your head against a wall for being so candid.

His ears turn red. Your heart flutters.

"Yeah," voice barely above a whisper. A steadying breath. "Yeah, we need to talk."

He sobers up, getting straight to the point. "I'm not—I'm not good with…with emotions. As I'm sure you've noticed. But, I'm good at being honest, that's—that's something I can do," he tugs at his collar, a nervous tick. "…for you."

Seeing Five so disoriented reassures you. At least, you're not the only passenger in this boat.

He looks away, gathering his thoughts. You take this as a chance to ask what you have been needing to. Because you have to know.

"So…um, Delores?" you probe, tentative and hesitant.

"Delores," he regards, rueful. "I… I'm—I don't know." He runs his hand down his face. "That's the truth, the way she makes me feel resonates with you, but it's different." He tugs at the ends of his hair, mussing them up.

"If I look at it objectively, then I would say the reason is because she's…the brain has a tendency to go after new experiences…" he scoffs. "I sound like an asshole, don't I?"

"Just a bit," you reply, using your thumb and finger to emphasize.

The desolation of his smile echoes with yours.

Shoulders slumping, he lets the mask fall. His face— vulnerable and open and so pained. Defeat lines his skin, a resignation that seems to be sewn into his skin.

"This is why," he exhales, "this is why, I've decided to stay away. From both of you—"

"No!" The word is out of your mouth without permission. However, It's not one you'll take back.

The thought of staying away from him. Your insides twist, fissures long forgotten open anew, bleeding through.

"You are better off without me," he asserts. Looking away, jaw clenched.

This time it's your hand that tugs his face down, fingers holding his chin, insistent. You don't know where this courage has come from, but you're glad nonetheless as you hold his stare. A stare that speaks, commands him.

Look at me, it says, look at me always.

"You don't get to decide that," you rebuke. Standing your ground. "I'm not losing you over something like this."

He sighs. "Just…" gaze trailing down. "May I?"

He's…pointing at your hand? Oh.

He's asking to hold your hand.

You give a jerky nod of acceptance. Stepping closer to him, butterflies ransacking your stomach.

He cups your hand with both of his, cradling it against his chest, delicate and tender. A fondness that seems foreign on him, he looks at you.

You both dwell in this one moment, this moment that feels fragile, almost sacred.

"Give me some time," he whispers. "Let me assemble myself into something worthy. Into someone who deserves you."

You want to object. Tell him that he already is, and you accept him as he is, but that would be a lie, wouldn't it? There are too many lies and too much hurt between you two. And you know that this is something you both have to do, need to do.

So, instead, with burning acceptance, you give a watery, "Okay."

He gives your hand—the one he's been cradling like a precious gem—a soft squeeze, then he lifts it up, and presses a chaste kiss on it. A promise.

It seeps from his lips into your skin, traveling through your bloodstream, washing away the fear, it settles in the very core of your being, solidified.

And if there's one thing you know about Five Hargreeves it's that he is strong.

It's enough for you. After all,

Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them.

..................................................................................

A/N :

We're getting there! One more part after this. It will have rain and dance and— yeah that about it, I think.

The quote, 'Promises are only as strong as the person who gives them.' is by Stephen Richards.

Hope you guys enjoyed this.

Thankyou! ❤

[Taglist : @danis-stuff-is-here @ninalol @wifeofcamillamacaulay @ssshhh-imreading @coolcatlover4

@katiemrty @honestlyspeedytree @ariyabella @tiaamberxx @misacc08 ]

..................................................................................

#five hargreeves #tua five #number five #five hargreeves x you #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves imagine #tua #the umbrella academy #tua season 3 #tua3 #x reader

[inmyownlaine]

John Murphy x Reader: With Me

GIF//

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1039

Part: 2/2

Might want to read: Please Stay Part 1/2

Summary: Murphy has miraculously recovered from his bullet wound. He doesn’t remember much about the attack, but he does remember something much more important.  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

It was lunchtime when you heard the news. Jackson ran to your room just as you were getting ready to leave. You ran upon hearing the words, leaving Jackson in the dust. The doors flung open as you bolted in the medical bay, startling Abby.

She gave a soft smile as you hastened your way to the back. It was where all the recovering patients were meant to go. Murphy was the only one.

And there he was. Slightly upright in a tilted bed. Breathing deeply through the tube in his nostrils. New IVs placed in his arms. Shirtless except for the bandage covering his gaping wound.

You gathered yourself quickly before entering the room. A sting of tears hitting your eyes as you approached him cautiously. Murphy’s eyes flicked in your direction. Even in his fragile state he heard every single movement.

“Hey,” he greeted weakly, lifting up two fingers in an attempt to wave. His eyes were barely open but they brightened at the sight of you. 

“Hi,” you replied breathlessly. Tears fell down your face as you sat on the gurney beside him. You had waited so long for him to wake up. To be able to say anything to you. Now that he could, you were at a loss for words. Not for lack of conversation, but in awe at how incredible he was.

You had visited Murphy every day since the incident. You ate breakfast right beside him. Told him stories in the afternoon. Accidentally fell asleep while rubbing his forehead. But the last time you saw his blue eyes was when they were rolling in the back of his head. Bloodshot and strained.

You couldn’t believe he pulled through. 

“I’ve been out for a while.”

“A couple weeks,” you told him.

“So they say,” he responded, the sign of a smirk threatening to appear.

Looking over him yet again caused another wave of sadness. You could remember a time when Murphy was sturdy and unmoving. Taking on the world by storm and barrelling through anyone in his way. All you could think of now was how feeble and helpless he appeared. And it was because of you.

“Oh, Murphy,” you cried, burying your face in the palms of your hands.

“I’m okay,” he insisted.

“You’re not. And I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” he asked. “If Abby would let me out of his damn bed I’d be doing cartwheels right now. I feel great.”

You laughed in spite of the shame. A nice, deep hole to burrow in sounded perfect right about now. But you couldn’t leave Murphy like this. And despite your failed attempt to keep him alive, you knew he didn’t care. He was just happy that you were here.

“Come here,” he told you, motioning lightly to his bed. You crawled in beside him, ducking under the many contraptions hooked to his body. Moving carefully and thoughtfully so as not to hurt him. Your head finally found its resting place on his shoulder.

You would never tell Murphy, but this wasn’t the first time. There had been many sleepless nights that you laid beside him. Apologizing and sobbing and blubbering until the sun rose in the east. Leaving his sheets covered in pure sorrow.

None of those nights felt good. Not even comforting, like they were intended to. They just got you by. It was nothing to how you felt right now. A wave of relief crashing over you like the morning tide. You could breathe. Murphy was going to survive.

Murphy’s pale lips pressed against your head. His hand painting circles on your upper arm. “I don’t remember what happened.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” you said gently.

“Maybe,” he agreed. “But there is one thing…”

You hoped he couldn’t recall being shot. Gasping for air. Being carried into the infirmary. All the pain he experienced, you wished for it to be washed from his mind.

“You told me you loved me. Right before I left,” he whispered.

You nodded your head against his skin. “I did. And you said it back.”

“If that’s the only thing I can remember,” Murphy sighed, wrapping his other arm around you. “I’m okay with it.”

There was so much more to be said. Lots of time to make up. But Abby walked into the room with Jackson in tow. He carted in bandages, medicines, and syringes. You cringed at the sight of them.

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to give him his medicine,” Abby said.

“I think I’m fine,” Murphy told her, catching sight of an especially large needle. You chuckled as you pushed off the bed, hopping onto the floor.

“Not quite,” Abby replied. She started to put on her gloves while Jackson prepped the surgical tray. Upon sight of the vials, you realized they were putting him to sleep. You assumed he needed his wound cleaned out and his lungs scanned. Not to mention the other various injuries he sustained that needed to be tended to.

You watched as they placed a mask over his nose and mouth. It clouded on contact with Murphy’s breath. And though you knew he was in capable hands, an unreasonable fear creeped over you. One that convinced you he might not wake up again.

“Bye, Murphy,” you muttered, blowing him a kiss. Mouth quivering as you tried to fill your head with positive thoughts. But really the only thing you wanted was to be here with him.

 “I love you,” you proclaimed for the second time in your life. As you felt it roll off your tongue, it felt heavier than it did the first time. Loaded. Almost like it meant even more. 

Murphy reached out for you. His hand brushed against yours. Trying hard to grasp onto your fingers.

His eyelids fluttered, fighting the urge to go under. He opened his mouth slowly, just getting out a few words before he left you once again.

“You saved me,” he spoke softly.

“Abby did,” you admitted, a light blush appearing on your cheeks.

“I promise. It was you.” He swallowed heavily, letting his head drop to the side. Murphy let out a loud exhale before falling once more into a deep sleep.

#john murphy #john murphy fanfic #john murphy imagine #john murphy fic #the 100 fanfiction #the 100 fic #the 100 imagine #The 100 #john murphy fluff #the 100 fluff #love #writing #john murphy x reader

[chain-draws-stuff]

Hello hello! Before you start reading this chapter I want to thank you to @caldraws for giving me the idea for this part! This story may be a little long so I had to cut it into 2 parts so it's not too long bc I don't want you guys to read something that's that long.

This story will be taking place in Questions and Answers to Watching lies. It's sort of a prolog but at the same time it's kind of not at the same time. So to make it simple for you guys It's like a back perspective of what or what was happening to the other half part of the 2 chapters so...enjoy! :D

And sorry if I was away for like a day long so uhh...here's the next chapter I guess? Also if you're wondering on what the end looks like when I wrote in one of my chapters "a blue mushroom area" I am actually using the updated end mod in minecraft! So uhhh yeah!

now...with that's said let's get to the story!

END KING!STEVE

Chapter 7

Freedom?...

Part 1/2

??? pov:

After centuries of spending my immortal lives banished in that barren wasteland he sent me to...I can finally...finally be free for once...but my fine time ended shortly when I wondered around the end until I passed by an opend ancient portal. It was covered in orange vines and some of those thalasium crystals 'this one must had been fixed by those other kings before him' I went into the lit portal heading on to the overworld. I wanted to see what the mortals we're doing in there mortal lives and see what there up to...

As I got through the portal I was thinking what the humans were planning to take over the end?, kill every single living thing that breathes, walk and crawl? Enslaving others? Or even better planning to destroy the nether...but unfortunately none of those ideas of mine were true but instead they built a civilization with tall houses and weird village's 'how long have I been banished for? Ive never seen mortals build something like this...' I thought to myself as i existed my mind scape and returned back to reality noticing a few humans near the stronghold seeing strange thigs they use for transportation 'i wonder what there up to..' I say to myself as a approach the huma not seen because apparently I'm still stuck on my ghost form I'm still free but not fully...I still needed my body back which is going to be a huge struggle since I have to drag that boy with me along the way I can't go through 3 dimensions in this form sure I am a God who can travel between universe's and worlds but my abilities somehow don't work in this form He  cursed me to, for almost an eternity...so I went closer what were the humans investigating...'the stronghold? What could they possibly want with this old structure?' I asked myself as I see the endstone slowly growing. As I slowly and carefully reached out to the endstone it started to create cracks the closer my hand(sort of claws, as you saw in one of my post about this) i came closer and closer revealing more cracks as I started to get closer with the endstone.

And as my hand(claws) interact with he endstone, a spike peirced through the cracks impailing one of he humans behind me causing him to pour out blood from his mouth leading himself to die....I was left in shock on how I have the ability to help the infection spread. This was a huge advantage for me to take over the overworld and defeat he nether and His upcoming armies.

As I was doing more of the infestation on the land I decided it was enough as Ieft taking pity on the humans and leaving the rest flee the scene Alive.

As I was following a random man (which is Shaw in Questions and Answers) for some little reason...I was finding more information about what were the human Really Planning because I wasn't convinced on that the mortals weren't planning something unexpected...as I was 'Stalking' this mortal named Shaw heading back home but first had to head to Steve's house 'huh...a human whi is looking for my Mortal Vessel? ' As I was observing him I noticed that Steve was more like a son to him. Once Shaw entered Steve's house only to come to witness his house looking like a ruin everything was broken down, shattered into small pieces. He was left in shock and wory he was then left running out of the house riding his so called 'car' he drove off leaving me in the middle of nowhere in front of someone's house.

I came into the house to check the place more looking at the cabinets, shelves, tables then I saw something...a book...I picked up the book and opened the first page...

Dear diary

Today was kind of weird...I was left in the middle of nowhere it was about to rain so I looked for shelter and found an open cave in the forest...

As I step deeper into the cave my clothes were soggy wet, like very wet I saw a dead person wearing a red cape, blue clothing and some other stuff I kind of don't remember...

I got deeper into the cavern finding a robot? I began chasing it while traveling through weird places and weird things until we stopped to a room filled with portals they call the checkpoint.

I was arguing with the small green round robot fighting about he fact they thought I was Stalking them

(Yes I watched the video U-U)

After a lady? Oh yes a lady popped out of nowhere.

- Steven #####

(Don't ask why i didn't finish it I was very lazy at the time rn bc I was writing this jn the middle of the night)

???: Steve's diary? Well...better keep it for better uses...

I checked the other parts of the house, talked to myself for a while and left to go follow the Shaw guy going somewhere. Looks like he was heading to another mortals home I got closer to see the people. As I can now see everyone on my view I saw a mortal dragging another mortal behind him

Chris: what is it sarge?

The mortal asked

Shaw:...umm...why are you dragging Austin?

Shaw said with confusion and seriousness

Chris:here trying to avoid going to bed. Now what are you doing here at the middle of he night?

He answered and followed by another question needed to be answered

Shaw: I came here to ask you something...

Shaw answered

Chris: what does that have to do with me or Austin?

He followed by answering with confusion

(INSERT EXPLANATION CUZ IM LAZY AF RN)

The human(chris) was shock on what Shaw had just explained the mortal was thinking on how or when did it happen as a few seconds passed the human thought before coming back to reality.

Chris:*sigh* all this thinking is giving me a headache...but I can assure you, we can go ahead and investigate Steve's house and the portal tomorrow if you want

The human(Chris) says with confidence as Shaw thanked him that he would help him during the investigation

Shaw: thanks kid...I also might interrogate you 3 tomorrow

Shaw added

Chris:wait who's the third?

He asked

Shaw:oh its his robot

Shaw answered

Shaw:we also need to start the investigation early in the morning tomorrow so we can get this mystery solved in no time

Shaw added, and with that the human(Chris) nodded his head then gently closed the door while Shaw left and headed home

I was left alone behind a bush as I watched everything what they said

????: hehe this is going to be fun~

I left the house and searched around for a place to camp for now.

As the sky goes dark and night had fallen everyone was now asleep...my eyes felt heavy and I closed my eyes as I slowly drifted away from reality

Part 1 out of 2

First chapter/previous/next

#my shit #my brain go brrrrrrrrr #steve the adventurer #steve checkpoint #endking!steve au #checkpoint:stm #my au #angst #sort of a funny funny #chris checkpoint #chris #austin checkpoint #austin #my fuckin brain is clearly out of ideas again #shaw #my EndKing!Steve AU oc! #uhhh idk i think i wanna make a book 2- #sorry if i was fone for a day hehe i wws busy again #yes i use the updated end mod in minecraft to make things more u know better instead of just 1 biome theres like 5 new more biomes #and ye i have also played the mod myself and it was not quite but amazingly cool and awsome

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe ch 14

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Girl Squad iii

Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe (AO3)

It has been such a long time, and I wanted to start by saying thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all of your kind words and the support you've shown me. I didn't respond because honestly, I get so flustered over compliments and such things when they're reacted at me, so all of the wonderful and kind things you all said to me had me hiding under the covers. But I read every single comment. I reread them actually, when I was feeling really stressed about school they provided me with comfort. Ive actually taken pictures of them to keep on hand for when I need a reminder. But I cannot thank you all enough for the care you have shown me, and I want you all to know how much it meant to me 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Now for a little bit of house keeping. The next chapter will probably take a while to go up because my break between semesters is relatively short (I finished my first semester a week ago today, and I start up again next week). Especially if it ends up being as long as this one did. I have also updated the chapter count! In all honesty, I meant to do this ages ago but I kept forgetting 😅

With all that said, again, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

She rolled her shoulders as she made her way below deck, trying to work out all of the kinks that had made their way into her muscles as she had fought. It hadn’t been a particularly difficult battle, but it had been… annoying… Just how many times had M. Ramier been akumatized into M. Pigeon now? In the grand total of the two weeks since she had first donned the tiger miraculous, she had dealt with M. Pigeon three times now. He had to be well past fifty akumatizations by this point.

She sighed as she made her way into the kitchen, her attention laser focused on the fridge. It hadn’t been a hard battle, just a long one. And she was hungry. The light of the fridge was bright, but once she had blinked the stars from her eyes, her gaze settled on a box of pizza Luka had brought home from work the other day. She had just lifted the lid of the box when a voice broke the silence. 

“Where have you been?” 

Blindly, she grabbed a slice, then pushed the fridge door closed with her hip, and with the coveted slice of pizza in hand, glanced in the direction of Luka’s voice. He was sitting up on the sofa, watching her over the back of it. But as she made her way into the living area, she saw his legs were still stretched out along the length of it, like he had been sprawled out on it. He had his acoustic in his lap, and it was only then that she realized that the tv was on, the screen displaying what looked like a recap of the akuma battle. But the flickering image was silent. As was the guitar in his lap. 

“It’s on mute?” she asked, ignoring his question as she glared at his legs, which were occupying the majority of the sofa. 

“All the commentary was just Nadja’s usual tosh,” he said as he shifted to make room for her. “Y’know, the ‘Ladybug and Chat Noir are in love’ stuff and all that.”  

“And you’re not playing?” she asked before taking a bite of the cold pizza. 

Luka shrugged. “I was for a while….” He said, his voice trailing off as he began plucking at the strings. From the way his gaze drifted down to stare pensively at his guitar as his fingers deftly moved across the strings, it was obvious she was going to have to wait.  

She chewed slowly as they sat in silence. Well, silence apart from his music. It was clear in the music his noodling was eliciting that he was trying to work out something he wanted to say. That was something most of her friends didn’t seem to understand about him; they all seemed to think he always knew exactly what to say. To be fair, when it came to music, he did. He was a complete and utter dork that way. And a nerd—well, music nerd— to boot. But if he needed to say something that wasn’t about music… he needed music to figure out how to say it. 

It was something Marinette had understood pretty quick though… 

 “I’m just- I’ve been trying to figure out this song…” he finally said, his gaze still firmly on his guitar and his fingers still dancing across the strings, a familiar smile playing at his lips. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what song it was he was trying to figure out. Especially given the way his cheeks were turning pink. For all the ways Luka was different from their ma, they were similar in a few key ways. Namely, their lack of subtlety. “It’s just… I thought about what you said- what you’ve been telling me-”

“About the song.” 

 His hands stilled as he looked up and offered her a sheepish smile. “You were right.”

Finally, he was figuring that out. It had taken him long enough… 

 “But now…” he shrugged helplessly as he glanced back down as his guitar. Idly, he trailed his fingers across the strings as he stared at it thoughtfully. “I know what notes I want to play. How I want- how I hope the melody will go.”

“But you’ve committed to the notes you want to play next?” she asked, half afraid for his answer. It wouldn’t be the first time the idiot had found an excuse to designate himself to playing second fiddle. And given it felt like the Universe trying to tell him to take a backseat… 

He looked up, his eyes flashing with an intensity that was strictly reserved for all things Marinette. “I didn’t want to pressure her.” A noble notion. A gallant one even. Even if he had been an idiot in the way he had gone about it. “But, you were right.” That felt nice to hear. “But then she was just so stressed. I didn’t want to be another thing for her to worry about. And now… now I’m trying to figure out the tempo of it. I don’t want to rush it. Especially not the next few notes.”

She would hardly say he was rushing things… 

“But I think…” he said slowly, ducking his gaze in what appeared to be a futile attempt to hide the dopey, lovesick grin spreading across his face, “I think it’s time I asked her how she would feel about a duet.”

“‘Bout time, if you ask me.” Actually, it was way past time. In her opinion, anyway. 

His head snapped up to protest, his eyes even more intense and bright against his flushed cheeks and his dopey, lovesick, Marinette smile. She couldn’t stop herself from smirking, and he seemed to immediately recognize his mistake. He ducked his head to try and hide his face, but it was too late. 

She had seen the smile and the flushed cheeks. It wasn’t like he had ever done a good job of hiding that smile. 

She sank back into sofa cushions, and grinning widely, took another bite of pizza. And immediately screwed up her face in disgust as a vile taste filled her mouth. Had she thought to grab a plate, she would have spat it out, but as it was, she had no choice but the swallow the offending bite. “Olives? Why did you bring home stuff with olives?” 

“Serves you right,” he chuckled, though he was still trying—and failing—to hide his flushed face by inspecting his chipped nail polish.

“For what?” 

“Teasing me.” 

“I didn’t say anything!” Ok, maybe she had… but could he really blame her? 

“You didn’t have to. You never have to,” he added as he rolled his eyes. “But you totally did.”

Ok, fair. He had a point. But still… “Rude.” 

“Didn’t you check it first?” 

“No, you distracted me.” 

He furrowed his brows. “Y’know, you never did answer my question.” 

“Hm?” she hummed as she began picking the olives off the pizza.

“Where were you? And stop that!” She just raised a brow, and then flicked another olive at him. 

“I was out shopping,” she said off-handedly as she inspected the pizza for any olives she may have missed. 

“I thought your big shopping trip was tomorrow…” he said. Her ears perked up at the sudden, entirely too casual tone of his voice. 

“It is…” she said slowly, watching him through suspicion-narrowed eyes. “The pharmacy’s having a sale on nail polish and lipstick. I thought I would check it out.” It wasn’t a lie. She had been on her way to check out the sale when she had gotten the akuma alert. As soon as she had seen it, she had hightailed it back to where the Liberty was moored and snuck back on deck to wait in case Purple Tigress was needed. Which she had been. 

“You didn’t get anything?’ 

She shook her head. “Probably best to wait until I have my dress before I decide on makeup and all that.” Technically, that was true too. 

He hummed, and nodded as he listlessly plucked at the strings of his guitar, eliciting a tune that betrayed his casual facade. 

“And you’re all going on the shopping trip.” It was obvious that wasn’t what he was really asking. Why he still insisted on beating around the bush when she knew how he felt about Marinette was beyond her. 

Especially after he had just admitted he was finally going to stop being an idiot. 

Well, about Marinette at least. 

“Yeah. Well, the guys aren’t coming. I have no interest in dragging Kim around to look at dresses.”  

Luka snorted. “That’s something I’d pay to see.” She rolled her eyes, but he just chuckled. “So…” he said slowly, drawing the word in a clear attempt to sound casual. “Marinette’s decided to go to the dance after all?” 

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” she asked, nodding to the coffee table, where his phone sat before shoving the last bite of pizza into her mouth. 

He looked at it thoughtfully, and she barely fought the urge to roll her eyes. Luka wasn’t the type to ask someone to a dance over text. Especially when that someone was Marinette. Because him going to a dance with her actually meant something to him. 

But maybe that would at least get the ball rolling. 

“I’m going to go have a shower,” she announced, rising from the sofa. Her muscles were still stiff, and she didn’t want to be any more subjected to Luka’s lovesick sighs and dopey smiles. 

                                                              ***

The shade was cool on her face, and provided a much welcome refuge from the afternoon sun. It was warm, bordering on hot with only a slight breeze to keep the edge of the heat off. The sound of laughter and a Saturday in the city mingled with the coos of the pigeons that were scattered around the park. It was evident in the air that the end of June was fast approaching, and with it, the dance. 

Alix drifted past her, her bored humming and the ever so slight squeak of the wheels of her heelies joining the sound of summer in the park. Slowly, she let her gaze drift down to the open group chat on her phone.  

Mylène 🌼 : Running a little late!

Mylène 🌼 : The rally one overtime 

Mylène 🌼 : went 

Rose 🌹💗: no problem!! ��😊😊

Mylène 🌼 : on my way now

Mylène 🌼 : meet at the park?

Alya 🦊?!: sure meet you there

She sighed as she settled herself more comfortably against the tree she was leaning against, and let her gaze drift up. Rose was scrolling through her pinterest board of her vision for what she would wear to the dance, asking for Marinette’s opinion on the various ideas she had posted to it. Marinette was animatedly pointing to things on the screen of Rose’s phone, and though she hadn’t caught all of it, from the sounds of it she was explaining what silhouettes and shapes would best suit Rose. 

She couldn’t help but smile at the sight. A couple of weeks ago, she hadn’t been sure when she would see Marinette smile again. At times, it had felt more like a question of ‘if’ than ‘when.’ She could tell Marinette was still stressed; her friend, though much more lively ever since Tigress came onto the scene, was still bit quieter than usual. More subdued.  

But still… 

She was smiling again. And that was a victory in and of itself.

And if Luka was finally getting some sense into that thick head of his… hopefully, Marinette would have a lot more to smile about soon. 

Her gaze drifted from Marinette to take in the vivid greens of the park before stopping to land on Alya. 

Alya was furiously typing away on her phone, her brows furrowed in concentration. She had said she was working on her next post for the Ladyblog… Part of her really wanted to give her fired the benefit of the doubt. And it was entirely possible that she was typing that furiously because she was writing another article. Chat Noir had been mentioning he and Ladybug—with a very pointed lack of mention of any other heroes—should do another interview with the Ladyblog. Ladybug had been noncommittal, but maybe she had ended up agreeing to it. 

But no matter how much she hoped that was what Alya was typing, she wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic. Especially given Alya’s reaction when Marinette had announced she would go to the dance after all…  

“So,” Alya said with a definitive air as she looked up from her phone with a smile. “I figured we would start at Genevieve Consignment, that way we can work our way down the street and hit all the best second-hand places first. Then we can go to the department and specialty stores as we make our way to that fabric store you like, Marinette.”

“And we’re getting dinner, right?”

“Yes, then we can grab dinner. Sound good?” 

“Sounds perfect to me!” Rose chirped.  

Alix shrugged. “As long as we’re getting dinner, I’m good.” 

“We can skip the fabric store this time, though.”

“Oh, already found the perfect fabric for your dress?” Alya asked, the beginnings of a knowing Cheshire smile spreading across her face. 

Marinette shook her head. “No, I’m not making one.” The grin quickly dropped from Alya’s face as Marinette continued. “I was just going to buy one.”

 “What?” A group of passing tourists shot Rose bewildered looks at the sound of her shriek. “But you always make your dresses!” 

Despite knowing what she knew, she couldn’t help but be surprised herself. Not to the degree she would have been if she didn’t know certain secrets. But still… 

Before she was able to muster her words, Alix cocked her head to the side and said, “But at the Winter Formal you were all excited about making your dress for the next dance.” 

“What about Adrien?” Alya cried, “He complimented your dress at the Winter Formal. Don’t you want to impress him with another design?” Forget Adrien, what about the fact that one of Marinette’s favourite things to design was formal dresses? “Just think, he’d see you in a beautiful dress you made and he would see how incredible and talented you are and it would be perfect!” Yeah. Sure. Just like the last three dances… “It’s going to be the nigh, I just know it! It needs to be special!” 

“Hey girls! Sorry I’m… what’s all the commotion about?” Mylène’s voice trailed off as she drew closer to them, her brows furrowing as her gaze darted between their faces.

“Marinette says she isn’t making her dress for the dance!” Alya announced. 

“What? But why?” 

Finally, the obvious question. 

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t have the time. The dance is in two weeks.”

“But what about Adrien?” 

An odd look flickered across Marinette’s face at Alya’s question. But before Marinette could say anything, Mylène gently bumped Marinette with her hip. “Don’t worry, Marinette,” Mylène said comfortingly, “I’m sure we can find a dress that’ll impress Adrien.” 

Marinette blinked at Mylène. “I don’t want to stress about impressing anyone, I just want to find a dress I like.” 

“We’ll make sure we find you the most perfect dress ever, right girls?”  

“That’s the point of this trip, isn’t it?” 

“Hey,” Alya said as she slung her arm around Marinette’s shoulders, “Maybe it won’t be as amazing as something you’d make, but we’re going to find the perfect dress! Adrien won’t know what hit him!” 

Taking that as their rallying cry, Alix glided ahead. “C’mon slowpokes,” she cried over her shoulder, leaving the rest of them no choice but to follow. 

She tried to catch Marinette’s eye as they started out, but she was sandwiched between Alya and Mylène. Marinette had said she wanted to find a dress she liked. But she had a sinking suspicion the search was going to end up binge for a dress Adrien would like. 

“This is going to be so much fun!” Rose squealed as she sidled up beside her. 

Despite the rather sour thoughts swirling in her head—and her suspicions that were quickly sinking toward the pit in her stomach—she couldn’t help at smile at Rose’s infectious enthusiasm and sunny smile. “It’s going to be a big day,” she agreed.  

She was looking forward to spending the afternoon with her friends. Despite her ever-growing frustrations and resentment toward their habit of shoving Adrien into the epicentre of most of their hangouts, they were still her friends. And she was never one to say no to a shopping trip. Especially to second hand places, which they were hitting first at Mylène’s insistence. You never knew what treasures you could find in them. 

But… 

She bit back a sigh. She was glad Marinette was going to the dance; she had been really worried when Marinette had shown so little interest in it. She understood why Marinette hadn’t been focused on it, but she had still been worried. Marinette loved school dances. She loved any chance to celebrate something. 

So it had been a relief when Marinette had announced she would go to the dance after all. 

But it seemed the question of what Marinette was going to wear to the dance had brought a whole new host of problems… 

                                                            ***

“What about these?” She looked up from the box of gloves she was rifling through, looking for the match to the black lace opera glove she had found, at the sound of Alya’s voice, just in time to see her push a couple of dresses into Marinette’s hands. 

Marinette looked down at the dresses in her hands. A look of apprehension settled over her faces as she held up the two dresses. “I don’t know, they’re not really my style-”

“Exactly!”

What?

“It never hurts to try new things, right?” 

“I guess…” Marinette said, eyeing the dresses dubiously as she meandered toward the dressings rooms with Alya trailing closely after her. 

“Besides,” Alya added slyly , “If you try something new, Adrien will have to notice you!” 

Marinette froze in the entry to the dressing room. With the curtain still open, she could see the mirror inside the dressing room. And in the mirror, she caught a glimpse of a grimace twisting its way onto Marinette’s face before her friend slid the curtain shut behind her.

If Alya noticed the lack of response, she didn’t say anything. Instead, all she called out was, “Make sure you come out and show us!” before whipping out her phone.  

She bit back a groan as she turned her attention back to the box of gloves with a scowl, though she did her best to hide it. At least if any of the girls noticed, she could blame it on having a hard time finding the matching glove.   

She should have expected this. She should have planned for this. Because of course, the question of what Marinette would wear would end up being focused on Adrien. Especially given the hints Alya had been dropping about how Adrien didn’t have a date for the dance yet and how his father was actually allowing him to attend were as subtle as akuma costumes. So far, Marinette had brushed those hints off with hummed acknowledgements and deflections. But she wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. 

And, much to her frustration, she hadn’t been able to do much about it. 

Every time she managed to subtly redirect the conversation to a different topic, it would eventually—inevitably—circle back to Adrien. And it wasn’t just Alya, though she was definitely spearheading the efforts. The rest of the girls were dropping hints too. If it could even be called that at this point…  

But the point of the matter was, she was completely outnumbered. 

Honestly, she had been for a long time. 

Yeah, Aimee had been able to help her with the photoshoot scheme. But Aimee was busy with her own stuff, especially now that she was working for Marinette’s parents as their social media manager and photographer. Aimee helped her when and where she could, but it wasn’t often. And even when she could help it was still just the two of them. 

Her ma didn’t mind running interference when she was on board the Liberty, but that was as far as she would go. Besides, involving her ma would be like setting off fireworks in a library.

She sighed. If only she was able to get more help. But there wasn’t really anyone else she could go to… 

The guys… she grimaced. Kim was an obvious no; the whole Ondine debacle had made it clear Kim wasn’t the most… in touch with the nuances of romance. Add in the fact that Kim was the opposite of subtle… 

Max wasn’t an option either. While he could probably make a great spreadsheet of all the reasons why Luka and Marinette were so much better for each other than Adrien and Marinette were, somehow, she couldn’t see him being super into the scheming and meddling. 

Nathaniel was a no too. He was too busy with his comic. And weirdly, he seemed to like the idea of Adrien and Marinette getting together. 

Ivan? Marinette had helped him get together with Mylène. She wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to return the favour. But while he was friends with Luka, and in the band to boot, the problem was that he was also Mylène’s boyfriend. Which meant she had definitely told him all the ‘reasons’ Marinette should be with Adrien. No, Ivan was too close to this. 

And Nino? Nino was an obvious no. Even if he at least had the decency to look embarrassed—hopefully he actually was—every time he was involved in a plot, he was still involved. And if push came to shove, she knew he would side with Alya over common sense. 

Adrien- she wasn’t even going to go there. 

But that was all the guys in class. And none of them were even close to being potential allies. 

She sighed again as she let her gaze drift over the consignment store as she blindly rifled through the hodge-podge of gloves. She was losing hope fast. 

Her gaze landed on Alix, who was picking through a bunch of shoes displayed in a bookcase with an air of disinterest. 

Alix? Alix was a tough one. On one hand, she wasn’t afraid to say it like it was. If she pointed out how bad Adrien and Marinette would be together, she might actually listen and come to the same realization she had. On the other hand, Alix, while being the least invested in the plots, was still invested. And even if Alix did decide to jump ship, there was no guarantee she would help her. And if she did, subtlety would be out of the question. 

No. Alix wasn’t an option. 

Her eyes found Mylène just as her friend was going into a dressing room with a few dresses draped over her arm. There was no way Mylène would stand up against Alya. And Mylène fully supported the Adrienette ship in her own right, so it was a double no for her. 

She glanced at Alya, who was still standing by the dressing rooms, grinning down at her phone screen. There was no point even considering Alya, given she was the one who led the charge on all the Adrien schemes in the first place…

Which just left Rose. 

She sighed as her gaze dropped back down to the box of gloves. 

She loved Rose with all her heart, and she wanted nothing more than to bring her in on her plans. And there was no doubt in her mind that Rose would fully support Marinette and Luka if she knew how they felt about each other, and how much happier they would be together. But there were two problems; she couldn’t bring Rose in without betraying Luka and Marinette’s trust, because Rose would ask questions. Rose would want to know all the details, even the ones she had sworn to secrecy. Even the ones Marinette didn’t know she knew… 

The other problem was that Rose was in love with love. Yes, she would undoubtedly support Marinette and Luka. But she also still fully supported Marinette and Adrien because she was blinded by the romance. Blinded by the ‘made for each other’ narrative that Alya sold with every breath she took. 

Halfheartedly, she pushed the last few gloves around not expecting to find anything. A flash of black half buried under a chartreuse suede glove caught her eye. Carefully, she shifted the mass of gloves to unearth the match to the glove. 

At least she had found one of the things she was looking for… 

“What do you think?” She snapped her attention up at the sound of Rose’s voice just in time to see Rose burst out of one of the dressing rooms, wearing a pink sequinned romper. “Is it too much?” she asked as she struck a pose. 

Despite her heavy thoughts, she couldn’t help but smile. “For you? Never,” she murmured, eliciting a blinding beam from her girlfriend. 

“Good, because I love it!” Rose squealed with a shimmy that made her and her outfit sparkle. “Those are cute,” she said, gesturing to the glove in her hand. “Are you going to get them?” 

“Yeah. I-”

“Marinette!” She and Rose both turned at the sound of Alya’s voice. Marinette had emerged from the dressing room. Wearing her own clothes and with the dresses in hand. “How come you didn’t come out to show us?” 

Marinette shrugged as she deposited the dresses on the rail for cloths to be returned to the shop floor. “They weren’t right.”

                                                            ***

 The metallic sound of hangers sliding against metal filled the air as she and Marinette rifled through the racks of dresses. They were on their fifth shop now, and neither of them had found dresses yet. A little further down the aisle, Alya was rifling through a display, muttering something to Rose and Mylène, but her words were lost in the distance between them. 

Something between a sigh and a groan escaped Marinette as she slid a few more dresses along the rail, the hangers clattering together from the force with which she had shoved them. “This is hopeless!” 

“Can’t you just wear something you already have?” She and Marinette both glanced up as Alix rolled toward them on her heelies, carting a silver and green windbreaker and a pair of ripped jeans along with her. “It seems like a simple fix if you can’t find anything you like. Didn’t Adrien say he liked that purple dress you wore the other week?” Alix asked as she stopped to pick through the rail opposite the ones that held the dresses.

 Alix, her back turned and her attention on the row of clothes opposite, missed the way Marinette’s face soured at the mention of Adrien’s name.

“That’s a day dress, it’s not really an occasion dress.”    

“Ok, what about one of the things you made for your shop? Or the dress you wore to the winter dance?” 

Marinette shook her head. “All of that is too casual. I don’t want to be underdressed! And the dress I wore to the winter dance is made of velvet, it would be way too hot.” 

Alix shrugged. “Well, if you’re not going to make yourself something or wear something you already have, keep looking. I’m sure you’ll find something. You’re the one that said there’s all sorts of hidden gems in these places,” Alix said, turning to motion to the racks of clothes in the thrift shop. “I found these,” Alix added, holding up her finds as if to prove her point.

“Those don’t look like dance clothes.” 

She turned. Rose had come up behind her, and was surveying the clothes Alix was holding, her head tilted to the side and her brows furrowed. 

“I’m wearing the suit Mari made me for the fall formal.”

“But you’ve worn it to the last two dances!” Rose cried. 

“Yeah, cause it rocks. And black is a classic.”

“Thanks,” Marinette said quietly, her words almost lost to Rose’s squealed protests. 

“But-“ 

“I’m ditching the jacket and wearing a different shirt, so it’ll look different. Oh, by the way, there’s a sequinned bag back that way.” 

The allure of a glittery accessory was too much for Rose, who darted in the direction Alix had nodded, throwing a hurried thanks over her shoulder. 

“Well,” Alix said matter of factly, “I’m going to go try these on.” And then she was gone, rolling toward the dressing rooms. She watched as Alix’s shock of pink hair disappeared behind a rack of clothing. 

“I guess she’s right…” Marinette mumbled. She turned back to look at her friend, who was looking at the rail of dresses with a rather gloomy expression. They had been going through the entire rail, ignoring the size categories as the inventory was jumbled together . And there had been plenty of nice dresses, some really nice ones that were in Marinette’s size that had been in the wrong section. But Marinette had taken them rather reluctantly, and without her usual enthusiasm that came with shopping for clothes. 

Slowly, Marinette began flicking through the dresses again. 

She opened her mouth. And then closed it. Right from the get go, Marinette had insisted she wouldn’t be making her dress for this dance. When pressed by the girls, had said she just didn’t have time for making a dress. That was unsurprising, given everything. But that didn’t explain why she was so unenthused about the whole shopping process. She doubted all the Adrien comments Alya—and the rest of the girls—kept dropping every time Marinette even so much as picked up a dress were helping matters. But she couldn’t help but feel there was something more to Marinette’s disinterest in dress shopping… 

 “That one is nice,” she said quietly, nodding her head to the floral chiffon dress Marinette was examining. It was nice. It was a perfectly nice dress. The design was a little bland and the colour was a little boring, but it was nice enough for a dance. 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Marinette sighed noncommittally. 

“But…?” 

Marinette shrugged listlessly as she took the dress off the rail and went back to flicking through the dresses. “I guess I won’t know until I try it. It’s just… it’s silly.” 

“I bet it isn’t.” They were nearing the end of the last rack of dresses, and they had pitiful results so far to show for their effort. Marinette had taken only three dresses, and none of them had been met with much enthusiasm. She had grabbed a couple, but to be honest, she wasn’t all that concerned with what she would wear. She had a bunch of black dresses she could wear to the dance. It wasn’t like anyone would notice if she wore an old dress, given she always wore black to school dances. It was a classic for a reason. 

Marinette bit her lip as stared steadfastly at the rail as she continued to search through the dresses. She could tell Marinette was weighing her words, trying to decide how best to say whatever it was she needed to say, by the way she stared so intently at the clothes on the rail. “Well…” she said slowly, a faint flush creeping up on her face, “it’s just that- it’s- it’s perfect!” 

“What-“ she was cut off by Marinette’s squeal as her friend pulled a dress from the rack. And then shoved it into her hands… 

She had been hoping Marinette had found a dress for herself. But… 

Looking at the dress, she had to admit, it was perfect. Even if she was a little peeved Marinette hadn’t found a dress for herself. Slowly, she ran a hand along the silky fabric. Sprays of thorny roses had been woven into the fabric; the subtle black on black design almost seemed to shift under the store lights. It would look incredible under the lights of the dance.

“Oh, are you going to try that on?” She looked up from the dress to see  Mylène wandering toward them, her arms laden with dresses. 

She  glanced back down at the dress. “Yeah, I am.” 

“What did you find, Mylène?” Marinette brushed past her to look at the dresses Mylene had selected. “That one is really pretty!” 

“Yeah,”  Mylène sighed happily as she held up the dress. “Sunflowers are my favourite. Ivan’s too. So I’m hoping the fit will be good.”  Mylène settled the dress back over her arm. “What did you find, Mari?” 

“Not much,” Marinette sighed, her enthusiasm instantly waning the moment the topic shifted to her dress selections.  

“That one is nice,”  Mylène offered tentatively as Marinette shuffled through the scant few dresses she had found. 

“It’s ok,” Marinette said half-heartedly. “But I guess we should go try things on. Unless you’re not done looking, Jules…” 

“No. No I’m good to try things on now,” she mumbled, her brows furrowing as Marinette and  Mylène both turned and headed in the direction of the dressing rooms. Judging from the way  Mylène not so subtly kept looking at Marinette, it was obvious Marinette’s lack of enthusiasm wasn’t lost on her either. 

She trailed after them, chewing her lip as she went. Marinette’s enthusiasm had quickly dwindled throughout the afternoon. Usually, Marinette adored thrifting and shopping in general. But she had been… listless. Or at least, when it came to shopping for herself. Every time her attention was turned to what someone else might try on, Marinette was bright and excited. But the second it came to her outfit… 

“Look at what I found!” She emerged from the end of the aisle in time to see Alya rushing toward them, with Rose quickly trailing after her. Rose’s arms were laden with her own shopping bags, and what looked like dresses Alya had pulled for herself. Alya was brandishing two hangers; from one hung a swirly looking skirt the colour of ripe tangerines, and from the other hung a matching crop top. “Isn’t it great? I saw it on the rack one of the employees had just brought out from the back!” 

“That colour would be gorgeous on you!” Marinette gushed as she reached out to examine the fabric of the skirt. 

Alya preened. “Thanks. I mean, I still have to try it on, and I’ll try on the rest of the stuff I found but… I think it’s  going to be the one! What did you find, girl?” 

“Oh, you know, just a couple dresses. Should we?” she asked, nodding toward the dressing rooms. 

“Absolutely,” Alya said as she shifted her newest find to one hand so she could take the bundle of dresses from Rose. “Thanks. Now come on!” 

“You all have to come out and show us!” Rose squealed, already pulling her phone out, no doubt to summon Alix. 

 Mylène and Alya were already heading into dressing rooms. As she and Marinette headed toward the last free ones, she shot Marinette an encouraging smile. Marinette returned it with a smile of her own that wavered only a little before turning to fully disappear into her dressing room. She tugged the curtain of her own dressing room shut. 

She made quick work of changing out her own clothes, and then she stepped into the dress. She tugged up the zip before stepping back to examine her reflection.  The skirt was slim but… she gave an experimental swivel of her hips; it still had enough of a flare to flow nicely around her legs with a satisfying swish. It would be perfect for dancing. She turned and looked back over her shoulder to examine the reflection of the back of the dress. The narrow straps separated at the top of her shoulders, turning from single straps to three thinner ones that criss-crossed over her back in a woven pattern that reminded her vaguely of a spiderweb.

She turned to fully face the mirror again, and let a slow smile crawl across her face as she fished the gloves she had bought out of her bag. She slipped the gloves on, and her smile turned to a grin. 

 It was perfect. 

All she needed was shoes and… she tilted her head side to side. A choker would be the perfect touch. A lace one maybe… 

That was something she could do easily enough herself. 

Her smile grew as she heard Rose squeal from the other side of the curtain. Quietly, she drew back the curtain. Alya was wearing the crop top and skirt set, and she was positively glowing as she struck a pose. 

“What do you think?” 

“It looks amazing, Alya!” Rose gushed, her eyes sparkling. 

“It looks really great on you!” Mylène offered quietly. She hadn’t seen Mylène emerge, but she was standing there in the floral dress, her usually shy smile wider than usual. 

“You look awesome too, girl!” 

“You both look great,” Alix piped up from where she was sprawled on a bench by the entrance to the dressing room area. 

“Yeah,” she said quietly as she stepped out of the dressing room. “Those really suit you both.” 

The second the words left her mouth, four pairs of eyes snapped toward her. They were all silent. She could feel the weight of their gaze on her. A couple of months ago, with so many eyes trained directly on her, her shoulders would have been hunching and curling in, and her hands would have been itching to fidget with her skirt. But now- 

“Bijou!” It was fortunate there was no glass nearby, Rose’s squeal was so high-pitched. “You look gorgeous!” 

“That dress is perfect for you!” 

“You look incredible!” 

Her cheeks were growing warm under the force of their praise. “Thanks,” she murmured. 

“Hey, Mari!” Alix shouted, ignoring the looks of other shoppers nearby, “get out here and take a look!” 

Marinette poked her head out from behind the curtain, and her face lit up. “I knew it! I knew that dress would be perfect for you! You look incredible!”

“Thank you.” She couldn’t stop the grin from crawling across her face at Marinette’s praise. 

Marinette’s gaze drifted over to Alya and Mylène, thought she remained awkwardly hidden behind the curtain, with only her head sticking out. “You both look incredible too!” she gushed. “Please tell me you’re all getting those!” 

“Girl, I don’t know if I’m even going to take it off!” Alya laughed as she twirled. “I might just have to wear it out!” 

“But then it won’t be special!” Rose protested. 

“I’m definitely getting mine!” 

“So are you going to come out, or what, girl?” Alya asked, still laughing gleefully. 

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Marinette promised before snapping the curtain closed. 

She frowned. The look in Marinette’s eye at the mention of her coming out of the dressing room… 

She hadn’t been particularly optimistic about any of the dresses, given Marinette’s reaction to them. Still, she had hoped that Marinette would like something. At least enough to show the rest of them. 

But the sound of the curtain of Marinette’s dressing room sliding open dashed what shreds of hope she had left. 

“Nothing?” Rose asked, her face falling. 

Marinette shook her head, looking both disappointed and defeated as she hung the rejected dresses on the rack by the end of the line of dressing rooms. “Let’s check out the shoe store around the corner, I think I could do with a break from trying on dresses…” 

                                                            ***

The second she had pushed the door open to the shoe store and made room for the rest of their group to enter, Alix made a beeline for the display of sneakers. Rose took Mylène by the arm and hauled her toward the back of the store, where there was a display of glittering party shoes. Alya was hot on their heels, already exclaiming over a pair in the display. 

Marinette hung back, lingering by the display stand right by the entrance. So she hung back too. 

“Those are fun,” she murmured, nodding to the pump Marinette had picked up, and was absently turning over in her hands. 

Marinette shrugged. “It’s fine,” she said quietly, before putting it back down and drifting toward one of the side walls. She trailed silently after her. Marinette stopped in front of another display, this one made up of scrappy sandals in a rainbow of colours. Marinette picked up a silver pair and smiled at them before putting them back down. “What about those?” she asked, pointing to a pair of black sandals. 

“For you or me?” Marinette raised a brow, and then rolled her eyes and smiled in mock exasperation . “They’re cute. But I already have a flat pair like that. Honestly,” she said, dropping her voice, “I probably didn’t even need to come on this trip. I have a ton of stuff I could wear, and it all goes together.” 

“The beauty of black,” Marinette said, nodding sagely. But then a little grin worked its way onto her face. “But if you hadn’t come you wouldn’t have gotten those gloves. Or the dress…” 

“Touché.” 

“Though…” Marinette hummed, “there’s no way I would have left that dress on the rack. Not when it’s so you.”

“That’s why you’re the best.” Marinette waved her off, smiling as she picked up another heeled sandal to examine it. “But honestly, I don’t need to buy any shoes. Not unless they’re something special. You know?”

“Yeah,” Marinette sighed as she put down yet another shoe before heading toward the next display. 

She followed closely behind. They examined the next two displays in relative silence. The others drifted by, toting boxes of shoes to try or teetering past in shoes they were testing out. After another rejected pair of shoes, and once the coast was relatively clear, she leaned in a little closer beside Marinette. 

“You don’t really seem to be all that into this. Is everything ok? Back at the last place, you were saying something when you found my dress. What was it?” she asked quietly. 

Marinette looked up in surprise, but then her face softened and her cheeks flushed. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, about what I want…” 

“Yeah?” 

“I want to go after it. I want to design my own dress and go to the dance with-“ Marinette cut herself off as she ducked her head. But she didn’t miss the deepening flush in her friend’s cheeks. It was kind of cute how Mari and Luke were still so bashful talking about their feelings with her. It was infuriating. But cute. “But I have this… this vision of what the night would look like. What I would wear, who I would go with…  Assuming he would would say yes.” 

As if he would ever say no. If anything, the thing Marinette should have been worrying about was the likelihood of Luka accidentally skipping the whole ‘first date’ thing and  proposing to her on the spot. But given Marinette’s past experiences with romance and her brother’s noble yet idiotic attempts to not pressure Marinette… she could see why her friend was feeling apprehensive.

“Were you- were you going to ask him?” she asked quietly.

Marinette gave a shallow nod of her head. “I was thinking about it. I want to. But it’s just-” Marinette turned to look at her with a wry, half-smile, “it’s scary, you know?” 

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly. She did know. If Rose hadn’t made the first move, she probably never would have worked up the courage to ask her out herself. And she had had it so much easier, compared to Marinette. No one had shoved a supposed soulmate in her face while she was pining after Rose. “But if it’s any consolation,” she continued, weighing her words carefully. Her brother may have been more obvious that flashing neon lights, but he had still admitted his feelings for Marinette to her in confidence. “I don’t think you need to worry about him saying no.”

“Maybe…“ Marinette sighed, her eyes drifting toward the other side of the shop where the rest of the girls were and a frown twisting on her lips.”But even if he does say yes, I don’t have time to make my dress and…”

“Nothing is living up to your vision?” she offered. 

Marinette nodded. “It’s just, nothing is quite right,” she groaned as she picked up a silver shoe. She had picked that one up three times already; it was a silver kitten heel with an open toe and a small crystal embellishment on it. She had been gravitating to that pair for a while now. 

“Those seem to be telling you they’re right,” she quipped, quirking a half grin at Marinette when she glanced down at the shoe in her hands and then back up at her. 

“Yeah, I really like them.”

“But?”

“But I don’t want to get a pair before I have my dress-“

“Oh, those are cute, Marinette!” Mylène said as she made her way over, only wobbling slightly in the wedges she was wearing. “I bet Adrien would think they are too!” Marinette had been doing a pretty good job so far of hiding the sour look that came across her face every time the blond came up, but cracks were starting to show in her facade. “What do you two think of these?” 

“I like them,” she murmured, looking down at the woven wedges. 

“Me too. But you might want to try a pair with ankle straps, they’ll stay on better when you’re dancing.” 

“Oh, good point. Thanks!” She watched as Mylène went back to the other side of the store. Once all of her friends were out of ear shot again, she turned and dropped her voice. 

“I take it the Adrien comments aren’t helping.” 

Marinette shook her head. “I told them I didn’t want to try and impress anyone but…” 

“They’re committed,” she sighed. 

Speaking of committed… 

“What did you find, girl?” Alya asked as she sidled up beside Marinette. “Oooh, those are great!” she added as she picked up the matching silver shoe from the display. 

“Yeah, I really like them,” Marinette said, a wistful note in her voice as she smiled down at the shoe in her hand. 

“You have to get them! Just think, Adrien’s always wearing that silver ring of his and…” Alya trailed off as he whipped out her phone and began typing. As Alya’s fingers flew across the keyboard on her phone screen, a pit began to form in her stomach. A second later, Alya’s phone dinged and her face lit up like the sky on Bastille Day. “Look!” Alya said as she shoved her phone into hers and Marinette’s faces. “That’s what Nino said Adrien is going to wear to the dance. You could match!” 

She had to bite back a frown as she stared at the picture on Alya’s screen. It was of a suit spread out on what she assumed was Adrien’s bed. The jacket and pants were black, and the shirt was a stark, crisp white. Beside the suit was a pair of black dress shoes with silver buckles in the shape of the Agreste logo and a matching belt. 

“If you wear these,” Alya continued, waving the silver show she was holding, “you can match Adrien. Even better!” Alya gasped. “You wear these and-“ 

“I’m not buying shoes until I have a dress,” Marinette said crisply as she put the shoe she was holding back down on the display with a note of finality. 

“But Marinette-“ 

“I don’t want to buy shoes until I have a dress.” Marinette said emphatically. “I don’t want to end up with a dress and shoes that don’t go together.” 

“But if you get a white dress you could match. And white would go-“ 

“There’s no guarantee I’ll find a dress to go with these.” Marinette said, her voice firm. 

The fact that Marinette had left out the mention of a white dress did not escape her. Though it was hard to tell if Alya had noticed as well. 

“Not if you keep shutting down everything you try on before you give it a real chance,” Alya groaned. 

“I’ve been trying stuff on…” 

“Yeah, but you haven’t shown any of the things you’ve tried on to us!”

“Nothing was worth showing.” 

“See! This is what I mean! You aren’t going to make your own dress, but you’re not giving any of the dresses you’ve tried a proper chance… I still can’t believe you aren’t going to make your dress!” Alya said as she held up a pair of black pumps, frowned, then put them back down.

“I don’t have time. And, I don’t have a design!  Even if I started now and kept the design simple, two weeks isn’t a lot of time.”

“But you have a sketchbook full of designs!” 

“None for a dance though.” 

“Whatever you say,” Alya sighed, with a rather disbelieving note in her voice. “But you need to wear something.” 

“I know…” Marinette grumbled. 

Something between a sigh and laugh escaped Alya. She wrapped an arm around Marinette’s shoulders, he face softening as she did so. “Don’t worry girl, we’ll find you something amazing to wear that’ll be sure to catch Adrien’s attention. And knock his socks off while we’re at it.” Alya looked away from Marinette to meet her eyes. “Right, Juleka?” 

She hesitated. Just for a moment. A second, really. It wasn’t like she was going to agree with Alya. Well, not word for word at least… Something flashed through Alya’s eyes. It was so quick, she would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking. 

“We’ll make sure you have something beautiful to wear,” she said carefully before smiling encouragingly at Marinette. 

“Thanks, guys.” 

Alya grinned. “Don’t worry, I promise Adrien won’t know what hit him!” 

Marinette smiled—what seemed a pretty forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes— but said nothing. 

“Alya!” They all looked up and across the store at the sound of Rose’s voice. Rose was haphazardly waving a shoe around, oblivious to Mylène’s attempts to get her to stop shouting and waving. “You have to come try these on! They’ll go great with your outfit!” Rose cried, brandishing a gold shoe. 

“Coming!” Alya called, taking a step toward the rest of the girls before turning to look back over her shoulder. “You two coming?” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Marinette trying to think of something to say. 

“In a minute,” she said quietly. “I want to finish checking out the stuff over here.” 

“Marinette?” 

“Same. We’ll let you know if we see anything else you might want to try on.” 

“Sounds good,” Alya said with a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. And it definitely wasn’t her imagination. Alya’s gaze lingered on her for a second before she turned to hurry over toward Rose, Mylène, and Alix. 

She watched Alya go, her stomach sinking a little with every step Alya took. That had been… 

She shook her head, and turned back to Marinette. Marinette had started wandering further toward the back of the store. With a sigh, and another shake of her head, she followed. 

Marinette had said that she didn’t have time to design and make a dress. It had to be because of Ladybug stuff, right? She definitely seemed less overwhelmed than she had a couple of weeks ago.  Marinette was calling on her a lot for akuma battles, which were now taking way less time than usual. So that had to be helping. But… 

It couldn’t just be the akuma battles that were eating up her time. 

But what other duties there were that was keeping Marinette so busy. She knew there were the patrols Ladybug did to keep an eye on the city… She bit her lip. A couple days ago, after they had wrapped up a battle, she had caught the tail end of an argument between Ladybug and Chat Noir. He had been complaining about how things had changed ever since she became the ‘guardian.’ It sounded important, but she didn’t really know what being a guardian entailed. Or how much it was adding to Marinette’s already overflowing plate. 

Surreptitiously, she glanced around the store. Alya, Rose, and Mylène were at the far, front corner of the store trying on shoes. Alix was listless wandering around looking at the sneakers. All of them—and what few other shoppers were in the store—were all out of ear shot. 

“Your job still keeping you busy?” she asked quietly as she picked up a shoe and pretended to examine it. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Marinette cast a quick glance around the store before nodding.

“Yeah. I took your advice. I was able to bring in another t- coworker. And she’s doing really well. She’s helping a lot.” She willed the flush beginning to brew in her face to subside. Marinette didn’t know that she knew what her job was. “But it’s still keeping me busy.”

“Oh?” she asked casually as she put the shoe down and picked up a pump that she didn’t even bother to pretend to look at. 

“I’ve still got a lot of shifts I have to cover. I… I want to see how she handles more responsibilities, but I feel like it’s too early to ask more from her. She’s still new, and I don’t want to rush her or throw her in the deep end.”

“Would it hurt to ask? I mean, worst case scenario she isn’t ready.” But that wouldn’t happen. She would be ready for anything if need be.

“I guess… but even if she said yes, two weeks still isn’t much time… I would have to make the design and draft the pattern. And I don’t like using new patterns without a mockup first. And I would have to find fabric…” 

She smiled at the sight of Marinette’s face, which was already morphing into the dreamy yet laser focused smile she always wore when slipped into the her own little world of designs and dresses and fabrics. 

 “I bet you’d pull together something amazing, even if it is only two weeks. You always do.”

Marinette blushed. “Thanks. I’d have to see if she says yes,” she hummed.

Of course she would say yes. But, “If she doesn’t, you know can always ask me for help, right?” It couldn’t hurt to remind Marinette she and Ladybug could rely on her. 

“I know,” she said quietly, “and I don’t think I can ever tell you how much it means.” 

She shrugged. “It’s what friends are for.” 

“Well, you’re the best,” she said, leaning against her in an approximation of a hug before she bolted upright. She took a few hurried steps to the next display over and grabbed something—a pair of shoes she presumed though the store also sold bags—before whirling around. “What do you think of these?” 

“They’re awesome. But I didn’t think those would really be your style-“

“Not for me! For you!”  Marinette laughed as she held the shoes out to her. 

Tentatively, she took them. They were incredible. They were open-toed sandals with straps that laced up around the ankle with straps made from a sheer black mesh, embroidered all over with black roses and twisting, thorny vines. Little black rhinestones were scattered across the straps, and packed onto the heels of the shoes, catching the light and glimmering. They were gorgeous.  

But…

“I don’t know, I don’t really wear heels…” She had always felt out of place, being taller than so many of her classmates. And yeah, boys thinking she was too tall was the last thing she was worried about, but… she frowned. She had never really known how to carry herself; being so tall tended to draw a degree of attention—and comments—she had never really been comfortable with. And so she had always slumped and hunched her shoulders, and avoided adding extra height at all costs.  

She had… 

“Oh, that’s ok then. I just thought they would look amazing on you-“

But a tigress didn’t care what other people thought. 

“But it wouldn’t hurt to try,” she said, kneeling down to look for a box in her size. Once she had the shoebox in hand, she sat on the closest bench, kicked her shoes off, and slipped the heels on. Once she had secured the straps around her legs, she stood up. The heel wasn’t too high, but between the heel and the platform… she was towering. 

“Bijou!” Rose squealed, tottering over on sparkly pink heels that were far too tall for her girlfriend to walk in without risking breaking an ankle. “You look amazing!! You’re so tall!”

Tentatively, she took a few steps in them. They were comfortable. She would still be able to walk and dance in them. And… Tigress didn’t wear heels. Fighting akumas in heels was just asking for disaster. But somehow, they still felt like Tigress’s boots. They were grounding, but agile. 

They were powerful. 

“Those really suit you,” Marinette said, grinning. 

“Yeah,” she said quietly as she took a few more steps, a smile forming on her own face as she watched the light bounce off the crystals, “they do.” 

                                                           ***

“C’mon girl, what’s wrong with that one?” 

Marinette glanced at the reflection and wrinkled her nose. “It’s just… it’s not right.” 

Personally, she had to agree with Marinette. It was a nice enough dress. It looked nice on Marinette. But it just wasn’t anything special. It couldn’t even hold a candle to the dresses Marinette usually made for herself for school dances. 

But at least Marinette had come out of the dressing room to show them this one. 

“I still don’t get why you aren’t just making one.” 

“Well-“ 

“I know, I know, you don’t have time. But can’t you reuse a pattern or something? You need to wear something.” 

“I know-“ 

“What about that one?” Alya asked, pointing to the floral dress she had found and shoved into Marinette’s hands. “Daisies are Adrien’s favourite flower…” Alya sang as her words trailed off, her grin wide and the promise of yet another scheme in her voice. 

“I don’t like daisies very much. And-” 

“I still think you should just wear the purple one,” Alix said from where she was sprawled in one of the chairs by the dressing rooms. “We already know he thinks it looks good on you.” 

“It’s not formal enough though. Besides, I-“

“He’s already seen her wear that one. If she’s going to get his attention, we need something show stopping. Something that will make him notice. Like his favourite flowers, or-“

“He likes cats, so what about this one?” Rose asked, holding up a bubblegum pink dress with white cats printed all over it. 

“I think that one’s more your style, Rose,” Marinette said. “And I don’t-“

“Oh good, I was worried if you got it you wouldn’t want me to borrow it later since you’ll be wearing it on such a big night.” Before anyone could say anything more, Rose zipped into the nearest open dressing room. 

“What about this one?” Mylène asked from where she had been rifling through the rack of clothes that hadn’t been returned to the shop floor yet. She was holding up a white dress that had horizontal black stripes running across it, except for at the bottom hem where the stripers were thick, short and vertical. Almost like-

“It’s perfect!” Alya cried as she rushed over the Mylène to take the dress from her hands and inspect it. Oh no. “It’s like sheet music and piano keys! And it matches what he’s going to wear!”

The door to the changing room Rose had gone into burst open, and she emerged in a flurry of pink and white cat-printed skirts. “What’s perfect- oh! Oh, that is perfect! And it would be so romantic if you two matched!” Rose sighed dreamily. 

This was not good. 

 “It’s actually pretty cool,” Alix, who was now sitting up properly, said. 

This was not good at all. 

“You have to try it on!” Alya said. 

She watched as Alya rushed toward Marinette with the dress in hand. She needed to do something. Anything. But she was completely frozen. It was like watching a car wreck about to happen, knowing that disaster was about to strike but not being able to do anything. 

“Actually,” Marinette said, setting her shoulders as she stepped back from Alya,”I was thinking, maybe we could check out some fabric stores after all? There’s a few not far from here…” 

“Of course we can, Marinette!” Mylène said. 

“So you are going to make a dress?” 

Marinette’s gazed darted to land on her before flickering back to Alya. “Yeah,” Marinette said, nodding, “I think I figured out a way to make it work.” 

                                                        ***

She frowned down at the two spools of lace in her hands. One had a floral pattern that would compliment the roses in her dress and shoes nicely, but the other was embellished with little black seedbeds that would catch the light like her new shoes. Her frown deepened. She liked both of them. She could just get both. But she didn’t really need two new chokers. And she would still have to decide which went better with her outfit… 

She was going to need a second opinion. 

She started making her way back through the store to the approximate area she had left Marinete when she had decided to go check out the lace options. She found her in much the same spot, by the section of dressier fashion fabrics. 

But Marinette wasn’t alone anymore. 

“-absolutely perfect!” Alya exclaimed, brandishing a bolt of green taffeta. Maybe she shouldn’t have left Marinette alone while she went to go look at the lace… Marinette was staring at the bolt with a blank expression, and Alya looked like her birthday and Christmas had all been rolled into one. “Just think, when Adrien sees you in a dress that matches his eyes, he’ll have no choice but to notice you!” 

Alya was already moving to push the bolt into Marinette’s hands. She needed to think of something. Fast. She needed to-

“That shade of green doesn’t suit me,” Marinette said coolly, taking a step back and away from the offered fabric.

Alya froze, still holding the bolt out to Marinette. She blinked. But she didn’t say anything. None of the girls did. 

Marinette shifted her weight between her feet, her cheeks flushing as her gaze darted around at the other girls.

“But-” Alya started to say. 

 “I’m going to go look at the clearance section,” Marinette said quickly before turning on her heel a disappearing between two shelves overflowing with fabrics. 

They stood there in silence for what felt like forever, but was probably less than a minute. 

Mylène hummed thoughtfully, picking at the green fabric as she looked in the direction Marinette had disappeared to. “She’s right. This wouldn’t look very good on her.”

“Plus, it would put an instant target on her back,” Alix snorted. “Imagine Chloe’s reaction if someone other than her showed up wearing a dress that matched Adrien’s eyes.” 

“I- I guess you’re right…” Alya sighed, her disbelief still evident in her voice. But then Alya shook her head, and her eyes cleared. “We just can’t let her end up wearing pink.” 

“What’s wrong with pink?” Rose asked, crossing her arms and glowering at Alya as if her honour had been insulted. Which… it kind of had been… To even imply anything negative about the colour pink was a personal affront to Rose. 

“Nothing!” Alya said, taking a step back as she raised her hands. “It looks great on her! And you!” Alya added hastily. Rose’s face softened ever so slightly. “It’s just that she always wears pink. If she wants to catch Adrien’s attention then she needs to stand out! Change up her look a bit! And just think how romantic it will be when he sees her in a new light at the dance…” 

Alya’s words had their intended effect; Rose’s frown melted, mollified by the mention of dances and romance. And the reassurance there was nothing wrong with the colour pink. 

“I guess you’re right. And it would be romantic…” except for the fact that no one should need to see Marinette wearing different colour for them to notice her “…but if she won’t wear green to match his eyes…” Rose lit up like a lightbulb, squealing in excitement. “What about red! It’s such a romantic colour…”

Oh no.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wear red before…” Alix said thoughtfully.

Oh no. 

“And I bet it would look great on her!” Mylène added. 

Alya was grinning now. “It would! And… Adrien is a big fan of Ladybug… if she wears it, there’s no way he’ll miss her!” Alya crowed, already taking off in the direction Marinette had gone. “Red will be her lucky colour, for sure!” she called over her shoulder. 

Oh no no no. 

With a curse directed at Alya,  the colour red, and the Universe for good measure muttered under her breath, she followed Alya and the rest of the girls further into the store. 

                                                              ***

Thankfully, Marinette left the store empty handed. 

Which was not what she would have called a win an hour ago. But…

“I still can’t believe you didn’t get it,” Alya griped. “It was perfect!” 

Alya was too busy carrying on to notice Marinette’s grimace. “I don’t want to wear red. And I told you, I don’t want to buy any fabric until I have a design,” Marinette sighed. 

And she was sure that was true. Marinette always liked to have a plan. But she had also noticed Marinette had gravitated toward the soft, fluffy, cloud like tulles and the gauzy organzas and chiffons while they were in the store. And, she had noticed the colour Marinette had gravitated toward. 

Basically the exact opposite of the scarlet satin Alya had shoved in her face and loudly declared as the ‘perfect choice for making a dress to impress Adrien.’. 

“It’s ok Marinette,” Rose beamed, “there’s still time before the dance! I know you’ll finish your design in time!”

She mumbled her agreement. She had no doubt in her mind that Marinette would pull something amazing together in time for the dance. Especially, because she had also noticed the spark in Marinette’s eye when she had seen one bolt of fabric in particular. 

She wouldn’t be surprised if Marinette went back tomorrow with a finished design in hand. 

“So are we getting dinner now?” Alix moaned. She had been complaining about dying of starvation for the past half-hour. She had looked ready to rip her hair out when she had seen the inside of the fabric store, packed with shelves that went almost to the ceiling and were crammed with bolts of fabric. “We’ve been at this all afternoon.” 

“Oh, come on Alix. This is fun! And it’s the last dance of the school year!” Mylène chided. 

“And we only have a couple more shops left to go to! I still need shoes,” Rose chirped. 

“There’s one more fabric store I want to look at. But, it’s still a bit of a trek. So that’ll be our last stop for the day, which means,” she said, cutting off Alix’s groan, “that dinner is the next stop!” 

“We should go to Pierre’s!” Alya said as she glanced down at her phone. 

“But I thought we were going to get kebabs?” Marinette asked, her brows furrowing. 

Her stomach began to sink. The image of Alya furiously typing on her phone throughout the afternoon forced its way to the forefront of her mind. 

Alya was up to something. 

Something fishy. 

“Pierre’s is closer.“

“That works for me.” Alix was already ahead of them, walking so briskly she was basically running. 

“I guess Pierre’s it is,” Mylène sighed before moving to follow Alix. 

She cast a surreptitious look in Alya’s direction. Alya was grinning widely, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. 

 Something fishy indeed. 

She needed to do something. 

But what? 

She wracked her brain, trying to think of any possible way she could send Alya’s scheme off the rails. But she couldn’t think of anything. She glanced around at the rest of the girls. None of them seemed to put out by the change in plans. Alix actually seemed thrilled by them. But that was probably more to due with the fact that she was ‘literally dying of starvation,’ than anything Alya had planned… 

And just what did Alya have in store? Was she going to try and set Marinette and Adrien up to have dinner alone? Or was she going to pull another movie theatre scheme, where Marinette would be forced to sit next to Adrien? It was possible there was another option she wasn’t even thinking of… 

But it didn’t really matter what Alya had planned. 

All that mattered was the timing. 

She glanced down at her phone screen. 

Luka would have just finished his shift a few minutes ago. 

One of the great things about Luka’s job was discount—and sometimes even free—pizza. But what was even better about the pizza place he worked at, was its location…

Queen of Darkness 🦇: hey

Queen of Darkness 🦇: trouble clefts is having a sale on strings

Idiot 🎸: yeah 

Idiot 🎸: i got the email

Queen of Darkness 🦇: can you get some for me?

Idiot 🎸: why can’t you?

Idiot 🎸: you’re literally out shopping

Queen of Darkness 🦇: alix is hangry

Queen of Darkness 🦇: I don’t have a death wish

Queen of Darkness 🦇: plus u owe me

It was true. He did owe her. A lot. And that wasn’t even counting the favour she was currently trying to do for him and Marinette. 

Idiot 🎸: for what?

Idiot 🎸: what are you up to?

Queen of Darkness 🦇: who said Im up to something?

Queen of Darkness 🦇: u going to get me the strings or not?

Queen of Darkness 🦇: I know u need more too

Queen of Darkness 🦇: don’t pretend u don’t

Idiot 🎸: fine

Idiot 🎸: youre always up to something

Queen of Darkness 🦇: just hurry up and get the strings

She bit down on her smile as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.  To get to Trouble Clefts from the pizzeria, Luka would have to pass by Pierre’s. And if he left now… there was no way he would miss them. 

“You coming, bijou?” Rose was looking at her over her shoulder, her hand held out to her. She hurried to catch up the rest of the girls—she had lagged a little behind while texting—and intertwined her fingers with Rose’s. “What were you doing?” Rose asked as they followed the rest of the girls. 

“Oh, nothing. Just checking my email…” she fought back a frown as Alya shot her a suspicious look that was so quick, she almost missed it. A frown of her own began to crease her face. Alya had been… not weird. But something felt… off. Before she could delve further into her thoughts, she was abruptly shaken from them by Rose launching into an animated debate with herself over whether she should wear the sequinned romper or the cat-print dress to the dance. 

The rest of the walk to Pierre’s was filled with idle chatter, mostly about their success so far on their shopping trip and the dance in general. She would say it was uneventful. If not for the fact that she kept catching Alya glancing at her. That wouldn’t have been anything noteworthy, if not for the fact that every time she caught Alya looking, her friend looked away… 

Add in the way she had looked at her in the shoe shop when she had asked for her agreement on finding something that would impress Adrien… 

Her frown fought to return as Alya abruptly looked away for her for what felt like the dozenth time. But it was difficult to keep it at bay. The comment had been a bit too pointed for her liking. And the looks…. 

 She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to overanalyze that. Especially given Alya’s attention had returned to her phone, on which she began furiously typing. She didn’t know what exactly it was that Alya was planning, but she knew that there was no way she was going to let it happen. Whatever it was. She just hoped Luka would get there in time. 

They rounded the last corner and Alya noticeably slowed to an amble. 

She was stalling. 

“C’mon,” Alix groaned from up ahead, halfway between the rest of their group and the doors to Pierre’s. “I’m dying here.” 

“We’re coming,” Alya placated, still moving at a leisurely amble. 

“Not very-“ 

“Hey, babe!” She turned at the sound of Nino’s voice. Nino was standing at the other end of the short street with the rest of the guys from their class in tow. Nino was grinning awkwardly as he waved. “What are you all doing here?” Nino was a great director. And he had a good eye for acting. But he was not an actor himself. His voice was stilted, like he was reading from an invisible script and though his smile was obviously meant to be casual, awkwardness permeated it. 

But Alya just grinned. “We were going to have dinner,” Alya said—much more effortlessly than Nino had said what she imagined were his lines—as she nodded toward the doors to the cafe. 

“Cool,” Adrien said brightly with a sunny smile. “We were all on our way to grab some dinner too!” 

“Really?” Alya called, “Why don’t you join us?” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a thousand emotions flicker across Marinette’s face before it settled into a nervous frown. The rest of the girls were nodding and smiling. Well, Alix wasn’t smiling, she was too hangry for that. Her gaze darted back to the guys. Nino, Adrien, and Kim were already making their way toward them. But she didn’t see-

A flash of blue caught her eye as Ivan shifted to make his way toward Mylène. Luka caught her eye as he ambled toward them, trailing after Max. Lightning quick, his eyes darted to Alya, then back to her before quirking a brow.  

“Luka!” The second Marinette called his name, his face softened and his attention was wholly focused on her. 

“Hey, Marinette,” he said quietly as he shoved his hands in his pockets, coming to a stop in the loose little group they had formed. The idiot was trying so hard to be casual. But he was so obvious—hopefully not to Alya—what with the way he was smiling at Marinette like she was music personified. It was his Marinette smile. “It’s great to see you.” 

Marinette’s smile was bright and wide, but somehow soft at the same time. Her Luka smile. “Luka! What are you-“

“Luka,” she watched as he slowly and deliberately turned to Alya. “What a surprise, what are you doing here?” If she were so inclined, she would have pointed out that it shouldn’t have been anymore of a surprise to see Luka than the rest of the guys given the scheme had obviously been staged to be a ’casual bump in.’    

But now didn’t seem like the time or the place. 

He shrugged. “I was out buying strings and we ran into each other. They were just going to grab dinner and invited me, and you know I never turn down a meal.” 

“What a coincidence,” Alya said lightly through gritted teeth. Alya’s eyes darted to her again, before flashing back to Adrien, then Marinette. “Marinette!” Alya said, suddenly much more brightly. “You had something you wanted to ask Adrien,” Alya said, gripping Marinette’s arm, “didn’t you?”

Shoot. 

What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to stop Alya now? Luka was here! But it wasn’t like she could just tell him to do something. Not now! Not with everyone watching. Kinda. More or less. Everyone was watching Marinette and Adrien. But if she did anything now, that would definitely draw attention to herself. 

Marinette’s eyes went wide; Alya would probably say it was because she had gone off to Adrien-land, but she thought Marinette looked more like a deer in headlights. Her gaze was darting around at all of the expectant faces of their friends. Her hands were wringing the strap of her purse. 

Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot-

 “Actually, Marinette,” Luka said casually, his gaze flickered to her. Something flashed in his eyes. And just as quickly as his gaze had darted to her, it returned to Marinette, and his entire face softened all over again. “I was going to call you later, but since we’re here now; if you aren’t going to the dance with anyone, maybe I could take you? Or I guess,” he had that lopsided and lovesick grin on his face, “you could take me? Since it’s for your school and all…” 

He had done it. 

He had actually done it. 

He had finally done it. 

Silence overcame their entire group. It suddenly felt like she would be able to hear a pin drop.  

Marinette’s eyes were still wide. But they had suddenly decidedly less ‘cornered wildlife’ quality to them. In fact… they were practically sparkling. And her face was melting into a dreamy smile and she- 

“Yes, I’d- I’d like that Luka. To go to the dance. With you.” 

Yes!

Just as suddenly as it had seemingly disappeared, sound returned to their group. Ivan said something about how it would be nice to have Luka at the dance too, while Kim loudly challenged Luka to a dance off—a challenge she doubted her brother had heard given the look on his face—and Rose was chattering excitedly about how great it would be to have the entire group at the dance. Nino cast an uneasy glance at Alya, which he tried to cover in a cough.

Alya shot a glare at her behind Marinette’s back, and she had to remind herself to stay cool. She offered Alya a tiny shrug and an innocent look. But Alya just narrowed her eyes. 

“Great,” Alya said. If she were gritting her teeth anymore, they would likely shatter. “It’s always nice to go to dances with a friend.” 

Her idiot brother didn’t say anything to disagree; given how dazed he looked —or too far off in dreamland, thinking up music that would go with Marinette’s dress or something—she doubted he had even heard Alya. He probably wouldn’t have noticed if a parade of akumas went by. 

At least Marinette was too busy smiling at her feet to notice. 

Baby steps. 

And she could always give Luka an earful about it later. All that mattered now was-

“Yeah! It’ll be nice to have all my friends there!” Adrien agreed brightly before turning to Marinette. “So what was it you wanted to ask me, Marinette?” 

Marinette jumped almost a foot in the air, the dreamy smile gone from her face. “Oh! I-I-You! Hair! Your hair!”

“My… hair?” 

“I need to buy my dad some more shampoo- he doesn’t like the one he bought- what do you recommend?” 

                                                         ***

She dumped her shopping bags on the floor and flopped onto the sofa, stretching out to take up its entire length. Despite the rocky start, the shopping trip had ended up being successful.  

Very successful. 

“The rest of the shopping trip was a success?” Luka asked as he looked up from his guitar. They had parted ways after dinner; he had still needed to go get the strings for his guitar and her bass, and she and the girls had still had a few shops they had wanted to get to before they closed. “You get a dress?”

She smiled to herself. Between talking with Marinette—and the rest of the gang but really Marinette—and daydreaming, he hadn’t seemed to notice her shopping bags. “Yep.” 

“Cool,” he mumbled as he fiddled with one of the tuning pegs. She watched him as he fiddled with the instrument. Luka was quiet. Not as quiet as her. But still quiet. 

And the opposite of subtle. 

It was obvious he had something on his mind. Or rather… someone, given what had happened outside Pierre’s… he probably had a lot on his mind. 

“Marinette hasn’t gotten her dress yet. In case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t!” The flush in his face betrayed his lie. 

“Sure…” 

“So…” he ducked his gaze and continued to tune the guitar she knew for a fact was already perfectly tuned. “She isn’t making her dress? I know she’s been busy but-“

“We’ll see.”

“She’s going to look amazing…” he sighed wistfully, his dreamy gaze wandering up toward the ceiling. 

“She is,” she murmured in agreement. “And you’re actually going to get to see her in her dress and everything. It’s about time you asked her out,” she said. She smirked his cheeks flushed bright red. He ducked his head to hide it, but she had already seen it. 

“Yeah, well…” he said, drawing out his words. She could hear the smile in his voice. “I would have done it sooner…” 

Her smirk softened into a smile. “I’m glad you finally got to this note in the song,” she said quietly. 

“Me too.” 

 She ribbed him with her elbow, and smiled when he looked up at her again. “You sure were her knight in shining armour back there.”

His cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red. His face was bright enough to rival Ladybug’s suit. “I don’t know about that-“

“You’re right,” she sniggered, “More like her dork in ripped jeans.”

“Jules,” he groaned. “She just seemed put on the spot. She didn’t- Alya isn’t subtle.” She snorted. Truer words had never been spoken. “And… you were right.” If had felt good to hear that the first time. And it sounded just as good the second time. “And I’m tired of stepping back.”

Truth be told, he hadn’t stepped back in a while. Sure, he hadn’t asked Marinette out before today. But the past few weeks he had been there for Marinette. Really, he always had been. And now that she was in a place where she didn’t look like she would crumble at any minute… He had stepped in when she had been put on the spot. And he had asked her out in a way that was, if not impossible, at least difficult to read as completely platonic. Despite Alya’s best efforts. And while he had ended up asking her to the dance in front of everyone—something he wouldn’t have done if the circumstances hadn’t been dire—he had done it in a way that put as little pressure on her as possible. It was typical Luka… “Way to step up.”

“She’s worth it.” She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to have heard that. But she had to agree. 

“So what are you going to wear?”

“What?”

“To the dance.” 

“Oh…” He shrugged. “I guess my good jeans and a nice shirt-“

“You can’t wear jeans!” 

“What? Why not? I always wear jeans to school dances.”

“Because you’re always playing them. But you’re going to this one. And, you’re going with Marinette!” 

“Ok, yeah… maybe I need to rethink that.” She raised a brow and glared at him. “I will definitely not wear jeans,” he amended. 

She nodded, but couldn’t resist the urge to roll her eyes. Just for good measure. Honestly! At least he hadn’t suggested he wear sweatpants. 

                                                         ***

Once Luka had gotten his new strings on his guitar and launched into noodling the sappiest and most lovesick music she had ever heard, she bailed. She had dumped the bags with her dress, gloves, and the laces—she had ended up getting both because a girl could never have too many black lace chokers—into her room and made her escape to the greenhouse with the copy of ‘The Art of War’ she had borrowed from the library in hand.

The air was still warm and the sun hadn’t quite dipped below the horizon yet, but the evening was definitely approaching its meeting with the night. Which mean it was the perfect time to relax in the greenhouse and get some reading in before the group chat for plotting schemes inevitably blew up. 

She had just gotten to the section on adapting to shifting circumstances when her phone pinged. Of course. Just when she was getting to the interesting part… She groaned; she had known this would be coming. But she had hoped it would take Alya at least a little longer to pick up the twins from their friend’s house.  

But it seemed luck wasn’t on her side. 

Which meant Alya was back at it again. 

Alya 🦊?!: NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???!!!

Alya 🦊?!: NOW ADRIEN THINKS MARINETTE HAS A DATE FOR THE DANCE 

Because she did. 

Because her wonderful, idiot brother hadn’t been an idiot and used the word friend. 

Rose 🌹💗: she does have a date!!! 🥰🥰🥰

Alix 🛼 : u should know

Alix 🛼 : ur head looked like it was gonna pop off when he asked her 🤣🤣🤣

Mylène 🌼 : that’s not very nice alix 

Alix 🛼 : it’s true 

Alix 🛼 : 🤣🤣🤣

Alya 🦊?!: this is SERIOUS 

Alya 🦊?!: HOW WILL ADRIEN AND MARINETTE GET TOGETHER NOW?????? 

It looked like Alya was in a full blown panic. Which wasn’t surprising given her ship was sinking. Fast. And she was floundering for ways to bail herself out.  

Alya 🦊?!: THE DANCE IS OUR LAST SHOT BEFORE THE SUMMER

Mylène 🌼 : why do they have to get together before the summer?

Alix 🛼 : can’t it wait til I’m on vacation?

Alix 🛼 : then I won’t have to see any of the gross mushy stuff

Rose 🌹💗: it isn’t gross!!!!!

Alya 🦊?!: I’m serious guys!! This changes the whole plan!!!

Plan? 

She should have known Alya would have some kind of elaborate plan for the dance, besides getting Adrien to ask Marinette or vice versa. But this was the first time she was hearing about it.   

Alya 🦊?!: @Queen of Darkness what was Luka even doing there??

 Queen of Darkness 🦇: he said he was getting strings

Alya 🦊?!: But y tonight??? Y from that store? Aren’t there others?

 Queen of Darkness 🦇: idk

 Queen of Darkness 🦇: I’m not his babysitter

Just his wrangler 

Alya 🦊?!: But y would he ask her????

Alya 🦊?!: he knows they’re meant to be!!!!

Only because Alya kept telling him that. 

Rose 🌹💗: don’t worry Alya

Rose 🌹💗: we can make a new plan for the dance!!

Alix 🛼 : I still don’t see what the big deal is 

Alya 🦊?!: WHAT DO YOU MEAN????

Alix 🛼 : So what if she has a date?

Alya 🦊?!: ADRIEN CAN’T ASK HER IF SHE ALREADY HAS A DATE!!!!!!

Alix 🛼 : exactly

Alix 🛼 : wasn’t that our plan for the fall formal before Adrien got strep? 

Oh no. 

She had completely forgotten about that scheme. 

That very ill-advised scheme she was glad they hadn’t ended up enacting. 

Mylène 🌼 : so he’s helping her make Adrien jealous?

Rose 🌹💗: we’ve never actually gotten to try making him jealous!! 

Rose 🌹💗: maybe they thought it would work???!!! 

Like Luka or Marinette would ever play mind games like that.  

Alix 🛼 : See? 

Alix 🛼 : they go as friends and make Adrien think its a date to make him jealous 

Alix 🛼 : like I said 

Alix 🛼 : no big deal

Mylène 🌼 : I guess I would also feel pretty left out if I were him too

Mylène 🌼 : since he would have been the only one not going 

Never-mind the fact Luka wasn’t a fan of school dances, he did have his own friends.  

Rose 🌹💗: and we can always make backup plans 

Rose 🌹💗: in case Adrien is too polite to act on his jealousy at the dance 

Rose 🌹💗: we’ll make sure  

Mylène 🌼 : we can meet at my place day after tomorrow 

Rose 🌹💗: we’ll come up with the perfect plan!

Rose 🌹💗: and then Adrien and Marinette will live happily ever after!!!!!

Rose 🌹💗: right girls?

Alix 🛼 : sure

Mylène 🌼 : of course!

Quickly, she typed out her response. It would look odd if she didn’t agree. Of course, she wasn’t going to agree. Not word for word at least.  

 Queen of Darkness 🦇: everything will work out 

She would make sure of it. 

Dots appeared, indicating Alya was typing. But they kept disappearing and then reappearing. Until finally…

Alya 🦊?!: K

What was all that about? It wouldn’t have taken Alya that long, or that many tries to just type that response. And it was too blunt. Too curt. 

It was suspicious was what it was…

She frowned at the screen. Waiting for Alya to say… well, something. But there were no more dots on the screen. After another fruitless minute of waiting, she tucked her phone back in her pocket and flipped back to the page she had been reading when she was interrupted. 

But she couldn’t concentrate on the words. All those little looks and glances…the comments… and now Alya’s curt response to her—sure, it had been sent to the group chat, and maybe she was reading into it too much, but it felt like it was directed at her—they were niggling at her brain. 

She didn’t like it. 

Any of it. 

A shadow passed over her head, and she was immediately on her feet, her book brandished like a weapon as she dropped into a fighting stance. You could never been too careful in a Shadowmoth infested Paris. 

The figure who had cast the shadow dropped to the the deck in front of her. 

“Ladybug?“ she asked as she straightened up. 

Ladybug nodded and smiled. 

“Is it an akuma…?” She had told Marinette to ask her—well, her ‘coworker’—for help. But she hadn’t expected her tonight. Given the look on Marinette’s face when Luka had asked her to the dance, she would have assumed Marinette was going to spend the whole night designing her dress for the- unless there was trouble which meant- but Ladybug didn’t seem to be in a rush. There was no aura of urgency in the air around her. But there was an embarrassed little smile in her face, and a dreamy look in her eyes coupled with the spark that was always there when she thought up a new design… 

“No, no!” Ladybug waved her hands as if to calm and placate. ”No akumas or sentimonsters.”  Ladybug bit her lip, flushing as she wrung her hands. Knowing Marinette was Ladybug was one thing, but it was so weird to see Marinette’s bashfulness on Ladybug. “I want to preface this by saying it’s no pressure and you can absolutely say no. But, I have a favour to ask you.”

#juleka vs. the forces of the universe #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #pro lukamari #juleka couffaine #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #rose lavillant #alix kubdel #mylene haprele #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #miracuclass #alya salt #girl squad salt #adrien salt

[feralmoonlight]

Oops today has turned into me musing endlessly on the spooky season Vampire Sun and Werewolf Moon (Same body, more like different mindset enough for Sun during the day to give Moon his own personality in the back of his mind, but it’s one single mind/consciousness and not two individuals) SO I’m just going to wordvomit the various blurbs ive been throwing at people today down here, enjoy. TO RECAP Good afternoon I am here to throw a horribly indulgent and stupid AU into the void of vampire!Sun and werewolf!Moon as a messed up 2 for 1 deal because this universe is painfully lacking on vampires afflicted with lycanthropy and in this essay I will-

You hadn’t wanted to move to a new town. This move was not by choice. But since you were still living with your family, when the decision came down hard with no room for arguments, and the roof over your head was in danger, what other choice did you really have? It wasn’t like your job was one of a kind, boring minimum wage that you could throw a stone in the new city and find something just as good. All of your best friends were online so that at least wasn’t a problem… One upside to this new location was the town itself at least? It was Old with a capital OH. The kind that made you imagine history was walking beside you on the streets as you explored. Details you never saw in today’s modern building decorated every facade, houses that were older than any of the residents reigned in their own unique glory. Some so opulent you couldn’t imagine moving in them, and some so run down it was a wonder they were still standing. You’d admit it was pretty cool, if you weren’t still fighting your ire at having your old life uprooted from under you. From up on the veranda of one of those more fancy looking houses, the occupant leaned against the railing, openly watching you with wide eyes as you meandered down the street. It was weird. Really weird. Weirder still when his hand shot into the air in an enthusiastic wave, way too much energy for such a hot fall afternoon. You offered a timid wave back. Interesting neighbors…

Unrelated, non robo au where sunny is this sweet daycare worker dude that is also a part time florist(MAYBE? possibly scrapped?) but he's also a full time werewolf and moon doesn't like company. Because spooktober

TLDR Vampire Sunny hires you on a whim to maybe do some casual yardwork for him cause the sun is icky and also maybe as a snack when he gets bored ish? But you manage to charm him enough the first time or two that he only takes a sip and is like. Mm Yes Good, I’ll keep this one around for a bit.

Unrelated I've decided that for the vampire/werewolf thing, I'm not going to really 'describe' human Sun, cause it feels weird. A seemingly ever grinning face, tall, large hands with long fingers, almost unnervingly thing but somehow way stronger than the lean frame should be capable of, an eccentric ruffly wardrobe that leans towards rich deep reds and vibrant golds... yes. But details about hairstyle, skintone, anything like that ain't gonna happen More ramblings under the cut~

I don’t know the source of this image, friend linked it to me off pintrest but it’s so spot on I love it so I cry. Also, sun is absolutely going to tie a little ribbon around your neck with a little sun/moon charm. Both a 'this is mine' and a 'leave it alone' billboard to others in the area Friend also linked me this Lunar Clock Thing

He has you doing all this work to make his yard look usable and welcoming and stuff but he only ever looks at it. Doesn't enjoy it. And no one seems to ever visit even though he's super friendly, what gives? You'd think such an old neighborhood everyone would know each other but no one seems to really talk about Sunny much Like at all. No one knows Jack about this guy Yet without fail, every time you pass by, there he is, stepping outside to wave hello and tempt you over for a chat[2:43 PM]Eventually finds out you do schooling at home and offers you his tutelage. Apparently this dude is also stupidly smart about a lot of things??

More excuses to make you visit, to have you linger. Sit closer. Definitely not lean against you with a slow deep breath, definitely not smelling you for some creepy reason. Not that you pick up on it. But he is a little less warm than you expected. The closeness is enough to set your cheeks on fire and he pulls back immediately, excusing himself to put on some tea(and get a soda for you. He started keeping those around just for you, you realized)

Always rushes you away before dark though. Says the streets are dangerous.

Very dangerous

Were!moon is basically a feral beast under the full moon but as it waned to nothing he has a cold clarity to him. Suns happy self sombers and while it's still the same mind, it's a different personality that takes over at night that pushes him to give into his more instinctual urges of all kinds

Sunset is a toss up on if he's safe or bordering into dangerous based on time of the month. You could probably survive when the night is dark with only some minor nibbling but after the halfway point your life is on the line. He will kill. For now. Time may change this

Oh, don't be fooled, this is already the case, and the reason (second reason) he didn't turn you into a one time snack. The fact you're absolutely delicious is definitely a first, an exquisite treat to be savored slowly, but it's after the second or third visit that the reason he was excited to see you come by after that wasn't purely because he had the hungies. The times you come in to sit down and spend time with him, at ease around him,  laughing with him even... It's something he hasn't gotten to enjoy in years, if not a couple decades. The inner voice of Moon in his mind that tells him to protect himself, remember how humans hunted him, would still hunt him if they knew, the danger of it all... it's something to be wary of, but you... You don't shy away(much) when he rests a hand on your shoulder(without his influence), you come to him willingly, stay longer than is necessary, and what should have been just a simple effort to keep things tidy in his yard has, of your own doing turned into making it nicer.  You've brought new flowers, he's seen you scrub old moss from some of the little statue figures that hide around the bushes, you even asked him about paint to touch up parts of the fence that had begun to rust to keep it in good condition(something you were meaning to do one of these nights, but just hadn't bothered the motivation). It's a friendship, true and true, even if you're unaware that you're befriending an actual monster that isn't out of the woods of ruining your friendship yet. He would truly be upset with himself it if happened.

Again.

Aaaand I think that’s all I really have at the moment for this, but take it and enjoy <3

#VampireWerewolf AU #SB Sun #Sundrop #SB Moon #Moondrop #Fnaf #security breach #this has a lot more fucking stuff to it in my brain than is written down #again #it keeps happening #i just love building AUs but the process of writing them out is so fucking slow aaaaa #feral rambles #feral writes #AU hoard

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

Can we get part four - maybe with Magnus opening up about what he did?

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

“Raziel, what the–” Alec swears the second he enters the room.

His entire office is covered by bouquets and bouquets of flowers, there’s not a single surface that isnt being occupied by one. 

He moves closer to the desk and picks up a flower from the bouquet of lilies and brings it upt o smell it. 

It smells fresh.

Alec knows that magnus handpicks all these flowers himself—that he could do it with the snap of his fingers but he won’t.

He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to make of that considering everything that the man has done.

Magnus has been relentlessly sending him flowers for the past ten days, with the same note attached to it, written in his beautifully artistic handwriting.

You once told me that you have never been to an amusement park since the shadowhunter codex doesn’t have a chapter on ‘fun’ in it. I’m sure you have heard of Coney Island and please do not do that thing that Jace does where he pretends to not know about mundane things just to seem more mysterious.  I know you know of Coney Island. 

I will be waiting for you there. There are things that I need to tell you that I do not think I can write. I have magic in my veins but I have been wishing at every shooting star that you will show up today. 

I have caused you a lifetime worth of pain, Alec. So, I will wait for you for a lifetime, if I have to.

It’s the same note like everyday. Just a different location.

Today it was Coney Island.

Yesterday it was Rockefeller centre.

The day before, there was a small fair being organised by some college students.

An ice-cream parlour they used to frequent. 

All perfectly mundane places.

Alec had wanted to visit each and every one of them but he didn’t have the courage to push through the heartbreak. 

He didn’t want his hopes up.

He didn’t want excuses. 

He just wants Magnus and he knows that he can’t have that. 

Alec sighs and sits on his chair, his eyes darting across the flowers. 

“What are you doing?” Alec had blushed the first time Magnus had gotten him flowers. Magnus had snapped his fingers and turned the flowers into a beautiful flower crown.

He moved closer to Alec and placed the crown on his head.

“You look pretty,” Magnus had said, tilting his face from left to right to inspect his work. 

He had wanted to thank Magnus for the compliment but it had been hard back then. He’d still been getting used to being called pretty and beautiful.

“But why?”

Magnus cradled his face in his hands and said softly, “I saw a flower and it reminded me of you. That’s why.” 

Alec had giggled at that because it really was that simple.

“Okay.” 

The memory seems as clearly as the day it had happened. 

It always seem impossible to forget anything about Magnus.

Alec doesn’t want to either.

He picks up the note and reads it again. 

He remembers the heartbreak and pain from the past few month—from the day that Magnus broke up with him. It hadn’t lessened even a bit and Alec doesn’t know how long he can keep living like a dead-body. 

He thinks if it’s reasonable that the person who broke his heart is the one he wants to go to get it fixed. 

He wonders if it’s the same for everyone around the world. 

And then he wonders how Magnus went through so many of them and made through it.

Maybe he really should see Magnus.

If there's anyone in the world who knows a thing or two about moving on: It has to be Magnus Bane.

@carelessflower this will always be your masterpiece anh sjjsjsksk

#exclusive alec pov only for u bb #magnus will open up nice and good now homies #theres going to be one last part jsshsjss #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #malec fics

[sydneyscarm]

“about the blogger” meme

thank you to @bioloyg for tagging me :)

y’all don’t really know me so this’ll b fun

star signs: aquarius sun, gemini moon, capricorn rising,,, two air signs in my big three might scare u but trust my chart is earth dominant!!!! i promise!!!!

fav holiday: i love christmas! im not particularly religious, and i don’t consider myself christian or catholic like when i was a child, but i love the lights and the music and the gift-giving and general holiday cheer

last meal: lol i think i had a joint for dinner last night honestly. just forgot to eat and went straight to bed after smoking. i’m about to eat filipino spaghetti for breakfast though

current fav musician: faye webster (specifically jonny rn) and beyonce (all of renaissance has been on repeat since its release) and victoria monet (all of jaguar II is insane, grammy sweep i just know it)

last music listened to: probably ctrl (deluxe) by sza on my way home from work last night

last movie watched: taken, that action movie with liam neeson lmfao. but if we’re talkin movie theater viewing, it was the ballad of songbirds and snakes

last tv watched: i’ve been rewatching s2 of bridgerton. kate & anthony the couple that you are.

last book/fic finished: the last book was catching fire (i was rereading thg like the rest of the world) and the last fic i read was an unfinished sydcarmy fic i found literally an hour ago called all things go (all things go) everyone should read it, very good.

last book/fic abandoned: last book i abandoned was speak, okinawa. it’s a memoir about an asian girl’s struggling relationship with her mother and her culture. very good (and relatable) but extremely heavy so i took a pause on it.

currently reading: thg resurgence so i’m reading the ballad of songbirds and snakes, i didn’t get to finish it before watching the movie and i keep getting caught up so it’s taking forever to finish, but im almost done w it

last thing researched for art/writing: i haven’t full-fledged written for fandom in probably years. but i used to research a lot of fighting techniques cause i was deep in the my hero academia brain rot LMFAO

fav online fandom memory: i mostly inhabited twitter fandom spaces so in 2020 i was placed in a ship gc and i met one of my best friends on there <3 so i think that would be it

fav old fandom you wish would have a resurgence: the show is quite shit and not good at all but, for nostalgia reasons, i would love to see fairy tail (anime) have a resurgence. i bet the fics would be soooo top tier compared to when i was like 9 and reading fics on wattpad and ffnet

fav thing you enjoy that never had an active or big “fandom” but you wish it did: this is more to do w me being interested in things once hype dies down and less to do with a fandom actually being active or big, but i absolutely devoured s2 of bridgerton when i first saw it. and i read every single fic in that kathony tag.

tempting project you’re trying to reign in/don’t have time for: i don’t really write anymore and have stuck to silly posts and headcanon threads but i’ve had a pride and prejudice sydcarmy au stuck in my head for a couple days

this was fun now u know some of my life!!! im pretty sure @bioloyg tagged everyone that i come across in this fandom so ive got no one WHOMP but feel free to do this if u see it 😛

#no but srsly #that p&p sydcarmy au #fr

[percyjacksonscookies]

dude imma say it

the percy jackson tv show sucks so bad

and I have a lot of time to think at work when im not busy with my little tasks so imma rant about it

because my little brain likes to look for connections i guess

anyway

IT SUCKS SOOOOOO BAAAAAAD HOLY

S H I T

its a giant mix of things because of where we are in time

every major piece of media is a huge reflection of the times we live in so uh

it makes sense that this would suck too like every single other piece of media disney has released in the past decadeish (it comes down to taste so if u like a Disney thing, whatever)

but like?!?!

because of the times we live in where writers had to strike for better wages and a semblance of recognition (i dont know the terms exactly) it makes sense that they gave ol' Ricky boy a shot at screen writing cause they didn't really have to take a chance with a new writer. cause u know disney! wherever there are corners to be cut they will! gotta think of the poor ol' bottom line!!

BUT ALSO RICK RIORDAN'S QUALITY IN WRITING WENT DOWN S O HARD AFTER HIS FIRST SERIES WITH PERCY

heroes of Olympus and trials of Apollo do not have the same flavor as the original series and I know plenty of people will agree with me

and thats cause ol' ricky boy (might call him uncle rick ironically cause I have a big family so its in character of me to have beef with an uncle plus like.... cmon its for the bit, an homage to my cringey younger self, and to help me avoid stupid autocorrect on my phone, it works on so many levels, if u must, cringe away) lost the fucking heart of the original series

lost the whole point and charm of the 1st series

it started out as a fucking bed time story for his son for fucks sake!!!!!! so obviously it was going to be a story built on so much love you could feel it in every word he carefully knit together for his son to feel less alone in the world

and thats why I looked up to him for so many years!!!!

he inspired me to start writing!!! so that maybe some day I could also write stories that helped people feel less alone

because the best fucking stories are the ones with the most heart and genuine emotions you feel like you could be there

but uncle rick fucking lost it because i think after the massive success of his first series he saw it as a way to make money for his family instead of a way to lovingly craft something for the sake of it just existing

yet another thing capitalism has taken from us

I have yet to read his other work, as an adult, because percy jackson is such a comfort book for me and I've obsessively done so much research on it I remember him doing an interview once where he said his students found his other works and they were teasing him about the cuss words in the book because of course they were he taught middle schoolers and that is where he is stronger than I

but thats also another thing

since I haven't read his other works, I dont know if they're going to speak to me like percy jackson has, but probably not from the looks of his other series (ive read all of heroes of Olympus and some of trials of Apollo but thats just cause I adore nico)

but I can definitely say for sure without a shadow of a doubt

dude

uncle rick is NOT a screen writer

he SUCKS at it so bad

he definitely doesn't know how to build suspense in film or write around the obstacles that come with live acting

which is embarrassing man

ive been there

did a senior directed play in high school, wrote the script myself

and it sucked pretty bad

because I was a story teller not a script writer!!!! I didnt know what the fuck i was doing!!!!! whenever I wanted a new character I would just invent one out of thin air, what do you mean I had to have an actor for every new character I have?!?!?!?!

soooo grateful i tried that for the first time in high school cause its not that embarrassing when u suck at something as a teenager cause hey!!! ur learning new shit everyday!!

but this ties back into my point of this show reflecting the times

I will say, I prefer the movie of percy jackson over this weird show

and thats cause it had charm! zest! a screenwriter and people that knew how to make movies!

were at such a weird place in cinema

at least in the mainstream american/western media

I saw everything everywhere all at once last year and it blew my tits clean off

but thats because it was made by people who wanted to make art for arts sake!!!! for the love of creation!!!!!

thats why those movies are so successful now

cause there's really no formula to follow anymore so anything that seems original and made with love is so fucking insanely successful and big corporations can't fucking replicate that without taking chances and letting people tell honest earnest stories

which is why every Disney villain sucks now cause they have to also secretly maybe sometimes be a good person

oh no the circumstances they were given made them a villain

hmmm I wonder who helped with the capitalism of it all?? hmmmm such a mystery

I know we all miss when villains were just evil for fun and that was it

like Ursula, they didn't explain shit about her backstory she was just a woman in a cave that had a reputation and had a sick as hell design and that was all people needed to like her (shout out to divine) (also I don't remember much about the little mermaid I am basing this off of vibes)

where was i going with this.....

anyways the pjo TV show sucks

let Rick Riordan cook longer as a screen writer or let him be a co author of the script my god he sucks at this

get an expert screen writer in there asap phew!!!

today's adhd rant has been brought to you by:

this thing

#pjo #i have so muvh to say but im gonna stop #this is a monster of a post #this is definitely my longest post on tumblr and i am Afraid but percy jackson makes me want to talk forever so whatever #i dont have any percy jackson friends so my followers must endure sorry everyone #kinda #i did start out as a pjo blog and branched out but i never really stopped lmao #never shared my thoughts on here though so this is new #time to shout into the void of the internet #my schtuff

[cherryblossomsandapplepi]

holiday weight looking different this year at first I thought I'd only gain a few pounds at first only to find IV gained several this season as my body continues to struggle to stay fit who am I kidding since Thanksgiving I've gained about 5lbs not to mention I've had takeout every single day my metabolism just can't keep up anymore but I think we all saw this coming. My portions have doubled and now what used to be a stuffing is just a meal. More often than not I find myself always indulging a craving always stoping for a snack on my way home chocolate, gummy candy, donuts you name it and I get it but now it's just normal not a treat anytime Twinkies or mini donuts are on sale in the cart. I've also been on a burger streak which has unfortunately had me leaving my pants unbuttoned these days. I'm losing control quickly and my cravings are intense. Happy fatty days I mean holidays ~ gym bunny *I'd say more but my chili dogs just arrived urp*

There you go everyone just look at this gym bunny(piggy) blowing up out of control and eating more and more everyday and turning into more and more of a fatty each day.

#ask #kinktext #stuffing #weightgain #grow fatter #grow for me #fatty #piggy #maybe the gym bunny will send an ask again soon to give you a better update than i can? #gym bunny fatty #update on the growing gym bunny #gym bunny pig #gym bunny update #gym fatty